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Huff

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Posts posted by Huff


  1. Now if you'll ex-ceeeeuuuuwwssee me, I'm going to spend a quiet evening my my NINTENDO gameCUBe.

     

    This was probably the best year of new videogames I've experienced. Looking at my top ten... looks like a whole two of them weren't released in 2023! Looking back at my previous GOTY thread posts, that is by and away the best I've done. I think I started my last post looking at my steam wrapped with dismay at how much time I poured into roguelikes. Lemme see how I did this year...

    Spoiler

    image.png?ex=65a72287&is=6594ad87&hm=805ef320be27b4060564c2cc7020649e8314ab97ff829f1ef359049d41b60f60&

     

    hm.

     

    Well, other than somehow not killing myself while grinding out the maximum rank in Hades, I managed to mostly steer clear of the Roguelike curse this year. I like roguelikes! But I dump far too much time into them and get into ruts far too quickly. But late to the party due to needing to finish up two of them, here are the games I played this year.

    https://www.backloggd.com/u/Huff/https://www.backloggd.com/u/Huff/

     

    And yes, Silent did post this early to cheese me off a bit; I've been talking to him about how excited I was for this over the past few weeks. Thing is, I'm writing this the night before a plane flight, and IDK if SPUFpowered is gonna save this draft. I still have yet to finish American Arcadia and Cocoon and will post and amend this one once I finish them. I think I know where I'm going to place the latter, but I'm unsure about the former yet. Neither are making my top ten. Here we go!

     

    ----------

     

    Honorable Mentions

    Spoiler

    The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

    Full disclosure, I'm only about 40% done with this game (read: 80% done with the first of the two). But wow! I haven't played any Ace Attorney since I dropped Spirit of Justice back the year that came out (2016? Holy shit), and I can really feel that this was a Shu Takumi production. Shu Takumi directed and wrote Ghost Trick, my favorite game of all time, alongside the first four AA games and the Ace Attorney vs Professor Layton crossover game. Ever since he left, I have really felt that the games focused on the wrong things-intricate backstories and characters with only a gimmick to rely on (though Blackquill was ok...). But TGAA is a return to form. 

    Every 3-4 days I have the spend my entire 24 hours at work. It sucks! But thankfully I can usually spend the evening chilling out a bit in my coffin on the boat and play my switch. I've been slowly chewing my way through this game and it's been very fun. Ages ago Insectan described a scenario in which your character, Phoenix Wright's Japanese ancestor and the character Herlock Sholmes have a discussion in which he deduces exactly the wrong thing and you have to correct him along the way, which got me interested. I can confidently say that's been my favorite part as well. There's not too much to say otherwise other than that this is a return to form. If you like Ace Attorney, grab this, especially on sale. I've heard that the second game in the pack is even better, rivaling Trials and Tribulations and Investigations 2 in terms of quality, so I'm looking forward to continuing.

    Oh yeah! Also this game has the only assistant that even holds a candle to Maya. Aside from the throwing the protag around gimmick, she's actually helpful instead of just being a  cute dumbass or a flat character like Rayfa and Kay or Trucy respectively.

     

    Downwell

    This is another game on my "only played on my Switch on the boat" list. It's also the last one. I initially knew of this game from two sources: a Matthewmatosis video from like 2017 or something and the indie smash clone Fraymakers where the player character is a fighter. Wait, didn't I back that in 2020 and it's still only early access? Christ. Anyway, Downwell is another roguelike with a fun setup-it's all about downward movement and controlling falls. Guns all shoot down, bouncing off of enemies and shooting slows your fall, and racking up combos without landing is key to building health up. Only issue is that for a game with so much depth, it lacks... depth. The items are scarce and there aren't that many guns even if they did do more with them than I thought it would, but it tires itself out early. There are like... two item synergies? One that reloads your guns when you get gems combo'd with an item that sucks in gems. It's kind of a solved game with the only point of divergence being if you can keep your combo or not. Nothing else about the game is that impressive either. But! It's one of those games mostly made by one guy I think aside from the music, so bonus points for that. If Fraymakers ever actually releases and Silent or I care to redeem our backer keys, I'll probably main the character from this.

     

    Trombone Champ

    Pros: I used to play trombone in middle and high school! Cons: High school was a decade ago. 

    I picked this up in the same bundle Silent did (he actually got it for me :3c) and had my fun with it. I'm not too fond of the goofy story that much honestly. Having baboons was ok, but I have an irrational dislike of most apes and monkeys (this'll be contradicted below, don't worry), so I couldn't fully enjoy the baboon humor. I have the same thing with pigs actually. When I was in 7th or 6th grade I thought I'd try to be a smart little dickhead and read Animal Farm. Well, turns out I didn't know what communism was, nor did I really understand allegory fully. So I didn't take it as a cautionary tale about political systems and the fallibility of man's greed and corruption, but I really hated pigs coming out of it. I still have that irrational dislike now. I'm not sure why I have that for monkeys? I mean, I like Winston Overwatch and Donkey Kong, but uhhh. Wait. Trombone Champ. Yeah this game is ok. I really wish there were more improv parts like the singular time they let you do it in The Saints Come Marching Home. I haven't tried modding for this but I probably won't :( . 

     

    Also this game has Hall of the Mountain King in it, which is always a +2 bonus to a game's quality in my eyes. The +2 is psychic damage in the case of Manic Miner.

     

    Dead Estate

    Aghhhh this game. I was this close to putting it in my "i didn't enjoy this" dungeon at the bottom of this post. But then I looked at my like 18 hour playtime, checked with my ethics board, and yeah, it can go up here. 

    This is a good game! It's an isometric roguelike dungeon crawler with a haunted house theme like Moby said above. Also there's girls like Moby said! I am pretty transparent in my sex freak habits (see: game #10 on my top ten) and that is honestly enough to score points with me. but otherwise, this game has a lot of depth. Lots of items, weapons, characters with their own playstyles, secrets, and everything you'd like out of a chaotic roguelike. But, it's just so drawn out man. A run, if I want to be optimal and get that coveted completion mark with a character, takes like an hour for me, which is wayyyy too much, There are niggling parts of the game design that are just tedious to me too, like the semi-timed mission state of the floors, the bosses not being very fun, janky collision and enemy behavior, and other things. I new update just came out, but I'm probably not going to play it. I don't think I have the strength. But at the end of the day I respect this game a LOT for feeling like a really great game out of Newgrounds in its heyday and not compromising in who it's appealing to. It just took me 18 hours to realize I don't actually like playing it... Music is great though! You'll see a certain track down in my awards down below.

     

    Deep Rock Galactic

    Stone? Maybe rock? Echoing the others in here, I played this a little bit with my friends and then stopped. I really dig the jagged models and the characterization of the space dwarfs, but it didn't draw me in enough to keep playing. Maybe down the line if we really run out of things to play, but I'm happy with the few hours I played. This game should have won the Steam Award for labor of love obviously.

     

    Payday 2: Crude Awakening

    I really, REALLY like heists. This summer, Silent and two of our other friends took the road trip across the southwestern US that he alluded to and one of our stops was Las Vegas. Of the two times I've been there, I have organized time for myself to walk around the Bellagio and pretend to be Danny Ocean at the end of Ocean's 11 both times. I should get tested for autism maybe? In any case, the Payday series has long been reviled and mocked for its poor management and questionable decisions. But that is besides the point that I love heists. I have run a whole DnD campaign about heists, I have run a Blades in the Dark campaign and that game is all about heists. I have watched a good chunk of heist movies and I like going into banks when I'm downtown in a large city new to me and pretending to case the place. When I went to Paydaycon 2015 I forgot my debit card and waltzed into a fuckin credit union with a baseball bat, mask, and airsoft uzi in my backpack like an idiot.

    Uh yeah, so the thing is that even though Payday 2 (and Payday 3) both have wild issues, the fantasy of the levels in these games is what really draws me in, and Crude Awakening, the last heist released for Payday 2, is amazing enough to make it as a standalone honorable mention. Taking place in a parallel storyline to the main PAYDAY crewmembers assaulting the white house, four of the other gang members have been performing hits and infiltrations on targets across Texas. Crude Awakening involves the crew stealing oil directly from an offshore oil rig and then blowing it to kingdom come in a blaze of glory. It has all the parts I like about a good Payday heist. Varied objectives, an epic scale and setpiece, a big boss mob at the end, a timed escape, and, AND, a really fantastic piece of music with it. That piece of music is the tipper for this being on here and it might be my favorite piece of video game music of all time... stay tuned. 

    This was the perfect way to play Payday 2 off of the stage. I wonder if 3 lived up to it?

     

     

    Top 10

    Spoiler

    10. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

    OK HEAR ME OUT. I know this is that kind of game that attracts those kinds of people. But I really dig the artstyle of this game and it hits right at the genres of horror that freak me out the most- psychological manipulation and cannibalism. That's the reason I get the fucking shudders every time I see a clip from Hannibal. Can't deal with that stuff and this game rubbed me the wrong way the right way. It's also good to see single-person indie games out there and this one, for better or worse, has a vision that the creator (shame they were doxxed off of the internet aside from releasing future updates) isn't budging on.

     

    ...

     

    Fine, it also appeals to my fetishes, OK????

     

    9. APE OUT

    I've been mentally mapping out how I'm going to talk about Hotline Miami when it comes time for us to post our triannual updates to our favorite game mosaics. I still like it, but it's been eclipsed by other games pretty handily by now. But there's this gem of a game! Featuring an ape species I don't inherently distrust, I've had my eye on this one for about a year and a half. You play as a gorilla jailed in various places-a secret lab, a military bunker, a shipping vessel, a zoo. What's the goal? It's the title: APE OUT. The visual style is striking and the gameplay is a simple but effective take on the Hotline formula, but the real genius is in its sound design. The entire soundtrack save the credits theme is synched to your actions, turning the entire game into one huge drum solo orchestrated by you. If I remember correctly, moving adds extra drums, annihilating your jailers with your hug gorilla fists adds loud, piercing cymbal crashes and splashes of color, and the titles of levels are all rendered in a cool marriage of kinetic typography and percussion beats to their appearance and movement. Great game, even if at the time of writing I haven't managed to best the bonus stage.

     

    8. The Talos Principle II

    Mghghghghghg. And speaking of Hotline Miami, here's a game that gave me the EXACT same feels as Hotline Miami 2 did. Weird comparison huh? You'll see a similar set of critiques when we get to a certain other sequel on this list. I really love my first-person puzzle games. The Witness and Portal are two of the more well-known examples that I adore, but 2014's The Talos Principle isn't far behind. It's an incredible puzzle game about divinity, free will, and humanity, all told through the lens of a robot stuck in a simulation. The puzzles are really good too, even if there are some ball-busters that fucking HURTED, especially in the DLC. It's got this great sense of lonesomeness and isolation that I fucking adore, where you barely see anyone else. Other test subjects communicate through QR codes pasted in the levels and you converse/are spoken two by two entities via disembodied voices and command prompts on computer terminals. There's also amazingly thought-out secret puzzles where you have to find ways to break the game to smuggle items out of the seemingly neatly impenetrable puzzle chambers and use elements of multiple puzzles from the outside to finally best the secrets. And the easter eggs! Oh my god I love easter eggs. There are old-school hidden messages on walls, secret pictures and references to other Croteam games, and just great stuff all around that lets you know the devs put a lot of themselves into the game. One of these easter eggs is the whole reason I watched In The Time of Eve, which I really fucking enjoyed.

     

    And then Talos 2 comes and removes... all three of these?? Ok well they're still present... just heavily neutered. Except the easter eggs. There aren't any what the fuck. I actually read in a /v/ post that they just patched the game to have a few easter eggs which is nice... but I'm still unhappy. But anyway, the point is that TPP 2 keeps its competent core, the puzzles, but kind of excised that special secret sauce that made me fall in love with the first one. The puzzles are good. There are new mechanics that blow old ones out of the water (except for the new one where you have to lock away one tool at a time, but the inclusion of the bodyswapping mechanic over 1's record-yourself-like-an-ambitious-Newgrounds-game mechanic forgives this sin tenfold), they're all competently designed, the music and scenery are honestly even more gorgeous, and there's a super fucking cool bit at the end that does really neat stuff with impossible spaces. But all the rest is gone... The story is much, much more in your character's face this time around. There's this group of robots that constantly talk in your face, doing the weird Fallout thing where the camera zooms in on them and it jumpscares me every time. I grew to only really care about... two of the characters? Yaqut, a kind of nervous helicopter pilot, and Melville, the grouchy engineer were both initially annoying but I grew to really like them and their outlooks on the philosophical questions posed in the game. But everyone else? Wow, don't fuckin care man. The voice acting of all of them was top-notch, but fuck man. Doesn't have that same magic as being contacted by ELOHIM via godly proclamations or debating with Milton via 90's PC monitor. Ahh, I dunno. It felt like it said a lot less with many more words. That breaks that great sense of isolation too. The secret smuggle-out-objects puzzles are neutered too. There are specific laser ports that let you know one of those is present, and you don't even have to smuggle things out, the game makes it clear which puzzles you need to use elements from. I was able to smuggle items out only three times throughout the game, and only two of those had any use, but I was happy the second of those wasn't by design. Felt like I got one over on the game that time.

     

    In the end, I enjoyed my time, but between the removal of the extra cherries on top and the puzzles generally being a lot easier than TTP's, I can't lie I was a bit disappointed. 

     

    7. Dishonored 2

    My love for Dishonored comes from its ability to give you the keys to its new Lamborghini here and let you take a drive through the Hollywood hills. Read: it lets you fuck around with a lot of powers and feel like a badass. Dishonored 2 is in many ways better than its prequel! More powers, more ways to play the game, tighter level design in spots, beautiful and mind-bending setpieces, and great worldbuilding. But it also takes a few steps back. Corvo as a voiced character is rough, and the other characters aren't great, particularly the villains. The artstyle isn't as intriguing-I really miss the textures of the characters that makes them look like oil paintings and Dunwall's signature dirtiness isn't captured as well in Serkonos' decay. But this game is still really good even with those stumbles. What really makes this game for me are the two chapters focused on mansions-The Clockwork Mansion and A Crack in the Slab. The former is jut a brilliantly designed level from an architectural angle. The entire layout of the mansion can be changed on a whim by hitting levers and buttons, pulling the walls and furniture away, replacing them with that of another room. And if you're fast enough, you can exploit this transformation to slip behind the walls and pull off your dual rescue/assassination mission with style. The second is a mission which restricts your access to your powers you've been relying on, but gives you access to an item that lets you warp between different points in time while staying in the same location. It's incredible and such a cool concept. I have NO fucking idea how they did it technically. The item lets you look into the other time before you warp like you're looking through a shattered mirror and it's the coolest thing. Great sequel, I still need to do a powerless run.

     

    6. Payday 3

    Don't tell reddit, but Payday 3 is good now. After a disastrous launch and multiple questionable decisions, I think this game is really worth grabbing on sale, especially if you have an obsessed friend like me who can give you access to DLC heists. There are still lots of things that need to be improved-there are bugs and boring objectives in the heists and the heisters barely speak at all, but even through all of these issues I really dig the base mechanics. Compared to Payday 2's breakneck pace and arcadey horde shooter gameplay, Payday 3 took a risk and returned to gameplay more like PAYDAY: The Heist. The atmosphere is a lot more grounded and similar to that game's as well. New York is rendered really beautifully even if the humans have that...glassy-eyed Unreal Engine stare to them. But it all really makes for a very tense and "realistic" style of game. Makes me feel like I'm playing a real adaptation of Heat vs, like, Hardcore Henry. That even reflects in the music! Gustavo includes a lot of references to the original tracks of PD:TH. There's bits of Home Invasion, Gunmetal Grey, Stone Cold, and others in the tracks, which have their own REALLY good vibe to them. In all, this game is rough, but the gameplay is fucking solid, and I'll be playing this as they continue to make it better.

     

    Better add Clover my wife soon.

     

    5. Hi-Fi Rush

    I don't think I can really add too much to this that others haven't said. An incredibly well-made singleplayer game with banging music, fun characters, and a great vibe? Count me in. I have a GREAT sense of rhythm but suck at more "pure" rhythm games like DJMAX and Guitar Hero, but I'm great at things like Rhythm Heaven and rhythm fusion games! Like Hellsinger: Metal (My GOTY last year!), Crypt of the Necrodancer, and BPM. This was a natural fit for me. The artstyle is perfect, I especially love the integration of 2D effects into 3D spaces. Music is really good and the characters are generally a lot of fun, even if Peppermint's cliche tsundere act gets old. The Kale and Korsica fights are elevated a lot through their music and beating up robots doesn't get old.

     

    But what really stood out for me was that I had that aforementioned Ratatouille moment where I felt like I was playing Viewtiful Joe again. God. Henshin a go-go, baby. 

     

    4. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    Oh boy, here we enter the REAL heavy hitters. Back in May when TOTK released I was still stuck underwater on a shitty fucking underway. Was literally shaking from not being able to play this game. And when I got my hands on it I was... kind of disappointed?

     

    This is a similar situation to Talos 2. I love my feelings of solitude in games. BOTW captured me primarily because of this. Traveling the world, exploring nature, and doing it mostly alone and visiting friends and civilization only when needed. But TOTK is much more story-focused, for better or worse. And it's a lot gamey than BOTW ever was. And honestly, these are both good things! BOTW had its identity, and I'm glad TOTK does its own thing, but honestly the little things just bug me. Where's all the Sheikah tech? Why don't any of these dickheads recognize Link? Why do I have to have these fucking ghosts around all the time? This is the reason this game is at #4 instead of #2 or #1.

     

    But it's still at #4 over delicious meals like Hi-Fi Rush and Dishonored 2. And I really started loving TOTK once I stopped thinking of it as BOTW 2 and more like its own thing and just a different take on Hyrule. It's less about the vibe and atmosphere and environment and nature and is more about the people, the mechanics, and being a fun as fuck game-ass-game.

     

    The game is fucking MASSIVE. Even though they are more sparse than the surface, the sky and depths of Hyrule are lovely additions with great atmospheres. I'll never get over the amazement of realizing "oh my god, the depths are a perfect inverse of the surface" that is probably my third favorite moment in this game, and that revelation being fucking DWARFED by the other two (The ending sequence and what's covered in the Best Girl award below) says a lot. The three layers of Hyrule lead to a fun gameplay loop. Explore the surface until you need more Zoanite -> explore the depths and realize you're getting Gloomed to death -> explore the sky for Sundelions and find treasure maps -> find treasure in the depths and stumble across the Yiga clan -> find the Yiga's bases on the surface -> etc. I never felt the need to grind anything besides just three days ago where I wanted to finish upgrading my Zonai batteries. But anyway, this game has been discussed to death, lemme just cover that final moment I mentioned, the ending sequence. Spoilers, obviously!

     

    The ending isn't just the boss. It's honestly the final 90 minutes of the game. I thought Hyrule castle from BOTW was an incredible finale, but this makes that look like trash. The buildup, from the spaces and enemies you have to fight, have a different vibe than the other dungeons in the game and the sound design has a wonderful crescendo that ramps up and up and up all the way to the last challenge of the game, even past the boss fights. Like Silent said, it has all of the things I fucking ADORE in videogames, all the great tropes, all the videogame-specific ways to generate hype (lookin at you, playing with the UI and letting the final boss use your special mechanic), and amazing spectacle. I... honestly don't even want to give a play-by-play, it's that great. If you haven't gotten this far, go try it out. Trust me, you're probably beefed enough as you need to be. 

     

    In any case, even though my most hyped game of the year landed this "low", it still completed a great feat. Since I mentally count this and BOTW as one game, by their power combined it's raised BOTW up to being my 4th favorite game of all time. Good job man. 

     

    3. Slay the Princess

    This is the biggest surprise on my list, and it just feels right that it's above TOTK. 

     

    This game has a simple premise: You're on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess. You're here to slay her. If you don't, it'll be the end of the world. Of course, things can't be that simple. The game is a VN, consisting of different routes that play out depending on your choices surrounding what to do with the princess. What really got to me about this game is how it plays with its themes. It's all about Perception, change, stagnation vs change, and many more. Something that struck me is how it actually covers many of the same topics, especially stagnation vs growth, as The Talos Principle 2, but says so much more about it with fewer characters and less waxing poetic. The writing is phenomenal. Without giving too much away, both the player character and the Princess are changed by each other's perception of the other. As you encounter her, she grows into exaggerated versions of how your dude would think of her. She puts you down in an even fight? She becomes a pugilist determined to have meaningful battles with you. Show cowardice and an unwillingness to take control by locking her away instead of freeing or killing her? She becomes a malevolent specter that causes you to die of fright. Show nothing but compassion and heroic willingness to free her? She becomes an actual damsel in distress willing to follow your every desire. And you change as well. Every time you encounter her, you gain an extra voice in your head with an attitude similar to how she probably perceives you. Each variation of the Princess and each Voice (clearly inspired by Disco Elysium, points for that) play off of a stagnant, never-changing Narrator who just wants you to slay her and be done with it. 

     

    The game plays out with discovering routes and "collecting" a few versions of the Princess for a certain someone. Once you do, the endgame begins, which poses some really cool philosophical questions and introduces really cool worldbuilding for whatever setting Slay the Princess contains. Oh, and the music and art???? The does the Leitmotif thing. Most tracks have the core "The Princess" theme in there, changed in style and feel to match whatever Princess you've gotten yourself into. And the art is all a very stylistic, massive collection of pencil drawings that get the horror across perfectly. I've almost gotten all of the routes and I'll probably 100% it to see all the special scenarios. There's also a final cut update in the works, so looking forward to that.

     

    Thorn best girl, with Razor close behind. Hehe.

     

    2. Baldur's Gate 3

    Oh god, I don't think I can write that much more about this game than what's already been written. DnD is very special to me like Alex shared above since he's been part of the same group as me since 2017ish. It's just a rock solid game. So much thought put into the different scenarios and possible combinations of events. Loved playing through this as Benji, my self-insert first ever DnD character. I still wish it weren't as photorealistic, but hey I cannot complain with a game of this quality. It also taught me some Forgotten Realms lore; we've only played in homebrew settings in our campaigns, but my setting specifically is set in a nation I made up and then placed on Toril. So I'm happy to have gotten familiar with some things I can incorporate into the game even if it's an ocean away.

     

    Volo can suck my dicke and balles.

     

    1. Pizza Tower

    And there we go, at least the game gets GOTY on one list huh? This game has been discussed to death, but like Silent said, it's a joy to play, listen to, look at, everything. I can taste this fucking game when I play it. I had a great time playing through it casually the first time, but was amazed by the depth of the P Rank system, where the game really shines. Peppino is an instant classic of a character, the visual style is pure genius, the music is mouthwatering, and it has a level called "Oh Shit!". Through tough, tough competition this game stayed king of the incredible hill that was 2023's games. What a fucking ride. 

     

     

    The Not So Good

    Spoiler

    The Looker

    Ok, I'm not gonna make a textual version of a Dunkey video covering an RPG he doesn't like. But even though I understood this came from a place of love for The Witness, I still think it kind of overstayed its welcome. But I will say its unique mechanics are really good! I vaguely remember shooting ships with a cannon using puzzles? Pretty good stuff. Also it made Johnathan Blow really really mad because he really can't take a joke which is funny. 

     

    Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

    I initially got this game because I had just replayed BOTW and I was craving some more Mipha content (sorry you got upstaged by Zelda once she got some actual character development), but turns out I really don't like musou games. It has the aesthetics, but it really deviates from the tone of BOTW, which makes sense I guess, but it's really not for me. Can't really articulate it, but I hated how fucking anime the cutscenes were. Everyone laughing at the little white cuck ball guardian. Huh? This probably appeals to Xenoblade fans or something.

    (Didn't mean to get that mean. Yeah, it was just eh. Seeing the expanded and reimagined movesets was cool though.)

     

    Jackbox Party Pack 10

    SIlent pretty much summed up my thoughts in his post. Come to think of it, both this and last year's Jackboxes have been pretty weak. Where's Role Models 2? Here's the T-shirt that Silent mentioned. Like maybe 50% of the art that wins in our T-KO games is drawn by me, but I never do well when it comes to the slogans. 

     

    cljondU.png

     

     

    The Huff Awards

    Just a couple extra awards and details I want to focus on.

     

    Best Music Track

    Spoiler

    11. RUBY RUSE, HEATWAVE

     

    Spoiler

     

     

     

    My two favorite tracks from PD3. Fuckin Stone Cold 2023 and the usual really cool bank heist track. Can't unhear Big Chungus tho :(

    Oh, also this is really good.

     

    10. Good Eatin'

    Spoiler

     

     

    Good memories of minigolfing after a decent day at Universal with the boys aside, this song is peak Pizza Tower. The fucking chewing noises, microwave noises, and bouncy gooey notes for the main backing track. Mmm. Good eatin'.

     

    9. Negotiation, You Are The Perfect Drug

    Spoiler

     

     

     

    Neither of these two boss fights would be anywhere near as cool without their tracks. I'm not even a NIN fan, but this song fucking rocks. Fun fact: the final QTE in Kale's fight is timed to You/Are/The/Per/Fect/Drug!

     

    8. Colgera Theme

    Spoiler

     

     

    Ough.... Dragonroost Isle....

     

    7. Raphael's Final Act

    Spoiler

     

     

    Love it when villains in other media get to sing a Disney Villain song. Like Silent said, we stunned him, which makes him stop singing, which is so fucking cool! Implies the smarmy bastard is actively singing while attempting to TPK you.

     

    6. Sex Sells

    Spoiler

     

     

    Aside from being accompanied by eye candy, the title of this song is genius. Also, it got a really high quality part in the Siivagunner Shopkeeper Collab.

     

    5.Production Destruction

    Spoiler

     

     

    This has a melody in it that sounds just like Loading Screens.

     

    4. Zelda's Lullaby (SPOILERS FOR TOTK)

    Spoiler

     

     

     

     

     

    I'm... not really a Zelda buff? One of my goals this year is playing the 3D Zelda games I haven't (spoiler: it's all of them except the BotW games and Phantom Hourglass). But even then I recognize just how POWERFUL their use of Zelda's lullaby was for tying up the story and themes of the game. Lovely.

     

    3. Unexpectancy Part 3

    Spoiler

     

     

    Oh man, this is the reason why Pizza Tower and TotK are deadlocked for my favorite boss this year. Don't you just hate when a game pulls out a bullshit boss rush attack just to pad out the game, like when they did it in Reveangance and made you fight Monsoon for the second time in as many hours? Well, so does Peppino. The moment that our poor little Italian zio sees every fucking boss get pulled out and he becomes earth-shatteringly, unquenchably, unreasonably fucking mad and annihilates them in quick succession to this track is the peak of vidya catharsis.

     

    2. APE OUT

    Spoiler

     

    Definitely the most unique track here, especially since I essentially just posted all of it and the whole game. As above, APE OUT's soundtrack is dynamic and the soundscape is 100% built off of your gameplay. All I'll say here in addition is that the level titles are also synched up with the musical cues, leading to nice little bridges between hectic drum and cymbal solos.

     

    1. On the Road (Payday 2)

    Spoiler

     

     

    Both arranged and ingame rips offered. Like I said above, this track is the lion's share of why this single DLC level was able to cinch an honorable mention all on its own. Like most people, I was pretty sad that Simon Viklund had left Overkill way back when and pretty much stopped making music for the game. But then they brought in this guy, fuckin Gustavo Coutinho. And he makes this a handful of my other favorite tracks in the game. This track is one of the two heist tracks in PD2 with lyrics, and when the game treats you right and has that sultry voice drop in when you're making a mad dash back to the lifeboat, putting down guarunteed dozer spawns and sweating to pick up cash thrown into the water as the rig crumbles around you. Oh man, makes you feel invincible. This song, like the heist, is a sendoff to PD2 as a whole. It evokes the perect feeling of pulling off One. Last. Job. with your crew and riding off into the sunset on your horse, wind in your hair and dollars in your fist. 

     

    I'm waxing extremely fuckin poetic for a PD2 track, but yeah, it's that good. This song has inspired a lot of things for me, mostly for DnD. I know exactly which encounter this is getting used for.

     

     

    Best Girl

    Spoiler

    xXMByBG.png

     

    Princess Zelda

    This award is just to focus on how much better they handled Zelda's character in TOTK compared to BOTW. Spoilers ahead! It's probably the most emotional I've felt about these two games, which is saying a lot.

     

    So yeah, essentially in BOTW Zelda was ok. The whole story (some people would say it isn't much of a story. I'm talking about the memories you had to recover) focused on her trauma and interests and acceptance of herself. Denying her natural interest in the Shiekah tech led to the Calamity in a way, protecting those she loved allowed her to unlock her sealing powers. But honestly I couldn't really care a huge amount? I thought that the champions and a couple of the champion descendants were a lot more interesting, hell, Link's characterization was more interesting. I really couldn't bring myself to care about Zelda that much.

     

    This is handily rectified in TOTK. The stories of the Champions and Link are mostly solved. I do think it's a shame how Link doesn't get much, but this puts a lot more focus on the new champions and Zelda especially. There's this whole arc she undergoes with getting really involved in conflict and discovering family she didn't know she had, but there's this one pivotal decision she makes where it's like ok holy shit, yeah this is Zelda's legend for once. Her sacrifice really motivated me to work harder and push toward being able to annihilate Ganondorf's ass and save her. The cutscene where she becomes the Light Dragon is legitimately haunting, and it leading into the truly magical and creative moment of the Master Sword pull is lovely.

     

    Also her bobcut and shoulderless dress hit my weak points and I may have bought her Amiibo.

     

    RUNNERS-UP:

    The Razor and The Thorn (Slay the Princess)

    Korsica (Hi-Fi Rush)

    Karlach (BG3)

    Cordelia and her mom (Dead Estate)

     

     

    Best Moments

    Spoiler

    Not gonna rank these, but the most hype/funniest moments are:

     

    I get my first Prank in WAR with milliseconds to spare:

     

    Astarion cucks Shadowheart out of her big moment:

     

    Zelda becomes the Light Dragon + Master Sword Pull:

     

    Invaders Must Chai:

     

    Pizzaface fight:

     

    Couldn't find/there aren't good videos of these, but:

     

    Crude Awakening Escape

    DOMINATE THE BRAIN (BG3)

    A Crack in the Slab (Dishonored 2)

    The entire ending sequence of TOTK from entering the chasm beneath Hyrule Castle

     


  2. I'll extrapolate on it a little when we talk about GOTYs (still have to finish Cooon), but yeah both the licensed and original tracks of Hi-Fi are great. I'm not even a fan of the bands featured and the final boss' track elevated that fight from just ok to rather good. Love how there was a QTE that lined up the chorus of the song.


  3. I still distinctly remember the final battles with the big bads of our completed campaigns, but I think that's because I think I try and care a little more about the DM's plots than most. I'd definitely agree that those are the moments that are most easily remembered, though. The collaborative moments stick a lot better than those revolving around one character or the DM's super cool BBEG. Read: I wish Insectan would let my villains monologue a little bit before choosing to pepper them with arrows.


  4. On 12/7/2023 at 9:38 PM, Gyokuyoutama said:

    I finally got around to playing Pizza Tower.  It's good, of course.

     

    The thing that struck me about it was how I kept getting Jack Rabbit vibes.  It's weird because there's really not that much connecting them.  They have completely different artstyles, attack modes (melee momentum vs. Rambo shooting), level structures, etc.  There are some minor similarities, like some secrets being hidden in similar ways, the focus on being able to run fast, and some musical influences, but in many ways the games couldn't be more apart.  Neverthelss, I kept getting the same feeling as I did when playing Jazz Jackrabbit 1 and 2.

     

    I think it's because Pizza Tower feels like it's the culmination of some grand PC platformer tradition, while there really haven't been very many good PC exclusive platformers since Jazz Jackrabbit.  It's like it came out of some alternate universe where there were a series of games that connect the two.

    definitely make sure to keep playing until you master the game. getting P-ranks is the best sense of flow I've gotten in a game in the last decade and it's where the game really shines


  5. On 11/7/2023 at 9:01 PM, A 1970 Corvette said:

    I'm sure most half life fans out here already know about this but there's a really awesome commentary playthrough of half life from a valve employee being uploaded right now. As a rabid half life fan this kinda stuff is so cool to see, he shows off stuff like early design documents, old names that were voted on for the project, even some old renders / concept art

     

    I love how he brings up that every single person that playtested Anomalous Materials bobbed their heads to the HEV suit equip music. 

    This is the guy who graciously gave me an interview when I visited valve for SPUF. Nice of them to do that since I just strolled in like a dipshit instead of actually trying to set a visit up.

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