Morning
I ended up liking Visions of Mana more than I thought. This very well might be my GOTY at this point unless I somehow like Dragon Age Veilguard more. Going to work on some postgame content rn.
The main plot is nothing outstanding but it does handle its themes pretty well plus there were a few surprises I didn't see coming. The only real complaint I have is a lot of the side questing is busy work for the sake of it.
Really fantastic game. Gameplay is addicting fun, the world is exciting to explore, the visuals and music are wonderful, the characters are nice and have arcs throughout the game.
4. Tales of Arise. I know people love to hate this game and yea it does have its issues but I had a ton of fun with the gameplay, the characters develop neatly and I love the whole epic scale of the main plot.
3. Final Fantasy X, this is a beloved classic for many reasons. It was a huge leap in the series by coming even closer to the cinematic presentation we see in games today, the gameplay is simple yet deep and the story about religious corruption still holds up wonderfully to this day.
2. Alan Wake 2, another sequel that massively improved over the original in every way. I'm not really into horror games but it's such excellent commentary on "a story about a story" and its multimedia usage is just masterful and creative.
1. Octopath Traveler 2, a huge improvement over the sequel in every way. Legit is the best turn-based game I've played inspired by the classics. This would be the game I would show people to say "Turn-based games were never dead, you just weren't paying attention".
FFXVI gaming