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Mega/dal's End Of The Year Awards 2022

Discussion in 'Off-Topic' started by DubAnimeLover, Dec 3, 2022.

  1. DubAnimeLover Trophy Hunter

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    What? It's that time of year again already? Well shit. Okay then.

    The end of the year is here already again. It always flies by. At the end of last year... even though I didn't post it on here and just did on the Discord... I made some 'Bold Predictions' for things that I thought would happen this year that I honestly thought would happen and made the most logical sense to me. It's true that there's still the rest of December to get through... but for the most part really nothing else really happens. But if things change I will obviously say as much. So let's review what my Bold Predictions for 2022 were and if they were correct or not shall we?

    1. Digimon Survive will FINALLY come out. Result: CORRECT. Released July 29, 2022
    2. Final Fantasy XVI will come out. Result: INCORRECT. Scheduled for release Summer 2023 with a solid release date likely coming at The Game Awards 2022.
    3. The 2022 Pokemon game will be Generation 9. Result: CORRECT. Released November 18, 2022
    4. Kingdom Hearts IV will be announced. Result: CORRECT. Announced during the 20th Anniversary Event in April 2022.
    5. Persona 6 will be announced. Result: INCORRECT. They teased it for their 25th Anniversary Events last year but never announced it and makes no god damn sense to me why you would tease it and not announce it. Feel free to explain this to me if you want.
    6. Sonic Frontiers will be the first decent Sonic game in potentially a decade (hard maybe). Result: INCORRECT. Sorry but I can't bring myself to say in good conscience that this is correct due to the 'critic' scores for the game when Sega themselves said they wanted it to receive 'high scores' from reviews. (an article came out back in May 2022 that I can provide evidence for if you need it saying as much). 71 on Metacritic isn't a high score. I don't know what the other Sonic game scores are but at the end of the day 71 isn't good or high. Sorry it's just not. This is all subjective and opinionated though so if you think this is actually correct feel free to try to convince me otherwise but I'm unlikely to think differently when no one else will with anything anymore.
    7. WWE will go the way of WCW. Result: INCORRECT. Honestly I said this one out of frustration more than anything else. The exact literal opposite has happened now. Vince McMahon was forced to retire (THANK GOD) and Triple H regained power.

    Overall 3/7 43% accurate. Worse than expected but I'll be doing better for my 2023 Bold Predictions I assure you lol. Oh well I guess.

    In a couple of week I'll begin giving my awards for my Personal Anime of the Year (AOTY) and Game of the Year (GOTY) with 'Special Awards' for both categories.

    Oh and if you'd rather hear a bit more about this in-depth and want to actually hear me talk about this instead I actually recorded a video for this and put it up on my YouTube. It's 40 minutes though so if you don't want to sit through that then just read this instead I guess idk.

     
  2. DubAnimeLover Trophy Hunter

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    I took the time yesterday to gather up all the stuff from this year. The anime I watched and the video games I played. Here is said list.

    Anime:

    Assassination Classroom S2
    Made in Abyss S1, S2 & Movies (S2 ongoing)
    Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2
    Demon Slayer S2/Entertainment District Arc
    Tomodachi Game
    Spy x Family Part 1 & 2 (Part 2 ongoing)
    Odd Taxi
    Shadows House S2
    Platinum End
    Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan
    My Hero Academia S6 (ongoing)
    Chainsaw Man (ongoing)
    Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (ongoing)
    Godzilla Singular Point (ongoing)
    Pokemon Journeys (ongoing)
    Naruto Shippuden (ongoing)

    Video Games:

    Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch)
    Final Fantasy 7 Remake DLC Intergrade (PS5)
    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (& DLC) (Switch)
    Octopath Traveler (Switch)
    Chocobo GP (Switch)
    Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (Symphonia & Dawn of the New World) (PS3)
    Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4)
    Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)
    Fall Guys (Switch; ongoing)
    Tales of Graces f (PS3)
    Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS4)
    Tales of the Abyss (3DS)
    The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 (PS4)
    The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 (PS4; ongoing)

    See you all in a week or maybe two for the awards to begin
     
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    Mega/DAL's Anime of the Year 2022

    Special Awards

    As always first up is the special awards. Anime first. Just giving credit where I feel credit is due for certain animes that either deserve at least a mention or a special award for standing out in one way or another.

    Special Mentions for Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2, Demon Slayer S2/Entertainment District Arc and Spy x Family (moreso Part 2 than Part 1 but if you want to apply it to the anime overall that's fine)

    I guess I'm the type of person who doesn't like to give the same award to the same franchise multiple years in a row. When it comes to anime at least as video games are different. But the animes mentioned above for this are fantastic and at least deserve a brief mention.

    Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 was AMAZING as expected. Shit hit the fan really lol. Everyone was fighting with each other and then, all of a sudden, they're fighting together against what they thought was the 'true' evil (Eren) but he wasn't the true evil and it's so convoluted but I love it for that. They refuse to end this franchise as well with an upcoming Final Season: The Final (I wish I was joking about this title but I am not). I'm not sure how they'll do a 13-ish episode season for it but I guess we'll find out!! lol

    Demon Slayer S2/Entertainment District Arc was probably the best 'season' of this franchise thus far. Maybe not the best 'arc' (that probably still belongs to Infinity/Mugen Train arc) but it was still AMAZING and why you wouldn't want to cheer Tanjiro on is beyond me honestly. The amount of times he takes a Level in Badass is unreal at this point and this was just an overall fantastic season. It probably should have been in my final list but I watched too many great and unique animes but it's always possible future seasons end up in future lists.

    Spy x Family has pretty much grown on me at this point. Part 2 was a MASSIVE improvement from Part 1 and just had a lot more interesting content in it overall (and no it's not because of the doggo it was just more interesting overall). Besides how could you not consider Anya precious, must be protected at all costs, and must be ensured happiness for all eternity? I'm pretty much committed to it now even if I may still not overall 'get it' with why everyone claims it's so great. Just... be glad I'm not complaining about it as much as I was before lol

    Chainsaw Man wins Simuldub of the Year. Did you really expect anything else? I mean did you? Really? lol. I'll admit that anime for me wasn't strong this year but it got STACKED at the end of the year and that really did end up being a good thing. I get that everyone complains about english dubs and english voice castings but everyone complains about everything at this point and I prefer stuff english dubbed in general and the cast seems fine as far as I'm concerned. This anime is just SO GOD DAMN GOOD. It really is. I mean I'll admit it can get really 'cringy' at times but it's so cringy that it's hilarious so I always end up letting it slide. Obviously this anime isn't for everyone with it being pretty bloody and gory but that's practically normal for someone who got through stuff like Elfen Lied, Akame Ga Kill and other shows similar to that which would take me too long to mention. It's just AMAZING and it deserves something along with the next series which also deserved something. Do I recommend it? HELL YES. GO WATCH IT.

    Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Arc wins Best Ongoing Series. Without further ado here's the other series that deserved something. Again did you expect anything less? There's really only one way to describe this anime. There really is. HOLY. SHIT. This anime got SO GOD DAMN GOOD SO GOD DAMN FAST you blink and SHIT IS GOING DOWN. Probably the best season of Bleach of the entire franchise already. Believe it or not I get it, I really do, when it comes to the complaints about the main series of Bleach but you can't really debate how good this season is this fast. I look forward to watching every episode of this (and you can say the same for Chainsaw Man but still) and there was no way it wasn't going to win something lol. Do I recommend it? OF COURSE I DO.

    Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan wins Disappointment of the Year. Yeah this isn't something you want to win. You don't want to win an award for doing a bad job/being bad. But maybe that's just me. Where do I even start with this? I'm sorry, I really am, but this anime doesn't have a plot. It really doesn't. There pretty much is no plot. Not only that... it takes until episode 7 or 8 (or somewhere around there as I don't feel like looking up where it actually is) for a plot to even show up. Even when it does... it's not great. Which is putting it extremely lightly. Animes need to 'hook' the viewer within 3-5 episodes minimum for me. At least with ones that have the 13-26 episode range. There are some exceptions to this but they are mostly for longer shows (Black Clover) and once they become good they stay good and only get better. This didn't happen here. I wish that was all but there's still more. Some of the 'content' in this anime... is 'questionable' which again is putting it lightly. It has vore as a plot point. I wish I was joking I really do. I am not. WHAT? EXCUSE ME?! WHY?! and that's still not the end of it. They also have 'shipping' (romance between two characters particularly male and female characters) as a plot point as well. AGAIN WHAT? THAT'S JUST... I CAN'T...... WHAT?! Now I was informed by someone that it's not supposed to be taken seriously and it makes fun of the fact it isn't supposed to be taken seriously but how was I suppose to know that? Like seriously? How?! Would things have been different had I known this going into it? Sure maybe. Anything is possible obviously. But this anime is just bad. I'm sorry but it is. I heard a lot about it too. Sure mostly from only one Discord in particular (Funimation/Crunchyroll) but it just ended up being an overall disappointment and now seems overrated. Your experience might be different than mine. Obviously. Everyone's opinion is different. If you enjoy this anime... that's fine. Good for you. Just too much happened for me when I watched this anime that just... wasn't great. Again I'm putting it lightly but I'm trying to be as nice as I can be here. Do I recommend it? *sighs* If you want a yes or no answer... then the answer is unfortunately... No. I don't. But everyone's experience and opinion is different so do whatever you want.

    Tomodachi Game wins 'Gem' of the Year. What I mean by this is an anime or a video game that I had no expectations going into it... and once I finished watching/playing it... I was BLOWN AWAY by it and it just BLEW MY EXPECTATIONS AWAY. Yeah... this definitely describes this anime. This isn't the last you'll be seeing of this anime in a list either. But I felt it deserved a special award as well. This anime is basically Danganronpa except without all of the murder and it's FANTASTIC and again I looked forward to watching every episode. This anime is practically acting like ALL of the VN's I like too at this point because at the end of the first season it went from Danganronpa... to ACE ATTORNEY. I hope it gets a second season. Nothing has been announced yet but it could still happen technically. If it doesn't... I guess I'll have to wait for the manga to finish so I can read it (GOD I HATE HAVING TO DO THAT but that's a different topic for a different day). But this anime just BLEW ME AWAY and it really is great. Please at least give it a try before judging it. I think you won't regret it. Just me though obviously I guess. Do I recommend it? In case I didn't make it obvious already... I do. I really do. Please try it. It might blow your expectations away like it did for me.

    That's all for Special Awards. I made YouTube video where I talk about this so if you prefer that I'll edit it into this post once it's up. Anyway Special Awards for Video Games is next.

    EDIT: Here's the video if you prefer that instead

     
    #3 DubAnimeLover, Dec 12, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2022
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    Mega/DAL's Game of the Year 2022

    Special Awards

    Hello I'm back. This time with the Special Awards for the video games that I played this year. Just like last time... it's for games that stood out for me in one way or another or something that I just felt deserved some kind of special award. No special mentions this time. I liked all of the games I played this year with a couple of exceptions and we saw how that went last time lol

    So let's get started.

    Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time wins Hardest Game of the Year. This category and award returns again this year. This time... it goes to the most recent Crash Bandicoot game. Did you really think it would go to anything else? lol. No second thoughts here. Just like last time... this isn't meant in a bad way. I'll admit that the story in the Crash Bandicoot games are always 'meh' but they are still really fun games at times. The point of the series... is that they are EXTREMELY HARD AND YOU DIE A LOT. You have to pretty much do the level constantly until you memorize it to the point that you can do it without dying all that much (but still dying a lot). It can be... rage inducing but I feel like that's the point of the franchise too lol. I didn't find myself throwing my controller or anything though (not with this game at least). You just have to be a persistent bastard pretty much and refuse to stop until you win and that's what I did. Don't give up. Keep trying until you win. Even though I got everything in the games in the N. Sane Trilogy... everything in this one is WAY to hard for me and is borderline IMPOSSIBLE so I just chose not to care. It really helped at times honestly. I'd still say I enjoyed this game overall... it's just... way to god damn hard lol. Do I recommend it? Yes but just prepare for a really frustrating time lol

    Octopath Traveler wins Disappointment of the Year. Just like with anime... something was just an utter disappointment for video games. This... unfortunate I suppose honor goes to Octopath Traveler. Look if you enjoyed this game... that's great. I'm glad you did. I just didn't. The game was extremely boring. I'm sorry but it just was. It wasn't interesting in any way whatsoever. Not only that... it took until after either the Chapter 1 or Chapter 2 stories for the characters to interact with each other... and even that wasn't great. That's still not everything either. In order to do the 'absolute' True Final Boss... you have to do sidequests in order to do it. Um... what? Why? I mean I like sidequests as much as the next person and they can be really distracting and great at times (Xenoblade Chronicles franchise and Final Fantasy XV come to mind for me) but for a true final boss? I don't think so sorry. Besides... I wasn't motivated to do it. At all. I got the credits after doing one of the Chapter 5 bosses and when that happens... that means I've finished the game. I still did the rest of the Chapter 5 bosses but after that I stopped. Does that mean I dropped it? I don't know I suppose you could make that argument. But I won't. Because I had no motivation to keep going or to continue. So I didn't. The game just wasn't interesting at all. The art style wasn't the issue as I played the Live A Live demo and enjoyed the hell out of it. It's just nothing was interesting in the game at all. It does look like this is being fixed for the sequel though (which I am playing BTW because I feel obligated too). The characters are interacting more and faster and it appears as if each story connects with the other characters. Which is good. If they had done this with the first game... this situation probably wouldn't have happened. But they didn't. So due to the fact that I heard so much about it and it was just so great... it gets this unfortunate honor for being an utter disappointment for me. Do I recommend it? Oh goodie this again. Everyone's experience is different. Clearly. If that hasn't been made obvious by now it never will be. It's up to you in the end. But if you want a solid Yes or No answer for me... then my answer is going to unfortunately be No.

    Fall Guys wins Funnest (or Most Fun) Game of the Year. Now before you start getting all angry about this... I get it. I really do. Microtransactions are bad. Which they obviously are. You won't hear me defending them. They were bad in this game at first. But they fixed the issue. Imagine that. Issues being fixed. What a concept. Anyway it's pretty obvious to me when something is a microtransaction when it takes you to the eshop or makes you use a credit card but whatever I guess. Besides what did you expect them to do? They had to make money in some way after this game went F2P. I'm not trying to defend them... I'm just saying. Did I learn what they were from my time with Chocobo GP? Maybe but even with that I could easily tell. This game is just an extreme amount of fun. It really is. It's probably the best (and honestly only so far anyway) Battle Royale game I've played. It's basically a platforming battle royale and it's just so god damn fun. I enjoy playing it every time I play it. It's basically my current 'side game' so to speak. It can get frustrating and rage inducing at time with PEOPLE GRIEFING YOU SO MUCH but you just have to take the good with the bad. It's also annoying when you can't make it past Round 1 but I've just taught myself to not care and I really haven't raged with this game. Not sure why I can do this with this game and Chocobo GP but not with fighting games but that's not really the issue here. As far as my skill with this game... I'd say it's Average but I've surprised myself at times so it could be higher than that. There's lots of funny things that can happen in this game too like glitches, lags, fails, saves, shocking wins, etc. and it gets me to legitimately laugh. I really do enjoy playing this game. That's really all that matters in the end. Do I recommend it? Yes but don't feel obligated to play it as it is now a F2P game with microtransactions and I know those kinds of things rub some people the wrong way so do whatever you want obviously.

    Tales of Graces f wins 'Gem' of the Year. See? I try to make things even lol. Similar to the anime one... this is something I played that I didn't have a lot of expectations for and actually even heard the opposite about. But once I finished playing it... I was just BLOWN AWAY with just how GOD DAMN GOOD it actually ended up being. This describes this game to a tee pretty much lol. Now I was told the story in this game wasn't good and honestly... at first anyway... I didn't see. I loved the hell out of the story in the beginning. But I will admit... I did finally see what everyone was talking about. The story was just so god damn good in the first... ten hours or so. But after that... yes it plateaus and becomes repetitive where you pretty much just do the same thing again and again and again pretty much. But guess what? I literally don't care. Because what saved this game? THE GOD DAMN GAMEPLAY AND THE GOD DAMN BATTLE SYSTEM. GOOD GOD. I CAN'T PRAISE THIS GAMES GAMEPLAY AND BATTLE SYSTEM ENOUGH. It's probably the best, if not the best, Tales of battle system I've experienced in the franchise since Berseria. It's similar to Berseria too in a way. Where it's just pure CHAOS and I love it for that. So when the story wasn't great... the battling made up for it tenfold and kept me playing the game and just in love with the game and enjoying the hell out of the game overall. So I could care less on if the story was good or not (I'd say it's average overall) because the gameplay makes up for pretty much everything lol. Do I recommend it? YES. YES I DO. I don't care that it's stuck on an old 'out of date' console still (PS3/Wii). It's too damn good to let that hold it back. Now if you want to wait for another new port... that's fine. I don't blame you. I just don't know if that is something that will be done anytime soon. Or at all. Just saying.

    So that's it for Special Awards everyone. Whew. lol.

    Time for the final overall lists. Beginning with Anime of the Year. Sometime next week or this upcoming weekend. Who will take the top prize? Stay tuned!! lol

    Oh and here's the video version if you prefer that somehow

     
    #4 DubAnimeLover, Dec 15, 2022
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    Okay it's time. For final lists. Final four. However you want to put it.

    Anime of the Year 2022

    Overall Special Mention: Shadows House S2. In other words this is de-facto #4. This season was a MASSIVE improvement from the prior season. The series originally took around five episodes or so to get good. Although admittedly once it did it stayed good. But this season... was good pretty much instantly and stayed good and was just an overall MASSIVE improvement. The theme of this season was basically a mystery, 'whodunnit' or 'Whose the cultprit?' type of deal. It was great from start to end and the reveal of who the culprit was ended up being pretty great and quite the shock reveal as well. This franchise and anime is just so much better than TPN (The Promised Neverland) that it's honestly not even close for me. I'm sorry but it's just not. If you like TPN that's fine and I'm glad you do but for me it's bad at times and I haven't once felt Shadows House is bad at any moment. It deserved more than special awards so the final list is it's reward. Apparently there's only enough manga content for another season but a third season hasn't been confirmed yet so they might be giving it a break for more manga content to come out which is good honestly. We'll see what happens obviously but for now this anime was just too great and a MASSIVE improvement from the previous season IMO. Do I recommend it? Yes. Yes I do but make sure to watch the first season first obviously lol

    #3: Tomodachi Game. Not much to say here at this point as I've pretty much said everything at this point. It won a special award and I just felt like it deserved more than that and honestly... it really was the third best anime I watched this year. It blew my expectations for it out of the water and was far better than I was even expecting it to be and that says something on it's own. It's like the Danganronpa franchise except without all of the murder which can be argued that it makes it even better than that because of the annoyance of getting to know a character before they are gone for good through death. The first season ended in an Ace Attorney like way with a trial. It makes me think whoever created this was inspired by the VN's like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney lol but I'm sure I'm wrong here but it's just great and that's all that really matters. I don't know if it's already caught up to the manga but no second season has been announced so it's a little worrisome but if I have to read the manga... I will. It's too good not to. Same for Shadows House S2 really. I hate doing so but I'm willing to for good franchises such as these. But... third best anime of the year is pretty decent for it. Do I recommend it? As I said before... I do. At least give it a try.

    Anime of the Year Runner-Up (#2): Odd Taxi. Please don't accuse me of being a furry lol. Even though this show does involved a bunch of animals and a bunch of different kinds of animals. It's just so great it really is. I can't praise this anime enough. This was one anime that lived up to the expectations it had for it considering I also heard A LOT about this anime too. But it's fine because it lived up to said expectations and then some for me. This anime also has pretty much everything. Funny moments, serious moments, cute moments, shock moments, and so on. It seemed like a bunch of different stories but they all connect together through the series. The twist at the end of the anime... is like something out of a M. Night Shaymalan film. I don't mean that in a bad way either. Quite the opposite in fact. In a good way. You won't see it coming and it's just great. There's a movie that has some extra stuff in it which I will watch but only if it gets an english dub which I'm not sure of because it's just a recap movie unfortunately. We'll see. I don't know what the Crunchyroll free trial period is, and it's exclusive to that just so you know, but whatever it is if you can get through this anime in that time frame I definitely recommend doing so as it's just that good. Up to you at the end of the day. Not bad for this anime. Runner-up. Do I recommend it? I mean I kind of already made it obvious but I absolutely do.

    Mega/DAL's Anime of the Year 2022 (#1)

    [​IMG]

    (image from the third movie)

    Made in Abyss

    Yeah that's right. Winner of my personal anime of the year this year goes to Made in Abyss and for me... it absolutely deserves it. It was the standout out of everything for me this year. Yes it was more a 'slower' year for me for anime even though it picked up at the end of this year and became STACKED but still. Nothing really came close to this anime and for good reason. This anime is just so god damn AMAZING that I don't even know where to start. Yes the first season has a bit of a slow start but once it starts going it gets going, gets REALLY GOD DAMN GOOD and stays good throughout. WHOEVER SAID YOU NEED TO SIT DOWN FOR EPISODE 10 OF THE FIRST SEASON WAS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. GOOD. GOD. Even though I'll admit S2 has been 'slower' it has had it's moments as well. Bandrewd is probably the best villain in the franchise thus far and the best villain out of all the animes I've watched this year. It's not even close honestly. S2 doesn't seem to have a villain (except for one of the Three Sages maybe?) but this guy is such an asshole that when Reg has an UNBELIEVABLE BADASS MOMENT in the third movie that IT GETS YOU TO LEGITIMATELY CHEER HIM ON. It did for me at least. Reg had yet another badass moment in S2 is the episode that I just watched last night on Toonami. This anime and franchise is INCREDIBLY DARK for something that has children as the main characters. So just prepare yourself and your stomach in case you are queasy. I would recommend trying to stomach it though because it's just too good to let something like that stop you. It's not that gory but it does have some stomach wrenching moments honestly. The third movie is what cemented this in stone for me though as IT'S JUST SO GOD DAMN GOOD. It's up there with Demon Slayer Infinity Train in terms of best anime movie and that's saying something if you ask me. You don't have to watch the first two movies as they are just recap movies and can get away with just watching movie 3. But if you are OCD and completionist like me I do recommend watching all of the movies because they do have some new scenes and the ending scene in movie 2 leads up to movie 3. The characters in this franchise are just great as well. All of them really. Riko, Reg, Nanachi... ALL OF THEM lol. This anime and franchise is just too great it really is. It deserved something. But it was just too good. So I felt it deserved this. Does it? I don't know that's arguable I suppose but it was too good for me not to give it to this lol. I don't know how close the anime is to catching up to the light novel/manga/whatever it's based on but I do hope that everything gets covered in anime format eventually because it's too great not to be. Just fantastic and the standout for me for this year.

    Congratulations Made in Abyss. You deserve this. You really do. If you ask me anyway. Do I recommend it? Obvious lol... but yes I do. I really do. So good, so great, AMAZING, try it out and hopefully you won't be disappointed.

    That's it. Next time it'll be the finals for my personal game of the year. What will take the top prize here? Um... stay tuned? lol. The video version will be up tomorrow so I'll edit this post with the video version once it's up.

     
    #5 DubAnimeLover, Dec 18, 2022
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    Time for the final list. Well... other than some 2023 stuff I guess.

    Game of the Year 2022

    Overall Special Mention: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch). Like before this is just de-facto #4. Why is this game so low? Well it's not that I hated it. Because I didn't. Otherwise it wouldn't be on my list. It's just that nothing else I really played this year really 'stood out' enough for this other than this game. Which is both good and bad. Good for this particular game but bad because nothing else stood out enough. The game has an AMAZING world, soundtrack, characters and open world. This game can easily be anyone else's GOTY. Just not mine apparently lol. The main story just didn't 'click' with me and I honestly wish I knew why myself. For me I think it was just because the overall theme of the game is something I've seen far too many times to be able to count them all and reminded me a lot of Terminator. But I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just... well... it is what it is I guess. But there were definitely parts I enjoyed and the sidequests in this game (and really the franchise in general it seems like) are super distracting and great for getting over-leveled which I prefer over being under-leveled. There were some great story parts too don't get me wrong and some twists around the end of the game come out of nowhere and you don't expect them and that's great too. But it just didn't 'click' with me I guess. Not the case though for the 'extra' mode on the Switch version (the one that I played). Future Connected was AMAZING and it was just better than the main game for me. Again I wish I knew why. Maybe because it shows what happens in the world after the main story? I don't know what it was but I just thoroughly enjoyed it more than the main game. But it's still a fantastic game overall and could easily be someone's GOTY. Just not mine unfortunately lol. Do I recommend? I do. I really do. Everyone's experience and opinion is different clearly.

    #3: Tales of Graces f (PS3). I've said enough about this game really at this point. Go back and read what I said in the special awards about it. But this game was surprisingly FANTASTIC and had the best Tales of battle system and gameplay since Berseria where it was just pure CHAOS and I loved it for that. I will admit that everyone was right about the story though. It was good for me for about the first 10 hours or so before it 'plateaued' and just became the same thing going on and what you had to do again and again and again but the gameplay made up for it tenfold so it didn't really matter to me in the end. The PS3 version (again the one that I played) had another extra mode that happens after the main story which is also great. I don't care if it's stuck on an 'old out-of date' console it's too good to allow that to hold it back. So I won't and I didn't obviously. Do I recommend it? Of course I do it just may be hard to find unless you go through the painstaking process of buying it digitally from the PS3 PSN store. You can try to find a physical version if you want though as I managed to.

    Game of the Year Runner-Up (#2): Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch). I can't praise this GOD DAMN AMAZING game enough I really can't. I'll admit the 'gacha' blade system and some of the sidequests can be extremely annoying and bad to do... but just like with the first Xenoblade they are super distracting and great and if your OCD-ish like me you will put out the time to get what is needed in order to do them no matter how long it may take to do so. That's just how god damn good this game really is. The game does admittedly start off slow but once it gets going IT GETS GOING AND IT DOESN'T STOP. You will be put on quite the 'roller coaster' ride so to speak where the best part GOES NON STOP ALL THE WAY TO THE END and there's even ANOTHER BEST PART too. Characters are great again with even some shock reveals about them, world is great, story is AMAZING and it's just an overall OUTSTANDING experience. I looked forward to playing it every single time and I would even play it for too long and couldn't get myself to stop lol. That's just how good it really is. I get that the 'anime-like' part of the game, the characters, and even the design can put people off but it didn't for me that's for sure lol. Is it because I'm an anime watcher? I'm pretty sure the answer to that question is obviously yes but I do understand why it can be off-putting. I wish I was better at this but I'm just not unfortunately. The game is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and should not be missed if you ask me. Do I recommend it? Obvious already but YES I ABSOLUTELY DO.

    The funny thing is... the above was the favorite to win my personal GOTY for the majority of the year and was going to win it. Until... something happened. It was literally the meme where the winner came in and was like 'I'm about to destroy Xenoblade Chronicles 2's whole career' lol.

    Mega/DAL's Game of the Year 2022 (#1)

    [​IMG]

    Tales of the Abyss (3DS)

    I'm sorry but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I really couldn't. I couldn't, in good conscious, let this game that is obviously still stuck on 'old out-of-date' consoles (3DS and PS2) let that hold it back. I really couldn't. If you want to call me 'old-fashioned' or an 'old man' (yes I'm absolutely an old man even though I'm in my 30's your absolutely right) then that's fine. But there's no other way to put this. THIS GAME IS FUCKING AMAZING. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. FROM START TO FINISH. THERE IS NO LOW POINT OR LOW PERIOD IN THIS GOD DAMN AMAZING GAME. Look I get it... I really do... the main character of this game (Luke fon Fabre) is an UNBELIEVABLE ASSHOLE AND DOUCHEBAG at the start of the game. He really is. BUT YOU HAVE TO PUT UP WITH. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING YOU MAY CONSIDER DEAR PUT UP WITH IT. Because once you get to the mining town... OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD. HE LITERALLY BECOMES THE BEST TALES OF MAIN CHARACTER AND THE BEST TALES OF CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE GOD DAMN FRANCHISE. I'M NOT EVEN JOKING HERE. Because he is that to me now. My favorite Tales of MC and my favorite Tales of character in the franchise. That's not even all either. The story and world is AMAZING and OH MY GOD THE CHARACTERIZATION IN THIS GAME. The best characterization I've seen in the Tales of franchise and maybe even in JRPGs in general. EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. (or in the main party at least) IN THIS GAME GOES THROUGH AMAZING CHARACTERIZATION WITH A SHOCK REVEAL ABOUT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. I can't really praise this GOD DAMN game enough. I really can't. It's just too GOD DAMN GOOD to let it being stuck on old out-of-date consoles hold it back. It deserves this honor fully and completely. THIS IS THE BEST TALES OF GAME AND IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE. IT EVEN BEAT OUT BERSERIA IN MY TALES OF LIST. Bamco (Bandai Namco) is out of excuses at this point. They really are. Nintendo is pretty much shutting down the 3DS for good in March of next year. THEY NEED TO PORT THIS GAME. END OF STORY. But they might not. Or it'll be a VERY long time before they do. There's no excuse. But it is what it is I suppose. It took probably way too long... but finally a Tales of game wins my personal GOTY. Congratulations. Truly. After being runner-up or #3 or special mention or a special award winner it finally gets the top prize at long last. Truly a great achievement for this franchise. Do I recommend it? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY GO FIND A WAY TO OBTAIN IT AND PLAY IT ASAP.

    That's it everyone. Finally. lol. You should be celebrating that this is finally over again for another year. Next up... Most Anticipated for 2023 and my Bold Predictions for 2023 which will be spread out through the final week of the year. The video version will be updated in this post as per normal but it ended up being 45 minutes long after I finished recording it... so... pick your poison I guess? lol

     
    #6 DubAnimeLover, Dec 21, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2022
  7. DubAnimeLover Trophy Hunter

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    Almost done I promise lol. Maybe. No I am.

    We're done talking about this year though. Let's move on to next year. 2023.

    My most anticipated things for next year. What I'm looking forward to the most, what I'm the most hyped for, whatever you want to call it.

    Now don't get me wrong. I'm looking forward to more animes than I normally am for once. Demon Slayer S3, One Punch Man S3, the rest of Chainsaw Man, the rest of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Arc, Trails of Cold Steel Northern War, Digimon Adventure 2020 (assuming it finally begins to come out english dubbed of course), more My Hero Academia if more seasons are announced, Spy x Family S2 (because I'm committed and obligated at this point), Edens Zero S2, the Shaman King sequel anime, and Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest (assuming that even begins)

    But the anime I'm most looking forward to... is obviously the Nier Automata anime. https://myanimelist.net/anime/51105/NieR_Automata_Ver11a

    Nier Automata, if you recall, won my personal GOTY last year. So an anime based off of that... ALL OF MY YES. Now before you say it... I get it. I really do. Video games that get turned into animes... haven't turned out well. In fact, for the most part at least, the anime versions have been far inferior to the video game versions. The most obvious examples of this are the Danganronpa animes (the first one at least. Some stuff was changed and that sucks but I still feel like it did a good enough job of covering the first game and the other animes were great because it showed stuff and gave backstory to stuff that wasn't shown in the games) and The World Ends With You anime (which even I will admit was a massive disappointment overall. The game is far better. Go play that please. But I still enjoyed it for what it was and was appreciative of it overall). Now I still haven't gotten around to the Ace Attorney anime yet so I don't know if it's in this category too or not. It could be. But I've heard good things about it. However all of the english VA's were changed so either you will love or hate that and there are decent arguments on both sides. At the end of the day I'll watch it and judge it for myself. So am I paranoid this will happen to this one? Of course I am. But everything in the game is AMAZING so hopefully it'll translate well and be done well. We'll see obviously. Still looking forward to it though. I'll be waiting for an english dub though obviously.

    The same can be said for games/gaming. Which there are two categories for because there has to be due to my still way to large backlog lol.

    My most anticipated game... is obviously Final Fantasy XVI. Did you really expect it to be anything else? lol https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps5/300958-final-fantasy-xvi

    Now will I play it next year? Of course I won't. Because of my backlog. But that doesn't mean I still can't look forward to it. Everything I've seen for this game looks ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This could really and potentially be the best Final Fantasy game in years/a decade. The best one since FFX potentially. Your mileage may vary and opinions are always going to differ but I personally loved the FFXIII trilogy and FFXV. The ending is obviously shit in FFXV but I still enjoyed the journey I got put on. I didn't play the FF MMOs (XI and XIV) or FFXII (because the world is the same as the world from Tactics so it was a major put-off for me) but I've played most of the other ones for the most part. But this truly does look like the potential best FF game in years. Yoshi-P truly is our savior. ALL HAIL YOSHI P. :p

    Now what about a game that I actually, or really hope, to play within the year. This really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise either. Now last year I thought I would get to Persona 5 Strikers or Nier Replicant and I unfortunately didn't. Will I get to this one? Who knows. I'll be SO HAPPY if I do though. Time will tell. My most anticipated game that I will hopefully or actually play this year... is obviously and clearly NEO: The World Ends With You or what I refer to it as... The World Ends With You 2. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/switch/306703-neo-the-world-ends-with-you

    I mean... it's a game that I thought WAS NOTHING BUT A PIPE DREAM THAT BECAME REALITY. So OF COURSE I'm going to look forward to possibly finally getting around to playing it. Now will it win my personal GOTY next year? Well it depends on what else I play next year. If it's also the year I play Nier Replicant... then who knows. But you know me and TWEWY (anagram for The World Ends With You). I have my biases. Everyone does. So we'll see. Again time will tell. :p

    But obviously I'm looking forward to other games too. I'm still going to play the Trails games even though I struggle with them far more than I really should so I am looking forward to Trails into Reverie and Trails from Azure. They will just be played on Easy difficulties in all likelihood. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 if it comes out next year obviously), Octopath Traveler II (yes I'm looking forward to it believe it or not. I do hope it's better than the first game), Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe and so on. This looks like it might be a slower game buying year for me. But that's probably a good thing considering how bad my backlog still is lol. It's still possible more things are announced that will interest me and I'm sure they will. RainCode (Persona 5 and Danganronpa fusion-like game) still needs a release date and it's possible that Spyro 4 or the next Digimon Story game is announced. There's also stuff I will actually play like Persona 5 Strikers, Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2, Nier Replicant and Balan Wonderworld. That last one will be interesting for sure. In both bad ways and good ways. Mostly because of everything that I heard. I'm not saying I will like it, but I'm also not saying I will hate it. Like with everything else and other games that I've been told are 'shit' I will play and experience it for myself and judge it for myself. But I won't lie. There's a very real possibility it becomes the very first game I don't finish and fully drop. It'll be interesting to see what happens. To say the least. There's always possibilities of more stuff being announced that interest me and that I'm interested in no matter how tiny or minuscule they are. We'll see at the end of the day. But a slower game buying year for me is probably just going to be a positive for me all things considered. Because of my backlog.

    That's it. Next up... I make Bold Predictions for things I think will personally happen within the year of 2023.
     
    #7 DubAnimeLover, Dec 24, 2022
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  8. DubAnimeLover Trophy Hunter

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    It's time to end this once and for all. For the final time. For real this time. Just like last time... these are things that I personally think will happen in 2023. In other words they can happen at any time from January to December of next year. There are two categories and six of them in total. 1-3 are 'Thanks Captain Obvious' (things that I feel are pretty obvious) and 4-6 are 'Spicy' (things that are unlikely but I feel are still possible)

    So here you go. With a brief explanation of why I think the way I do afterwards.

    Mega's Bold Predictions for 2023

    1. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet DLC Will Be Announced & Released

    This one is pretty self-explanatory. It's practically already been 'leaked' as well. Sword and Shield had DLC. There's no reason to believe Scarlet & Violet won't. The question is... how many? Well that's the question isn't it? I'd say two at minimum but there could be more. Just because Sw/Sh had two doesn't mean that S/V will have two. It could have less (which wouldn't make sense considering current patterns and how they want generations to last at least three years) or it could have more (definitely possible consider the BS 'controversy' in order to get everyone to shut up but there's still nothing to make me think they will listen, do anything differently, and with still no incentive to change). In fact I wouldn't be surprised if there's more than two. But time will tell at the end of the day. Just don't expect Kalos because you are setting your expectations way too high. Yes I've seen the evidence as well and I'm not even saying it's impossible as I would love it to. Your just setting yourself up to be massively burned and shouldn't be expecting that much.

    2. Hollow Knight Silksong will FINALLY come out

    Also self-explanatory. This is your year Hollow Knight fans. I just feel it. So get your party items and celebrations ready. Because I think it's finally happening. Yes it could still get delayed again but I think it'll finally happen. Microsoft themselves stated at the June Xbox Showcase that everything shown there would be releasing within the next 12 months. This was one of them. Which means they have from now until June of next year for it to be released. Why would they say this if this wasn't happening and wasn't true? I mean yes they could still backtrack and announce it's delayed again but then there would be no reason to have it at the Showcase in the first place right? I think this is obvious and happening. Get your celebrations ready Hollow Knight fans. Time to finally come out of that depression you've been in for several years now.

    3. Star Wars will be confirmed for Kingdom Hearts IV

    This may not seem obvious... but I think it is. Whether I like it or not (which I don't honestly. I feel like it's to much jumping the shark) this is inevitable. I'm not even saying I'll hate it or that it won't be good. I'm sure they can make it fantastic and I hope they do. I just don't want it to be cringe. That's really all I'm asking at the end of the day. Especially considering the 'theme' of KH4 ('unreality and fiction' in other words possibly live action based IPs that Disney has either bought and now owns or still has). When will it happen? I don't know. May the 4th is a Star Wars meme day right? Why not then? With a shadow drop whether it's a trailer or an image? (trailer preferred but they will do whatever the hell they want obviously) But they pretty much have all year to confirm this and it's inevitable. I just hope it's not cringe.

    4. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will come out the same year as Final Fantasy XVI

    Time for the unlikely ones. But my question is... why did Crisis Core Reunion come out December of 2022 then? That's very strange to me. Could literally only be me (clearly anymore it seems like) but it's just very weird and strange to me they put it out then. If it wasn't coming out until 2023... then this wouldn't be on here because that would tell me it's coming out in 2024. But 'Next Winter' as listed from the FF7 25th Anniversary Event stream when Crisis Core Reunion and FF7 Rebirth was announced is extremely vague obviously. It can mean anywhere from December of 2023 to March of 2024. But with Crisis Core Reunion already out and out in December of 2022 I think FF7 Reunion will be out at the end of 2023. In December basically. Likely? No. Possible? I say yes

    5. Final Fantasy IX Remake will be announced

    No I'm not joking. The Nvidia leak. Literally everything else in that leaked list has been announced and revealed and confirmed real at this point. Most obvious examples of this are Dragon's Dogma 2, Kingdom Hearts IV, Tactics Ogre (Remaster but it still counts), etc. Some of these obviously don't have release dates. But they still count. The only thing from the list that's 'major' that still hasn't been announced or revealed yet, as far as I'm aware anyway, is Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered and Final Fantasy IX Remake. No of course I don't know when it'll happen. It could happen at any given moment throughout next year. That's why I'm giving myself a full year to be right about this and why it's in the 'Spicy' category. We'll see obviously. Likely? Obviously not. But I still think it's very possible and plausible considering everything else from the Nvidia leak has been confirmed to be real and announced/revealed as well.

    6. Cartoon Network and Toonami will DISAPPEAR ENTIRELY within the year

    As you can see... this is the 'controversial' one of the list. Like the Sonic Frontiers one was for 2022. Obviously. Clearly. I'm sorry but from what I can see the writing is on the wall at this point and there are too many signs that point to this happening within next year. I don't think I need to say this but clearly I do. I DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN. I CAN'T INSIST HOW MUCH I WANT TO BE WRONG ABOUT THIS. But the actions of Warner Bros. Discovery during the merger process, all the cancellations, all of the moves, all of the layoffs, everything they've done, everything they've said (especially about Western Animation in particular as a whole and as a medium) just points to this happening. We'll go to sleep one night after a long day, we'll wake up the next morning and POOF. It'll be gone. Just like that. No announcement. No statement. No nothing. Just gone. No longer exists. Will it happen that way? Of course not. I'm exaggerating obviously. I would certainly hope not at least. Because the shit storm would be worse than the Scarlet & Violet backlash. Or it better be at least. Cartoon Network hasn't had good cartoons in forever IMO. Did I just not give them a chance? Yeah maybe. You can think differently that's fine. The Toonami content though? It's gone downhill fast and the 'original' content have been abject failures. I'm sorry but they have. If you liked them that's great and I'm glad you did. But they've all been critical failures and critical bombs. Now whether you want to listen to critics or not is also up to you. Clearly that got me in trouble with Sonic Frontiers. But I'm just saying. Not a single 'original' thing Toonami put out interested me in the slightest in any way whatsoever. Just me again though clearly. Shenmue anime has already been confirmed canceled with no more seasons. The only thing intriguing to me was Uzumaki which still hasn't started yet and I have issues with it as well (mostly the black and white artstyle). So the writing is on the wall for them as far as I'm concerned. But like I said... we'll see what happens. I HOPE I'M WAY WRONG OKAY.

    That's all of them. That's it for this thread too. I'm finally done. You should be happy. I am too in a way lol.

    We'll see if any of these are right or not when I review them in a years time around the same time I did this year. See you again in 2023 where we'll probably do this shit again for 2023. Until then... Happy New Year!!

    Oh here's the video version if you'd rather listen to me talk about this instead.

     
    #8 DubAnimeLover, Dec 27, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2022

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