2018 marks the year I was able to get back into blogging and it has been quite a journey for me. I got to finally do a series for Halloween that I have been wanting to do since my early-20s, and I was finally able to talk about some of my old favorites I've always wanted to write about such as Jinguji Saburo. While personally this was not the best year for me--I was in and out of a few jobs, and that has nothing on my own medical health’s rollercoaster--writing wise, this was one of my best years that saw the most creative output in me since probably my college days.
For 2019 I really hope I can keep this creative train going, but enough about my own personal stuff, you guys just came for the list, right? Last year I combined my favorite anime and favorite games into one super list, which really was far too long--so this year I thought it was best to separate them into two different lists. I’ll start with my favorite video games of 2018 and then the next blog post right after this will be for my favorite anime of 2018. As always this is just a personal lists, and has no real merit on anything in the real world. I fail to see how I even qualify as an expert! Although I’m flattered if you thought I was! I’m just a hipster with a blog barley anyone reads, so take what you can from that.
A few rules, I am not omnipresent nor am I omnipotent, so I did not have enough time to play every game this year. I may have missed quite a few gems just because I have yet to play them. This could be from a lack of interest or it could just be for a lack of time, there a quite a few games I bought that I want to talk about such as 428: Shibuya Scramble, or The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, but I simply did not get a chance to play them yet. I want to hopefully make up for that by writing an entire blog post dedicated to a few of those I missed next year. I can say with 100% confidence, 428 is definitely getting its own post soon. There’s also my money being tight this year from jumping around jobs. I would love nothing more than to be playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate right now, but unfortunately I've been way too broke to get it!
Without further ado, let’s jump into some of my favorite games of 2018, in alphabetical order.
You better believe I picked this one up as soon as I got out of work the day it was released and played this bad boy all through the night until it was time to go to work the next morning. Dragon Quest XI is just that kind of game. Once you pick it up, it consumes you, it becomes your life. Having a brand new Dragon Quest game after 8 years of almost radio silence from Square Enix (okay, we had a fair amount of spin offs and a couple remakes but I just wanted a NEW main entry so bad) was such a wonderful feeling, like seeing an old friend you never thought you would be able to meet again. Dragon Quest XI is my favorite game I played this year, and I have no regrets saying that. Usually I try to list all my picks for every year in alphabetical order to avoid playing favorites but screw it, this is my favorite.
Dragon Quest XI is a beautiful game that really pays homage to the entire series and I couldn't think of any better 30th anniversary celebration out there than this. The characters were some of the best in the series, and Horii crafted such an emotionally powerful story. This was a fantastic game from start to finish, and that isn't even going into the post-game content where Dragon Quest XI goes all out on being an anniversary title with some mind blowing moments for long time fans.
What makes Jake Hunter special is how much it adheres to the classic hardboiled detective narrative. This is a down-to-earth series without anything too crazy going on, just a classic 1940’s noir style detective tackling difficult cases in a harsh world. As Jake Hunter says, “No one is ever truly happy after a case.” All detectives can hope to do is figure out something tragic and offer a hand to the victims in picking up the pieces, they aren't magic men. This is a series that works best with a glass of bourbon and some smooth jazz vinyl. I really miss games like these and whenever I play an entry in the Jake Hunter series it reminds me of a lot of old point-n-click Detective PC games that we really don’t see enough of anymore.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux - Nintendo 3DS
Octopath Traveler - Nintendo Switch
So despite what I said about Alliance Alive it doesn't mean I did not enjoy Octopath Traveler, on the contrary, I think both games actually compliment each other. Octopath has a much better ambiance and atmosphere, where as Alliance Alive has much better character interaction and overall story. Had there been a way to get the developers of both games together they probably would have created the most perfect SaGa spiritual successor ever.
But on to what makes Octopath so great, the effects and the personal journeys. It’s no secret that Octopath is an absolutely stunningly beautiful game. The 2D pixel art and 3D HD backgrounds create a stellar and unique look that carries a lot of the game. I heard people compare it to the N64 prototype of Final Fantasy VII and it really does have that similar kind of design aesthetic to it. It’s just absolutely stunning. But beyond Octopath’s looks is a very unique story approach that just tells eight different personal journeys. There is no evil alien to crush, no shadow organization, no end of the world, these eight tales are all just people’s journeys in this world. It’s far from perfect, and many people were left wishing the characters could interact and their stories would intertwine instead of staying separate, but I really respect an RPG that isn't all about all about saving the world for the ten millionth time.
Phantasy Star I - Sega Ages - Nintendo Switch
So believe it or not, I have never actually beaten the original Phantasy Star. I did get close to doing it in the past, but never seemed to keep my interest in the game to get all the way through. Which is a real shame because this game was groundbreaking for its time. The amount of firsts that PSI in general claimed in just insane, from the first female protagonist to the first use of 3D in JRPGs, it’s a game that has it all. Even the story is a step up from its Famicom brethren Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet unlike those you rarely see people clamoring to play PSI.
That’s why I hope with this Sega Ages re-release that this time will finally be the one for me. I really want to beat this game all the way and see the ending credits. The added quality of life features such as a mini-map for the 3D dungeons, an easier difficultly setting, and a new translation certainly help to make this the best version to get into too. I also love the retro CRT filters, personally speaking, as seen above, but those are optional, don't worry.
Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! - Nintendo Switch
Confession: I never played Pokemon Go, despite my best efforts I just could not understand what all the hype was about for that app. Because of this I did not closely follow any news for Let’s Go either past the main reveal, yet somehow I still got the game the day it came out. Maybe it’s my love for the franchise, maybe it’s because of my brother being super into Go and pushing me to get this so we could play together; I don’t really know. But what I do know is that I was having fun playing Let’s Go--a lot of fun actually. It’s weird, but the Go mechanic of throwing pokeballs is actually kind of addicting when it’s not tied to micro-transactions. Catching pokemon hasn't been this fun for me in probably a decade, and I know I just lost the respect of some people for saying that but I dunno, I was having a blast chucking these balls! I haven’t tried to complete a pokedex in ages, but that rush to catch ‘em all came back to me in Let’s Go.
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology - Nintendo 3DS
Hey look, yet another 3DS game! Yeah, if you are like me then you weren't quite ready to throw away your old friend in 2018 either despite already owning a Nintendo Switch for almost a year. I never got a chance to really play the original Radiant Historia on the Nintendo DS, so this enhanced port helped me finally experience what a lot of people considered one of the best JRPGs of the DS. I definitely don’t think I would go that far after finally playing Radiant Histroia, I mean the DS was packed with some real masterpieces, I would still put Strange Journey or Solatorobo much higher personally speaking, but damn if Radiant Histroia isn't one great game either way.
I really enjoyed all the characters, and the newly introduced voice acting that wasn't in the DS version went the extra mile to make the cast come alive. The combat system was great, the time travel mechanic was thoroughly thought out, and the story had me invested--not much else I could ask for really. I have to say though, the original DS endings actually seems kind of crappy though, so I am definitely glad I played this version that got a new (and much better) ending. Although this is all just my own personal opinions.
Well, well, well, speak of the devil. Yeah, I’m not sure if this was a coincidence or if Atlus planned this, but 2018 marks the year of Nintendo DS remasters by Atlus. Strange Journey on the Nintendo DS was one of the earliest SMT game I ever played, and to this day is still one of my personal favorites, so having an enhanced port of it on the Nintendo DS with more content and a new ending is such a dream come true for me. I was and still am bummed that Atlus did not dub the game for the English release, especially since the voice acting is a key feature for this release and because of the lack of dub I opted to turn it off thus missing out on said key feature, but well, what are you gonna do? Budgets and all.
This is a great game I really highly recommend to anyone that has missed it originally on the DS, especially if you played the Shin Megami Tensei IV duology, as you really Didi get the full picture yet without Strange Journey.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana - Nintendo Switch (Sony PS4/PS Vita back in Sept 2017)
I know what you’re thinking, yup another game that technically already came out earlier but just came out for the Switch in 2018. Maybe I am cheating this year by including games like these but well, I’ll let you be the judge of that. What matters here though is that I loved playing this game in 2018 and I just want a chance to shout about it!
Ys VIII initially threw me off, as one of my favorite things in the Ys series has always been all the cool landscapes and ruins Adol can explore, and learning everything about the native culture and people there, so having a game set entirely on a deserted island felt like a misstep, but boy was I wrong. The Island of Seiren turned out to be one of my favorite locations in the Ys series that truly feels alive, like it’s almost a real place. You get such a sense of everything exploring the island in this game, that it sticks with you. Not to mention the village building mechanic ended up being a ton of fun. Finding all the NPCs and getting to know them really gave Ys VIII a unique charm compared to other entries in the series and suffice to say all the characters were excellent. Uncovering the dark secret of the island and its now lost people had me engrossed pretty much the entire way through. There’s a lot more going on here than what you initially are lead to believe.
By the end of the game I was sad to finally leave the Island of Seiren, but Adol Christian can never stay in one place for too long!
BONUS ENTRY: -Game of Yesteryear-
Last year I added a bonus section to my picks for game of the year that was on my biggest gaming disappointment of 2017--so for this year I think I should do the opposite and add a bonus section on something more positive.
I figured since I am already here and since I already wrote about so many games from previous years with my excuse being that the game in question was a port, remaster, came out in the US in 2018, or downright just the same game but came out on Switch in 2018 now, I am already pretty deep into pre-2018 anyways. So here’s one more bonus game, one that no matter how much I tried to BS it into the list I had to admit it had nothing whatsoever to do with 2018. A game that may not be 2018 material but a game that you should play nonetheless, I know I did, and it was one of the best gaming experiences I had in 2018, falling only a little short of my favorite Dragon Quest XI, that is.
So, once again, without further ado, here’s the last game I played during 2018 that I wish to share with you all tonight.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Sony PS4/PS Vita - 2017
The Danganronpa series was always a complicated one for me. I really wanted to like the series a lot more than I did, but I could never seem to like it as much as everyone else. And that’s the key word here, because I certainly liked it, but I just didn’t like it as passionately as most others seem to. I found a lot of faults with the writing and character, and honestly some of this stuff is just a bit too much for me personally. The game play though was always so darn good, and while I may not had enjoyed every chapter in past games, the overarching story in said games were always able to keep my interest for the most part, some too chuuni moments for me aside, and I was able to power through those chapters. It’s because of that, and many more reasons, that I missed out on Danganronpa V3 last year when it came out new, something I finally got around to correcting in 2018.
What makes Danganronpa V3 so special to me has to be that the game is incredibly self-aware of most of its issues. V3 is the third mainline entry in the series, and counting spin-offs like Ultimate Despair Girls, and the Danganronpa 3: End of Hope Peak Academy anime series, the franchise has pretty much done everything it could by this point. A bunch of students being trapped in a school forced to kill each other in some twisted game pretty much went from a super interesting premise, to a super old one, and the staff behind V3 were well aware of this. No matter how good a franchise may be it will inevitably suffer from franchise fatigue, and by this point Danganronpa was pretty much a limping, wounded deer.
So instead of reinventing the wheel and risking upsetting long time fans, the staff behind V3 pretty much did the next best thing and intentionally jumped the shark. They went places they never went before, they did things that were so weird, and so out there, that it brought back a lot of the magic of the franchise’s early days. By the end of the game the level of self-awareness was pretty much off the charts that the game practically trolled you--even going as far as insulting you for why you still like these games in the first place. And I loved every minute of it. It’s hard to talk about the final hours of the game without ruining some of the best surprises, so I’ll try not to say anything too revealing, but at one point, the game even reached maximum meta, and the only way to win was to put the controller down and stop playing it. It’s really great stuff.
Happy New Year's everyone and I hope you all enjoyed this silly list of mine!
