It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[JG]

Capcom and Konami both. 20-30 years ago they were the envy of every third party producer, pumping out a must-have game every few months. (Mega Man series, early Mega Man Xs, Bionic Commando, 1942, Duck Tales, Final Fight, Street Fighter II, Ghosts & Goblins/Ghouls & Ghosts, Strider for Capcom; Contra, Super C, Castlevania 1-4, Gradius, original Metal Gear for Konami)

Now they've scaled back so much to just a few key franchises, some of which are shells of their former self (Castlevania especially). They have the occasional Resident Evil or Metal Gear surprise, but its easy to go years between buying one of their games unless you're a fan of their series. They no longer attract the casual gamer, because who wants to pick up a series at the fifth or sixth game in the series? Badly in need of fresh blood, but they keep pumping out the sequels and have thus dropped back to the pack.

Remember also that Capcom was given the keys to the Zelda series for a few years on Game Boy Color/Advance - producing the excellent Oracle games and Minish Cap. That's how trusted and important they were back then. Not a chance in hell now that Nintendo gives one of their core franchises to a company that is actively making games for other systems to compete against the big N. It would be the modern day equivalent of Microsoft giving the Gears franchise to a company like Naughty Dog.

My E3 Top Five:
5. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle  - I'm not into the Rabbids series and think its a little goofy Mario has a gun, but this looks like a funny game. The Rabbids dressed as Peach and Luigi in the trailer have sold me. Take note Capcom: crossover series need to be endearing, not just a mashup of two casts.
4. Metroid: Samus Returns  - I've always wanted to play Metroid 2, but its so hard to want to play a plain four color Game Boy game anymore. This game was needed 5-10 years ago.
3. Metroid Prime 4  - Haven't seen anything but concept art, but its got hype. If we'd seen some gameplay it likely would have been higher but I suspect it'll be Nintendo's highlight next year with SR388 or some new Metroid planet to be their floor theme for E3 2018. (Like empty Hyrule was in 2016 or New Donk City this year.)
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2  - The voice acting sounded a little suspect, but it appears to follow the footsteps of the good XC, not the bad XCX.
1. Super Mario Odyssey - Not sure about the possession of enemies trick, but Mario games are usually solid gold. I don't think I saw anywhere a return of the cat suit we so loved in 3D World though.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 doesn't even make my list. The rated M language distracted me so much during the trailer. I still can't get it through my head what Ubisoft is thinking turning a beloved game into that. It's like if the next Star Wars has the F word every few seconds of dialogue. And without seeing gameplay I'm worried it will be a tremendous disappointment. We're being sold on nostalgia and a flashy chase scene, but no substance.

They somehow brought back the GOAT Mario girl (hint: it's not Peach).

Goombella is back?

[Arizona]

Well, let's be fair here, when it comes to Capcom: the landscape is a lot different from the NES era, and so many of their fellow Japanese competitors from the time either split in favor of mobile games or pachinko, or are dead. It's not that I don't agree they've bungled plenty of stuff, but I don't know that anyone short of Nintendo pumps out evergreen super titles that regularly anymore.

Konami is actually legitimately evil, though. Fuck them.

[Moge]

I'm in the middle of Bravely Default and Splatoon 2 comes out tomorrow. Good grief.

Which version of Dragon Quest 11 tickles your willy, JGOO?

Konami is actually legitimately evil, though. Fuck them.

The Castlevanya anime is worth watching tho. If they can't do big budget games then i'd like to see them move back into the 2D space. They've had success with Super Bomberman R so it might not be out of the question.

[JG]

Which version of Dragon Quest 11 tickles your willy, JGOO?

I'll probably get the PS4 version.  VIII has some important facial expressions that were lost a bit in the 3DS conversion.


I haven't even finished Bravely Default myself or started Bravely Second.  Excellent up to a point, but BD derails at chapter 6 and becomes repetitive slog. Too many bosses and minibosses relying on gimmicks and special tactics to defeat.


On another train of thought, if Breath of the Wild is the hands down game of the year, Ever Oasis is a solid #2.  It checks all the boxes. It has cute, endearing characters, great graphics and sound track (for 3DS), lots of sidequests, relatively open-ended with always something to do or explore, and most of all fun.  Its been compared to Zelda games given Grezzo's work on the 3DS conversions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but it actually plays more like Secret of Mana, with a bit of a Sims/SimCity factor going on in your oasis.  Its one drawback is that the simulation engine driving background actions of your oasis residents, explorers, and gardeners requires a tremendous amount of battery power and the game only lasts 64 minutes on my New 3DS XL before the battery warning indicators come on (and on this game, it'll run out that warning supply in about a minute and a half.)  About 10 hours in, it would be right up there with BotW with an A+ rating at end of the year were it not for the battery woes. It's a little tough to fully enjoy it in one hour sprints.  Right now I'd give it an A (no plus)

[Moge]

I'm on chapter 3 or 4. You're not kidding when you say every boss battle is a slog because they each require a specific strategy. I'm finding it hard to go back to the game now that my GOTY is here 

Call me a loon but i vasty prefer Secret of Mana over Link to the Past as the premiere action-RPG on the SNES. Ever since Seiken Densetsu 3 got fan translated eons ago i've been meaning to revisit the series. Last game i played was Secret of Evermore. Not strictly in the series but i loved the melding of Western art and Japanese game design.

No interest in the gnarly 16-bit graphics of DQ11 on 3DS?

[JG]

I'm on chapter 3 or 4. You're not kidding when you say every boss battle is a slog because they each require a specific strategy.

Most do starting with chapter 4 anyway.  Crystal bosses, the samurai, and the vampire certainly do by my recollection.  Almost all of the demons that come to your sidequest town do as well, but they're likely too hard to beat at chapters 3 or 4.

Also, so long as you haven't finished chapter 4 yet, make sure you seek out and defeat the dragons and make your way to the vampire's castle. Not only does it net you his spectacular job class, there is a huge part of the plot in chapters 5 and 6 that can be missed if this is not done. It was a pain in the ass to find this out and have to restart.  The dragons especially are total strategy goons - they can ONLY be beat by employing a pair of certain job classes and actions (and a few require certain accessories to avoid a strategy-wrecking negative status condition, like confuse.) You'll either beat them taking very little damage (possibly none) or get one-shot killed by dragon breath. There's very little middle ground with them.

Call me a loon but i vasty prefer Secret of Mana over Link to the Past as the premiere action-RPG on the SNES.

SoM is awesome except it requires two long periods of grinding.
1. Upgrading your weapons from levels 1 to 3 to levels 4 or 5 before battling the witch and her tiger about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the game. (We've all spent hours in Gaia's Navel battling the bees to do this.)
2. Upgrading your magic once you get Shade and Lumina late in the game (Because you really want dispel magic and lucid barrier for the end game.)
The really great games more evenly space out grinding, or make it a natural progression of the story.  LttP only asks you to seek out some heart pieces with much less investment of time or repetition, and is my choice of the two based on more even pacing.

No interest in the gnarly 16-bit graphics of DQ11 on 3DS?

Possibly. After hearing DQ11 will not be voiced, it makes the 3DS version more attractive.
After having DQ8 voiced for western release, and then re-voiced for 3DS for both Japan and western releases, along with DQ Heroes I and II, I was a little shocked SquareEnix said they wouldn't voice DQ11 for the Japan release (because the story was still be refined late in development), and aren't currently planning to for international release.  I still think they'll want to for western audiences though, even if it means the game doesn't arrive until second half of next year. My worry is they'll want DQ11 out the door as soon as possible so it doesn't interfere with DQ Builders 2 - they won't want them releasing too close to each other.

On a related note, I think the total Hulk-smash sales stomp that DQ11 just put on last week is what SquareEnix needed to realize the Dragon Quest series is their premiere IP.  Final Fantasy just doesn't capture the hearts and minds (or playtime) of fans any longer.

[JG]

Here's an offer for Xbox Live 12 month subscription for only $43.99 today, which is pretty tough to beat. Digital download and accepting Paypal, so no need to provide excess personal or banking information.  If you've got extra Paypal balance you can cash it in on something worthwhile (especially since Live is the only thing Xbox brand has going for it now with the shameful Sahara Desert of games on its 2017 schedule)

https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/memberships/12-month-xbox-live-gold-membership-xbox-one-360


Side note: Funny how the description always lists Kinect as the very first feature, since its now been officially discontinued by Microsoft (neither the S nor X have any means to support it)

[JG]

The Super NES Edition New 3DS XL looks badass. If I didn't already have one, I'd strongly consider this one for cool factor alone.

[Moge]

$200 3DS?! 

I feel sorry for any parent who buys that over a Switch for their kid this holiday. The difference in power is worth plunking down that extra 100

You still playing your non-Ninty consoles, JGOO?

[JG]

$200 is the going price for a New 3DS XL. Nintendo is trying to position it between the much cheaper New 2DS and the Switch. Its worth the extra $100 for a Switch, but also worth $40 more for the New 3DS than the New 2DS. (3D mode plus exclusive games in Xenoblade Chronicles and the new Fire Emblem Warriors.)

I'd still prefer my 3DS for trips due its smaller size and clamshell design to prevent screen scratching. Also, its given us the best set of games over the last few years. Switch is still new and the 3DS lineup has outpaced PS4 in my opinion (and utterly smashed Xbox's to pieces)

I haven't played the PS4 in a while, since Dragon Quest Heroes II (not as good as the first) a few months back.  I've used it for some BluRay movies though as my primary player.

I can't recall the last time the Xbox One was started. Not since at least March.  Its had a completely empty slate of games for a very long time now. Microsoft went into 2017 without a software plan, has executed 2017 thus far without a software plan, and continues to operate without an upcoming software plan. They've banked the entire product on 4K video and nothing else. No exclusives, and no new IPs - just sequels to existing series.  If Sony was smart enough to have included a 4K player in the PS4 Slim or PS4 Pro, Xbox One would be well on its way to retirement as a failed system. Anyone saying Wii U was a failure has to agree the Xbox One is thus far.  Sold better yes, but hasn't had a lineup anywhere close to what original Xbox or 360 had and has totally abandoned its most differentiating feature in the Kinect.  If I had to be stuck on a remote island with a Wii U and 10 games of my choice or an Xbox One X and 10 games of my choice, its not even a close contest - the Wii U is the choice based on superior game quality and variety.

Since the last Xbox One game I bought (Gears of War 4), I have purchased 3 Switch games (Zelda, Kingdom Battle, and Odyssey ), 1 PS4 game (DQ Heroes 2), a tablet game (Super Mario Run), and 4 3DS games (DQ8, Ever Oasis, Samus Returns, and Superstar Saga). that's how bad its been for Xbox One. That's 12 months and growing, and nine games for other platforms between the last Xbox One purchase and now. Yikes. About the only thing to keep it out of the gooseegg column for the year is a super deal on Shadow of War at Black Friday, but being so new I highly doubt it (that, and I thought Shadow of Mordor was only ok)

[JG]

Ok I'll say it.  Princess Peach needs to go on a diet.

No, I'm not trying to poke fun at her figure or upset women's lib groups. I ordered the three special Odyssey Amiibos (Mario, Peach, and Bowser) with wedding suits and dress, and the first thing I notice when taking Peach out of the case is how heavy she feels.  So I took a measurement of all 12 of my unboxed Amiibo to see if I was crazy or not.

In the order I got them:

Name	Series	Weight (oz)
Link	Super Smash Bros	1.2
Yoshi	Super Smash Bros	1.5
Luigi	Super Mario Bros	1.4
Wolf Link	Twilight Princess	2.9
Zelda	Super Smash Bros	1.2
Ganondorf	Super Smash Bros	2.1
Falco	Super Smash Bros	1.4
Pikmin	Pikmin	2.1
Toad	Super Mario Bros	1.5
Mario	Super Mario Odyssey	1.6
Peach	Super Mario Odyssey	2.9
Bowser	Super Mario Odyssey	4.7

Yowsa. She's a good deal more the taller, buffer Ganondorf and as much as the massive Wolf Link figure (which is really two full sized characters in one.)  Its that wedding dress - instead of being hollow, it must be solid resin and adds a lot of weight. Given the figures are glued to the bases and you can't see up her dress, I don't know why it couldn't have been made hollow. It would have been cheaper to produce and less heavy.

Now I could say Bowser is overweight too at an even more outstanding three times typical weight, but you kind of expect him to be a big, heavy baddie. He even comes in a larger case than the rest (like Wolf Link did.) Midna's helmet still gives the Wolf Link the crown for tallest Amiibo by about half a centimeter, but Bowser's outstretched arm and tail has unseated it as longest, end-to-end, with about a 1/5 cm edge over Wolf Link from nose to tail. So it's heavy weight isn't so much of a surprise and unlike Peach, the bulk of his mass is a good deal above the base where it wouldn't have been practical to shave weight.



Odyssey is pretty damn awesome by the way.

[Moge]

The amount of fanservice and content in Mario Odyssey is absolutely staggering

also where's my Pauline amiibo?

[JG]

The amount of fanservice and content in Mario Odyssey is absolutely staggering

No Luigi though. Scanning a Luigi amiibo gets you his clothes though. (The three wedding amiibo also give you clothes but none of my other Amiibo did.)

Also there wasn't that many classic enemies. Goombas and hammer/fire bros and a few others, but the Koopa Troopas and Lakitus aren't enemies this time and many others like spinies, buzzy beetles, boos, etc. just aren't around except for limited circumstances in 2D sections.  Actually, not many enemies period: most goals achieved through exploration or jumping/navigating obstacles rather than through an enemy gauntlet, unlike every prior Mario game.

also where's my Pauline amiibo?

Good point. Though I guess Nintendo doesn't really know how to work her amiibo into any other games yet.  No DK game yet of course.  Not sure what power she'd grant either.  I can imagine her being used once a day for 100 coins though: that should certainly have helped getting all the costumes and purchased moons. Unless you spend alot of time harvesting coins, you'll never have enough to buy out the shops in the post-game.

Fascinating that it recognized all my amiibos by name except for Pikmin though.  Uncle Amiibo just calls it "that lovely Amiibo"

I think a 10x Goomba Stack would make for a fun looking amiibo though.

[Moge]

Xenoblade 2 out in a couple days

Honestly thought it was going to be mid December. Feeling a bit fatigued from the RPG genre after many, many months of Bravely and BotW.

If and when i do pick up another RPG it'll probably be Nier Automata.

[JG]

I don't think BotW and Xenoblade 2 fill the same "RPG" buckets. BotW is an (absurdly) open-ended game with single hero and no experience system (hallmarks of the classical "adventure" genre) while Xenoblade will have a more linear story, multiple heroes and experience leveling like classical RPGs (those these are often now branded as "Action-RPGs")

Though I totally understand. I'm not as hyped for Xenoblade 2 as I thought I'd be at this point in the year, because we've had Ever Oasis and Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga since summer time. Add in Dragon Quest VIII early in the year and I've had my fill of RPGs for the year.



On the bright side, if success is measured by floor space stores dedicate to your product, then the Switch must be an unmitigated success. Went into my local Best Buy for first time since Odyssey release day (October 27) and the Nintendo selection had been greatly expanded since then.  They used to have just two aisle sections (five in a row) for games and hardware (all shared by 3DS, Wii U, and Switch), one section for accessories, one section for Amiibo but rarely carrying more than 4 or 5 different figures, and one playable Wii U end-cap. Now they've expanded to three sections for games, retaining the one Amiibo section but with greater selection (they had lots of Wolf Links, plus a few BotW Zeldas, Link Archer, Link Rider, plus a Daruk and a Mipha), retaining the accessories section, a section split between more accessories and Switch hardware, a new playable Switch section, the end cap is now dedicated to 3DS/2DS hardware and recently released games, and also adding an island for even more Switch games and Nintendo Shop and DLC cards (moving them out of the accessories section). So they've gone from 4 sections and an end cap to 6 sections, the end cap, and an island which is worth about 2-3 sections of space by itself.  The amount of space given to Nintendo has more than doubled in my store in the last month.  Losers of course being PlayStation and especially Xbox which had to surrender some of their floor space (Particularly Xbox's formerly premier spot at the front corner of the games area. Not encouraging on the heels of the X release.)  Clearly BB thinks Switch will be the big money raker for at least the next year or two.

[Moge]

Microsoft's biggest game for the holidays is reportedly a broken mess. If i didn't know any better it almost seems like Microsoft is perfectly content with being third banana in the game biz.

Xeno 2 getting a lot of positive buzz, even from jaded Xeno fans who had their fill of Chronicles X. Can't decide between Xeno 2 or Nier for my next RPG playthough

Then there's the BotW dlc... it's truly been a banner year for vidya games.

[JG]

And 2018 doesn't look much better for Xbox. No Halo or Gears game planned. Not much of anything else.  PlayStation has some very heavy hitters coming, such as Last of Us 2 and Dragon Quest XI.  And Switch is supposed to be getting a Yoshi game (which is a solid seller) and a Pokémon game (which is definitely a heavy hitter.)  If Nintendo announces a new Smash Bros game, and they've got to be working on one already, then that's three huge games.


I just don't understand Microsoft's plan at all.  They've built the biggest gun but don't really have any ammo for it. All their sales are predicated on one of four consumer models:
1. The buyer who doesn't have a Xbox One already, and wants to jump to the premier level instead of starting with the S.
2. The buyer who has all three consoles already, and wants to upgrade their Xbox One to the X level.
3. The buyer who has a worn out or broken Xbox One, seeking replacement.
4. The buyer who wants to add a 4K Blu Ray player to their 4K TV, that does some other neat things at the same time.

The problem with the first is the confusing naming scheme doomed the less-informed to buying cheaper models when it came to Wii U and New 3DS recently. Maybe not this year because its so new, but if both the S and X are on shelves at same time late next year, the buyers, which are often parents, will go for the cheaper model. To justify a $200 bump in price, you have to have exclusives - and make it more clear than Nintendo did why you need hardware X to play game Y. And if you don't have exclusives, or very few of them, you sort of have what the New 3DS is, where just about everything is playable on the older model, but maybe not quite as good on a few 'enhanced' games, and the few games that are exclusives (still only two of them by my last count, Xenoblade Chronicles and Fire Emblem Warriors) are such niche games that it doesn't help sales of the newer hardware.

The second doesn't take into account that when saturated, people would rather spend their money on more games, than new hardware to play games.  This same rule hasn't done folks like Ouya or Nvidia any favors. And the outlook is not great for Atari, even if its trying to emulate the NES Classic and SNES Classic more so than being a fourth home console.

The third just isn't smart for home consoles. It either demonstrates known poor build quality ala original white Xbox 360s, or a misplaced sense of where people want to spend their money. This idea has worked decently for Nintendo's GameBoy, DS, and 3DS lines only because handhelds tend to take more abuse and wear out faster, requiring replacement every few years. Home consoles wearing out should not be part of your sales plan.

The fourth is actually not a bad idea to own one. Microsoft is damn fortunate Sony opted not to include such a feature in the PS4 Pro (a surprising move from them, as the original PS2 boosted sales of Sony movie DVDs.)  This group represents me moreso than #2. A 4K movie player would, at present, do me more good than a few average games with enhanced graphics. Not enough to justify a $500 price tag though (or the presently much higher cost of 4K movie media.) My 1K Blu Rays and very good, not outstanding, game graphics are just fine. (And I should note I prefer my PS4 for playing movies. It does everything the Xbox One does, such as 3D, but its player interface seems better, particularly by not turning off the controller every few minutes, meaning I don't have to wait for the controller to boot up and connect so I can pause a movie when the phone rings.)

The obvious omission is #5: games worth buying to justify an Xbox One X's extra cost. This is what every console should plan to base their sales around, and yet Microsoft refuses to do exactly this. They've said, to hell with games; if we build it, they will come, and that's a stupid premise. They're planning it like Windows on PC, which operates as a near monopoly, rather than Windows Phones, which suffered badly due to lack of quality software (and finally cancelled outright). Microsoft curiously has decided its better to allowrequire most games to be non-exclusive on PC as well, which makes games more expensive to produce, and its Xbox One + PC 'Play Anywhere" exclusives are getting trounced sales-wise by the other console's exclusives in similar genres.  After all, why would anyone drop $500+ on hardware and a game like Super Lucky's Tale, when they get a Switch and Super Mario Odyssey and keep $160 bucks in their pocket (or invest some of that in beauties like BOTW and Kingdom Battle)? That's not even a contest. A Switch and Odyssey (plus extras) ten times out of ten.

(Speaking of Super Lucky's Tale, look at how Microsoft is touting it as its non-rated-M champion for the X, and assigning it a very gracious score of 4.5 out of 5, equaling the score for GOW4 and better than Halo 5, two of its rated-M champions. Compare that to less-biased critics like IGN where it gets a paltry 5.0 out of 10, which they characterize as Mediocre, and just barely above Bad. Yikes! There's some fishy business going on here. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!")


The only way I see an out for Microsoft is to figure out a way to get the Xbox One X down to $300 fast (and get the S off the shelves) to compete directly with Switch, or come up with some ground-breaking game IP. They had fingers crossed for PUBG, but as you said, that is getting horrid reviews compared to the PC version. If they had something else on the horizon we could look forward to, maybe it wouldn't hurt so much. But they don't.  The undoubted solution is to bundle the X with several 'enhanced' games, like Gears of War 4 and Super Lucky's Tale, and maybe a few cheap indies as a leg-up on the competition but this is often perceived as panic-mode. After all, this is what Sega did with the Saturn and Atari with Jaguar many years back.  Adding a few free games bolsters hardware sales for a time, but it doesn't solve the problem. And if its competing with that Switch-Odyssey bundle at the same time, its going to be even harder.

I think this time two years from now (if not next) we'll be able to say the Xbox One X was a tremendous flop and belongs in the rare group of "upgraded" game consoles like Sega CD-X and Nintendo New 3DS that, while cool, just simply aren't worth the extra cost. I'm not certain yet if PS4 Pro joins them, and while it might be headed that way, too, it has much more quality games to fall back on, and infinitely better overseas interest, and it might survive long enough that 4K becomes the expectation, instead of an merely an enhancement. I don't think Xbox will be able to whether the storm that long.


As an aside, I'm rather upset I paid for two years of Xbox Live a while back because I'm not getting any use out of it. Haven't turned on the machine since spring. With BOTW DLC now, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 waiting for me, it might be a while before it gets any worthy playtime.  I'll try out Shadow of War before end of year just to give it a grade in my Games of Year summary, but I don't plan to get too deep into it. It almost feels like its a chore to do, rather than the potentially fun game it might actually be.

[Arizona]

After the massive, Mattrick-shaped hole they started in this generation, I'd say Microsoft's strategy is "YEEEEAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!"

I think the X is possibly the most sensible thing they could be doing at this point, inadequate as it is - they don't have exclusives and I think they know it (good on them for not frantically pushing out Crackdown 3 too early). So the proposition there is, "Alright, well, here's the console where you can play the best versions of the non-exclusive games you were getting anyway". It's only so compelling and I doubt they're catching up to anyone here, but it's at least a 360-Kinect-like shot in the arm for a little while.

The worst thing about it is DEFINITELY the name.



"What? You DO have a copy of Animahjong X in stock?? I'll be right there!!!"



"You garbage heap! What do you MEAN you don't have Animahjong X?? You TOLD me you DID on the phone!!"

"...I was saying...Animahjong S..."

"What???"

"...S and...X...sound exactly the same...on the phone..."

"That's not MY fault!! ...alright, okay, do you AT LEAST have Animahjong Amazon, then??"

"...I think...that's an Amazon exclusive...?"

[JG]

Thumbs up for the Thumbnail Theater homage.




"One of these days, I'll be a 4K star!"


"Until then, we'll just take your money and leave you to suffer."

[JG]

That time of year again.  2017 was one of the best years for videos games in many years, but I agree with most folks that it was heavily one-sided.


11. Super Mario Run (iPhone/Android), D+
Well... not as bad as the grade suggests, but its really just a Mario game in name only.  The always moving forward mechanics are more reminiscent of Excitebike than Super Mario Bros. It gets old really fast and all the minigames and timer runs to try to get more Toads to your kingdom just isn't worth the effort. I appreciate Nintendo trying its hand at mobile games, even if this one was a bust.  (Actually, Excitebike would make a really good mobile game now that I think about it...)

10. Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS), C-
A nice retread of the original Metroid II that should have been redone years ago.  This one is undoubtedly pretty for a 3DS game, but the difficulty level is a firm 10 out of 10: surpassing even the original Metroid and much harder than the Super Metroid that it was intended to emulate.

9. Beyond Good & Evil HD (Xbox360/XboxOne), C-
Still a really good game, but nothing new than the enhanced graphics, which actually aren't good. Your best buddy Peyj actually looks scary in the higher definition. Sometimes less is more. (And Ubisoft has been mysteriously quiet about BG&E2 since E3.)

8. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (3DS), C-
Another remake, but truer to form. Sadly, not enough new things in this one (like 3D). The Bowser's Minions side-story is interesting, but requires too much replay of previous stages over and over and over before acquiring enough experience to move forward or obtain rare minions for your troop. I'm going to expect more if Nintendo decides to remake the second, and best, game in the M&L series, Partners in Time.

7. Dragon Quest Heroes II (PS4), C+
A fine followup, but not as good as the first. Its main story is shorter, there's fewer quests, and too many of the characters we got to see the first time around. Some randomly generated dungeons make the adventure more interesting, but it shows some lack of playtesting in both AI and experience progression.  The characters will do stupid things too often, requiring you to shift to the healer to cast a heal or revive spell, and prepare to get waxed a few times upon first reaching the canyon, where you've done fine beating up the baddies so far but your level 20-something characters get smoked here (to the point you need to grind for hours to get them up to the 40s to have a chance at clearing the canyon battles.)  Of minor annoyance is that this game wasn't given a clever subtitle like every other Dragon Quest game, including the first Heroes game (The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below)

6. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch), B
I'm really getting into this. Like the first, it takes a couple of hours before it gets rolling.  So far the story is developing well and the characters are interesting, though I don't like the randomness of the Blade creation mechanism, as you get way too much useless junk. The battle mechanics aren't as fun as the first game, but not bad: just different. The auto-attacks are both too slow and too weak, and the battles take too long because of the unneededly high enemy HP. At too many points, you'd rather just run past all the enemies to keep the story moving, rather than stopping at each one for a 3 or 4 minute fight. On the bright side, you don't get a gajillion enemy spoils like the first game that require constant inventory cleanup. It is a worth successor to the original, and let's just forget Xenoblade Chronicles X ever existed. Though I can't figure out why some characters (Rex, Pyra, Nia) are anime-style while others (Vandham, townsfolk, the bad guys) are rendered naturally. The other Xenoblade games were entirely natural, so it gives the impression the anime characters were lifted from another, cancelled project. I could have also done without the designers parking Level 81 Territorial Rotbart (a very powerful unique monster) between the first open plains segment and first town though. He killed me 4 times before I snuck past him to get to the town, which is a total slap in the face should a novice player run into him and not realize what killed you so suddenly. (Far worse than those one-shot killing blue bokoblins you might encounter on the Great Plateau early in BoTW. At least you can run away from them. If Rotbart sees you, you're done.)

5. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (3DS), B+
Arguably still the best in the whole series (and that's saying a lot), this is a really good remake.  They had to drop the orchestral music, and the lower resolution doesn't look as sharp, but they kept the voice acting (albeit with some new actors and actresses) and the ability to see the enemies on the world map makes for a smoother gaming experience than purely random battles, particularly if you're hunting a certain monster class for their drops. The extra side quests and rare monster hunts adds some welcome new elements, as does the alternate ending.

4. Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch), B+
Surprisingly good, even if it doesn't fit the Mario mold by giving him (and Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi) some guns to play with. Easily the best puzzle/strategy game of the year with a decent story even if the situation created in the prologue isn't ever completely resolved by the ending. Its replayability is somewhat limited given the lack of stage randomization, but the characters steal the show, particularly Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario.  All the wonderful things about this game, and its surprising robust sales (even without a Japanese release its the best selling non-Nintendo game for Switch), have set it up nicely for a sequel in a few years time. Can't wait.

3. Ever Oasis (3DS), A
In the summer time I thought this would be #2, but we had three very strong contenders this year. Ever Oasis is cute, deep, well organized, and there's a lot to do. It's RPG mode is most like Chrono Trigger, with a team of three tackling single enemies or small groups of enemies at a time, while its city-building mode is like SimCity. You can't just forge ahead with the battles and neglect your town, nor can you develop a thriving town without scavenging for materials and enemy drops. Definitely a different type of game than anything before it and I hope to see an Ever Oasis 2 in the future. So what keeps it from an A+? Its very battery-intensive and to loose power before saving can easily cost you half an hour of effort, plus as the game progresses toward the end, your spending all your time managing the town at the neglect of finishing off the last dungeon or two. A little better a balance at the end and an active autosave would have made the difference.

2. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch), A
Where did this come from!? We knew Odyssey was arriving since E3, but I don't think anyone outside of Nintendo expected it to be this good, especially after Mario Team had been drafted to help get BotW finished. Mario Team clearly works miracles in a very short period of time. The game is quite long, there's oodles of things to do, a whopping 999 stars to be found, and a host of outfits to try on. Its a fantastic single player Mario game, better than Sunshine or either Galaxy were, though I had hoped for a continued run of multiplayer-capable Mario gales a la Super Mario 3D World. Some more variety in enemies would have been nice as well.  There's enough enemies, just few too types. So what keeps it from an A+? Some stars are just too aggravatingly difficult to acquire, especially the ones that must be purchased post-game. To have to grind for coins to afford them all after beating the game defeats the purpose. (If you must grind, grind before the biggest challenge, not after.) Additionally, any amiibo, but particularly the purple coin revealing Wedding Bowser and unlimited health Wedding Peach, greatly simplify the game. More clues without showing you exactly where to go would have been better. I wanted to butt-stomp the damn cockatoo for being too vague, but disliked having to use amiibo to reveal the exact location.

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U/Switch), A
As expected, just about everyone's game of the year (except those few publications that have made up some excuse to give their award to Nier: Automata instead, in the interest of being different.) For a time, I actually considered placing Odyssey higher but its means of reducing difficulty to childish levels and post-game nonsense knocked it back to second place, especially in light of the DLC Breath of the Wild brings to the table. What more can I say about BotW that hasn't already been said? It's fantastic. So what keeps such a great game from getting my elusive A+ rating? Inventory management of course. Having to open inventory to drop a weapon to exchange for what's on the ground or in the treasure chest is a needless exercise and could have been greatly simplified with a simple dialog asking to replace an existing inventory spot with this item (at least for the treasure chests.) Making it harder than necessary to get rid of a weapon I don't want to acquire one I do knocks it back a step. So close though!




The Grades:

Nintendo, A+
Nintendo completely, totally, utterly dominated 2017 on the strength of Switch games. For the second time in 10 years they've proven that having the best graphics really doesn't matter. Make it cheap and fun and people will come.  The 3DS line also had a fine year, with games like Metroid II (which I didn't like), a "Best of" Mario Party game, and of course, new Pokemons to fuel the fire, on top of some decent remakes. And just to indicate how good their year was, Nintendo -still- gets an A+ despite bungling the sudden NES Classic cancellation and delaying the virtual console and online environment for the Switch to 2018. They nailed it on so many other fronts its easy to look past those missteps. Expected outlook: Trending upward.

Sony, B-
Well, at least they're trying. Outside of Nier: Automata that just about everyone seems to love they didn't have much worth talking about. The PS4 Pro is a questionable upgrade, and although they're much further ahead on the VR front than Microsoft,  they have yet to throw any compelling games behind it or bring it to a worthy price point for widespread adoption, much like the Eye camera or PS Home devices, and arguably the Vita. 2018 should be bright for them though, especially with juggernaut Last of Us 2 expected to roll in as an easy multi-million seller. Expected outlook: Healthy.

Microsoft, F-
No longer trying. What a year to forget. Undoubtedly the worst, led off by the mysterious cancellation of 2017's most anticipated game for the Xbox One in Scalebound. From that point on they focused entirely on the hardware. Nice machine, but not at all worth the extra investment for some prettier graphics, at least not yet and not for the foreseeable future. Shadow of War helped late, but non-exclusive. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is getting such horrid reviews compared to the PC version that Microsoft is now giving it away to help propel sales of the X: an act taken much, much sooner than expected. And with an equally bleak outlook for 2018, Microsoft is in complete panic-mode. They need some must-have games and need them fast. Expected outlook: Scary. (And not "boo!" scary, but "trapped in a desert without any water" scary. True horror.)

Atari, incomplete
Delayed to 2018. Trying to replicate the success of NES Classic and SNES Classic is questionable at best. At least they have a better sense of where they fit in the market than Microsoft does so they at least have potential for success in 2018, though I personally doubt it. Expected outlook: Cloudy.





Most Memorable Gaming Experience of 2017:
Super Mario Odyssey, New Donk City Festival. The 2D Donkey Kong themed level with the musical score playing in the background, leading up to the final segment modeled after original DK game with rolling barrels and all brought a big smile to my face. It wasn't the only nod to 2D Mario games in there, but was the best.



Gaming Experience I'd Most Like to Forget from 2017:
Dying way too easily. Whether its getting one-shotted in Zelda or Xenoblade, falling off some platform in Odyssey, or just getting frustrated to no end at Samus Returns, I've had enough of my characters too easily dying in 2017.  The goofy Switch left joy-con issues contributed to this problem as well, by leading my characters to run in the wrong direction (or not move at all when I need them to.)



Games I thought I'd play in 2017 and Didn't:
* Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) - This never went on sale, even at Black Friday. What Gives Nintendo? Why still full price for games on a system most of the way off the shelves?
* Hey! Pikmin (3DS) - This got such terrible reviews I passed on it in light of other, quality games worth playing. I do like my Pikmin amiibo though.



Most Looking Forward to in 2018:
* Dragon Quest XI (PS4 version) - Wasn't this on my list last year? Yes, yes it was.
There really isn't anything else, though I do have a backlog of games purchased and not yet played. Maybe 2018 is the year to do that if the offerings are lighter. Shadow of War is on that list but its not generating a lot of interest for me. Star Fox 2 should be there at some point, whenever I finish off Zelda DLC and Xenoblade 2. (SNES Classics should be easier to get now that we're past Christmas.) The fact that some publications are naming Nier: Automata as game of the year has added it to the mix of 2018 possibilities. Octopath Traveller might also a capture my attention, but I need to see more of it first.