Fynn's Top 25 games

[Pumpkin]

I wish I could play the PC version, but my computer can't handle it. Stuck with the PS3 one

Still good either way

[Fynn]

#15

Now here’s another impossibly popular series. This one’s from the ‘90s, though. It’s actually the reason I wanted a Gameboy Color (you see, a Gameboy Pocket just wasn’t enough to contain this awesomeness). The anime started it all, and everyone at school started playing this series. Sadly, once this installment came along, I was the only person around who still cared about it… You guys know what I’m talking about yet?

POKÉMON BLACK/WHITE

Well, everyone apart from my little brother, who wasn’t that big on Pokémon before. Still, once I got Black and he got White, he was pretty hooked. So yes, I have a bit of a personal reason to like this installment in particular.

The electric cave means a lot to me.

Anyway, I guess everyone knows the gist of the Pokémon series. You run around collecting Pokémon to battle for you. There’s tons of them, and they’re all incredibly cute in one way or another, and you need to become the very best while destroying some evil team along the way. The premise is simple, quite stupid really, but the execution is what makes it so popular among children and adults alike. The series is easy to get into, but with tons of underlying, fascinating mechanics lying underneath. The competitive scene is pretty crazy.

Triple battles are also a thing now.

Okay, but again, that’s the series in general. What makes Black and White so special? Well, first off, I love the new Pokémon designs. I may be in the minority here, but I really enjoyed a huge chunk of them, and there are tons of them, with lots of never before seen type combinations. I also found it refreshing that you didn’t get access to any of the older Pokémon until the post-game. That was a very nice touch that really drove home the fact that we are far away from the pervious regions, even if that resulted in a very poor selection of electric types.

The big reason why this generation is my favorite, however, is the story. I know gen IV went out of its way to give its villainous theme a complex excuse to do the things they do, but gen V actually tried to shake up the formula substantially. The evil team’s leader is actually very likeable, and very messed up, as it turns out later. I won’t go into very deep spoilers, but let me just say that N would make a very good SMT villain, even if just a minor one. There’s actual moral ambiguity, and though the actions of the evil team are still very “kick the dog” (it’s still a kid’s game, after all), N’s reasoning makes sense from a certain perspective and there are moments where you will actually think he has the right of it.

Also, he's very pretty. I'm a straight man and I want to run my fingers through his hair.

It’s not just the big bad that got a personality. Gym leaders are actually real, living people now, with jobs and everything, and they actually aid you in the crises to come. In that respect, this game’s story is very reminiscent to several arcs of the Pokémon Special manga, which is another big plus in my book. The rivals have some really nice character arcs as well, and there is actually some really massive build-up to the final battle, which in and of itself is actually a gigantic subversion of the typical Pokémon plot finale.
Pokémon Black and White get many kudos from me for first deconstructing its own tired premise, and later doing its best to reconstruct it on new, more real grounds. While I enjoyed the sequels and X and Y, I got the feeling that both pairs of games were simply more pandering to the fanbase, trying to apologize for B/W being different. I find it pretty sad, to be honest. With Black and White Gamefreak have shown that they can give us a compelling story and interesting characters in a Pokémon game, only to go back to their comfort zone with the following entries, seemingly trying to appease a fanbase that IMO was not that angered about the changes.

These guys are also really attractive.

The music is also a nice change in a way. Everyone remembers Hoenn’s trumpets on everything, and then gen IV had music that was a tad on the bland side, IMO (the amount of accordion did not help). Gen V not only had very nicely written tracks (such as the Route 10 track linked below), it also took some risks in the implementation of music, like making the battle music change when your Pokémon reached critical health or when the gym leader was down to the last Pokémon. Neither of these changes made a return for gen VI, and I wish they did, because those were some seriously original ideas.






Pokémon Black and White may not be the most popular entry in the series, but I think it’s a really important one and shouldn’t be missed. It’s also a great entry point into the series, so if you haven’t really had the chance to play Pokémon yet, Black and White are your best bet. As with many entries on this list, I highly recommend this game, whether you’re a long-time fan of the series or a complete newbie.

[Pumpkin]

Haven't had a chance to play much Black and White, sadly

[Ayen]

I can see why you thought you'd get hate for ranking Sims 3 higher than FFVI. I completely forget about the Sims until someone brings it up again. Only played the console versions and watched my brother play Sims 2.

Ah, Pokemon. My childhood define. Let's see how things has changed since...

*looks at the pictures*

Oh, sweet Jesus, this is terrible. *looks at them more* On second thought, some of these designs aren't half bad. I want an America, and a Bloody Face, and the Sumo, the Decepticon is a must for any decent human being, and the wheels. Trout, I gotta catch 'em all, Pokemon.

[Fynn]

I can see why you thought you'd get hate for ranking Sims 3 higher than FFVI. I completely forget about the Sims until someone brings it up again. Only played the console versions and watched my brother play Sims 2.

Ah, Pokemon. My childhood define. Let's see how things has changed since...

*looks at the pictures*

Oh, sweet Jesus, this is terrible. *looks at them more* On second thought, some of these designs aren't half bad. I want an America, and a Bloody Face, and the Sumo, the Decepticon is a must for any decent human being, and the wheels. Trout, I gotta catch 'em all, Pokemon.

Sadly, Decepticons were event-only :/

[Skyblade]

I endured some ridiculous Pokémon designs in Black/White. Up until I first entered a cave and encountered Woobat. That was when I just quit. If you want to make all new Pokémon, FINE. But when you wind up just creating a new (and awful looking) reskin of the EXACT SAME CONCEPT, you need to quit. They couldn't even think of an original name. "We'll just replace the 'Z' with a 'W' and give it a pig nose! New design!" No, GameFreak. Just no. If you're going to change things and introduce new ideas, then make things NEW. Don't be so lazy.

For some reason, they decided to front load the game with all of their worst Pokémon. The designs mostly get more creative and original the further you go into the game, and there actually are some really nice ones past the halfway point. But the early Pokémon are mostly terrible, as they're just trying to recycle the same exact concepts that they've done four times already. New bird, new rodent, etcetera.

Also, while the story was decent, I'd argue that they actually kind of ruined it with N. He's not a villain. He's not even really an antagonist at all. Ghetsis is, but N is just a poor, misunderstood kid, and that's clear from really early on. I always viewed N as more of a rival than anything else, taking the role of Gary or ??? in the older games, while Ghetsis is the one who takes the place of Giovanni. And, in that role, Ghetsis is terrible. He has no backstory, no explanation, no real characterization, which is a step down from Cyrus, who had some actual characterization, even if he was completely nuts.

They're not bad games, but they're not as good as Platinum. Or X/Y, for that matter.

[Fynn]

I endured some ridiculous Pokémon designs in Black/White. Up until I first entered a cave and encountered Woobat. That was when I just quit. If you want to make all new Pokémon, FINE. But when you wind up just creating a new (and awful looking) reskin of the EXACT SAME CONCEPT, you need to quit. They couldn't even think of an original name. "We'll just replace the 'Z' with a 'W' and give it a pig nose! New design!" No, GameFreak. Just no. If you're going to change things and introduce new ideas, then make things NEW. Don't be so lazy.

For some reason, they decided to front load the game with all of their worst Pokémon. The designs mostly get more creative and original the further you go into the game, and there actually are some really nice ones past the halfway point. But the early Pokémon are mostly terrible, as they're just trying to recycle the same exact concepts that they've done four times already. New bird, new rodent, etcetera.

Also, while the story was decent, I'd argue that they actually kind of ruined it with N. He's not a villain. He's not even really an antagonist at all. Ghetsis is, but N is just a poor, misunderstood kid, and that's clear from really early on. I always viewed N as more of a rival than anything else, taking the role of Gary or ??? in the older games, while Ghetsis is the one who takes the place of Giovanni. And, in that role, Ghetsis is terrible. He has no backstory, no explanation, no real characterization, which is a step down from Cyrus, who had some actual characterization, even if he was completely nuts.

They're not bad games, but they're not as good as Platinum. Or X/Y, for that matter.

Well yeah, he's not the main villain, but most of the game build him up to be such. I still like Ghetsis in the man behind the man role, but I'll agree he's pretty terrible as a villain on his own as the sequels have proved. Still, your primary antagonist throughout the game is N, and I still treat him as such, as I feel he's much more involved in the story than Blue and Silver, and is much more antagonistic and threatening at times than Barry or Brendan, and that smurfing ensemble you get in X and Y. Regardless of his actual role, I think he's a fantastic character with the most twisted backstory in a Pokemon game.

How dare you talk smack about Woobat?!

[Ayen]

I can see why you thought you'd get hate for ranking Sims 3 higher than FFVI. I completely forget about the Sims until someone brings it up again. Only played the console versions and watched my brother play Sims 2.

Ah, Pokemon. My childhood define. Let's see how things has changed since...

*looks at the pictures*

Oh, sweet Jesus, this is terrible. *looks at them more* On second thought, some of these designs aren't half bad. I want an America, and a Bloody Face, and the Sumo, the Decepticon is a must for any decent human being, and the wheels. Trout, I gotta catch 'em all, Pokemon.

Sadly, Decepticons were event-only :/

What? That's bulltrout! Minus five stars, one of the worse games I never played.

[Wolf Kanno]

Ah Pokemon takes me back.

[Fynn]

Ah Pokemon takes me back.

I didn't know you played Pokémon.

[Wolf Kanno]

I played first gen, and I do have a used copy of Silver lying around somewhere. I like the series but found MegaTen so I haven't really played the franchise in years. Been meaning to since my GF LOVES the franchise.

[Ayen]

Ahh... the days of my youth... like the scent of fresh lemon.

[Fynn]

I played first gen, and I do have a used copy of Silver lying around somewhere. I like the series but found MegaTen so I haven't really played the franchise in years. Been meaning to since my GF LOVES the franchise.

Well, you should come back to it someday, then I actually consider gen 1 the weakest in hindsight. And if your girlfriend loves it that's awesome, because this series is played best with other people

[Fynn]

#14

It’s another one of those games that were really popular when the PSX was out that I couldn’t play because I did not have the system. It’s also one of the games I later got a PSP for, since this was getting an enhanced port for that very handheld. I do not regret it at all, even though it cost me quite a bit of money when I had little of it. What an adventure it was.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS

So as you guys may have noticed by my Tactics Ogre entry, I am a big Yasumi Matsuno fan. Though FFT was not my first entry into the world of Ivalice, it was certainly a memorable one. I really don’t need to say anything about it, since people around here are quite in love with it

Thread over - you can all go home now.

The gameplay system is kind of similar to Tactics Ogre but with a smaller roster and a job system inspired by FFV thrown in. This one little modification makes for a huge difference in gameplay. There’s tons of classes to choose from, with an intricate job tree making you really think about how you develop your characters. I had tons of fun with this version of the job system. Mastering a job is super satisfying, and getting ahold of the super rare jobs like Mime, Bard or Dancer feels incredible.
Although the colors in this game are a bit on the brownish side, the unique character artwork by Akihiko Yoshida truly makes the FFT’s characters come to life. Still, some could argue that the chibi-ish designs do not fit the mature tone of the story, but I disagree. I don’t think there’s inherently childish about the character designs, and they do give the game a unique feel. I think this is probably my favorite set of character designs by Yoshida.

This one picture makes me ship it so hard.

The story is based loosely on the War of the Roses. As with Tactics Ogre, you can clearly see Matsuno’s fixation on history and attention to detail. The feudal society of Ivalice clearly mirrors that of Medieval England, giving us a very thorough commentary on issues relevant today, such as racism and elitism. The Church is also here, and oh, is it deliciously evil at some points. But still, there are good people in it – just like in Tactics Ogre, the morality in this game is painted with very dark shades of gray, with the typical Matsuno protagonist simply wanting to reach the truth buried deep within all of this political turmoil. Needless to say, Ramza is one of my favorite protagonists of all time.

Agrias is also pretty incredible, if underused.

Hitoshi Sakimoto does an amazing job on the soundtrack, as he always does. There’s some pretty chilling tracks in this game, further emphasizing the fact that this is probably the darkest entry in the Final Fantasy franchise as of now.

I know tactical RPGs are not everybody’s cup of tea, and this game certainly isn’t for newcomers (it is pretty unforgiving; more than once, I was on the verge of rage-quitting), but the story and job system really makes this game stand out as one of those sublime art pieces that happen once in ten years or less. The impeccable localization of the PSP version makes it all even better with its Shakespearean dialog. I know a lot of people hate it. I personally love it, but then again, I’m an English major, a linguist, mostly, who also enjoys a lot of classical literature If you’re looking for a really ambitious game, look no further – FFT is one of those games.

[Ayen]

Artwork looks pretty good. I have this game downloaded on my PS3. I might get around to playing it around... oh, I don't know, late 2016 knowing me >.>