Well here we are at the end of 2015, with only about two weeks until 2016. It's now a good time to start the annual GotY thread. (Here's last year's GotY thread that also links to previous years: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=48003 )
So what's your own personal BEST GAME ya played in 2015? It can be a game that legit released in 2015, or a game that released whenever but you just happened to actually play it in 2015. Please tell us WHY it's your GotY!
Here's mine:
Brandish: The Dark Revenant
(Released for PSP & Vita in the west by XSEED in 2015.)
Official site: http://www.brandishpsp.com/
PSN store page: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games ... nt-psvita/
NeoGAF's OT: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=970142
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandish_ ... %29#Remake
Alrighty so Brandish: The Dark Revenant, best dungeon crawler not named King's Field. This game consists of two parts, Ares mode and Dela mode. I reviewed both modes in the Games Beaten thread of this year. But for those who care to read why I choose this game as my 2015 GotY, I have reposted those reviews here...
Ares mode review:
In 1995 Falcom released a SNES game entitled "Brandish". Brandish at its core concept was an excellent idea. In Brandish instead of the player rotating to traverse dungeons, the dungeon itself rotates around the player. Unfortunately crippling graphical decisions rendered its implementation completely disorienting. Had Falcom utilized Mode 7 to rotate the game's world around the player smoothly, instead of snapping it in 45 degree increments, Brandish would have been much more popular. Well 14 years later, Falcom decided to remake Brandish for the PSP. This time calling the game "Brandish: The Dark Revenant" (henceforth: B:TDR).
This remake recreates the original game in polygons, making rotating the world around the player a smooth affair, thus no more disorientation. Not only that, but an onscreen mini-map is always present. With these two simple but vital changes Brandish is finally able to shine as the brilliant idea it always was. B:TDR's primary gameplay is what I call "Ares mode". This is the original SNES game recreated on PSP. Every dungeon, enemy, boss, etc. is present in Ares mode from the original game. After you complete "Ares mode", "Dela mode" unlocks. I have not started Dela mode yet. But I intend to soon. I should note here, Dela mode is exclusive to the PSP version with its own new dungeons. It doesn't exist in the SNES original. In 2014, XSEED localized B:TDR, and it is now available on the PSN store. That means you can play it on PSP, Vita, or PSTV.
So one day Ares the warrior and Dela the sorceress were fighting. Dela was furious because Ares had killed her master, he did so for a bounty on her master's head. Dela cast a huge fireball at Ares, but missed him. It destroyed the ground beneath their feet and they both fell into a huge abyss below. They landed in a mysterious place, which turned out to be the remains of a long sunken kingdom that still remained cursed. Due to being separated, they put their fighting aside. It became more vital for both Ares and Dela to escape this deep dark cavern of despair, one floor at a time. As they crawled individually out of the ruins, they both had their own adventures and misfortunes, but sometimes crossed paths temporarily. Slowly the history of their new environment and its cursed kingdom began to become known to them. But I won't spoil anything here!
What do you do in B:TDR? You crawl dungeons son. And I mean you are going to be crawling dungeons like you've never crawled dungeons. That is what you do in B:TDR, and that is all you do. And this game is not easy. Not even remotely easy. B:TDR requires the player to pay full attention at all times as to what they are doing, or this game will kill the player without so much as blinking. Oh yes, you will die in B:TDR, you will die a lot. But every time you do, you'll likely bounce right back into the action, eager to clear just one more floor. What are you doing while you clear these floors? Fighting monsters, finding treasure, seeking keys, solving puzzles, drawing maps, falling in pits galore, setting off deadly traps, casting magic... yes, all that down home dungeon cookin' like Grammy use to make. Except you will die. A lot. Oh sure B:TDR doesn't start off too hard, but once you reach the Dark Zone, that is when the real game begins. And that's about 10 hours of crawling just to make it that far. Luckily you will find shop keepers to sell you upgraded equipment and items, and the occasional sidequest too. Did I mention your swords break? That there's invisible doors? That no matter how many levels you gain, spike traps and pit traps always take the same percentage of life away? Also, BOSSES. This game has bosses and they don't mess around.
So why approach such madness? It's true, B:TDR is not for the average gamer. It's not even for the average RPG lover. This is a hardcore dungeon crawler for crazy people. But if you are crazy like me, you will love B:TDR. You will love the feeling of victory you get every time you clear a floor with your map 100% complete. You will relish figuring out the infamous tile puzzle in Tower 9F, all by yourself. This game is seriously fun for the far and few between gamers who are up to the challenge. Do I have any complaints? Let's see... I love the gameplay, controls are perfect, atmosphere is top notch, graphics are great, story is good, difficulty is excellent, and the music is amazing. Ah! The music. While the music is amazing, there aren't enough tracks to go around. You will hear the same music track for each area of the game, and that means you will hear it looping for hours on end sometimes. So yeah, there we go, my one complaint with B:TDR is that I wish there were three times as many music tracks.
Anyway. If you enjoy tough dungeon crawlers and games that refuse to hold your hand, give Brandish: The Dark Revenant a try for PSP. The game even gives you a review sheet of your performance after you beat it, going so far as to give the player a custom completion title (mine was "calculating savant"). Ares mode took me 17 hours and 45 minutes to beat. Now I'm off to see why Dela was always so cranky.
Man I loved this game. Possibly GOTY for me right here.
Dela mode review:
So let's say you are one of the five people who bothered to play Brandish: The Dark Revenant in English. And then let's imagine you managed to beat Brandish: The Dark Revenant as Ares. Congratulations! Now, are you ready for a TRUE challenge? What's that you say? Ares mode WAS a true challenge? Ha ha, you haven't seen anything yet son. Take on Dela mode.
After all, what was Dela doing while Ares was bumbling his way through the dark? Walk in her shoes and find out why poor Dela was always so cranky every time Ares ran into her. Can you guide Dela from the deep abyss through seemingly insurmountable challenges into the light of the day above?
So how is Dela mode different than Ares mode? Core design concepts. Remember that Ares mode is the original Brandish, but Dela mode is exclusive to the PSP remake. That means when Falcom made Dela mode, they had the experience of creating three more Brandish games after the Ares mode dungeons. That experience shows, because Dela mode's dungeons are far more clever in design than Ares mode. But clever doesn't mean easier.
Dela mode is easily five times harder than anything you'll face in Ares mode. How hard is Dela mode? I'll put it like this. You can save at anytime, and load your game whenever you want. You have Retry bread, which when eaten allows you to create a checkpoint wherever you like. And even with save anywhere and checkpoint anywhere, Dela mode still manages to be brutally difficult. Absolutely.
If I had to describe Dela mode in one sentence, I'd say something like "if you combined Dark Souls with Zelda". That's about the gist of it. You've got clever switch puzzles like you'd see in Zelda, then you've got vicious beasts and deadly traps like you'd see in Dark Souls. That said, quite a few of the puzzles in Dela mode are far harder than anything I've seen in Zelda, so bear that in mind. My least favorite part of Dela mode are the timed pit jumping sections. Rooms full of pits that open and close in difficult to discern patterns, that you must jump across extremely quickly and precisely. Because falling means landing in a basement floor that you must work your way back up from. Every. Single. Time. That sort of thing requires the ability to suppress rage and focus your inner samurai chi with steely resolve.
I won't mince words folks, Dela mode represents the most difficult action dungeon crawler I've ever played by a mile. And I've crawled more than a few dungeons in my time. But for every instance I was crushed by a boulder or scorched alive, I was also enticed by clever warp mazes or fantastic battles. Every time I cleared a floor I felt a tangible surge of pride. Because admittedly, this is not an experience for everyone. I'm not trying to sound elitist, I'm just being honest. The average modern gamer wouldn't make it past the first floor of Dela mode, because they just wouldn't have the patience or brain power. (Nor would they have unlocked Dela mode in the first place for that matter.) But I'm betting you're not an average gamer are you? If you pride yourself on overcoming hardcore challenges, and can appreciate game design that respects you as an intelligent human being; do not pass on Brandish: The Dark Revenant. It won't hold your hand, but it will hold your heart.
It's made by Falcom so you know it's good!
-----
So what's YOUR 2015 GotY racketboys and racketgirls?
)
