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~*D1P's Games of 2019*~


Commissar SFLUFAN

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  • 1 month later...

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

Detroit: Become Human

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Moss

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza 0

 

 

Yakuza 0, I gotta say: I am now in the fan club for this series. If you play too much, you can definitely get burnout, but huge, huge, huuuuuggggeeeeee props to the team at Sega for making SO many fun and varied side quests. The fact that I could do Pocket Circuit racing and have fun, Real Estate and have fun, phone dating and laughing my ass off, karaoke and have fun, classic SEGA arcade games, or spend dozens of hours on the REAL game, Cabaret Club, really goes to show the effort they put into the side content (and that's not getting into the typical stuff I've seen in other open worlds like bowling, pool and darts).

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5 hours ago, Man of Culture said:

I beat (including the epilogues) Red Dead Redemption 2 in early January and that was easily one of the finest experiences I've ever had with a console game. Controls aside, the package as a whole, was amazing.

 

I beat Claire (A) in the Resident Evil 2 Remaster and ended up watching Markiplier do the rest.

 

I put about 20 or so hours into Far Cry New Dawn. The game is fun, but outside of a handful of elements, the story hasn't been strong enough to invest time beyond whenever people I know get on for some coop action.

 

The Division 2 has taken up an enormous amount of my limited free time and I'm still coming back to it regularly trying to make the perfect Pistol Tank build.

 

I'm really enjoying the challenge present in Sekiro and I'll probably have that game beaten by the end of next week.

 

Katana Zero is hitting all the right "Hotline Miami" vibes for me. Save for the "Replay" feature that takes you out of the overall flow of each stage, the game is incredibly well produced and extremely tight.

 

Beyond that, I'm just waiting for the Iceborne expansion for Monster Hunter World. After spending a little over 500 (PS4 + PC) hours on that title I need a little something new to keep me going.

I just got Katana Zero and am really excited to play it.  It's been on my radar since it was revealed.  Glad to hear that it's awesome so far!

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1 hour ago, Man of Culture said:

 

It gets really good about halfway through.

Awesome.  I also have not played either Hotline Miami game, are they worth playing as well?  I've basically been working my way through Devolver's catalog since they are all tight, stylized, and expertly designed games.  I recently played Ape Out and that was incredible.  I highly recommend that if you haven't played it.

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Tetris Effect - Really cool version of Tetris, and in VR, it's a real treat. You'll start slamming those blocks to the music, and honestly, the worst part is that the regular adventure is finished too quickly. Yes, in Tetris, it doesn't matter as much since you're constantly trying to beat your scores or just playing for fun regardless of your score, but since each level has a specific music and sound to your blocks, I wish we had double the levels. Glad I bought it.

 

Dead Cells - I have to get the true endings down the line, probably after Days Gone, but if you DON'T like roguelite games, this is the roguelite for you. You have a fantastic sense of progression through permanent upgrades that you acquire throughout the game, and you have choices to acquire dead cells throughout the levels (speed through to get extra money/cells, or take your time and avoid taking damage while defeating 30 enemies for extra money/cells). So the more levels you complete, the stronger you get, so when you're inevitably thrust back to the beginning, you're a bit stronger and wiser.

 

Many roguelites (lites meaning you don't lose ALL progression once you're dead, but you still lose all your current weapons) don't grip me. They're fun, but I quickly move on once I'm done. Dead Cells is a game that I want to beat in its entirety. The gameplay is a lot of fun, the weapons are a lot of fun, and just kudos to these guys and gals for making a wonderful game.

 

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

Detroit: Become Human

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Moss

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza 0

Tetris Effect

Dead Cells

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I've decided to finally work my way through the PS4 games that we own. There are quite a few that I own and have either not finished, or not started. To help balance things out, I've looked through all my unplayed/unfinished games and sorted them into categories (my Partner also plays games, so I thought it would be a good idea to have some alternatives if she is playing something or if I need a break from longer single player Campaigns).  

 

Main Game Secondary Game Quick Game Alternative Game
Red Dead Redemption 2 Stardew Valley Hellblade Chrono Trigger
The Witcher 3 Hitman  What Remains of Edith Finch Breath of the Wild
Horizon Zero Dawn Rayman Legends Bound Majora's Mask
The Witness Tearaway Unfolded Hatoful Boyfriend Pikmin 3
Eternal Darkness Outlast This War of Mine Halo: Combat Evolved
Dishonoured Final Fantasy 7 Star Wars: Rogue Leader 2 Metroid Prime
Assassin's Creed Origins Second Sight Titan Souls Trackmania Turbo
The Surge Kung Fu Panda   Ni No Kuni
Watch Dogs 2 Bioshock 2   Remake
Mad Max Metal Gear Solid 5   Final Fantasy 7
Darksiders 2 Child of Light   Final Fantasy 9
Amnesia Collection Little Big Planet 3    
Assassin's Creed Odyssey    

 

 

 

 

 

The aim being to have finish as many as possible by September. (I've just revised this list as of 16/6 as a few games were part of my partner's PS+ account and I don't fancy paying twice to access the games. I'll add in Sonic Mania and Borderlands 2 into the mix instead.

 

Update: 

 

I've now finished the main story for Red Dead Redemption 2. One of those games where I didn't really care about it for the first few Chapters, but now I wish there was a whole slew of story DLC to play (which for me is beyond rare). 

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Days Gone - I was really impressed by this game. I had a hard time putting it down because its gameplay loop was fun and addictive in a way that I can't put my finger on. Sony Bend said they wanted all side missions to relate to the story in some way and make sense. I'm the kind of person who can play Pocket Circuit Racing or manage a Cabaret Club for hours and hours in Yakuza 0 and not care that I'm detouring from the main story for 15 hours, so it didn't matter to me. And yet, I do respect what they set out to do and can say they succeeded. I don't think there was any mission or side thing I did that didn't make sense in context of the story.

 

In addition to that, what there is to do is a lot of fun. Yeah, stuff like camps we've seen, but they were enjoyable and made the world safer once eliminated since snipers will try to shoot you down while you're on the road. Nests are fun as hell to burn and take down, and taking them down with allow you to fast travel since the game takes into account where an infestation is and if it's on the same route as where you want to fast travel. Hordes are impressive as hell to witness and fun as hell to take down. Marauder patrols will try to take you down on bikes or set up traps. Camp jobs are all about building trust with the camp so you can buy better equipment and better bike upgrades. 

 

In addition to that, the world does feel unsafe where the only safe spots are the camps themselves which have guards stationed to prevent enemies from coming in. Once the enemy is defeated by the friendly AI, you can safely loot the downed enemies. Otherwise, there are runners who run as quickly as your bike, so you can't just outrun every enemy. You may run into a horde that migrates around a part of the map. A sniper might aim for you. A marauder patrol may encounter you. Enemy humans may roll a burning car at you or be hiding to ambush you. And there are just regular enemy freakers littered throughout the map, more frequently at night. 

 

There are plenty of rough edges. I hope there's a "GOTY" version after the DLC (if there's any) that has all that content and all the related patches so somebody who wants it physical will have all the fixes on disc. It's hard to grade this above a 9 due to the rough edges, but this game delivers and is worth buying at full price.

 

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

Detroit: Become Human

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Moss

Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza 0

Tetris Effect

Dead Cells

Days Gone

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Devil May Cry 5

System: PC (Steam)

Time Played: 34 hours

D1P Supreme High Chancellor Evaluation: 70% to 75% (if I'm feeling REALLY generous!)

 

I really enjoy games in the "character action genre" a lot.  Now, this doesn't mean that I'm actually any good at games in this genre (yes, I know what you're saying, "Wade, you're not good at games in ANY genre", but that's besides the point) because I simply lack to the dexterity to pull off the best/highest ranked combat combos, but these games have something going for them that make them worthwhile for me: sheer ridiculous spectacle.  This genre simply cannot be beat for just how completely over-the-top awesome it can get: flashy combat, ridiculously huge and powerful boss fights, totally outlandish game world settings/environments, and  so on.  In essence, the "character action genre" represents the art of video games in one of its purest forms.

 

And there is probably no better example of what I've described above than the Devil May Cry series.  With that in mind, I was very much looking forward to seeing how this series would mark its Japanese-developed comeback after the relative disappointment of many fans to Ninja Theory's take with DmC (not that I personally disliked DmC at all!).  So, did the return of the "real" Dante and Nero triumphantly put Devil May Cry back at the top of the character action genre pile?  

 

Yes...and no.  Quite a bit more of "no" than I expected.

 

Let's get the good stuff out of the way first: the combat for Dante and Nero is absolutely fantastic.  Like I said the outset, I'm not very good at pulling off complex combos, but those that I was able to develop the muscle memory to execute felt and looked GREAT!  I really have nothing negative to say about the actual combat itself, not even the truly strange "indirect" combat for the "V"character which took some getting used to initially.  For the combat alone, this game is definitely worth consideration.

 

But there simply isn't "enough" of the combat.  I know that sounds like a strange thing to say for a Devil May Cry game, but that's the only way I can describe it.  There were more than a few sections where my character would be proceeding forward without engaging enemies in a combat scenario for what seemed to be long stretches.  And when combat scenarios did occur, there just didn't seem to be enough enemies present within the combat arena in most instances to work up a good combat flow.  Before I knew it, most fights would be over just as I was getting into a decent groove and working my Style Score upwards.  For a game that leans heavily -- if not entirely -- on its combat, it just struck me as odd that there wasn't more of it.

 

Perhaps the biggest letdown of the game and one that SERIOUSLY impacted my enjoyment of it was the aesthetic qualities of the game world itself.  Simply put, the game's art direction sucks fetid donkey balls -- I haven't seen such uninspired, boring, utterly pedestrian art design in a "major" AAA-level video game in ages, if ever.  The game takes place in essentially two types of environments: broken down, crumbling buildings and the root system of a demonic tree -- that's it.  Now you'd think that the root system of a demonic tree would at least give an opportunity to flex some creative artistic muscle, but you'd be sorely mistaken.  It's nearly as bland and visually mundane as the broken down, crumbling buildings.  The mind-numbing sameness of the visuals really does seriously detract from the game's overall experience that when combined with the inexplicable "lack" of combat at certain points really diluted my will to keep playing.  The much-maligned DmC had such superior art direction that there really is no comparison at all.

 

There is also a completely mind-bogging control decision involving the use of Nero's Devil Breaker prosthetic arm weapon.  You see, you can't actually switch from one type of Devil Breaker to another without first destroying your currently selected Devil Breaker.  What makes this design decision completely insane is that the d-pad -- the control input that would be the most logical way to cycle through your Devil Breaker inventory -- sits there COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNUSED for the vast majority of the game.  Sure, it's used by Nero at the very end of the game, but ONLY the DOWN direction is used -- every other direction remains unused.  I cannot for the life of me imagine why this system is the case for the Devil Breaker.  Oh, I'm sure that there's an explanation for it, but that explanation is a steaming pile of bullshit, whatever it is.  This pissed me off so very much that I barely used the Devil Breaker for the entire game.  There are many other areas that I can complain about such as the LOLanimeLOL storyline, the inability to play through the levels as each of the three characters, the lack of any meaningful reasons to explore, etc. but I think you get the picture by now. 

 

I don't consider Devil May Cry 5 a bad game at all, but it's fallen well short of not only of my initial expectations, but also where the entire character action genre is now with the likes of Baynoetta having set a new gold standard.  I think both @Bloodporne and @Xbob42 will agree with me on what I've written here, if not even be harsher in their assessments :p

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6 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Honestly, I'm just trying to figure out how you spent that much time in DMC5 and RE2, @SFLUFAN

DMC5 - I went back in replayed levels many, many times to try to get S-ranks :p

RE2 - I played both the Leon "A" and Claire "B" campaigns to completion and quite a bit of the Leon "B" campaign.

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Wrapping up Celeste on vacation, after almost a year.  I understand why it’s so good now.  It feels like the first time you played Super Mario World, or another classic 2D platformer.  I think the highs are higher than Shovel Knight.  Ori as well.  

 

Guacamelee is the only game that comes close to its brand of platforming that I’ve played.  Though it’s not quite as persistent or clever.

 

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10 hours ago, SFLUFAN said:

Devil May Cry 5

System: PC (Steam)

Time Played: 34 hours

D1P Supreme High Chancellor Evaluation: 70% to 75% (if I'm feeling REALLY generous!)

 

I really enjoy games in the "character action genre" a lot.  Now, this doesn't mean that I'm actually any good at games in this genre (yes, I know what you're saying, "Wade, you're not good at games in ANY genre", but that's besides the point) because I simply lack to the dexterity to pull off the best/highest ranked combat combos, but these games have something going for them that make them worthwhile for me: sheer ridiculous spectacle.  This genre simply cannot be beat for just how completely over-the-top awesome it can get: flashy combat, ridiculously huge and powerful boss fights, totally outlandish game world settings/environments, and  so on.  In essence, the "character action genre" represents the art of video games in one of its purest forms.

 

And there is probably no better example of what I've described above than the Devil May Cry series.  With that in mind, I was very much looking forward to seeing how this series would mark its Japanese-developed comeback after the relative disappointment of many fans to Ninja Theory's take with DmC (not that I personally disliked DmC at all!).  So, did the return of the "real" Dante and Nero triumphantly put Devil May Cry back at the top of the character action genre pile?  

 

Yes...and no.  Quite a bit more of "no" than I expected.

 

Let's get the good stuff out of the way first: the combat for Dante and Nero is absolutely fantastic.  Like I said the outset, I'm not very good at pulling off complex combos, but those that I was able to develop the muscle memory to execute felt and looked GREAT!  I really have nothing negative to say about the actual combat itself, not even the truly strange "indirect" combat for the "V"character which took some getting used to initially.  For the combat alone, this game is definitely worth consideration.

 

But there simply isn't "enough" of the combat.  I know that sounds like a strange thing to say for a Devil May Cry game, but that's the only way I can describe it.  There were more than a few sections where my character would be proceeding forward without engaging enemies in a combat scenario for what seemed to be long stretches.  And when combat scenarios did occur, there just didn't seem to be enough enemies present within the combat arena in most instances to work up a good combat flow.  Before I knew it, most fights would be over just as I was getting into a decent groove and working my Style Score upwards.  For a game that leans heavily -- if not entirely -- on its combat, it just struck me as odd that there wasn't more of it.

 

Perhaps the biggest letdown of the game and one that SERIOUSLY impacted my enjoyment of it was the aesthetic qualities of the game world itself.  Simply put, the game's art direction sucks fetid donkey balls -- I haven't seen such uninspired, boring, utterly pedestrian art design in a "major" AAA-level video game in ages, if ever.  The game takes place in essentially two types of environments: broken down, crumbling buildings and the root system of a demonic tree -- that's it.  Now you'd think that the root system of a demonic tree would at least give an opportunity to flex some creative artistic muscle, but you'd be sorely mistaken.  It's nearly as bland and visually mundane as the broken down, crumbling buildings.  The mind-numbing sameness of the visuals really does seriously detract from the game's overall experience that when combined with the inexplicable "lack" of combat at certain points really diluted my will to keep playing.  The much-maligned DmC had such superior art direction that there really is no comparison at all.

 

There is also a completely mind-bogging control decision involving the use of Nero's Devil Breaker prosthetic arm weapon.  You see, you can't actually switch from one type of Devil Breaker to another without first destroying your currently selected Devil Breaker.  What makes this design decision completely insane is that the d-pad -- the control input that would be the most logical way to cycle through your Devil Breaker inventory -- sits there COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNUSED for the vast majority of the game.  Sure, it's used by Nero at the very end of the game, but ONLY the DOWN direction is used -- every other direction remains unused.  I cannot for the life of me imagine why this system is the case for the Devil Breaker.  Oh, I'm sure that there's an explanation for it, but that explanation is a steaming pile of bullshit, whatever it is.  This pissed me off so very much that I barely used the Devil Breaker for the entire game.  There are many other areas that I can complain about such as the LOLanimeLOL storyline, the inability to play through the levels as each of the three characters, the lack of any meaningful reasons to explore, etc. but I think you get the picture by now. 

 

I don't consider Devil May Cry 5 a bad game at all, but it's fallen well short of not only of my initial expectations, but also where the entire character action genre is now with the likes of Baynoetta having set a new gold standard.  I think both @Bloodporne and @Xbob42 will agree with me on what I've written here, if not even be harsher in their assessments :p

Well, as you know, I basically agree with all your criticisms and yeah, I would be harsher on it. 

 

I actually straight-up think it's a bad game that happens to feature an amazing combat system when it does let you actually play it. Everything you've touched on crushed my fun with it to the point I was just trying to finish it because I felt guilty for dropping $60+ on the fucking thing Day 1. 

 

I could maybe, maybe, deal with the comical absence of any level design and/or aesthetics beyond that Deviant Art fan art tier drivel but the pacing is so egregious, it still boggles my mind that anyone can overlook this. The game constantly blue-balls you from actually engaging with what it does fabulously, styling on punching bag enemies with Nero and/or Dante. I felt like every single time I was just starting to actually enjoy a moment, it was brought to a screeching halt by something else. Constant loading screens, cutscenes, MINI-cutscenes, ARENA-cutscenes, forced character changes killing any momentum I had built up learning the combat system and the list goes on. 

 

Then there is V...my god...the absolute low point in the series including quite possibly DMC2 for me. I don't care if others can learn him or not, it was hands-down the least fun I've ever had with a combat system in any Character Action game and utterly frustrating for me when I know I could just be playing Nero or Dante. But no, the entire game seems to be built from the ground-up to get in its own way at every turn. 

 

Garbage level design and aesthetics, pacing etc. or not, I was actually starting to really enjoy myself by the time I was fighting Artemis with Nero. It was ramping up nicely and started being real DMC-ish. At this point the game bafflingly decides to kill all momentum by forcing you into a completely new and bizarre combat system and have you start from scratch essentially. I...don't get it.

 

Also, the game's standard highest difficulty for a first playthrough is too low and feels unengaging compared to DMC3. I don't want my first playthrough of a game to be a boring slog with the promise of possibly being challenged later. 

 

I don't remember what I rated it previously but with some time elapsed...

 

D1P Lowly No-Chancellor Evaluation: 60% (exclusively for the Nero and Dante combat system, everything around it is hot garbage)

 

PS: I will be re-installing it sometime soon if I'm really bored to check out Bloody Palace. Not what I paid all that money for but at least something. 

 

 

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10 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Honestly, I'm just trying to figure out how you spent that much time in DMC5 and RE2, @SFLUFAN

I've actually spent something like 50+ hours, if not 60, in REMake 2. I've beaten the game in every scenario, basically every difficulty level, did the Ghost Survivors stuff, got the unlimited knife and so forth. My first playthrough was also like 10 hours :/ 

 

The game is seriously addictive and the fact it's so compact and small only made the whole "just one more time" thing worse. I had almost forgotten the joys of this type of game design. I'm actually planning on picking it back up again soon, I can't get enough.

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I just started Outer Wilds, and I strongly suspect that this game is great. I avoided reading much coverage about it since I knew it would be a day one purchase for me, but so far what has really struck me about this game is how much control the player has over their ship and space exploration suit, and the resultant terror of accidentally jettisoning myself into the void.  There was a moment as I was exploring a broken satellite where I had to get into an inaccessible section by space walking around the satellite, and somehow in my ineptitude I got going too fast, got turned around and lost orientation, and lost sight of the satellite completely, and as I spun out into the murky black trying to reorient myself the game activated a very specific panic center in my brain generally reserved for being trapped underwater not knowing which way the surface is. 

 

I also really like that is is an exploration game that it isn't a survival game. 

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6 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I've actually spent something like 50+ hours, if not 60, in REMake 2. I've beaten the game in every scenario, basically every difficulty level, did the Ghost Survivors stuff, got the unlimited knife and so forth. My first playthrough was also like 10 hours :/ 

 

The game is seriously addictive and the fact it's so compact and small only made the whole "just one more time" thing worse. I had almost forgotten the joys of this type of game design. I'm actually planning on picking it back up again soon, I can't get enough.

I thought it was fantastic and I'll definitely play the B scenario at some point, but there's just too many games for me to spend that much time with one after I've beaten it.

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On 5/31/2019 at 7:04 AM, Bloodporne said:

I've actually spent something like 50+ hours, if not 60, in REMake 2. I've beaten the game in every scenario, basically every difficulty level, did the Ghost Survivors stuff, got the unlimited knife and so forth. My first playthrough was also like 10 hours :/ 

 

The game is seriously addictive and the fact it's so compact and small only made the whole "just one more time" thing worse. I had almost forgotten the joys of this type of game design. I'm actually planning on picking it back up again soon, I can't get enough.

I've done something similar with RE2, though I haven't spent quite as much as with it as you have.  It's basically a middle finger pointed at modern game design sensibilities - the campaign is so tight and so well designed that I wouldn't care if it was even shorter than it is.  My only criticism is that the sewer section is a bit too long, but otherwise there is zero wasted space.  It feels almost Nintendo-like in it's focus on lean, muscular design, and it's a reminder of why the current obsession with length-padding and endless leveling has sucked much of the fun out of video games (at least for me).  It doubt anything else this year will top it personally.

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I just finished another replay of Wolfenstein: The New Order, and am now onto The New Colossus again.  I saved Wyatt this time, because in my initial playthroughs I chose Fergus. 

 

I was again amazed at how moving I find the story, music, and performances in these games.  Lots of modern games strive for realism to deliver a cinematic experience, but end up feeling less like video games and more like mediocre movies that you occasionally get to control (The Last of Us).  Wolfenstein wholeheartedly embraces that it's a video game and is not afraid to lean into its own absurdity, but at the same time treats its characters and story in a very grounded and emotionally mature manner.  This gives the games an incredibly bizarre tone, and it's miraculous that Machinegames is in total control of it the entire way through.  The Coen brothers remarked in an interview that successful direction really boils down to tone control, and by that metric, these games are as successful as it gets.

 

I've seen others remark about the gameplay not being up to par, and I have to say I disagree.  I find the gunplay to be beefy, tactical, and very fun.  The level design is sometimes a bit too simple, but I think both games feel great to play.  They are on my shortlist for favorite games this gen.

 

 

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Beat Days Gone last night. I'd give it 7.5/10, would have been a bit higher without all the technical issues. Overall, I really enjoyed the game. It was quite a fun ride and I look forward to an improved sequel from Bend in the future. 

 

So far this year, I've beaten:

 

Resident Evil 2 remake (PC)

Resident Evil 5 (co-op, PC)

Resident Evil 4 (3rd completion, PC)

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (3DS)

Days Gone (PS4)

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1 hour ago, Enlityn said:

Days Gone. The definition of a game being better than the sum of its parts. 9/10 

Just canceled my Walmart order for $20 when it had the price mistake. What did you love about it so much and what game would you compare it to? Might pick it up in the future if it hits $20 again

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