1. Thomas Was Alone - PC
2. Sam & Max Save the World - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
3. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space - The whole season - PC, GOG versions
4. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 1 - PC, GOG version
5. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 2 - PC, GOG version
6. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse - Episode 3 - PC, GOG version
7. The Walking Dead Series - PC
8. Sly Thieves in Time - PS3
9. Guacamelee - PS3
10. Castlevania: Mirror of Fate - 3DS
11. Resident Evil Revelation - 3DS
12. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask - 3DS
13. Samurai Warriors Chronicles -3DS
14. Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack - Vita
15. Shinovi Versus - Vita
Fire Emblem Awakening - 3DS (Lunatic difficulty, Classic Mode, no character deaths)
I guess I'm one of the lucky few to have a copy of this game. I even got the awesome art book. It's my first Fire Emblem and what a great first impression
One thing I really like about this game, and it certainly has much to do with the modes I chose to play it on, is the realistic way fights play out. On Lunatic difficulty - Classic Mode, one or two good attacks from an enemy unit is enough to kill one of your troops. And if their health drops to zero, that troop is dead. They're not "knocked out". They don't take a little nap until the fight ends or someone resurrects them. They're dead, and you never get to use them again. I like that. I like that one good sword swing is enough to make one of your guys double over like they are bleeding out, and another shows them fall over in slow motion just before they say their last words and leave this mortal coil. There's always a great sense of mortality in this game. Every enemy is dangerous and every attack feels dangerous. In fact, as my characters got stronger, I noticed them doing lots and lots of dodges and blocks. There is a real emphasis on AVOIDING attacks in this game, unlike a lot of rpgs where people tend to just soak up hits like robots. Cause you know, swords and axes and stuff are LETHAL. You'd probably not want to get hit by them in real life. And your guys just seem to become more effective at avoiding attacks as you build them up rather than just becoming damage sponges. That's not to say that some of your guys won't get their defense high enough to be able to tank enemies, but they seem to favor
avoidance more than anything.
Because of how dangerous combat always feels in this game, it makes a lot of sense that so much emphasis is placed on teamwork. Rarely is it a good idea to have a unit go it alone in this game. You want to pair them up with someone. The game is built around this. When paired together, units will support each other in various ways to dramatically increase survivibility. They will encourage and motivate each other, which in terms of game mechanics results in buffs to each other's stats. One unit may jump in front of his partner to push them out of the way of a lethal attack or block it with their shield. Or a unit may follow up his partner's attack with another attack to help take out a tough enemy. All of this stuff is incredibly fun to watch, and you always get a sense that your army is not a random bunch of soldiers, but a team. Truthfully, this feels like the main reason your army wins most battles against seemingly stronger forces, because they focus on teamwork while the enemy doesn't. And the more you pair certain people up, the more effective they become, particularly if they are interacting with each other outside of combat. You can see results on the battlefield as characters get to know each other better and get more used to fighting together.
Speaking of fights, I love that when combat is initiated between two units you don't just see one sprite hit another sprite like other strategy rpgs I've played. You get to watch a fully animated battle in 3D and it's always very dramatic. You'll hear quips from characters as they fight, you'll see character portraits pop up on your screen just before special attacks or critical attacks are executed, and the killing blow always results in the enemy falling in dramatic slow motion with a death howl. All of that, plus seeing your teams back each other up in different ways is awesome, fun stuff
The character relationships carry over to every part of the game. I love the different interactions and conversations the characters can have over the course of the game. It's fun seeing romances and friendships develop and learning more about each character. You know some have said that the plot is predictable and that characters feel like the usual anime cliches and archetypes. It's hard for me to care though when there is so much enjoyment to be had from the way that these characters interact with each other. It's in those moments that you learn more about them, become charmed by them, and laugh at some of the absurd and hilarious moments they have. I love all the characters in this game. Just picking a wife for my character was tough, as there were three or four ladies that I loved, eventually narrowed down to two. Even picking between those two was tough.
Fire Emblem Awakening deserves credit for feeling more like a genuine role playing game than most rpgs from Japan do. You get to customize various aspects of your main character before you start the game. You get to choose who they become close friends with over the course of the game and who they romance and marry. In fact, you choose who lives and dies in a very direct way. You see the game leans on the fourth wall a bit in presenting the main character as the army's tactician within the story. Within the story, this explains the player controlling every aspect of each battle. The game also uses this to explain how the player can see things like movement range and character stats. It's because the player avatar can "read" the battlefield. So if the player fails to keep certain characters alive, it's like the tactician failed in his battle strategy. I just like how my role in the game as a player is reflected within the story. I'm not just the real life tactician as the player of the game, but I'm the tactician in the story itself as well.
The role playing elements extend to how every character relates to each other in the game as well, as you ultimately choose who works together in battle, who converses outside of battle, and even who falls in love and gets married. You really get to play match maker in this game.
The soundtrack for this game is great. In fact, I often thought it was
too good. Many of the story's simplest battles will have the most epic music playing for them.
The graphics for this game do a lot of neat things. One battle in the game became so much more dramatic because it took place in a rain soaked battlefield and I just loved see water splashing about as characters fought each other or seeing a horse's hooves kicking up water drops. One stage surprised me when I saw bird fly over the battlefield and it looked like it was popping out of the screen with the 3d turned on. The game has some fantastic anime scenes as well and there are lots of great character designs.
Overall, the game is great. It's very polished. I mean they thought of everything really. You can't screw up a character as the game uses something similar to transmigration from the Disgaea games. This essentially allows you to reset characters any time you want, but you keep most of the stat boosts you've obtained from leveling so even in "starting over" you're getting a stronger character. You can't ever miss some amazing piece of equipment as everything can be purchased some where. They even thought of the little things. You have dual audio tracks (Japanese and English). You can literally skip or speed up EVERYTHING in the game. Don't want to watch that cut scene again? You don't have to. Think the battles are taking too long? Skip the combat animations or just turn them off entirely.
Even the DLC is great. There are maps specifically designed for level grinding or getting money, plus tons of stuff to just flesh out characters or add to the story, additional characters to recruit, and even a fair amount of FREE levels and weapons to download. You even get some great unlockables. The game has a log of every character interaction, including proposal scenes for various characters. Given how many different character interactions you can see in the game, it's nice to have a record of them all. You also carry over reknown rewards, which gives you access to some good stuff early when you start a new game. You also can "recruit" the character you played as in previous games. Sure, the game has no new game plus, but all this makes up for it.
This game is so goddamned good I could go on and on about it. It's an easy 10. I have developed quite an unhealthy obsession with it. Just the level of polish, the characters, and the sense of camaraderie and family between them all is fantastic. The whole game is built around this idea of togetherness that I love. On classic mode, this makes every life matter. The Vita version of Persona 4 is on my "to play" list for this year. I hope it's as awesome as this game. It's the only other portable rpg to come out in the past six months or so to receive the same amount of hype.
