[Awards] Game of the Year 2020

So, I haven't felt like making a game of the year post until around now. I know it's literally over halfway through 2021, but A: No one reads this blog and 2: Better late than never, right?

So saying, welcome to my Game of the Year 2020 edition post! 

I played 11 games last year, 4 of them were remasters. It's like every year! 

I'm bad at these intros, what do you want me to say? Here we go:

Best Remaster: Bayonetta and Vanquish Anniversary Collection VS Megaman Zero & ZX Collection

I played both of these collections of old games in 2020, but which one is better? Well, on the one hand, the Bayonetta one allows you to play Bayo on a Sony console without the performance being garbage. The PS3's is so bad that /v/ considers it unplayable. Now, I can deal with the PS3 version, but now I don't have to. Don't have to get a copy of Vanquish either! On the other hand, it's just two PS3 games that are like, already being remastered? The Megaman Zero and ZX Collection also has way more games, 6 of them to be precise. But, they're also easily emulatable GBA and DS games. That said, I'm gonna have to give it the award, since I just prefer MMZ over Bayonetta and Vanquish. It also has an easy mode for lil babbies with bad reaction time like me to actually beat these games...

"Hey, be nice!": The Most Unfairly Maligned Game award

Resident Evil 3 Remake

Don't get me wrong, it sucks how much was cut out of RE3, and it's even shorter than the original was... but honestly, is what was done really that much worse than RE2make? I played both games again not long before these remakes came out, and I gotta say, they're both about the same level in that regard. I think RE2make was better, but that's because what was cut out from both just results in enjoying 2 more than 3. I already like 2 more anyway! I said in the last GOTY post that I was disappointed with how things like the Zapping System and the uniqueness between the permutations of the scenarios in the original were stripped out or cut down. There are a total of 3 different scenes now if you do Claire A Leon B, Leon A Claire B, they will fight the same bosses no matter what, and just fight Birkin's Final Form in B. This means you can't have Claire finish off Mr. X, for example. In the original, the bosses were tied to whether or not you were playing the A or B scenario, and if you were playing as Leon or Claire. Now, they correspond to either nothing, or who you're playing as for like one fucking fight. So enjoy being on different sides of the fence, and having Claire talk to Marvin instead OOOOH! If anything, I think MORE was cut out of RE2 than 3! 

And RE2make was still a great game! I don't understand how 3 is somehow this big betrayal, this failed remake, this shitty game. Even people who were critical of 2's think this. Bitch, this shit is LESS cut to pieces! What?! People must be forgetting how short RE3 already was, and yes, it would be mitigated by having the Live Selection system still in place, but that doesn't mean this is somehow some bad game and bad remake. The game is still good, it just shouldn't be 60 dollars. That's the only real issue, these were clearly developed at the same time, and should have been released in one package like they were clearly gonna. It's shitty that Capcom decided to bundle it with REsistence to try and justify the price and maximize sales, but that doesn't ruin the game. 

The RE3 Remake is still a good game. Aim your anger squarely at Capcom, not the RE devteam.

"Fun Things Are Fun": The "F.U.N."est Game award

Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated

As much as I don't like speedrunners, I have to commend them for popularizing this game enough it got a graphical remake. I liked this game a lot as a kid, I was a spongebob fan before it jumped the shark, so I played this and the game based on the movie. It was fun! And it still is fun. I actually prefer the weird looking PS2 graphics, but the new stuff is good too. There's not much to say, it's a pretty standard 3D platformer of that era, but with very spongebob humor and mechanics. It's got a lot of charm because of that, especially if you grew up with the show. 

Also, I platinumed it! Platinum is entirely just based on in-game 100% completion, none of that "do this weird thing for a trophy" or "play for this amount of time" or "play again on hard" stuff, just collect all the things. 

"I Have Returned": The Pretty Good Revival award

Shin Sakura Wars

Shin Sakura Wars, localized in the west as just "Sakura Wars"(because this is the second game in the series to be released here, which was subtitled "So Long, My Love", and I'm the only one who played it anyway), is... good? That's about what I have to say about it. The combat is absolutely very musou game, but I think it's fun enough. The controls are a little too loose for these big ass steampunk robots you're piloting, I'd prefer weightier feeling, but it's not bad. There's some fun and cool moves you can do. Besides, the main draw is the dating sim playable anime aspect. To be sure, I preferred the SRPG segments of 5, which I felt came up so infrequently that they were a joy to finally have happen. They weren't anything complex, but it was easier to feel the effects of your dating simming on the girls' strength in combat because it was turn based. That said, again, it's fun enough and the dating sim part is really fun. Especially with the nice 3D models that really show off Tite Kubo's great character designs, which you get to see up close in some romantic bonding scenes. The real issue with the game is the story isn't as good as it was in 5. 5's wasn't amazing, it was some stupid pulpy shit there too, where you fought yet another demonic Nobunaga. That said, I felt the writing was better, the girls' problems and drama felt a lot more justified and not as forced. A friend compared it to Love Live writing, and while I think that's harsh, it does come off more like an Idol anime. 

It's not impressive, though neither was 5. I like that game more, but this one's not bad either. Just nothing special, and if you're wondering if you should play it and aren't sure, you could probably just pass it up. 

However! I'm happy that the series is back. I think 5 was actually that last one until now, oof! Hoping for more in the next few years.

"Maybe Next Time": The "Not Bad for your First Try" award.

Yakuza 7/Yakuza: Like a Dragon

It pains me that yet another Ryu Ga Gotoku game gets put up here as a disappointment, with Yakuza 6 and Judgment. Well, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise didn't but I mean that was an older game that finally came out here. The story is also hit and miss this time though it was better than 6 and Judgment I think, but this time they beefed it on the gameplay side of things. Okay, not entirely, but while there are a lot of great mechanics and things that work well for translating the modern day beat-em-up brawler action of the Yakuza series into a turn based RPG, there are an equal amount of things that don't. Small things, like how the use of objects in the enviroment doesn't really carry over since you don't choose when or if you'll do that, your dude will just automatically do it if he can if you get lucky and are near them. Big things, like balance issues; you need to be a certain level to take on many of the late game bosses, but you can only do that through grinding or beating the battle arena... which is super easy. After the bosses, you'll be overpowered for regular fights. Unless of course you're fighting a damage sponge, of which the game has many, in which case you'll be stuck mashing attack or spamming your most damaging moves and nothing else because all either of you can do is chip damage. The final boss is actually one of these, all he does is spam the same 2-3 moves over and over while you slowly whittle him down and he does maybe 150 damage to characters with 400 HP min if he tries real hard. There are other issues too, like how all the substories are still written and act like you don't have a party, so they never show up in them. Moreover, the last 2 party members you get are barely in main cutscenes. I could go on but I mean it's just not that great, there are good ideas here I just think they'll have to try again next time and iron out the issues.

Most Samurai and Best Looking Game

Ghost of Tsushima

I'm surprised to be doing a big western made AAA game like this, I rarely play japanese AAA games. However, this game always looked super cool from when they first showed it off. It's a fairly typical open world action adventure game... BUT WITH SAMURAI. It's also set in one of the most interesting points in japanese history; the time japanese land was occupied by invading forces. I believe it was the one and only time. Nowadays, they're occupied by allied forces, who don't do thinks like decapitate civilians and burn down villages... usually. The Mongols invaded the island of Tsushima, and took over the place. Reinforcements would eventually arrive, but much of the people and land had been ravaged by then. So, you take the role of the hidden warrior who retook the island, the "Ghost" of Tsushima, who also apparently helped create Ninja as his tactics are 90% just that but no one ever brings them up? and hey, didn't Angolmois say something different happened? Also, weren't the Iga the ones who created these techniques pretty much from the ground up? And actually, in the kamakura-period samurai were-

Okay, so it's not exactly historically accurate, but it's still real cool. It's very Akira Kurosawa-esque, which I still need to actually see a movie of. No one cares that it's not accurate aside smoothbrained Dunning-Kreuger proving game journos, and also asian people who aren't even japanese. Most japanese people were pretty into the game, and noted that most of their samurai media isn't historically or culturally accurate either; it's just cool and a good story. That's what matters. You want real history, read a history book. 

The combat is very good, I enjoyed it a lot. You have the choice of being stealthy or going loud, and the combat is just challenging and punishing enough, especially early on, that you'll be pushed to be "dishonorable" in order to survive. It forces you to learn how it works, be careful, and choose risk vs. reward, as video games are meant to do. A far cry from other open world games which tend to be super easy. I enjoyed it a lot, and I eventually got good enough at the combat that I didn't need to be stealthy, but had so many stealth skills I decided to use them. It became a process of sneaking in, taking out the hardest enemies first, then taking out the rest. It was fun! 

And finally, this game looks great. Not only are the raw graphics really good, but the artistry as well as particle and lighting effects make it look just gorgeous at times. Hard not to look good when you're on a japanese island with japanese design aesthetics but still, looks great. The presentation lends a fantastic atmosphere that conveys a variety of emotions, from somber calmness, to chilling despair, to fiery passionate rage. 

It's cool game and it looks great!

Best Story

13 Sentinels

I don't think I can give 13 Sentinels Game of The Year, because while I can certainly give games that I like purely for their stories that have not fantastic gameplay, there are two other games with fantastic stories that have really good gameplay as well.

That said, 13 Sentinels is probably the best story in any game I played in 2020. That's right, more than P5 Royal, more than FF7 Remake.

But why? That comes down to a few things: 1. The way it's told. 2. It's the kind of story that appeals to me personally. 3. It's influenced by so many classic sci-fi, anime, movie, TV series, what have you. So many, lemme tell you some!

Classic Kaiju and Tokusatsu shows; Godzilla is specifically referenced, and it could be considered an homage to ultra man as well, in which a hero has to fight aliens invading from space. 

Nenji(the yankee)'s storyline directly references Kamen Rider Stronger(as "Kamen Hero Stranger"), with it's "League of Darkness" being a direct reference to Black Satan, as the image of it's leader appears incredibly similarly to the most notable bad guy in that. 

Takamiya(the sukeban)'s storyline is homage to Sukeban Deka, specifically the J-Drama/Tokusatsu series. Takamiya Yuki looks strikingly similar to the first Sukeban Deka: Same hairstlye and red ribbon, and obviously the same outfit. She is also blackmailed into working for an investigation into a high school, making the deal that her parent will be released from prison.

Fuyusaka's is an homage to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: She finds a mysterious device in an abandoned school science lab, meets a boy from the future and falls in love with him. Said boy even does his own rendition of "would you laugh if I told you I was from the future?".

Natsu's has specific references to ET and War of the Worlds. 

Megumi's is, sadly, clearly inspired by Madoka Magica. I'd say the things Madoka was ripping off inspired by, but there direct references to it including the character looking and sometimes dressing similarly to Homura, having a similar goal, and even mentioning Clarke's Third Law as Madoka does. I really don't know why you'd reference that and not all of the things it was lifting from. Madoka is not in the same vein as this, Madoka is Urobuchi being lazy and copying other Magical Girl shows but now it's super tragic so it's original and a subversion. Go watch Princess Tutu, I wish her story had been that.

I felt as if there were references to Macross and other mecha anime, obviously

There are others I can't tell you because they spoil twists in this and the stories they are influenced by, so you know. I'll try to be vague, read the next two at your own risk.

Shu's story feels very similar to... well, let's say it's a very famous and influential 80s OVA. There are many similarities to the point you could even cry plagiarism, but I do think you were supposed to realize it. The OVA in question was highly successful and important to anime and sci-fi history.

The general story and plot actually reminds me a lot of one of my favorites, I can't go much further than that, but it's an incredibly similar story, and even has a similar ending!

There's probably more I didn't pick up on or just don't know, but suffice it to say, it feels like it was created from dozens of different sci-fi series from the 70s to 2000s, by people who were genuine fans of those things. It feels like a celebration of anime and even film history, and bringing it into the modern era, which makes it a joy to play if you like these same things.

Added to that is just how much of a convoluted and interesting mystery it is. How it's told is fantastic: you choose who's story you want to play, play through it's chapters, and while some events get locked off until other events are completed, there's a lot of choice in what order you do them. They are non-linear, and each segment only seems to raise more questions. When you go "what's going on with that character" and start playing their story to find out, often times it won't help or will gate progress right before you find out. It's structured so that you'll never learn the answer to a question before it's ready to answer it, but you still have mostly free reign to tackle the game in the order you want. Progress will be gated by finishing another character's event, having completed a certain amount of characters' storylines, or even just playing the strategy segments. You can do a little bit of each until you've done everything, you can try to complete a certain part of the game until you can't any more. This also causes the side effect of forcing you to not do one thing for too long: Eventually the story in the strategy segments will spoil the plot of the adventure segments, so you gotta stop. Eventually a character's story will spoil another's so you have to stop. You can then choose to pursue the unlock, which can end up taking you through several characters' stories, or go do someone else's entirely; The end result is always the same, how you get there is up to you. It's great!

Besides, this story just appeals to me. It's so mysterious and interesting, so complicated that you might need to take notes to keep track of everything. It jumps around all over the place expertly, always giving you more pieces of the puzzle without giving you too much of another, never giving away something else that happens. Luckily, there's a data archive that you can look at which will summarize what information has been learned to help you keep track of it all.

It's just a good story, I've barely even really talked about what it's about or how the characters are. But I don't think I need to, what I've said should be enough to interest you. So, go find out on your own. I'm sure you'll like it.

Game of the Year: ~Battle! FF7 Remake VS Persona 5 Royal! Who Will Win!?~

This one's a toughie. I mean, theoretically, an updated re-release shouldn't be in the running for GOTY, but I mean there is quite a bit of extra content here. I mean, if I'd played it when it came out, Persona 4 The Golden would have won GOTY. Royal arguably adds even more to the narrative than Golden, which really just added a new character which helps set up Izanami a bit more than "yo this guy's handshake makes ur controller vibrate" and "wow weird that he only shows up on rainy days! Sure hope you actually went over there on rainy days and noticed!". Well, okay, it also added a social link for Adachi, and another ending for if you decide to join him. Royal adds two new characters in addition to a proper social link for Akechi, and an entire new story arc, final dungeon, final boss, and a bonus boss. That's not even mentioning the new mini games, mechanics, and even music. Oh, previously existing bosses have new moves/gimmicks and phases. As an example, there's one bad one in the Okumura boss, that makes the fight way harder unless you made sure to get matarukaja or are just overleveled. There's a new, good example, in the Shido boss where you fight him one-on-one with the MC. The final boss is also really challenging, forcing you to be totally familiar with all the mechanics even when you're nearly max level. This turns what's already a great game into an even better one. I'll say this: if your complaint was that all the bad guys were basically 2 dimensionally evil, or at the very least just objectively wrong leading to there being no real philosophical or ideological conflict  like there usually is in JRPGs, well the new final antagonist has you covered. Tragic backstory, understandable and even arguably correct goal and motivation, a philosophical and ideological dilemma, a developed and interesting character that is sympathetic while still being intimidating and in the wrong; it's all there. This game is god damn fantastic.

On the other hand, Final Fantasy VII: Remake is... well it sure is something. This game's been divisive, because people are fucking stupid disagree on some key points on what a good remake should be, and what FF7 is. And, to be honest, I can understand if you don't like the direction the story has gone in, how it was executed, and feel it just isn't really like FF7. I do get that. That said, a lot of people really did just want the same game again. Those people are stupid, they made it abundantly clear it would be different. I mean that was the idea, it seemed, to go back and do what they wanted to do originally. I was actually somewhat disappointed by this aspect, because it seems more like it's meant to be an entirely different story and tie more into the Compilation. It's obvious if you aren't nostalgia blind, that the story of FF7 isn't totally complete. A lot of it is very utilitarian, it gets what it needs to across and doesn't do a lot else. There's a surprising lack of meat, especially in characters other than Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa. The game's pacing is terrible, despite what some people will tell you, and the plot becomes mostly highlights by the last 3rd of the game. Hell, the game has no real ending. Sure, they dressed it up nicely making it feel as if it's "open ended", but it's clear they just ran out of time. It's really buggy, showing they just got it into a decent shape and 90% done before shipping it out. They did great with the most important stuff, but the stuff on the side is a big lacking. It makes up for it in so many ways, but it's hard to deny it's not what they wanted to do. And I know, art is it's limitations, I love flawed and broken media. That said, I was interested in seeing the detail they'd meant to put in. Maybe that's actually what they're planning, still, but there's a lot added on to it that makes it very different from what even that could be, especially since it incorporates both the original game's story and the stories of other compilation entries. Even more importantly than that, I was actually disappointed that this whole thing, meant to be the true version of the midgar section with so much more of it shown and more story there... ended up not really being that. There's like, one more segment? One more part of midgar you get to see? Well okay, the part after the first reactor where you run through the town is expanded, and there's tons more of the slums... but I wanted to see more of the plate cities. I love the FF7 aesthetic, it looks so fucking cool. FF7 was the first like, non-simple arcade game I ever played. It informed so many of my tastes, so of course I feel that way. I wanted to go and check out all of the sectors. Instead, I'm just running around the slums again. But, this game's story is 90% expanded version of the original game's plot in this part. And it's mostly good! There's a lot of padding, some alright and some garbage, and a lot of ugly ass generic NPCs and some boring side quests to get it there, but it's still a great version of something I've seen before. I know I was hard on it just now, but I really do enjoy what it is, I was just hoping for something different. But maybe it's okay to not get what you wanted. You understand that? Do you?! Anyway, what we got instead is, as I said, a pretty great rendition of the familiar... with a lot of stuff that's unfamiliar. The new parts of the story are very interesting, sometimes a bit contradictory of themselves when you really think about it, but very interesting.

Moreover, the combat system is fantastic! Yes, we can all mourn the death of the original's turn based combat(yes, I said turn based, you pedantic ass "ackshually" fucks. ATB is still turn based. Guess what it is when your ATB gauge fills? It's your turn. If everyone takes turns based on who's hourglass empties first, you're still taking turns. Just because the gauges move in real time and if you aren't taking your turn, someone else will, doesn't mean it's not fucking turn based), but this action rpg combat is top notch. It's the best implementation of the stagger meter mechanic I've seen, though sometimes the bosses and even common enemies can be just massive damage sponges even when you stagger them. Some of it's overdone, but the base is great, some of the bosses are fantastic, and overall it's just fun to play. The story has problems, but it's so cool and interesting, lots of improvements to the original narrative and lots of new interesting directions. I can't wait to find out what Sephiroth's deal is now. Is he a good guy? Is he still a bad guy but wants something different? What's happening? What does he mean by 7 seconds until the end? It reminds me of the subtitle to Getter Robo Devolution(Last 3 Minutes of the Universe), which was a darker and grittier(somehow) reboot of the Getter Robo manga which turned out to be some kind of weird meta-prequel to the original. Hmmm... strange... I'm so fucking excited, I couldn't care less about the execution. People shit on it for being "like kingdom hearts", which 1: Lol, no. and 2. I love kingdom hearts. 

So in the end I have to say, FF7R wins game of the year. The characters are so much better done than they were in the original: Aeris has way more personality and is fun, Barret's still a black stereotype but I feel like he's still more rounded than "angry black man but who, against type, loves his daughter", RedXIII actually has a character, as does Rude who really didn't before, the bad guys have more character, Biggs and Wedge have more character, Jessie has WAY more character, there are new characters, they took Rufus in an... interesting new direction, Cloud is probably the best iteration of him, certainly the best since the first game. He's absolutely pitch perfect for what I thought of him: Kind of actually cool sometimes, but definitely a dork trying way too hard to be cool, and people clearly know it. I'm sad he's not voiced by Steve Burton anymore, but the new guy is doing the voice very well. To add to it all, there's great set pieces, great new plot points, the game looks fucking fantastic, and it's just a big cool good game. People complained about the final boss but I thought it was fuckin' RAD!

P5R is what the game shoulda been to begin with, FF7R is an entirely different game.

That said... I'm worried. This stupid fucking DLC(?) thing with Yuffie and all these dumb spin off titles are raising some massive fucking red flags. God damn. Please, stop it Square.

Anyway, so there you have it, the whatever annual GOTY awards! I finally finished making it! See you... uh, in like 6 months hopefully. Oops.