1. Gothic 3

The game that I think is better than Skyrim or any other RPG ever made. Gothic 3 made me realize how horribly linear and controlled RPGs are. How NPCs are set to flag certain events or how the game makes you feel like you’re in a game. Gothic 3? It doesn’t tolerate that shit. You’re in a world with a set number of people and a set number of events. It’s not as infinite as Skyrim, but it sure feels more real. You run into a cave and kill a bunch of bears. Guess what? That was a quest that you wouldn’t get until four hours later. Guess what? It still counts towards that quest because those bears don’t just randomly spawn in after you get the quest. They were always there and are not there anymore.

Also, need I mention that the story is better than most RPGs because it does not put you, the player, into any specific role. You are thrust into the middle of a conflict of humans and orcs. You can side with either group and help them towards their aims. You can not join both groups. Another reason the game is better than Skyrim. There are consequences to everything you do. Did you just hit up that orc village and slaughter all of them? Word travels friend and the orcs now know what you look like. Show up at another orc village and they’re going to kick your ass.

Need I also say that the music is simply amazing. It’s not as epic as Skyrim’s, but it’s oh so good and good to listen to beyond the main them unlike the Elder Scrolls games.

2. Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga

Do you want a funny game? Do you want a game that will challenge you? Do you want a game where you can turn into a motherfuckin’ dragon? Divinity II is the game for you then.

It’s your typical third person action RPG until it throws a curveball at you at about two hours in. The game becomes more and more amazing with a metric shit ton of side quests, all voice acted and most hilarious. What game has a boss where you can just utter his master’s name which causes him such frustration and anger that he just starts saying, “Shut up or I’ll… I’ll… I’ll kill you!” It’s absolute genius writing from beginning to end with a fantastic story that really sets the bar for fantasy RPGs to follow.

3. Torchlight
Do you like Diablo? I wouldn’t know since I have never played it. I hear it plays a lot like Torchlight and if it does, hot damn, it must be good. Torchlight is a good ol’ isometric top down RPG click-a-thon where the player loots everything for better equipment with a trusty dog companion. It truly is something amazing with a great art style and combat system.

It is the most different RPG here, but it’s nonetheless amazing.

While there are more games that offer great RPG experiences, I feel that these three games offer the true alternative to Skyrim by offering things that Skyrim can not offer. They are also better than Skyrim in their own special ways except for Gothic 3 which is just better than anything ever made. It is the pinnacle of technically broken RPGs. They give Bethesda a run for their money in terms of games being broken upon release. But seriously, play Gothic 3. It is the best game ever made. Just sayin…

I’ll be doing some aesthetic improvements on the site soon. I have applied a new theme as you can tell and I will be adding some new things to the site as well.

Also, I now have my own custom domain. You can now reach my blog at theallgamer.com. It’s easier than ever! Also, if anybody has any talent in image creation/editing, hit me up. I’m not the best when it comes to photoshop and GIMP. I would love to have a more professional looking blog than my usual thing. Please bear with me while I and hopefully others can improve these things!

Thanks,

Zach “TheAllGamer” Walton

I love being nostalgic for the good ol’ days. You may remember a time when consoles were all the rage and people were claiming the end of days for PC gaming. I loved those times because I was a console gamer. I felt like I was on top of the world and everybody was catering to me. Oh, how wrong I was.

Not content to be a one-trick pony as far as gaming coverage goes, I built a gaming PC last year. After a year with it, I wonder how anybody can be a hardcore gamer and ignore what PC gaming has to offer.

This isn’t about me and my infatuation with PC gaming though. This is about what people perceive as the death of PC gaming as we know it. The truth is that PC gaming never died, was never close to death and never will die. Of course, there are those who want to believe otherwise.
Razer, known for their PC gaming accessories, announced a new gaming laptop aimed squarely at those who want to play games at their max settings. They claimed this new laptop, the “Razer Blade”, would be the savior of PC gaming. There are other companies like Dell who offer gaming laptops, but the Razer Blade is unique in that they are like a Mac. They all have the same specs and will have support like a Mac or console does.

The cost of that convenience though is similar to Macs. The laptop will cost $2,800. The price can be justified for those who want all the hardware of a powerful gaming rig in the small shell of a laptop.

One does not have to shell out for these specialty systems though and people are already proving it. The statistics are even showing that PC hardware is in the lead compared to all other hardware. The PC Gaming Alliance, a group dedicated to the expansion of PC gaming, claims that PC gaming hardware sold twice as much as all other gaming devices combined in the same period in 2009. Those numbers are expected to rise even higher by 2014.

What this all means is that PC gaming is on the rise again. Sure, there was a moment when one could possibly say that PC gaming was hurting due to piracy and expensive costs of entry, but those complaints are largely moot now.

Steam is a key factor in all of this. Valve’s digital content delivery service serves smart DRM that isn’t intrusive and doesn’t treat customers like they are thieves.

One of the major reasons for piracy in the past was that games were not built with PC gamers in mind and the gamers in turn didn’t support those games with their dollars. Developers and publishers are becoming more mindful of the PC audience and making their games more in tune to their tastes instead of porting the console version over. PC gamers in turn buy the games which influence more developers and publishers to do the same.

PC gaming has changed over the years. It has seen a lot of ups and downs, but one thing remains consistent: it is full of life. Chances are you’re probably playing a game on a PC whether it’s “Battlefield: Bad Company 2“ or “The Sims 3.” That’s the beauty of PC gaming, it encapsulates all genres and play styles under one unified banner.

Ever since the first trailer to the new Devil May Cry game was revealed, fans called the new Dante out for being emo, even being an Edward Cullen-like character. You guys are open to your opinions, but make your opinions educated!

First, here is the new Dante. He has black hair, a messy outfit and just looking generally disheveled.

Here is a lovely emo couple. Besides both of their hair being black, there’s not much else emo about the new Dante. So why is it then that the new Dante is thrashed for being emo?

You know who the new Dante looks like?

Those who are  calling the new Dante emo are probably younger folks who have never heard of the Sex Pistols. This is Sid Vicious’ mugshot when he was arrested in NYC for being a punk rocker. Yes, back in the 70s, being a punk rocker would get you arrested.

The two images are very similar even down to the mugshot. It’s obvious that new Dante has been inspired by early punk. Even his jacket is similar to those worn by punk rockers in the 70s and 80s.

As for a history lesson, emo emerged from punk but instead of focusing on how much the government fucked them over, emo would focus on how much their loved ones fucked them over. Over the years, they have changed and evolved into many different things, but for some reason anything with black hair and a disheveled look is automatically emo.

I for one welcome the new Dante. Ninja Theory is making a game that is heavily inspired by early punk which guess what, Devil May Cry has always had a punk attitude even if Dante himself never looked punk.

Hey look, it’s old Dante! Oh wait, this is an actual emo! Don’t base your judgements on hair color, even Edward Cullen isn’t emo. He’s just a faggot.

Of course, the fans went ape shit and started demanding heads or claiming they would never buy a game from Capcom again.

I see the theory behind this and I am ok with it. Fans have a right to be disappointed and lash out. What I don’t understand is this backwards logic of not buying games from a company because the fans feel that the company owes them something.

First and foremost, Capcom has said numerous times that Mega Man Legends 3 was never greenlit. They were prototyping it to see if it would be good enough to sell. Of course, the announcement felt more like a regular game announcement and fans got lost in the hype. I understand their disappointment though. Capcom was treating it like a game that was on full steam ahead and ready for shipment. They even involved the fanbase to influence the development of the title. All these things were pointing to a return to a cult classic.

Capcom has their reasons for canceling games though. I was disappointed when they canceled Mega Man Universe. It had the most potential of any Mega Man game in recent memory. A game centered around the blue bomber’s career and his exploits with user designed levels. A game with such lofty heights needs a large budget and an even larger team, more so than what a downloadable game could afford. I understand why they canned it and I don’t begrudge them for that.

I’m sure they had their reasons for canceling Legends 3. As has been previously stated, the series never has performed that well. As far as the series goes, it’s one of the most underperforming of Capcom’s franchises. Unfortunate, but it is the truth. The money that went into the title far outweighed the potential return in Capcom’s eyes.

The main point of all this though is that it is alright to be mad at Capcom. I still don’t see the hate behind the new DmC and the new Dante because I really like it. I think it’s a grand experiment. Fans are unhappy with the change and refusing to buy it hoping that it will be a wake up call to Capcom to make old Devil May Cry games. Unfortunately, if the new DmC does not do well, then the franchise will probably be canned altogether. The same goes for Mega Man. I’m sure Capcom will make more Mega Man games, and refusing to buy them is not going to convince Capcom that going down a far less lucrative route is the answer. That’s not how it works.

So fans, please be angry. Share your concerns with Capcom, but don’t be so stupid to damn yourselves and your favorite franchises by refusing to buy games. In fact, buy the games, but tell Capcom what they can improve upon in the future. Refusing to buy games does not help anyone, but instead hurts everyone especially the fans.

Of course, such a move does have its questions. How is EA going to handle Popcap’s style of putting out games very slowly first on PC and then consoles later. It’s obvious that EA focuses more on the console market whereas PopCap has always been a PC first developer. Is this going to change? Probably not. EA has been very good lately at letting their acquired developers work at their own pace at the level they have been working at before. Of course, some may point to EA’s mishandling of BioWare and its franchises after the debacle that was Dragon Age 2.

PopCap isn’t BioWare, nor are they trying to be. I think that PopCap is going to do just fine under their new overlords. PopCap is insanely popular with what they do. They wouldn’t still be doing well for themselves or being bought out by EA if they weren’t. So Peggle and Bejeweled fans, worry not! The acquisition only means good things for PopCap. They will be able to provide more games at a faster speed now with the resources that EA is pushing behind it.

A move like this is also beneficial to EA. They have the most varied portfolio of titles out of any third-party publisher right now. Even though Activision is now at the number one spot, their portfolio is woefully singular in scope. EA used to be top dog with their singular scope in regards to titles, but they began to experiment and take risks. They have lost a bit of money due to this, but have regained a mountain of respect back from their fans. In a day that has rumors of bad work conditions imposed by Rockstar and Activision sticking to its guns, it’s nice to see a publisher expand its portfolio and take risks.

PopCap fits into that risk taking category as well and they are profitable from it! They took a risk on Plants vs. Zombies and came out with several awards from even the most grizzled of hardcore game critics. They released Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition, a first for a casual title. PopCap is no stranger to new ideas and they make them work. EA has a similar philosophy now with their own studios developing new concepts like Dead Space. They also have their EA Partners label that brought us titles like Brutal Legend and Shadows of the Damned. While they may not always be the biggest blockbusters, EA ensures they ship to those gamers who want these titles. That’s more than what most other major third-party publishers these days who only care about their bottom line and cancel projects that are not meeting expectations.

So while some may be skeptical of the acquisition, I think both PopCap and EA have a bright future ahead of them. PopCap will continue to innovate casual gaming and EA will continue to innovate in third-party publishing.

Divinity II is an action-RPG from Larian Studios. It’s a fantasy romp through the world of Rivellon, a land ravaged by a war between the dragon knights and the dragon slayers. Why would somebody want to kill the awesome dragons? Well, some dick decided to blame the death of their god on the dragons when it was really the Damned One’s fault. He’s kind of like Voldemort, you don’t say his name except you can and people don’t fall off their chair like you just said “cuntbungler.”

Anyway, now that we have a solid set-up for the world of Rivellon; let’s get into the meat of the game: the gameplay itself. It’s your typical action RPG that requires a continuous stream of mouse clicks to destroy your enemies with various swords, staves, knives and other magical shit.

The player levels up like in any RPG with the gain of experience. The player will then gain four stat points to put into five stats that will increase the player’s HP, MP, strength, dexterity and spirit. These are super important near the beginning, but as soon as I found armor sets and began to enchant/charm my armor/weapons the game became pretty easy. Some may be turned off by the relative easy difficulty but Larian did put in a Nightmare difficulty for you crazy bastards. I much prefer being a badass and killing everything in my wake. Why? Because I’m a dragon and I’m going to eat you!

About the dragon, at about the half-way point through the game the player gains the ability to transform into a dragon. This is awesome! Why is it awesome? Because you’re a goddamn dragon! If you can’t tell already, the number one reason I love this game is because I get to be a dragon. I love dragons with an unholy passion and Divinity II fulfills my lifelong dream.

In terms of the other aspects of gameplay, the player will have to accept various quests from the various inhabitants of Rivellon. This is where the game truly shines. The main quest is your usual fantasy fare albeit a very good one. The side quests are where it’s at though! For a few examples: one quest had me finding a chicken after a dark mage had soul linked a poor farmer with a chicken. If the chicken dies, he dies and vice versa. My solution was this: “Hey, I found the chicken! I think I killed it though! Are you alri…. oh.. my bad.” Another good one was an encounter with a thug who demanded your money or your life. You can enter into an advanced discussion about the philosophy behind money and life. This continues on until the thug just yells while hitting his head, “My head hurt. You shut up and die now!” Before I lose myself in retelling these wonderful side quests and there are many, there is one main quest that is of utmost importance. One of the major villains has a grudge against the god-like mage Maxos. During every conservation with him, you can just say the name “Maxos” as a dialog option and he gets so pissed off at you. It’s the funniest running gag in any game I have ever played.

Speaking of the dialog (see what I did there), the player is allowed to be either serious or just a jack-ass. My style of play tends to veer towards the latter but most RPGs prevent the player from being a jack-ass all the time because it doesn’t fit well with the story. The writers at Larian Studios are geniuses for writing the entire story around these jack-ass conversation responses. It’s by far one of the funniest games I have played in recent years while keeping the overarching story serious enough that it does not lose any of its drama. Before I move on, I should mention that the story did surprise me at one point so it gets points for throwing a curveball at the player.

Of course skills are the most important thing in any RPG and Divinity II has your back. The skills are split between mage, ranger, fighter and dragon knight. They range from the mundane to the absolutely necessary. I played a fighter with a bit of dabbling in the other class skills. That’s where Divinity II is truly fun. It does not keep the player tied to any one class. The player can mix and match their skills however they want to play. You want to play as a bad ass summoning mage who summons multiple creatures while using bad-ass finishing melee moves? You totally can! Do you want to play a ranger who uses the magic of fear while summoning your woodland friends to chase down those running away with their britches wet with piss? You totally can! It’s open and free as long as you have the skill points. While you may think you might not have that many skill points to invest a lot into this system. Worry not, alongside the one skill point gained per level, there are also skill books that add skill points to your character. It’s a fantastic system that is by far my favorite of any recent RPG.

Unfortunately my computer could not handle the game running at very high settings all the time as the open worlds made it slow to a crawl. I could turn it to very high in towns or caves though and the game looks fabulous. While it may not be the most gorgeous game out there, it won me over with its fantastic visual design and beautiful vistas. The waterfalls are especially stunning. Of course, I’m a sucker for water in games so I’m going to gush over water all the time.

The music is especially wonderful and it’s written to fit every scene perfectly. The score by Kirill Pokrovsky adds another layer of immersion to the world of Rivellon. The Broken Valley theme sounds like a peaceful village awakening to dawn’s first light while the battle music of the floating war fortresses of the Damned One evokes a sense of awe and fear.

There are a few annoyances that I will detail in the next paragraph. They are minor annoyances that only really annoy me and may not annoy any other players. Please do not let this sway your opinion about the game.

Why is every enemy in the game a goddamn ranger? Rangers are the most overpowered class in the entire game with stun and poison arrows. Why do their arrows have apparent heat seeking capabilities!!?? I’m jumping to do a powerful jump attack that would obliterate an entire militia and I’m brought to a complete stop by a fucking arrow! While on that same subject, why is the only spell that mages know fear??!! All it does is make you turn around and run until the spell wears off. This normally isn’t a problem unless you’re on a floating fortress in the fucking sky! You know how far off the ground they are??!! You won’t find out because you will be fucking dead before you hit the ground!

Beyond that, the only real actual gameplay annoyances is when the character is dual wielding swords. When I attempted an attack while running forward, the character would leap all by herself and usually miss the first strike. I would eventually kill the puny enemy, but it was annoying nonetheless.

All in all, Divinity II is a fantastic role playing game worth any player’s time. It’s a fantastic adventure with the funniest script I have seen in a long time. There’s plenty to explore and things to see. Just a friendly tip: talk to everybody. Everybody has a story and the writing for every character, no matter how small, is fantastic.

Divinity II comes highly recommended from me for any fans of action RPGs, RPGs or fantasy games in general. It may seem somewhat cliche at first with how it starts, but once I started doing quests and meeting all those fabulous characters I could not stop playing.

In “The Graveyard” the player is invited to join an old woman as she travels up the short path to a bench at the back of the mausoleum. There is no goal, there is no challenge. The player is simply tasked to walk with the old woman to the bench and sit down. Of course, the player can get up at any time they want and walk back out of the cemetery. This effectively ends the game and the story of the nameless old woman.

The player can, however, sit down and listen to a song. The song is a commentary on death and all its wonder and mystery. It’s a fabulous song and it fits the game very well.

Of course, “The Graveyard” is a Tale of Tales game. It’s the game for the artsy-fartsy gamer out there. It’s not as complex in its message as their other game “The Path” or as fanciful as “Fatale.” It is however a simple idea expressed in the form of a video game. Do you ever know when you’re going to die? There’s a fifty percent chance that the old woman will die as she sits on the bench. Is it your fault? Hardly, it was just her time to go. Of course, you can start up a new game and try again. You can leave the graveyard before she dies and ensure she lives at least a few more hours, days or years. Of course, as soon as she died, I stopped. I felt it was a fitting end to such a short, beautiful game.

We as gamers see death everyday in our games. We actively take part in the unwarranted murder of countless beings, whether they be humans, aliens or monsters. We feel like we’re vindicated in our actions because the game does not really punish us, but in fact rewards most killing. “The Graveyard” combats the notion that death in games is just the mad dreams of a snuff film producer.

I guess the most telling message for me while playing “The Graveyard” was a feeling of peace. There were no explosions, no limbs flying in every direction. There was just a simple slump and the dropping of a cane.

I can not more heartily recommend “The Graveyard.” All people should take the ten minutes to play “The Graveyard.” It’s a free download with a catch. In the free download, the woman can not die. Spend the $5 to buy this game and see how it should truly end. Death, just like time, waits for no man.

Like last time, vocal tracks can really add something to a game. The ten previous examples really made the game better. They may not have been the best of songs but when taken into context, they are simply amazing. This list, however, deals with the duds that tried so very hard, but failed to convince the player that the song was worth being in the game. So let’s get started, shall we?

Shall Never Surrender – Devil May Cry 4

Some fans of the series may disagree with me, but Devil May Cry 4 was just ok. It was a fun game, but it felt like Devil May Cr 3, just worse. Granted, the addition of Nero and his Devil Bringer (aka hookshot) really changed up the formula, but Dante’s sections were the exact same areas that Nero just fought in. This isn’t about game design though. This is about the song choice. Devil May Cry 3 had a hit with the song “Devil’s Never Cry”, a darkwave gothic techno hit that really resonated with the game and attracted new players based on the song alone. Capcom hired the same artist to try and replicate that same success with “Never Surrender for “Devil May Cry 4. What we got was not only a worse song, it just felt weird the entire way through. It begins with the usual darkwave vibe but then goes into an organ accompanied recitation in church. I know it’s trying to fit with the story’s main antagonist being the church, but it just fails to impress.

Real Emotion – Final Fantasy X-2

Oh man, the fangirls(and boys) are going to hate me for this. Let’s go over what’s wrong with this song, shall we? First, it’s Yuna, the quiet reserved priestess from FFX becoming a pop-star, and I don’t mean one of those nice pop stars like Katy Perry. I mean one of the slutty pop stars like Christina Aguilera. Second, the song itself sounds like a rejected idea from a bastard union between Celine Dion and Shania Twain. I was going to think of a third bad thing about it, but just thinking about the song gives me a damn headache. Just take a listen for yourself. The overlying theme of the song is, “What can I do for you?” I would really like Yuna to just the shut the fuck up.

I am the Wind  – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Speaking of Celine Dion, this one sounds just like her. The actual music sounds like a bad porno and the lyrics are even worse. It’s like the song is trying to paint some kind of romance in Symphony of the Night. Well, I did a quick search on the internet and the only romance that people seem to see is Richter putting his Vampire Killer up Alucard’s Jewel of Open if you know what I mean. To further cement how bad this song is, Konami released a patch for the XBLA version of Symphony of the Night that’s only purpose was to remove the song.* One last mindfuck is that the artist who sang this song, Cynthia Harrel, went on to sing Snake Eater for Metal Gear Solid 3.

Cole Train Rap – Gears of War

I’m not gonna lie. I love this song! It’s a great song because it’s so stupid. Stupid fun in songs doesn’t save it from this list though. While some may argue that the over the top profanity and fuck yeah manly times of the game fits well with the song; I will argue that the song doesn’t fit at all. The entire soundtrack was a brooding horror-themed score when the end credits just threw this song out of nowhere! It’s a fun listen and still a fan favorite, it just fails to do any favors for the game.

DK Rap – Donkey Kong 64

You all knew this one would show up. While Cole Train’s rap is fun in a stereotypical kind of way, the DK rap is just rotten to the core. It feels like the song came from the early 90s when we had little suburban white kids hip-hopping to rap. While this might have been true in the late 80s/early 90s including the delightful Zelda rap; it doesn’t apply to a game that came out in the late 90s when all the little kids were into punk rock and pop. It seems like an executive at Nintendo thought that rap was still the “in” thing and wanted to appeal to the youthful demographic at the time. All it did was piss off everybody and create the number one song to troll friends with. Of course, I think Nintendo was in on the joke by then when they included the song as a track in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Eternity – Blue Dragon

Before we start this, let’s just say that I have a personal vendetta against this song for no apparent reason. Anyway, “Eternity” is a song created by Ian Gillian for the Xbox 360 JRPG “Blue Dragon.” I love “Blue Dragon,” it is still one of my favorites of the current generation of consoles. I even thought the song was pretty cool for a while, but then I realized that boss fights happen every 20 minutes in “Blue Dragon.” This meant I had to hear this song every 20 minutes. It eventually got to me and I broke causing me to hate this song for all eternity. (See what I did there?) It’s a similar concept to when the radio overplays a song causing you to hate it. It’s not a bad song and really does fit with the game, but man, I hate it so much. The only boss fight in the game not to use this song is the final boss fight and thankfully that song is kick-ass. It wasn’t kick-ass enough to wash my brain of this horrid tune though.

Once again, I’m sorry I couldn’t think of ten horribly bad songs. Games apparently have really good music overall. That makes me happy because the same can’t be said of movies or television series. If you lovely readers can think of any other terrible songs though, hit me up in the comments. I’ll update as I please.

*I know Konami removed “I am the Wind” from the XBLA version of Symphony of the Night for licensing issues. I just like to pretend that they removed it because it was such a terrible song.

Sloprano – Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Why is this song so great? Most people should know why already. A giant mound of shit sings with the capabilities of an opera star. It’s super from beginning to finish. Of course, with a start like this it makes one wonder what insidious and scatological turns this list may take!

King of King’s – We Love Katamari

This song is deceiving. It starts out like any other big  symphonic anthem with rousing winds and brass to make any game music aficionado swoon. Then comes “summer dress” and it turns into a weird hybrid of Monty Python musical and weird Japanese engrish. I won’t ruin it all for you but this is one of my favorite songs ever. So much so in fact that I set it as the custom BGM in every level I played in We Love Katamari. It’s just that good!

Burn My Dread ~Last Battle~ – Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

This song is new to my repertoire of favorite game music, but it doesn’t make it any less fantastic. A great arrange of the already fantastic main theme from Persona 3. Take a listen for yourself and you’ll see why everybody says such good things about the Shin Megami Tensei games’ music even if this style is only really seen in the Persona series.

Hometown – Silent Hill 3

This haunting tune plays during the end credits of Silent Hill 3. Beginning with the opening song from the first Silent Hill, it then goes into a song about Harry Mason’s experience in Silent Hill. It’s a callback to the first game that started the events which culminated in the admittedly fucked up ending to Silent Hill 3. Amazingly appropriate and just an all around good song.

Melodies of Life – Final Fantasy IX

I’m going to  get some shit for this so here goes. The opera from FFVI, One Winged Angel and Eyes on Me are all good songs, but they don’t hold a candle to Melodies of Life. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best song to ever grace the Final Fantasy franchise. I use grace because it’s a miracle a song this beautiful exists in a franchise that is now known for Leona Lewis’ “My Hands.” Ugghhhh…

Phillistine – No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Only the mind of Goichi Suda could cook up a character like Margaret Moonlight, a goth loli inspired reaper (shinigami for my weeaboo friends) who wields a scythe that transforms into dual-pistols. Alongside her boss fight being one of the most memorable, the song itself is just fantastic. The entire song is just a rip on otaku with their over fascination on the clothing trends unique to such characters without really seeing the woman underneath. Also, she makes fun of otaku for not being able to act normally around women wearing thigh-high stockings. I have to agree, I am a goddamn pussy for turning into putty around that. Her words, not mine.

Song of the Ancients – NieR

Before I start on this entry let me just say this, “SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!” Not only did you not buy NieR, you incessantly made fun of it until Square was convinced that all we want is games featuring Nomura designed pretty boys with enough zippers and belts that would make a dominatrix blush. NieR is the most original game that Square has made since their merger with Enix and that’s saying something! It also has by far one of the best soundtracks ever composed. This song can be heard in the first area of the game and I would love to just let the game idle while I listened to the marvelous yet haunting tune.

You are Dead (Game Over) – Total Distortion

A classic adventure game where the players fought a robot guitar warrior. If you lost the fight, this song would play. I know some people who absolutely hate this song and it does tend to get on the nerves at times, but it’s an entire song written for a game over screen! If that doesn’t amaze and inspire you, you are dead to me!

Karma – Tales of the Abyss

I know people like many other of the tracks in the Tales series for their opening sequences, but most of those weren’t written for the game in question. Bump of Chicken wrote Karma just for the game, while frontman Motoo Fujiwara composed numerous tracks for the game. It’s my personal favorite and it has remained after all these years. “Ring a Bell” is a close second though!

Akuda House Propaganda – Beyond Good and Evil

French rap, nuff said. All kidding aside, this song has had me hooked since I heard back in 2003 in critical darling Beyond Good and Evil. If you haven’t played it yet, pick it up the HD remake on the PSN or XBLA today!

That’s a (w)rap! Tell me your favorites in the comments and I will decide if they’re worthy of my attention. I will be posting the top ten worst vocal tracks in games tomorrow. Look forward to it! It will be sure to haunt you for Eternity!