2013
i could rate this lower because, i mean, it's a huge and vibrant world utterly polluted with horrible humor and garbage edgelord nonsense (though i understand they've removed a lot of that shit), on top of some seriously messed up stuff like torture you have to partake in to progress the story. (i put it down for some time after that section.) but it's also a game that gives you heaps of freedom in a vast setting constructed with immense care. one of my favorite memories of the game is going out to the beach at sunset, stealing a boat and riding the waves into oblivion until the boat sank and a shark devoured me in the moonlight.
2012
i try not to too heavily factor my own (lack of) ability to perform in a game into my unscientific numerical rating of it, but HECK my brain cannot handle very much of this. that aside, it's... probably a nearly perfect game?
2016
falls under the same umbrella of "essentially perfect video game i am terrible at" as super hexagon etc. but i just love this so much and i will occasionally spend an hour or two playing, maybe surviving for JUST a bit longer than i have before each session. it's a special circle of hell reserved for the blaster of demons—'90s fps design distilled to a punishing arcade essence.
1995
you've got to play this at least once for the hilarious "make a fucked up evil face faster" stick-twirling bonus round. like, what. bless this game.
1996
you might expect this to be a pretty straightforward dungeon crawler-style jrpg, but it's full of so many moments of unsettling strangeness. the soundtrack is quality sakuraba. i wish camelot would make something like this again, instead of the endless mario sports games.
2013
love the art and music, but this isn't a good game.
1999
yeah, it plays a bit rough and not much like a 2d castlevania, but i also love its whole look and vibe. you should probably just play legacy of darkness instead, though.
2018
gotta confess this might be a bit too aimlessly sandboxy for me. shame, because i LOVE its aesthetic—a kind of morrowind meets mad max, approximately. if someone were to mod a really good campaign in, that'd probably get me to reinstall. maybe a control system more like morrowind, too, heh. i guess i kinda just want this to be morrowind. can totally appreciate what it is, but right now i need something with more direction built in.
seeing comments like "it's not worth playing this version anymore," "if only it were in color," etc. kinda makes me mad lol. i played the original game obsessively at 13 and 14 years old and grew to feel the soft, hazy monochrome of it was, even distinctly from other game boy games, essential to its dreamlike vibe. the color version is practically an affront to me. this game is perfect.
pretty much treasure tier.
a weird one to try and rate over 20 years later. is it a timeless video game? ...maybe? being completely honest, there was a solid decade or so where i felt this had aged poorly, and that other games were becoming more refined with their controls, had greater scope, better ideas, etc. none of that really matters to me now—it no longer needs to be all the things that i feel were eventually surpassed by other games—and in a full circle kinda way i love this one now almost as much as i did in 1998. almost.
2005
never really understood why this one's a fan favorite, or whatever. i'd rather play almost any other version, including the original.
1979
there are kinda two ways to look at this one now: first off, unless you own a cabinet yourself, the only way you're likely to get a genuine hands on experience with lunar lander is in an arcade. likely a very noisy place. so you'll get to check out the unique controls of the game, including what looks and feels like an actual thruster. really cool. that aside, though, i think there's an upside to playing this one at home, in the quiet, whether you're someone fortunate enough to have the cabinet or you're playing it on mame or something. ideally with a decent pair of headphones or some nice, bassy speakers. point being, there's an eerie serenity to this vector game in which you ever so gently land your craft on the surface of the moon. the only sound is the deep, gentle, very muffled roar of your rockets. and for me, even without that super cool cabinet, that's an experience worth revisiting now and then.
falcom had presentation (art direction, music, packaging, etc.) down from the start, but it took them a bit to work out how to make a good action rpg. this ain't quite there yet.
2002
wish i was ever able to understand how people managed to enjoy this one. i've always felt it was a real dud. easily my least favorite of all the 3d marios.