Looks like I'm going to have to start this one off.
10. Catherine
The Persona teams first foray into next gen consoles may have thrown off a few people, but the teams winning combo of awesome characters, quirky plots, and strong gameplay saw this game as a surprise hit last gen. The game follows the exploits of Vincent, a slacker programmer running away from his commitment to his long time girlfriend Katherine. When he meets a blonde bombshell named Catherine one night while having drinks, he wakes up the next morning with her in his bed, and being haunted by dreams of a terrible tower being climbed by talking sheep. Balance out Vincent's two-timing day life between the two girls in his life and his friends at the bat, while at night he faces off against the puzzle towers and its gruesome inhabitants who all want him dead. Will Vincent spurn his new mistress and come clean to his old flame? Or will he take this chance to dodge matrimony and live a carefree life with the dangerous blonde bombshell instead? This game had an awesome narrative, multiple endings, unique online features that compared your choices to other players, and some awesome block puzzles that will actually get your heart pumping. This game was quite a surprise for me, and for a lot of other people. While the changes to the Fullbody edition sound interesting, I need Atlus to learn to leave well enough alone cause the original game was pretty much on point.
9.
Journey
Art games are always the toughest sells. You either dig these types of games or you don't, and trying to explain what makes it work will either prove to be difficult, or ruin the surprise. Thatgamecompany's Journey is such a title which basically is about a wanderer revisiting the lands of their ancestors to uncover what happened to them. Sounds generic but it's pretty powerful when you finally reach the final few stages. A great musical score and visuals help cement this simple game with a unique online component and NG+. This game is also very short, but honestly its a real treasure from beginning to end. If you haven't checked it out, you really should.
8.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Now that I've had time to let the controversy and glow of the game die down for me, I can agree that MGSV is a problematic title. Still, I feel that this is a game of extremes much like Xenogears, when the game fails, it fails epically, but when it succeeds its almost gaming nirvana. Until Death Stranding, this was my go to "unwind game" and I'd just have fun screwing around with the missions. Kojima's established MGS mechanics blend beautifully with sandbox world design, creating a game with tons of options for the player to screw around with. The plot is a mess, but I feel we all stopped playing the series for story after MGS4 and the game does still manage to hit some powerful emotional chords throughout, even if its glued together by bat trout crazy conspiracy theories. The core game is fantastic though and has a nice feedback loop which few games can manage without serious burnt out.
7.
Shin Megami Tensei IV
After waiting almost a decade, Atlus finally gives us another numbered entry in the underrated Shin Megami Tensei series which has pretty much been supplanted by the ever more popular Persona franchise. The game doesn't disappoint though, adding new mechanics to the awesome Press Turn system and giving us a beautiful 3D world and 2D battles. The plot is pretty good even if it has a tug of war nature of trying to appeal to SMT fans and Persona fans. I also apply it for trying to be more accessible for new players, and while it may be the easiest installment of the mainline games, it will still likely whoop most gamers asses.
6.
Xenoblade Chronicles
To be fair, I am overdue for a replay of this gem, I just need to fish my Wii out. Xenoblade to me embodies what I want to see out of a game, lots of creativity and enough mystery to get me to investigate it. The premise of a world built on the bodies of two dead gods is still the most intriguing of all the Xenoblade titles and the game blending of the Future-Sight ability in both its narrative and gameplay is just awesome. A great cast and a groovy musical score just seals the deal for me. If you haven't played this game yet and you love JRPGs, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
5.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Course I feel Xenoblade owes a lot ot this underrated PS2 classic. The Zodiac Age adds enough changes that it pretty much feels like a different game to me and I had a complete blast going through this epic game that had restores my faith in SE back in the day and led me to this forum. If you love FFXII, you should really check this game out if you haven't already. With the exception of the difficulty curve being turned down a few notches more than I would care for, I still would consider this the definitive version of Matsuno's final contribution to the FF series.
4.
Persona 5
Need to get my praise out for this game before all of those spin-offs show up and ruin my goodwill for the game like P4. P5 was a game I was waiting for ever since I finished P4 and eager to see what else Atlus could do with the franchise. I waited almost a decade for this game, and in a rare moment of fandom, it ended up being totally worth the wait. Great premise, love the new additions to combat and the return of a few old MegaTen staples like guns and negotiations. Great cast and plot as typical of the team, and they finally got the dungeons right which had always been the series main Achilles Heel. Now that the main team is working ona new IP, it will be interesting to see what a new team will be able to do with the franchise with P6.
3.
Dark Souls 3
Now to get my new series obsession out of the way, DS3 is the end of a pretty epic trilogy of games spawned off from another underrated but fantastic PS3 game, Demon's Souls. What I love about this game is both the lore and apocalyptic setting which are beautiful to behold. Easily my favorite collection of NPCs among the souls game as well and I digged both DLC as well. It was a pretty splendid send off for the series for me. My only real gripe is that the game just feels easier than previous installments.
2.
Dark Souls
The game that started it all, Dark Souls has some of the best map/world design in a game with its incredibly interconnected setting. It takes all of the cool ideas from Demon's Souls and makes them work, adds way more customization options, and has a pretty excellent lore and setting for a dark fantasy series. It loses its footing in the last half, but still has some of the most memorable bosses and locations in the series.
1.
Bloodborne
Not a surprise if you saw my other thread. Bloodborne takes the Souls formula, takes it out of the crusty dark fantasy into a Victorian Lovecraft setting that I absolutely adore. My favorite world and setting of the Souls-like games and I love the game changing up the core combat to be more frenetic and offensive focus, kicking in my DMC roots that I've let got to waste. Stellar cast, bosses, setting, and lore. Its easily my favorite game on the PS4.
Top Ten Games of the 2010s
Originally Posted by WarZidane
Technically the threads were different, one was the top 10 games of the decade, the other was the top game for each year in the decade.
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