What's pillars of eternity about. I know it's RPG, which flavour?

I've eyed it a few times.

Just played Tetris Effect in VR...

Holy. Fucking. Cow. 

In top 5. But I’m gonna finish Journey mode first. Maybe tomorrow.

First one took itself waaaay too seriously and was pretty off putting. Pages of text that was probably amazingly written and interesting if you're some uber rpg geek but I was losing the will to live.

Hold down what?

In 2017 I think there were three or four games I could have listed as top in any other year (save for the years of the Mario Galaxy games and Skyward Sword). Yakuza 0, Super Mario Odyssey are phenomenal games that are some of my all time favourites, but Breath of the Wild is a once per decade (or two) experience.

In 2018 I spent a lot of time with some games, but not those which would qualify here. Yakuza Kiwami, more Odyseey, finishing off Starship Patrol, some Fire Emblem (Shadow of Valentia), the first Valkyria Chronicles, Donkey Kong arcade archives, and PES18 were the main ones.

There are two games then that were from 2018 which I played in 2018 to a meaningful extent. One I developed a dislike for, and played mainly out of spiteful compulsion to the point it actively stopped me sleeping. The other game is my sole pick for 2018, and it really played on the melancholic side of nostalgia I somehow, stranegly have for things I never saw or places Ive never been.

That game is Yakuza: Song of Life.

First off is the music. A high-frequency repeating motif (during main story exposition dialogue) really reminded me of the audio in Deus Ex Mankind Divided and that contributes a dour mood in both games; it feels like its pointing to a time and vibrancy lost. Maybe its an association I have in mind, and I cannot put my finger on it, but it's there.

Secondly is the high fidelity world. It encourages you to go slow and savour the exploration in a way unlike the previous entries I played. A new gloss, lost haunts (no more Pocket Circuit is sad) and many changes to an identical city are discomfiting. Onimichi is the antidote to this. It feels like a nice place with vibrant colours and and older landscape.

The supporting cast of characters really grow throughout, from the first drunken brawl to the major set piece battles and they have a clear arc that reflects Kiryu in spoilery ways I won't go into. The absurd bravado and obstinate stupidity of a couple in particular has some hilarious consequences early on, but really hits hard when a major plot development occurs.

Minigames and side actvities as usual are on point. Spear fishing is a new favourite, and darts, pool and karaoke are consistently good. VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 FINAL SHOWDOWN WORKS WITH MY VIRTUA STICK HIGH GRADE. Baseball took a while to click but is really enjoyable, and the gang creator is the new hostess mode. I loved finding out that half of them are in Fire Pro Wrestling. The cat cafe and hunting for the right food. The bar chat club. And why did I only discover later that Takeshi from Takeshi's Castle is there on the cover?! See - there is the mid-1990s pop culture I missed out on.

With all that said, I stopped playing Yakuza 6 when I got to the final chapter. I have four further games to complete before re-starting it (Kiwami 2, and the HD versions of 3-5). This game is one to savour, and finishing it now will not do it JUSTIS.

So that's it. My sole pick this year is Yakuza 6.

Gutted that I struggled with Yakuza 6 but I kept the disc for a rainy day. Will carry on at some point.

Put some time into Yakuza 0 today - think 6 is out on PC next year

Vela wrote:

In 2017 I think there were three or four games I could have listed as top in any other year (save for the years of the Mario Galaxy games and Skyward Sword). Yakuza 0, Super Mario Odyssey are phenomenal games that are some of my all time favourites, but Breath of the Wild is a once per decade (or two) experience.

In 2018 I spent a lot of time with some games, but not those which would qualify here. Yakuza Kiwami, more Odyseey, finishing off Starship Patrol, some Fire Emblem (Shadow of Valentia), the first Valkyria Chronicles, Donkey Kong arcade archives, and PES18 were the main ones.

There are two games then that were from 2018 which I played in 2018 to a meaningful extent. One I developed a dislike for, and played mainly out of spiteful compulsion to the point it actively stopped me sleeping. The other game is my sole pick for 2018, and it really played on the melancholic side of nostalgia I somehow, stranegly have for things I never saw or places Ive never been.

That game is Yakuza: Song of Life.

First off is the music. A high-frequency repeating motif (during main story exposition dialogue) really reminded me of the audio in Deus Ex Mankind Divided and that contributes a dour mood in both games; it feels like its pointing to a time and vibrancy lost. Maybe its an association I have in mind, and I cannot put my finger on it, but it's there.

Secondly is the high fidelity world. It encourages you to go slow and savour the exploration in a way unlike the previous entries I played. A new gloss, lost haunts (no more Pocket Circuit is sad) and many changes to an identical city are discomfiting. Onimichi is the antidote to this. It feels like a nice place with vibrant colours and and older landscape.

The supporting cast of characters really grow throughout, from the first drunken brawl to the major set piece battles and they have a clear arc that reflects Kiryu in spoilery ways I won't go into. The absurd bravado and obstinate stupidity of a couple in particular has some hilarious consequences early on, but really hits hard when a major plot development occurs.

Minigames and side actvities as usual are on point. Spear fishing is a new favourite, and darts, pool and karaoke are consistently good. VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 FINAL SHOWDOWN WORKS WITH MY VIRTUA STICK HIGH GRADE. Baseball took a while to click but is really enjoyable, and the gang creator is the new hostess mode. I loved finding out that half of them are in Fire Pro Wrestling. The cat cafe and hunting for the right food. The bar chat club. And why did I only discover later that Takeshi from Takeshi's Castle is there on the cover?! See - there is the mid-1990s pop culture I missed out on.

With all that said, I stopped playing Yakuza 6 when I got to the final chapter. I have four further games to complete before re-starting it (Kiwami 2, and the HD versions of 3-5). This game is one to savour, and finishing it now will not do it JUSTIS.

So that's it. My sole pick this year is Yakuza 6.

Vela is better than all of us. And I agree with all you said up there. And also RIZAP

There's a brothel simulator? I must have missed that when I cleared it all

Dark Soldier wrote:

hylian_elf wrote:

Hooked on Tetris Effect. Definitely one of the best games of the year. In it goes into my top 5. Gris drops out.

Eeww

He’s a sick man.

You'd be correct.

FranticPea wrote:

Don't think you can miss it. You get to dress up all your staff all pretty for the 'customers'. Bleurgh.

That’s about half way through - you put a lot of time into something turgid!

.

Sold on the strength of a hostess bar/brothel.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

There's a multiple choice webcam rhythm babestation thing in Y6.

I’m in!