I've been diving back into Ghost Recon Wildlands after discovering just how damn enjoyable the game is at the highest difficulty levels. Suddenly sniper rifles and stealth are the only viable playstyles, and I feel like I'm actually being tested by the AI rather than watching all these paper narcos obligingly fall over and die for my amusement. I also love how unwoke the game is. Very America Fuck Yeah.
I also dusted off Master of Magic. Still haven't found a 4X that rivals it in my eyes, and it's not nostalgia talking. I actually never played it growing up (though I played MoO and MoO2 like my childhood depended on it). Good shit.
I've replayed X-2 a couple times, most recently last year. It's definitely very silly at times, but I like the job system in it a lot. And Yuna is one of my favorite FF characters.
The story is completely silly, but it works once you accept that. And it somehow makes "Mega Concert in Thunder Plains" actually impactful in a way few others could.
But that combat system is by far one of the most fun in any JRPG I've ever played.
And the "multiple smaller plotlines and minigames all running concurrently instead of a single all encompassing main plot" was unique then and still somehow unchallenged in that. If not for the absurd 100% requirements you could skip parts of the game you didn't like on every playthrough.
Very true. Totally agree about the 1,000 Words cinematic too. That song hit me pretty hard the first time I played the game.
I get strangely addicted to grinding in that game too because I always want to fully master EVERY dress sphere. By the time I get to the final boss I'm so overleveled all I have to do is sneeze and he'll fall over.