My list is usually filled with PC games and indies. It is not this year. It was a weird and awesome year where my gaming patterns changed dramatically, as much because of the Switch as anything else. It doesn’t take the top spot, though:
Top 5
-
Persona 5 - This game is just so freaking good. The character design is amazing across party members, NPCs, and enemies. The soundtrack is an excellent mix of orchestral and J-pop, and I am not someone who is normally into J-pop. I get that some people don’t love the ‘traditional’ JRPG combat, but IMO the best turn-based implementations still work out the best for both combat tactics and game flow versus the alternatives (two of which make appearances below!). There is probably a little bit of fat to trim, but not that much, honestly: the best version of this game is maybe 80 hours instead of 90, but it’s crisp and well paced, especially once you get out of the intro (where the killer start of the story masks how long it takes the game to open up most of the systems… the first time through, at least).
-
Super Mario Odyssey - The best thing I can say about this is that it lived up to the expectations that I had as soon as I heard “it’s more in the Mario 64 style”. The main story portion of the game is WAY too easy: I understand what Nintendo is doing and why, but they moved the needle too far in that direction. The minute-to-minute gameplay, the design of the worlds, and all the cool stuff that opens up in the postgame all make up for that. I also could have lived with, like, half as many moons and a little more focus - though for some reason I minded it less than I did the shrines in Zelda, which were kind of the same problem.
-
Metroid: Samus Returns - I didn’t realize how much I missed an actual 2D Metroid game. In a world chock full of metroidvanias, the real thing still has a little bit of extra magic. It’s hard to say much more about this because it is exactly what you think it should be.
-
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - You know, for a FF game that I’ve now gotten 75% of the way through three times without finishing, I have a really high opinion of 12. I might even come back and finish it this time! Whether or not I do, the remaster adds quite a bit of substance with the class system and other general fixes. The Boss Rush mode (or whatever it’s called) is also a fun addition. I think this is a flat-out better game than the next entry on the list, which I probably will finish, but for whatever reason I always peter out in the home stretch.
-
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - I… am not sure this is really that good? I loved the first one for what it did with the world, the story, the characters, and the combat/systems. I still like the world a lot! The characters lean a lot more on JRPG stereotypes this time around, I am 45 hours in and not close to knowing what’s really going on with the story, and the combat really clicks for boss-type fights at the expense of taking about 4x as long as it should to dispatch normal enemies. And yet I still keep coming back, even after a crash (!) in a game that has basically no autosave (!!) cost me several hours. I need to keep helping my Masterpon.
Game that I will love when I get to it, but I couldn’t play another JRPG so shortly after P5
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - I’ll take another opportunity to pimp this series, even if this is the one of the weirder entries. If you’re into JRPGs and haven’t played this series, give it a go.
I hope they’re still making these when I retire so I can get to one eventually, because I think I’d really like them
Etrian Odyssey 5 - the last one I played was the first one for the non-3-DS. I feel like by now they’ve probably evolved enough that I should get back in and play one. Maybe if they get the next one on to the Switch!
Favorite old game I played in 2017 (h/t @TimJames)
Fantasy General! 1996 and it still holds up! Frankly, the graphics work better than anything hex-based from the last decade. Top-notch 2D all the way.
Other Random Stuff
Haven’t played but hope to: Nioh, Nier: Automata, Berseria, Mario + Rabbids, Has Been Heroes, Steamworld Dig 2
Really liked but waiting for the iOS version to buy it again and play it some more: Antihero
Fine but didn’t love for reasons we’ve already beaten to death in the appropriate thread: Breath of the Wild
Mobile time-waster of choice that gets zero thought as to “playing a game”: Gems of War