The Shrine

Year in review!

I'll keep it simple:

• What games did you play in 2015?
• What was your favorite game released in 2015?
• What game in 2016 are you looking forward to the most?

I am only sticking with games I played for significant periods, as there's like 8 dozen iOS and Virtual console games I played for under 5 hours.

What did I play?

• Dragon Quest 3, 4, 5 (iOS)
  Final Fantasy VII (iOS)
  Rival Kingdoms (iOS)
  Xenoblade Chronicles X (WiiU)
  Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (3DS)
  Monster Hunter 4 (3DS)
  Story of Seasons (3DS)
  Crusader Kings 2 (PC)
  Fire Emblem (3DS VC)
  Dwarf Fortress (PC)
  DKC Trilogy (Wii U VC)
  Final Fantasy 6 (iOS and then Wii VC)
  Chrono Trigger (Wii VC)

Favourite game released in 2015?
Xenoblade Chronicles X

Most anticipated of 2016
The Legend of Zelda U/NX

I guess I should answer my own!

What did I play?
Not much new stuff, mostly older games...

• Terraria (Steam)
• Ori and the Blind Forest (Steam)
• Fez (PS3)
• Uncharted (PS3)
• Uncharted 2 (PS3)
• Boy and His Blob (NES, Wii Virtual Console)

Favorite game released in 2015?
The only game I seriously played (more than an hour) that was released in 2015 was Ori and the Blind Forest. I really enjoyed this one. Although the game I enjoyed the most playing in 2015 was Fez. Great game.

Most anticipated of 2016
To be released in 2016? I'd say The Legend of Zelda U. I fully intend to get a Wii U to play that, Mario Maker, & Xenoblade Chronicles X.

What did I play?
Too fucking many to list

Favourite game released in 2015?
Toss up between Bloodborne & Xenoblade Chronicles X

Most anticipated of 2016
Street Fighter V

What games did you play in 2015?

Witcher 3
Fallout 4
MGSV
NHL16
Uh.... no doubt others. But what? I don't remember.


What was your favorite game released in 2015?

Witcher 3, followed by MGSV.


What game in 2016 are you looking forward to the most?

FF7 remake, I guess? I know Uncharted 4 is coming out, but I don't really care about it (yet). I may pick up the Valkyria Chronicles remaster if it's reasonably priced for PS4. Other than those, I don't know what the hot shit for PS4 will be.

E: oh, Persona 5!

I played Magic. Lots, and lots, of Magic.

One-track mind perhaps, but my "casual" deck has now notched wins over $800-1500 Tier 1 decks. Would love to head to a GP next year if I can.

Replay wrote:I played Magic. Lots, and lots, of Magic.

One-track mind perhaps, but my "casual" deck has now notched wins over $800-1500 Tier 1 decks. Would love to head to a GP next year if I can.

If you win a GP I'd like you to go interview and say something like, "I got no strategy and just randomly put cards together and got lucky", and when they interview you for the obligatory 'champion says soandso was his top card' you should say it was your Island that pull off the win. Okay so even if you said that I'm sure they'd never print it, but those GP winner story all read exactly the same!

It would certainly be funnier than the truth, which is that it took me about six months and review of close to a thousand cards probably to find a "true rainbow" deck that can win at a tier level... I'll keep it in mind, Don.

Played too many to get into as well but the best were Ori and the Blind Forest, Dungeon of the Endless, Cities: Skylines, The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Undertale. Honorable mention to Path of Exile and Elite Dangerous.

Witcher 3 is probably objectively the best, but I think I enjoyed spending time with Ori and the Blind Forest and Cities: Skylines the most.

Replay wrote:It would certainly be funnier than the truth, which is that it took me about six months and review of close to a thousand cards probably to find a "true rainbow" deck that can win at a tier level... I'll keep it in mind, Don.

Everyone says they spent their life studying MTG until a divine vision told them what deck would win in the GP.

I forgot about Cities: Skylines. I had a short period binge of that one for something like 20-30 hours.

I have also played a number of table tops with co-workers. The most popular one has been Resistance and its variants; it is a very simple team game where captains put together teams of resistance members, and try to avoid placing spies on the teams. Simple, but there's interesting meta gaming; sometimes too much, so we eventually made a rule where only the Captain was allowed leading the conversation: this game is best played with 8-10 players, once you get less than 8 there is a noticible decline in fun unless playing with new players.

Being Married......With Children ( ), I played lots of games with the kids this past year, including:

Mario Kart 8
Super Smash Bros
Super Mario 3D World
New Super Mario U
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Mario Party 10
Yoshi's Wooly World

Although they weren't all released in 2015, that's what we got to. Thankfully, they were all excellent games. Since no one else here plays or cares about Nintendo games, I'll move on.

As for myself, I didn't get to a ton of them. And as always, I didn't necessarily play 2015 releases. But I did enjoy some, including:

Metal Gear 5 (only got to Chapter 5; playin' with a cuz, gotta wait on him) - really cool game so far but you can see it's shorter on story and longer on gameplay
Tales of the Borderlands (first 2 chapters) - freakin' awesome. Picked it up for $3.75 on a PSN sale, worth at least double that. Highly, highly recommended
Halo 5 Guardians - got through only the first chapter (only got an Xbox One on Dec 18, haven't had much of a chance to play it). Not enough for a real review
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - best single player campaign since Modern Warfare 2. It's a solid entry in the series, I'll be picking this up again sometime
Until Dawn - about 2/3rds of the way through. Wow, what a surprisingly fun game. I'm amazed. The definition of an interactive movie (i.e. pretty limited in the gameplay department) but things change depending on your skills and choices. Really, really cool, I highly recommend
Dying Light - got about two hours into it. Pretty cool open-world zombie/parkour game where the zombies can kick your ass. I liked what I played
Trials Fusion - I love the series and played the snot out of this. Even the kids love watching this one
Transformers Devastation - got about 1/3rd of the way through it. Basically Bayonetta with Transformers. Got most of the original cast back. Not overly deep but quite fun.
Aliens Colonial Marines - I really liked the first few levels of the game but it really fizzled after that
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris - I really liked the first game and the second is a ton of fun as an online multi