Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Top 5 Games I Played in 2021

 Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with:
Dec 312021
 

2021 is coming to a close, and what a year it was for video games!

Some people think this was a slow year for games, but for me, it saw the release of so many games I was looking forward to and unexpected sequels I never thought we’d see.

I played an incredible number of fantastic games, some that came out this year (and were among my most-anticipated titles) and some from years past. It was tough narrowing it down to my favorites, but here are the top 5 games I played this year!

Honorable Mentions

This year’s honorable mentions go to Blue Reflection: Second Light for being an unexpected sequel that massively improved upon the original, Persona 5 Strikers for providing a fantastic Persona-like experience as a sequel story, Tales of the Abyss for being an excellent JRPG and a new favorite in the series, and Bug Fables for filling that Paper Mario void while also standing on its own.

So, which dazzling titles pushed those four into the honorable mentions category?

5. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Graduating from last year’s list of honorable mentions is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, the 2020 sci-fi game from Vanillaware that might be difficult to describe in terms of genre but deserves to be played for its story.

As I discussed in my review, 13 Sentinels has a complicated narrative presented in a nonlinear format with so many twists and turns that it continually took me by surprise.

The most incredible part is that despite how convoluted it might seem at first, everything comes together in the end in a way that makes sense.

Have you ever liked a science fiction story? Well, it’s probably in there somewhere as part of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim’s fascinating story. I absolutely loved it, and even though I finished it near the very start of the year, looking back at it made me realize it had to be included here.

4. Bloodborne

And now for something completely different, Bloodborne also made it from last year’s honorable mentions onto this year’s list proper. In my review, I described it as a “beautiful, wonderful nightmare,” and that’s why it lives on so strongly in my thoughts.

The gothic horror aesthetic, the spiraling descent into cosmic horror, the terror of death lurking around every corner… it was a difficult experience, but an incredible one that I’m so happy I played.

Thanks to The Old Hunters, Bloodborne also introduced me to the wonder that is Ludwig’s theme, so it almost deserves a spot for that alone.

(Actually, if we were doing a ranking based on soundtracks, the next three entries might still all make the list.)

3. NEO: The World Ends With You

Coming into this year, my most-anticipated game of 2021 was NEO: The World Ends With You, the long-awaited sequel to one of my favorite JRPGs.

I was still reeling from the shock that we were actually getting a sequel to The World Ends With You. Actually, I still can’t believe it. Did this year really happen??

Any worries I might have had about NEO were quickly banished once I started playing. As I said in my review, it truly feels like a TWEWY game, and while it might not hit the same highs as the original, it’s still a fantastic game all around.

The soundtrack is wonderful, with so many varied tracks that won me over as I played. One of my favorites is Insomnia, but the soundtrack has such a range beyond that!

With a solid story and a great cast, it gave me everything I wanted from a TWEWY sequel. I can easily say NEO: The World Ends With You is my favorite RPG of 2021, and I hope more people will give it a try.

2. The House in Fata Morgana

Only a year ago, I had no idea how incredible The House in Fata Morgana was. Now it’s among my all-time favorite visual novels. This story brings more gothic tragedy onto this list with its tale of a strange mansion… and many, many things that I can’t write here due to spoilers.

It’s dark, tragic, emotional, beautiful, and wonderful. I mentioned back in my review that it’s a slow burn and takes a while to reveal what its true story is, but it’s well worth putting in the time to read it.

The characters, their tragedies, the way the story unfolds… it’s incredible.

There is no way to express how much I loved this story, aside from its prominent position on this list. The House in Fata Morgana is absolutely wonderful and needs to be experienced by more people.

It also has an exceptional soundtrack, but if I attempted to link my favorite songs as I did with Bloodborne and NEO, I would simply be here all day, linking to every song on the soundtrack.

So what could possibly beat out such an amazing story for my #1 spot? Okay, it’s no mystery; if you’ve crossed paths with me at all over the past couple of weeks, my #1 pick was probably a foregone conclusion…

1. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Are you telling me that we not only got a TWEWY sequel this year, but we also got an official Dai Gyakuten Saiban localization? YES WE DID! (On the same day, no less!) The official announcement of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles made me scream for joy, but would it live up to my hype???

(Its placement on this list should answer that.)

Maybe I had some mixed feelings at first, as my review of The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures will show that while I loved parts of it, it had odd pacing and was clearly a setup for its sequel. But even with a weaker first half, Chronicles hurtled to the top of this list once I played the second half.

You can read more of my thoughts on The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve in my review, but I’ll say again that it might be my new favorite game in the series.

Has Trials & Tribulations been dethroned after all these years? Distancing myself from the immediate aftermath of finishing Resolve might help me decide, but right now I’d say yes.

In fact, the more I think about Resolve, the more I love it. My thoughts right after finishing were mainly related to twists and turns and character arcs, but taking the time to think about it and read other fans’ comments made me fall even more in love with the story’s themes, parallels, and other little details.

So with Resolve proving to be so amazing, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles easily claimed the top spot as my #1 top game I played this year.

…It also has an exceptional soundtrack, but if I attempted to link my favorite songs as I did with Bloodborne and NEO, I would be unable to do so without spoilers.

Conclusion

What a year for games… and there are so many more excellent games I played this year that didn’t make the list (like Psychonauts 2 and Tales of Arise). Despite my comment last year, neither Yakuza game I played this year made it onto my list. I considered including Yakuza 3, but I guess ultimately I just like [REDACTED] better than [REDACTED].

(You can fill in whatever spoiler names you want, because my actual thought process when I wrote that sentence was dubious.)

Will next year’s games be just as exciting as these? I find it hard to believe, but come back tomorrow to see what 2022 games I’m looking forward to the most! What are the best games that you played this year?

Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After – The Darkest Muv-Luv Timeline

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 292021
 

Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After was translated this year, and after picking up the bundle in a sale, I’ve now finished it.

(It will be impossible to discuss The Day After without alluding to Muv-Luv Unlimited spoilers, so keep that in mind if you haven’t played.)

The Day After is an episodic release currently consisting of Episode 00, which serves as a prologue to the main story, and then a main story split into Episodes 01-03.

Instead of being set in the Alternative timeline, it takes place after Muv-Luv Unlimited, following the aftermath of Alternative V. This plan proves disastrous and results in catastrophic changes to the Earth, leaving the survivors to struggle to adapt to life in this bleak new world.

It is the darkest Muv-Luv timeline. Only four nations have survived, and they begin fighting amongst themselves and vying for power, while everyone suffers from food shortages and uninhabitable land.

Click for The Day After Episode 00 spoilers
And surprise! It didn’t even wipe out the BETA completely. They’re still around!

The main story follows Hibiki, a TSF pilot who survived a trek across the ravaged continent and now finds himself the leader of a new team trying to help Japan (and humanity) survive.

It’s a kinetic novel, so there aren’t any choices to make. Each episode is of moderate length; I’d say the main three episodes are each around 5-10 hours long depending on how fast you read, with Episode 00 being a little shorter. All together, therefore, The Day After ends up being a moderate length.

There are some little oddities (for example, the log wouldn’t work properly the first time I started an episode, only after I quit and reloaded once), but overall I found it to be a fine experience.

And the story is well worth reading.

The premise is bleak as can be, but The Day After isn’t without its lighter moments. Little moments of humor helped me grow to love the new cast of characters as I followed them through traumatic experiences, political scheming, and everything else we expect from a Muv-Luv story. There are some good twists and turns, too.

But it’s not over yet! Episode 03 doesn’t actually conclude the story, even though it’s been 8 years since it first came out in Japan. Muv-Luv Resonative, aka The Day After Episode 04, was announced around the same time they confirmed the localization of Episodes 00-03.

Resonative is intended to be the conclusion of The Day After, and there are enough mysteries that I’m looking forward to how it all wraps up – especially when it comes to certain returning characters.

Click for The Day After spoilers
They seem to be strongly implying that Yuuhi is really Meiya. And why is Takeru seemingly on Ikaruga’s side? He’s gotta be doing that for a reason, but what could it be? Is he a spy? Is he being coerced? I need answers!

So the wait for Resonative begins! Muv-Luv news has been announced for December 30, so here’s hoping we get a release date. Meanwhile, if you enjoy the Muv-Luv series and want to see how things play out in the dark timeline following Unlimited’s ending, you definitely should check out Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After.

NEO: The World Ends With You – A True Return to a Favorite Series

 Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Dec 272021
 

The World Ends With You is one of my favorite games, and I waited over a decade for a sequel.

Since this is the year of incredible unexpected sequels, NEO: The World Ends With You came out (on the same day as The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, no less) to finally return us to Shibuya and the UG.

I actually played the main game in between the two Great Ace Attorney games, then came back afterwards to finish up the post-game content.

(…or rather, some of the post-game content, since I decided not to grind as much as I’d need to finish everything.)

NEO: The World Ends With You is a sequel following a largely new cast of characters who find themselves caught up in the Reaper’s Game. It’s quickly apparent that things are different this time around, with Players split into teams to compete against each other, and my knowledge of the original really added to the sense of mystery for me.

Like I mentioned back when I played the demo, NEO does an impressive job of capturing the original’s feel despite being a 3D game with more standard combat controls. Controlling multiple characters at once by using their equipped pins, alternating attacks to build up the Groove meter to unleash a special attack, eating food to increase stats… it really does feel like TWEWY.

The soundtrack is incredible, too, just like in the original. There are a lot of great remixes, along with entirely new tracks, and so many of them are fantastic.

The story didn’t carry quite the same impact that the original did for me, but I still loved it. It had some good humor, too. My only regret is that some of the trailers spoiled major details I wish I hadn’t known ahead of time. I’ve learned my lesson. I will stop watching trailers earlier from now on.

Click for major NEO TWEWY spoilers
The most notable one is that I was getting near the end of the game when I suddenly said to myself, “Huh, I never saw that trailer scene of Kubo laughing…”

PAIN.

It has a lot of cool twists, and I thought it found a nice balancing point between building on what the first game did and creating a new story. Of course, I don’t know how certain aspects of the story feel to someone who hadn’t played the first one, but as a returning fan, I was pleased with most parts.

Best of all, this universe is back. It’s not just a one-off game anymore. This could become a series.

Now, reports came out not too long ago that NEO didn’t sell well. That disappointed me, because it’s a great game and deserves to do well. A lack of marketing might be the culprit, since I saw a lot of people expressing surprise that the game existed – even some fans of the original who simply didn’t know a sequel had come out. That report ironically drew attention to it, so here’s hoping the sales situation improves enough to keep the series alive.

NEO: The World Ends With You is not as incredible as the original The World Ends With You, but it’s still a fantastic JRPG. For the sequel to one of my all-time favorites, that’s exactly what I’d hoped for.

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