#turt2023

[turtersblade]

Pikmin 1

Finished and 100% November 1

no comment

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Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon

Finished September 30

I LOVED this update. It had more of what I liked in Frontiers. I enjoy just running around for hours collecting everything on the map, and there was lots of it here. The island is just packed with stuff to do. This took me 15 hours to go through. I really did not expect this much content in a free update.

I really enjoy the new characters. Amy's moveset is my favorite in the whole game now, including Sonic. She's got a triple jump, a glide, a super high bounce with slow fall on it, and her super boost has a drift on it. It makes you feel like youre just tearing through in a car, its so fun. Tails is really neat too! He controls really really well. His fly initially gets you a ton of height, and he flies pretty fast. Frontiers aerial controls have never been good, but man Tails feels really good. His super boost is summoning the Tornado and having infinite flight anywhere. It's incredible. Knuckles is my least favorite. His glide has annoying start up lag, and it does not control very well. His climbing, which is just normal Frontiers climbing, is bad. Not inherently a Knuckles issue, but they use it alot more with him and it's just not good. I still honestly had fun running around with him and gliding everywhere despite this though.

Level design is improved dramatically. The overworld platforming segments are so well designed, so well thought out. They use each characters abilities so well. It's just such a crazy step up from the base game here. The cyberspace stages all blow the base game stages out of the water. They show a shift in level design philosophy that gets me really excited for the next game. This update is worth playing for those stages ALONE.

I also really loved the difficulty increase here. I replayed Frontiers, staying at level 1 because I wanted to be challenged. However, the game will still insanely easy. Here though, they really upped the difficulty of the enemies. They're not super difficult, but they require you to focus, pay attention, and use each of your abilities as best as you can instead of mindlessly bashing enemies into a pulp. THIS is what I was looking for. I just wish we got a whole difficulty mode for this so I can play the whole game like this.

Overall though, just an absolutely incredible update to my favorite Sonic game since 06. To me, Frontiers went out with a bang.

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Here's the tier list of the games I first played this year!

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Spider-Man 2

Finished and 100% October 25

This one probably wont be too long, because what can you say? It's incredible. They either fixed or flat out removed everything bad with the first two games, and added alot of things that make it more fun and enjoyable. The story here is also a massive step up. They took it further than ever before. Everything is bigger and better here really.

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PSEUDOREGALIA

Finished September 7

DAMN THIS GAME IS GOOD. It's short but very sweet. This is a 3D Metroidvania with a PS1 aesthetic. This game has shmovement, it's got loads of cool tech that lets you sequence break a bit (it got me softlocked at one point unfortunately though) and just overall it feels great to play. The level design is TOP notch. I heard this game was made in 4 months?? How?????? How can you make a game this good in 4 months, if thats true? The only negative I have against this game is that there is no map, which caused me to constantly circle around. In my opinion, this game desperately needs it. They are adding one in though! I would recommend waiting for the update to play it, but you should also just buy it now. It's dirt cheap at $6. Just play it. I already need a sequel so bad.

I really really really like Sybil

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Hi-Fi RUSH

Finished September 3

I held off on playing this for SO long. It's just been such a good year for games, but I finally made the time and I'm happy to have finally played it. It's a game you don't really get nowadays. In the greatest way possible, this is a GameCube/PS2 era game, while having the polish of modern games.

A rhythm action game sounds crazy, but it works really well. I'm really not good at recognizing beats and all that, but it didn't become an issue. The game gives you different ways to tell, and even then, the music they use really accentuates the beat clearly for you to tell. This whole system works shockingly well.

The boss battles are incredible. Having this be a rhythm action game makes recognizing patterns easier, and makes it feel better when you take advantage of it. The level design is great, with the last level being phenomenal, even if it was short.

I could just go on about whats good, but thats just about everything. The only negative I can really say is that Chai's jump feels kinda shitty. That's kinda about it?? Everyone has to play this game. Its fairly short so it doesn't even require a large time commitment. It would be great to see a sequel eventually. If I hadn't played Pikmin 4 this could've been my game of the year (so far).

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FINAL FANTASY XVI

Finished August 24

This game is quite something. What is that something? I'm not really sure. This is how I generally feel about the game. Final Fantasy XVI is a game that doesn't do things terribly wrong, but is filled with weird choices in direction and is filled with missed potential. Or maybe not even that? They didn't shoot for the moon, but maybe for something much easier, like for the clouds.

The biggest oddity here is the extremely pointless 5 year time jump. It's weird. The time skip served absolutely no purpose to the narrative, gameplay, characters, or anything else. Developing characters off screen would've been bad, but somehow we're meant to believe they havent changed at all in the five years. That super apparent romantic tension between Clive and Jill? That completely stagnated in place in those five years. Everything stagnated in those five years.

Gameplay wise, missed potential. Absolute missed potential in points, but in some other aspects they never shot far anyway. The combat is the biggest case for missed potential. It's good, its good, but I cannot say much else. It doesn't evolve much during the game. Your base combo never ever changes or gets upgraded or anything else. So the only way the combat ever changes is the Eikon abilities you get from each of the Dominants. Yeah they all also kinda suck. Your Phoenix/Ifrit and Garuda skills actually work really well together, theres synergy there. But aside from Titan, the others absolutely do not. None of these skills work well together to form a fluid combat experience. It's still fun enough, but this really could've been more.

The level design is horribly bland and uninteresting. The dungeons are not good. They took FFXIV dungeons, put them in a single player action game, and then further simplified and dumbed them down. You move so awfully slow in this game which makes these areas even more of a drag to get around. I don't see why this couldn't have more involved dungeons when something like Stranger of Paradise had incredible dungeons.

The quests are so mind numbing too. Go here, get item, fight wave of easy enemies, ok now fight enemy with a really big healthbar, go back, quest over. This even applies to the main story. There is just so much uninteresting filler. Not horribly bad, but just passable.

Now for the positives. I really like these characters! They're all so good, with Dion becoming a surprise favorite. The writing is pretty good, the voice acting is top notch, and I really cared for everyone. Clive is an absolute legend, I love him and he deserves the best.

The music?? Especially for the Eikon fights, its incredible! I found myself humming quite often when a track came on. Cid's theme is an absolute classic to me now. I knew the music was in good hands when I found out it shares the same composer(s) as Final Fantasy XIV.

I really enjoyed this story. For each arc, they did a great job at giving you a new big bad to fear and want to take down. They even did a solid job at making you feel some ounce of sympathy for them. Their only fumble to me was actually Ultima. I'm sorry but I just do not give a fuck about Ultima. I knew from his first appearance that I would not like him, but still kept an open mind. Yet, they never gave me a reason to care about him.

Overall, I liked this game. I did every side quest (which actually did have interesting stories in them!! they are worth doing) every hunt, and I finished this game at the 50 hour mark. I wouldn't have done all this if I didn't like it, but this could've been more. This is the definition of a solid 7.0/10 game. An exact 7. A high C on a tier list, maybe very bottom of B, depends on what it's up against. I still recommend this to everyone, because everyone can have a good time. They don't do anything egregious that would turn people off here, you'd only be fighting your own boredom at times.

Torgal is best boy

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Persona 5 Royal

Finished and 100% April 20

I had already played vanilla Persona 5 back in 2018, and I liked it alot. It definitely wasnt as great as it could have been though. There were some gameplay annoyances, and I feel like the writing could have been better. Well, thats where Royal steps in.

There are so many additions to the gameplay that help make it feel better, with the most iconic change being Morgana pestering you to go to bed way less often. But theres much more. There are lots of new ways to power yourself up, new abilities, its a tough task to mention everything new.

The new story elements are GREAT. Writing and story was never P5's strong point, but the new Royal elements are so very good. I actually had a fair amount of Royal spoiled for me going in, yet it still works. It feels like they didnt hold back when writing Royal at all.

Play this game.

Oh yeah, I somehow accidentally 100% this. When I decided to finally check my achievements near the end of the game, I was only like 1 or 2 non story achievements away from doing it. sick.

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SONIC FUCKING DIES

Finished March 31

this game is peak. its awesome. thats it.

thanks to @thatcubegamer for providing me with this very official poster of the game.

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Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin

Finished March 29

This game is surprisingly not as memey as the reveal trailer would have you believe. It's a shockingly heartfelt story of friendship. This is a passion project, something where they actually wanted to make something really really cool.

The main cast are simple yet likeable. A cool little group of outcasts. One of my favorite characters from the game though has to be Astos.

This was probably my biggest surprise. What do you mean they made some random boss with two lines in the original Final Fantasy game into a really cool dude?? Why is he hot?

I also really like the gameplay. It feels SNAPPY. Everything feels so quick and responsive. The combat feels so POWERFUL. The special executions feel so good to do. There are also an insane amount of classes to choose from. I typically stick with one or two in a game like this, but here I was constantly changing it up. No matter what kind of player you are, you 100% will find a class you love.

Dungeons are also fantastic. Super well designed, and the theming of them are REALLY cool. As of writing this tumblr version of my thoughts on this game, I am going through FF16 and, man. The dungeons in there are a massive step down from the ones in Stranger of Paradise.

This game also has multiplayer!! It's both really great, and really really stupid. You cannot simultaneously play this game from fresh with a friend. You can only join someone if you have already done the dungeon they are doing. Besides that though, it works like a charm. I'd be happy enough to replay this with someone else, the dungeons are just that great.

Play this game!! Just dont buy the dlc. Im not even going to get into it here, but I nope'd out of it so fast.

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Kingdom Hearts Dark Road

Finished March 12

Its hardly even a game. You sit there and let the game play itself. You dont even watch it, because you have to just let it grind on its own for hours and hours.

So all there really is here is story. And, it's actually pretty good?? Aside from the random flash forwards that make the story telling feel a bit off, it has a pretty interesting story that drags at the start but gets pretty good in the second half. I really like how much it fleshes out Xehanort and Eraqus. This game made me genuinely feel sympathy for Xehanort despite all the bad he eventually does.

The finale went so much further than I expected. There is more DEATH in this game than all the other KH games combined. Not even like "death" where they return as some heartless nobody dreameater, but real death. I don't recommend "playing" this game at all, but its definitely worth actually watching all the cutscenes rather than a story recap like with Union X.

Also, wow. The post credit sequence was REALLY good. Genuinely made me emotional.

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Super Sami Roll

Finished and 100% February 13

I found out about this game from NitroRad, and just had to buy it. A cool, Super Monkey Ball-inspired indie platformer? Sign me UP! This is such a technically great game with its movement and such. The physics are amazing, and theres some REALLY cool tech that helps you speedrun these levels. However, this game has some of the worst level design I have ever been victim to.

Think of any awful level gimmick you have seen in a video game. Just about every single one of those is here. Strong wind on thin platforms? Check. Obnoxious ice physics? Check. All of these, and more at the same time? Absolutely check. It's a shame too because the gameplay itself is fantastic.

Oh yeah I should also mention, there are no i-frames, so you just get combo'd so much, and you just cannot do anything to stop it.

why did I even 100% this game??

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Goat Simulator 3

you can't really beat this game but I played it in late January

The game opens with this. Its peak gaming.

It's one of the greatest co-op games you could play. I played with @thatcubegamer and it was great.

You can wield the keyblade. What else could you want

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Lunistice

Finished and 100% January 6

Cute little fun game. Its pretty short and its dirt cheap. It only took me 11 hours to beat and complete. Its just $5, so if you're even slightly interested, there's no reason to not get it.

The little ducky you unlock after beating the game was my favorite to play the levels as :)

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slowly moving my twitter gaming thread over here, will be tagged with #turt2023. will not be updating the text of the original posts that much.

Kena Bridge of Spirits

Finished January 3

Really neat game that I've owned for a long time but only got to now. The cutscenes are incredibly animated. Combat could be better, but the overall gameplay is real fun. Started weak but it got better and better. Real short, so its worth a try.

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Super Mario RPG (Switch)

Finished November 24

I'm just gonna come out and say it. I didn't really like this game a whole lot. It's a decent game, it's okay. I just genuinely don't get the hype. It's not because it's old and dated at all, it's just kind of mind numbing? The level design is very boring, most battles are just spamming the A button, and the story is about as deep as a normal 2D Mario game. Geno has about 5 minutes of screen time, all of which are when he first appears in the game. This is the dude everyone's been hyping up since Smash Brawl? Mallow CLEARS Geno and it's not even close.

The music is pretty good though, and the orchestration of it all in the remake is beautiful. There were a few boss battles that I really liked, and felt they were very well designed. The visuals in the remake are also really good!

I really thought I'd like this game alot. I may or may not give the SNES version a proper try at some point, but for now Mario RPG is like a 6/10 for me.