P-Wing

The Rawk Says: Games of 2016

• By Rawk
• March 6, 2016
• 2 Comments

Its not much of a secret I have a bit of bias against Western-developed games and am more in favor of games developed overseas, namely Japanese RPGs. I feel this way because most games developed at home come off as generic and unimaginative to me. I love the art styles and wackiness associated with many of Japan’s games, and I was also a big fan of RareWare during the N64 days due in part to some of that (#RIPInPeace).

This list comes before the eventual E3 media blowout that will undoubtedly occur later this year, and most of this consists of games you have probably never heard of, or only heard of from me. So let’s turn up the jam. and get crackin’.

Star Fox Zero

Platinum Games is developing the latest Star Fox game, and after about 19 or so years since Star Fox 64 we are FINALLY just now getting a proper follow up to the gameplay and structure of SF64. I am beyond excited and feel as though this is going to be the best licensed-out 3rd Party collaboration since F-Zero GX on the GameCube (Another series we haven’t heard shit from). I am absolutely positive this ends up being the best (or close to) Wii U game this year.

Shin Megami Tensei IV Final

A follow-up to my favorite 3DS game, SMT IV Final is a JRPG that has you playing as Nanashi, who is killed by demons but ultimately resurrected by Dagda after forming a contract with him. What ensues is Nanashi forming contracts with other demons to combat a coalition of deities who are apparently out to “save humanity”. This game improves upon SMT IV based on feedback from games toward Atlus and will hopefully launch sooner rather than later this year.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

My favorite game of 2015 was The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, a game that took me 93 hours to complete, and oh yeah, this game was a narrative-driven JRPG, not an open-world crawl. The character interactions and development are some of the best I’ve seen in a game, the characters themselves are ALL useful (and used) during the course of the game, and while some could say this game is linear, it is nowhere near as linear as Final Fantasy XIII was (in fact, FFXIII could learn a lot from the structure of this game). This ought to be one of the last rides on the PS3, and one I will be taking a personal day or two for when it eventually launches this year.

Persona 5

If I am taking a personal day for Trails of Cold Steel II, I am taking a VACATION for Persona 5. It has been far too long since we’ve received a proper follow-up to Persona 4 (2008!) and Atlus has been taking their time with this one. If any JRPG can compete for the GOTY crown amongst the mass media for this year, it is going to be Persona 5. Also great that it is coming out for both PS3 and PS4, which will not alienate those who haven’t made the jump to the next gen yet, nor alienate the JRPG-starved users of the PS4.

There is probably about 200+ hours of first run-through gameplay listed above for me. I am ready to not have a life when all of these games come out. There are notable emissions and this list is pre-E3. But aside from possibly adding Zelda to this list afterwards, it will remain the same. Happy gaming, bitches!