(7 - 4) 7) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/christi-juniors-mini-writeups.2842/#post-31695)
Tears of the Kingdom is kind of a weird sequel, in that it doesn’t even attempt to fix BotW’s glaring flaws, instead focusing on further improving what its predecessor already did absurdly well, primarily its world and its exploration. Not that these improvements aren’t welcome mind you – and TotK introduces a bunch of outrageously cool new mechanics that prove a perfect fit with Open World Zelda. The ability to construct all sorts of clever contraptions especially is all kinds of awesome, and combined with Link’s brilliant new special powers and the ability to literally weaponized the many collectibles that you pick up in this gigantic world, you get some absolutely genius puzzles – even if the game never fully capitalizes on their true potential.
Also, I have to at least partially retract what I wrote earlier; some of BotW’s failings *have* actually been fixed, because specifically in terms of bosses and the enemy variety TotK really is leagues better, with the complete boss selection now being one of the best in the series. The addition of the underground- and sky sections also make TotK’s Hyrule a lot more visually and conceptually interesting and unique, and even the “old Hyrule” felt a lot fresher than I expected – though me not having played BotW since 2018 probably contributed to that.
Alas, the same awful approach to music persists, with the various genuinely great songs barely ever getting any play, while entirely atmospheric non-music does most of the heavy lifting throughout the adventure. The game also bends over backwards to ensure that the story is as underwhelming as possible, again being told primarily through flashbacks – though the presence of a proper villain (rather than a pure Force of Nature adversary) and a more intriguing mystery did mean TotK still boasted a slightly better story than BotW. Also better are the dungeons – but again, only just barely. At least this time they feel genuinely distinct and unique, but they’re still WAY too short and insubstantial for the most part.
That said, TotK is still an embarrassment of riches in terms of what it has to offer – 160 hours into the game, I was still coming across cool new puzzle ideas and mechanics, and what it does well, it tends to do ridiculously well. Like BotW, this game still feels like somewhat less than the sum of its parts – but those individual parts, if put together in a more focused and purposeful way, could potentially deliver a Best Game Ever contender.
Based Morality Score: -1
6) Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-hd-writeup.2773/)
Yes niggers, your eyes are not deceiving you – I’m ranking Skyward Sword HD as the single best retail Zelda game available on the Switch! I’ve always adored Skyward Sword despite its flaws – and a number of those flaws have straight up been removed this time around. For all the talk about SS HD being a low-effort and lazy remaster, it ended up implementing a bunch of (admittedly easy, no-brainer) changes that genuinely make the game better, to the point where I think this remaster actually improves the base game to a far greater extent than something like Metroid Prime Remastered did. And let’s not even get into comparisons with Majora’s Mask 3D…
On second thought, let’s do just that! Now, I think a lot of post-2017 Nintendo games have been negatively influenced by BotW, especially in terms of how they handle music. Skyward Sword HD is a rare game that has drawn all the RIGHT lessons from BotW, namely that gamers don’t need their fucking hands held all the time. So whereas Majora’s Mask 3D took the single most hardcore Zelda entry and saddled it with forced tutorials and hints aplenty, Skyward Sword HD instead takes an axe to so many of the original’s most egregious instances of handholding. I always liked Fi in terms of design and personality, but in SS HD I don’t even think I’m being biased when I say that she’s no longer annoying!
And in this new and improved form Skyward Sword truly soars, being free to showcase its many outstanding qualities. In my opinion, this is THE single best Zelda game in terms of puzzles, it boasts the single most fun item selection in the series (the Beetle is so fucking cool!), and some of the best dungeons and bosses as well. Despite its (often exaggerated) flaws, Skyward Sword was also a game that polished, tweaked and enhanced 3D Zelda design in many ways, fixing so many of the little issues I had with Twilight Princess. And yes, count me a fan of the infamous motion controls – at least for the combat, where it makes even regular battles a whole lot more exciting and interesting, with each new enemy type being something of a puzzle in its own right, as you try to uncover its weakness.
Obviously, some pacing problems and certain other minor annoyances are still present (though the flaws are way overblown overall, fucking Escort missions cannot be excused!), but I still had an incredibly good time revisiting Skyward Sword, the 35 hours spent on SS HD were probably the most fun I had as a gamer in all of 2021. Above all, it reminded me of just how much I miss the traditional Zelda formula, and just how fucking Peak it actually was. We truly don’t know how good we have it until it’s too late…
Based Morality Score: Neutral
5) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Ever since Brawl, it has become so easy to boil down the qualities of a Smash Bros. games to its ludicrous amounts of content and the ridiculously varied character roster. In that sense, I’m very grateful for the (very unexpected) Smash Bros. 3DS demo back in 2014, because due to it giving you access to just 5 characters and a single stage, it reminded me of how Smash Bros’s core platform fighter gameplay on its own is incredibly fun and addictive. And that demo I had such a great time with was of the INFERIOR version of Smash 4 – which itself doesn’t play nearly as well as Smash Ultimate does! In terms of pure gameplay, Ultimate really does feel like Peak Smash Bros: fast-paced, but not overwhelming, skill-based, but not autistic, easy to learn, yet hard to master. The characters are also way better balanced than in past Smash games, with there probably being at least something like 40-50 characters who you could conceivably solo-main and still win Super Nationals with.
Let’s also not take for granted just how ridiculously rich and varied the character roster is, on a purely conceptual level: you got the likes of a speedy fox wielding a laser gun and a bunch of sci fi gadgets, a black 2D man weaponizing his work history, a paint-splatting kid who can transform into a squid, a fat cosplaying crocodile, a lightning-fast electric rat, a Big pterodactyl-dragon space pirate, a showboating cat wrestler, a cute little puppy and a dominatrix witch wielding 2 pairs of guns and summoning monsters from hell to assist her! Oh, and aside from the returning Melee clones and the new Echo Fighters, these characters are also all incredibly unique in terms of how they play, with so much hidden depth to them, not to mention the countless little nods and references to the games they’re from that have been snuck into their movesets, their taunts and their animations. Characters who become Smash Bros. fighter invariably are represented so, SO well, a big reason why people are so desperate for their favorite characters to make it into the roster.
And what the hell, let’s talk Quantity for a second as well: NOT counting the Paid DLC, you still got a mind-boggling 76 (!) characters, 103 (!!) stages and over 900 (!!!!!!!!!) songs. Seriously, the game is worth full price just for its soundtrack alone. Despite its gargantuan size, it’s also quite the smartly designed package: forcing you to unlock the vast majority of the characters encourages you to try out new fighters while working towards unlocking your main, the Spirit system enables a ridiculous number of video game characters to get at least SOME representation (Reinhardt Schneider from Castlevania 64 being a Spirit was one of my favorite video game surprises in recent memory), while also giving the game an excuse to find smart and appropriate uses for its countless items and game modes.
Sure, Ultimate does have its obvious flaws: while it’s my absolute favorite couch multiplayer game, the Online multiplayer is still shockingly bad in various ways, arguably WORSE than Smash 4’s For Glory (the GSP was a *very* unfortunate addition), the Story mode was pretty much a hyper-repetitive Worst Case Scenario, and despite the title of “Ultimate”, past series staples like Trophies and Event Matches have been cut. That said, I’ll argue that every feature cut by Ultimate had been showing signs of diminishing returns ever since it debuted in Melee, and I found Ultimate’s early-game gameplay loop to be the most enjoyable since Melee, so all the changes and tweaks were ultimately very successful. And on the whole, I think that Ultimate DOES live up to its name, being easily my favorite game in the series so far, as well as one of the Switch’s greatest games.
Based Morality Score: Neutral
4) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/xenoblade-3-titan-sized-deep-dive-writeup.2678/)
In case my titanic writeup didn’t make it obvious, I have A LOT to say about this game, so the real challenge here is making my summary both fair and reasonably comprehensive. Ultimately, Xenoblade 3 is very much a XenoGOAT game, and is bolstered by all the series’ trademark strengths: you got an enormous, stunning and well-designed world that it’s a pleasure to explore, a God-Tier soundtrack, a thoroughly engrossing story that’s full of unforgettable moments and twists, a wonderful cast of characters, and one of the best JRPG combat systems in existence.
In some ways, Xenoblade 3 straight up represents the culmination and perfection of everything Xenoblade has come to represent, with various mechanics having been refined to the point of becoming the absolutely best version of themselves that they can be. Unique Monsters for example, could not have been handled any better, and in terms of sidequests XB3 pretty much outclasses the other numbered entries in the series, and in fact comes close to rivaling Xenoblade X, the series’ sidequest specialist.
That said, Xenoblade 3 also ended falling behind its predecessors in a number of crucial areas: the world of Aionios might be amazing by most standards, but compared to Bionis, Mira and Alrest, it comes up a bit short. The soundtrack is incredible overall, boasting an absurd number of all-time great songs, but when it comes to specifically the area themes, only something like 50% are true bangers. And while the story has some of the highest highs in the series’ history, it eventually runs out of steam and stumbles its way to the finish line, leaving WAY too many questions unanswered in the process.
Keep in mind, most of my problems with Xenoblade 3 are only actually problems due to me comparing XB3 directly to some of my all-time favorite games. Even most Elite JRPGs would not stand a chance of surviving such intense scrutiny – but Xenoblade 3 not only survives, it even holds its own, ensuring that the Xenoblade trilogy ends up as my favorite video game trilogy BY FAR. Also, the end of Chapter 5, along with the beginning of Chapter 6? Peak Fiction!
Based Morality Score: +2/-2