Day 27 - Most epic scene ever.
Currently, I don't have one, but there was one that I loved so damn much back when I was a child. Dragon Ball Z Budokai, which I still hail for its cinematic direction (which is some of the best of any anime-based game, save for CC2's Ultimate Ninja/Storm series), had a great scene following the death of a certain character and the transformation of Goku into a Super Saiyan. It was a pretty hard-hitting scene, and I dare say it did it better than the anime it was adapting. Possibly.
Again, there are certainly better scenes, and currently I wouldn't say this is the most epic, but if I were to reach back to my childhood and pick a favorite, this would certainly be among them.
Day 28 - Favorite game developer.
Atlus or Level-5. I'd be hard to pick one, since I love these two companies so much and they've both made some of my favorite games. I give Level-5 praise for creating the largest number of creative and unique series and one-offs in gaming. Inazuma Eleven, Dark Cloud, Danball Senki, Youkai Watch- they're such a strange mismatch of different ideas that work by some miracle, and I can't think of a single Level-5 developed game that I don't like. I can always trust these guys to bring me something new and interesting.
As for Atlus, I have quite the fascination with the Shin Megami Tensei series. As someone who loves the integration of mythology and reality, and similarly, as someone who loves things that dare to play with religion and morality, it really is a no brainer that I would flock to this franchise. I haven't delved into the franchise nearly as much as I want to, but I've always found the concept behind the franchise to be too interesting to pass up.
That said, apart from Atlus as a developer (which has several other game franchises and one-offs such as Trauma Center, Etrian Odyssey, and Trauma Center), I do have to note just how broad they are as a publisher. They bring over games that have no demand over here and, as a result, we get gems such as Dokapon Kingdom, Demon Souls, Radiant Historia, and even the original Disgaea. They've helped several developers and their games flourish as a result, so I have to give credit in that regard.
Honorable Mention goes to Cyber Connect 2, whom I love to death. The .Hack franchise is tragic in nature (not the game's stories but rather their fates) and it's like a needle sticks into my heart everytime I mention them, but they're fond to me (especially the G.U. titles, which I would love to see an HD collection of). They also created Asura's Wrath and the Ultimate Ninja series, both of which have beautiful cinematics and- I've been on about this before, so I'll just say that I love these guys.
Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1.
This may seem like a strange pick, considering how hard I'd been trying to track it down until recently, but I have a history with the series. A couple years back, having known about the series to some extent, I bought the Hyperdimension Neptunia on the PS3. After learning that it was both a parody and a satire of the gaming industry, my interest was piqued. After exploring my first dungeon, I wanted the game out of my possession quick. Apart from lacking gamefeel, it was only chuckle-worthy (at that point, at least) and the battle system was incredibly slow.
So, about a year later, I bought mk2, the sequel. I heard that the battle system was redone and, thus, the game had to be marginally better. It was a better system no doubt, and it was far more inviting than the original half-unique/half-generic battle system for someone who was, at the time, suffering from Turn-Based RPG genre fatigue. I also got a good laugh at the villainous organization being called Arfoire, considering I'd been a DS pirate a number of years before and the R4 rained supreme (due to its cheapness), even becoming the generic name for DS flashcarts. Despite this, it still suffered greatly from a lack of gamefeel. There weren't sound effects where there should of been, there was little feedback for doing things for the most part, and that REALLY took away from the game. Apart from that, it just didn't have much to hold me other than the concept.
Fast-Forward to January 2015. The game's just been released on PC, they offer it at a discount price of $15, and I want it bad. Why? Well, I'd actually been following Re;Birth since it was announced, and I thought it was probably one of the coolest remakes I'd ever seen (I still do, really). It wasn't in any way a rehash of the original, and is instead something of a new game entirely- a Frankenstein of new additions and various features and assets from the second and third games. Thus, for me, this would be an entirely new experience, so it was something to look forward to, and I was ready to give the series a final try.
But when I started playing, I immediately realized there was no reason for me to think that I would like the game more than the two I'd already tried, and the game's dialog and humor hit me like the smell of a sweat filled sock. By this point, I was dreading what was to come...but then the game had me laughing. The localization by Idea Factory is nothing short of hilarious, especially when it brings in self-referential humor (especially when it's self-deprecating). It left me with more than just a smirk, and as I met the enemies of the game and the game itself continued to expand as I found myself in the double digits, I couldn't help but be enthralled with what I was playing. The characters are likable, the dialog is funny, it's one of few games where I could grind for hours and not even mind because I always felt like I was being rewarded for my time (which is the best type of bad grinding)- needless to say, Re;Birth certainly fits this spot.
Day 30 - Your favorite game of all time
I don't know. I have a top five, in which Virtue's Last Reward is in the top three, and The World Ends With You is in that five. I've been trying to figure this out for years. I think Persona 4's in the Top 5 or 10 somewhere, but...yeah. I dunno.
