Top Ten of the 2019 Gamers Dozen

In which I revive another old tradition of this blog, and rank the target games I played in the previous year.  Not *every* game I played in 2019, just the *target* games.

Every year since 2012 I've drawn up a list of planned playthroughs for the year, and in late 2017 I changed formats slightly.  For 2019 my goals were thirteen titles, with 3 new releases and 10 backlogged titles (older lists were all backlog).  I finished 10 out of 13 targets, which isn't great but honestly better than usual.  Naturally I have thoughts on these ten targets (plus other games I played outside those ten targets), so I'm going to blog about them with commentary and a ranking.  Here goes:

Sollosi's Top Ten of the 2019 Gamer's Dozen

Unplayed, Embarrassingly:

The Last Guardian
Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Xenoblade Chronicles 2

These are the three games from my thirteen selections that I didn't finish.  Hell, I barely played them, with less than an hour of Persona Q2 logged and not getting further than 3 hours into Xenoblade 2.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not playing any of these, but I did at least play a few other great games instead.  Namely...

A Few 2018 Standouts:

Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4)
Timespinner

These are two 2018 games that I was definitely interested in at the time, but didn't finally buy and play until 2019.  In both cases my interest felt validated, as these are two of my favorite games of the past several years.  Timespinner is an outstanding indie Metrovania with some cool time travel ideas and non-heteronormative representation; Spider-Man is one of the best-realized open world games AND most-fun superhero games ever made.  Both were 100% worth my time and money in 2019, even if I was a year late to the party. 

A Few 2019 Surprises:

AI: The Somnium Files
Trials of Mana (1995)

I was not expecting a new Kotaro Uchikoshi game in 2019, and I was even-less-expecting an official English-language localization of Seiken Densetsu III in 2019.  I ended up grabbing both of those (budget be damned) and having a great time.  I did 2.5 runs of Trials of Mana throughout 2019, and all five massively dramatic endings for AI in December.  Two extremely good games. 

The Return of my Final Fantasy XIV Obsession:

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

I got back into FF XIV for around 5 months in mid-2019 (about the same length of time as my first go at FF XIV in late 2016), and oh boy did I go all-in.  I beat the Realm Reborn postgame, all of Heavensward and its postgame, all of Stormblood and its postgame, and a few quests in Shadowbringers in that span.  Plus I leveled every combat job to 50, and a handful of others to the 60-70 range.  I got a lot done in Eorzea in 2019, and it was extremely fun.  FF XIV is a hell of a game, but it took up a hell of a lot of time.  I've already continued my FF XIV career into 2020, re-subscribing in January and finishing the Shadowbringers expansion story. 

So that's enough pregaming; it's time for the real deal.  Ten games from my list of 2019 targets that I played, and then ranked:

Number Ten

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

Not a great introduction to the suite of Yakuza / Ga Gotoku series for me.  I am a longtime fan of Fist of the North Star / Hokuto no Ken, and have been curious about the Yakuza / Ryu Ga Gotoku series for several years - from various impulse purchases and PS Plus subscriptions, I own two Yakuza games, plus Judgment by the same team.  So, naturally I should love this game, right?  Well... I didn't.  It's a bastardization / weird adaptation of the Fist of the North Star part 1 story, and an open world that is either underwhelming and sort of confusing (the city) or frustrating and empty (the wasteland).  I'm going to try a different Yakuza game in 2020, but sadly my first impression of this team's work was a little negative. 

Number Nine

inFamous: Second Son

I am a huge fan of the two PS3 inFamous games, and a new one set in Seattle with gameplay including borrowing the powers of other superhumans sounded like a great concept.  Unfortunately, Second Son devolves into messy firefights in the late game (I really didn't like the final few areas, endgame boss fights, and optional missions) and tops out at around 10 hours of playtime, with a bit more if you dive deep into collectables or side quests.  Second Son was pretty good... let's say during the first and middle thirds of its runtime, but it ultimately felt like some good ideas stretched too thin over a game that's already a little light on content compared to what I want out of a big-budget inFamous title.  I still believe in Sucker Punch, but this was a below-average misstep on their part.

Number Eight

Pokémon Sword Version

Pokémon narrowly edges out inFamous in this list when I have similar complaints about both games; while I found both titles under-delivering on content, Pokémon Sword Version hit higher highs.  The presentation of Pokémon League as a stadium system with tournaments and a challenge season was a brilliant touch, and a few of the new Pokémon designs are great.  I didn't love most of the environments or some of the new mechanics, but the experience of a beautiful new Pokémon game with the monsters visible in the wild is powerful indeed.  Alas, the 8th generation of Pokémon takes a few steps forward at the presentation level, but remains stuck in its ways in others.  If only Pokémon Sword's story was more interesting, its gameplay was more feature-complete, or didn't feel like 30 other Pokémon games....

Number Seven

Kirby: Planet Robobot

I'm picky about my Kirby.  For decades I maintained that the *only* good Kirby games are Adventure, Dream Land 2, and Super Star (all released between 1993 and 1996) plus their remakes.  I've tried many others in the interim, and none of them were better than "OK I guess."  Then I was very impressed by 2014's Kirby Triple Deluxe and added a fourth game to my "Good Kirby" list, and playing its follow-up, Planet Robobot, in 2019 added a fifth.  Planet Robobot is a beautiful, colorful Kirby game with some ingenious stage designs and HUGELY satisfying giant-robot-monster-powers gameplay that I never got sick of.  The game is a little short, but a large set of collectables and extra modes mitigate that somewhat.  The whole game was a goofy romp of eating pastel monsters and platforming around beautiful 2D stages, which is exactly what I want out of Kirby.  And this one has a giant robot. 

Number Six

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

A very solid cap-off to the second trilogy of Professor Layton games, with a clever globetrotting main story that takes a few wild twists and turns in the last few hours.  The story doesn't quite hit the emotional highs of The Unwound Future (the best Layton game and one of the best DS games, full-stop), but it's an entertaining end to the Herschel Layton saga with some very inventive puzzles and settings, a beautiful storybook presentation, and lots of conveniences for the player.  Really enjoyed this game, and upset at myself for taking such a long Layton hiatus (none played from 2012 to 2017, when I finally tried the 3DS Layton games) that prevented me from getting to such a good finale until six years after it was current. 

Number Five

Octopath Traveler

Maybe the most mixed experience (?) I had playing a videogame in 2019, Octopath Traveler is very fun for most of its run, but feels like less than the sum of its parts.  Visually it's a super-detailed retro aesthetic that's truly beautiful.  It has one of the best videogame soundtracks of 2018 (but I played it a year late).  The main cast is diverse and likeable, and the battle system is excellent.  So why so low on the list?  The story is disjointed and weird (especially the final endgame quests), and the lack of inter-character dialogue is a major weakness.  Octopath Traveler felt like eight sidequests instead of a great RPG story, and I hold that against it.  Still, even with a few disappointing elements, Octopath is a worthy JRPG and one of my favorite Switch games that I've played so far. 

Number Four

Super Mario World

By far the hardest game to rate in this list, because it's nearly 30 years old and I don't have a lot of nostalgia for it, shockingly.  I am a huge SNES fan and moderate Mario fan, but I never played Super Mario World until 2019!  Even if parts of it are dated, I couldn't deny the superb level design and rock-solid controls of SMW, especially its stages' hidden pathways and other secrets.  I beat the game, but definitely did not find all the secret stages.  This is a 1991 platformer with surprising depth, and I'm not surprised it's considered an all-time classic.  BUT, while I loved it, it wasn't one of my three favorite games I played in 2019 (from my specific list crafted in late 2018). 

Number Three

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

Trails of Cold Steel has been a backlog target of mine for several years, as it's from a development team I love (Nihon Falcom), a sequel series to a few games I love (Trails in the Sky trilogy), and I dig its RPG design philosophy a lot.  Cold Steel met or exceeded my expectations in every regard.  The large cast is hugely entertaining (and they don't really ignore anyone!), the dialog is excellent, and the combat and customization design is solid.  Trails of Cold Steel ends on a pretty powerful cliffhanger, so I'll be getting to Cold Steel 2 in 2020 sooner rather than later. 

Number Two

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I was so worried Bloodstained would be bad.  Recent KickStarter games, other players in the MetroVania game design space, and Koji Igarashi's output in the 2010s all were discouraging signs for the fate of the Castelvania-like action game, but my fears amounted to nothing.  Bloodstained is fun, stylish, unique, and WEIRD in ways that completely surprised me, from vampire librarians to demon trains to a detailed cooking system to pointed criticisms of Konami.  This was probably the best Metrovania in several years, and a marvel for even existing in a completed state, let alone being so good. 

Number One

Devil May Cry 5

DMC5 was everything I want in a DMC sequel, and goddamn near everything I want in a character action game.  Likable characters, fun and melodramatic story, breathtaking action, excellent gameplay variety, a wealth of modes and player options, and excellent fanservice for longtime DMC devotees.  DMC5 is a video game that exudes confidence, plays perfectly, and raises the stakes of plot and spectacle with every mission.  Devil May Cry 5 met or exceeded every expectation I had, and is emblematic of Capcom's current blockbuster run (a string of successes that makes me *so* happy).  Pull my Devil Trigger. 

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Well this took me three months to write, but I think you can expect more blog posts here soon.  Social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak means I'll be at home seeking distractions even more than usual for at least another few weeks or months.  Stay safe out there, everyone!