bluebirdcore, whatever that means
this is my Essential Games to My Soul List. Or something. Someone else write this description.
38 Games
My ultimate favourite game. I love the cartoony graphics. I love the strange humour. I love that if you carry an egg in your pocket for too long it hatches and becomes a chick that you can't do anything with except release it. I love the funky soundtrack. I love the darkness luring in the corners, and the sudden unsettling scenes that often show up when you least expect it. I love the warmth radiating through it all. I even love the battle system.
What more can I say? EarthBound is just the best :^)
What more can I say? EarthBound is just the best :^)
I love this game so much that I don't know what to write about it. Just assume I love everything in this game. Character writing...... augh........ story... ough..... music..... ajfssfsdng.......... and so on.
most of all i love vivi and chocobo hot & cold
most of all i love vivi and chocobo hot & cold
When I was like 13 one of my best friends described the Ikana Canyon Music Box House to me and even just her description of it creeped me out so badly. I was SOLD. I knew I had to play it myself someday, and many years later I did.
It's not original of me to say that Majora's Mask has a deeply unsettling atmosphere, but it's just so special... it really feels like a dream. It's both scarier but also more cartoony than OoT was, in my opinion. With its strong neon colours, absurd NPCs, aliens, zombies, robot bulls(???) and shapeshifting, combined with the deeply emotional and sometimes incredibly sad moments (Darmani having his dying dream about his people rooting for him and cheering him on while the Song of Healing plays in the background always gets to me), it makes for an emotional whiplash of an experience, where you laugh at the absurdity of it all in one second and feel the existential dread of the moon falling down and destroying everyone and everything you've come to know in this world the next.
I've always found it so interesting how there are so many signs that Termina itself was already on the decline even before the titular Majora's Mask entered the picture, but if I start writing about it this text will never end. Just play this game, it's lovely. My favourite LoZ game!!
It's not original of me to say that Majora's Mask has a deeply unsettling atmosphere, but it's just so special... it really feels like a dream. It's both scarier but also more cartoony than OoT was, in my opinion. With its strong neon colours, absurd NPCs, aliens, zombies, robot bulls(???) and shapeshifting, combined with the deeply emotional and sometimes incredibly sad moments (Darmani having his dying dream about his people rooting for him and cheering him on while the Song of Healing plays in the background always gets to me), it makes for an emotional whiplash of an experience, where you laugh at the absurdity of it all in one second and feel the existential dread of the moon falling down and destroying everyone and everything you've come to know in this world the next.
I've always found it so interesting how there are so many signs that Termina itself was already on the decline even before the titular Majora's Mask entered the picture, but if I start writing about it this text will never end. Just play this game, it's lovely. My favourite LoZ game!!
A game that was released at just the right time for me. Sword goes swoosh! Pixel environments pretty and colourful!! Unbearable melancholy goes brrrrrr!!
I'm always a sucker for worlds that reward you for exploring every tiny centimeter of them, because that's always what I do. There is a lot you can miss in Hyper Light Drifter, and you don't NEED to explore it all, but exploring in this game is such a joy.
And the bosses!! And combat!! You start with a small skill pool and it stays small during the game, save for a few updates, so you have to do nothing but practice to get better. Even random mooks are strong and clever enough that you can easily die to a small group of enemies if you don't stay on your toes. And many bosses demand every ounce of your concentration & skills to beat them. Spent 2 days fighting the Hanged Man over and over again until I got good enough to beat him. And I absolutely LOVED it. Obsessed with this game to this day.
I'm always a sucker for worlds that reward you for exploring every tiny centimeter of them, because that's always what I do. There is a lot you can miss in Hyper Light Drifter, and you don't NEED to explore it all, but exploring in this game is such a joy.
And the bosses!! And combat!! You start with a small skill pool and it stays small during the game, save for a few updates, so you have to do nothing but practice to get better. Even random mooks are strong and clever enough that you can easily die to a small group of enemies if you don't stay on your toes. And many bosses demand every ounce of your concentration & skills to beat them. Spent 2 days fighting the Hanged Man over and over again until I got good enough to beat him. And I absolutely LOVED it. Obsessed with this game to this day.
My FAVOURITE Kingdom Hearts game!! I know KH2 is technically a better game (and I love KH2!) but Birth by Sleep is MY Kingdom Hearts game. I like the main trio a lot, and I love that all three of them gets equal amounts of importance in the story and cool moments. They're such good friends and it's so tragic when they start to fight with each other and drift apart, when you know they could have been sucessful if they made better choices and stuck together.
And that downer ending!! The drama of it all!! This game has so many silly and bizarre moments, as all Kingdom Hearts games has (and SHOULD have, in my opinion! The narm makes this series what it is!), but i can't think of any other KH game that has THIS many cool moments when I just wanna jump up and down and shout "YEAH!!!" or "OH NO!!!!" at the screen. You know. As you do when something cool and dramatic happens.
All three of the characters get endings like that, it's so high-stakes and just great. Especially Terra's ending, even though it's so sad! I could write a paragraph about that final boss alone, but i won't. All I'll say is that in this house we love Terra and people who hate him can fight me in the pit. You're allowed to make fun of him however, since him trusting and/or getting used by every single villain in the entire game is really funny.
Imagine playing this game on the PSP and loving the characters and having to wait 9 years to get to know what happens to them in KH3... yeah, that was me.
And that downer ending!! The drama of it all!! This game has so many silly and bizarre moments, as all Kingdom Hearts games has (and SHOULD have, in my opinion! The narm makes this series what it is!), but i can't think of any other KH game that has THIS many cool moments when I just wanna jump up and down and shout "YEAH!!!" or "OH NO!!!!" at the screen. You know. As you do when something cool and dramatic happens.
All three of the characters get endings like that, it's so high-stakes and just great. Especially Terra's ending, even though it's so sad! I could write a paragraph about that final boss alone, but i won't. All I'll say is that in this house we love Terra and people who hate him can fight me in the pit. You're allowed to make fun of him however, since him trusting and/or getting used by every single villain in the entire game is really funny.
Imagine playing this game on the PSP and loving the characters and having to wait 9 years to get to know what happens to them in KH3... yeah, that was me.
a lot of people are so unforgiving about flaws in video games now... or if a game is just shorter than they want. flaws doesn't mean a game is bad imo! Every single game i love also has something i don't like in it. there are no perfect games. except for shadow of the colossus.
This is PEAK square enix, i wish they dared to make more standalone projects like this. TWEWY has such a distinct style and it LEANS into that style so heavily, it gives the entire game such a cool & unique vibe.
The main kids are so lovable and all have their own strong personalities, and you feel for them when they're struggling. This game focuses so much on the experience of being a teenager, the difficulty of connecting to other people and the importance of being open to new experiences and people and I think that's what made me vibe with it so much when I played it as a teenager myself.
It's so much fun to play, and there's so much endgame content for those who want to really dive into the pin collecting, noise hunting & the game's hidden lore (PLEASE play the bonus chapter, Another Day).
Not only is the writing really great, it's so funny as well. I've never laughed so much while playing a game as I did when I played TWEWY and I think that's very nice & fun of it :)
The main kids are so lovable and all have their own strong personalities, and you feel for them when they're struggling. This game focuses so much on the experience of being a teenager, the difficulty of connecting to other people and the importance of being open to new experiences and people and I think that's what made me vibe with it so much when I played it as a teenager myself.
It's so much fun to play, and there's so much endgame content for those who want to really dive into the pin collecting, noise hunting & the game's hidden lore (PLEASE play the bonus chapter, Another Day).
Not only is the writing really great, it's so funny as well. I've never laughed so much while playing a game as I did when I played TWEWY and I think that's very nice & fun of it :)
Have you seen a little horror game? Terrifying, dark atmosphere? Just turned 23 this year. My favourite horror game.
Silent Hill 1 is the scariest game I've ever played and it's SO good. The exact kind of horror atmosphere I love. It reminds me so much of american action movies my mom & dad used to watch when I was a tiny child and didn't know english and couldn't read subtitles... the US felt like another world, where people said things I couldn't understand and dangerous things seemed to happen constantly. In that way, SH1 feels like a strange reflection of how I imagined the real-life USA as a child... only with more horror elements.
Silent Hill 2 is a great game, and fantastic in its own right, but SH1 is my personal favourite still. I guess I just find Harry so endearing... dad of the year.
Silent Hill 1 is the scariest game I've ever played and it's SO good. The exact kind of horror atmosphere I love. It reminds me so much of american action movies my mom & dad used to watch when I was a tiny child and didn't know english and couldn't read subtitles... the US felt like another world, where people said things I couldn't understand and dangerous things seemed to happen constantly. In that way, SH1 feels like a strange reflection of how I imagined the real-life USA as a child... only with more horror elements.
Silent Hill 2 is a great game, and fantastic in its own right, but SH1 is my personal favourite still. I guess I just find Harry so endearing... dad of the year.
been entranced by this game ever since i was a child and saw a demo of it in a toy store. Colours! Shapes! Bouncy movement! This game is IT!!
WHAT CAN I SAY it's Famously Fucked Up Game Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997). I love it so much. Just like Kirby64, it has the colours, the shapes, the bounce, the art style(!!) and this game even has Samus. So it cannot get better than this. It also has my friend Gooey who is the best character in the kirby franchise so this game wins automatically.
I know the modern Kirby Brand™ largely ignores this game nowadays, but /I/ see you, Kirby's Dream Land 3.
I know the modern Kirby Brand™ largely ignores this game nowadays, but /I/ see you, Kirby's Dream Land 3.
This game was Made For Me especially....little cartoon bugs with swords!! Masterpiece of an idea.
There is so much thought and care put into the background lore and environments... so much you don't understand until you play further and meet new strange characters and put 2 and 2 together. I love stuff like that!! Characters speak in riddles and it all feels like a puzzle you slowly figure out.
And that's not even getting into the combat!! It's challenging but so rewarding when you feel yourself get better and better with every attempt at a tough boss. And exploring the world is just so enjoyable, I just loved looking into every little nook and cranny to find secret passages and areas. Just such a great game. Hornet owns.
There is so much thought and care put into the background lore and environments... so much you don't understand until you play further and meet new strange characters and put 2 and 2 together. I love stuff like that!! Characters speak in riddles and it all feels like a puzzle you slowly figure out.
And that's not even getting into the combat!! It's challenging but so rewarding when you feel yourself get better and better with every attempt at a tough boss. And exploring the world is just so enjoyable, I just loved looking into every little nook and cranny to find secret passages and areas. Just such a great game. Hornet owns.
people say that octopath has a bad story but that's just not true!!!
sorry for starting with that lol but i feel strongly about it haha. Everyone is entitled their opinion but I found the "8 different stories" mechanic pretty endearing. Each character gets their time to shine, and best of all, equal amounts of screentime (i can never trust again after Freya's plotline was dropped one third through the game in final fantasy ix). No one gets left behind! I don't even mind that the other party menbers don't show up when you play one character's chapter.
The one thing i WOULD change would be so that you get party banter automatically and doesnt have to bring specific party members with you, hate that.
ANYWAY. Octopath. I love it and think of it often. The characters are so great, I love them all. Primrose's story is so metal, Ophelia's starts out slow (her ch.2 might be the only part i do not care for) but becomes more and more engaging until it ends with having one of the most dramatic finales of ALL the story lines, and I really felt close to Alfyn when he struggled with questions I've thought about so many times myself.
I could go on and on about the other characters too but then that would make this go on for 5000 more words so I won't.
Play Octopath and choose Therion as your first character so you too can experience him constantly going "WHA? HAHAHA" forever and ever.
sorry for starting with that lol but i feel strongly about it haha. Everyone is entitled their opinion but I found the "8 different stories" mechanic pretty endearing. Each character gets their time to shine, and best of all, equal amounts of screentime (i can never trust again after Freya's plotline was dropped one third through the game in final fantasy ix). No one gets left behind! I don't even mind that the other party menbers don't show up when you play one character's chapter.
The one thing i WOULD change would be so that you get party banter automatically and doesnt have to bring specific party members with you, hate that.
ANYWAY. Octopath. I love it and think of it often. The characters are so great, I love them all. Primrose's story is so metal, Ophelia's starts out slow (her ch.2 might be the only part i do not care for) but becomes more and more engaging until it ends with having one of the most dramatic finales of ALL the story lines, and I really felt close to Alfyn when he struggled with questions I've thought about so many times myself.
I could go on and on about the other characters too but then that would make this go on for 5000 more words so I won't.
Play Octopath and choose Therion as your first character so you too can experience him constantly going "WHA? HAHAHA" forever and ever.
The introduction to rpgmaker games for my young teenage self and it's so special.... starting the game in your mysterious apartment, seeing the dark cloudy sky from the balcony, the sounds, the nexus, the ominous worlds to explore, the curiosity, the excitement when you find a small hidden away area, the vaguely threatening atmosphere, and the comfort when you find a beautiful place... it all comes together so wonderfully.
I played this a lot but I specifically remember a train ride to Malmö when I played this the entire way. I don't know why but that just etched itself into my memory.
Many more modern indie games takes inspiration from yume nikki and some even do it "better" with less aimless wandering & less frustrating gameplay mechanics but no one really does it like her. There's something untold in the atmosphere that I cannot put my finger on, but I can feel it...
I played this a lot but I specifically remember a train ride to Malmö when I played this the entire way. I don't know why but that just etched itself into my memory.
Many more modern indie games takes inspiration from yume nikki and some even do it "better" with less aimless wandering & less frustrating gameplay mechanics but no one really does it like her. There's something untold in the atmosphere that I cannot put my finger on, but I can feel it...
Every time I happen to think about this game, the first thing I think of isn't the mystical Magicant, the giant robot EVE or the final battle with the alien Giegue. I think about the little canary chick you can buy at Podunk's department store, with the description "Its eyes shows sadness". And then you bring it back to its mom, who at first is so filled with sorrow at the loss of her chick she won't talk to you, but when you bring her her baby she will start singing the 2nd part of the song you need out of joy. I think that's really wondrful.
I love games that just feels like a big cool dumb fanfiction with a budget and I blame that directly on Final Fantasy Dissidia and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (the BEST smash bros). I got this game soon after I started my first job and could buy expensive things like games myself, so of course one of my first purchases (after a wii & a copy of Skyward Sword) was That PSP Game Where All the Final Fantasy Heroes & Villains (& Jecht) Fight Each Other For Some Reason. Let's be real, the story isn't a masterpiece (but it's actually a bit deeper and weirder than you might think if you read up on The Lore™).
The cutscenes have a lot of cool moments but even MORE silly & awkward moments. Some characters are pretty badly written in this game (rip Terra's personality, unfortunately), and I honestly can't stand Onion Knight (sorry). But I guess being a Kingdom Hearts fan makes me used to all of those things which means they don't bother me too much.
And MAN.... this game is just so fun. Cool combos!! Fast paced action where you fly around like a madman all over the screen!! Battle quotes you constantly mishear (Get the Fruit! Supper! Buy my sword... no, this paint!)!! RPG elements!! So much customization!! Nods to the OG games!! A fun plot (the plot is dumb AND fun, okay)!! Moogle mail!! Unlockables!! Bartz!! An honestly breathtaking intro & ending cutscene!! My boy Zidane in HD!! This game has it all. Fanservice in its purest form. Love it.
(Dissidia NT could NEVER)
The cutscenes have a lot of cool moments but even MORE silly & awkward moments. Some characters are pretty badly written in this game (rip Terra's personality, unfortunately), and I honestly can't stand Onion Knight (sorry). But I guess being a Kingdom Hearts fan makes me used to all of those things which means they don't bother me too much.
And MAN.... this game is just so fun. Cool combos!! Fast paced action where you fly around like a madman all over the screen!! Battle quotes you constantly mishear (Get the Fruit! Supper! Buy my sword... no, this paint!)!! RPG elements!! So much customization!! Nods to the OG games!! A fun plot (the plot is dumb AND fun, okay)!! Moogle mail!! Unlockables!! Bartz!! An honestly breathtaking intro & ending cutscene!! My boy Zidane in HD!! This game has it all. Fanservice in its purest form. Love it.
(Dissidia NT could NEVER)
Imagine being like 7-8 years old and you watch your good ol' dad start a new game you haven't seen before and in the first 2 minutes of the intro cutscene the camera pans over a character's back... they turn around to face the camera... and their eyes are shown to have been crudely stitched shut so they won't be able to see that the bones they're being forced by their capitalist overlords to dig up are actually the skeletons of their ancestors. And the reason they're being dug up is so that said overlords can grind those bones into an addictive juice used to enslave MORE creatures. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! anyway it's been one of my favourite games ever since.
There is something so special about the first kingdom hearts game. Later games have better gameplay and especially better level designs, but there is something about the atmosphere in KH1 that haven't been captured by any other game in the franchise. It just has a sort of childlike innocence to it, like a fairy tale i suppose. A fairy tale where an upbeat anime boy whacks shadow monsters with a giant key together with Donald Duck & Goofy.
And Kairi in this game!!! She's the best here, in the very first game. Sure, she's the obligatory Girl Who Gets Kidnapped, but she's so funny and mysterious... nothing makes me happier than seeing her banter with Sora & Riku and teasing them. The three of them really feel like friends, which is more than I can say for their relationship in the later games.
I get so sad when I think about how Kairi's entire personality got shifted in the later games just to be Sora's Demure Love Interest MacGuffin.... where did you go, KH1 Kairi. I miss you.
And Kairi in this game!!! She's the best here, in the very first game. Sure, she's the obligatory Girl Who Gets Kidnapped, but she's so funny and mysterious... nothing makes me happier than seeing her banter with Sora & Riku and teasing them. The three of them really feel like friends, which is more than I can say for their relationship in the later games.
I get so sad when I think about how Kairi's entire personality got shifted in the later games just to be Sora's Demure Love Interest MacGuffin.... where did you go, KH1 Kairi. I miss you.
Abzû is such a perfect comfort game for me :^) I used to play through it every evening after I had a rough day at work because it calmed me so much. Pretty and colourful underwater landscapes... beautiful music... swim around with some fish and make a perfect jump over the water surface if you want to. It has a mystical vague story that really moved me, in all its simplicity.
The "puzzles" spread out here and there are dead simple, but I really prefer that since I play this game to relax my mind, not to use my brain. Easy is good sometimes!!
I really adore this game. The last area fills me with joy but the second to last area is my favourite, it's just so fantastic!
The "puzzles" spread out here and there are dead simple, but I really prefer that since I play this game to relax my mind, not to use my brain. Easy is good sometimes!!
I really adore this game. The last area fills me with joy but the second to last area is my favourite, it's just so fantastic!
ESSENTIAL to all edgy anime-interested nerd teens back in the early 00s. I was one of them!! I'd go so far as to say this is the best KH game (controversial, i know /j) even though BBS is my personal favourite. But KH2 comes close behind!!
The intro? Iconic. The story? Engaging. The battle system? LEAGUES flashier, faster, more fun and just generally better than KH1. Auron as a temporary party member?? The best decision square enix EVER made.
And the areas don't look like copy pastes of one singular room anymore! Fantastic. You still traverse in a "room to room" manner, but that never bothered me so I don't mind.
It's still silly & fun, and since this game REALLY starts delving into the plot strangeness that Kingdom Hearts is known for, we get more and more awkward, bizarre scenes and lines that are still quoted to this day (SAY FELLAS). Love it. Was obsessed with this game as a kid. Still am I suppose.
The intro? Iconic. The story? Engaging. The battle system? LEAGUES flashier, faster, more fun and just generally better than KH1. Auron as a temporary party member?? The best decision square enix EVER made.
And the areas don't look like copy pastes of one singular room anymore! Fantastic. You still traverse in a "room to room" manner, but that never bothered me so I don't mind.
It's still silly & fun, and since this game REALLY starts delving into the plot strangeness that Kingdom Hearts is known for, we get more and more awkward, bizarre scenes and lines that are still quoted to this day (SAY FELLAS). Love it. Was obsessed with this game as a kid. Still am I suppose.
LOVE THIS GAME love this game. It's so utterly unhinged and so fucking funny. The world looks crude, strange and ugly, and so incredibly charming. Phillip and Leg Horse are such a great duo. Leg Horse! What a concept.
The "Mystery" command is such a great idea... it makes you excited for every battle because you never know what strange kind of effect it will have on the battle (you COULD choose not to use it for safety, but that's no fun).
This game is short & sweet and packed to the brim with weird personality. Shaped me into the fool I am today. So thank you, Space Funeral.
Pleasure doing business with you... Heh! Heh! Heh! (caresses steak lovingly!)
The "Mystery" command is such a great idea... it makes you excited for every battle because you never know what strange kind of effect it will have on the battle (you COULD choose not to use it for safety, but that's no fun).
This game is short & sweet and packed to the brim with weird personality. Shaped me into the fool I am today. So thank you, Space Funeral.
Pleasure doing business with you... Heh! Heh! Heh! (caresses steak lovingly!)
have you even lived if you didn't spend your tween/teenage years on the family computer creating little sims, choosing the ugliest clothes known to man that you thought looked so cool, and played out the dramatic storylines you made up in your head to your heart's content. And lived in constant fear that your parents would see your screen any time your sims did the woo-hoo. Good times.
I have such nostalgic feelings for this game - when I think back on it I get the same feeling as I do for games I loved as a kid, even though I played this game just a few years ago. As an adult, even! The story is pretty good albeit a bit disjointed sometimes, but it has some parts that truly shines (chapter 10 and the very final chapter made me real emotional alright. dont look at me).
Some characters are pretty one-note, while others are allowed to have a lot more depth, but I got so attached to all of them that I can still remember all of their names. Lucina, Stahl, Cherche, Henry, Libra and Panne I adored. And the Tactician! I love the fact that your self-insert tactician has such an established personality (sorry byleth but i am looking straight at you). Everyone's crit-quotes are so good. And while I think Three Houses' characters are more consistently well-rounded in their writing, Awakening's writing is just so funny that I can't help but love it more. It feels like something akin to The World Ends With You in its humour, which makes sense since I think TWEWY and FE Awakening are the two games I've laughed to the most. Like not even "haha" in my brain but actually full-on giggling in front of my screen.
Pairing all the characters up were so fun... I had like five hand-written A4 papers keeping track of support convos and which characters should date each other.
Wow this entry note turned out really long. But I hope that shows how fond I am of Awakening!! Love this silly game.
(Also Stahl & Cherche are the power couple of Ylisse, do not @ me they just are)
Some characters are pretty one-note, while others are allowed to have a lot more depth, but I got so attached to all of them that I can still remember all of their names. Lucina, Stahl, Cherche, Henry, Libra and Panne I adored. And the Tactician! I love the fact that your self-insert tactician has such an established personality (sorry byleth but i am looking straight at you). Everyone's crit-quotes are so good. And while I think Three Houses' characters are more consistently well-rounded in their writing, Awakening's writing is just so funny that I can't help but love it more. It feels like something akin to The World Ends With You in its humour, which makes sense since I think TWEWY and FE Awakening are the two games I've laughed to the most. Like not even "haha" in my brain but actually full-on giggling in front of my screen.
Pairing all the characters up were so fun... I had like five hand-written A4 papers keeping track of support convos and which characters should date each other.
Wow this entry note turned out really long. But I hope that shows how fond I am of Awakening!! Love this silly game.
(Also Stahl & Cherche are the power couple of Ylisse, do not @ me they just are)
I'm so fond of Bug Fables... such a sweet and fun adventure!! It's so funny and the three main characters play off one another really well, and they all get their chance to shine. Kabbu is my favourite but I love Vi & Leif so much as well! And Chompy, of course!
I'm usually not one to wish for sequels to standalone games but I would LOVE a Bug Fables sequel... there is so much more that could be done with it! And I would absolutely love to see more of Team Snakemouth. Bug Fables really has just one of the best party dynamics of all time :^D
I'm usually not one to wish for sequels to standalone games but I would LOVE a Bug Fables sequel... there is so much more that could be done with it! And I would absolutely love to see more of Team Snakemouth. Bug Fables really has just one of the best party dynamics of all time :^D
I remember playing undertale about a week or so after it was released (I had only played the demo a year or so beforehand) and I had avoided spoilers like the plague and it resulted in being one of the best game experiences I've ever had. Playing through the True Lab segment at 2 AM all alone in my apartment was an experience.
Undertale has such a unique storytelling... language?? It feels like many indie games wants their dialogue to be "quirky" and funny but undertale just does it so effortlessly. The characters are so great and I got so attached to them that I never replayed the game after they got their perfect ending, just to keep them happy. I think that if a game manages to make me feel that way about a bunch of pixels that aren't even real people, it has to be something pretty special.
Undertale has such a unique storytelling... language?? It feels like many indie games wants their dialogue to be "quirky" and funny but undertale just does it so effortlessly. The characters are so great and I got so attached to them that I never replayed the game after they got their perfect ending, just to keep them happy. I think that if a game manages to make me feel that way about a bunch of pixels that aren't even real people, it has to be something pretty special.
RAIDOU MY FRIEND RAIDOU
this game has that distinct PS2-style atmosphere, where the colours are a bit desaturated but it looks really cool and smooth and a bit dark and mysterious.... i know this description doesn't make any sense. But when I played this game for the first time and saw a fire in the starting temple there was something in me that was like "oooh this is a PS2 game alright" in the most positive way you can imagine.
Raidou is so cool and I love the designs of the demons as well. The battle system is fun!! I thought it was gonna be turn-based but it's actually real-time. I just jammed with this game all around.
this game has that distinct PS2-style atmosphere, where the colours are a bit desaturated but it looks really cool and smooth and a bit dark and mysterious.... i know this description doesn't make any sense. But when I played this game for the first time and saw a fire in the starting temple there was something in me that was like "oooh this is a PS2 game alright" in the most positive way you can imagine.
Raidou is so cool and I love the designs of the demons as well. The battle system is fun!! I thought it was gonna be turn-based but it's actually real-time. I just jammed with this game all around.
one time my mom got so sick of me just staying inside and playing pkmn gold all summer that she told me i HAD to go outside, with her strictest voice. And me being terrified of conflicts while still being a 12 year old who wanted to rebel, snuck my gameboy into one of my pockets and sourly took a walk, and then went into the forest and sat on a rock and played pokémon for like 3 more hours.
when i came home my (admittedly too kind) mom told me i didn't have to hide my gameboy away when i went out and i felt so embarrassed about it that i remember it clearly to this day
when i came home my (admittedly too kind) mom told me i didn't have to hide my gameboy away when i went out and i felt so embarrassed about it that i remember it clearly to this day
Used to spend countless hours in front of my grandparent's PC playing this and now I spend countless hours sitting in front of my ipad playing this. A little miracle of a game!! The aesthetic is so perfect in all its simplicity. So many little tricks you can use, and now that i'm older i REALLY see the appeal in building my own rollercoasters, even if it's tricky to make an exciting one that doesn't make the guests puke everywhere. Wonderful game. Set your umbrella price at $20 from the start and see the money rolling in as soon as it starts to rain.
It takes a LOT for a new game experience of mine to make it on this list, since most of the games here are stuff I played years ago and have had time to marinate in my brain, but P3FES just whacked a sledgehammer into my heart instantly. The opening scene... the colours... the clean, fresh school atmosphere versus the grime of the back alley streets and the dark hour... the themes... all the tiny little details that give the characters life.... the fact that there is always something Up with someone that keeps you guessing... the combat!!! tartarus!! i LOVE tartarus!!! the way that the main party don't need social links to be engaging and have impact on the story... the fact that the MC isn't everyone's therapist who fixes their problems, and that he's just another person on the team, the fact that a lot of key scenes doesn't even have the MC in them so that the other characters have time to shine!! the confidence this game has to establish its central themes and just GOING for it... it's fantastic. P3FES i love you always.
