1. Dead by Daylight: In this age of microtransactions and games that last forever, it seems that everybody has that one eterna-game that they're always playing, that they're always talking about - nowadays, FF14 has been a popular choice. Well, in 2021, this horror fan tried out the 4-v-1 20-minute slasher movie-maker Dead by Daylight, and now, I have joined their ranks. Its success, like that of any good survival horror protagonist, comes down to how effectively it utilizes its available resources: its properties, its characters, its players themselves. You want great interpretations of classic horror villains? How about a genuinely scary, true-to-source incarnation of Michael Myers that's revived the character in popular consciousness as much as the new movies? You want great original characters that aim for the fences? How about a K-pop killer in a pseudo-romance with his savvy, almost-suspecting producer who sees too much of her frustrated artistic ambitions in him to listen to her better instincts? How about a human incarnation of The Birds? How about a zombie cowpoke called "Deathslinger" with a harpoon gun and great chase music? Gameplay variety is almost infinite, changing based on the killer you're facing, the map you're on, the abilities of your fellow survivors, and the behavior of your fellow players. Everything and one brings something to the table.
2. Gauntlet: Back in the fight, with blade and steel! When I first played Gauntlet 2014, I freaking hated it. A Gauntlet game where you could initially take only three hits? What were they thinking? But I persevered, and I'm glad I did. Despite that initial hurdle, I think what makes Gauntlet 2014 is that it knows what makes Gauntlet. It knows that, given his excuuuuuuse-me-princess yipes in the original game, the Elf could have never been anything but an annoying twerp. ("For better or worse," the announcer sighs upon his resurrection, "the Elf is back.") The announcer is the final boss. As it ever should have been. It didn't try to replace the hordes of enemies or the piles of shiny treasure or Death; it just used modern gaming sensibilities to intensify them to an elevated form. The modern touches are added in a way that complements the base of the game - character abilities that taken some mastering (not too much, but thought and skill are required) and capitalize on the characters' hallmarks (the heavily-armored Valkyrie gets a shield whose proper use is instrumental in tanking for your teammates and wading safely through the hordes); using your treasure to buy equippable moves to build flexible loadouts; costume customization. There's just enough complexity to give the game depth but not get in the way of Gauntlet's go-go-go, in-the-moment dungeon-dwelving; it makes it fun like you remember Gauntlet being. I had a great time going through it. This seems to have been conceived as part of an initiative to revive old arcade titles in the publisher's stable, but given the lack of followups, it doesn't seem to have taken, and what a pity. I would have loved to have seen other classics revitalized in this manner.
6. Redord of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth: Wonder Labyrinth is proof that endings can make all the difference. The gameplay is competent, with some glaring holes, and the visuals can be lush, though their inspirations and appropriations at times painfully apparent. But the emotion of the story's denouement is truly beautiful. Would that all fandoms showed such unbowed, unaging love to their favorite stories and characters.
7. Even the Ocean: In a way, I feel guilty about putting this below Wonder Labyrinth, as that game is derivative in many ways, whereas Ocean is wholly original and daring. But again, as with Labyrinth, it all comes down to the ending, and I have to put a highlight spoiler here: I find the school of environmentalism that embraces the apocalypse as just punishment for humanity's crimes creepy. The ending is audacious in a way I can't recall any other game being, in how it asserts, contrary to everything video gaming has taught us, that the actions of one person cannot negate or redirect the course of an entire society, and the uncomfortable tone doesn't take away the good parts, like the game's gorgeous visuals, diversity of cast, and ability to craft heart-pounding action with a total lack of violence. I would say, though, that it does cast a pall over the experience as a whole.
I have had a very busy 2021. You wouldn't guess that based on my online activity, which has slowed to a crawl. I got out of debt, for one thing. I took on a number of new jobs that bolstered my professional translation career, particularly as it applies to game translation. I reached a health milestone I thought I never would. A significant, long-tenuous family relationship was strengthened. Thanks to incredible generosity, I received an amazing gift that's significantly improved my life. I've been trying to get laws enforced regarding a nearby puppy mill and in doing so have uncovered layers and layers of local obstruction that just keep getting more and more byzantine. I've been trying to reach a decision about where I want to live in the future and have come to a number of realizations regarding current, past, and prospective hometowns in the process - and there's still more to mull over.
There are games that I started, but could not finish, in 2021 that I feel define the year. I feel an accounting of the year would be incomplete without a complete reckoning with them. There's also one year-defining game, Angelique Luminarise, that I didn't even get to start but which is going to take a significant amount of time to play, as I want to chronicle my play experience.
Therefore: I am taking a note from our corporate overlords and expanding my gaming 2021 into fiscal year 2021. I'm going to use January, February, and March to close out this momentous gaming year. But it's December 31, and a look back is required. Consider this list tentative. What follows are the 2021 games still in consideration, that might very well deserve a spot on this list:
I feel it has been underreported this holiday season that they have made a Hallmark ornament of Sub-Zero.
In fist-raised, post-spine rip pose! The description has his real name and everything! It even closes by urging you to do a Fatality! However: this is MK1 Sub-Zero, but his tabard or whatever is quilted, and the quilting didn't happen until MK2. I suppose they do have to kit him out for December, though.
The announcement of these classic Final Fantasy-themed music boxes...um, a full five months before their actual release date, for some reason, really delighted me yesterday. A little candy-colored crystal thing that plays a sweet version of a classic FF tune. What a neat thing to have! Man, I wonder what they're doing for FF4...
...*sigh.* I don't know why "Theme of Love" has become such an unassailable standard-bearer for the FF4 OST. Such a whiny song. Fits a whiny character.
(I know they're going for bittersweet, memorable, emotional tracks given the music-box medium, but the main overworld theme is the epitome of that for me. Just transcendent beauty and sadness. It is a crying shame that we're not getting a music box of that tune.)
(...And on the note of great crimes against music: I just loaded up the FF4 overworld theme on YouTube to listen to it again after typing that paragraph, and one of YouTube's suggestions - lower on the list than the original, thankfully - was the Pixel Remaster version of the track. Wondering how that turned out, I gave it a click...and some marketing genius who had never heard music before decided that the composition would be vastly improved by adding a Muzak record scratch by way of Silent Hill every other second. Square's modern handling decisions regarding its classic properties keep on winning.)
Maybe it's better just to go with the classic among classics. I assume that the "Opening Theme" is the composition that goes with that image, but given the developments above, I should know better to assume.
Like Locke usurping the spotlight from any character with two X chromosomes, "Searching for Friends" has gradually been replacing "Terra" as FF6's main theme in recent years. It's not a travesty like the constant paeans to Locke's ego, but I think "Terra" is still better, one of the great FF tracks, evocative, mysterious, sad, and adventurous, with a strong melody throughout. "Searching for Friends" is no slouch, and its tone of fledging, tenuous hope is perhaps more thematically representative, but the second half kind of goes nowhere.
I do have to say, though, that "Terra" gains a lot from its instrumentation, so maybe "Searching for Friends" was the right call here.
(Why is this box burnt umber? The FF4 one is the color of coal, but it deserves it.)
The obvious and probably correct choice here. After listening to the OST again yesterday, though, I have to note that "Pirates Ahoy" wouldn't have been bad, either. A bit specific in focus, but it would have meant more Faris, so who cares.
I'm not complaining about "Home, Sweet Home," but: "Dear Friends" would have also been worthy. There's a really satisfying sense of emotional closure with that song that I don't think any other FF track touches.
I wasn't going to do FF2, even though I've played a good chunk of it, but I loaded this theme up for laughs, not even remembering what it sounded like, and: Not a bad choice. ...Well: it's a memorable track, a memorably weird track, but most of that weirdness comes from the reverb of the lead synth. I think that a lot of its mystic flavor is going to be lost in a music-box translation and that it might sound rather plaid. Also: extremely short.
I still haven't played FF3. I listened to this track. It doesn't seem to go anywhere. The start resembles that of the FF2 selection, actually. Certain elements of it wouldn't be out of place in a racing game. It has no strong melody, though, and that's speaks poorly of it as both a classic FF track and as music box fodder. Doesn't speak well for the FF3 OST if this were the brightest light to cull for it.
This is about Sword of Vermilion, by the way. Sword of Vermilion engenders devotion this strong in 2021.
I should use the above image as my new banner.
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