It’s that time again!
I’m as excited as ever to see everyone’s lists, this time including all
those decade lists even if they are starting to get a bit tiresome…
Oh well, I will probably do one as well, haha.
But let’s start with this year, what a year, it will always be remembered
as the big moving year but also the year that I finally beat my 1000th game!
Considering all the moving this is a more impressive list than expected.
—NES—
Faxanadu
Wo, some childhood revenge, I really like the world design in this when
you realize that the entire games is inside a giant tree!
One of the few NES RPGs I have beaten.
—SNES—
Lennus II
This game really deserves a proper review, I’m still surprised how much I
liked this odd world. I was kinda prepared from the first game and was
able to look past the strange graphic and setting but was still surprised
how many other unique elements the game have.
La Wares
This game has some serious balancing issues and you can easily get stuck
and probably make your save file useless…
Slayers
Another anime/manga based game, most of the game was standard SNES RPG
but a twist in the later parts actually surprised me and raised
the game a point or two!
Heracles no Eiko 4
Wow! Why have I not played this earlier! This turned out to be a
top tier game, securing a place in top 100 at least!
Villgust
This might very well be THE worst RPG that I have ever played
or at least beaten! Stay away!
Record of Lodoss War
A really nice game with HORRIBLE maze dungeons, a shame.
Ancient Magic: Bazoe! Mahou Sekai
A very straight forward RPG, it moves forward in a quite high tempo,
nothing spectacular but yet another good RPG
Front Mission Gunhazard
Once again a mystery why I haven’t played this earlier,
it’s Square and it’s an interesting mix of RPG/platform/shooter.
Magna Braban
Very short, very standard RPG, I love em all!
Silva Saga 2
Very short, very standard RPG, I love em all!
Shadowrun
Ugh, this was a long time coming revenge, I have tried to play this
so many times without any progress. A few peeks in a guide,
savestates and determination finally saw me trough.
I played the official Swedish version, one of very few we got!
Ranma 1/2
Like Slayers this was also based on manga/anime and also had some
surprising end game stuff. Clearly it’s made for longtime fans either way.
Daikaijyuu Monogatari
Oh man, another surprising top tier game, I see this as the lost cousin
of Lufia. In fact I enjoyed it so much I also beat the sequel!
Daikaijyuu Monogatari 2
This doesn’t even have a fan translation yet but I just had to play it
anyway since the first one was so good.(this was too) Will beat again
if the fan translation ever gets released.
Burning Heroes
Eh!? This is the predecessor to Octopath Traveller, it follows the same
structure, eight characters that barely interact with each other and follow
their own story through the world. It was quite interesting but also gets a
bit tedious since you visit some places eight times…
Heracles no Eiko 3
Not as amazing as part 4 but a good game to say the least!
Chaos Seed
I wrote a long post about this, the 1000th game!
Even if it wasn’t it would still be a game to remember,
such a massive unique game it is.
Super Pang!
I just needed a mindless game like this
—Playstation—
Castlevania Chronicles
I played on “original mode” and it might have been the
hardest game in the series, even medusa gave me problems!
—Switch—
Trials of Mana
To think we finally got an official version! Still filled
with problems but amazing in a lot of ways.
(how is there not a 3-player option)
Seiken Densetsu
This was also overdue to beat, even more and worse menu handling
than Links Awakening but otherwise not bad.
Zelda Link’s Awakening
It fixed the biggest problem of the original, added a few new problems
and also some new nice details, collectables, shortcuts etc.
It doesn’t replace the original but I will return to both of them
more than once again!
Luigis Mansion 3
This was the true sequel I wanted! I’m not a big fan of Nintendo’s
boss design in this or other games but otherwise a perfect game to
end the year on!
—Playstation 4—
Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition
Yep, it’s Vesperia. It was a pleasure to return to all
these years later.
A Way Out
Nowhere near Brothers but if you have a friend to play with, do it.
Kingdom Hearts III
Hmm, the pressure was probably too much on this one, some of the worlds
are fantastic and the combat is by far the best in the series but the main
story is sadly lacking and wrapped up far too quickly in the end,
only to give us another cliffhanger and long wait…
Red Dead Redemption 2
I expected a MASSIVE game, beat it on a weekend, haha.
I just cannot grasp how beautiful the world and it’s graphics are,
it’s not the most expensive game ever made for naught.
Also the “big twist” in the story is something I really appreciated
Sekiro
This was by far the biggest disappointment of the year, I was skeptical from
the very first trailer but playing it was just a pain, I beat it,
got the best ending, sold it, I don’t want to hear about it ever again. Ugh.
Unravel 2
Simple, gorgeous, co-op, no reason not to play
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
I did have fun playing this and trying out all the weapons but I would
rather just play Sotn once again, sadly.
Dark Souls Remastered
It was a bigger difference than expected between this and the original
xbox360 version I played a few years ago, a MUCH smoother experience.
Also provokingly easy, this time it took less than 20 hours to do
everything including the DLC that I never played before.
Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3
99 hours later, S rank etc. The ending has made me very upset!!
Seeing characters return from Trails in the Sky, spending hundreds of
hours with some of them and ending on cliffhangers, this might end up as
the second worst wait of my life… I’m already considering just importing
the japanese version of part 4, also the game of the year.
And by now the series as a whole has skyrocketed on the top 1000 list.
Darksiders 3
The worst technical mess I have seen in years! Below that is a quite nice
game with a Metroid/Dark Souls world that I enjoyed exploring.
—PC—
Wizard of Legend
Another random generated game… I had seen everything in the game after
1 hour, beat it after 19 more, NEVER MORE THIS GENRE!
Shrouded in Sanity
This must be the roughest of the rough diamonds, it’s very unlikely anyone will
enjoy this, but I somehow did.
Aggelos
Quite nice platformer, a bit slow maybe.
The Banner Saga
I knew this would be good, and it was but I don’t want to see where the story
goes in the sequels…
The Gardens Between
Pleasant to look at, nothing more, barely a game
Heroes of Hammerwatch
Finally played this, everything I expected, more of the same, just what I
wanted! It is randomly generated BUT in this one case it works well and it
has one of the best and most interesting shortcut systems I have seen to skip
earlier floors. The town is also a really nice and cozy addition.
Count Lucador
A cute little horror game!
Shadows of Adam
If you like the RPGs of old there is no reason not to play this!
It feels like a classic RPG with everything unnecessary cut out.
Blasphemous
Those pixels! A few bugs aside the only thing to complain about in this
“metroidvania” is the fact that exploring and returning to old areas
didn’t feel fun or rewarding enough even if there is much to find.
Venture Kid
A simple but fun Mega man clone, not much to say!
GRIS
More of a game than I expected but in the end the same story and tricks
that I have seen over and over.
Nice to look at of course, should have played on the big screen!
Armortale
Final game of the year, yet another platformer, the selling point being
a quick switch between armors, each with unique abilities.
A good game, I have just played so many of them.
That’s it! 46 beaten this year, 1000+ in total!
As usual I don’t include any “re-beaten” games but I want to mention
that I finally returned and got 112% and all achievements in Hollow Knight,
those who know what that includes know!
Also I beat new game +7 in Dark Souls 3
(the ultimate challenge that game has to offer)
I have no intention of ever going for 2000 or another goal with the
beaten games, I will just stick to new releases that I REALLY think will be
good and keep returning to some of my favorites, from SNES, PS1 and PS2.
Oh and lastly, top 3 2019:
1: Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 (by far)
2: Kingdom Hearts III
3: Indivisble (I haven’t beaten it yet but close enough to rank it)
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