Canon advertizing post

[press_start_mod]

Welcome to the Fandom Promo post, everyone!

Your game is the best game ever, and yet so few people have heard of it? Here's the post where you can tell everyone all about why they should play your game in particular. We have over ten days until signups close, which is more than enough time to play a game!

(Or several, if you don't sleep. Sleep is for those without gaming backlogs.)

Suggested form to use:

FANDOM NAME:
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT:
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?(optional):

Comments

[rubylily]

I've got three games to recommend!

FANDOM NAME: SaGa Frontier
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: This turn-based RPG is a little like Octopath Traveler in that you can choose from seven protagonists and follow their plotline. It is fairly unrefined and obviously unfinished at parts, but even when the game gives you no guidance on where to go next, the battle system is a lot of fun with sparking new techniques and combos, and the various Regions are unique and fun to explore.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: It was originally released on the PS1, and right now emulation's your best bet if you want to play it. Used copies can be expensive and hard to find, and the English version has yet to see a digital re-release.

FANDOM NAME: Eternal Sonata (Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume)
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Do you like classical music? Have you ever wondered what Frédéric Chopin would be like as a video game character? Well, this turn-based action RPG takes place in a world created by Chopin's dying dream, and Chopin himself is one of the main characters! The graphics are gorgeous and the gameplay a lot of fun, and the plot gets weird by the end, as befitting a man's dying dream. If you like age gap relationships, while it's not canon, the protagonist Polka and Chopin have a lot of ship tease between them, and it's a very sweet relationship overall.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: It was originally released for the XBox 360, and an updated version was released for the PS3, and that version also expands on the plot. Copies for either system are readily available.

FANDOM NAME: Nights of Azure (Yoru no Nai Kuni)
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Two words: canon yuri. This is a series of two action RPGs that focus on half-demon women trying to protect the woman they love. The first game is more focused on the romantic relationship between Arnice and Lilysse, while the second game has a stronger cast of supporting characters. The double time limit in the second game can be rather unforgiving at first, but on a new game+ you have infinite in-game days to complete each chapter without fear of a game over. The character designs and graphics in both games are gorgeous, and even if you're like me and not very good at action games, the battle systems are pretty easy to get the hang of. The first game as a True Ending that ends happily for the main couple, while the True Ending of the second game is far more bittersweet.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: The first game is available for the PS4 while the second game is available for both the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and copies aren't too hard to come by for either. Both games are also available digitally on the PSN Store and Steam.

[fireeye]

FANDOM NAME: Ultima
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: You play The Avatar TM, an Earthly (as in, fallen into another world from the planet Earth, circa 1980-something) seeker and incarnation of the Eight Virtues, on quest after quest to save the realm of Britannia from various threats. Your cast of friends usually includes Paladin Pal Dupre and Bardic Buddy Iolo, along with Shamino the Ranger, although each game has a roster of NPCs you can recruit to your team, most of them based on game creator Lord British (aka Shamino) and his RL friends. The stories hit up a variety of not-as-black-and-white-as-thou-think philosophical quandaries, within sandbox RPG worlds where you can wander off and bake bread if you prefer. The last plot arc, starting with Ultima VII, involves fighting a giant muppet being of great cosmic evil from destroying the multiple realms - and you can jump right into that one.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Ultima IV and both Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire and Martian Dreams are free on GoG. Martian Dreams is one of my favorites: Rescue a bunch of Historic Personalities on Steampunk Mars! The rest of the series is there, too, for a nominal price. I recommend V, VI, and both parts of VII most.


FANDOM NAME: Saints Row
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: ...bear with me here, but the first game (an XBox Exclusive, sadly) starts as a down-to-earth if satirical sandbox game where you join a street gang, the Saints, after their leader saves your life... and through a variety of twists and turns, by the fourth game you wind up the President of the United States fighting aliens in a virtual world imbued with super-powers. Really. Featuring a powerful Character Creator, an awesome cast of NPCs (all of whom in IV have non-exclusive romance easter eggs if you like that kind of thing), an oddly dark and desperate at times story, along with a fuckton of humor that's often as intelligent as it is irreverent. And the phallic baseball bat weapon, which you've undoubtedly already heard of if you've ever heard of Saints Row before. 8)
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: I think you can download for XBox One and PS4. There are also disc copies. Steam and GOG both have it. SR2 is considered a notoriously bad port on PC, but there's a fan patch that rebalances everything; and personally, I've found it fine if you play with a controller. You can jump right into IV, which loses some of the buildup going from the beginning, but it does make an effort to bring you up to speed and has some really fun gameplay.


FANDOM NAME: Moon Hunters
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: About an hour long per play, randomly generated Mesopotamian-themed RPG-lite. Pick your hero, pick your hometown, then try to unravel the mystery of the missing Moon Goddess. Lots of little choices and flavor text, and every play your hero is immortalized and personality summed up as a constellation based on in-game choices. Made to be played over and over to unlock new little details and story bits.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: GOG or Steam.


FANDOM NAME: Lost Odyssey
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: You play an immortal man named Kaim on his quest to unravel his thousand years of missing memories, and why he can't die. Kaim, along with a handful of others, end up the world's only hope against an influx of increasingly destructive magic weapons and the political machinations behind them. Story heavy with turn-based combat, in the spirit of Final Fantasy.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT? It's an XBox 360 game if you like discs, and is also XBox downloadable now, if I'm not mistaken.


FANDOM NAME: Trials of Mana aka Seiken Densetsu 3
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Choose three out of six characters per game, with the narrative changing based on who you do choose and the characters you didn't choose showing up along the way in different capacities. High replay value for at least the three major end-game campaigns (one for each pair of warring nations as represented by the six heroes), and a lot of little character moments. The combat system can lag a little until you get used to it, but it's a solid action RPG with a fun world-saving romp of a story.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT? Trials of Mana was officially released in English for the Switch last month as part of The Mana Collection. So happy! :D


FANDOM NAME: Legend of Mana
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Pokeihl. Just... Pokiehl. An ambitious melding of sandbox style systems and Japanese action RPG conventions, Legend of Mana comes off as more experimental than most titles. You either love it or hate it. Featuring a blank slate character, a robust crafting system, three major story arcs, a plethora of mini story arcs, beautiful watercolor scenery, a colorful cast of characters... oh - and a lot of worldbuilding. Literal worldbuilding, as your character rebuilds the world using artifacts. Somehow.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT? It's available for download in the PSN.

[crantz]

FANDOM NAME: City of Heroes
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: This was, in my opinion, one of the best MMOs ever. It was heavily story based and had room for sci-fi and fantasy and humour and darkness and you could customize your character to any concept you wanted because costume = / = abilities/armour.

And like I said, it was story-based! You'd play out storylines and get a souvenir that told you the story of it after. You'd find out the dark secret of the Crey Corporation (they had many), you'd find out why there's a secret Arachnos base under Faultline Dam, and the badges!

The badges were amazing! Dark Astoria had several short horror stories just from the exploration badges you could find in there!
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Two places. One is https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page , a wiki that contains every bit of text from the game. And the other is... well, there's servers out there now where you can play it again. Look for Homecoming.

FANDOM NAME: World of Warcraft
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: This game is ridiculous. I can kill a god, save a kingdom, or fly around on a giant parrot and poop on pirates (quest: Swab This!). And it all takes place in space. Humans are Old God corrupted rock men who were turned to flesh and then had a bunch of weird small (human) babies. Orcs are from another planet. Demons are from another galaxy. There's zombies everywhere.

And people can turn into cats.

And there is *so much* lore. Oh my god, there is so much lore. It took me three months to find out elves evolved from Trolls, there was so much go to through. It's wonderful! It always feels like there's some new discovery to make.

And the ghost stories! People who've seen me in other exchanges know I love a good ghost story. I nominated one of my favourite ones, Abby Lewis, for this. But also there's Tehd and Marius (of their excellent adventure), Jaina and Talanji, Khadgar... There's so much going on with those last three!
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: You can play it for free up to level twenty from Blizzard, after that you need to pay a subscription, and the wiki for the game is very comprehensive https://wow.gamepedia.com/Wowpedia, as well as Wowhead.com

FANDOM NAME: Overwatch
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Overwatch is a first person shooter multiplayer game set in the future after a war with robots called the Omnics. Overwatch was once a team that the whole world looked up to, until scandals brought them down. Now they're being reassembled but there's lots of free agents and... well, Talon is a thing.

I particularly like the characters of Lucio, Reinhardt, and Doomfist!

Lucio: He's a techno bard! They put a bard in the game! He's actually a revolutionary from Rio de Janiero. See, Vishkar had come to Rio and was destroying the lives and homes of the poorer segment of the population so Lucio stole the sonic tech his father had invented for Vishkar and forced them out of Rio. He's bright, cheerful, and skates to get around. Also loves hockey. Not currently part of any team as far as I can tell from the lore.

Reinhardt: Ah! He was part of the original Overwatch! He's actually from Generation Z, being 61 in the *waves hand* mid-2070s when this game takes place. He's wonderful. He's big, boisterous, thinks of himself as an actual knight, and wants to be a hero. After Overwatch shuttered, he went around helping people. According to the comics and lore, he has strong ties to another Overwatch character's, Torbjorn, family. Torb's daughter is Reinhardt's squire.

Doomfist: Or Akande. He's part of Talon. He's powerful, determined, and I really wish he was on the good guy's side. He has a giant punchy power glove (the Doomfist in question) and he's pretty strong just on his own. He recently got out of jail (punched out) and has taken a high-ranking position back in Talon. I find him really intriguing.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: You can purchase it from Blizzard and gain access to the game. As well the Overwatch site has all the comics, and youtube has the animated shorts which is where the lore comes from.

FANDOM NAME: Super Mario Bros.
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: The franchising. Sure, they can be off fighting goombas, saving the galaxy, and running through lava worlds, OR they could be playing tennis, riding around in go-karts, or playing party games. Sometimes they're enemies, sometimes they're allies. You kind of get the impression that the actual game-games are just their dayjobs.

I want to see Bowser and Luigi kiss, as a sidenote.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: Nintendo Eshop, Amazon, or your friendly neighbourhood gaming store. You'll need a console.

[abyssopelagick]

FANDOM NAME: Fallen Hero: Rebirth

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Do you like stories superheroes and supervillains? Do you like stories about trauma, trying to move past it, or letting yourself embrace what it has made you become? Do you want to play as a tortured antivillain who has no choice but to turn to villainy in order to get what they want, or as a person with a mission who will see it done at any cost, or someone completely done with the world and willing to watch people burn because of it?

Fallen Hero: Rebirth is the first game of an interactive CYOA novel series, where you play as the former hero Sidestep now turned villain. It's a grim tale about identity, trauma, and choosing your own fate. Tussle with the city's hero team and collaborate with local villains as you try to take control of your own destiny. Meanwhile, complications arise as people who thought you were dead (including your former partner when you were a superhero) invite themselves back into your life.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: The first game Rebirth is available on multiple platforms for $4 (available for Android, iOS, and Steam). There is a free demo available for the first few chapters. The second game Retribution is available for free online in a demo/alpha state, and is about 1/3 to halfway complete in terms of plot.

Rebirth: https://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/fallen-hero-rebirth/
Retribution: https://dashingdon.com/play/malin/fallen-hero-retribution/mygame/

[batman]

FANDOM NAME: Death end re;Quest
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Shina has 99 problems and one of them is that she's trapped inside the prototype of a game that she was the director for with no memory of what happened to her or how this could even be possible. Fortunately for her the lead programmer, Arata, is more than willing to throw himself into saving her. Shina will finish the main quest and thus trigger the ending sequence for the game (so she can leave) while Arata will debug the game on the fly so that she can progress. Whatever could go wrong?

Shina's storyline is a more standard JRPG setup - she and a group of suspiciously sophisticated AI characters go on a quest to find a mythical land, which coincidentally is the trigger to finish the main quest of the game. The characters are all infected with Buggies which are clearly having some effect on the characters (though what is a big spoiler) but who are also weirdly adorable as well as the source of their powers. Arata's storyline is a thriller VN, focusing on the mystery about why Shina is in the game as Arata stumbles into a worldwide conspiracy. Also a lot of death. A LOT of death. The first death is the most gruesome; the rest are nowhere near as detailed in their descriptions. You can knock it over in about 20 hours.
WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: It's currently available on Steam and PS4. It's been out for about six months on PS4, so you should be able to find cheap copies pretty easily.

FANDOM NAME: Wild Arms 2 (or Wild Arms: 2nd Ignition)
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Have you ever thought to yourself "These modern games are too sensible; I want a plot with alien soul invaders who eat planets, where your quirky miniboss squad are two sentient lizards, and at one point you beat up a foetus (born from incest, naturally) in the womb while it is possessed by both an alternate universe and its father"? If you have, I have the game for you. I still don't know how this game got released.

Wild Arms 2 has it all: a cool soundtrack, a great setting, villains who have their own reasons for what they do, and interesting characters and concepts. You play as members of ARMs, a group of international peacekeepers trying to unite the world against Odessa who want to rule it. The party is made up of a war hero who has been vilified for his actions as they are inconvenient for the current world order, a sorceress-in-training with survivor's guilt after her sister died to save her, a junior militia member whose first day on the job ended up with everyone being possessed by demons and he had to kill them all to survive, a woman who turned herself into a cyborg to save the world, a boy who can hear the spirits whose mother took him away from his destiny, and a vampire that joined your party through Weird Time Travel Shenanigans. If you like deconstructions of heroism, if you like characters being terrified of the alien invaders inside them, and if you're willing to put up with what is at times a pretty terrible translation, then Wild Arms 2 is a great way to spend 30 hours.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: It is currently $5.99 on PSN, available for PS3, PSP and Vita. Otherwise, you can emulate it, as it is an old PSX game.

[ysavvryl]

FANDOM NAME: Crypt of the Necrodancer

WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: This is a rhythm roguelike game... No, I'm not kidding, you're exploring a randomly-generated dungeon with random treasures and gear, fighting a colorful undead legion, and the whole time, you and your foes will move and act according to the music's beat. There's multiple soundtracks too! And the game will adapt enemy movement to whatever music is playing, even if you get some custom songs (in fact, custom songs is a recommended strategy for the double-time character). The story is good even though there isn't much of it.

Of course, when this game is brought up, it has a reputation for being highly difficult. But I find that it's easy to learn, even if you're not used to rhythm games; there's only four buttons in use during gameplay. It does get difficult to win all stages and master the game. I find that it's still addictive and fun in the challenge.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?: It's on Steam and I believe some current consoles as well. There's also a spin-off/crossover recently released on the Switch in Cadence of Hyrule, which is said to be easier on the roguelike elements.

[faceofstone]

There are some great recommendations here, thank you! Maybe not for this year's Press Start, but I've wishlisted a few of them! Thank you! As for my own:

FANDOM NAME: Obduction


WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: it's Myst's spiritual sequel, by the creators of the original Myst! A point and click adventure for the modern age. All the worldbuilding and wonderful characters they've gotten better at crafting throughout the long history of the Myst series, now in a nifty one-shot package. With great puzzles, both classic orienteering/engine-powering/password-finding fare and a fun unique spatial mechanic that connects the game's four worlds and 'makes you think with portals', as the old saying goes.
If you're into worldbuilding, this one's a lot of fun, mixing up a few centuries of human history and a bunch of aliens to boot.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Steam, GoG and PSN. I've been told it's a treat in VR. Depending on how good you are at classic Mystlike puzzles and/or how often you look at a walkthrough, I'd say it can be a 6/25 hours affair.

FANDOM NAME: Sword&SworceryEP


WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: It's kind of the grandmother of artsy phone games. For me, its main draw is the eclectic mix of sword&sorcery pixel aesthetic, immersive Jim Guthrie soundtrack (this one's a favorite), little touch-based interaction and 2011-Twitter-speak narration, which all combine to form a strange little tale that's as postmodern as it is heartfelt. It's dreamy and alienating in all the right ways.
WHERE TO FIND IT: native to iOS/Android but ported to Steam and Switch as well. Meant to be played through a whole lunar cycle but doesn't mind if you mess with your device's calendar, it's a short indie experience, probably less than 6 hours total.

FANDOM NAME: Kentucky Route Zero


WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: uh, everything? It plays like a puzzles-less point and click and it's pure undiluted magical realism that excels at anything it does. Intensely poetic with a strong grounding in contemporary social issues. A choice system that's interested in the characters' interiority rather than in external consequences. Little vignettes that switch to being a full text adventure. A theatrical piece. A contemporary art exhibit. A recursive simulation. A prerecorded phone call. The unsteady steadying the unsteady. If you enjoy magical realism and/or americana, please play this game.
WHERE TO FIND IT: it hasn't ended yet but the final act should be around the corner. It's currently out on Steam and GoG, with an upcoming console port. The four acts out so far + the free interludes (this is the first one!) should amount to 15-ish hours of gameplay for a thorough playthrough.

[lemniskath]

FANDOM NAME: The Witness
WHAT MAKES IT GREAT: Puzzles, environment, world-building, atmosphere -- the single puzzle mechanic is explored to a depth you won't believe till you try it. Apparently the creator previously made a game called Braid which was also good but I haven't played that. But the places and non-storyline world of this game is wonderful and amazing. It's pretty much my favorite single player game ever and I really hope someone would write something for it (or request it so I'm more motivated to write, that works too).

See this review/overview of the game

Plenty of people hate this game or think it's pointless or inhumane or cold. It has not got background music, just environmental sounds. It has not got characters, just statues of people scattered about and some movies you can watch if you unlock them the right way and find the movie theater.

But I love it and so do some other people :D

Interview about the Witness game

WHERE CAN I FIND IT?(optional): Steam is where I got it.

[alterimpulse]

Fandom name: Xenogears

What makes it great: Environment, setting, world, depth of story for its era (1998), some very interesting characters, complex plot, atmosphere, and... well lots of things! Also, despite the main het ship plot it's famous for - if you like slash DEFINITELY check this game out because there's quite a lot of subtext and possibilities for m/m shipping everywhere. Yes, Fei/Elly is canon endgame - but there's plenty of room for everything from Citan/Fei to Bart/Billy to Sigurd/Ramsus and MORE.

See this overview on Fandom Wiki - https://xenosaga.fandom.com/wiki/Xenogears

That said, this game comes with a heavy TRIGGER WARNING: it deals with lots of heavy issues related to life and death, fantastic racism (which is one of the major conflicts of the plot) and it is a product of its era in some ways. Female character writing sucks as do most of the canon het romances including a secondary romance that's cousin incest (IMO, some people love them, I see them as toxic, it's up to you, and there is SO MUCH SUBTEXT that you can just write fix-it slash all the time hahaha!) AND there's a *horrible* cold take on dissociative identity disorder that is one of the major plots revolving around the protagonist. (I've addressed this in an essay here - spoilers ahoy! - https://archiveofourown.org/works/19290640 )

That said, if you can deal with the triggers and the stuff that is "holy shit Japan" or "holy shit 1990s," you should be fine. Especially if you ARE an adult with some understanding of anthropology and sociology and comparative religions and speculative fiction in general, you'll find a lot of stuff to dive deep into and make you love the world and setting and characters etc, and there's really good, deep commentary about the futility of war and violence vs the need for it, the fantastic racism *is* called out and the racists aren't the "good guys" at all so no worries there.

There is an emotional spoilers/TW list (an incomplete one) up on Does The Dog Die here (more spoilers) https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/19253

Where can you find it? Almost anywhere. Original PS1 discs exist, and it was released for the PSP, and it's available on the Playstation Store. That said, due to a couple of intensely aggravating segments (including one of THE worst dungeons in all of JRPGs, Babel Tower), I HIGHLY suggest emulation or another means of play that has savestates unless you REALLY like walking back to repeat the same missed jump over and over again.