Over the last few years, nostalgia has crept into our gaming environment, and many old-school twists and turns are now cult and current. Whether publishers revisit classic IP and restore it with HD graphics, or just release titles in their original form, it’s as current to play a retro game as it is to engage with any major AAA blockbuster from a notorious, multi-million budget studio.
Then there are unusual hybrids like Paper Sorceror. A new game that revisits the core foundations of the RPG, but re-imagines it with all the resources available to a 21st Century developer. An independent title with limited advertising, targeting a fairly niche area of the market.
Certainly an intriguing, inspiring concept, but one that raises many questions. The most important of which, is it worth your time, energy and money when standards are so incredibly high and competition so unmercifully fierce?
Bryan Rumsey writes: "Kickstarter funding has led to some really great titles over the years so why not buy a couple while they are cheap. Steam is doing one of their bi-yearly sales and plenty of games can be found at spectacular prices."
Yeah, you always hear about the failures of Kickstarter projects, but there actually have been a good number of successes.
This list also missed a some games like the three Shadowrun titles, Banner Saga, Broken Age, Wasteland 2, and Darkest Dungeon. I only have some of them, but I know they were all at least pretty well-received.
There's also some promising ones on the horizon that look like they're shaping up nicely so far, such as Bloodstained and We Happy Few.
Why are all the consoles listed there as tags when this is about the Steam Summer Sale?
Digitally Downloaded writes: "I thought we'd take one last look at the year that was. Specifically, games that came and went in 2014 with barely a ripple. Oh sure, these games were released, reviewed, and some people bought them, but as the year wore on these games were all but forgotten. People stopped talking about them on social media, there were no "looking back" articles, and they rarely featured in the end of year awards nominations."
Why do I see a picture of lightning returns? Was that a game I should be sad about missing? Cuz I'm pretty sure all of the ff13 games really sucked.
Although Lightning Returns is pretty bad, it's the FFXIII game I most liked (or hated the least). They tried to make things right in FFXIII-2, but while some things got better, other things got even worse (specially the plot). So it's like in LR they just said "screw it, this plot is unsalvageable, we won't be able to make it compare to other games in the series, so let's go crazy and complete this trilogy one way or another".
In the end, most of the things were still pretty terrible, mainly the plot and the characters (Lightning got even more boring with the "I don't have feelings anymore"). But some other things were so unusual for a Final Fantasy game that I ended up kinda liking them. And the battle system was what it should've been since the beginning: if you can't make good AI, it's better to let us fight alone. It's the only FFXIII game I played more than once, because the post-game was fun this time.
I wouldn't consider Lightning Returns "overlooked".
The reason why it didn't sell as much is because people played the first 2 games. They knew why they were skipping it.
I can see why FFXIII has so much hate. It's because many gamers want to play Final Fantasy XV instead and while they are taking their sweet arse time developing the game it felt in a way to many gamers including myself that FFXV was being shoved aside for more FFXIII sequels. While Lightning Returns does have great gameplay its release was overlooked cause many gamers just stopped caring about anything relating to FFXIII. Personally I felt that FFXIII should have ended with the first game cause the ending was a happy one and by adding in her being like a demi god didn't help the trilogy any further, plus sad to say FFXIII-2 was outsold in Japan by Tales of Xillia.
FFXIII overall had 2 sequels TOO many.
Now that's sad when a Tales title outsells a FF game barely anybody wants to play. Besides I feel that Tales of Xillia & Tales of Xillia 2 have a better character cast in general. While the FFXIII cast grows overall the sad truth is very few of the characters seem somewhat memorable. At least with Tales of Xillia many of the characters in the game were more likable.
FFXIII was a dissapointment and way overhyped beyond comparison. I know it was because I played the game for 82 hours and when I beat it I felt unsatisfied.
My comment down below was supposed to be a response to this. In short, yes, Xillia was greatly superior to FFXIII, although I still want to try XIII-2 and Lightning Returns.
Lightning Returns embodies just about everything wrong with the XIII saga. It's a prime example of how JRPGs, namely Square Enix's, crumble under pressure to reinvent themselves and innovate for the sake of innovating.
It's so full of random moving parts that it's never sure what it wants to be beyond a Lightning cosplay simulator and a bare bones role-playing, sandbox game. I'm simply glad it's done.
I would hope that Sunset Overdrive, Bayonetta 2, DK: Tropical Freeze, and Shovel Knight got the attention they deserved, but it seems they did to an extent.
If any game deserves a treat for all the crap it got, it's AC Unity. Yes, I'm that guy. Glitches and scandal aside, it does the most to perfect the series combat and parkour mechanics in the past few years and the environmental detail is simply stunning.
Patches have inked out most of the biggest problems, and yes, Arno's story is rather uninspiring, but I'm rather fond of what AC Unity saw in itself.
This was supposed to be a reply to an earlier comment, but I'm not sure it worked...
I haven't played Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns yet, but I'm going to at least give them a try in the hopes that I like them better than XIII.
I hated FFXIII's cast. As far as I'm concerned, it would have been hard for Tales of Xillia to NOT beat it in terms of characters.
And not just the party members, but the villains, too! Tales of Xillia had a great villain (that's an understatement, he was my favorite part of the game), while Final Fantasy XIII had one of the least memorable villains I've seen. I didn't love him, I didn't hate him, I didn't feel *anything* for him, and I think that's the worst reaction an audience can have to a character.
But I still hold out hope I'll like XIII-2 more.
they are both worse my friend. FFXIII at least tried to be a FF game with the great music and graphics but the other 2 are just some campy trash.
lightning returns was one of my fav games this year , i liked it even more than dark souls 2 , and im a huge souls fan ...
The Black Panel writes: aper Sorcerer looks simplistic but is actually a new coat of paint on an old genre. Weaving new ideas and witty words throughout a tapestry of classic RPG elements, it offers something for both newcomers and diehard fans. Beware, though, a lot of time and dedication is required to get the most out of your experience!
