Favorites

played it as a young teen and this is the game that made me realize that the medium was truly special and ignited my spark for getting more invested in it, going out of my way to find other games i might like instead of just playing shooters forever. king is the goat and misery my queen. formative Combo game.

played on a whim after buying a PS3 (i bet you didn't know it's available on the NA store!) and before even knowing about moon or the dev that would end up being one of my favorites. another formative game, somehow had so much impact on me that a lot of its philosophies started bleeding into my own and now i am one with Chulip..Mwah.❤❤❤

i was sadly tortured as a child (raised on DQIX) so i never got to play this one until recently by going through the games in numbered order and it was a blast. this is like The Adventure, the final party made me feel warm inside. we need more games like this but i don't know if they'll be able to hit like DQV does, both as an RPG and a Story of Life.. #raw i'll play the SFC version eventually, very interested to see how some of the scenes were originally presented.

i love all the PSX FF games but this has to be the one that just does it all for me, and i'm not saying that just because vivi is in it but.. vivi is in it.. everything here is top-notch and some of the best of Square i've played, definitely has my favorite FF cast from the ones i've played so far. lovingly crafted game with very poignant messages.

had so much fun trying to piece everything together while going through Kill The Past in release order that i don't even mind having played the inferior NDS version. will be going for another run (heh.) when the PS2 TL drops. the new puzzles bog the game down so much.

my friend said he thought the final scene on the roof was reddit so i killed him with my bare hands and hid his body in a junkyard..which is not what this game would have wanted. LOVE AND TRUST YOUR [FRIENDS], FORGIVE THEM AND DON'T KILL THEM.

i don't agree with the whole argument that games weren't art before this came out or w/e stupid stuff people have to say but ICO is undoubtedly a fine piece of it. something you don't hear often is how the US version not having the same hand-holding mechanic as Europe/Japan (among other things) straight up makes it a different game. it's strange how such a small change could affect a game this much, for the worse obviously.

peak nakazawa. dense as hell and has some nearly incomprehensible parts but i'd say that's probably why most people, including me, love it so much. it doesn't help that unlike Remember11 this game has nearly no documentation online apart from guides. i don't think we're ever gonna see something like this from him again judging by recent works.

If you seem awkward and unwilling to fully immerse yourself in SUDA51's wacky and wonderful cel-shaded post-9/11 fantasyland, I will turn you away. In the name of Harman...

i've heard that if you play this in one sitting it permanently alters your brain chemistry. i personally think that's true. one of the best if not the best looking game on the PSX, evverything is so crisp and pretty, need to replay on my CRT! probably gave trauma to a bunch of kids, that ending was brutal.

much like Cave Story, i played this in my teens and it was eye-opening, another formative game. what really got me was its approach to game design, the way the game plays you and not the other way around, and the final interaction between Snake and Raiden; Snake's words will stay with me forever. would have loved to play this on release, Kojima's foresight is not to be trifled with.

played this straight after Chulip and it cemented Love-de-Lic as one of my favorite devs ever. nothing quite like it, among the plethora of unique things this game has going for one minor thing i especially like is the way it handles BGM (only bangers btw), never seen a game do it like that before. super refreshing, immaculate vibes, i have nothing but [LOVE] for this game, let's not talk about the fishing contest though.

bought a PS3 just to play this and Demon's Souls, i'm thinking it was worth it. played after DoD1 and greatly enjoy that game too but NieR just comes out slightly on top for me in retrospect, though they both excel in what they set out to do; making me miserable. if i had one thing to complain about is that i can see the story working better as a brother/sister thing instead of what we got in the west, just my unbiased opinion as someone with a few siblings.

this was my first Kenji Eno game, beautiful. the story is quite nice, the music is great (Keiichi Suzuki!!), but the star of the show is who this game was made for. just a wonderful idea and i'm so glad something like this even exists, it's definite proof that video(?) games are a medium like no others. RIP Kenji Eno, you are missed.

my favorite visual novel, the one i'm obligated to recommend to everyone, sorry guys, and don't skip Never7 and Ever17, i'm watching you. there's just too much stuff in it that i find iconic and can't stop thinking about nearly every week, it's my roman empire. the coffee scene in Satoru's route and the entire OST are ingrained in my DNA. between this and I/O i'm wondering what Nakazawa was on in the 00's, amazing stuff.

The Big One from Onion Games, was the wait worth it? if you've read all my [THOUGHTS] so far you know that i'm huge on Love-de-Lic and their legacy. well, i think it all culminates with this title, Yoshiro Kimura and the entire team at Onion Games have really put out a monster of a game. a few weeks after the english release, Kimura hosted a "stage" on Discord where he was talking about the game, the development, and such. during it he said something i'll never forget: "Stray Children is a diamond and can't be polished anymore.", and having played it beforehand i thought that was a perfect description of my feelings towards the game. this is a diamond, nothing less and can't be anything more. something like this releasing in 2024/25 is nothing short of a miracle. this might be the last "big" game Onion Games releases but Stray Children is a generational masterpiece, the perfect (loose) sequel to an already fantastic game, and my favorite video game to have ever been made.
"Like flowers need light
I need you
I'll change it all
And live with a smile
I'll change it all
Be near you someday"
Thank you Onion Games!!

the most alienating Umineko episode, i thought it was gonna be my least favorite when i started it but i couldn't have been more wrong. up there in my imaginary When They Cry rankings with Higurashi Ch.6, when you start hearing the new BGM you just KNOW you're gonna be in for the treat of your life. i love will and lion so much it's unreal.

destroyed my brain and basically set the standards for what i'm looking for in an RPG. on top of being my favorite story in a game it also has my favorite romance in one ever, which is definitely not what i thought i'd be getting out of it when i played. the hate disc 2 gets is absurd. overdue for a replay at this point (it's been more than a decade since i cleared it), but i feel like i have to finish the entire Xeno series first, only Xenoblade 2 and 3 left.

this game has an insane amount of content crammed into it for its time and the way they made it all work together in harmony while also creating the multiple mystery route genre (allegedly) is crazy. having everything interconnect with the A.D.M.S was an ambitious move, i could picture the devs racking their brains trying to make it work, and it turned out great. despite what some people would have you believe the last route is actually good and doesn't ruin the game, far from it.