David’s 2018 Picks?

<p>The staff at BagoGames was tasked with compiling a list of their favorite 2018 games&period; I would have jumped at the chance to highlight my personal favorites any other year&comma; but 2018 hasn&&num;8217&semi;t been the same&period; As a follow-up to 2017&comma; I don&&num;8217&semi;t feel the same level of attachment to these releases&period; 2018 has been a humdrum year&period; Because of that&comma; my list is a little different&period; Rather than listing my actual favorite games of the year&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m only highlighting two games I feel need a little more recognition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Persona 3&colon; Dancing in Moonlight<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;31131600&sol;Persona-3&lowbar;-Dancing-in-Moonlight&lowbar;20181204231002&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142987" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;31131600&sol;Persona-3&lowbar;-Dancing-in-Moonlight&lowbar;20181204231002-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite the fact that I never played <em>Persona 3<&sol;em>&comma; leaving me with a greater attachment for<em> Persona 5<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s cast&comma; <em>Dancing in Moonlight<&sol;em> captivated me more than I could have imagined&period; <em>Persona 5&colon; Dancing in Starlight<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s lopsided soundtrack compounds the anemic track-list&period; With each game only containing around 25 songs each&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s not much content to dig through&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In fact&comma; it took me 30 hours total to platinum both <em>Dancing<&sol;em> games&period; Your mileage really depends on how much you love the songs&period; <em>Persona 5<&sol;em> got praise for its soundtrack last year&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s because a handful of bangers stole the show&period; A chunk of <em>Dancing in Starlight<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s largely instrumental only soundtrack lacks the same punch of the <em>Persona<&sol;em> series&&num;8217&semi; vocalized songs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That&&num;8217&semi;s where <em>Persona 3&colon; Dancing in Moonlight<&sol;em> comes in&period; <em>Persona 5&colon; Dancing in Starlight<&sol;em> has a tough time competing with songs like&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>Mass Destruction<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>When the Moon Reaches for the Stars<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Soul Phrase<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>A Way of Life<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Light the Fire Up in the Night<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Brand New Days<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Deep Mentality<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>By comparison&comma; <em>Dancing in Starlight<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s soundtrack only has three or four songs that hype me up as much as <em>Dancing in Moonlight<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Yakuza Kiwami 2<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;31131755&sol;YAKUZA-KIWAMI-2&lowbar;20181120152413&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142992" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;31131755&sol;YAKUZA-KIWAMI-2&lowbar;20181120152413-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Yakuza 0<&sol;em> was my introduction to the franchise and a perfect way to start 2017&period; Its uncompromising tendency toward Japaneses sensibilities made for a shocking experience&period; Its sub-stories and optional activities like phone sex shined in an industry so afraid of having fun&period; The western triple-A market keeps moving closer and closer toward immersive experience whereas <em>Yakuza<&sol;em> remains firmly rooted in its &&num;8220&semi;videogames as hell&&num;8221&semi; approach to design&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The incredibly gripping narrative&comma; which is one of the industry&&num;8217&semi;s best&comma; somehow worked even when it exists within the same space as a game that asks you to buy a porno magazine for a child&period; <em>Yakuza<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s open world shenanigans clash with the serious human drama of its main narrative&comma; but that gives <em>Yakuza<&sol;em> its identity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Yakuza Kiwami 2<&sol;em> keeps that spirit alive&period; Its sub-stories aren&&num;8217&semi;t as consistently funny or jarring as <em>Yakuza 0<&sol;em> or <em>Yakuza Kiwami<&sol;em>&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s hard not to look fondly on such iconic moments as &&num;8220&semi;I peacocked your mom&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;Let&&num;8217&semi;s pacify this bitch&excl;&&num;8221&semi; coming from a muscular Yakuza boss in a diaper&period; I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t a fan of <em>Kiwami 2<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s simplified combat&comma; ripped from<em> Yakuza 6<&sol;em>&comma; but you still get to punch a tiger in the face AND experience a great story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;