Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

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Magical_Isopod
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Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Apologies if this is too similar to Jon's post, but I found that one to be too nebulous in scope. :P I want starker terms - of the games released in 2020, what were the best and worst ones you played?

I'll give my list a go:

BEST
Doom Eternal - Doom 2016, but with better pacing, some compelling new narratives hooks, some amazing setpiece moments, and a grappling hook. I've seen some strangely mixed opinions on this game, but I LOVED it.
Trials of Mana - One of two remakes of a 90s RPG released by Square-Enix in April, I actually thought Trials was the better of the two. Instead of going full Nomura and "subverting" expectations with contrived nonsense, Trials of Mana is a straight remake - ostensibly the original game, rebuilt in 3D for modern hardware, and with some really minor additions to tie it closer to other Mana games. Really fantastic game, and criminally overlooked because of its unfortunate release window.
Shinsekai: Into The Depths - This one's cheating a little, because it technically came out in 2019 on Apple Arcade, but the Switch release finally made it accessible to people outside the Apple ecosystem. Shinsekai is a weird game, and it revels in it. It's got strange controls and mechanics, an unflinching love for the deep ocean, and a tense and sometimes terrifying atmosphere, pairing sci-fi apocalyptic themes with the isolation and desperation of the deep ocean. This game Is FANTASTIC, and I strongly recommend it, especially if you love "show, don't tell" narratives.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope - So, this one's weird. I almost can't recommend it. Like Man of Medan before it, it uses real world historical events to spin a narrative horror thread. And in co-op, it's a good time. Really good. And it's mechanically strong, with some amazing visuals to really sell the world. But the characters range from dull to insufferable, and it repeats too many themes from the previous entry. The next entry, House of Ashes, has a much more compelling real-world inspiration, so I'm hopeful for that one.

Worst
Final Fantasy VII Remake - Let me preface by saying FF7R is not a bad game. It's not. It's well made, the combat system is great, and the big story moments are masterfully done. But... It's not what I wanted. They promised before launch that you could play it like a turn-based RPG, and while that's kind of true, the execution is super janky and definitely doesn't work as advertised. But the changes to the original are where I take grievance. The overly padded "filler" segments of long corridors comprising too many hours of the game, the addition of open world sidequesting, the contrived nonsense shoehorned into the plot to be "meta"... I recognize a good game, but man did I ever not like this one.
Cyberpunk 2077 - I played New Vegas at launch, on PS3. I can live with bugs. That isn't what makes Cyberpunk a bad game. I can even overlook the crunch and casual transphobia on social media - "Hate the artist, love the art." But this game sucks. It feels 10 years out of date with its sidequest spam, distracting map markers, and well-worn mechanics. The world is this miserable pit of depravity stuck in 1980s teenaged angst, complete with the weird anti-Asian xenophobia the genre standardized. I didn't want to be in that world, I thought V was a whiny brat who couldn't decide if she was a low-level thug or Adam Jensen, and some soundtrack choices beyond "downbeat, slowly-paced vaporwave" would have been nice too. This game was just a waste of everyone's time, and while it does have some really strong components - like everything involved Johnny Silverhand and a totally competent combat system - I definitely don't see either 7(?) years of development nor a cohesive vision here.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons - I don't like Animal Crossing. I never will. It's not my jam. But the way this game took off and infiltrated every single Twitch stream I watch, during a time where I was laid off, angry, and in need of an escape, this banal, boring game drove me nuts. I get some people like it, all the power to you. But I couldn't escape this thing for a good month or two. I don't get it.
Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC - I didn't like Gen 8. I love Pokemon. But charging $40CDN for what is ostensibly post-game content, following a game with no post-game (which is a series standard), and then having the gall to charge $120(!) for the complete edition at retail, while also charging $23 a year just to keep my Pokemon in a server... Nintendo needs a hearty smack to return to Terra Firma. There's making money, and then there's exploiting a fanbase, and I'm really not keen on Nintendo's business practices these days.
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Miririn
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Miririn »

I had my hands full catching up on many games I had missed over the years, so the only newly released games I played this year were "The Last of Us Part II", "Spider-Man: Miles Morales", and "Animal Crossing: New Horizons"... and I liked them all, so I don't have any worst of 2020 list. (I did play about three hours of "Cyberpunk 2077" but gave it up to wait for more patches).

I understand your "Animal Crossing" criticism. It's definitely banal. I can only play it if I'm doing something else at the same time. I also have a lot of other problems with the game. Multiplayer with more than one other person is a real pain. The villagers have very limited dialogue options, especially if you have more than one villager with the same personality type. Everyone is a bit too nice and I wanted some ruder villagers like in the old game. You also have to keep going through so many menu options to do simple tasks (like flying Dodo Airlines). There's a lot of long loading screens. Et cetera.

...and yet, I just found it so relaxing to put on a bunch of old horror movies or TV dramas or audio books and mindlessly terraform my island or hunt bugs or decorate my house. The villagers are charming, the seasonal events are sweet. There's hundreds of clothing and furnitute options. It was fun feeling creative, giving my island a theme ("Midsommar" or "Gilmore Girls" or space or Venice or etc etc etc), and then getting a new idea, tearing it down and starting again. I loved visiting other people's islands and seeing how they worked around what the game offers the player in order to create terrifying horror nightmares or Edo period Japanese castle towns.

After logging hundreds of hours since March, one day in the summer I suddenly realised I had no impulse to play anymore and I've barely picked up the game since (although I do check in from time to time to weed or join holiday events). I felt like I had gotten everything out of the game it could give me. But I'll always be grateful for those five months or so of peaceful, mindless busywork.

As for the other two titles, as my user picture would suggest, I completely adore "The Last of Us Part II", so I can't really be unbiased about it. I just loved it. And I've been a "Spider-Man" nerd since I was little, so I'm easily pleased by any "Spider-Man" title, and one as polished as "Spider-Man: Miles Morales" draws no complaints from me. Plus there were cats in it.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by ColinAlonso »

Well I played 7 games released in 2020 but three of them were remasters or remakes. Of those my top 3 are Hades, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and Xenoblade Chronicles: DE. So two remasters/remakes there then. The worst is probably Animal Crossing as well. I don't think I would have said that 40 hours in, when I was really enjoying it, but the other 20 or so after that really soured the whole thing for me. The UI and quality of life annoyances started to get to me. The last couple of villagers annoyed me (Elmer said the same things as Bob but with horse noises, this disappointed me). The idea of doing things daily started to irk me in the same way it would on a mobile title.

I think a more interesting list for me includes all the games I played this year and the other thread seems less suited for numbered lists.

5. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
I finally got into Fire Emblem. I played the Blue Lions route and the story and turn-based combat were great.

4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
It just captured all the same feelings I had playing THPS2 when I was young. Which, frankly, is quite remarkable 20 years on.

3. God of War (2018)
An interesting story, a great place to explore, chunky, weighty combat and beautiful graphics. Does this redeem Kratos? Is it meant to? All I know is I want to see more and the devs left enough sequel hooks to make sure of that.

2. A Short Hike
This game has just a great vibe. That's arguably what I wanted from Animal Crossing, but this worked better for me. I've seen it described along the lines of a great, small open world. Its a joy to explore and Claire is so good to control. I've probably thought about it longer than my two hour playthorough, but its not even specific moments just that vibe.

1. Hades
So much has been written about Hades in end of year lists. Simply, I love damn near everything it does.

Worst game I played this year: Monument Valley 2
I often remain positive about games I play. I take the bits I enjoyed about average and poor games and say, at least I liked that. I found Monument Valley 2 , however, to boring and dull. The puzzles may look visually clever, but mechanically I found them boring and simple and I did not care for the story or visuals. It was free, that's my one highlight. Sigh.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Magical_Isopod wrote: January 8th, 2021, 4:31 pm Apologies if this is too similar to Jon's post, but I found that one to be too nebulous in scope. :P I want starker terms - of the games released in 2020, what were the best and worst ones you played?
Stark terms then, here we go! :D

BEST:

1. Hades (Switch)

The hype is all true. It is nothing less than a revelation. The first time I got into an action roguelike and I put 70hrs into it, and can see myself happily playing it more. Soundtrack bangs.

2. The Last of Us, Part II (PS4)

Maybe the pinnacle of the glitzy "cinematic AAA Sony exclusive" style of video game, at least out of what I've played from the PS4 generation.

3. A Short Hike (EGS, Switch)

A tiny, perfect open world game for which the speedrun is 3 minutes but which I've played for about 4 hours across both installs, finding collectibles and completing side quests. Wholesome and lovely.

4. Meteorfall - Krumit's Tale (Android)

A mutant deckbuilder tile-swapping roguelike that has much more complex and tactical play, but is just as addictive as the "play or pass" Meteorfall - Journeys.

5. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4)

Never played these in the old PS1 days, never play sports games of any kind to be honest but really enjoyed what I played of this. Pure fun.

I didn't play enough games from 2020 to have a real list of the worst, but the biggest disappointment was a Switch release that came over from PC, Nowhere Prophet. The art style and music is good, but the gameplay feels like playing some pay-to-win game where the AI enemy has spent money and you haven't. Punishing and not in a fun or informative way that encourages you to keep trying. Finally managed to get far enough through a run to make some permanent progress and my save wiped. Apparently this is a bug they know about but is still in the Switch version, apparently you have to quit out in a certain way to avoid it... well how was I supposed to know that. Uninstalled.

Still interested to get to The Pathless, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Ghost of Tsushima, Resi 3 Remake and Demon's Souls.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Truk_Kurt »

ColinAlonso wrote: January 10th, 2021, 10:41 pm
Worst game I played this year: Monument Valley 2
I also finished this game this year and found it to be just more of the same of Monument Valley 1 which I enjoyed. Never paid any attention to the story, I was just there for the puzzles and art style. Did you play the first game?
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by iamcarlgregory »

Haha, y'all are seriously making me reconsider not grabbing Hades yet - I'm definitely interested, but was going to wait for a sale or something. But seeing the incredible reception is tempting me...

Appropriately enough, among the games I played in 2020, 20 of them were released that year!

BEST

The Last of Us: Part II (PS4)

A wonderful evolution of the first Last of Us. I really appreciated the small expansions made to the combat, and I damn-near got lost in how wide some of the new exploration areas were. After experiencing the 'open world chapter,' I immediately the whole game to be built like that, but I can understand why that didn't suit what Naughty Dog wanted to do with the rest of the game.

I know some people didn't connect with the new characters, but I really dug Abby - as unconventional as the pacing was, I can appreciate investing so much time with her. Just a really engrossing game, overall.

Ghosts of Tsushima (PS4)

Yes, it's a game that doesn't do anything new, really - but what it does do, it does very well. Plus, it's absolutely GORGEOUS. I have zero interest in any game's 'Photo Mode,' and even I took a few snaps of Tsushima. I appreciate the concessions that Sucker Punch made to keep gameplay streamlined - being able to call my horse in an instant, grabbing crafting materials as I rode around, etc. Even the wind mechanic kept me engaged enough to do the majority of the boiler-plate 'open world collectable' stuff. My favourite Sucker Punch game since Sly 1.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS4)

Okay, so just for context: my first Yakuza game was Zero, and I fell hard, buying and playing through the entire series as they were released (or re-released) for the PS4. So odds are, I was never not going to like this game. With that said, I think that the switch from arcade brawler to RPG was genius - even if the mechanics themselves weren't always the strongest, their presentation was superbly silly and hilarious. Also blown away by the change in protagonist - Ichiban Kasuga is an incredibly endearing and enthusiastic character, and any fears I had of wishing that Kiryu was still helming have vanished. The vocal performance from the Japanese V.O. was beyond amazing.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch)

Like Last of Us, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is just a fantastic evolution of it's predecessor - I was particularly floored by the art direction, and the soundtrack. Gameplay is as tight and responsive as ever, and thanks to a less clumsy combat system, Wisps probably edges out Blind Forest as my preferred Ori game, though there's barely a hair between them.

Demon's Souls (PS5)

I bounced off of Demon's Souls on the PS3, though admittedly I didn't give it much of a chance - at the time, I was much more interested in the emerging Dark Souls series. Well, with the PS5 launch, and a shiny new BluePoint version, it seemed the time had finally come - and I was thrilled with the result. The game is lavishly realised, and essentially eliminating the load times between deaths made me much more resilient to getting overwhelmed and putting it down. It felt a little shorter than the rest of the Souls series, but I actually like that - I've always felt that they dragged on a little too long for my tastes. But I can see why so many still prefer Demon's to Dark - I think I do too now.

WORST

No Straight Roads (PS4)

This game has its heart in the right place, and takes a lot of influence from media that I adore (Scott Pilgrim and Persona, for example), but the execution just isn't strong enough. The controls feel super janky, and I seriously reached a point early on where I almost quit out of frustration. It's not a terrible game (the soundtrack absolutely slaps, and the designs are super cool), but its reach definitely exceeds its grasp.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated

I wouldn't have given this a second thought if I hadn't heard people singing its praises on Reddit for years before Rehydrated's release. Turns out it's just a bog-standard mascot platformer - it doesn't handle particularly well, the levels aren't very interesting, and the music gets grating pretty quick. I'm not even mad at the game - at worst, it's a flat 5 on 10. I'm more flummoxed by the nostalgia-tinted reverence that some pockets of gamers have for it. More power to them, I guess.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by JadePhoenix »

Best:

Honorable Mention: Hades
An absolutely fantastic game, which I hope to spend countless more hours in, but I have a hard time thinking of it as a 2020 game, because I've had it since early 2019.

4: Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Moon Studios have done it again. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to create movement that was more fun than in the first game, but they achieved it. The story was just as wonderful and emotional as the first game, and the combat was even better. If there was one disappointment, it was with the music, while it was still good, I felt it leaned too much on rehashes of the theme from the first game, and didn't have very much originality.

3: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
This is partially a stand in for the entire Trails series, all nine (so far) of which I played last year. To my knowledge, no one has ever tried to do what Falcom are doing with this series, telling one continuous story, in one amazingly defined world, over what will eventually be 15-20 games. Cold Steel IV is in many ways the culmination of the first half of that story, and it's a fantastic payoff.

2: Persona 5 Royal
Despite the fact that I didn't think the writing for the new content was quite a good as the original, Persona 5 remains one of my favorite games ever, so it was basically impossible for me not to love any reason to play it again. It also added some nice QoL improvements, and extra story that was, overall, still quite good.

1: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
An absolute masterpiece of storytelling. I have never played another game where so much of it left me so hopelessly confused, but so badly wanting to understand, which then actually delivered on that promise perfectly. 13 different points of view, told totally out of order, with very little explanation going in, but somehow, by the end, everything makes sense and it's wonderful.

Worst:

Dishonerable Mention:
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
I actually really enjoyed this, I spent about 60 hours 100%ing it, and am eagerly awaiting DLC, but I did want to mention the marketing, which sold this game as a prequel to BotW, and it simply isn't. Whether anyone outright lied about it is up for debate, but the implications were impossible to miss, and at best it was very misleading.

3. Megaman Zero/Zx Legacy Collection
This one might be on me. I played all 4 Zero games on the GBA, then again on the DS collection, and remember enjoying them, but I couldn't get anywhere with these. I don't know if I just need to "git gud", which would be odd for games I've beaten multiple times in the past, but possible, or if something about the translation from the tiny GBA screen to a 50" TV caused problems, but I found this version of these games to be impossibly difficult. After banging my head against them for hours, I just gave up.

2. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
They've taken a 15-year-old game that was already pretty simple and a bit too repetitive, and simplified it even further, while making it no less repetitive, added a new coat of paint, and sold it as a full-priced release. I don't know what I was expecting, but it WAS early March, and I was probably desperate for anything new to play.

1. Paper Mario: The Origami King
Fool me thrice... "This time will be different" "Combat is still pointless, but at least it's interesting and pointless"... I don't really understand all the praise the writing gets, but maybe I just fell asleep before it got good. Random battles are every bit as tedious as the previous games, and the puzzle-solving aspect of them is interesting the first few times, but not remotely robust enough to maintain that interest. The one highlight was the boss battles, which were intense and interesting, everything the rest of the game was not, but that just wasn't enough to carry me through.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Best
1. Gears Tactics - perfectly balanced turn based combat game in the vain of XCOM but without the base building stuff which I was never into much. In terms of the combat, I can't think how it could be improved and it is quite the achievement to balance everything given the number of weapon mods, skill point perks and enemy types. A great diversion for the Gears series which I really hope has done well enough to warrant a sequel.

2. The Last of Us Part II
I enjoyed the first game but perhaps not as much as many others, this game however I found to have a better story and more interesting combat, also looks tremendous.

3. Doom Eternal - this game seems to be like marmite. I am one who loves it, to me the combat feels perfectly balamced despite the addition of new enemies. As well as being a frantic FPS, it also requires a lot of concentration and resource management, I can see why that puts people off but for me I loved it, bar the platforming which I think is pants.

Honourable mention: Superliminal - the novelty began to wear off by the end of the game, but I comend the game for creating a puzzle game that really does something new and it was a fun experience.

Worst
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - I think this is more on me to be fair to the game. I didn't play the remake but remember enjoying the PS One games and I fancied a fun colourful platformer when it came out. I just found it to be way too frustrating to play, I found it to be really difficult, unfairly so and so only got half way through before putting it down. It does look lovely though and I imagine if you are used to such hard 3D platformers, you will have a great time with it.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Magical_Isopod »

JadePhoenix wrote: January 11th, 2021, 2:16 pm
3. Megaman Zero/Zx Legacy Collection
This one might be on me. I played all 4 Zero games on the GBA, then again on the DS collection, and remember enjoying them, but I couldn't get anywhere with these. I don't know if I just need to "git gud", which would be odd for games I've beaten multiple times in the past, but possible, or if something about the translation from the tiny GBA screen to a 50" TV caused problems, but I found this version of these games to be impossibly difficult. After banging my head against them for hours, I just gave up.
I'm of the same mind on the Zero games. Even with baby mode enabled (all upgrades unlocked right from the start), the games still have cheap deaths from any multitude of OHKOs. If you haven't given them a whirl already, I highly recommend the ZX games, because they're a little more reasonable for difficulty - but on easy, I'd say they're *too* easy.

Inti-Creates is not a developer I'm particularly keen on, because their games tend to be full of a similar, "screw you, git gud" mentality as FromSoft stuff. But in general, I definitely find the MMZ games to be overrated. I've tried so many times to get into them and I just can't.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Truk_Kurt wrote: January 11th, 2021, 3:01 pm Worst
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - I think this is more on me to be fair to the game. I didn't play the remake but remember enjoying the PS One games and I fancied a fun colourful platformer when it came out. I just found it to be way too frustrating to play, I found it to be really difficult, unfairly so and so only got half way through before putting it down. It does look lovely though and I imagine if you are used to such hard 3D platformers, you will have a great time with it.
I would go back and have another go at the originals, cuz those games are HARD, especially the first one. I'm eager to try out Crash 4, but I don't feel ethically right buying Activision games new. That said, it's 100% fair to drop a game over difficulty, and accessibility options like Super Guide in Mario 3D World really ought to be an industry standard.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by ColinAlonso »

Truk_Kurt wrote: January 11th, 2021, 9:50 am
ColinAlonso wrote: January 10th, 2021, 10:41 pm
Worst game I played this year: Monument Valley 2
I also finished this game this year and found it to be just more of the same of Monument Valley 1 which I enjoyed. Never paid any attention to the story, I was just there for the puzzles and art style. Did you play the first game?
I did! Just like the second game, I didn't find its art direction appealing and I felt the puzzles looked cleverer than they actually were when playing. And I knew it had a good reputation as well so I played the second game hoping something would click with me that hadn't when I played the first, and well, here we are.

I'll second the original Crash games being rock hard. Even 20 years after Crash 2, I remember that the 20th level involves bees and is rock hard, like infuriating 'I want to throw the controller, hit things then sob on the floor about it' hard. I also have vague memories of the first being extremely hard but we only had that on a swap from a friend.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Truk_Kurt »

I also remember the PS One Crash games to be hard, I don't think I actually completed any of them, but I suppose I just didn't remember how hard they were as it was 15-20 years ago. To be fair to the developer they did add in a neat feature to make it a tad less frustrating in that if you kept dying at a certain point, it would add an extra checkpoint in nearer to the place where you kept dying which I thought was a cool feature. You could also enable a a shadow underneath Crash whenever he was in the air which would show where you would land, but even with that enabled I struggled and eventually gave up.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by DomsBeard »

Best

FFVII remake

Everything I wanted it to be. Music, story, combat just a pleasure 99% of the time.

Ghost Of Tshushima

Bought it on a whim and genuinely the most fun I've had with a game in a very long time, probably my GOTY and I love Jin Sakai and all the characters. Reminded me of Mass Effect 2 strangely.

Worst

Twin Mirror

Very disappointing after what was an ''ok'' Tell Me Why. Slow uninteresting but hey looks better graphically.

TLOU 2

Ruined if for myself when I had its number when
Spoiler: show
One of the first thing you do with Abby is petting a dog Ellie had no choice but to bludgeon to death moments before
which I found a lazy start to what I realised would be naughty dog trying to make you care about
Spoiler: show
Joels killer as she loves dogs and look Ellie kills them, Abby good Ellie bad
. Great game crap story.
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I had no idea Twin Mirror even came out. I remember being vaguely interested in it, but like... I had heard *nothing* about this game til Dom mentioned it here. XD
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by Miririn »

Ruined if for myself when I had its number when
Spoiler: show
One of the first thing you do with Abby is petting a dog Ellie had no choice but to bludgeon to death moments before
which I found a lazy start to what I realised would be naughty dog trying to make you care about
Spoiler: show
Joels killer as she loves dogs and look Ellie kills them, Abby good Ellie bad
. Great game crap story.
Pedants' corner here but
Spoiler: show
the first dog you pet as Abby is Bear, who you can keep alive for all of Ellie's section. If Ellie doesn't kill him during the first gameplay part he appears in, he keeps showing up during other Ellie gameplay sections. It's Alice - the dog you play fetch with in the aquarium - who you have no choice but to kill.
(...can you tell I'm a dog-lover who struggled with this aspect of the game :lol: )
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by DomsBeard »

Magical_Isopod wrote: January 13th, 2021, 4:11 pm I had no idea Twin Mirror even came out. I remember being vaguely interested in it, but like... I had heard *nothing* about this game til Dom mentioned it here. XD
Yeah I've got no inclination to go back to it but going to push through.

Should've added Man Of Medan Little Hope too. After a good first 10 minutes the following 90 nothing happens. Another one to go back to but as I started it multiplayer I have to finish it in that state and that's currently scuppered as you can't change to single player. Shame as the first one was great.

Noted on the
Spoiler: show
doggos[/B]
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by DomsBeard »

Magical_Isopod wrote: January 13th, 2021, 4:11 pm I had no idea Twin Mirror even came out. I remember being vaguely interested in it, but like... I had heard *nothing* about this game til Dom mentioned it here. XD
Yeah I've got no inclination to go back to it but going to push through.

Should've added Man Of Medan Little Hope too. After a good first 10 minutes the following 90 nothing happens. Another one to go back to but as I started it multiplayer I have to finish it in that state and that's currently scuppered as you can't change to single player. Shame as the first one was great.

Noted on the
Spoiler: show
doggos
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by andthenweplay »

Best/Favourites

3. Rune Factory 4: Special
I know it might be a bit unfair to include what is essentially a remaster of a game on 3DS, but Rune Factory 4: Special remains one of the most addictive, compelling an important video games I have ever played. With the HD visuals and the ability to play on the TV really makes Rune Factory 4: Special completely worth replaying for me.

2. Streets of Rage 4
I absolutely love this game. Looks great, plays amazing and has one of the most killer musical scores of the year.

1. Trails of Mana: Remake
Trials of Mana is far from a perfect game. Story is is not delivered well and the voice acting ranges from passable to abysmal, but being in a fully 3D Mana game, where I could control the camera and solid combat mechanics and it a blast to play is more then I could ask for. But what really surprised me is how stunning this game looks. Not from a sense of realism but almost comparable to a Kirby game of Captain Toad. The characters and enemies are adorably cute and chunky and the same whimsical story book fantasy that the Mana games are best known for is in Trials of Mana in magnitudes

Worst/Least Favourite

3. Paper Mario: Origami King
My biggest regret with this game was going into it expecting an RPG similar to Thousand Year Door. This is not a bad thing, but my own expectations ruined the game for me which is a huge shame... but it happens.

2. CyberPunk 2077
After the 5th hard crash on my PS4 I pretty much had to put the game own. Hopefully I can finish it to give it a fair shot but the fact I can't really play the game properly feels very disappointing.

1. The Last of Us: Part II
I didn't love the first Last of Us game but I thought the story was compelling and the gameplay had some great moments. Last of Us 2 on the other hand felt like it could have been 7-10 hours shorter. So much of the game felt like padding and even the visceral combat struggled to really keep me engaged. From a tech side it is pretty much flawless, but I personally felt this game was a slog.
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andthenweplay
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Re: Your Best and Worst Games of 2020 Lists

Post by andthenweplay »

DomsBeard wrote: January 13th, 2021, 2:24 pm

FFVII remake

Everything I wanted it to be. Music, story, combat just a pleasure 99% of the time.

I am really excited to try Final Fantasy VII. I have this weekend off work and hopefully I will have a great opportunity to experience this title too.
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