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Gaming Forums => General Gaming => Topic started by: ejamer on April 25, 2013, 11:25:44 AM

Title: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 25, 2013, 11:25:44 AM
We have a thread where many people track/brag about new purchases... why not one to talk about games that you have finished (or are at least finished with)?


Recently, I've made a concerted effort to reduce my backlog and have completed the following games:
So what about you?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on April 25, 2013, 12:38:54 PM
I've finished these games up in the last two weeks.
 
Luigi's Mansion 2 - Adorable, funny, pretty... almost overstays it's welcome.
 
Harmoknight - So...much...polish! Also, those bird levels are hard as nails!
 
The Walking Dead Episodes 1-4 - Great character development and some good story threads. I'm not as enamoured with the gameplay though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 25, 2013, 01:02:15 PM
Depends on what you mean by "beat".

I "beat" NSMB U last sunday, credits and all. But to 100% it, like i did with NSMBWii, will probably take just as much time.

Great final battle. I wish entire game was as zoomed out like in final boss fight. Enormous levels with huge changing environmental hazards and a tiny little red-blue speck that is Mario.

I already posted my thoughts on La Mulana (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=40292.msg789632#msg789632) and Donkey Kong 94 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41293.0) endings.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on April 25, 2013, 01:16:13 PM
Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was the last game I beat.
 
I had a great time with it.  You're certainly not going to get much of a story to it (which may be good/bad, depending on your preferences for Kojima storytelling), but I feel the game does a great job of making you feel powerful while still providing new challenges throughout the game.  The slicing is incredibly satisfying, although I can't place my finger on what about it makes it so compelling to do. 
 
The only big negative I have against the game is that it's woefully short, but I can see myself playing through it a few more times to get all the weapon/costume upgrades. 
 
Definitely look into it if it goes on sale anytime soon, and you're a fan of 3D Action games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 25, 2013, 02:49:05 PM
Depends on what you mean by "beat".


Totally subjective. I don't care if people see credits roll, but that's typically when I consider a game beaten to a satisfactory level. Everything afterwards is gravy.


The topic is just to give people who actually play through their games a place to talk about it instead of only encouraging posts from people who thrift/buy games.


Quote
I already posted my thoughts on La Mulana (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=40292.msg789632#msg789632) and Donkey Kong 94 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41293.0) endings.


Awesome to hear that you finished La Mulana - Congrats! Having kids has limited TV time, and it's been a long time since I sat and enjoyed a console game.  Really need to get back on that game sometime though - it left a tremendous impression early on, and even if some puzzles become too obscure later it's something I'd like to keep playing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on April 25, 2013, 03:31:28 PM
Thirty Flights of Loving (PC) Fun, short PC game, not much gameplay, but the story telling is fantastic. Made by the same guy who did Gravity Bone

Little Inferno (Wii U) Twisted, TWISTED puzzle game, enjoyed the ending.

Games I will probably never 100% complete but enjoy: Need For Speed U, Nano Assault Neo
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: AnGer on April 25, 2013, 04:15:33 PM
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.

Turned out to be more entertaining than I expected from a port of a mobile phone game. I still need to finish up some of the post-game stuff though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: alegoicoe on April 26, 2013, 09:08:49 PM
Castlevania: LOS, beautiful but deeply flawed in execution.


Trine 2, also a very good looking game with amazing art design, but the physics sucks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on April 26, 2013, 10:33:43 PM
I need to go back and finish Trine 2
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on April 26, 2013, 10:44:25 PM
I've been beating XCOM on a weekly basis for the last month. I can't stop!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: alegoicoe on April 26, 2013, 11:03:53 PM
I need to go back and finish Trine 2


I enjoyed it a lot, but some puzzles just don't work, especially when the physics start getting wonky, afterwards it becomes more about trial and error which can get frustrating very quickly.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on April 30, 2013, 01:52:57 AM
Deus EX Human Revolution (Mac). An amazing game that far more heavily favors stealth over brute force than the original game. It's a weird design decision since the first game gave no XP for taking down enemies, only for progressing through the game, sidequests and exploration. It meant the optimal way to play the game is not to completely sneak through a level, but to knock everybody out without being seen giving you maximum XP.

The level design is a touch more linear than the original, but the levels are much larger, especially the city hub levels full of places to explore. The dialouge sequences are well done. While the facial expressions aren't really up to snuff when it comes to readability, the VA more than makes up for it along with the ability to consider what you are going to say next. The opposite of this are the infamous boss fights which are brutal stand up fights completely out of tone with the rest of the game.

If you haven't played this and have a WiiU, this should be a game you should get.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 07, 2013, 10:54:10 AM
I "beat" Nano Assault Neo.

Again, i'm stretching definition of "beat" here, i just beat all four "campaigns" (three levels+boss each) and unlocked survival mode. "I'm done with it" is probably closer.

Main problem with the game is balance, most enemies in later level take way too many shots to kill and that turns it into a bore. Last "campaign" was especially unfun with swarms of extremely durable enemies.

I like arcade difficulty and online leaderboards make the game a bit more fun, but as of now i'm done.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on May 07, 2013, 12:00:45 PM
Main problem with the game is balance, most enemies in later level take way too many shots to kill and that turns it into a bore. Last "campaign" was especially unfun with swarms of extremely durable enemies.

Yeah, Nano Assault EX it reminded me of Bit.Trip Fate in that sense.
 
I thought Nano Assault EX was a decent game, but I did find it a little boring.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 08, 2013, 12:36:45 AM
I was talking about Wii U game, and it's disheartening to hear that 3DS game has the same problem.

Shin'en sure can provide great visuals, but i wish gameplay in some of their game was better.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on May 08, 2013, 12:52:29 AM
What about the original Nano Assault on the 3DS? I'm curious to see how the original cart game fared to the downloadable sequels.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 08, 2013, 12:58:35 AM
What about the original Nano Assault on the 3DS? I'm curious to see how the original cart game fared to the downloadable sequels.
From what i understand EX is the same as original game with some patches.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on May 08, 2013, 01:00:59 AM
What about the original Nano Assault on the 3DS? I'm curious to see how the original cart game fared to the downloadable sequels.
From what i understand EX is the same as original game with some patches.


Glad I didn't buy it because I was really tempted to yesterday.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 09, 2013, 03:01:12 PM
100%-ed Toki Tori 2. Took me 40+ hours (what? i'm slow methodical about my games).

Had to ask on MiiVerse for the last collectible (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6lwXehLw). It was incredibly obvious in retrospect, but it probably would have taken me another hour of roaming around. MiiVerse is perfect for this and i got a hint literally minutes after i posted my question.

Great game. Highly recommended if you can deal with hard puzzles. Amazing how many different things you can do in the game with just two basic actions.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on May 09, 2013, 03:11:47 PM
After playing Mega Man 3 for Retroactive I decided to play through Mega Man X 2 again for some perspective on the series. For my personal tastes I still prefer the original series, but goddamn if X 2 isn't just a great game. So much fun.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 13, 2013, 08:48:28 AM
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (3DS)


Really enjoyed the story. I feel like the writing was probably better here than in 999, although the plot was less spectacular. Playing through multiple times for different endings was also made much easier (and faster, and clearer) than in the previous game - something much appreciated given how complicated the storyline gets.


Still a hard game to recommend openly, because there is more reading than actually playing involved. But anyone who liked 999 or Hotel Dusk and has an interest in wild science fiction should consider giving this game a shot.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on May 13, 2013, 10:14:30 AM
So, we played this at almost the same time, huh?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 13, 2013, 01:13:02 PM
So, we played this at almost the same time, huh?

Looks like it.  Took me a long time to finish since it was often played either right before bed (and I'd fall asleep while playing) or while other activities were going on. The log, flow, and skip features were excellent in this game, and very helpful for me!


Worth noting that Oblivion started a separate thread for discussion here:
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41496 (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41496)
Hasn't really gotten into any details yet, but will probably move into spoiler territory pretty quickly because otherwise there won't be much to discuss.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on May 19, 2013, 12:51:24 AM
Serious Sam: BFE.

It took Too long to become a Big Fucking Encounter. The last level is absolutely epic. It also needed more varied environments, it's 100% set in Egypt, so it's all sandy yellow. The level designs aren't as creative as the first 2 games. It's not a bad game or anything, just takes too long to hit peak explosions.

Stange for me to say this, but they needed to Micheal Bay the **** out of this game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Do_What on May 19, 2013, 10:35:50 AM
Final Fantasy II/IV on the Super Nintendo. This is my first time playing it and it's really really good. The difficulty does spike super high in the last dungeon. I feel like the instances of random battles increased rapidly and I gained six or seven levels before I got to the final boss, which was a pain with the move that leeches life and the other move that drops you down to 2 hp. Good game overall. I like how short it is.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 02, 2013, 03:39:50 PM
Finally finished Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) and was pleased with the game overall.


The puzzles were slightly disappointing. There were some clever brain teasers, but all too often the puzzles felt either too simple or intentionally too obtuse. After four previous games in the series, maybe it's understandable if the puzzle well is starting to run dry.


Luckily, this shortcoming was largely made up for by great presentation values another strong story. The Layton universe has been consistently entertaining and none of the DS releases looked as impressive as this entry. Worth noting that the 3D effects in particular were very well done - making Miracle Mask one of very few games I've played where the 3D was cranked up more often than not while playing.


If the Layton series does come to an end after the next game, maybe that's not such a bad thing - I'd rather enjoy every game than see them start to drop in quality over time.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on June 02, 2013, 10:19:24 PM
Just beat Saints Row the Third.  This game is ridiculous and I love it.  The last few missions were mostly annoying, especially the one for the mayor.  I loved how colourful the characters were, and the customization options were great. 

The game was a little bit easy, which is saying a lot, because I like easy games.  Controls felt a really good, and the camera was almost perfect.  I never found myself fighting either.  I prefer the way the cars handle in this game to the way they handle in the GTA games, and I felt the gunplay was a bit more responsive.  I liked the wrestling combos they threw into melee combat, but in terms of melee, Sleeping Dogs is the champ.

I can't wait for Saints Row IV.  I know some people don't like the wacky direction the series is going in, but I;m really digging it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 08, 2013, 10:56:49 AM
Just finished Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey (Wii) with my daughter.  Not much of a game, but harmless enough. She's 3 years old and loved it to pieces so I consider owning it a win.  We'll probably go back to The Dog Island now that this is finished, with return visits to Belle's ballroom once in a while for variety.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 08, 2013, 03:25:27 PM
Finished with Rayman Origins. 246 lums, 10 teeth and Land of the Livid Dead.

Loved the art and gameplay, loved bosses, levels and music.

Even years after, controls still feel loose and somewhat borked in places. One of the latest occurrences happened when mine character kept releasing ropes when i released run button. Mechanic of running up the wall is even more wonky, though it was somewhat touched on in Legends i think.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on June 08, 2013, 04:39:35 PM
Just finished Remember Me, and overall, the game is much better than I was anticipating(perhaps due to lower expectations).  I really enjoyed playing the game, though I don't feel like I'll ever replay it.  The visuals were fantastic, as was the OST.  Combat was okay, though I wish there was more freedom and variety when it came to creating combos.

The design of the game's world is phenomenal at times, which is sad since there is so little interaction with it.  And what's with developers creating these beautifully rendered worlds, and then sticking so much of the game's action in sewers and corridors?  I feel like a lot of the complaints about this game stem from the fact that there seems to be so much potential in this world, but so much of it goes untouched.  I think this game's world could make for a great setting for an Assassin's Creed-like open-world style game, but instead, we got something that felt a lot more like Devil May Cry to me.

That said, I actually did enjoy the way encounters were structured in the game.  Passed a certain point, you rarely fought one type of enemy at a time; you are often confronted with multiple enemy types, forcing you to strategize and prioritize your fighting style.  Again, expanding on the combo system would have been great.  Perhaps throw in debuffing attacks like stuns and DoTs.

The story was intriguing at times.  I found the concept of remixing memories to be well done, but I wish they would have expanded more on it.  I felt a great sense of unease every time I had to go in and hack someone's brain.  It would have been nice to include a few more scenarios, other than hack this guy's brain and make him think he's killed someone.  As is expected of Capcom games like this, there is a level of cheese that almost seems intentional and it is supported to full effect by the voice actors at times.

Remember Me is by no means perfect, and it is probably far from great.  But I enjoyed the heck out of my time playing through it.  I'm really looking forward to what DontNod can do with their next game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: JiliK on June 09, 2013, 07:49:56 PM
I'm not sure if it counts because of the unlimited continues, but I played through Trouble Witches Neo on XBLA for the second time a couple of weeks ago. A pretty enjoyable shump I thought, though I'm by no means an expert. It is wrapped in a cringe-worthy and occasionally creepy ainme shell though and, even though I count it as a plus, the voice acting is some of the most hilariously terrible I've ever witnessed.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 13, 2013, 03:54:52 PM
Little Inferno (PC)



Picked this up as part of the recent Humble Bundle and enjoyed playing it. The art style is great, as is the sound design. Gameplay is incredibly simple: buy stuff, burn it, then repeat. To keep things interesting there are hidden combos to discover by burning related items, and you have to balance cost and waiting times to keep the game moving. You also get occasional messages from a neighbor to drive the story along.


However, there is no way to lose and no real penalties for poor choices; the game is a constant grind towards the end no matter how you approach it. Luckily the humor offers just enough incentive to keep you going until the end; it is a relatively short game after all. The message was a little bit heavy - but don't worry. It's still flammable.


Recommended, although it's not as tight or as clever as World of Goo (made by the same team) in my opinion.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on June 15, 2013, 03:45:26 AM
The Last of Us (PS3)

Daaaaayuuuum. This game man, this game. Definitely worth the experience. It really isn't a game. An experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Do_What on June 16, 2013, 07:04:33 AM
Remember Me


It's thoroughly mediocre in almost every way. The combat system is combo based, and there are only four combos you can learn. All the fights are arena fights. so you get to a point and progress stops and you have to clear out all the enemies. Later in the game it becomes nearly impossible to actually complete combos because you are swarmed with eight to twelve enemies at once and can't get around them. You have powers you can use to counteract this, but then you'll still have five enemies immune to that power coming at you, and the evade system does not regularly allow you to keep with your combos. It never will if you have to evade twice in a row. So when you need to do combos to refill your health or decrease the cool down time between special moves and can't do them it gets frustrating. Especially in the third wave of enemy encounters.
The game is buggy as ****. I had to restart segments multiple times because a robot enemy would spawn with no A.I. No a.i. meant I couldn't kill it and it didn't move and so I couldn't move on. Tere are segments where enemies get stuck in walls and physically restrict your progress (sentry bots). There's a segment where I couldn't progress because the game wouldn't let me use my gun. It just wouldn't come on. So that was sucky.


I guess people just aren't familiar with sci fi with this exact same plot, but the story is mediocre and boring. I see people praising it and I don't get it. It's not bad, but it's barely competent. It's a generic story about a corporation that stores memories and can remix them and stuff. There's a generic resistance force we see little to none of and some finger wagging and super duper monologueing about philosophy 101 stuff. Kill me. There's nothing new there. And I only like the main character and her mother and that's it. Everyone else is insufferable.
But I mean. Overall I had a decent time with the game. I just don't see how people are so in love with it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on June 16, 2013, 03:44:34 PM
Oracle of Ages - In the vein of Link's Awakening but with a more detailed world, Oracle of Ages was a very enjoyable game let down by a few instances of obtuse design.
 
For the most part OoA uses the time travel mechanic in an intelligent and contained way. There are sections of the map, however, which are difficult to navigate because of the way this mechanic is utilised. In some cases the player is required to visit one time period to move along a path and then switch to the other time period in order to continue. Sometimes this is very apparent and progress is speedy, but in other cases it is decidely unclear.
 
For me, OoA was also let down by an extremely frustrating level 7. This dungeon is designed around the raising and lowering of water levels (A familiar concept for any Zelda fan), but the effects of changing the water level are never made clear because the game itself makes no effort to highlight them. This level was made more infuriating for me because a certain 'control quirk' caused me to waste hours looking for an alternate path that did not exist. I'm not embarrassed to say that I had to use a youtube guide on at least two separate occasions for this level.
 
Those issues aside, however, I thought OoA was a blast. There is just enough variety in the puzzles that I never found myself getting tired of them and the dungeons and boss battles are brisk enough that for the most part the game moves along at a fast clip. Link's Awakening is more noteworthy largely because it managed to do it first ('it' being the condensing of the A Link to the Past formula on to a handheld), but OoA is a fantastic game and a more than worthy sequel to that handheld classic.
 
As enjoyable as it was though, I feel like I now need a palette cleanser before I dive into Oracle of Seasons.
 
To Steam!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on June 17, 2013, 03:53:46 PM
I recently finished Remember Me, and while I liked it more than Do_What did, it's definitely a game with serious problems. You'll hear more about it on NFR episode 19, our next full episode.

I'm also very close to finishing Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, which despite the dubious reputation of its franchise is an excellent little $15 downloadable FPS. It's Cel-shaded and quite colorful, which already separates it from most FPS games. The score-based combat is simple, but enjoyable. Surprisingly, though, it's the game's focus on narrative (the entire game is former bounty hunter Silus recounting his adventures to some folks at a bar) that really makes it stand out and shine. The game could use some more scenario variety as the combat does get a little tiresome towards the end, but I have no problem recommending the game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on June 22, 2013, 02:10:20 AM
I have beaten The Last of Us, and it is very good...and good god is it long. My final time on my first playthrough was 17 hours. That's not too far off from my completion time on a Mass Effect game. Sheesh. Man, the facial animation is amazing, though. I don't think I've seen a game this generation that's conveyed expression and subtle nuances as well as The Last of Us.  It's a very buggy game, though. The AI will glitch every once in a while, keeping conversation sequences from enabling, and trees and other terrain elements will flicker in and out of existence as you walk to them.

It's going to be hard to argue that The Last of Us isn't the front-runner for Game of the Year this year.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on June 26, 2013, 03:00:01 PM
Just this moment I beat Animal Crossing!
 
I purchased a lucky ticket which rewarded me with a Metroid in a Jar that when interacted with plays the opening music from Super Metroid and the sound of the creature screeching. So...game over.
 
*drops the mic*
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on June 26, 2013, 03:05:34 PM
New Super Mario Bros U
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on June 30, 2013, 12:15:18 AM
I finally finished off The Last of Us.  I'm not a zombie/survival/stealth fan, typically, so there were times when I had to force myself to play.  I ended up playing alongside a few Let's Plays which was a really neat experience with this kind of game.

Ultimately, I loved the game; it felt very much like a slower-paced Uncharted game to me.  I think my biggest beef with the game is with the way it's been hyped, strangely enough(though, if that's the game's biggest issue, I'd say the dev team did a pretty bang up job).  To me, TLoU does nothing new, and actually commits some of the cardinal sins of game design according to recent complaints in the industry.  The game frequently takes away any player agency in favour of flashy setpieces/cutscenes.  Friendly AI is immersion-breaking as anybody who has played knows.  Sneaking around, trying to remain silent, only to have the silence broken by Bill's stomping boots is silly in an environment like this.  Sometimes, the rules of the stealth sections feel poorly defined; sometimes enemies seem to know exactly where you are when you're hidden, sometimes they will look right at you and not even see you.  The game is obviously pushing the PS3 hardware to its limits, as the framerate takes occasional hits.  I think some of these aspects have been glossed over, and it's really disappointing to me, because these complaints are levied heavily at other games and are often used to bemoan the current state of the industry.  Heck, this game should have been universally panned simply for its use of QTEs, or at least that's what I've been led to believe.

That said, I totally understand the fever for this game.  There is a level of polish here - real craftsmanship - that is all too rare in the industry.  The art, sound, performance capture, and environment design are all top notch.  The Last of Us doesn't really do anything new in terms of game design; everything has been done before from a strict gameplay perspective.

I read a thread on the Neogaf that asked, "Why can't we get more games like The Last of Us".  Some people pointed to Naughty Dog, some to the creative directors, and some to Sony for giving Naughty Dog the freedom to create.  I think the answer that most aligned with my feelings was one that said that we already have plenty of games like the Last of Us.  We just don't have enough good ones.  In the end, we complain about a lot of things in game design.  But we are willing to forgive when the total package adds up to an experience like this.  I can't wait to see what Naughty Dog does on the PS4.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on June 30, 2013, 12:19:57 AM
Flashy cutscenes? Did we play the same game?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on June 30, 2013, 12:37:07 AM
Don't get me wrong, they were incredibly well-done.  I just think that, in any other game, lengthy cutscenes that you have no control over is considered bad game design.  In TLoU, it serves a greater purpose, but there was one cutscene that I still remember where after it finished, the game waited for me to input a command for a good 30 seconds because I didn't realize the game had started again and I didn't have my controller in hand.

I think a lot of what is wrong with games journalism is that the medium is still relatively young, and as such, the way people write about them is still growing alongside it.  I think what a lot of people complain about in other games as a general flaw of game design, is really a flaw in execution.  Whereas other games would get panned for what I consider to be a heavy overall reliance on cutscenes to tell the story, TLoU gets praised because it is, generally, done extremely well.  So, when I use the term "flashy cutscenes", I'm really using it to reflect the way it is viewed in other games, and projecting it onto its use in TLoU.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on June 30, 2013, 01:09:17 AM
Well, I disagree on your opinion of cutscenes in video games. If they are done well, I welcome it. Hell, most of the time for me, I enjoy the cutscenes more than the gameplay itself.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on June 30, 2013, 03:04:21 AM
Rayman Origins. Liked it. Backlog too full to go back for unlockables.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 01, 2013, 07:48:23 AM
Ys Book I & II (Wii Virtual Console) - Enjoyed the game at times, but there was a bit too much BS design in place and that end boss simply wasn't enjoyable or rewarding enough to justify the effort. In the end regret playing this game as the problems outweighed any enjoyment I got. Not recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 07, 2013, 05:31:01 PM
Finished SMB3.

Had to force myself to finish it, since i still didn't enjoy the game (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=40642.0). The very last boss fight was nice though, once i figured i can hide under platform on the right.

Moon jump physics, that forces me to press back in the air so that i don't overshoot the platforms. No traction that forces me to press back again after i landed to stop. And overall the game has that Sonic Syndrome, where the game lies to your face that it's about speed and momentum and then does everything in it's power to stop you from running. Emphasis on air control, that i don't like because regular Mario has very little of that (i think i used flying suit Mario like five times). Overworld -- why do i have to go into these areas with tubes in and out to come to another area? Baffling level design -- some levels are like 30 meters long with no pits, other are spiky hell that spread over a mile. And other annoyances like that bullshit castle that is full of bullshit.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on July 07, 2013, 06:02:56 PM
Beat Batman Arkham Asylum.  Didn't I just play Metroid: Other M?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 07, 2013, 06:13:04 PM
Beat Batman Arkham Asylum.  Didn't I just play Metroid: Other M?

You're comparing a piece of **** like Other M to a masterpiece like Arkham Asylum?  Them's fighting words, Mister.  I think you and me are going to be settling a few things on the next NFR, pardner.  ;)

Speaking of sacred cows, I recently finished Mighty Switch Force 2, and it's just as "meh" as the first game was, which is appropriate since it's more or less the same game with the same progression and the same gameplay tricks.  True, you have a water hose now and there are some interesting new puzzles, but I really felt by the 5th or 6th stage that I had seen all the "new" MSF2 had to offer and it was just going through the motions.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on July 07, 2013, 06:37:53 PM
Beat Batman Arkham Asylum.  Didn't I just play Metroid: Other M?

You're comparing a piece of **** like Other M to a masterpiece like Arkham Asylum?  Them's fighting words, Mister.  I think you and me are going to be settling a few things on the next NFR, pardner.  ;)


I've been very vocal in my criticisms of Other M in the past, but it's certainly not a 'piece of ****'. Flawed? Definitely. It does, however, do many things quite well. The boss battles were mostly great, it managed to create a sense of tension (albeit one that differs tonally from that seen in previous Metroid games) and the action (with the exception of the terrible First-Person controls) was snappy and satisfying.
 
I actually kind of want to play that game again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 07, 2013, 06:53:04 PM
I actually kind of want to play that game again.

Do it.  On replays you can actually skip all the cutscenes so it's all action no filler.  Trying to speed run it without having to deal with any cutscenes usually takes around 5 hours for me, so it's not that lengthy either.  One of the reasons I've replayed it several times.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on July 07, 2013, 07:41:18 PM
I actually kind of want to play that game again.

Do it.  On replays you can actually skip all the cutscenes so it's all action no filler.  Trying to speed run it without having to deal with any cutscenes usually takes around 5 hours for me, so it's not that lengthy either.  One of the reasons I've replayed it several times.
That's only shaving 3 hours of gameplay time off.  I figure it be more.
Beat Batman Arkham Asylum.  Didn't I just play Metroid: Other M?

You're comparing a piece of **** like Other M to a masterpiece like Arkham Asylum?  Them's fighting words, Mister.  I think you and me are going to be settling a few things on the next NFR, pardner.  ;)

Speaking of sacred cows, I recently finished Mighty Switch Force 2, and it's just as "meh" as the first game was, which is appropriate since it's more or less the same game with the same progression and the same gameplay tricks.  True, you have a water hose now and there are some interesting new puzzles, but I really felt by the 5th or 6th stage that I had seen all the "new" MSF2 had to offer and it was just going through the motions.
If you really want to you can go ahead and listen to my review its up.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Sarail on July 07, 2013, 07:49:42 PM
Speaking of Metroids and female bounty hunters named Samus, I beat Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES) a few days ago on Wii U VC.

Fantastic game, and I see why Zach Miller enjoys the game so much over other Kirby games. The whole mechanic of teammate/powerup combo effects is truly great. It causes one to want to mix it up to create all sorts of variations of Kirby powers. It's really unique. I also realise I didn't get the full ending, as I didn't collect all of the secrets in each level (I only found four), so I may go back to the game down the road and try seeking those out for the actual final boss fight. Alien Dedede was great, though!

Next up... I'm either going to finish Need for Speed: Most Wanted or Darksiders II. Still trying to push myself to one or the other.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 07, 2013, 07:51:09 PM
If you really want to you can go ahead and listen to my review its up.

Oh hell no. Once I have NFR 19 up tonight, I'm done dealing w/ podcast stuff for a few days.  :P:
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on July 07, 2013, 08:05:57 PM
/me adds "bag of popcorn" to the list of things to bring to the next taping

As for me, last game I beat was Mega Man X - still a darn good game and restore points actually make the Hadouken a reasonable way to clear the end bosses.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: alegoicoe on July 08, 2013, 03:06:16 AM
Megaman X on Wii U virtual console :cool;
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 08, 2013, 02:51:12 PM
Luigi's Mansion (GameCube)

Charming game that was lots of fun to play through. Not fun enough that I'm going to run out and buy the recent 3DS sequel... but I'll keep it in mind for the future. 

Easy to understand why some people weren't enamored with this game at launch. The pace is very slow, and replay value isn't the same as what you get with a standard Mario platformer. Of course, distinct pace and style are (arguably) some of its greatest strengths at the same time. I'm not sure I've every played something else that feels quite the same.

Recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on July 08, 2013, 06:29:02 PM
The pacing was fine. The problem was that the game had the length of an extended tech demo. I got this game on launch in Japan and played it twice. Once when I woke up the next day to play it and finished it on normal before lunch. The next was to 100% on game+ which took even less time than the first run. The lack of replay value is a distant second to the lack of content. If you brought it now for 5 dollars, great, but eatting launch price for that left be a bit sour.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TJ Spyke on July 08, 2013, 09:04:28 PM
I bought it on launch day for full price and found it to be more than worth it. Yes it's short, but it's great and fun while it lasts. Compare it to something like a golf game, which I would hate for even $4.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 09, 2013, 12:45:57 AM
NSMB: U

I'm still on four stars on my save (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41624.msg800449#msg800449). I did caught Nabbit in all worlds, the game even showed me message that i did. Catching Nabbit was the only time in entire game where i was forced to use inventory (except for cleaning it) for star power-up. It can be a bug or i'm missing some obscure condition again, but...

I don't care anymore. You don't want to give me my 100% completion, game? Fine then. I'm giving it to me myself. There, i finished NSMBU with 100% completion. I beat all levels, i collected all stars including on Star World, and found all exits. That's 100% in my book.

Final notes.

It's a shame that U version ditched Superplay videos that were accessed from the game itself in Peach's castle. It's more or less replaced by MiiVerse and notifications with youtube links to videos, but i wish i could just see where that one star is right from the game without asking anyone or going to internet.

Stars in 3-4 and 5-6 were bullshit. Not as bullshit as that one star (or exit) in NSMBWii that you took by drowning in quicksand for five minutes, but still pretty bullshit.

I loved how many shortcuts and secrets overworld has, it somewhat sweetens the hassle of dealing with it. My favorite alternative route was the castle in the clouds where the entire area of the level and one star is only accessible if entering the castle by this route. And on this part of the level, you go from right to left.

And finally my gripe with basically all 2d Marios i played. Desert Worlds. Usually second world in the game and the most annoying. Combination of how early it is and how hard it gets compared to first world almost made me ditch the Wii game. Similar thing with U and SMB3.

I think placing this world second is the reason why minuscule percent of players actually finish NSMB games.

Also i distinctly remember how i watched quick look for "Last Of Us" on TV, while playing the game on GamePad and i felt weird marveling at the graphics and animation detail on this game and at the same time collecting last Star Coins and catching Nabbit which felt like a chore by the end. It's like: "here are the cool guys are whizzing by and playing THIS, and i'm here in the dust doing my stuff".

Assasin Creed 2

What an ending, man. Very enjoyable mindfuck. The moment where Minerva addresses Desmond/player directly through Ezio's memories was really memorable.

My main problem with the game is that i don't really enjoy actual assasin's stuff. Missions, assassinations and combat were either boring or annoying. When i was repeatedly grabbing and kicking Rodrigo Borgia in the balls until he died (?) was the only downside of otherwise great ending. It was just sad to see such a great final environment and music marred by bad combat system and absent boss game design.

In the end the most enjoyable parts of the game for me were just chilling, roaming the city, looking for glyphs and feathers and codex pages, climbing up the towers and jumping from them (titillating considering i'm afraid of heights). Gorgeous environments, absolute pleasure to look at, Venice canals, carnival, all that italian architecture.

I also LOVED weird glyph puzzles, ambient otherworldly music and effects really did something with my head. Codex puzzle was also became neat when i realized what it is actually showing.

Platforming challenges in Assasin's tombs where great too. There were some killing to be made, but it was still pure Prince of Persia-style platforming.

I played it on PC, and there were quite a few big technical problems.

First, official controller support in the game is ATROCIOUS. You control camera by pressing triggers rotating it horizontally and you can't rotate it vertically at all and even beside that you can't map some actions to buttons. This is retarded and inexcusable. I was forced to use XPadder, took me a few days to set up everything more or less working. And because i had to emulate proper controls using keyboard/mouse i lost analog control over my movement, which was really annoying.

Hopefully Brotherhood (which i left installing before i left for work) will have proper controller support. The fact that there are quite a few Xpadder profiles for ACII on forums available and no profiles for Brotherhood is encouraging. This supposedly means official controls are already competent enough this time.

Second, UPlay ate my saves in the middle. I had to look over the internet for saves that were more or less close to where were i was, because another retarded decision by Ubisoft developers made it impossible to use later save and then just go back.

Third, some of the glyph puzzles seems to be glitching, they aren't showing me anything and don't even exit when i press any buttons. I had to close the window Alt F4. This could be because i messed around with my saves though, but again thank Ubi for that. Ah well, i can always see the reward for collecting all glyphs on youtube...

Fourth, map should show me locations. They probably didn't wanted to clutter the map with text, but come on, how am i supposed to know where Mercato Vecchio is by looking at this (http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Games/A/Assassins%20Creed%20II/Everything%20Else/Guide/Maps/Bulk/Florence-treasures-lg--screenshot.jpg)? You can look for locations in in-game database and it will tell you what you did and what you missed in each city but all location are only indicated by pictures and are not connected to actual place on the map. Stupid.

Overall, i loved the ending, the music, environments, architecture, just roaming around the city and looking for stuff just feels so nice. Too bad about technical stuff, but messing around to fix them was worth it ultimately. Looking forward to Brotherhood and eventually III on my Wii U.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Drizzt on July 09, 2013, 03:26:03 PM
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII:
The game was really good, it was the main reason I purchased a psp. The story, music, graphics, and presentation were excellent. My only gripe was with the battle system, the battles weren't random because you knew when they were going to occur but they weren't like other RPGs where you could avoid them if you wanted either. The mission system was also kind of pointless but it extended the game and gave you better equipment. Anyone who likes RPGs, FFVII or has a psp should definitely check this game out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on July 09, 2013, 03:50:14 PM
I guess it wasn't pointless if it gave you better equipment. :P
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Drizzt on July 09, 2013, 03:52:44 PM
Only about 10% of the missions gave you better equipment. Some later missions give you basic items that don't help you, so if they'd cut out the filler missions it would've seemed more necessary.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on July 09, 2013, 04:08:27 PM
It's a good thing I never really did the mission then. You like the story? Didja cry?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 13, 2013, 02:03:53 PM
Tales of Monkey Island Ch.5: Rise of the Pirate God


So I finally sat down and finished off this series. Not bad, not great, pretty much par for the course when it comes to TellTale games. In the end, my expectations were met and the dialog was funny enough to keep the whole thing moving.


Technical issues close to the end on Wii were absolutely horrendous, with audio repeating/skipping/cutting out and an abundance of graphical glitches too. This wasn't really a surprise though: the TellTale engine is terrible on all platforms, with Wii being especially rough in patches, so this was expected going in.


Might've enjoyed this more if I had played through everything in a shorter time span instead of playing one episode every 8 months or so - especially since each episode was at most a couple hours long. As it stands I can't really recommend the game to anyone unless they are already a Monkey Island fan going in.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Do_What on July 14, 2013, 08:25:17 AM
i'm halfway through Project X Zone and that's about as far as I think I can make it. I've played 20 hours of it and am only on chapter 21 and the chapters seem to only be getting longer and more frustrating. There's no strategy, and the game wants you to grind without actually giving you an opportunity to do so. Every battle goes the same way after somewhere around chapter four or five. You fight a reasonable number of enemies, then double or triple that number spawn in after you've killed a few. It's just so boring. I do not recommend it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 14, 2013, 11:55:50 AM
Resident Evil: Revelations Wii U.

Finally finished this after about 18 hours of single player. Not as good as RE4, but few games are. Like it better than RE5.

The controls and animations are both stiff in places, and the storyline is as convoluted as ever, but that is part of Resident Evil's charm.

I would mind seeing another Resident Evil Revelations style spin off.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 16, 2013, 03:14:36 AM
Finally fninshed l'Abbaye des Morts (http://www.locomalito.com/abbaye_des_morts.php).

That last boss was kinda annoying, because it's hard and the game has no saves or anything, so if you lose you gotta start all over again. At least the game is pretty short.

Still, the ending was well worth it. Surprisingly polished game all around and gets emotional at times for a freeware title.

Check this out if you want a game to occupy you for an hour.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 21, 2013, 02:37:50 AM
Well, I finally beat Borderlands 2 and it was...long.  Really, really, REALLY long.  And not terribly funny. And I still have 4 pieces of DLC to get through.  And I'm typing in sentence fragments.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on July 21, 2013, 10:23:50 AM
The fans had overhyped the **** out of Borderlands. The Villain has some good lines, but the plot was to flimsy too support the script. Out of the DLC only one of them is actually any good. It really needs to be played with other people, but since it doesn't have server support, the ping is in the 400-500, even when playing with someone across town.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 28, 2013, 01:53:58 AM
Dear Esther

This is not really a game. AAA publishers keeping trying to push games into a more streamlined cinematic experience, but I think indie titles like this and Thirty Flight of Loving do a much better job of interactive fiction.

They do this at the cost of game play though. Dear Esther's only form of interaction is walking. The only challenge really is understanding the story. It's told by an internal monologue by the protagonist, that is often cryptic and filled with metaphor. There are also subtle clues scattered around the enviroment, but those are left open to interpretation.

I recommend giving this a shot, but keep in mind its limitations.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on July 28, 2013, 04:50:51 PM
Is the mod and retail release any different? I actually have both but I've never really tried either of them.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: marty on July 28, 2013, 09:02:28 PM
I got Hotline Miami a while back on a gog sale.
Kind of cool but definitely not for everyone; it's bloody and violent in a way that's a bit unnerving.  The 80's vibe works in a way that doesn't at all feel like a joke and really like the dev was going for something that would hold up well with something like John Carpenter movies (Prince of Darkness, They Live, and especially Assault on Precinct 13).  On the downside, finishing the game has pretty much turned me off from playing it again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 28, 2013, 10:22:59 PM
I've seen comparison shots and the retail Dear Esther is much prettier. I think there is additional dialog as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 28, 2013, 10:25:47 PM
Lego City Undercover

I beat the story mode with 32 hours under my belt and 40% completed. There are a ton of things to do in this game. It's pretty easy most of the time, but that is standard for a Lego. Great humor and a fun little world to explore. Definitely worth the price, it's in my top five Wii U games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on July 28, 2013, 10:31:16 PM
Do the extremely long load times detract from the experience? That's my only worry.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on July 28, 2013, 11:31:00 PM
Fire Enblem: awaking, very hard (on classic mode) the best game i have ever played on a handheld. :D
but i am stuck on the sega game shonbi hardest BOSS FIGHTS IN THE WORLD anyone  other any tips with the last boss? :(
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 29, 2013, 03:44:21 PM
Do the extremely long load times detract from the experience? That's my only worry.

I lived with it, but I'm not really picky about load times. I timed it and it was about two minutes, twenty some seconds from Wii U menu to running around the streets of Lego City, and about thirty seconds load for mission levels.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 29, 2013, 03:46:13 PM
Fire Emblem bothers my analytical brain. When a character dies, I want to start over because I failed. The limited days in Pikmin 1 bothered me in a similar way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 29, 2013, 04:14:10 PM
I didn't like the 30 day limit in Pikmin when I first played it on the GameCube, but going back to it recently in the NPC version I found it to be an integral part of the experience. It's stressful, but it's supposed to be stressful; the game would be far too easy without it. It makes you multitask, and stops you from saying "Oh, I'll just get that part tomorrow."
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TJ Spyke on July 29, 2013, 04:28:21 PM
I never found the 30 day limit a problem as long as you focus on work and don't just waste time. What annoyed me is beating the final boss and not having enough time to get that final piece back in time, so I had to waste a day just to bring 1 piece back.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 31, 2013, 02:20:30 AM
I've beaten a few things lately:

- New Super Mario Bros. 2 - Well, after beating NSMB U & a great deal of New Luigi U, this game was piss-easy.  Unfortunately, it was also rather dull and not terribly eventful. To make matters worse, the final dungeon in the bonus Star World is pretty much just the final main Bowser castle again, only slightly harder (albeit with an identical Boswer fight).  Overall, it wasn't a bad game but it was just completely forgettable.

- Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep - Much like the main game, it runs on for too long, but unlike the main game it's actually fairly entertaining and the story has some weight to it.  I really didn't expect after Tiny Tina annoyed the hell out of me in the main game to ever like her, but she definitely has some nice moments here.  I could have used a lot more variety in environments and the Archers in general can go **** themselves with their god-like aiming and Legolas-speed firing rate, but overall it was decent enough.  I don't know when I'll get around to the other DLCs, though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 31, 2013, 08:41:17 AM
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - ... Overall, it wasn't a bad game but it was just completely forgettable.


Is it too harsh to say that sounds like par for the NSMB course?
 :confused;
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 31, 2013, 11:28:55 AM
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - ... Overall, it wasn't a bad game but it was just completely forgettable.


Is it too harsh to say that sounds like par for the NSMB course?
 :confused;

To some extent, yes, but New Super Mario Bros. U's OK.  I've gotten my money's worth out of that game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 12, 2013, 02:42:23 PM
Monster Tale (DS)


First, let me be clear that the game has some issues. Most notably: the level design just isn't that strong. It demands a lot of backtracking, with new "powers" hidden away in previous stages that often serve no purpose other than to unlock a different section of the map.


However, that and other nitpicks all pale in comparison to what the game gets right.


Monster Tale is a charming game. The art direction and animation are very cute. The "pet sim" and evolution aspects are neat and give completionists something to strive for. Controls are tight and gameplay gives you options (via special powers) for how you want to approach different situations - although I suspect many people will spam a few favorite powers instead of taking the time to unlock and switch between them all. Best of all, it's just fun to play.


There is nothing so new or innovative here that Monster Tale demands to be played... but anyone looking for a fun adventure on their DS (or 3DS) should give the game a shot.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on August 15, 2013, 08:27:11 PM
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask.

I really like this series; although, I do get fatigued by the puzzles towards the end. The story is usually what brings me to finish them. The variety towards the end was better than normal, so I liked that. It seems like the series likes to play around with ideas to keep the core fresh, which is much appreciated. I was impressed with how quickly I adapted to the new pointing mechanic. Also the 3D translated well, to me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 16, 2013, 04:29:29 AM
I beat The Last of Us on hard last night. Technically solid game, and there were some pretty tense parts, but I came down with bad third-person shooter corridor-itus after about four hours. And the game is surprisingly long. For the most part the difficultly just scales by adding more enemies to each encounter, that otherwise play out the same every time. I was expecting more from the experience (really surprised about all the praise for the game's story, which couldn't be blander or more derivative).

I also ended up just running through the final true gameplay portion, expecting there to be some kind of crazy final monster fight or something. Nope.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: toddra on August 16, 2013, 12:26:39 PM
last game I beat was Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance on PS2, even when I had it come Gamecube I could never finish it because the button layout made some of the more useful combos difficult for me. But I found the PS2 style controller more fitting for that game and it was easier. The most "current" game I have played is Fall Out new Vegas but I have not come close to beating that somebitch.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on August 16, 2013, 12:39:15 PM
expecting there to be some kind of crazy final monster fight or something. Nope.


Then you completely missed the point of the entire game if this was your expectation.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on August 16, 2013, 04:52:59 PM
expecting there to be some kind of crazy final monster fight or something. Nope.


Then you completely missed the point of the entire game if this was your expectation.

Agreed, but I think we've all been a little bit conditioned by videogames to expect certain "tropes".  I think that's why the ending was so... perplexing to people at first.  People were expecting the traditional outcomes, but when Naughty Dog kinda threw in that "twist", I think it threw a lot of people for a loop.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 16, 2013, 05:28:18 PM
Eh, the point of the game was to kill bad guys over and over again. I was expecting some kind of escape sequence involving clickers to finish off the game (especially as you get that assault rifle, which is horrible against armored humans). Instead there was an easily circumvented soldier hallway as the finale. I hardly think that qualifies as some kind of avant-garde design choice or twist as opposed to off-key pacing. The game followed contemporary tropes rigidly the entire time before that.

And anyone, that's just one criticism of a pretty mediocre game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on August 17, 2013, 01:50:45 AM
Eh, the point of the game was to kill bad guys over and over again. I was expecting some kind of escape sequence involving clickers to finish off the game (especially as you get that assault rifle, which is horrible against armored humans). Instead there was an easily circumvented soldier hallway as the finale. I hardly think that qualifies as some kind of avant-garde design choice or twist as opposed to off-key pacing. The game followed contemporary tropes rigidly the entire time before that.

And anyone, that's just one criticism of a pretty mediocre game.


Wrong again. I'm not even going to bother to explain because you completely misrepresented the game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 17, 2013, 08:26:09 PM
You're right, I forgot to mention scrambling around alleys and nooks against the rhythm of the gameplay to scavenge stuff and pick up pointless tchotkes.  ;)

This review pretty much nails it, except for the fact that the story isn't good either. (Which doesn't really matter per se, as I don't credit games as a narrative medium.)

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/06/12/the-last-of-us-has-real-heart-but-not-much-else/

In general, I suspect that I am just not into Naughty Dog's style of game making. If I didn't dig Last of Us, do you think it would be worth it to give one of the Uncharted games a shot? I have access to my brother's PS3 for the time being and have been trying to take a look at its notable exclusives.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on August 17, 2013, 08:31:03 PM
Just stay away from Naughty Dog. We don't need you. :(
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on August 17, 2013, 10:18:18 PM
I won't say one way or another whether you'd like Uncharted if you didn't enjoy TLoU.  They are very different games, but at the same time, quite similar.  Obviously, combat mechanics and the third-person view are similar.  I think TLoU's slower pace during combat sequences makes the combat system(and that controller) much easier to deal with.  My memory's a little foggy of the later games in the series, but Uncharted has some serious bullet-sponge enemies.  I found that TLoU gave you a lot of freedom when it came to how to complete each encounter(helped by some really spotty AI).  I've been amazed at how various LPers have chosen to approach various situations and manage to succeed.  Uncharted is basically shooty-shooty-bang-bang with interactive climbing sections.

Ultimately, the games do boil down to a similar formula of combat section -> cutscene -> rinse and repeat.  Most games don't get away with that, but Naughty Dog has found a way to make their games compelling enough to enough people to escape that criticism.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Silenced on August 17, 2013, 10:43:21 PM
Haven't played many games in a while, but I did beat Halo 4 on normal quite a while ago.
 
The story was... eh. I felt as though the Diadact wasn't explained well enough, and his 'demise' was pretty pathetic. Really? The guy survives huge explosions and one Pulse Grenade sends him off. Personally, I think he's still alive.
 
I also had a good laugh at Master Chief's emotional moments. His voice actor isn't really fit for a dramatic shouting of "Cortana!"
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on August 18, 2013, 12:42:37 AM
Spec Ops: The Line

The gameplay is pretty standard for a third person shooter although none of the guns have any feel to them.

But the warcrimes, so many warcrimes. It is a grisly deconstruction and commentry on games like COD, BF, etc done well. It would recommend playing this game on this alone.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on August 18, 2013, 12:52:08 AM
I feel like they did the gameplay like that on purpose.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on August 18, 2013, 03:06:25 AM
It certainly makes sense they did it that way. Adds to the unrealness and sets the average violence low so when it does bring in the rain, you feel it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 18, 2013, 05:00:29 PM
I won't say one way or another whether you'd like Uncharted if you didn't enjoy TLoU.  They are very different games, but at the same time, quite similar.  Obviously, combat mechanics and the third-person view are similar.  I think TLoU's slower pace during combat sequences makes the combat system(and that controller) much easier to deal with.  My memory's a little foggy of the later games in the series, but Uncharted has some serious bullet-sponge enemies.  I found that TLoU gave you a lot of freedom when it came to how to complete each encounter(helped by some really spotty AI).  I've been amazed at how various LPers have chosen to approach various situations and manage to succeed.  Uncharted is basically shooty-shooty-bang-bang with interactive climbing sections.

Ultimately, the games do boil down to a similar formula of combat section -> cutscene -> rinse and repeat.  Most games don't get away with that, but Naughty Dog has found a way to make their games compelling enough to enough people to escape that criticism.

Hrm, that sounds like it maybe wouldn't be so great. The core combat of LoU was pretty unexceptional, only livened up by the flexibility you mentioned. On the other hand, I couldn't take LoU seriously, given the ridiculous AI and uber-heavy tone, so maybe a bouncier Naughty Dog vehicle would jibe with me better.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on August 18, 2013, 08:26:39 PM
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask.

I really like this series; although, I do get fatigued by the puzzles towards the end. The story is usually what brings me to finish them. The variety towards the end was better than normal, so I liked that. It seems like the series likes to play around with ideas to keep the core fresh, which is much appreciated. I was impressed with how quickly I adapted to the new pointing mechanic. Also the 3D translated well, to me.
Love your new avatar! :D
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 20, 2013, 01:50:31 AM
Kentucky Route Zero at least the first two parts that have been released.

Stunning game, gorgeous simplistic art style and fantastic music and audio. Similar to dear Esther in the fact that it is a story driven exploration game with no real puzzles or challenges. It can be disconcerting not having the sense of accomplishment from solving a puzzle, but if you can get yourself out of that mindset, the game really shines.

The game consists of exploring maps and visiting places. You look at things and you talk to people. The conversations are interesting because the responses you choose are wildly different. You are making your own story and choosing the motivation and backgrounds of people, it's really intriguing.

Once again, an indie title that does "interactive fiction" so much better than any triple A game out there.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on August 20, 2013, 01:55:43 AM
Speaking of interactive fiction, I just beat Gone Home. Even though I wouldn't say it is worth the price I paid, it is a very good and spoke on many volumes to me.


I feel like depending on your past experiences you will find something to take from this game. If it ever goes to $10, I'd say go buy it immediately.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 20, 2013, 02:24:01 PM
It is on my Steam wishlist!
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on August 20, 2013, 06:40:21 PM
I really want to play both KRZ and Gone Home! They both sound incredible. Unfortunately I just have too much other media to digest right now.
 
Word to the wise - Italo Calvino is no f***ing joke.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on August 20, 2013, 11:32:35 PM
It is on my Steam wishlist!
And with that i invite you to the steam thread! ;D
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 01, 2013, 03:46:42 PM
Wonderful 101:
Just beat the game. It was orgasmic. Final level alone makes Asura's Wrath look like a dry, boring schoolbook, both in terms of cosmic scope and absolute crazyness.

Also, me and my buddy beat "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light" yesterday. Ending movie was rather disappointing. It just started so abruptly and ended the game so fast i didn't even get it's over at first. It also looked rather cheap, even mid-stage cutscenes looked better in previous levels.

Still, Guardian of Light is a great co-op game. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Gwellin on September 03, 2013, 02:44:15 AM
EarthBound.

Played for the first time, and beat it. Such a strange game, but I have to say that I quite liked it. Well, besides the rather difficult and sometimes brutal parts of the game—but that's me being more used to the easy RPGs they're making nowadays.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 03, 2013, 01:33:59 PM
Well, I recently finished Killer is Dead, and it is indeed the true successor to Killer 7...in that it's also a pretty average game and doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  :P:   The combat can be fairly enjoyable up until enemies are able to attack you with both melee and ranged at the same time (thus making racking up combos fairly impossible), and the dodge mechanic is especially satisfying.  The game just feels like a lot of disparate ideas thrown together with no real cohesion, and the boss fights are pretty disappointing for a Suda 51 game.

Oh, and lest I forget...Killer is Dead is also one of the most sexist games I've ever seen.  Women in this game are completely ineffectual; stupid; or there for the sheer purpose of being ****ed for power-ups.  I just about reached my breaking point when I reached the train level and the characters started talking about how the men needed to take down the runaway train because "trains are a MAN'S passion. Women and children don't belong there."  I would have turned the game off right there out of disgust if it wasn't the second-to-last stage.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 12, 2013, 01:01:01 PM
Injustice

Oh wow, story mode is so short in this game. I literally finished it in two sittings. I remember how Mortal Kombat's story mode took me more than a week to finish and it was the best single player mode in a fighting game i played.

In this game story mode is built very similarly but it's inferior to MK in many ways:

1) as i said ridiculously short, just not enough meat in there
2) story mode is divided in "chapters" where you play as one character for a few fights.  MK's chapters i remember being pretty long, there have been like seven or more fights for each character. Some chapters took me entire evenings to get through. Injustice's chapters have just four-five fights per character. That's just not nearly enough to learn all the moves and get the general feeling of a fighter. Just as you are getting it, nope -- the chapter has ended, here's a new character -- start all over again.
3) the other problem with chapters is that there is just not enough of them, so roster isn't represented fully in it and that'd be understandable, if not for the fact that you play as Batman during three chapters. Three chapters as Batman, while everyone else gets one and some characters aren't in story mode at all.

My favourite characters to fight with were Superman and Green Arrow. Many other character i simply didn't get. Flash was pretty fun but i had no idea what most of his moves do, so i just spammed throws and regular kicks. Also couldn't make sense of Wonder Woman's stance system. Couldn't understand how to fight with Lex Luthor properly.

Ah well, i still enjoyed it enough, and the price being zero Costa Rican colones makes it easy to ignore these flaws.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 15, 2013, 06:26:04 PM
I finished Puppeteer a few days ago, and it is excellent.  It is, however, a game that you really have to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy, as its mechanics ARE simplistic and cutscenes DO go on too long.  However, in my experience the game was so incredibly charming, cleverly presented, artistically impressive, and fun that those faults didn't really bother me.  This game is very much the kind of game I've always wanted out of the Kirby franchise (which this game shares some similarities with).

For more, check out the upcoming NFR episode 24 in a few weeks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: AnGer on September 15, 2013, 06:37:00 PM
Ys I & II Chronicles on PSP.

With Ys seven, I was questioning the opinion of some people calling the series a "Zelda knockoff" because it felt more akin to Seiken Densetsu to me, although it featured a fair amount of things not typical for a straightforward ARPG.

Ys I & II on the other hand were much closer to a Zelda game, but still feel different. Combat, while still a little tactical, is faster and more direct, the lack of handholding felt refreshing (although it was a tad bit annoying to recheck everything because it has absolutely no handholding whatsoever) and for once, auto heal was done right.

On the looks side, I need to state that I am a sucker for Falcom's anime look. The character portraits look lovely, but not too out of place or too generically bishoujo-ish (which has taken over every anime style game nowadays). The music on the other hand... ergh. I used the "Chronicles" music and it sounded just not right – too speedy, too "pop-ish" and while not bad in and of itself, not befitting the game.

While not perfect by any means, Ys I & II: Chronicles is a game that should be played, because it felt really long since playing such a fun ARPG for me.

On to Ys: The Oath in Felghana... and after that, Memories of Celceta.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 21, 2013, 09:16:54 PM
Just finished the story in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. There is about 75% of a really good stealth game in here. Unfortunately, the game likes to put you in full combat situations, especially at the end of a mission and then your stuck shooting your way out.

They have three modes of play in the game that they score you on: stealth-non-lethal, stealth-lethal, and assault, but they seem to force you into the preferred playstyle of whatever cut scene throws at you.

There is even a couple first person shooter sections in one mission, and they are not the best

Online play is fun when you can find a match through Ubisoft's bork U play servers, but I don't have the time to dedicate to online
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 25, 2013, 01:28:16 PM
Finally finished Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii U). The game was fantastic, and the ending payoff was worth it.

Despite having no issues with earlier bosses (I was leveled pretty well due to focusing on finishing as many side-quests as possible during the game) the final battle was tough - it took a couple of efforts to put him down, although could have been faster if I had just used my head sooner and improved my strategy.

Have considered starting again, carrying over my stats and equipment and stuff, or going back to look for more quests and hidden bosses... but think I'll give the game a break for a bit. Will be nice to come back to in the future.


Now bring on X already!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on September 30, 2013, 12:23:32 AM
If you heard the aforementioned NFR 24, I mentioned having two maps left in Fire Emblem Awakening. That's not true anymore.

I made the right choice at the endgame, but I made several wrong ones and would love a chance to redeem myself - curse my utter lack of time preventing me from making sure I get everyone.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on October 01, 2013, 09:20:18 AM
StarDrive (PC:4X).

This game is an unfinished clusterfuck of some good unfinished ideas with terrible implementation mixed in with broken gameplay, poor UI, poor controls, incomplete quests, bugs, shallow senseless tech tree. This game should still be in early beta but the Dev pushed it out to release for god knows what reason. Avoid.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 30, 2013, 04:17:11 AM
Enough Plumbers (http://notdoppler.com/enoughplumbers.php):
What a great game.

Not just "great" for a flash game. It's simply great, period.

I seriously DID NOT expected that final boss. Great use of cloning gimmick and numerous power-ups throughout all 25 levels. Nice music too. Cool ending screen.

Now, onto the second one (http://www.notdoppler.com/enoughplumbers2.php)!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on October 30, 2013, 11:52:16 AM
Well, I finished Lost Planet 3 a few days ago, and it ended in a satisfactory manner, though I could have done without all the cover-based shooting the game just throws at you in the last few hours (this is not a cover-based shooter).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on November 02, 2013, 10:53:56 PM
So I just finished Splinter Cell Blacklist, and I really had a good time.  For the most part, the game gives you the freedom to play around the levels any way you want.  There are multiple approaches for each encounter, and each is viable depending on your preferences/skill level.  The game was actually a bit longer than I was expecting, though the forced combat/stealth sections kinda broke the flow of the game for me.  I really liked the final mission, with the exception of the boss encounter, which ended with a confusing/annoying QTE.

The story is completely cliche, and so are the characters, but I think the videogame context allows that to still be fun.  Flying around on the Normandy... er... the Paladin is a neat approach to creating a hubworld where players can pick and choose from a set of missions to complete, though I do miss being able to shack up with a waifu.

The cash-upgrade system doles out new toys and features at a nice rate; I always looked forward to the moments after a mission where I would spend my cash to buy new weapons/upgrades.  When I settled on a loadout that worked for me, I never changed it.  By the end of the game, I wasn't spending any cash because all of my gadgets/weapons were fully upgraded.  The cash could still be useful if you want to go back and beat the missions again and complete challenges with other weapons.

Finally, I just want to mention that even though EA and Ubisoft suck for creating another service in between me and my games, being able to return games on Origin is awesome.  And UPlay units, no matter how trivial the rewards, is awesome, and how I always felt achievements should be implemented.  Rewarding gamers with in-game trinkets is a nice gesture, much more than just a useless e-peen score.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 03, 2013, 03:46:39 AM
Blaster Master: Enemy Below (3DS Virtual Console) - Solid old Gameboy Color game, but I liked the NES version better. Glad to have save states for the last little bit, as there are some tough points and finding the right path in maze-like levels can be tough and time-consuming.


Dragon Quest V (DS) - Fantastic old-school RPG with a nice bump in production values for the DS release. I think liked IV better in retrospect, due to stronger characters, but the story seemed better paced here. Looking forward to VI in the near future.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 04, 2013, 05:04:05 AM
Candy Box 2 (http://candybox2.net):
What a game. I never beat the first one, but the second one captivated me much more and is more streamlined (as "streamlined" as possible for a game that likes to screw with you as much).

So i finally opened candy box and genuinely laughed out loud when i saw what's in it.

Basically to make a final push i had to eat a lot of candies (millions) and give my healthbar final boost enough to get through last bosses.

I got all items except for one. The last one i will probably get if i will win arcade games in one of the houses. Intriguingly, i still have the other house locked.

"Super RPG" in arcade is actually very interesting. RPG stripped to the barest minimum. It's all shop -- battle -- shop -- battle. And battle is just pressing attack button. While it sounds way too simple, the RPG experience is still the same: you are strapped for money and have to pick the right option between sword, shield or health to get through the next battle.

And as always for RPGs i suck at it. Whatever, i beat the main game, and while there are some post game stuff, i'm already satisfied with this game and myself enough.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on November 04, 2013, 07:53:29 PM
Just beat the campaign in Battlefield 4.  It's a Michael Bay movie; dumb, dumb, dumb.  But fun.  Even the score during the ending credits sounds like something from The Rock.  There are some silly glitches, the AI is dumb as ever, and they never get you in a mission where you get to fly a fighter or a helicopter.  But the game is gorgeous.  Now I just get to hope that multiplayer works.

Out of curiosity, I did a little experiment.  I was originally playing the game on high settings @ 1080p.  But I figured I wanted to see what the Xbox One version might look like.  So I dropped the res to 720p/ultra.  It was actually a bit jarring to go from 1080 to 720 even with the bump in detail.  I gave myself time to adjust to 720p, and I eventually did.  It isn't horrible, like some people would have you believe.  Bumping the res up to 900p, which is what I believe the PS4 is running BF4 at, the difference wasn't quite as pronounced.  I felt like I had to try to find things that looked better, though the difference is there.  Both versions should be great for everybody that picks it up, as the next-gen versions are both going to have 64-player multiplayer modes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on November 04, 2013, 10:32:17 PM
Enough Plumbers (http://notdoppler.com/enoughplumbers.php):
What a great game.

Not just "great" for a flash game. It's simply great, period.

I seriously DID NOT expected that final boss. Great use of cloning gimmick and numerous power-ups throughout all 25 levels. Nice music too. Cool ending screen.

Now, onto the second one (http://www.notdoppler.com/enoughplumbers2.php)!
agreed it's fantastic!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 05, 2013, 08:30:02 AM
SteamWorld: Dig (3DS eShop) - So roughly a week after starting, I polished off this game. Fantastic game and one that I recommend highly. The upgrade path and overall pacing is just right, the game is meaty enough but doesn't overstay it's welcome, and despite a bit of hand-holding there is lots of room to explore the environment.


My final scores after beating the game were solid in every category except time to completion... but that's no surprise since I really took my time exploring and trying to excavate every possible ore along the way. Does anyone know if there are multiple endings based on scores, or a reason to replay after completion?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on November 05, 2013, 12:37:15 PM
I want to get a 3DS primarily because of SteamWorld Dig.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Louieturkey on November 08, 2013, 07:22:38 PM
So I finally beat Tomb Raider.  I may or may not try to get the platinum with the online stuff (gotta find a partner since I've heard nobody plays the online stuff anymore).  I really enjoyed the game.  It was fairly easy throughout, but that didn't bother mean much. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 14, 2013, 06:25:20 AM
Super Mario Land:
It's very short but it's challenging enough so you won't blast through it in one go. That and bad physics.

Nice tunes. Decent variety with completely new world.

Didn't expect final boss to appear right there after i defeated fourth boss. I thought i will just move to next world but nope. Took me by surprise. Killed him with just one heart left.

Looking forward to playing second game. I tried it before but never started it properly. From what little i saw it was a much better game in graphics, controls and content.

Link's Awakening:
I guess i'm on a gameboy roll. Finally finished it. More than two years after i started it.

That trade sequence (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening-trading-sequence.php) was usual Zelda bullshit. Hate that crap. How was i supposed to know that i need to go under the bridge to finish sequence and get looking glass? People call Zelda 1 impenetrable but for me it's the other way around: it's the only Zelda game where i didn't need to use guide to look up for some BS puzzle.

Last boss had surprisingly many forms. And in general this game feels very full and complete for GameBoy game. Controlling the game with just two buttons is kind of a hassle but understandable. What is not justifiable is how text messages appear when you just touch stuff (like stones). It's just annoying.

At least the music was still great (one of the two things i like about the series).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 18, 2013, 05:56:45 PM
Kirby Mass Attack (DS) - Some neat moments. Low challenge level should be expected, but there are plenty of hidden medals to find and extra challenges to complete if you are so inclined. Also worth noting there are a nice batch of mini-games - another Kirby staple it seems. Not sure what to think about this one... not really interesting enough to recommend for most gamers but nothing "wrong" with the experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on November 21, 2013, 01:37:21 PM
Batman Arkham Origins

Not as good as the first Arkham Asylum, about on par with Arkham City but for different reasons.

The story and pacing (at least for the first 3/4 of the game) is more even paced and interesting than City, and the additions to combat and stealth arenas are appreciated. The biggest problem with the game is the lack of variety in missions. You get new side quests as the story progress, but almost everyone boils down to jumping into a group of thugs and beating them up. It gets tedious towards the end of the game, maybe I should have stuck more to the story.


The combat also needs some polish as counter are a little spotty and sometimes so is the camera.



Give Batman's batarangs more power, and his stunning arsenal a longer time. Make the thug circles areas larger and with some height differential. Give us more variety in the stealth arenas.

The problems with game seem to be issues facing the series as it moves forward. It's went in a open-world direction, but that is the part that works the least. The city is empty except for thugs, and they get more and meaner as the game progresses. You will be going around looking for Enigma data packs and the rooftop you land on suddenly has six armed thugs that you have to beat down before proceeding.

I think the series needs to emulate Hitman or Splinter Cell more than Assassin's Creed or inFamous.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on November 21, 2013, 04:02:21 PM
Totally agree on Arkham Origins.  I think that's why so many people view Asylum as the best.  I think if they find a way to expand on the investigation-mode stuff, both in terms of increased interactivity, and just more in general, they could be well on their way to something really great.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 22, 2013, 01:56:41 AM
You could replace Origins to Asylum in ShyGuy's impressions and that would easily be mine impressions and complaints  (still have to start City properly).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on November 26, 2013, 04:13:10 PM
I beat Hotline Miami.  My thoughts haven't changed from the "What are you playing" thread, but I just wanted to mention that I still have no comprehension of what is happening story-wise. 
 
I can't tell if they were being purposefully vague to leave the story ambiguous, or if it's more a matter of the indie tradition of making an "loldeep" story of some sort.
 
That being said, I haven't been that entranced with a game in a while, and wholeheartedly suggest anyone try it out if they get the opportunity.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on November 26, 2013, 07:30:28 PM
Super Mario 3D World
I completed the first eight worlds with all stamps and green stars so far. Technically, I beat the game. There's at least one more because I'm three stages into it. I unlocked the fifth playable character, but have not used said character yet. All in all, Super Mario 3D World is excellent. The game doesn't have the impact that 3D Land had, but it does just about everything better. I hope Nintendo moves on from it for now and tries something else with Mario lest the formula wear thin. Still, Super Mario 3D World is probably my favorite Wii U game out though there isn't much competition in that regard.

I plan on collecting the rest of the things and finishing the remain worlds (based on the stamps, there isn't much left) . However, I will probably start a different game (e.g. The Last of Us) or go back to one I never finished (e.g. Tomb Raider, The Wonderful 101).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 05, 2013, 10:14:50 AM
Time Hollow (DS)


Closer to a visual novel than a game. Puzzles generally require very little thought or effort and you can't really deviate from the expected story. Speaking of which, the story was... kind of disappointing. The twists never really blew my mind and it felt like you were running in circles a lot of time. However, seeing it through to the end did hold my interest.


Overall I'm happy with the experience but couldn't really recommend others go out of their way to track it down. Stick with 999 or Hotel Dusk if you want a similar but better experience, in my opinion.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 06, 2013, 03:58:27 AM
Enough Plumbers 2:

Ending boss was a tad easier than in first one. The ending screen was all kinds of awesome though. If you don't plan to play the game yourself, i highly recommend to look at it in all it's glory (http://s020.radikal.ru/i716/1312/18/62c73737f16b.jpg). Miyamoto's hanging skeleton was probably critique at Nintendo.

Last four or so levels were very hard. They were very long and pretty hard to do, especially with game's wonky hitboxes.

If you liked Double Cherry power-up in 3D World you should check out both these games. They're free anyway.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 16, 2013, 09:03:33 AM
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
This is the first time I've completed the DX version and not much has changed from what I remember though I forgot most of this game. The extra dungeon is nothing to write home about, but the effort is noted (still makes me wish they went the extra mile for The Wind Waker HD). As far as Link's Awakening goes, it's still good. I have three heart pieces left and I have no idea where they are. I don't think I'll go back for them.

The revamped special ending (completing the game without dying) is a little clearer on Marin's fate (In the original, Marin flies across the Game Over screen with wings, whatever that means) though the ending itself is surprisingly depressing for a Zelda game. No spoiler tags ahead because this game is forever years old and the statute of limitations for spoilers has since expired. Sure, Marin (supposedly) turns into a seagull like she wished and can fly off wherever she pleases, but she's a seagull and everyone she has ever known ceases to exist. On top of that, Link is stranded in the middle of the ocean with no food or supplies (same as the original).
That trade sequence (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening-trading-sequence.php) was usual Zelda bullshit. Hate that crap. How was i supposed to know that i need to go under the bridge to finish sequence and get looking glass? People call Zelda 1 impenetrable but for me it's the other way around: it's the only Zelda game where i didn't need to use guide to look up for some BS puzzle.
The Owl in the screen right above the bridge hints that there's a secret under a bridge, of which there are two such bridges over water in the game. This may be a throwback to A Link to the Past where you get one of the bottles from a hobo camping under one of the bridges. As you probably know by now, the trade sequence does ultimately net you the optional boomerang which is fiendishly over-powered.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on December 16, 2013, 09:39:10 AM
Harmonknight
I beat it last Night so my list wouldn't be so pathetic.  I think the game could be a little more forgiving on the hits.  Have a better variety of Songs.  Have levels where you could pick the character.  Its an ok rhythm game.

LoZ:  A Link Between Worlds
If you enjoyed the original LoZ and the ones similar you'll like this game.  It does point out that some weapons need either enhanced or trimmed, boomerang.  I like the compact design and I always felt like I was doing something right to the end.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 16, 2013, 10:21:45 AM
Orion's Odyssey (DSiWare)


The game is pretty  much exactly what I expected: a cute, kiddie story used to present a bunch of tangram puzzles. There are a couple of additional modes that can help ramp up the challenge and a point system that allows you to earn currency to unlock bonus items from the in-game "store".


I had kickstarted the game because it sounded like a nice option for our kids (not yet... but when they get just a little bit older) and was a cute idea. Not sure I would outright recommend it to gamers, but it fully lives up to my expectations for a $5 DSiWare title. If you ever remember playing with tangrams as a child maybe you'd enjoy it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 20, 2013, 09:41:41 PM
Uncharted 2:


Hated this game. The shooting gameplay just got duller and duller as they upped the enemy counts and introduced goofy bullet sponges. Story was atrocious, can't believe this got praised so much for being an interactive action movie. The Prince of Persia-lite stuff was sloppy and stiff, and the setpieces were so ludicrous that I couldn't even enjoy them as over-the-top spectacle. I thought Last of Us was substantially overrated, but it looks like a gem next to this game. At this rate, Naughty Dog might make an actually good game in five years.


Dead Space 3:
Good lord is this game too long. I can't believe I'm complaining about the campaign of an action game being too long, but here we are. The initial portion in the haunted armada was fairly ho-hum stuff, but it looks much better in retrospect compared to the ice planet. The problem with this game is not so much the co-op focus, though that ends up being an obvious problem, as it is that they tried to convert this franchise into a Borderlands-style loot game. All of the optional missions are just loot raids. Which stops being satisfying at all once you upgrade the useful parts of your Rig and make a mega plasma cutter about halfway through the game. Seriously, if you play this game, don't bother with the optional stuff, it just adds 3-4 hours to the game of completely generic gameplay for unnecessary components. Plus the mainline game will at least be a bit more challenging this way.


Overall this game felt so lazy and rote that it almost seemed like the team was pissed off at what they were being forced to do with the franchise. It's also glitchy as hell, and compensates for it's bad design by having ammo, health, and resource drops off of every single enemy, at least on default difficulty. Even if you're curious about this game, I would just read a plot description and leave it at that (spoiler: it's really stupid). Blegh.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 23, 2013, 08:43:10 AM
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)


Great game, although a few of the boss battlers were disappointing.  Loved the constant variety and most of the creative levels.  Currently sitting at about 110 stars collected, and have just started the first bit of post-game content - expecting to play for another day or two before reaching 120, not sure how much further I'll continue playing (for now) after that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: UncleBob on December 23, 2013, 09:49:59 AM
That trade sequence (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening-trading-sequence.php) was usual Zelda bullshit. Hate that crap. How was i supposed to know that i need to go under the bridge to finish sequence and get looking glass? People call Zelda 1 impenetrable but for me it's the other way around: it's the only Zelda game where i didn't need to use guide to look up for some BS puzzle.
The Owl in the screen right above the bridge hints that there's a secret under a bridge, of which there are two such bridges over water in the game.

Also, if you clear out the fisherman's lake in Mabe Village, he mentions something about trying your luck at the sea.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 23, 2013, 10:25:34 AM
That trade sequence (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening-trading-sequence.php) was usual Zelda bullshit. Hate that crap. How was i supposed to know that i need to go under the bridge to finish sequence and get looking glass? People call Zelda 1 impenetrable but for me it's the other way around: it's the only Zelda game where i didn't need to use guide to look up for some BS puzzle.
The Owl in the screen right above the bridge hints that there's a secret under a bridge
I probably read that hint months if not years ago.

This may be a throwback to A Link to the Past...
That i didn't play.

As you probably know by now, the trade sequence does ultimately net you the optional boomerang which is fiendishly over-powered.
I only looked up in the wiki that i need looking glass to progress and didn't care enough to do any more additional steps.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 27, 2013, 06:43:57 AM
DuckTales: Remastered (Wii U)


Enjoyed the game. It was (in easy mode) much easier than I remembered, but I'm guessing that harder difficulties would fix that very quickly. Found it disappointing that in a fully voiced game there was no mouth movement for the sprites - something I could probably overlook in 8-bit days.  Also should note that I found the final "escape" sequence pretty annoying. Not sure if it was control issues or my issues though.


Some people complained about obtuse level design due to hidden passages, but they must really come from a different era of gaming. In my mind, if there is one part of the level that has noticeably different visual appearance than all other areas, or an odd/unexpected piece of stage design, then players should wonder why and check it out. In almost all cases of hidden passages or secret items, there were clear hints about where the player should go.


Some people also complained about the cutscenes that were added... but I think they were a good addition. Yes, they tended to be too long but brought the game together (nobody reads manuals anymore) and gave the game a nice shot of nostalgia for anyone who watched the old cartoon.  (Plus they are easy to skip anyway, so there really isn't much reason to complain.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 27, 2013, 08:22:05 AM
That trade sequence (http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening-trading-sequence.php) was usual Zelda bullshit. Hate that crap. How was i supposed to know that i need to go under the bridge to finish sequence and get looking glass? People call Zelda 1 impenetrable but for me it's the other way around: it's the only Zelda game where i didn't need to use guide to look up for some BS puzzle.
The Owl in the screen right above the bridge hints that there's a secret under a bridge
I probably read that hint months if not years ago.
You asked how you were supposed to know you had to look under the bridge. Well, the game tells you. Post-NES, Nintendo has been pretty good about telling players how to progress. There's always a hint somewhere. The proximity of the hint to what it's hinting at is literally one screen (though you have to walk around to get in the water). Not to sound insensitive, but it's not the game's fault you didn't mind your surroundings. Granted, I'm not terribly fond of the trade sequences in Zelda games, but I didn't find this one especially difficult or unfair.

To be clear, I'm not making fun of you as I have a very embarrassing Link's Awakening story myself. Back in the day, I put the game down for like eight months because I couldn't beat the final boss. I had no idea you could you jump over his arms and the thought never even crossed my mind. I eventually beat him by walking back and forth across the bottom of the screen. I had half a heart left after using the medicine. About a year later, a classmate in high school told me how to actually beat Dethl. If I had the Internet back then, I would have saved myself a lot of cursing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 27, 2013, 09:49:09 AM
I had no idea you could you jump over his arms and the thought never even crossed my mind.
...

Sigh.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on December 29, 2013, 11:10:03 PM
>snip<
Shadowrun Returns

It feels more like a game engine than an actual game. All the mechanics are there, it's just that they needed a more talented campaign designer/writer. 95% of the game feels too easy until you hit the last fight like a brick wall.  The level design felt more like I was playing a DnD adventure in scale instead of some far more grand. The lack of loot drops mean all items upgrades are done in the shop and they lack meaning and fullness as the delta between weapons are too small.

But the true saving grace is the Steam Workshop where you can effectively find unlimited content to play to the heat death of the universe. With this in mind, the packaged campaign becomes more of an introduction into Shadowrun. If you can buy it cheaply like now, go nuts.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 30, 2013, 01:15:38 AM
>snip<
Games!


Guacamelee:
The art style of the game and its attitude kind of wore thin part way through, and there were a few BS secrets. I was also irked that an area of the game is roped-off DLC from the beginning, takes some of the jazz off a Metroid-style game. Still, there are some good platforming challenges throughout, and some of the boss fights were quite good, even if the final boss was a bit of a fizzle. I wish 100%-ing it had some effect other than a slightly different cutscene. I got it on sale on PSN, and would've been somewhat displeased if I had paid full price. I guess Super Meat Boy spoiled me on indie game value.


Heavy Rain:
I was impressed that you're allowed to actually screw up the story majorly and never resolve anything. I did my first playthrough as poorly as possible to see if it would change anything, and it kind of does! You can cut off about 1/3rd of the game by letting characters die/get arrested and get an unintentionally hilarious David Lynch ending. I played through it again trying to do everything right and got the ideal outcome, but I wish I had just let it lie. Also, terrible game, script and controls were awful. There was one sequence where you're trying to escape the cops while helping a wounded person hobble along, and I had to restart it 7-8 times because I couldn't walk around three stationary cars in a row without running out of time. Worth trying if you're interested in incorrect evolutionary paths in the video game family tree.



Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on December 30, 2013, 11:27:51 AM
Tearaway
I actually beat this a week or so ago but I was holding off for the NFR GotY Show.  Its a good game as a package.  Any individual part wouldn't hold up alone.  The story is good and the whole papercraft conceit is really followed through for the whole game.  It has a charm to it but it really is an easy platformer.  I think its a good length.  In fact it could have been just a tad shorter for me.  I got it for $20 from Amazon and I feel like I got a good deal. 

Easily the Media Molecule game I've enjoyed the most.  Though for a game with customizing the story to you it really doesn't have any true re-playability except as comfort food.  Good game worth playing for anyone with a Vita.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: UncleBob on December 31, 2013, 08:37:05 AM
To be clear, I'm not making fun of you as I have a very embarrassing Link's Awakening story myself. Back in the day, I put the game down for like eight months because I couldn't beat the final boss.

Funny.  I have a similar Link's Awakening story.  I had borrowed it from a friend, rushed through the first part of the game, made it to the Face Shrine, then got stuck on this screen...

(http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04/Walkthrough/06/023_Thumb.png)

Now, it's much, much more obvious seeing it in color - but I was playing back on ye olden black and green Game Boy (and the non-DX version of the game).  I totally didn't see the hints (which seems obvious to me now).  Gave up, and gave him the game back.  This was before the days when you could just look anything up on the internet.  Well, technically, it was very early in those days, but we didn't have internet at home (god, I sound old, don't I?) and the school frowned upon using the internet for such things as video games.  Although it was really awesome when I used the school's network for Quake deathmatch.  Until the wrong person found out about it. :(

Several months later, I was over at my friend's house and picked up his Game Boy - Link's Awakening was in it.  I booted it up and saw my save file was still there, exactly where I left it.  I started back playing it and discovered the thing I was overlooking in about three minutes or so.  I promptly stole the game back from him and beat it that night (or, perhaps, early the next morning... pretty sure I stayed up past my bedtime on that one). :D
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 01, 2014, 08:31:10 PM
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (PS4) - Fun game and a real return to form for the series, but man the actual "assassin" on-foot gameplay is really getting tired and the game is way too long and the game world is waaaaay too big.  The modern-day stuff is just as bad as always, which is a real shame considering that Kenway's story is one of the best in the series.

Congrats, Ubisoft. This game was so long and so draining that I probably won't buy Watch Dogs now. Or whatever 2014's main Assassin's Creed game is.  I just can't take another massively huge Open World game for a long time.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: relewis2011 on January 04, 2014, 07:31:48 AM
Pokemon X! Still have quite a bit of post-game content to get to, but I'm moving on to Link Between Worlds for now...which I've already made it through the first three dungeons! This game is brilliant. From the wonderfully composed music, the great graphics, to the perfectly implemented merge ability (albeit the easier dungeons and puzzle solving, I'm not complaining as I can progress through the game rather quickly and still have a blast doing it), I've already deemed this as my runner up for GOTY.[/size][/color]
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 05, 2014, 09:01:06 PM
Crimson Shroud (3DS)


Lived up to the billing and beyond. Really, really enjoyed this game - although not sure if I want to keep playing for New Game+ content/ending right now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on January 05, 2014, 10:02:18 PM
Tales of Xillia (PS3) Spoiler-free, by the way.

Not really sure how I feel about this game. On one hand, I adore the two main characters, Jude and Milla, and their interactions.  Even a moment where most fans hate Jude, I found it to be believable and a part of his character. I also love the "skits", or extra scenes, that you can play if you so wish. While I question putting so much character interaction and development in option scenes, they were usually worth spending the extra time you had to put in to watch them. They were also the source of the game's comedy relief, so I guess that is a plus.

On the other hand... there's a lot to complain about:

Pretty much every other character, including their development and motivations. Their development was all over the place, from spread to thin and far out, to all at once. Especially for one particular main character, Alvin. My god, was he a train wreak.

Graphics. The in-game cutscenes were generally incredibly wooden, similar to how Final Fantasy does their in-game scenes. At certain parts, however, it definitely ruined some really intense moments.

Sound design. Whether it was in a cutscene, gameplay, or animated cutscene, the voice of the characters were overwhelmed by the sound effects and music in the background. While you can change that in the options, the animated cutscenes could not be changed, so I was forced to leave subtitles on for fear of missing anything.

Level and monster design. Ho. Ly. ****. I don't think I've ever more bored walking around in a JRPG before. Every fucking time you need to get through an area and fight monsters while doing so, 70% of the time it's the same looking green fields corridor with enemies and loots littered next to trees. On top of that, the enemies were the same 7 or so monster templates with different palette swaps or small variations.  By the end of the game I was so sick of fighting the same monsters in the same looking places despite being on the other side of the world I just avoided all the enemies to get to the next area. This right here is the biggest issue in the game for me.

Rushed ending leaving me unsatisfied with the 40+ hours I put into the game.

So... yeah. I loved a few characters enough to keep on going, but after a while most of the game felt like a chore and I was rolling my eyes at a few points. That said, there are a few times in the game were I felt that hit just the right spots, especially mid-game. Still, it's hard for me to recommend this game to anyone, unless you can easily forgive the typical JRPG tropes driven up to 11.

TLDR; The two very awesome main characters may or may not be worth the rest of the games shitty level design and cringeworthy moments from the other characters.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on January 18, 2014, 04:39:29 PM
Demo of Bravely Default:
That took me so long because i'm not that good at RPGs. Also the demo itself is long enough to easily pass as full game itself.

According to activity log it took me 16 hours spread over 13 play sessions.

I liked it, though now i not sure if i ever will get the full game. Not because i was confused by demo or turned off by something. I'm kinda exhausted of RPGs because of it.

I don't want to play full game now, but i liked the demo enough. Fun and inventive combat system, great visuals, nice music. I might buy it sometimes later just as a sign of support...

PS probably picking Crimson Shroud was not the most wise decision... And i still have barely played Earthbound...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on January 19, 2014, 03:59:09 AM
RE:Mercs

Got is for 8.50NZD ~ 6USD from the eshop, so a no brainer. The mission system is dumb and it's missing Leon and Ada also lacking CCPro support still. It is however more fun than Revelations Raid mode which is a bullet sponge simulator. It's a bit hard to maintain a combo compared to RE4 as there are less zombies attacking you and the AI tends to spawn zombies off screen standing idle instead of sending them after you especially apparent on some of the bigger, more open maps.

A good bit of fun if you can get it for cheap as a fresh copy.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 19, 2014, 12:16:14 PM
I think The Mercenaries 3D is missing Leon because of the whole Leon-and-Chris-were-never-in-the-same-game thing (until Resident Evil 6). That's pretty silly and even with that being the case, I would have rather had Ada than Krauser. Still, I wanted all the important characters. Sheva is notably missing. I'm not as disappointed in that since I unfairly dislike Sheva for being such a useless AI partner. Josh was awesome in Resident Evil 5.

The missions are pretty much just training exercises for the later stages which are next to impossible without upgraded skills.

The game doesn't have Circle Pad Pro support because the peripheral was released months after the game. I hoped Capcom would patch The Mercenaries 3D to work with the Circle Pad Pro, but I never really expected them to.

There are several spawn points throughout the stages and enemies eventually make their way to you, but the game encourages you to move instead of taking a stand in one spot. They will always run towards you if you're in their vicinity. As for combos, constantly moving and upgrading certain skills helps immensely. I recommend either playing as Rebecca (her from-behind melee move is pretty strong) or just using Play Coins to unlock her loadout for other characters. You can, conversely, earn an A or better through stages 5-5 to unlock it that way.

It's far from a perfect game, but you got it at a great price.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on January 19, 2014, 02:56:49 PM
Some of the maps are just too large for the AI. The Cargo container map and the red exploding barrel factory are way too large. Even when you are running around, you still get combo breaks from the lack of guys to kill. It's irritating to see from a gameplay perspective and comes off as a flaw as in level 5-EX the AI appears to be set "Fully ON" which means idle dudes on the otherside of the map is less of an issue.

A lot of characters have death or near death moves. Krauser has the Stinger/neck stab. Barry gets a headbutt which is almost always lethal. Hunk has The End/Executioner. Jill has the insanely funny neck breaker. Any time you're not killing with melee is time wasted. Depending on level and character I can pretty routinely hit the kill limit of 150 with about a minute to spare.

The weapon set I like the most is Claire's as it has a pistol that can be used as a ghetto SMG along with controlable amount of damage, a nade launcher with a safer level of friendly fire and a power weapon in the form of the semi-auto sniper rifle. Rebecca's weapon set is nice, but the SMG is harder to control burst wise which means it's much harder to "pick" the melee attack you need. The nade launcher means melee is mostly out of the question, but that set is unlikely to run low on ammo.

I would have rather have Ada over just about any of the males to balance out the roster. Sheva was barely a character even for a RE game. She was suppose to be your local liaison, but she never ever does anything job related or otherwise. There was never a reason to care for her other than you gameover if she dies.

Level 5-EX is a whole load of BS sometimes as the Mini Bosses have absurd amounts of health that require multiple mag dumps to kill. Level 1 to 3 is a massive waste of space and could have been done in one level or not at all. It's terrible as a tutorial and makes for equally terrible filler.

It's not a bad game at the price I got it at, definitely a bit of fun as a short arcade experience, but one would feel a little burned if you brought this at full price and a fool if you got it second hand.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 19, 2014, 03:52:33 PM
Ha, exploding barrel factory. I can't say I disagree. I often have to shoot a grenade across a very long distance just to keep a combo going. Usually, my combo gets broken. I saw a video of someone getting a perfect 200 max combo on the final stage though he lucked out a few times. I just recently finished that one yesterday on my first try (surprisingly). I think my max combo was 40-something since I couldn't find anyone to kill to keep it going. I had another long combo that got broken because I almost died from a Red Executioner. Luckily, neither the solider with the knife not the Executioner next to me bothered to attack while I resuscitated.

I only recommended Rebecca for her loadout. The melee move I mentioned seems to be her strongest one. For someone just starting the game, she's a good character to use and probably the second one people unlock. I stuck with Jill for most of my time with the game because she's Jill. I normally use HUNK now since his melee moves are strong, even Triple Shot will usually kill regular non-Los Illuminados enemies (except when he stupidly misses based on positioning). Still, I like Rebecca's loadout because the grenade launcher is good for clearing out crowds if overwhelmed and near dying and it can kill most stronger enemies with the Giant Killing skill pretty easily, even Super Salvador who is a stupid cock otherwise.

Sheva's absence is notable mostly because The Mercenaries 3D is primarily based on Resident Evil 5. I don't care for the character because besides being useless, she seemed included to alleviate those ridiculous racism claims. I just like Ada as a character so I was bummed she didn't make the cut.

I didn't pay full price, but I paid more than you did though I did buy it in 2011. I'd like to see a sequel to The Mercenaries 3D. I've had a lot of fun with the game so far.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on January 20, 2014, 05:29:27 PM
I just finished up playing through an obscure SNES gem that I'm not sue how many people have ever heard of. The game's called Super Metroid. I'm not usually one to beat games, even ones I absolutely adore like Super Mario 3D Land, but this one just grabbed me. The world is just brilliantly designed, and while the story is fairly light, it may be the best Nintendo's ever produced.

There aren't many games that I'd recommend to literally everyone, but I would say if you have any interest in gaming as a medium you owe it to yourself to at least try it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 21, 2014, 08:25:19 AM
Super Metroid is my favorite game ever, but I didn't really appreciate it until after I finished it. The game is also the source of a couple personal gaming failures. I fell down the pit where the Etecoons teach you how to wall jump and I couldn't do it for the longest time. If I remember correctly, I went back to my last save and was able to avoid it, but then I progressed to the space jump upgrade and couldn't do that either. My neighbor's cousin had to teach me the timing to continuously space jump which was maybe a year later. You know when I say I'm terrible at video games? That's not hyperbole.

Anyway, Super Metroid is one of the few really complete games. There's nothing about it I felt could have been done better taking into account the time it was released. I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Caliban on January 21, 2014, 05:09:12 PM
I want to get a 3DS primarily because of SteamWorld Dig.

It's on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/252410/
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on January 21, 2014, 08:00:42 PM
RE:Mercs

The Mercenaries 3D
I bought this game cheap on a whim, which was kind of a mistake since I had no plans for it, and so I still haven't played it. Are either of you folks interested in trying some co-op with a n00b?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on January 21, 2014, 08:04:23 PM
Sure thing. You got Steam or some way to communicate with you in realtime?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on January 21, 2014, 08:08:52 PM
We could use NWR's chat. The only other option would be AIM.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 21, 2014, 08:09:04 PM
Same. I do not currently have some other way to communicate, but I'm sure I can figure out something since it's 2014 and all. I think oohhboy is suggesting voice chat for strategy purposes. You can get by just making sure you don't die.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on January 21, 2014, 08:13:17 PM
It would help. Having some way to talk to each other makes connecting easier because you know, Nintendo.

Edit: In NWR chat now. I need you to add my ID 3222-5727-4873. The we are good to go.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on January 21, 2014, 08:17:09 PM
I'm hard of hearing, so voice chat is too much to concentrate on to try to understand it. I don't have a PC mic anyway, so text is the only option for me, I'm afraid. If that changes your mind, I understand.

EDIT: Oh, didn't realise you wanted me to play now, but I can swing it. Be ready in a few minutes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 21, 2014, 08:31:30 PM
Oh, you guys are playing without me.
(http://i.imgur.com/tHMgZzx.gif)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on January 21, 2014, 10:50:29 PM
Hee hee, sorry mate. Too bad the game is limited to two players! Maybe we could try and pick a date and time to play, Adrock? I believe I already have you added.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ymeegod on January 22, 2014, 02:33:39 AM
Have to agree Oblivion with the disappointing Tales of Xillia.  Not sure what people saw in this game but what I played was a broken story (with twists that make little to no sense) and a lame combat system.  The new "link art" made the game in a spam fest of special arts which made the game all to easy (think I died once in the game).

Was so looking forward to another Tales game but this one was an failed attempt.  You're better off replaying the old Tale games if you really have an JRPG itch.


Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 22, 2014, 02:46:05 AM
You're better off replaying the old Tale games if you really have an JRPG itch.

And speaking of which, we have an old Tales game releasing next week, as my favorite in the series (Tales of Symphonia) is releasing on PS3 in an HD re-release.  :P:

Haven't gotten around to Xillia, myself. I still need to finish the Epilogue from Graces F.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on January 24, 2014, 12:16:28 PM
Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice:
That last case was quite something. Time travel paradox is not what i would expect from AA game... Yet it worked for that case, i think.

Too bad all previous cases before kinda sucked and felt half-baked. I understand that they wanted to connect them in one huge case and they left them open ended so that they could be tied up in the end. But the case with singer wasn't part of the last case and yet still had numerous hanging threads just left hanging there: like you know, THE MOTIVE of the crime was left completely unexplained. There were a few comments from the Judge that would explain motives of the killer a bit and make him more sympathetic, but nope! Case closed and never addressed.

The explanation for Apollo's powers went way too long. They didn't have to conjure all that stuff about genetic skills interacting with bracelet because temperature of the body.. bla-bla-bla, bla-bla-bla.

It's magic! Done. Stop yourself. I get it, it's magic.

The other thing that bothers me, is how they had a mother who knows she has two kids and doesn't even try to meet them. Again! They had the same situation in the last game too. It bothered me there and bothers me here even more because it wasn't funny the first time.

Ah well. It's still AA game: outrageous characters, courtroom antics, stepladders. I liked how flashback scenes looked and sounded intentionally lo-fi. They probably went a bit overboard and sprites looked more like NES than GBA. But still it was cool.

Assassin's Creed III: Tyranny of King Washington:
Similar story -- underwhelming beginning -- good/okayish end. First two episodes is just a rehash of the same content.

Seeing pyramid in the middle of New York was cool though.  And Save the Bear mission (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leXMOEMSI7U) was cool too.

It's still ACIII though, and that means horrible stealth missions, complete absence of any QA whatsoever and full sync requirements that you might get or not get because of random events. Last episode had less of that though.

Animal powers make it a bit more fresh but it seems like designers thought that giving such overpowered abilities would be too easy and decided to double or triple number of enemies in all locations. So you better hope you're invisible because if you're caught, 20-30 guards will be on to you and animal power are hard to use in the heat of the battle due to clunky control scheme.

God help me, i am now seriously considering playing AC3: Liberation now...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on January 26, 2014, 05:23:19 PM
I just finished my replay of Uncharted 2.  I played the game on the lowest difficulty this time because I just wanted to blow through it.  After playing TLoU, there were plenty of moments in this game that made me wish I could throw a bottle or a brick to distract a sentry.

I had forgotten just how impressive this game was from almost all technical aspects.  Visuals are stunning, audio and superb, and the narrative is just another example of how far ahead of the competition Naughty Dog can be.  There are obvious flaws with some of the gameplay decisions, but most of those end up being minor quibbles.  For instance, at times, despite some superb level design that does a really good job of indicating where you need to go, I never really have a good grasp on just what the limits of Nate's jumping abilities are.  Instead, it seems like there are some jumps that you are allowed to make, and some you aren't, regardless of whether the physics of it work.  In some cases, a jump looks like it will fall short, but Nate gets some magical extension of the jump and he reaches the ledge.  Some of the puzzles would have been much easier to solve if that wasn't such a guessing game.

I think someone here mentioned that they wished there were more contextual animations for things like running into walls.  I am inclined to agree with this, as going through the game again, those animations are far too limited in their triggers.  There also happens to be a lot of sliding when you need to activate a lever or a switch and Nate's character model isn't in exactly the right location to begin the animation.  Obviously, there are limits to what the PS3 can do, so hopefully a PS4 iteration can increase that level of immersion.

Combat is the area that I can imagine being the most divisive.  It works well enough, but, and this might have to do with the controller, I never fell in love with it.  Melee is fun enough, but the gunplay never felt quite as empowering as it should.  Enemies are bullet-sponges, and it is really pronounced in the last 30ish minutes of gameplay when you have to fight the blue smurf-guardians.  There are far too many encounters that start with 4 or 5 enemies, and then grow every time you dispatch the first wave.  After playing Tomb Raider on PC, and experimenting with mouse + keyboard, I really miss the precision aiming afforded by that setup.

The standout of the series is presentation and narrative, and this game really nails it.  I really enjoy the interactions between the characters.  Voice acting(performance capture?) is top notch, really solidifying the cinematic experience of the game.  I like that characters continue to converse during lulls in combat, something that I think BioWare got away from in Mass Effect 2 and 3.  The personalities of all the characters have been meticulously crafted, and everybody feels fairly consistent.

After finishing Uncharted 2, it's really neat to see just how much they improved on the first game.  Still having TLoU relatively fresh in my mind, it's incredible to see just how much they've managed to build on their formula.  I look forward to whatever it is Naughty Dog brings to the PS4(Uncharted 4 by all estimations) and seeing just what steps they take to improve on an already great formula.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 10, 2014, 01:58:32 PM
Metro: Last Light (PC)

Got really sick of this game about 2/3s of the way through. Once the impressive graphics and atmosphere wear off, you're basically left with a non-interactive railed exhibit, with occasional perfunctory shooting sequences. Human fighting is okay, but there's no reason to use the stealth mechanics because the game is really easy and there's plenty of ammo on non-Ranger difficulty (and I wasn't about to pay for a hard mode). Monster fighting is awful, though, just a chore, made worse by several instances of "fight endlessly spawning creatures while waiting for an extremely slow elevator/trolley/whatever." Also, the writing is really bad and there are some godawful boss fights. I'd skip this one.

Tomb Raider (PC)

Enjoyed this one for the most part. It's actually more like Arkham Asylum than Uncharted, just with mediocre shooting action instead of good brawling action. I got burnt out on the "collect 10 mushrooms!" stuff, but did go back and get all of the GPS caches and journals and whatnot. I quite like the vertical arrangements of the larger areas and the general design density. Overall I could have done with 75% less combat and 75% more environmental puzzles.

I think it would've been cool if they'd limited Lara to the bow for most of the game, with maybe some limited handgun ammo. With that you could have fewer combat encounters with much greater impact, perhaps a hard limit on how many cultists are on the island (similar to the Treasure Island book) instead of the illogical thousands seen in the actual game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: magicpixie on February 15, 2014, 03:23:09 AM
The Last of Us DLC - Left Behind

For $15, it's tempting to say that this single player DLC is overpriced.  At the same time, with new assets, and the whole performance capture aspect, I can understand that the content was probably pretty expensive to create.  Overall, there's not really anything here that wasn't in the original game.  It's gameplay sections spliced together with cinematic sequences, and sections where characters converse with each other while you walk around.  Again, the appeal of these games lies in Naughty Dog's ability to create a cohesive world with likeable and/or believable characters.

For the most part, I think they did a pretty good job with this content.  Animations are still top notch.  Voice work is astonishing.  I really enjoyed Ellie's character, and getting the chance to explore her past(and some parts from the main game) was most welcome.  I loved the pacing - combat and exposition gameplay was cleanly delineated, and the plot mechanic they used to do so was executed perfectly.  My biggest complaint with the story was that the plot's main twist kind of fell flat to me, mostly because it felt to me like Ellie and Riley were acting years beyond their 14ish years.  Of course, that may have just been a way to show that kids growing up in such an oppressive environment are forced to mature faster.  I think Ellie may have been even more foul-mouthed in the DLC than the main game.

Actual gameplay was a mixed bag for me.  The sandbox arenas are back with the twist that enemy encounters are not just limited to one type.  Infected and survivors both inhabit the same encounters, opening up new tactical opportunities to pit foe against foe.  I had fun with this mechanic, but in such a short DLC, encounters were obviously limited.

There was also a bit of a quirk to one of the encounters.  I had to get a generator up and running before crossing a parking garage.  Before attending to the generator, I explored the entire room before doubling back.  As soon as I picked up an item I needed, a bunch of enemies spawned out of nowhere.   A minor quibble, but it was definitely jarring.

Ultimately, I felt a bit disappointed with this DLC.  I loved getting back into Ellie's perspective, and I loved getting back into that world.  Seeing a bit more about who Ellie is raises some questions for me about Ellie's reaction at the end of the main game, and the discussion I have with myself is compelling.  I think the DLC's length really shines a light on its weakest component, the combat, and makes it really hard to justify the price.  But if you loved The Last of Us, and you loved Ellie as much as I did, there are enough moments here to make you smile.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oblivion on February 15, 2014, 11:08:41 AM
I, on the other hand, loved the DLC and what it did that video games are generally too afraid to do. Considering how much I enjoyed it, I felt the price was completely justified. This is all subjective, of course.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 17, 2014, 04:00:55 AM
I have finished Danganronpa, though I have much to do before I've "completed" it. Man, that game has some really awesome moments, but it kind of plummets into some real cheesy crap towards the end and common sense just flies out the window. Still highly recommended, though.

On a sidenote, the bonus mode that unlocks when you beat the game is just...bizarre... :Q
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 11, 2014, 12:12:29 AM
Arkham City (Wii U):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzRm_sV4Lo5sC9B) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAC_UqFMSgysfQ)
Also collected all 440 doodads.

Open-world and/or collectathon design can be slapped onto any genre be it platformer (Mario), 3d space shooter (Elite), city roaming simulator (Assassin's Creed), primitive brawler (Arkham games) or anything really.

Collecting aspect ensures that people with mild OCD will enjoy this part either way, but the main gameplay routine be it walking, flying or jumping that you're doing in between collecting, should also pull its weight.

I do enjoy platforming or roaming the cities, but i can't say i like brawling as Batman as much. It's okay i guess but the combat system just never really clicked with me.

One of the problems that spoils entire game, not just the combat, is overcomplicated controls -- most of the dozens and dozens and dozens of things you do in the game are mapped onto combination of different buttons pressed in some order. It's just as demanding as fighting game where you need to memorize combinations of button presses.

And it's not just button presses -- moves also differ depending if you're pressing it once or twice or hold it. Plus there's a timing placed on top of all this heap of game mechanics.

Bayo's combat is enjoyable by itself, but in Arkham games it's a slog you need to push through to get to good story parts. That's why i didn't bothered with combat arena challenges in the game.

There are so much stuff you can do, so many moves but some of them are so situational and arcane, you will miss majority of this stuff unless you start doing challenges that will force you to do this on purpose, like glide boost kick (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXVxLZRVV00) or grapple boost takedown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wJt23_nOlI).

Still, it's a good game, and you definitely feel how big it is. VA, story stuff, comic book fanservice are best parts. Oh and flying with a grapple hook is also pretty cool in a Spider-man 2 kind of way.

I still kinda want to playand finish Origins... Halp.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 17, 2014, 04:53:33 AM
The Swapper:
According to steam, entire playthrough took me 7 hours. A good hour of it took me to solve one particular puzzle wasn't that hard in hindsight.

My impressions about quality of puzzles hasn't changed: they're still stull too "fussy", and can be solved just by trying out things in random ways until it kinda solves itself. There is no thought put into them, no "trick" behind them, like every single puzzle in Jelly no Puzzle has.

Probably the only puzzle i felt was genuinely well designed mechanically was the one where i had to place spaceman on four pad on both floors and ceilings:
(http://i.minus.com/ibtKfcSrdv0S9i.jpg) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=238484841)

There are two endings, i chose suicide over taking over other man's body to save myself. It's kinda irksome that you can't come back after one ending and choose differently to see second ending. But no big deal: i just watched the other ending on youtube.

The plot is okay, good even. Certainly better than most. Nothing super special that wasn't explored in good sci-fi stories half a century ago, but the attempt is appreciated.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: josephhotseat on March 19, 2014, 01:06:38 AM
I don't have much to say about the games I've finished since I starts with one and end up with another one  :-[

But I already finished The Walking Dead Episodes 1-3, I am now playing episode 4.  ;)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 26, 2014, 02:03:26 AM
Ninja Gaiden (both on 3DS and on Retro Achievements (http://retroachievements.org/user/azeke) emulator):
I've already cleared the game on 3DS a few times before but it was using a save state starting from 6-1 so i didn't counted that.

I wanted to do it all in one sitting. Also i was skipping all cutscenes and was missing out on "amazing" story.

The most important thing you need to remember to beat this game is "don't stop for nothing". Enemies in this game are not there for you to kill, they're here to stop you from moving on. So don't pursue them if you're not progressing at the same time.

Screen border is your most efficient weapon -- use it by running all the time and getting everyone (mostly birds) cut by the border and vanish. There are places where by abusing enemy AI you can make them go into the border and disappear completely.

The other thing is that you need to treat your health almost like an item or an ammo. You have lots of health so why not use it? Getting yourself hit is sometimes the best option you have. You can hit yourself on purpose and use temporal invincibility to get through impossible segment, or even use knockback animation that otherwise is the bane of your gameplay.

The hardest part in the entire game is probably 5-3, because of a segment where you need to jump two times right towards the dudes with rocket launchers while the green dude is jumping at you AND you have a white bird on your tail AND a bat appears on second jump:

(http://i.minus.com/iCsswTSQ91oTG.jpg)

You can cheese through the first jump by getting fire magic earlier but it won't last enough for the second jump... You need to slash in the very millisecond you land to kill rocket launcher guy before he fires and knocks you back into the pit.

The part right before it can also get tricky:
(http://i.minus.com/is7iMFiystvPh.jpg)
Cheetah appears running at you right when you land your second jump -- there is a window of quarter of a second for you to react and jump out of the way.

Stupid thing about the final boss isn't that it sends you back to 6-1 after you die (i've played level 6 so many times, i've memorized all right patterns i need to do to finish it in one go so it's not really a problem), but that your magic depletes completely between boss phases so if you want to do all final boss phases in one go there is no reason for you to save your magic for later phases, because come phase 2 your magic will be zero whether you used it or not.

I can do phase 1 without magic, i can do phase 2 without magic, but the last phase is just too much to handle with just a sword. It's much simpler to stock up on magic by replaying level 6 (get at least 80 magic) then remove the head with two fire blasts and then just start spamming alien's belly with further blasts.

Music. While 4-2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2LF2t4YlBI&list=PL85DC373E4DF2BC52) is definitely the shining gem in the soundtrack (even developers realized that and made it the music for the ending sequence), after playing the game back and forth so many times i got to appreciate other tracks as well: 5-1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2boY0DCuXKE&list=PL85DC373E4DF2BC52) is HYPE incarnate, 5-3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m7b470qVds&list=PL85DC373E4DF2BC52) sounds like something written in times of Bach and Mozart and to be played on a clavier.

Because i played on raNES (i.e -- PC) i needed some PC controller setup. Xbox controller that i otherwise for everything else on PC clearly won't do because of atrocious d-pad.

So i dusted off my bluetooth receiver and used gloverpie program to connect my Wiimote and Classic Controller Pro. It is such a hassle to set up and i always have to do a few times for it link up properly and the worst thing is that you need to do it each time anew for each session.

At least once i got it working, it felt very good. Classic controller's d-pad is awesome.

There is still some small lag with this setup though, i feel like reaction time on button presses need some tightening up because i found a few moves way too hard to do with this setup, like climbing the wall vertically -- it's much easier to do on a keyboard of all things.

After finishing the first NES game, the next day i received Ninja Gaiden Black in the mail! Spoiler: it's also awesome!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on April 04, 2014, 10:29:46 PM
Just beat inFamous: Second Son.  It's sort of a mixed bag compared to inFamous 2, but overall i'd say I had just as much fun as the last one. 


The protagonist, Deslin Rowe, is a surprisingly enjoyable character that's fun to play as, and his brother Reggie is an entertaining opposing force to him throughout the story.  That said, the downside is that those two characters are the only ones you really care about.  inFamous 1 had an interesting feel of you unraveling this complex story with a crazy twist near the end.  inFamous 2 had a feel like you were fighting against the clock to prepare yourself against the prophesied beast.  The downside of Deslin being so jovial in trying to get his powers is that there doesn't feel like there's much weight to the story until a pivotal moment late in the story that drives everything towards the conclusion. 


The powers are pretty neat.  Deslin's power is that he can absorb the powers of other conduits, which acts a means of gaining new powers.  I won't delve into what powers you get, but they all have strengths & weaknesses.  The best part about the new powers, and this is probably the biggest improvement over the other games, is that they allow you to traverse the city so much more effectively than Cole was ever able to.


Overall, a lot of good fun, if maybe a little less compelling from a story standpoint.  Can't deny it's probably one of the better games for PS4 right now, so I'd say it's worth the purchase.  I'd give it about an 8/10.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 07, 2014, 01:32:11 AM
Assassin's Creed: Liberation (PC):
Finished it. Save file says i spent 15 hours on it, though it felt longer (maybe it doesn't count replays). Also note that i tried to prolong the story as much as i could and collected almost everything and did all extra missions.

Did full sync on everything. It wasn't as hard here as in main games, conditions mostly are pretty lax and you can get them on the first go, there were probably just 3-4 missions that i had to replay many times to get full sync.

As usual for this series, it gets annoying when full sync depends on broken game mechanic (like vehicle control in Brotherhood was amazingly broken and made it impossible to full sync without using glitches or missions in III that depended on your ally AI -- so infuriating when your full sync relies on somewhat random mechanic that is completely out of your control).

There was one mission that depended on "stealth running": run through predetermined path while guards will shoot at you if they see you and you're on a timer and oh... DON'T GET HIT even once.

One "boss" mission that had full sync requirement to never get hit i did after many retries but i had to figure out almost perfect positions and moves i need to execute. Almost perfect because combat system is very wonky and not reliable at all, your moves may or may not work and enemy AI also acts somewhat randomly.

After spending an hour on this, i got enough of it and bought lots of smoke bombs. The other two "boss fights" i cheesed through just by spamming bombs and killing everyone while they cough.

I collected most of the doodads, but was missing few voodoo dolls and assassin coins. When i looked it up, it told me that these two voodoo dolls are not on the map and only appear during two special missions that i have to replay in full. Yeah, no, not gonna do that.

Pocket watches are rather blatant attempt to give you something to spend your money on, given that they don't have any importance for neither gameplay or story.

Story is stupid as per usual (for all videogames i could say), but the mission where i had to scare soldiers with voodoo magic was funny. By the end plot got very hokey, but that's par the course for the series (after all so far the only legitimately semi good story was in Revelations).

Also there was one character (http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/George_Davidson) who looked normal in most of his missions, but in his last mission he suddenly became a pimp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y9xy_jjqPI&t=11m50s). A hat with feather, purple outfit and he even changed the manner of his speech to match. Am i supposed to laugh or cringe, i honestly have no idea...

Overall the game is very fully featured for a console game brought to handheld. They didn't really change anything. Probably the only thing lacking compared from console games is sound design: from somewhat mediocre music to small selection of citizen's reactions. It gets bizarre hearing people sighing constantly as you run past them, it's almost like i'm playing Pikmin or something, they sigh in almost exactly the same way.

Despite all my whining about this and that, it's a good game.

I can honestly recommend it if you want to check out some AC game but not sure which. Sure, II or Brotherhood are better picks, but they're also extremely long. If you want something with a smaller commitment both in price and time and gives a good representation of the entire series with warts and all (good city roaming and collecting, mediocre/tolerable everything else), it might be worth checking out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on April 07, 2014, 01:37:02 AM
Infamous Second Son - "Eh"/10

I just beat this game last night, and while it's decent enough and has its strong moments the game overall just felt really flat to me. It doesn't hit any of the highs that Infamous 2 hit, and the powers are REALLY too similar. This is the first Infamous game where I really felt the repetition sit in, and I'm really not looking forward to playing the game again on the game's cartoonishly-evil path.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on April 07, 2014, 06:48:12 AM
I just finished Knack, and aside from a final boss encounter that is total bullshit (no checkpoints in a multi-stage encounter where you die in two hits? Really?!!!)...I actually had a reasonable time with the game. Maybe it's because I played the game at a fairly leisurely pace over the course of several months and maybe it's because I gamed the system quite a bit by importing a ton of rare collectibles in from the companion App, but I found the game surprisingly relaxing. Sure, the game is brutally unforgiving, but at the same time most of the time (once again, "**** you", Final Boss) the challenge was pretty fair and its leads to a fairly relaxed flow of battle. You study your opponents' attack patterns for openings, you dash in, and you annihilate them. If you mis-time your movements, 1/2 your health gets wiped out. If you time it perfectly, you slaughter everyone.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on April 11, 2014, 03:48:21 PM
Recently beat Pikmin 3.  I got all the fruit and, in total, took 58 in game days.  I feel like I wasted so many days trying to figure things out and not actually getting fruit.  The multitasking aspect felt weird.  You couldn't really do anything while not controlling the other characters.  You either had them waiting somewhere or walking someplace.  Maybe I was trying to fight enemies in one area and move fruit in another somewhere else instead of just focusing on fruit and population.  Though, using that feature to stock up on spicy nectar turned out to be an excellent strategy, so the feature is clearly useful.

I really liked this game.  Exploring the world is really fun, especially as you get more Pikmin types.  I didn't like that you get blue Pikmin at the very end of the game, (the next area is the final boss) but the world really opens up after that.  Getting the fruit always felt like a realistic goal and typically felt rewarding.  Enemy regeneration was a constant pain that often slowed progress.  I don't mind the day structure, since without it there's no urgency, but I wish the days were longer.  There was a time or two where I had to retrieve fruit/harvest organs from an area boss and ran out of time.  And most of the bosses are a trek; even though, the game has good ways of having you create new paths and shorts around the levels.

Also, this game looks great, and the Pikmin are totes adorbs.

8.5/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on April 11, 2014, 10:46:19 PM
Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate Deluxe Edition HD Remastered Game for Gamers Limited Edition eShop Version
6/10
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzRuHT88FQoalG2)
Finished the main story in 7 hours, 80% complete on Normal difficulty. The game is great good alright. The exploration can be fun. Moving around in the 2.5D space can be a little janky at times as you find out where you can go and grapple. But once you do everything clicks, specially once you begin acquiring upgrades for you gadgets. Unfortunately the combat never clicked for me. It felt unresponsive and muddled. As you got more upgrades to your batsuit you could reel off more impressive combos but it never felt satisfying. All it took is one missed button prompt to break up the flow of the fights. Some bad guys required specific movements (stunning them with the cape, then flipping over them to attack them from behind) that were hit-or-miss. Things did not get better with the boss battles. For me it just became an exercise in frustration. Hit them once, die while trying to figure out the next pattern. Rinse and repeat until dead.


I know there are alternate endings to the game but I don't think I'll replay this game for them. I'll just watch them on YouTube. Maybe I'll go back and 100% it, but the game didn't motivate me enough right now. At least it's short enough that I could finish it.


Knytt Underground
9.5/10
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzRfCpNkjZDyTie)
This game is probably the best eShop game I've played so far, if not the best Wii U game overall. I enjoyed the sense of exploration and the story. The environments and the music combined in ways I've rarely seen before. The first 2 chapters in the game were great starters for the real meat of the game: Chapter 3. It is a truly massive world, and while it does use parts of the first 2 chapters, there's still plenty of stuff to explore. The good thing is those first 2 chapters taught you everything you needed to know about the game and overcome the environmental puzzles the last chapter throws at you. And the secrets...oh there's plenty of those, too. Secret passages. Secret areas. Secret puzzles. Even secret rooms in the menu screen.


My one main gripe with the game concerns the ending.It is not satisfying at all. The game just abruptly ends, just like Chapters 1 and 2 ended. That felt really frustrating because you go all over this big beautiful world ringing all the bells of fate, and the game doesn't even give you a chance to ring the final bell! Yes, I can appreciate that game ultimately teaches me that it's all about the journey and not the destination. But dammit I spent so many hours and I really wanted that last moment of gratification. And the game took it away from me.


Aside from that, I will say I loved the story. It's one of the few games I've played that deals with the concept of faith in a way that does it justice. It doesn't force you to pick a side because it understands that we all have biases. Instead it molds the supporting characters in such a way that you can experience the story through your own personal lens, or take the opposing point of view and see how it feels. I will disagree with Daan's review on this site and say that while there is lots of swearing, I never saw it as childish or unnecessary. It fit well with the characters and the mood of the story at the time and never felt gratuitous.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 16, 2014, 05:49:26 AM
Jelly no Puzzle (freeware puzzle game on PC):
(http://i.minus.com/ikCiGjZrPJU42.jpg)

Last level requires some real ingenious thinking and now finally after few weeks of tackling it on my lunch breaks i finally solved it. Levels 40 and 19 were the highlight.

Unquestionably the hardest block puzzle game i ever played. Superbly crafted levels and extremely tight design where literally every detail matters and is a part of final solution.

Last week i showed the game to my colleague, he basically went though most of it it since then and really, really loved it (with some harm to his professional duties i'm afraid). Last time i checked he was also stuck on 40. Even though he solved at much faster pace than me i at last was still the first to crack final level.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 20, 2014, 01:25:09 PM
Etrian Odyssey Untold: Millennium Girl (3DS)


Solid game. I enjoy dungeon crawlers, and the Etrian Odyssey series is pretty solid in that regard. Untold adds a bit of story and a pre-determined party to make it an easy introduction point. (Advanced users can skip those features, and might prefer to build a party of their own choosing.)


Regarding the game itself, my only let-down was the "final" boss being far too easy - but in RPG tradition there are multiple optional bosses to take on along the way that should give you a run for your money, and the real final boss that can be attempted as a post-game to challenge if you so desire.


Glad to have played it, well worth owning in my opinion The only question is which to get between this remake and Etrian Odyssey 4 - but I think that depends on what you are looking for. I liked 4 slightly more but felt Untold was an easier entry point into the series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 01, 2014, 12:43:25 AM
AiRace Speed (3DS):
Done. Got all achievements. The last two ones where i had to keep getting "low energy shield" warning for 60 seconds straight (got it by finding sparse enough area with a slow ship and scraping the floor doing circles while keeping the shield meter in the red whole time) and the one with keeping nitro for 120 seconds without crashing (i stupidly mixed up 120 secs for 1:20 and was confused why am i not getting it, until i realized that it's 2 minutes and none of the regular levels are long enough to last 2 minutes with nitro on whole time).

The game itself is alright i guess. The gameplay gets stale rather quick and environments are kinda bland. What saves it is achievements and friends leaderboards. Checking if you friends beat you and then beating his time is pretty fun.

This game reminded me of NY Racer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Race) (game based on flying taxi part in Fifth Element) -- man i played it a lot back then. I remember it having great, vertical 3d spaces.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on May 11, 2014, 05:03:11 PM
It may have taken almost a year, but I finally completed every level in Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. I have neither the patience nor the desire to go through Mirror Mode and Time Attack Mode. I'd say 90% of the game is really fun, and the rest makes me want to punch something due to the extreme difficulty. I can finally open my copy of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 16, 2014, 04:19:14 AM
After more hours invested than you would believe, I have Platinumed Final Fantasy X HD for my 91st Platinum. I killed all the Dark Aeons, Nemesis, and Penance. I fully-upgraded all the Celestial Weapons. I maxed out the Sphere Grid for EVERY character.  Yet despite all the sheer bullshit I had to do to get this Platinum, it's still easily my favorite game in the series with one of the best stories and cast of characters.

Unfortunately, then Square-Enix made a sequel, and man did it suck by comparison. But that's a game for another time.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on May 16, 2014, 08:19:15 AM
91st? That's some dedication! How many of those are games that were grinds or unfun? Which ones did you enjoy getting platinum on the most?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 17, 2014, 01:53:34 AM
91st? That's some dedication! How many of those are games that were grinds or unfun? Which ones did you enjoy getting platinum on the most?

Sorry for the late reply, but I had to look through my list a bit. For the most part, there are only a few games on the list that were a pure grind or "unfun". Of the 91 games I've Platinumed, it's hard to argue that I hated any of them more than I hated Resonance of Fate. Man, **** that game and everyone who made it. Pure grind from beginning to end. "How much of a grind?" I spent 110 hours on that game, and 5 of those were playing the ENTIRE game a second time in New Game+.  The combat system is pure, convoluted tedium. If you're wondering why I stuck it out for so long, it was one of my earliest Platinums, and I was unemployed at the time. It is BECAUSE of that game that I draw the line at Platinuming most Japanese games. Hell, after that game I'm amazed I stuck it out with Ni No Kuni, because that was one tedious, ****ing mess.

There are a few other games that were unpleasant, but for other reasons. For instance, Dark Void was an interesting concept, but the game was released unfinished so there were entire levels that failed to load required objectives into the environment and the game as a whole crashed fairly often. When the game worked it was pretty decent, but it rarely did. Likewise, Fallout 3 is a crash factory on PS3. It barely works, even by Bethesda's standards. It's because of that game that I didn't stick it out with Fallout New Vegas or Skyrim (which were far worse).

Generally speaking, I've seen a pretty clear delineation between the trophy lists in Western games vs. Japanese games: Western lists tend to favor skill and collectables, while Japanese lists tend to favor time investment and doing every single task possible. I hate Japanese trophy lists. They're made for obsessive-compulsive people without lives, which makes sense when you consider their otaku culture.

As for my favorite Platinums, I combed through the list a bit and here are a handful of them: Bioshock, Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy 10 HD, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rayman Origins, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dead Space 2.  In general, each of these games are pretty hard Platinums, but the pursuit of those Platinums caused me to invest myself into learning and understanding depths of the games' mechanics I hadn't really appreciated before. 

Having to complete Bioshock and Dead Space 2 on the games' hardest difficulty modes without any revival mechanic (and in the case of Dead Space 2, without the ability to SAVE more than 3 times) really made me come to appreciate their respective level designs and the sheer options available to you at any particular time. If you don't explore the bonus content in Final Fantasy 13, you won't appreciate the complexity and mechanical precision you're capable of with that battle system.

So yeah, the best lists push the player to their limits, but they're fair. They make you re-examine the way you look at the environment and gain better understanding of why the game is designed the way it is.  Unfortunately, most trophy lists are sheer checklists, especially Japanese ones.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 19, 2014, 04:57:11 AM
 Super Hexagon (Steam, PC):

I am not finished but i'm done with this game for now.

Main reason is because i am tired of trying to make it run smoother than 20fps on my home PC. It runs great on my outdated work computer, but just absolutely refuses to play nicely on my monster PC at home dropping frames, tearing frames and overall lagging.

I tried almost everything: switching to regular monitor (instead of plasma TV), setting monitor refresh rate to 59 instead of 60, turning v-sync off (it helps somewhat, but game still lags), updating AMD drivers, lowering output resolution and running it fullscreen or window. Nothing works.

On work PC i have five of the six levels beaten (you need to survive 60 seconds on them). On my home PC i barely finished third and even that with huge effort and after mutlitple tries, because Steam at first didn't register the achievement for whatever reason and i had to reset local data and redo it.

Had a lot of moments like this where i was less than a second from beating the level, very frustrating especially when you're unsure if the progress will be ultimately recorded or not:
(http://i.minus.com/iQxoN3klP8hh8.gif)

The other big reason for stopping is this:

Open Hexagon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKJ4ulHO28).

It's freeware clone of Super Hexagon and it runs like a dream on anything. Playing Super Hexagon at home feels like moving in a barrel of honey, movement in Open Hexagon feels like moving through ether: extremely fast and responsive with zero resistance.

So yeah, i guess until i find a way to circumvent my work network conditions so that i could connect to my steam profile from work, i will be content with Steam registering that i only beat half of the game. And from time to time dabbling in Open Hexagon should i want my hexagon fix.

Still, all these tehcnical whinings aside, i greatly enjoyed the game. I wouldn't have bothered with all these tinkering in the first place if i didn't thought it's worth it.

I recommend anyone to check Super Hexagon out, or Open Hexagon or even an early prototype made in flash (http://terrycavanaghgames.com/hexagon/) if you don't want to commit yourself to downloading and installing software.

Controlling seemingly uncontrollable and mastering the impossible is a much better power fantasy than buff dude killing dudes. Think operator from The Matrix -- at first you only see incomprehensible stream of green letters but as you spend more time with it you start to see it and control it.

This is the reason i started to gravitate towards games where at first you go "WTF is going on?" but then as you play more it clicks and you start to master it. Things like bullet hell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSUkmUiv83s) or intense (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIcoFOosS9U) hack'n'slash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYQWf6iyvB4) games.

The intense learning curve where you go from "WTF is this?" to becoming the master of this chaos is incredibly satisfying and about million times more fun than any "press A to awesome" hollywood aping "experiences".

You are having Hero's Journey as you learn the game and overcoming it's challenges, you, not yet another made-up short haired dude, brooding hero #234 who saves yet another loli/princess/world. You, personally you defeat the game and take control, instead of game developer graciously "allowing" you see his badly written and directed movie by pressing the start button.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on May 21, 2014, 11:05:54 AM
I beat Zelda: Link Between Worlds last week.

The game was really fun.  I liked that the wall mechanic worked just about anywhere, and in places where it didn't work, you could tell easily.  I thought I'd be able to break the game somehow with it, but I guess it was more polished than that.  Buying/Renting the items was never a problem for me; I even ended the game with maxed out rupies.  So, that mechanic never had much give and take, and I almost always had all of the items at all times.  As for the items themselves, the boomerang felt totally useless, even after the upgrade.  The fire rod was kind of OP, especially after the upgrade.  As for the difficulty factor, I died once because I wasn't paying attention (something happened on TV) and then twice in the battle tower thing (forgot to pack a potion).  I used a guide twice, once for the last master ore (didn't think to look in a place I hadn't explored yet :P) and for the last two maimais (I wanted that great spin).  As an aside, the Treacherous Tower gets a LOT easier after maxing out the sword and getting the great spin.  I did feel that some of the bosses were too easy (especially after sword, health, and tunic upgrades), but some were challenging enough.

Also the SHOCKING TWIST ENDING! was pretty cool.

8/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 25, 2014, 07:31:39 PM
I've utterly finished Transistor for my 93rd Platinum (the 92nd was Amazing Spider-Man 2, btw) and..."meh." I didn't "hate" the game, but it's hard to think of a more underwhelming game I've played in at least the last few months. The combat's fine, but it's ALL you can do in this game. The story is so boring & poorly told that the developers go out of their way to obfuscate it to make it "mysterious" and the voice acting almost put me to sleep several times with how completely flat it is. I do not recommend it. Just go play Bastion again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Pixelated Pixies on May 25, 2014, 08:48:56 PM
As someone who wasn't exactly enraptured with Bastion either, I found the first few hours of Transistor to be similarly underwhelming. In fact, for the first few hours I would have agreed with your assessment Brood.

However, I'm now in what feels like the closing stages of the game, and things have changed drastically (at least for me). The core relationship between the Transistor (or whoever is inhabiting it) and Red has subtly and quite inexplicable began to affect me. It was so subtle that I almost didn't realise it, but somewhere along the line I actually began to care about who these characters were and what they might have meant to each other before the events of the game. It was surprising, because I really didn't feel like the story was pulling me in; I suspect that the outstanding visuals and superb music somehow managed to create a persuasive crack in my resolve, through which the story (such that it is) was able to seep in. I still don't think the story is great, but there's enough intrigue and world-building there to pull me through.

And I've had pretty much the same experience with the combat system, in that it's only been during the past few hours that it's finally clicked for me. Although I could sense that there was depth to the combat, I really wasn't finding much satisfaction there until the latter half of the game. Indeed, only in the last couple of hours have I managed to unlock enough 'memory' (upgrade slots) to support the combination of 'functions' (skills) that feels balanced and effective.

Throughout my play-through, however, I have been using the maximum number of 'limiters' (enemy buffs) which make the enemies more difficult but reward you with more experience, so perhaps that might have caused some early frustration for me, and from which I am only now reaping the rewards. In any case, I'm now finding the depth of the combat to be very satisfying.

I'm actually planning to post something about this very topic in the next few days. The two most recent games that I've played through have been Child of Light and Transistor, both of which are very aesthetically pleasing games, both have immensely satisfying battle systems that only make their depth apparent towards the end of the game, and both are arguably hampered by their story-telling conceits.

Both games, in fact, have brought to mind The Last Story. That game had an awesome battle system that was only brought to bear in the very final encounter.

On which point: What I wouldn't do for a sequel to The Last Story.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on June 08, 2014, 03:20:32 AM
I just finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut: Wii U Edition Very satisfying, I spent waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many hours playing the game (I bet around 70 hours total) I think I would currently rank it as the second best Wii U game I have played.

There a four possible endings you can choose after defeating the final boss, and I went with the "tell everyone the unaltered truth edition"  It is was the most Rorschach ending. NOT EVEN IN THE FACE OF ARMAGEDDON, NEVER COMPROMISE
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Drizzt on June 14, 2014, 12:29:37 AM
Last Window: The Secret of Cape West

   A marvelous addition to the DS library, the game takes everything from Hotel Dusk and improves upon it. Kyle Hyde remains a superb protagonist and the interactions he has with the various tenants are both memorable and at times comical. The narrative is very well thought out and encourages the player to unravel the mysteries of both the apartment and its residents. The core gameplay of Hotel Dusk is present with a few minor improvements, such as now being able to combine items and access things faster. The detail in the apartment is astonishing; Kyle has something to say about every object in the residence even the toilet paper roll holders! The music is excellent and makes segments which might otherwise be boring, stay fresh.

A new feature, which I did not take full advantage of, is the novelization of the game. After you finish a chapter in the game you can read the events of that chapter in book form. The game has a built in bookmark and the ability to listen to your favorite in game tunes while you read. After finishing each chapter of the novel a top secret section, which is only supposed to be used when you get stuck, appears, open it up to get hints, but the manual strongly discourages you from doing this as resisting these sections unlocks a special bonus upon completion.

This was the first game I’ve ever imported and I do not regret the decision. Anyone who likes mysteries, puzzles, visual novel style games, or Hotel Dusk will be right at home in Last Window. I cannot recommend the game enough.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 17, 2014, 01:12:33 AM
Just finished playing through Mario 3 on the Wii U VC. I honestly don't see how anyone can find this game especially hard. If you have trouble with this, you might want to consider giving up on video games altogether and move to a less intensive hobby like knitting or Chinese Checkers, because you've clearly lost any skills you may have once had.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on June 17, 2014, 01:54:58 AM
Blok Drop U Short and simple, things get complicated towards the end. Still, enjoyed it for $2.00
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on June 17, 2014, 07:21:02 PM
Watch Dogs (PC)

This game started out sort of okay, and the hacking puzzles were initially engaging, but my god, every additional hour with this thing just got worse and worse. It's incredibly thin and soulless while still having an overwhelming amount of "stuff" to do. I gave up on any side activities early on and stuck to the campaign, but ended up having to quit out of several missions and grind for experience points so I could unlock upgrades that made mission chokepoints doable without failing 20 times. I think I'm done with Ubisoft "AAA" games for a good long while.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 21, 2014, 11:54:17 PM
Pikmin 3 (Wii U) - Really enjoyed the game. Not quite enough to 100% the fruit or go back for missions right now though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 22, 2014, 10:55:44 PM
Batman: Arkham Origins:
Arkham games are guilty pleasures of mine. I know these games are subpar, but i keep coming back. Combat system is very western, as in completely half baked and not very well thought out at all.

Collectathon aspect is rather tedious, though not on Assasin's Creed levels.

Setting and story are made to appeal a very low common denominator, but thankfully i am not (yet) snob enough to deny myself of simple, even dumb entertainment.

Spent 38 hours to finish story and collect all Enigma doohikeys. The reward for doing it is this:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSE_4I0LvK_-xB) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaW_0ozNNA)
^ a reminder of an even bigger collectathon of the last Arkham game (Origins has 200 thingies to collect, City had 400 or so).

Progression system is kinda interesting because it's a set of basically achievements that only activate one after another. Previously you could do Riddler's challenges in any order, but now they're ordered and you can't do next challenge until you did previous one.

This screwed me up with Predator challenges because i simply ran out of stealth missions in the story before i could do all of them. The one way to replay stealth missions is to play new game plus but after 15 minutes i gave up.

10 minutes after my save got corrupted for some reason and i even felt some kind relief because now i don't have to do anything.

I really liked story (Joker/Red Hood/Harley Quinn sequence was amazing) and cutscenes were sick.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 23, 2014, 11:52:09 PM
Metroid:
Finally (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=40194.0):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSFPy_cK5gWO5L) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEk_xP6AA)

13 something hours. Started in january of 2013. Finished yesterday.

The biggest problem is copy-pasted environments, even the escape sequence has repeating elements. You can't figure where you are exactly just by looking at the screen and layout of the platform -- they are re-used all over it could be any of the dozen rooms that have the same platforms.

Rather floaty jump which only gets worse when boss starts spamming his attacks and then you move like you're surrounded by oil.

For final sequence i preferred to freeze metroids and running past them rather than spending precious hardly earned rockets to finish them off. Strategy "screen border is your best weapon" still works.

The font in "The End" text is hilariously off for the game it's in:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSEzO_sT1KAy8b) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACaU2ySUHvqfw)

It also is very similar to Super Mario 2 ending font (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-um7XxQRNMK4/Trg12a3o-LI/AAAAAAAABWo/4Is0WoFOeak/s1600/super_mario_bros_2_ending.jpg).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NotMario on June 26, 2014, 11:09:20 PM

I finished Kirby: Triple Deluxe yesterday and I think it's probably my favourite standard style Kirby game. I'm not a huge fan of Kirby's standard style games usually (being games like Kirby's Adventure, Return to Dreamland etc.) but I really enjoyed this one.

I thought it had some cool uses of 3D, especially with the background and foreground layers of the levels. The segments of levels with the laser Kirby holds to kill enemies and blocks in the background while avoiding obstacles in the foreground was a cool idea, as were other items like the canon.

The bonus games were cool too. Kirby fighters was a fun little Super Smash Bros-esque mode that I'd imagine would be more fun if you had someone else to play with locally. The real gem, though, is Dedede's Drums. I really loved these levels and it's a shame there's only four. I would totally buy a full eShop game because it has a lot of potential to be fleshed out.

My only real complaint is that - like most Kirby games, the game is very, very easy.
I did unlock the mode at the end where you play through the game as King Dedede but I think I'll go back to that later. Good game though!

Also, hi everyone! This is my first post!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 28, 2014, 08:24:48 AM
...
Also, hi everyone! This is my first post!


Yay! Welcome to the forums, and thanks for sharing some great impressions about Kirby.  :)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 29, 2014, 11:45:48 PM
La Mulana: Hell Temple:
70 hours on my Steam account. 30 of these i spent to beat the game second time (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41624.msg830515#msg830515) (first time was on Wii) and the rest was to beat Hell Temple. Probably last 15 hours i've spent in this room:
(http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/3335223429635079198/B74EBBA858842F2A7E64E7033025CAA473BD12F5/1024x576.resizedimage) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=253772649)

Unbelievably hard sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsMler5TpR8) (remember THAT room from VVVVVV? Yes, THAT one. Now, make it around ten times harder and you're getting close) that is followed by this room:
(http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/3335223429631104705/0B20FF01802B1B3777580412F23476ACB5360286/1024x576.resizedimage) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=253718794)

which is nowhere as hard, but you really need to memorize all the right jumps because one slip -- and you're back in Hell and have to redo previous ultra hard room again.

After spending way too many hours trying to do this myself, i gave up and used this speedrun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2bJx1Uews&t=14m21s) as a primer on the right jumps for second room. I could have eventually done it myself but i simply didn't get enough opportunities to train in second room because of how hard it is to get there in the first place.

Took me another 4 hours to get the sequence right and i finally was able to progress further. I even wrote the right inputs on the same piece of paper that i used more than a year ago to decrypt puzzles of La Mulana.

Bosses that come after that were a joke compared to what you already been through. I used Lamp of Time but they all could have been easily beaten without it.

The last room is one final joke game pulls on you because more than half of it is made of fake floors and walls and of course if you fall you'll be back in Hell and will be sent back to redo most of the level.

Which isn't THAT bad, because by now i've memorized all the right inputs to beat these two rooms.

The reward you get for completing this crazy challenge (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=278272969) is highly inadequate but hilarious all the same.

(https://warosu.org/data/vr/img/0015/72/1398473105890.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on June 30, 2014, 09:44:08 AM
I beat Shovel Knight

I did all the content you could in the first go and still somehow only managed 81% completion rate...  Over 200 deaths... Over 66000 Gold Lost... Over 112000 Gold Gained...  and I forget my time.  I just squeaked it in right before talking about it on NFR.

The last boss is satisfying enough but in it's own way a little disappointing.

Overall I don't think this game is a 10.  I give a good solid 8 at minimum.  I don't think it has that universal appeal to break out to the 9 range.  A lot of reasons I liked this game was the same reasons I liked Zelda 2.

If you liked Zelda 2, Castlevania 3, and Megaman in general your going to love Shovel Knight.  Though I have a hard time thinking this game being more than neat if you grew up after SNES.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Eiksirf on July 01, 2014, 12:45:37 PM
I just wrapped up Gears of War 3 last week. Played on co-op. I like couch co-op, and Gears does it better than most, so I got what I expected here. The storyline was tired and the game didn't do anything new, so I'm not surprised Cliff got out at this point. Final boss fight was ridiculous. Still, fun enough for what it is.

(http://www.thegameeffect.com/contentMedia/images/users/ThrawnOmega/gow3-screenshot-9-3-2012.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 02, 2014, 12:32:01 AM
I need to finish my Gears 2 playthrough. Gears series is extremely dumb and enjoyable because of it. I usually never play it by myself.

I am rubbish with dual analog FPS, but this one dumbs the gameplay down enough so that even i and my PC centric friends can manage.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 02, 2014, 04:37:38 PM
The Gears of War games have always been to me a great non-traditional example of "gameplay over graphics." The presentation is technically impressive but stylistically awful, but if you can get past that it's a really well put-together shooter.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on July 11, 2014, 12:21:47 PM
Stick it to the Man With the glut of eshop titles over the last month, I'm afraid this game will get overlooked. Great style and humor, very polished for an indie title. The gameplay breaks down into a simple adventure mode and action platforming while being chased by evil agents.

The platforming is a little annoying but most of the somewhat hard sections can be bypassed once you have gotten past them once. There are glimpses of bionic commando style arm swinging that could be developed more.

The adventure game is very well written but pretty easy. The difficulty never ramps up.

The story is a lot of fun and they leave it open for a sequel, so I hope to play that some day.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Eiksirf on July 11, 2014, 12:57:01 PM
I just finished up Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds for 3DS. This has been my favorite Zelda game in a while, though I skipped Skyward Sword. The world is pretty open with lots of actions and sidequests available, and a lot of the weapons are doled out early with some surprises later on that made this one unique compared to other Zelda games.

(http://static1.gamesrocket.com/ga/images/product_images/31244/images/screenshots/The-Legend-of-Zelda-A-Link-Between-Worlds-eShop-Code_13760610205.jpg)

It borrowed a lot of its layout from Link to the Past, but I wasn't so familiar with that game that it bothered me. The dungeons were clever and the new wall-flattening technique is much more interesting than things like trains in the recent DS games.

The storyline was more thought out than usual, falling maybe third below Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening for me.

Loved the combat, enemies and bosses. Bosses tended to be a bit on the easy side and Link probably gets too overpowered once you start really collecting hearts and health items.

Gives me hope for Zelda on Wii U.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThomasO on July 12, 2014, 08:50:41 PM
I just finished Virtue's Last Reward. The final Beginning or end ending left me unsatisfied to be honest, and I saw some of the twists from miles away, such as the setting was on the moon, Sigma had the appearance of an old man, and Akane was the old woman.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 15, 2014, 01:03:01 AM
Viewtiful Joe (GC):
This goes into SMB3 category for me. I appreciate amazing game design and it's historical value but personally couldn't enjoy this game much at all.

Some similar complaints too:


I fully realize it's all personal and the game IS great. I just don't like playing it.

Finale was amazing, epic, great adrenaline pumping music. You can definitely see the seed of W101 orgasm of a finale in there.

My biggest problem apart from obtuse puzzles are enemies with attack patterns that you're forced to google to find how to counter them. There is absolutely ZERO possibility to figure it out by yourself, because you have no time for calm observations.

For this reason Cromarties (http://viewtifuljoe.wikia.com/wiki/Cromarty) for me were harder than any boss in this game. Even harder than infamous Fire Leo boss. I spent almost three hours just in one area of the final level because i simply couldn't get through a group of three cromarties in the end. The way they swarm me, do attacks that you can't interrupt at all and i wasn't able to crowd-control them to save my life. And it becomes ten times worse when one of them has bazooka -- then he will fire at you from afar, way offscreen. And it beomes ten times worse again when there are two bazooka guys.

After doing boss rush and Fire Leo one after another, i am sure i can deal with all of them. Because i did. By now i read up on all their patterns and know more or less ideal way how to kill them. But cromarties are pure chaos that i can't control at all.

And it's not even all, environmental hazards don't go away while you're struggling with enemies in this game. I'm pretty sure i lost more lives to lasers, fire and lava in this game than to actual enemies. The elevator level that i spent hours in, didn't only had cromarties -- it was also extremely narrow and on the left had laser beam and on the right had fire.

The game has a GREAT combat system that despite it's complexity is based on a very few concepts. Too bad that i didn't understand even the basis of it for the first 20 hours. I realized (by myself, because game isn't going to explain anything) that:



Great! 20 hours of not using Mach Speed at all and of course i will fail at boss that requires you to use it. Thanks for explaining this feature to me, game!

I am eternally grateful for this game for existing and for paving the way for other, bigger and better games (W101).

Games industry was extremely quick to copy the formula of 3d hack'n'slash in DMC1 and that created such landmark titles such as Ninja Gaiden Black and that cross-pollination of ideas between many different developers pushed the genre immensely until they produced the perfection of Bayonetta.

But i am very grateful that not many other 2d hack'n'slash games, if any, copied VJ's combat system because of how i personally disliked it.

Thank you and curse you, Joe the Viewtiful.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 22, 2014, 12:14:28 AM
Super Hexagon (Steam):
Done (http://steamcommunity.com/id/azeke/stats/SuperHexagon). Again. Got the last Steam achievement for doing 60 seconds on Hyper Hexagonest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GScC4YCjOdQ).

I actually did that a long time ago. But for some reason Super Hexagon is very picky about hardware. It is amazing to see this game chug and lag on rigs that handle stuff like Watch Dogs on ultra. And on top of that there is a small difference between no-DRM version and steam version that adds it's own little lag.

These milliseconds amount for almost unplayable state on harder difficulties, that is why i can't play it on my home computer due to combination of my video card, monitor and even keyboard all adding up their own lags.

On my work computer i am over 100 seconds in most of the modes but i can't access Steam from there.

I had to use my colleague computer, login to my steam account from there and beat 60 seconds like that for the last achievement.

Took me a few hours and a bit of adjustment for the new keyboard, but i did it.

Hopefully now i can move on from Super Hexagon. Even now as i type, i want to play it again for more time. Must resist. And there is also Open Hexagon. Thankfully Open Hexagon doesn't have achievements so i don't have any preset targets to aim for. If it did i might have spent as much time with it, trying to get them.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 10, 2014, 11:33:24 PM
I just finished Master Reboot. I say finished because there is bug in the final fight (or maybe it was meant to be that way?) anyway, until a patch I am calling it a stalemate ending.

Anyway, it was fun, Tron meets Inception meets the original PS1 version of Silent Hill. I recommend to the Wii U eshop frequenters, although I believe it is on PC and PS3 as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 11, 2014, 12:58:50 AM
Shovel Knight. (Wii U)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSQqrNgnMeWT6M)
I don't think I need to say anything more than what's been spoken on this site and on podcasts. This game is truly awesome. Believe the hype and play the crap out of Shovel Knight.
9.5/10


NES Remix. (Wii U)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSLcOIQxSMX-2g)
I liked it more than I thought I would. Still don't think it's worth $15 but you can't beat free. Main challenges were fun and the remix stages kept things fresh for the most part, though I was hoping for more variety from them. Even some of the crappier games had okish challenges. Pinball was a total crapshoot. Clu Clu Land, Mario Bros. and Ice Climbers challenges were god-awful. But Zelda and Super Mario Bros. were enough to keep me entertained, and that was good enough.
7.5/10

Earthbound. (Wii U)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSLL4HMCuZBBnT)
Went back to this game after I left it last fall. I'm glad I stuck through some of the more hellish parts because the endgame really did it for me. I'm not going to spoil it but I felt like that final battle and the ending more than made up for some of the more questionable gameplay issues that made the game a tedious labor during the middle parts.
8.0/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 11, 2014, 12:58:57 AM
Devil May Cry 1 (HD Collection, Xbox360):
After beating the game on normal, i started Hard campaign and S-ranked all levels. So now i am the king of hell (http://www.phantombabies.net/images/King_of_Hell_1_fs.jpg). That's what bonus picture says. It's very similar to ending screens of Viewtiful Joe, Bayonetta and Wonderful 101 -- every single character from the game poses for you.

I used speedrun (http://speeddemosarchive.com/DevilMayCry.html#100pDMD) for reference as to how cut the time and still collect everything and beat every single secret mission.

Last boss fight with Griffon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NGTcXzQzp8&t=24m55s) was probably the hardest to S-rank, took me most of the Saturday. Final boss fight was tough too, but surprisingly i even got a "special bonus" on it.

"S" is the highest rank you can get on the level, but special bonus is given for nearly perfect playthrough -- with little to no damage and exceptionally short time. I only got special bonuses on three levels (took too much damage on others).

Overall i found that S-ranking on Hard with a fully upgraded character (all unlocked moves, double healthbar and long Devil Trigger) was easier for me than simply beating the game on Normal. I can't even imagine how people do it starting from scratch with a blank character. Speedrun guys do it taking no damage at all. Very impressive.

After beating it on Normal and Hard, the time on my save file is around 8 hours. Estimating that in average each level took me about 5 tries on both runs, that makes 40 hours.

Okay, the game itself.
(http://www.phantombabies.net/images/devilmaycry_fs.jpg)
This game is grand-daddy of all modern hack'n'slash games. It created completely new genre and created entire series that followed it's path: modern Ninja Gaiden, modern Shinobi, Bayonetta and W101, even God of War, the retarded sibling of the hack'n'slash family tried (and failed).

It is still halfway in the 90s and some of the UI and especially fixed camera feel very Playstation 1. Electronic cacophony they used for a music also sounds dated. Story is eh, but who cares about stories. Voice acting is decent, except for that one scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qG4AlK1qk).

The gameplay tho. Combat system is great and enemies are designed and fine-tuned to work against it, forcing you to learn and get better.

Obviously DMC1 isn't as crazy deep and fluid as later games that followed it's path, but there are still lots of things to learn in this game: counters, roll cancels, enemy step, re DT.

Overall tone and atmosphere of the game is closer to horror than outright "cuhrayzee"-ness of later games. DMC1 feels a bit more meditative, restrained, even melodramatic by the end. It still has a few flashes of WTF (Dante's son?.. okaaaaay).

Landmark title. Required reading for all interested in action game genre.

Devil May Cry 2 (HD Collection, Xbox360):
Oh boy.

They botched combat system -- the cornerstone and the main attraction of the series.

Combos are busted, dodging is extremely slow. You have to finish the combo and only then you are allowed to roll away, how am i supposed to react to attacks and dodge if can't do it instantly?

Instead of unlocking new moves as you go, you "upgrade" your weapons by simply boosting their stats which is stupid, because it leads to other bad design decisions, like instead of making genuinely hard and tricky enemy -- they simply increase it's health and call it a day.

Story is bad, and voice acting by the end becomes outright cartoonish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBbXci31v7g&t=1m34s) (and not in a good way). Two playable characters allowed them to rehash most of the levels and bosses twice to pad the length. Some of the bosses were kinda cool though. If only the combat system actually worked...

Watch Accounting Nightmare's retrospective (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34JMNANd_8M) for a bit more detail.

I finished it on Normal a week ago and hoped i will find it in me to continue past, to grab more achievements but i couldn't and just played DMC1 and 3 instead.

The game has a few good things, like allowing you to replay previous missions once you beat the game (in the first game you had to mess around with save files and could only play missions in linear order). Italian/european setting is kinda sorta cool, but aside from garbled names it doesn't amount to much.

But overall it's a bad, bad game. You know it's bad when you see lots of developers hiding under nicknames (INOYAN, KISABON) in the credits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fFl1DQFjig&t=17m42s), like they were ashamed of it (just like in Famicom days). For reference, there were no nicknames in the credits of DMC1.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: harvjones on August 24, 2014, 11:37:52 AM
The Walking Dead season 2 and The Wolf amongst us was one of the best game i played like story wise and love how choices got story turned out and that's really brilliant, telltale games really developing something better than other crap games
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 09, 2014, 08:51:26 PM
Recently finished Legend of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN).

Solid game, and I can see why people fell in love with the game. The art style is fantastic and still looks great today. Combat is very solid for a Zelda game, and although dungeons are few they are well-designed as always.

Many people complain about the Triforce hunt close to the end of the game... but I didn't find it a chore at all. That's a personal thing though. I play I like to take breaks between events in the main quest and do some exploring, so by the time I was tasked with finding the Triforce there were only a few pieces left.

Probably the best game I've played this year.


Other games I've finished lately:
* Contra 4 (DS) - Ok, I haven't finished on Hard mode and probably never will, but I'm ok with that. I'm a huge fan of this game; it was one of the last "must own" DS games I was watching for and I'm thrilled to own a copy.
* 3D Classics: Kid Icarus (3DS) - Liked the original on NES, so also like this prettier remake. The dungeons can be frustrating though. Twice I got to the dungeon boss while in eggplant form, which seems like it shouldn't be so easy to have happen.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on September 10, 2014, 09:11:05 AM
This past weekend I completed Fire Emblem: Awakening.  Overall I really, REALLY enjoyed the game, but have a few thoughts to share:
- I found myself so afraid of losing some characters that I'd end up repeating a level several times if I made mistakes that caused me to lose a character I liked.  I think I'm going to have a 2nd playthrough of the game and see if I can apply what I learned playing the first go-around in a "accept all deaths" playthrough, but I can see myself getting stuck if the wrong characters get wiped-out.  Anyone have input on this?
- Frederick is like a battering ram.  The only times he ever seems remotely in danger is against magic users, but for weaponed enemies?  I could literally have him run stupidly into the middle of the map just to have a bulk of the enemies target him and get stomped, and use the rest of the support characters to pick-off the remains and keep them leveled-up. 
- I like the "support" system at face value, but it sort of discourages mixing & matching support.  Once Chrom & Robin met support level "A", their support attacks & more consistent Crits together made them a juggernaut, but I had to force myself to split them once I got into later levels where the game sort of necessitates you leverage the mounted characters to cover a much larger distance.
- I pretty much used an "attack strategy" through most of the game, especially in ones where support enemies regenerate, has anyone here tried use a defensive strategy, or try to pull enemies on a more individual basis?
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on September 10, 2014, 11:59:18 AM
Frederick is the Trap character in the FE.  You have to force yourself not to lean on him at the beginning for the betterment of the team.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on September 10, 2014, 04:51:21 PM
Frederick is the Trap character in the FE.  You have to force yourself not to lean on him at the beginning for the betterment of the team.

I get that, but it didn't detract me at all from progressing my characters, I just used him as a meat shield.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Drizzt on October 19, 2014, 08:05:12 PM
Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: A true gentleman won't find this game objectionable

   Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright is how crossovers should be done. The game takes two successful franchises, and blends them together in a way that not only respects and highlights the source material, but also creates an entirely new franchise.

        The game’s strength lies in its characters, Both the Ace Attorney and Layton games feature a cast of interesting, and extremely likeable, individuals. This game takes it one step further by not only introducing unique new faces, but also bringing together ones long time players of either series remember, and showcasing how they interact. The game’s plot centers around the enigmatic town of Labyrinthia and the bizarre events that have been plaguing it. The core gameplay is split up into two parts, As Layton you explore various locales, collecting evidence, solving puzzles, and learning as much as possible about the secretive community. As Phoenix you partake in the town’s macabre witch trials, using the previously gathered information to save your client from a gruesome fate.

        The soundtrack is superb including beautiful new compositions as well as remixes of staple songs from either series, the first time you start the game and hear the title theme you know you are in for a treat. Players of the original games will appreciate the copious amounts of fan service casually referenced as the narrative proceeds, the respect and admiration given to the franchises is apparent, and a welcome sigh of relief to those skeptical about how this pairing would work. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz0-xcOY_8c&index=1&list=PLz5gUls4mkX_GyguKZnENYfhGjJSgqB9D

        This game is great for anyone, if you are a fan of both games you probably already have it, if you have only played one series and are curious about the other give it a try you might like it, and for newcomers the game is still extraordinary but a lot of the references will fly over your head.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 22, 2014, 03:47:51 PM
Finally finished off The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (GC).


My early impressions haven't changed much - still a huge fan of this game. The steady progression of new and more powerful moves keeps you feeling Hulk-like while the movement through environments is mostly fluid and enjoyable. Side-missions are often entertaining while the main story can be pushed forward quickly if that's your preference.


But those loading times... ouch. If that could have been avoided the game would be much more enjoyable.
Highly recommended despite a couple of flaws/limitations.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 01, 2014, 07:33:42 PM
Donkey Kong Country 2 (GBA version):
24:43, 91%, 38/68 DK coins, 6 pages of Scrapbook filled.

It says i only have 13 feathers, but that can't be right, i probably spent some of them on that ostrich mini-game.

Obviously i had to collect all kremkoins to unlock all lost world levels and then -- final final boss. So basically i went through game twice -- first time and then going for kremkoins as i watch 100% let's play (http://lparchive.org/Donkey-Kong-Country-2-(by-Metroixer)/). I was also watching GameCenter CX episode on the game but that is not meant to be a comprehensive walkthrough.

But both videos taught me moves i had no idea you could do until i have "beaten" the game: where one monkey climbs another's back and you can throw it, and then i had another revelation when i saw that you can also throw a partner up. You will need to use both these moves to find all bonus tokens and unlock real ending.

I also had no idea about exclamation mark after level's name after you collect all bonus tokens.

In Lost World, Fiery Furnace and Klobber Karnage were the hardest. Both had gimmicks with barrels where you had to be nearly perfect with timing. Lost world's secret boss was kinda disappointing, it was basically the same as "final" boss only with harder patterns and just one phase.

From "let's play" i discovered that there is yet another level that unlocks if i will collect all DK coins, but at this point i can't be bothered and calling this an end (i suspect GBA version has even more unlockable stuff to reward you for collecting additional collectables that weren't in SNES version).

Overall: hard game with some cool bosses. Lots of bullshit with collectables -- usually secret passages through the walls are marked by trail of bananas, but in many cases there is nothing. You just have to know it. Or look it up as i did.

Same goes for level design. There is a LOT of stuff especially in later levels that you just have to know and remember.

Game also has some weird controls for a platformer. When i press B to prepare to run, monkey does a roll and slightly moves forward. This messed me up on a narrow platforms countless times. Busy graphical design that makes it hard to distunguish where is what doesn't help.

But the biggest techical problem is wonky hitboxes, especially with animal buddies. Sometimes you get hit, sometimes you don't. In flying levels your hitbox doubles making them even harder.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on November 01, 2014, 10:54:58 PM
I just finished Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (both a normal mode and a pirate mode platyorugh) and... it's amazing. it blows Risky's Revenge out of the water, and is such a well designed game on the overall, and... I finally feel like I have a better sense of Sequin Land as a world then the other two games ever gave me. It's very tight as a metroidvania and has much better pacing than Risky's Revenge or... even the original on the GBC. I'm not sure if this is going to replace the original as one of my favorite games of all time. I only try to keep one game per a series on the list for diversity's sake, so... yeah. not sure.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on November 10, 2014, 09:00:18 AM
Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: The story is generic, but the game does an extremely good job of story telling which surprised me. Better then Halo 3. The multiplayer is okay, but nothing to write home about unless you meet hackers which make it more entertaining.

Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay: Everything but the shotgun and tranquilizer gun suck. Some parts of the game have very bad design which makes sneaking around damn near impossible. The guards eat away your damn health which makes any form of not sneaking very difficult. The ideas surrounding the game are great, the story is okay, and the gameplay for the most part is excellent.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf:  Great game for pacing yourself. Unfortunately its not my cup of tea, but I do play it sometimes just to see whats new. My brother loves it though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 11, 2014, 04:00:56 AM
I have finally...at long last...finished The Wolf Among Us on my PS4. I would have beaten this game months ago, but some HDD issues on my PS3 caused me to lose my save data. Now that I've finally beaten the thing on PS4, I'm quite satisfied with the end result. It doesn't hit as many highs as some previous Telltale games and you can see more than a bit of influence from Telltale's previous Jurassic Park release towards the end of the game, but overall it's probably the most consistently-good "season" Telltale's had. The game just flows well, and it has easily the fewest technical issues I've ever seen in a Telltale game, pretty much limited to some framerate hitches here and there.  The downside of that flow is that the game really didn't have much in the way of any interesting moral choices. You're pretty much just playing out a 4-5 hour movie where occasionally you can flavor the experience a bit. Sure, that's what The Walking Dead was as well, but that game hid that better.

The other downside of this game is that it makes me want to jump into the Fables comics now, and that ****'s just way too expensive and takes up way too much physical storage for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 11, 2014, 10:34:27 AM
Shantae (GBA, via 3DS VC)
Despite a few odd bugs that kicked in at the very end, this game was a delight. It blew away my expectations for a GBC action game and convinced me to buy in for the rest of the series. I can understand how some people wouldn't like the way multi-hit enemies slow exploration down, or the inconvenience of a large sprites/small screen combination... but I consider both of those to be common problems with the platform rather than limited to this game.


This game is a perfect use of Virtual Console - making high quality, hard to access otherwise games available to the masses. Highly recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 16, 2014, 12:44:16 AM
I have beaten Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS. It is...incredibly forgettable, which is a notable step-up for the Sonic franchise. The platforming is ultimately competent and there's nothing overtly wrong with the game (which is typical of Sanzaru), just that it's not a game you'll ever come back to and you'll probably forget you even played it a few days later.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on November 16, 2014, 06:54:28 AM
Forgettable is definitely a step in the right direction. I wish I could forget the werehog, or Sonic kissing a human girl.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on November 16, 2014, 09:34:04 AM
Or Knuckles roiding up.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 16, 2014, 09:38:14 AM
For all the 3DS version's issues, at least it isn't the Wii U version. I watched the Giant Bomb Quick Look (http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-looks/) for that the other day. Eesh.  Still, I'll probably get decent mileage out of "BOUNCE PAD!" and "RINGS ARE COOL!" (29 minutes in on the QL if you're curious) on the next NFR. :P
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on November 16, 2014, 04:32:46 PM
That was a pretty good quick look. Sonic Boom is a TV show and the game looks like a cheap TV-tie in game made by a C-teir developer. This game could have been Phineas and Pherb or something and it would be about the same.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on November 16, 2014, 05:16:26 PM
Finished The Wolf Among Us on 360 today.

Telltale, you write a decent story but you can't code worth a damn. If it wasn't the load times or jerky framerates, it's the text switching to Spanish and then German in the middle of the climactic scene.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on November 16, 2014, 05:28:32 PM
Switching the lanage at random would be a great insanity effect if they ever actually get to make a new Eternal Darkness.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on November 16, 2014, 05:51:15 PM
Switching the lanage at random would be a great insanity effect if they ever actually get to make a new Eternal Darkness.
That would make for a really trippy Brawl Level as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 16, 2014, 07:46:22 PM
...
Telltale, you write a decent story but you can't code worth a damn. ...


So true!  I own a bunch of Telltale games and usually enjoy them well enough because of the writing/stories, yet it feels like every release on every platform is plagued with technical issues. The worst part? There really is no excuse for that to happen. Budgets are clearly limited, but these games aren't exactly technical showpieces to begin with.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 16, 2014, 10:35:30 PM
Telltale, you write a decent story but you can't code worth a damn.
From what i can tell playing TWD and from impressions of "second season" their writing is pretty terrible too.

Not as bad as their technical skills though. Nothing is worse than that. They are reigning champions of unapologetically shipping broken games year after year after year.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 16, 2014, 10:46:20 PM
Telltale, you write a decent story but you can't code worth a damn.
From what i can tell playing TWD and from impressions of "second season" their writing is pretty terrible too.

I wouldn't go that far. In fact, I've found their writing in general tends to be excellent, if extremely on the soap opera/noir side. Frankly, given the low quality of everything else that is The Walking Dead, it's kind of amazing how well Telltale managed to pull off good products in that franchise.

Quote
Not as bad as their technical skills though. Nothing is worse than that. They are reigning champions of unapologetically shipping broken games year after year after year.

Now that's just being unfair. Yeah, I've had MORE than my fair share of technical issues with Telltale over the years (most notably Telltale's games repeatedly REFUSING to backup to my cloud storage, leading to me losing my entire Season 1 & 2 TWD progress and having to start over with season 1 so I can get back into season 2), their bugs tend to fall on either the hilarious ...

(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/595879242652169496/316081ABFBF3AE368ED0C68EF4F79B7542B8C7F6/1024x576.resizedimage)

...or mildly obnoxious (the framerate: a continual Telltale issue). Their games are perfectly playable, which is more than can be said for most developers these days.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on November 17, 2014, 05:01:28 PM
I might be one of the few people who appreciated Telltale a lot more when they were making actual adventure games. I thought the second two Sam and Max seasons were pretty good, as was the Back to the Future game. And, somewhat perversely, I actually really enjoyed the Jurassic Park game as a sort of digital rollercoaster (I find it funny now how that game got lambasted for doing a lot of what their new stuff is praised for; what a difference a few years makes in this increasingly non-interactive medium!). I quite like the first Walking Dead season, and also agree that it's the best piece of anything in the franchise, but at that point they were still keeping up the pretense that it was a game.


They threw all that out the window with The Wolf Among Us and Walking Dead Season 2. Both games might as well not have controls outside of dialogue wheels. And the illusion of choice has become laughably transparent. This would be more forgivable, but I'm with Azeke, the writing of the most reason games has gotten terrible. I've read all of Fables, and they butchered the property from where I'm standing on top of a providing a narrative that was slopped together and incoherent on its own terms.


Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Wii U):



So I finally got around to playing the back half of this game so I could make room on my harddrive for Smash Bros. I liked the game well enough for what it is at first, but it really gets worse the more you play it. The level design gets crappier as it goes along (and tosses in more and more aggravating tank-dudes), it shoe-horns in utterly atrocious drone control and FPS segments, and the fact that you can't upgrade things at a satisfying pace without doing all the mindless Ubi-brand side activities and Uplay challenge shenanigans made me give on trying to play the game in an interesting or varied way. I regret the $20 I dropped on this.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on November 19, 2014, 11:17:54 PM
Bayonetta (Wii U) - 7.5/10
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSpWMXkHcLro2Z)
Originally I only wanted to play a few chapters just to get a feel for the gameplay, but I ended up sticking through till the end to experience the story. I'm glad I did because things really didn't make much sense until the very last chapters.  Overall the game is good, not great, with the rewarding combat system making up for the shitty QTEs and janky camera. I had my fair share of stupid deaths but there was never really a moment where I felt like quitting out. Eventually I'll go and try and get better awards for some chapters.

Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS) - 10/10
Finished the main story, almost all the spot pass stages and one of the DLC packs. I love this game. I'm glad I got to experience it. I loved the character relationships, even though I haven't really unlocked most of the child characters. I'm also glad for all the side battles that allow me to play with some of the characters I would normally ignore on the main story.

Mario Kart DLC Pack 1 (Wii U) - 8/10
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSpe5gwi987qtd)
Finished both cups with 3 stars on 150 and Mirror. The tracks overall are very good, and the DLC pack accomplishes the goal of getting me back online with this game, which is good. Now if they'd only fix the matchmaking...

Super Smash Bros for 3DS (3DS) - 7/10
I won't be playing the game much after this week, so I'm basically done with it. It's a great game on 3DS, but it only made me want the Wii U version more. I couldn't really get over the awkwardness of the controls and I was always afraid I was going to break my circle pad during intense game sessions. What little I played of the online was surprisingly good. I hope for something at least close enough for the Wii U version. Let's hope indeed.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on November 22, 2014, 03:20:34 AM
Steam World Dig Wii U

Very satisifying game, just short enough to leave you wanting more. I would call it a mix of Dig Dug and a Metroidvania. It really blends exploration, getting loot for upgrades and tunnel building strategies together in a really well balanced experience. Shows a ton of polish for an indie game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 23, 2014, 01:23:32 AM
I have beaten LittleBigPlanet 3's campaign stages, though I'm by no means done with the game. There's still a ton of side levels to take on and collectibles hidden in previous stages I'll never use, but I've finished the story missions. Overall, I'm quite happy with the game, even if the "final boss" is a perfect case study for why this series needs to ditch even having lives and the story content is definitely on the short side. I also feel like there are way too few levels featuring the new characters, considering how radically each changes the way you play the game. I ran into a few bugs as well, but they were relatively minor and basically resulted in a handful of unintended deaths over the course of the game.

What really sold me on this game were the improvements in the jumping physics; the increased effort towards presentation; the dramatically "deeper" levels (it boggles my mind that this game doesn't support 3D televisions); and the just obvious amount of passion and creativity on display in the level design. If you haven't been able to get into past entries in the series, I'm not sure it will convert you, but it's definitely the first console LBP game where the story content felt like more than just a brief tutorial on using the level tools.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on November 26, 2014, 05:59:57 AM
L.A. Noire- Ending took too long to get too and the story dragged on a lot, but it was satisfying. Overall, I'm really happy with it and how it gave out the happy ending to the only hero in the game who was from the marines.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on December 02, 2014, 10:29:37 PM
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSr4ocsY-XHKcL)
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (Wii U) - 7/10
Fun indie platformer. The combat is pretty good, but the constant amount of kill rooms make the combat a tedious chore. There constant barrage of memes and puns can get a bit old. There's a rewarding experience in here though, it's just something you wouldn't want to play again once you're finished. The new boss battle in this game is actually one of the better boss battle in the game.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSs0PEwx0WHjC0)
SteamWorld Dig (Wii U) - 8.5/10
First hour of this game was definitely giving me "is this it?" vibes. But once you clear the first area the game really opens up and it starts getting really challenging. I had a couple of silly deaths, but it's nothing you really have to worry about. The upgrade system is well implemented and the game's finale is actually pretty fun. The final areas really force you to think three moves ahead, otherwise you will not get the all the loot for your upgrades. I would say this is one of the better games in the eShop right now. Must play if you haven't already.

(http://i.imgur.com/P1u0cP1l.png)
A Bird Story (Steam/Mac OS) - 8/10
I cried like a baby. Minimal game interaction (it can be argued the interaction broke the flow of the story more than once) and a pretty predictable story. But it's still better than most stories simply because it knows how to show, not tell. It's not perfect but it's one of the better hours I've spent playing games this year.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 07, 2014, 11:24:51 AM
Bastion (Steam):
(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/548639018340759994/1DB638328423003D2AE6EF91D44A7082A49B4841/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=339896363)

"This game is trying to be X but does this in such a broad strokes it might as well not..." That would be the sentence that i would apply to most of Bastion.

It's trying to tell some kind of deep story, but it makes zero sense -- even if for a videogame story it's filled with blank places that are never filled and just outright plotholes.

It's trying to build backstories for the characters, but they all ultimately feel samey and tell basically the same thing.

It's trying to grab with it's narrative, but most of often than not you are wondering what is going on and why.

The combat system is kinda sorta interesting but not really?.. Countering with a shield feels satisfying when you do it with good timing but other than that it's all mindless Diablo-style mashfest. That's why later levels turn into a slog.

Controls are weird. Despite that the game was released in 2011 when dual stick controllers were a thing for a few decades, Bastion uses NES Ikari Warriors/Commando style controls. Sure it's probably because controller support was patched in later and the game was designed with mouse-keyboard in mind, but still it's just weird.

The good parts are great visuals and music.

The game is very colourful with great hand-drawn art:
(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/548638296798698416/132F054B6E306B8D4964EF2D147FE3958C38B862/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=335581113)

Caelondia's themed music is western/country style tunes, while Ura music has a middle-eastern feel. Music is accompanied by superb narration from Ron Perlman-voicealike.

Overall game plays okay-ish and it eventually gets boring, but visuals and music and narration kept me coming back for more.

While i finished the story (steam says it took 13 hours), there are lot more to do, New Game Plus, leveling up more weapons, weapons' challenges, replaying backstory mission with more idols and checking out how story changes when you make other choices...

If only the combat felt a bit better i would be motivated to come back and do all that, but alas...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on December 08, 2014, 12:03:58 AM
Planetary Annihilation

Yeeeessssss *Shiver*.
(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/28475900382934611/9D82BDE5FAD63866AD4005D439D25C123FE8A367/)(http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/28475900382957840/9134E5D365C36597275AD1EFA9E71256FE90BFBD/)
I need a smoke. (Non-smoker)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on December 10, 2014, 03:34:38 PM
Last night I reached the end of Killzone: Mercenary for the Vita. I am really amazed how much I'm enjoying this game. It's one of my favorite FPS games now, though it's not my favorite genre-- not even close.

Anyway, I like how everything you do in the game awards money to purchase new weapons and unlocks. I love how each of the nine missions in the game encourages to play through them with different objectives after completing them initially. There's covert contracts that have you playing stealthily through levels, getting stealth kills, and that kind of stuff.

The multiplayer isn't too bad either. I just wish you didn't die so quickly. I'm more a fan of Halo in that regard. Mercenary is more when you're spotted, you're pretty much dead.

I wholly recommend the game to Vita owners, and I hope to have a detailed review on my site this week.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 11, 2014, 08:07:29 AM
I completed A Link to the Past again a few days ago. I got all the heart pieces for the first time ever though. There are a couple really, really stupid ones that I just never bothered with before. The two I absolutely never got before this play-through relied on randomized nonsense. The first gave you 30 seconds to dig up the heart piece and there is no method to improve your chances. The second gave you two chances to find the heart piece in a room full of chests. They both cost Rupees and there's a strong chance that you earn it back in the mini-games. I just didn't bother before because it was needlessly time consuming. I may have missed another one or two in previous play-throughs of the game.

Graphically, the game still has a certain charm to it. Even blown up on a 55" TV, it looked good. Everything else didn't age as gracefully. There a certain early 90s design stuff that are totally unacceptable these days that I never thought about in the five or so times I've completed A Link to the Past over a decade ago, namely how pixel precise Link has to be positioned to pick up pots and how he can't break them with his sword. It sounds so minor, but it makes a huge difference. The save system is pretty weird as well. Even if you save inside a dungeon, the game still starts you at predetermined spots when you restart the game (three in the Light World, one in the Dark World). I take things like that entirely for granted these days. I don't play a lot of Virtual Console games, but I often just started abusing save states. I don't know how I managed to complete this game so many times in the past without punching things. Until you get at least the blue mail which is pretty late in the game, you take so much damage per hit.

Anyway, the bosses, while still fairly easy, are far better than many subsequent games in the series. There are several bosses that do not force you to use the item you found in that same dungeon. It never really made sense to me that Ganon or whomever would send giant monsters to the exact dungeon that also houses their one weakness. There are also a few optional items that you don't even find in dungeons. It forces you to explore the world for more than rupees you'll never use anyway. I also hoped there would be more of that in Zelda games, especially now with the upcoming open world Zelda.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on December 14, 2014, 04:57:35 PM
Half-Life (PC)- Shorter load times do wonders! And now I can hear what people are saying. God the PS2 version sucks. Wonderful game though. So much better then Half-Life 2.

Half-Life: Blue Shift (PC)- Nice purely because of the new perspective of the Black Mesa incident. Otherwise, pretty much standard Half-Life. Some bad design with lighting though because the flashlight sucks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 15, 2014, 10:12:02 AM
I don't tend to beat games very often, and when I do it usually takes a while, so I guess it's not that surprising that I just beat New Super Mario Bros. U. All I can say is, this is what the first game in this sub-series should have been. This isn't just a nostalgic throwback, this is an actual step forward in 2D Mario game design from Mario 3 and World. In an era in which EAD Tokyo is pumping out amazing 3D Mario games at a good clip, this doesn't feel out of place. Can't wait to start the Luigi pack.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 15, 2014, 01:19:34 PM
Finally beat the first Phoenix Wright (DS) game. It was... good, I guess? Didn't really catch my interest and seemed to overstay it's welcome. Reality didn't live up to the reputation for me, but maybe that's because I like the characters and story and gameplay from Ghost Trick (DS) so much more and was hoping that this older game could live up to the same standard.


Timing is good. Reinforces that buying the digital trilogy just wouldn't be a good idea for me, although I might play though another game in the series at some point in the future.


Also got sucked back into Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U) again. Finished off almost all of the Moga Village quests - up to Mark of a Hero, which I haven't attempted yet - and was pleasantly surprised with the ending cinematic after beating the HR level stages. People who didn't play/watch the original MH3 probably won't care, but I thought the movie was nicely done and nicely turned the side-story of Unfortunate Mask into something more funny/memorable than it would've been otherwise.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on December 19, 2014, 03:39:09 PM
The Walking Dead: Season One (Telltale Games, Xbox One)

I don't think I've ever played a game like this before (style-wise or story line-wise). The story telling is simply masterful, you'll actually become attached to some of the characters. I feel like a total pansy, but I actually had a couple tears come out during the last (pre-credits) scene where you make Clementine kill Lee (you) so she doesn't have to see him turn into a Walker. I don't think that's ever happened with a game before.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on December 22, 2014, 05:36:06 PM
So I just completed the Mass Effect Trilogy.  I realized after beating ME1 that it was the first PS3 game I had completed aside from really short stuff like Street Fighter IV.  The game hooked me.  Usually I'm not that invested in stories because videogame stories are usually terrible.  But this was like a great novel or a movie but it's better because it's a videogame.  *I* am Shepard.  I'm not observing the story I'm experiencing it which is the whole draw of videogames.  This trilogy is pretty close to where I want videogames to go.  I would like a little more interaction with the world like Zelda does as this is mostly shooting and dialog choices (the first game has some rough exploration which I hoped would be refined in the sequel but was probably axed by EA to make the game more of a shooter) but this still really delivered.  I find myself attached to characters where days later I'm still thinking about their fates and what could have happened if I had made different choices.  I hadn't played a Bioware game before so I guess the dialog wheel is something they've done before but I don't know why every game doesn't have this.  It's not a cutscene anymore if I can have input into where the conversations goes.  It becomes gameplay.  Most of the time it doesn't really impact what happens but it just adds this personal touch.  It involves the player much more emotionally than MGS-style 30 minute cutscene crap does.

I find Nintendo's infatuation with Wii Sports titles annoying because I can't help but feel that they could instead be working on something like this.  They could probably surpass it.  Although the game doesn't really play like Metroid Prime it connected with me in the same way.  Retro could make something with this scope and ambition but they've been working on sidescrollers.  We justifiably make fun of ME3 being a Wii U launch title as it is incomplete without the other two games but it still runs circles around Nintendo's own Wii U launch lineup.  Nintendo wonders why their console doesn't sell but they're not yet even showing titles that match the titles that showed the full potential of the previous gen.

Now there's the ME ending which created enough controversy that Bioware made a free extended cut because of all the complaints.  I installed the extended cut before playing so I haven't seen the original take on the ending.  The first time I reached the end I screwed up and shot the Catalyst out of curiosity and doomed everyone.  Ooops.  I was pretty mad about that but thankfully you can just restart the last mission and choose a different ending.  However I again didn't really understand what I was supposed to do.  All I noticed was this light in the center so I assumed I go into the light and make my choice.  Nope.  That's the synthesis one.  I was unsure which choice I would make but changing the DNA of all living creatures really turned me off.  Actually it wasn't that bad of a choice as I died but achieved peace for the galaxy.  I served the greater good by sacrificing myself.  Still I was curious about the other endings and I didn't try to pick that one and changing everyone's DNA still bothered me.  In the cutscene everyone seemed fine with it but I think that's unrealistic and in reality there would be many who wouldn't have wanted it.

Thinking about it I realized that destroying the Reapers was the ending I would have chosen as that was my character's original intent when I beamed aboard the Citadel.  That was the rationale I had used earlier when I let Ashley die.  I had already promised Kaiden I would go back for him and turning back for Ashley would break that promise.  The only problem I had with destroying the Reapers is that it would also destroy EDI and the Geth.  Not that I truly considered them to be alive.  Organics might have a soul as we are not certain of who or what created us but the Geth were created by the Quarians and they did not give them a soul or would even know how to do such a thing.  Still I didn't destroy them because I preferred peaceful co-existence but if it was down to them or the Quarians I would pick the Quarians without hesitation.  So I destroyed all the synthetics to save the true lifeforms.  But what bothers me is I wasn't given the choice I would have made if the game let me and that's probably the common beef with the ending.

The Reapers being represented by a child is fitting because their logic is childlike.  Synthetic/organic conflict is inevitable so they, as synthetics, destroy organics to prevent this?  That's stupid and I should have been able to point that out.  The Reapers are the very synthetics that fail to understand organics that they are trying to "save" us from.  And they're wrong because I proved that synthetics and organics can co-exist when I brokered peace between the Geth and Quarians.  My friends Joker and EDI are actually in a loving synthetic/organic relationship.  All throughout the game I can resolve conflicts with my words and charisma.  Why at the very end when I have something to say that could possibly stop the Reapers and save everyone do I not even get the chance to try?  They could have let me say something and still not convince the Catalyst or encounter some complication that doesn't allow me to only destroy the Reapers.  That's still acceptable.  Much like I tried to save both Ashley and Kaiden but had to sacrifice someone, I tried to save everyone but couldn't.  That's still in character.  But instead I don't even try as if I was just using the Geth and EDI as a means to an end?  That sucks.  I wasn't really playing Shepard, I was being myself, making the decisions I would have in the same scenario.  *I* would have pointed this out to the Catalyst.  Overall the game does a fantastic job of giving me the option to say the sorts of things I would have said but it failed to offer that here.  If they added this it would have been a good ending even if the overall results were the same.  It's okay to make a hard choice as long as all alternatives were considered.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on December 22, 2014, 05:47:20 PM
My Beef with the ending is making me collect all those advantages and then not actually showing a single one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 22, 2014, 06:12:16 PM
How you managed to still trash Nintendo in a post about Mass Effect is beyond me...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 22, 2014, 07:11:48 PM
He's very good at what he does.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 23, 2014, 01:24:55 AM
Iansane thinks Mass Effect is the apotheosis of video games. It's almost like he could just stick to Game Informer's recommended picks from here on out and never trouble his brain about Nintendo again . . .
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 23, 2014, 02:30:31 AM
As much as i can judge by few hours i spent with Mass Effect until i gave up due to unplayable controls (BioWare took out controller support on PC, so points to Wii Sports for being actually playable) it belongs to a variety of "shallow sci-fi" i intensely dislike. When it takes a generic dime-a-dozen world saving fantasy story and dresses it up "space is kewl" decorations. Think Star Wars.

Enemies in ME might as well been orcs and NOTHING would change.

Sci-fi is my favourite genre ever. In books, movies or any media. My definition of sci-fi is when it presents a fascinating idea (be it time-travel, or clones, or alternate universes or anything really) and runs with it through the entire duration. Good characters or even a plot is secondary to the presentation of ideas for me.

I generally don't really care about characters, development or romance. I don't really give a **** who fucks who. Give me ideas, give me something with at least some semblance of original thought in your book and i am sold.

Asimov's books are pretty bad as stories but are amazing sci-fi, then ones that leave you astounded by the scale and depth of ideas presented long after you finish them.

Thankfully, last few years have been a godsend for thoughtful and original sci-fi flicks (D9, Gravity, Interstellar even last two Cruise flicks).

Judging by the discussion of this series it's part dating sim, part mediocre third person shooter with a bad ending. Dating sims (as in -- any game where the crux of the gameplay is juggling relationships) are okay i guess, provided it actually respects you and your choices and projects your input (however small) into the ending. Walking Dead game didn't and was a failure for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on December 23, 2014, 08:16:42 AM
Fire Emblem is a better dating sim. At least it requires some effort to make two units marry.

In ME, just talk to them after every mission and choose the top choice all the time and then they ask you to bed (sometimes you will have to choose the bottom choice *gasp*).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on December 23, 2014, 08:50:50 AM
...
(BioWare took out controller support on PC, so points to Wii Sports for being actually playable)
...
Now that I think about it I did use the mouse and keyboard for it.

Yeah, Asimov books that I've read could really be classified as Mysteries.  In fact most Sci-Fi I've read I would classify as Mystery.  Its generally about solving something.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 26, 2014, 12:11:27 AM
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSy0VFws9uiVry) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACXVHhhSuMdQw)
I completed most of the missions previous week.

All it was left for me to do were destroying Legendary ships and messing around with Kenway's fleet.

These four naval battles were bosses of sort and on top of each of the ships being tougher AND faster than me they all had their special gimmicks. It was a good thing because by the time you usually start to beat Legendary ships you are way overpowered for any other ships in the Carribean.

HMS Prince is always in the fog or a storm, so you're always fighting her and the elements at the same time.

La Dama Negra spams you with her insane mortar power, but if you manage to get in up close she is easily dispatched.

Impoluto LOVES (http://i.ytimg.com/vi/b6HjzLMQjUo/maxresdefault.jpg) to ram you (http://theinsightfulpanda.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/screen-shot-2014-01-01-at-12-14-36-am.png), so you need to stay away from her and keep spamming mortars.

And finally the hardest of them all: HMS Fearless and Royal Sovereign:
(http://theinsightfulpanda.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/ac4_fearless_and_sovereign.png) (http://theinsightfulpanda.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/ac4_fearless_and_sovereign.png)

Two legendary ships at the same time, each faster and tougher than you. You will need some very careful manoeuvring so that they wouldn't surround you from both sides.

The right strategy is to be constantly turning so that you wouldn't get between them and keep ramming and shooting at one of them.

Once one of the ships goes down, remaining one changes tactic and basically turns into Impoluto ramming you like nobody's business. This part of the battle is just as hard because last ship is still faster than you so she will always get to you no matter how fast you're trying to ran away from her.

After i collected last treasures i found out i am still one treasure away from 100% sync. Apparently one last treasure map is unlocked through Kenway's Fleet mini-game:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSxauugUdxveVM) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAAEVHhg9PN0Lw)
At least by this time i realized i can send more than one ship... That made battles a bit more interesting, but not really.

Kenway's Fleet is still the stupidest and the most boring part of the game. Doubly so, because in the best traditions of Free-to-Pay mobile games it has arbitrary restrictions by time: once i sent my ship i have to wait 10-24 hours until it "finishes" it's mission.

So, in the last 5 days all i did was -- booting the game in the morning and sending more ships until finally this morning i unlocked the last treasure map. Then a quick dive into underwater smuggler's den and i have full 100% sync.

Overall:
Great game. Around on the same level as ACII or Brotherhood. Decent story and lots of stuff to do. Diversity of mission is probably the best among all AC game so far.

Full sync requirements are MUCH more relaxed compared to previous iterations and that is a HUGE plus if you want to 100% these game. No more retrying the same story missions dozen of times just to hit one particular requirement at the very end. Also, sync requirements are removed completely from side missions so that's an even bigger plus -- because in previous games the most insane and broken FS came from these missions (most of the vehicles side missions from Brotherhood were impossible to full sync, not just "impossible" as in "really hard" but actually impossible due to broken AI).

The game basically is divided between naval stuff and normal assassin's stuff. Naval stuff dominates over usual city roaming gameplay a bit too much though. And there isn't really all that many cities to roam around in.

The only city that is even comparable to cities of II or Brotherhood is Havana but even that is fairly small. Most of other walking space are island villages, jungles and lots of small Wind Waker style islands with a single chest or on it.

At least Havana and jungles provide a welcoming change from ACIII's bland cities and forests:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSywoA4LdZtrjk)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzR-sdX802tSRMm)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSxajpAKRdT6dr)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSyNTDYUk1G_3k)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSyH69wCCXSz35)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzStPfK4Ahk00PM)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSycwWgwaUi1u4)

Then there are sea missions:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSwlNOw3rzsLm0)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzRyRt0YdvcKLYb)
The first moment where you zoom out to travel speed and your crew starts to sing shanties was very cool.

RPG progression with ship was a think a mistake -- it made sea battles way too hard in the beginning and way too easy in at the end.

And the only way to upgrade your ship so is by spending metal that you can only get from sea battles. So it's a vicious circle of grinding levels with easy ship until you become overleveled.

One trick to i used a lot to defeat several ships at once was to get some damage to a big ship or a fort then destroy a small ship and board it:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSwnuigDsUNJVR)
When you start boarding sequence all enemy ships graciously stop attacking you and wait until you're finished. After you finished boarding you can choose to repair your ship and continue damaging other ships.

I would actually preferred if they kept naval battles system from ACIII because there was a bit more skill involved than just "be level 40 to defeat this ship or get lost".

Story and sci-fi elements:
Did i mention i LOVE sci-fi? I always liked modern parts of AC and sequences where AC got weird with "First Civilisation" stuff. I LOVED creepy puzzles from ACII and Brotherhood and i loved completely out of the blue ending of II.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSyG00coOCwaHI)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSyGkrwCwe3m4y)

Black Flag develops AC: Liberation's "Abstergo Entertainment" idea where they pretended Ubisoft is a subsidiary of Templars and that AC games they do is but a side product to their Animus research:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSyGojYNqUFdtk)

Pretty cool villain too.

The story in the past was alright i guess. I wished there was more of Haytham in the end but what i got was okay too.

So, again, great game. Worth spending 63 hours to 100% it.

Freedom Cry, here i come!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on December 28, 2014, 06:44:37 PM
Watch_Dogs

(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/shyguy70/watch-dogs-wii-u-screenshot-1_zps61af814b.jpg) (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/shyguy70/media/watch-dogs-wii-u-screenshot-1_zps61af814b.jpg.html)

Infamous for being a downgrade, infamous for being delayed, infamous for being Ubisoft-tastic, The hot 2014 GTA style game finally came to the Wii U and I played it all the way through. I found a way to get through this type of game, I just ignore 90% of the side content and plowed ahead on the story mission. It still took me 55 hours, but I play games pretty slow.

This very much your typical sandbox city crime game, the twist on it is the "hacking." If you have your phone out, prompts pop up on various items around the world, and you can unlock more options in your skill tree as the game progresses. The two big advantages are during car chases and gunfights. In car chases you can trigger various traps and delays against your opponents, and they are definitely needed as the driving controls are mediocre. During gun fights, or more to be more accurate, while hiding before the gun fight, you spy on your enemies with cameras and use traps to kill or distract them. Sometimes you can clear the field without even pulling a trigger.

I think the combat is actually the best part of the game, if only for the extra options they give you. If you just try to run and gun you will probably die way too often.

The story is pretty threadbare, and they pad it out by throwing in various missions to pad out the game. Not much positive is accomplished by Aiden Pierce by the end of the game.

Watch_Dogs score: 6 out of 10

If you are hungry for a modern open-world game for your Wii U, give it a shot after the price comes down. Add an extra star if you like the Assassin's Creed games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on December 31, 2014, 01:58:43 AM
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - I don't know / 10

It apparently took me 201 minutes to beat this game, which is probably much longer than it should have, but it's actually the first MGS game I've played with the intention of...playing. I only have 6% completion, but I guess that's because there are a bunch of side missions that get unlocked. Pretty cool story, cinematic scenes are amazing. I would have been pissed if I paid full price for it (was it ever full price?), but I think I only paid like $10 at Target a couple of weeks ago (though it's on the PlayStation Store for like $6 right now). Anyway, I've seen cut scenes from other MGS games and the stories seem like they get incredibly bizarre, but this one didn't seem that far out there (though a little hard to follow). Anyhow, for a $10 game, I'd probably give it a good 8/10 - though that may change as I do plan on going through most, if not all, of the other missions. For anything above that the score goes down because, well, it's an at-most 201 minute (main) game. Also, Hideo Kojima must be the most conceited person in the gaming industry, every other name in the credits is Hideo Kojima, with titles that are just made up in order to put himself in there again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ObbyDent on December 31, 2014, 02:44:59 AM
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - I don't know / 10
every other name in the credits is Hideo Kojima, with titles that are just made up in order to put himself in there again.


u mad
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 31, 2014, 02:50:26 AM
That does seem like exactly the kind of thing Hideo Kojima would do. If you're taken aback by that I'm not sure why you'd be playing his game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on December 31, 2014, 10:30:15 AM
Didn't say I'm taken aback, just it's a little over the top.

Post concept: Hideo Kojima
Director of button typing: Hideo Kojima
Quality control: Hideo Kojima
Execution of Post button: Hideo Kojima
A Hideo Kojima Production
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 31, 2014, 08:49:17 PM
Being over the top is Hideo Kojima's area of expertise.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on December 31, 2014, 09:08:34 PM
I need to start doing this more.

NWR poster of quality: Khushrenada
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on January 01, 2015, 03:44:49 PM
Hyrule Warriors

(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k302/shyguy70/ruzxthspd70apbpyvjtq_zpsg3dfuec8.gif) (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/shyguy70/media/ruzxthspd70apbpyvjtq_zpsg3dfuec8.gif.html)

Finally finished the Legend, aka Story, mode. Easily the best Warriors game I have played. The levels are much tighter and there is a faster pace and urgency to the missions. Add in the Giant Bosses, enemy variety, the items and the crafting and it is a lot of fun. The story is decent but the new blue haired character is a little annoying. I am getting into adventure mode now and I think I may like it even better.

Protip: Fi is a beast on the battlefield, who knew?

Legend of Zelda- Hyrule Warriors Score: 8 out of 10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on January 02, 2015, 08:15:13 AM
Being a hack when it comes to story (seriously, become some C-quality movie director, since that's what his game stories make himself look like he wants to do) is Hideo Kojima's area of expertise.


Fixed that for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on January 06, 2015, 05:40:48 PM
Quality Supporter of Phil's Posts: Khushrenada
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on January 07, 2015, 11:50:07 PM
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: The Return of Adewale: More of the same: Freedom Cry (PC):
This DLC for AC4 actually has extra Aveline mission but it's very short and insignificant.

Main gimmick of this DLC campaign is that slaves you free contribute to your progression. The more of them you free the more upgrades and special weapons you unlock.

There are at least two obvious problems with that.

Firstly, the game that tries to present horrors of slavery itself treats slaves as a resource, dehumanizing them into mere units of measurement for your experience levels.

Secondly, slaves never run out. No matter how many of them you free, there will still be new cages and auctions and caravans of new slaves coming in. Not only this robs you of the feeling of satisfaction you feel when you "clear" an area in Assassin's Creed game, this also makes you feel you aren't doing a difference.

Outside of that controversial mechanic -- it's the same AC4: Black Flag. Music is different though. I actually like naval battle theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2naIt1_2iCc) more than in original.

The only new weapons are guns. Adewale gets blunderbuss which is basically a shotgun that you can kill entire crowds with in one shot.

Because i was playing on PC i got to see what i was missing when i played AC4 on a console. And honestly, not that much. Yes, framerate is much better -- but i got used to "AC on a console" experience by now. Outside of that -- superficial lightning effects that only make picture worse with obnoxious bloom, volumetric fog and smoke that also make it hard to see what is going on (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4oQBkjG8A&t=17m54s), some physics on objects (like sails flailing on the wind which is stupid because that's not supposed to happen and realism aside it simply looks bad).

I didn't care enough to 100% it and bad full sync requirements didn't help to motivate me. I am guessing because the story is so short they tried to prolong the campaign with full sync requirements that are much more strict and BS than in the main game.

DLC for ACIII did crazy things not just with alternate history plot (evil Washington) but also by giving you crazy overpowered powers, Freedom Cry does nothing of the sort, it's just some more of the Black Flag.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on January 23, 2015, 12:12:04 AM
I finished Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal last night, and I think it's a by-the-numbers platformer. All four characters are gathered so soon in the game that it makes the need to return to levels needless if you're just collecting everything, that is. I would have preferred the characters to unlock at a more stretched out pace. Anyhow, I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong gameplay-wise. It's just that the experience is so quick so fast, much like the speedy hedgehog himself, that it makes the $40 price tag really hard to bite down on.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 23, 2015, 04:25:48 PM
I have played through and finished my first run through Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13. I'm saving the bulk of my thoughts for tomorrow's NFR 51, but suffice it to say that it's an extremely flawed game with some spectacularly bland sidequests, but I rather enjoyed it. The combat system is excellent, and the game does its damnest to try to salvage something worthwhile from FF 13-2's story. It ends on a tremendously big note that puts a nice bow on the trilogy as a whole, with some nice callbacks to the previous 2 games. If you liked the first two games...you probably already played this, but if you haven't I recommend it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on January 25, 2015, 07:50:43 AM
So it turns out the last time I put down Metroid Fusion, which was a while ago, I was literally ten minutes from the end. Finished it up just now, and I'll say that it's a fantastic package. It improves upon its predecessor Super Metroid in a lot of ways, but also does its own thing, and I think that's a great combo. Really hoping Nintendo gets around to putting Zero Mission up on the VC soon.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on January 25, 2015, 11:55:50 AM
Wow I never finished Metroid Fusion (or Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 2 or 3...or played Other M) but I did spend a good amount of time with it. I think I was actually playing it on my Xbox (I do/did have it for GBA though), in my opinion it makes a better console game than a handheld game. I need to finish it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on January 25, 2015, 12:04:19 PM
It was only the second game in the series I've beaten, after Super Metroid. Something tells me I'll be going back and playing more of Prime in about four days, so that'll probably be the next one I knock out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on January 25, 2015, 03:50:17 PM
I've beaten all of the Metroid games but Metroid, Metroid 2, & Zero mission.  Which ironically means I have a better completion percentage with Metroid than Zelda & Mario...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on January 28, 2015, 01:47:11 PM
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSzExaUrWFoGTb)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U) - 8/10
I loved this game very much, but it's a perfect example of what you see is what you get. This is all Captain Toad, all the time. Anytime the game deviates from the mechanics that makes a Captain Toad level great the game suffers. The bonus 3D World levels are terrible, the coin rush levels are fun but slightly pointless, and the Mummy Me mini-game (and it's hellish final level "Mummy Me Maze Forever") don't add much to the game. The main levels though are a masterclass and there are some expertly designed puzzles and levels within them. The replay value is very low, but for $40 this game works perfectly.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzRuxk5kr1M-DHq)
Advance Wars (Wii U) - 9/10
Finally finished the main story over the holiday period. This is a brilliant game, and though I lost my patience a bit at times, I attribute this more to my gaming habits nowadays. Had my younger self played this when it came out I would have sunk so many hours into it. The final battle was incredibly difficult but satisfying at the end.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSu9E-8VtMEkfN)
Thomas Was Alone (Wii U) - 7/10
A very good story wrapped up in a relatively easy platformer. While the gameplay is simple there are several good moments that make the entire product worthwhile. It's short enough that you can get through it in one sitting but you'll want to play it in stints of 10-15 minutes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 02, 2015, 11:50:56 PM
Mega Man 1 (3DS VC and retroachievements (http://retroachievements.org/user/azeke)):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzSedEOU79oKJSv) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaXC3VBXNg)
Done. My routine is to play the game on 3DS and use it as practice of sorts and after i beat the game there, i go to retro achievements emulator (hardcore mode, so no savestates) and beat the game.

I could go for more achievements (like beating Yellow Devil with no damage, i can consistently do it on 3DS) but it took me too much time as is. I basically dedicated my entire evening to finish it in one go.

Playing the game that started it all made me think of how ideas established in this game were put into the foundation of so many other games and series:

Level select: this not only gives player to freedom to tackle levels in any order he likes, but more importantly this adds a lot more to level and boss design.

Every boss (at least in the level select) has to be designed to be beatable with default weapon, because player can pick him as first level. But player can also go back and replay the level and the boss with different weapon only to discover that it now feels completely different. This adds tremendous replayability.

To this very day, games like DMC, Bayonetta and W101 are designed with that in mind -- all bosses are designed to work against ALL weapons in the game, even if this is early boss and the weapon in question you only get around 90% into the game. Discovering that first boss is extremely weak to late-game weapon on replaying the level is incredibly satisfying.

Defeated boss = weapon for you: this is not only the trademark of Mega Man, but is also one of establishing elements of DMC series. As a reward for defeating the boss you get it's weapon. This not only gives emotional boost but also tremendously widens the gameplay

Now that you have multiple weapons with different properties, you're free to experiment and try out all kinds of combinations of weapons and enemies. This mechanic also forces designer to create some REALLY different and distinctive bosses and their respective weapons -- you simply can't go with "sword 1", "sword 2" with that approach.

This formula gave us three headed dog that turns into ice-nunchucks and a vampire lady that turns into electric guitar so you can kill enemies by rocking out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oskw8aGIFk0). Post battle cutscenes where boss turns into a weapon and main character tries out it's abilities for the first time have become one of the most satisfying and funny things (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK6UaPnRYcc&t=39s) Capcom ever done.

So yeah. Mega Man. It's a cool game, somewhat janky in places, especially where these guys are involved:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzShzEbU2jui_fX) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaXDXMxsBQ)
Not only sometimes you're forced to wait until they come down for you, the game sometimes glitches out and you can fall right through them when they shoot.

Boss design could be a bit tighter in places -- like Gutsman feels way too random and there isn't much you can do if he decides to come at you.

Controls. It's crazy when people say how Mega Man has no inertia (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=864869). To me it always felt like he slides like a cow on a ice track. After i stop holding right he still slides a few additional pixels forward and this has always bothered me -- especially in places where you have to stand just right to not to take damage like udner cannons that hang from the ceiling and shoot in all cardinal directions.

Outside of a few bad spots it's still a great game with great music.

What's next? I could go to NES sequel (i've played some of it but didn't "finish" finished it), maybe try some of the GB games, i also want to check out "Powered-Up" remake of 1.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on February 03, 2015, 09:58:04 AM
I beat Jet Set Radio on the Vita two days ago. It was a little challenging, but that was more to do with the wonky character movement and some physics-based problems. For instance, I shouldn't lose all my momentum when I boost jump onto a grind rail when I'm at a perfect angle.

I was thinking about getting all the Graffiti Souls, but I didn't realize you had to get Jet rankings on every level to do so. I thought they were all collectibles in levels like the ones I got.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ceric on February 03, 2015, 09:59:31 AM
I want to play power up.  Shame you can't get it on Vita.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 03, 2015, 10:32:20 AM
I want to play power up.  Shame you can't get it on Vita.
I tested it on PPSSPP emulator on my toaster on work. It runs fine, especially compared to Ultimate Ghost and Goblins that was running miserably..
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 08, 2015, 01:26:17 AM
I have played and completed Grim Fandango. Twice: once with the terrible Tim Schafer-mandated Tank controls, & once with good controls.

Score without a guide: 0/10. Games like this are why Adventure games died in the first place. Just a lot of cryptic B.S., with puzzles often hidden in the Pre-rendered backgrounds and behind bad camera angles. Score with a guide: 5/10. If you know what you need to do and how to do it, it's a purely average story that's heavy on atmosphere, but is rather pedestrian overall.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on February 08, 2015, 01:35:48 AM
I reached the end of Kick & Fennick. It's a Vita title that's a PlayStation Plus freebie game for this month, but I got the game through other means. It's really fun and has a fresh idea for a 2D platformer. You play as Kick and use a large gun to blast yourself to different platforms with the gun's recoil. It opens up to some very tricky midair launching using the recoil to avoid hazards and the like.

I will link to my review (http://www.superphillipcentral.com/2015/02/kick-fennick-vita-review.html) in case anyone is interested in playing the game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 08, 2015, 02:27:49 AM
I reached the end of Kick & Fennick. It's a Vita title that's a PlayStation Plus freebie game for this month, but I got the game through other means. It's really fun and has a fresh idea for a 2D platformer. You play as Kick and use a large gun to blast yourself to different platforms with the gun's recoil. It opens up to some very tricky midair launching using the recoil to avoid hazards and the like.

I will link to my review (http://www.superphillipcentral.com/2015/02/kick-fennick-vita-review.html) in case anyone is interested in playing the game.

I've been playing it as well. I'm not fond of how finnicky the platforming gets once they introduce bounce pad chains in the 4th chapter, but it's a pretty interesting game overall. Game's more than a little buggy, though: I've had the game force me to replay missions because it didn't save when it told me it did.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Louieturkey on February 11, 2015, 04:21:29 PM
I beat Epic Mickey 2 with my son last month.  We had a blast.  He enjoyed it so much he wanted to start over.  The controls can be annoying in some ways and some parts of the co op make the game easier and other parts make it harder.  The biggest issue with solo play is getting Oswald to do what you want.  The issue with co op play is that they add in mini games for Oswald that aren't there in solo so it adds time.  It's almost faster to play solo and just drop out the moment one of those mini games is required, let the computer controlled Oswald do the task and then have the partner jump back in.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on February 14, 2015, 03:45:18 AM
So, uh... I just finished Rogue Legacy. it's the first game I've played in a while that I feel super strongly opinionated enough about to really talk at great detail. not to take away from stuff like bayonetta or smash or anything but... Rogue Legacy was an emotional roller coaster, and it's a game that I still am not sure if I really liked or not, but I feel making a forum post here will help me sort this out.

The idea of the procedurally generated... almost anything turns me off, but especially the idea of the roguelike, which has the twofold effect of layering level design like a kid who dumps out all his legos and just snaps the ones he has in reach together as hastily as possible for no regard for... much of anything, really. then you have to combine this hapazard melding of things with even more random! random events, random character generation, random, Random, RANDOM! and if you lose? BACK TO THE BEGINNING! oh, and we're changing everything around so your past experience means nothing, shithead! you can in theory do it on your first shot, but you have to have the patience of a saint and the reflexes of a ninja, not to mention some good, blind luck...!

At the same time though, Rogue Legacy isn't quite as random as one might think. sure, the kinex that make up the castle get shuffled in and out and all around, and you are technically playing new characters of a randomized class with randomized sub-weapon(s) and a randomized set of traits, but the big thing is that you keep the loot you've gathered in your last run to spend, and there are plenty of very much permanent upgrades to be found around the castle that get randomly generated in each run...! In turn, mastery of Rogue Legacy is less about throwing yourself against it until you have a proper set of win conditions that the game has graced you with in it's RNG, and more about throwing yourself at the random castle with your random character and trying to come up with a game plan.

Are you going to go seek out bosses? try to clear as many rooms as you can for loot before dropping dead? have a character with a lot of survivability scout out the castle before locking it down with the magic dungeon guy? farm out the special fairy chests for stat boosts because the ammount of stat boosts you can buy eventually caps out? in that regard, it's less metroidvania and more pre-planning and getting a snowball rolling. it did a lot to just put me under that "okay, just one more run really quick" mentality, and I think that's why I kept playing for as long as I did.

That being said, this game is kinda a mess.

I dislike the atheistic quite a bit. it simultaneously goes for cartoony caricatures while at the same time having this very super dower tone in the music and enviroments. the heroes all have a run cycle that beats out the "I've **** my pants" run that the characters in monster hunter have for over the top stupid run cycles, as characters all basically do the Cossack all over the castle, all with their swords held out like they're playing Skyward Sword. Monster designs that honestly could have looked cool had there been a bit more contrast to the art style end up looking really bland, and rooms/enviroments get INCREDIBLY repetitive. The music all sounds like they took chiptune muzak (which if you know me, I'm a HUGE fan of chiptune stuff) and mixed it wtih a slap bass and... it honestly sounds as generic as this game looks. I suppose sound effect wise i like the sound design (besides maybe when you have a room filled with fireball launchers and the turret things and there's CONSTANT explosions).

This game also lays the references on heavy, what with the Hedgehog's Curse, the Barbarian King/Queen class being one giant Skyrim reference, the asteroids thing with Herodotus' Remix boss fight, the whole matrix joke with "The One" trait, etc... the one I did get a chuckle out of was when you went to check your hero's status on the pause menu and a Magic the Gathering card pops up with their stats.

I feel that there's a lot of things that were poorly thought out about this game. Class balance is all over the place, and made me truly regret dumping money into unlocking a couple of the character classes. until you know what the **** is going on and how you should play the game, progress will be PAINFULLY slow, especially if you waste money on something you're not going to need... at the same time, you might waste a ton of money regardless, as Charon, the ferryman stands watch at the castle and takes all your unspent money for you new heir, which really starts to bite into your funds.

The endgame is VERY poorly thought out. while the rooms have set enemy placements and such, the enemies will scale based on a couple of factors. there are 3 tiers of recolor of every enemy outside of bosses and mini-bosses. when the enemies scale enough, they upgrade in tier without really re-arranging their placement, and they keep gaining health... to a point even after you've bought all the upgrades and can only randomly upgrade your stats via stats you find in chests. you can either grind the castle in a very tiring fashion for these stat upgrades, or you can quickly realize that the rate unto which the enemies scale is stupidly rediculous and around New Game +3, you should stop trying to fight enemies, as they only give you useless money.

Sometimes that's a little hard because remember what i mentioned about the enemies upgrading in tiers when they scale and enemy placement not accomodating for this? yeah, the game rapidly devolves into bullet hell where you will assuredly die in one hit. did I mention you're not a spaceship with a bomb to get rid of projectiles in this game?

I also have to say, some of the vision impairment disabilities you can get on your heirs give me really bad headaches, especially far-sightedness, Near-sightedness, and Nostalgic.. the blurry filters mess with my head really bad, and the sepia tone with a wax filter over everything makes the Maya (the attic area of the castle) impossible to explore thanks to the thick, rolling fog in that area on top of the stupid old timey filter.

So, I dunno. it seems like it's a deep game, then you learn it's tricks, you realize just how little content is there, how poorly balanced classes are, and how much the depressing and moody music gets to you. I suppose it does make for a good podcast listening game considering how... kinda dumb the story is and how you just have to work at it until you know what room layouts are going to be like so you can take a quick fraction of a second peak into a room so you're not blindsided and prepare yourself to go in by attacking the stupid thing that's camping you on the other side of the door. I mean, I don't know what I was expecting out of a 'roguelike' 'metroidvania' made by the people that brought us such classics as Don't **** Your Pants. I'm very glad I didn't pay for this game, but rather got it via PS+.

tl;dr, My final verdict is not reccomended except for Charon, because that boat guy has made off with some mad skrillah.

EDIT EDIT: http://www.kongregate.com/games/rete/dont-****-your-pants FROM THE MAKERS OF ROGUE LEGACY
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on February 14, 2015, 04:26:32 AM
Quote
it has come to my attention that S*it gets sensored here

Just a PSA, in case people don't know, the fucking profanity filter is enabled by default, but you can disable that **** in your forum profile.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on February 14, 2015, 05:09:23 AM
Thank you, J.P.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 16, 2015, 10:09:33 AM
Moon (DS) - Not sure what to say about this one. It's a solid, but not spectacular, corridor shooter. A bit too easy (when played on normal mode) throughout, and only the last couple of levels seemed to really pick up and be more tense/enjoyable with more enemies and a full complement of weapons to scroll through.


The fact that it's a DS game makes you look twice, but I wish there was a greater sense of exploration or story built into the game because it feels like a great engine that could have churned out a better end experience. Does anyone know how this compares to the Dementium games? I played a bit of the first one, but can't recall if the story/atmosphere was better than in Moon.


That sounds kind of negative, but I did enjoy the game and play all the way through. Is the 3DS remake worth the $12 or $13 currently being asked? Probably... but I wouldn't personally go much higher.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 17, 2015, 11:07:59 PM
Gunman Clive 2:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTBIAMUFgwd2o3) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKE96gzByg)

I've mostly played it on a commute, one level at a time and so i was able to prolong this rather short game over two weeks.

It's markedly better than first game.

It felt like with this game beril took EAD Tokyo approach and made sure every single level out of 24 had some kind of cool gimmick or surprise in it: dinosaurs, pandas, starfox levels, shinobi-style horse riding levels, local gravity distortions --  name it, and this game has it!

Bosses are also surprisingly good -- many phases, decently hard.

Level design is serviceable, but not particularly good -- way too many cheap places where you are absolutely have to take damage (especially with some alternate characters). Or maybe it's the "floaty" controls -- beril does have to cater to future mobile versions after all. Physics in gravity levels could have been tightened a bit -- but ah well.

Ninja Gaiden Black:
Beat Normal.

Obviously as with all good action games, beating normal is but a first small step towards discovering the game's intricacies and gitting gud FOR REAL.

After completing Normal i unlocked Hard mode, mission mode and one costume. I looked up conditions for other costumes and of course the costume i want the most (blue Ryu from NES Trilogy) is only unlocked after beating Very Hard. Fat chance of that happening any time soon -- i tried out first level of just Hard and got killed two minutes in. That first level is still great though.

Also rewatching intro for the game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN6oXjGHapk) after completing the game is quite eye-opening simply because of how many enemies (and bosses!) featured in this intro you will never even see on Normal mode. That is a clashing dissonance with DMC style philosophy where you always get the chance to see ALL cast of enemies on any difficulty with higher difficulties amping the challenge just by changing the behaviors and/or re-balancing encounter with different monsters.

Unique things about Ninja Gaiden compared to say Bayonetta or DMC:

First and the most important difference is pressure that enemies put on you. In other games of the genre enemies are mostly punching bags for you to get S/Platinum -ranks. In Ninja Gaiden breathing room is extremely small leaving little to no space for "styling on enemies", you are very restricted both in which actions you can do without getting punished and in terms of very narrow timing windows.

Combat system is much easier to get a handle of, even easier than Bayonetta which already was very casual friendly: the gist of combat in Ninja Gaiden all revolves around a simple concept:
Attack countered by --> Block/counter countered by --> grab countered by --> dodge.

Or, even simpler -- you're vulnerable whenever you're not blocking (including when you're attacking). But if you block too much -- you will get grabbed.

There a quite a few moves, but as per usual, only a handful of moves are viable to use. If Bayonetta's only has 4 essential combos, Ninja Gaiden has barely 2 per each weapon.

NG also has much less emphasis on shooting. Default ninja stars can only be used to stun minor enemies and to shoot in the air to get extra hover time. There also a few bosses that force you to use arrows -- and it kinda gets crappy -- NGB is good only when it invokes the feeling of badass ninja slicing monsters. Just standing there aiming with a bow feels stupid (not speaking of how dangerous it is).

For defense -- there a lot of tricks to get invincibility frames like jumping and immediately dodging as you land or using special techniques like Wind Run. You are also invincible when executing Ultimate Techniques and doing Ninpo magic so these are somewhat easy ways to cheese the game.

Ultimate Techniques and essence chaining is when you absorb orbs that fall of bodies by holding strong attack button and releasing an invincible series of attacks that will instantly kill any enemy (-ies) if it connects.

Interesting thing about bosses is that they're both unforgiving AND have very little health. The biggest challenge is always learning how to avoid their attacks and how to get your attacks in without getting hit or grabbed which is much worse. But once you find the strategy -- they all die within a minute. Easier said than done though, because openings for both defense and offense are quite tight.

Another huge difference is that the game has no visible lock-on UI and no way to change the target. This might be a problem when instead of one enemy you will attack another, especially with Flying Swallow where the target is very often completely off-camera.

Camera is... interesting. It will be a shock at first but the most important thing about camera in this game is that you only need to press RT to recenter it occasionally and that is it! Just press RT from time to time. And never ever, EVER touch right stick during the combat.

All in all, amazing game and a very unique experience. Probably way too hard for it's own good, though.

Have some cool combo video, so that you could anchor my wall of text to a visual representation of how NG plays:
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 22, 2015, 11:37:37 PM
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes (GC game on Wii):

10 hours something. Game gave "Hyena" rank -- not sure if it's good or bad...

The highlight of the game are boss fights -- the entire game is pretty much a sequence of boss fights one after another. Because game's clunky controls can't allow for an actual "action" (as in -- everything takes about five seconds to do, so it might as well be turn based) bosses spend most of the encounter talking to you instead of, you know, trying to kill you. And even if they deign to attack, their attack is usually a very delayed one, usually taking up to ten seconds to actually hit you.

And you need all that time because the biggest enemy in the game is again the controls -- not the bosses. You will spend more time fighting UI and controls, rather than enemies.

There is some decent boss encounters that were designed with these control deficincies in mind, but i can't help to feel that those efforts would be of better use fixing them, rather than on designing around them.

Voice acting and dialogues are okay i guess, outside of Snake's VA who sounds WAY too forced and constipated. Dialogue writing is infested with linguistic filler, such as "huh" (every other phrase no matter the character ends with "huh") or just Snake repeating the last words of what was just said.

Characters randomly starting to talk about the most random things would be cool, if it wasn't the most trite truisms that are presented as profound, deep thoughts. I guess it worked on illiterate teenagers who played the game at the time though, so i guess mission accomplished.

Game tries to make their villains compelling characters and it kinda works. Most of them spend their last minutes telling you the story of their lives, so that you could "feel" for them and so that character could go on about what is the meaning of all this. The writing is kinda eh during these moments, but some of them were poignant enough.

Final battle was very cool in both gameplay (for a change) and hype. The last half of an hour of the game is basically the ending of an Hollywood action movie with both amping up the stakes and the villain that just REFUSES to die.

After finishing Normal run, i can go for Hard difficulties or try Boss Rush mode. Also Twin Snakes has dog tags -- collectibles you take from dead corpses of the enemies, including bosses. On this run i only collected tags from Vulcan Raven and Liquid Snake, that's just 2 out of 28. And top it all, game actually has two different endings, so there is quite a lot of replayability there.

The question do i want to strugle with controls again?

Gamecube differences:
Due to placement of the button on GC controller, it's very easy to confuse with Y and Z buttons.
Start+A to call radio -- Why? Just Start doesn't do ANYTHING, no you need to use Start+A to call your friends.

Matrix style cutscenes exclusive to Twin Snakes felt so clashing with the rest of the game it was realy obvious where the original game ends and insertions start. I was playing the game and watching Let's Play of the original version ("Metal Gear Scanlon") at the same time to see differences -- and i don't think it really ruins original game or anything.

It's still the same game with better graphics and somewhat improved (but still shitty) controls.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 24, 2015, 03:30:41 AM
I have completed the first episode of Capcom's new Resident Evil Revelations 2 experiment on PS4 (and the other non-Nintendo platforms). Overall, it's....OK. It suffers from much the same problem RE6 had in that it's competent, but scattershot: the game's constantly cribbing from other disparate properties in a desperate attempt to find something "anyone" could like.

"Do you like rage zombies? We've got those!"
"Do you like slow zombies like the old RE games? We've got those!"
"Do you like Silent Hill-style crazy monsters? We've got those (and we even gave them the same properties as the Regenerators from RE4)!"
"Do you like the gritty, bloody environments of the Saw movies? We've got those!"
"Do you like the spooky nighttime woods environments of Alan Wake? We've got those!"
"Do you like exploring for secrets that can only be found with a special doodad & then upgrading your crap like in the original Revelations? We've got that (in the form of a pointing girl & a flashlight)!"
"Do you like shooting a zombie in the face so you can run up & punch them? We've got that!"
"Do you like the forced co-op play that no one liked in RE5? We've got that!"

It all just leads to a game that feels like it doesn't have an identity of its own. It doesn't go as far as RE6 did and have shoot-outs with infected gunmen, but it's still kind of problematic. I'd also harp on the visuals (which are at best circa-2009 PS3, which just looks hilariously out-of-date on PS4), but on the other hand this is only a $25 game. Allowances can be made. There's also the "spend BP for skills" upgrade system from RE6, if you're into that.

Oh, and if you were into the original Revelations' Raid mode, that's here too.

The one nice thing that the game has from the original Revelations, though, is that it has the TV-style cliffhanger thing nailed, and with these episodes literally releasing every week for the next month it works even better than in the first game. I'm wary of where this game is going, but I'm definitely looking forward to next week's episode.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 28, 2015, 11:10:06 AM
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PC):

16 hours. "Elephant" rank.

Controls:

Bad controls continue to be a major downside. While MGS2 introduces a lot of new abilities, actually controlling them is also a new kind of cumbersome.

This is especially emphasized by the weapon you get closer to end-game. Then you're forced to take down the final boss using only this weapon. It controls clunky even by MGS standards, which is saying A LOT.

I have no idea what is wrong with Kojima and why he insisted on making the most stupid broken control layout game after game.

Control scheme actually reminds me of Link's Awakening, of all things, because it has similar top-down view and two slots where you constantly switch actions alloted to them. Link's Awakening did this because it was Gameboy game with just two buttons. MGS uses this controls scheme because... Who knows.

I think one of the biggest problems of MGS1 and 2 is that they're top-down games with separate first-person mode. And you can't move in first person mode -- you can just look around and maybe shoot. This is a huge hassle. This turns boss fights where you need to aim precisely into a cycle:
1. Move around dodging bosses attack
2. When opportunity arises, enter first person mode and try to shoot the boss
3. When you see that boss starts attacking, you exit first person mode and run around some more, going back to step 1.

Two separate modes for top-down and first person view also impede your vision. You often enter the room or a corridor and face a guy right in front of you that you can't see because he is beyond the border of top-down camera.

From what i can tell by MGS3 demo, third game finally embraces full third-person camera so you can FINALLY SEE IN FRONT OF YOU WHEN YOU'RE MOVING. This is such a basic thing, but it took MGS three games to get there...

Stealth:
There were a lot of ways to cheese with stealth in MGS1, so it never really was super limiting. Not anymore -- most of these workarounds were "fixed" out. Alert level doesn't reset between rooms, so you can't just exit the room if caught and then enter it again to reset alert level. If you're discovered, guards call backup unit and you get swarmed by dozens of guys. Also even if you take out a guard, his officer will start to call him on the radio and will send a additional guys to check on him after a while.

It get so obnoxious at times it's much easier to just give up, lie down and die rather than trying to run away and then waiting out until alert level goes down to normal.

This is a schoolbook example of how smarter AI doesn't improve the gameplay but make it worse -- enemies are so smart and relentless it is a chore to do anything, even just moving around.

And this is a problem because 2 has a lot more backtracking than first game. 1 is more or less basically going from point A to B. There are only two instances in MGS! where you needed to go back.

In 2, you're going in circles constantly, looking for cards, weapons and other things that are gating your progress. And it gets annoying because again -- stealth is a chore in this game.


Bosses:
Bosses are worse than in MGS1. First of all there are less of them. And all of them, except for one, are copies of MGS1 bosses:

Olga is still done by the template of Revolver Ocelot.
Vamp is a complete rehash of Revolver Ocelot fight.
Fortune is a rehash lol you kinda fight her, but it is so short it's barely a thing
Fatman is that one original boss. He is very cool actually.
Harrier is a rehash of Hind D boss fight.
Solidus is a rehash of Grey Fox fight.
And of course Metal Gear Rays fight is a rehash of Metal Gear Rex fight.

Actually there is an ingame explanation why it is this way, but the problem is even those original MGS1 bosses weren't strokes of gameplay genius (because of barely working controls).

At least they're not really complete rehashes, since now you have more abilities and weapons and there a bit more ways to kill them. Or not to kill them because MGS series famously allows for completely non-lethal runs where you don't kill anyone, even bosses. I would totally go for non-lethal run of MGS, just like i keep replaying and replaying Bayonetta, DMC and W101 for hundreds of hours, but the problem is MGS controls like crap.

Another problem about bosses is that you don't even fight few of the introduced villains and the one other villain you never actually get to kill. It's just disappointing because after introducing such a cast cool characters you kinda start to savior the moment you face them and how it's gonna play out. And in the end you never actually fight one bad guy and the other one escapes.

Voice acting:
Raiden's actor tries the same inflections as Hayter, but instead of "trying too hard to sound badass" it sounds like "whiny" with him. Actor's not bad and actually there is one dramatic piece when he talks about his past where his performance is really good.

But then they also try to do some drama scenes with Otacon and it just feels too jarring because Otacon is a comedy character with exaggerated "weakling" voice and it just too hard to take seriously when he still keeps that same voice on when you're supposed to cry or something. Also revelations about abundant incest in his family was weird and felt completely unnecessary. "Just like my japanese animes indeed".

At least Otacon is still good for comedy, and in the beginning it was hilarious when he tried to imitate Mei Ling from the first game.

Music is a bit better, in the first one it was kinda generic. Main theme track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUho_LJbFfs) really stands out.

And finally

The story:
I don't even know anymore.

MGS1 story was shoddy as well, but at least it was "fun".  Same how 24 is **** writing through and through but it's incredibly amusing and entertaining ****.

MGS2 is still fun and gameplay scenarios are often fun and outrageous and outrageous and fun, but then the ending comes and drops 16 ton weight on you.

And it's not like i don't understand it or something. Sure, it's complicated (way too much for it's own good), but i still got most of it in broad strokes.

The main problem is WHY. Why everything really? Not just why character X did this -- i understood motivations for the characters. I just don't understand what was the point of dropping it all on me.

(https://goofybeast.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/mgs2-ending.gif)

It's not even THAT crazy -- it's just filled with the most random things all crammed into one messy ball of plot threads.

And the usual crap from MGS1 with spouting out truisms and pretending it's some profound revelations is still there -- it's just all loaded to the end instead of being sprinkled throughout the game.

Hey, guys did you know that children carry parents DNA? Did you know that DNA is a sequence of digital bits and thus our bodies is nothing but carriers of genetic information from past to the future? If you didn't get it from the first game, second game will hammer this message again, even harder.

For those who actually read some books, like Sirens of Titan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirens_of_Titan) or any of the Lem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Technologiae) bo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Futurological_Congress)oks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Perfect_Vacuum) this is trite and done subject. And done so much better too -- the ending to Sirens of Titan? Now THAT was some mindbending life-changing revelationary stuff. MGS2 after that feels like a fart in a bottle.

So to sum it up:
It's a still a good game at least. I had a lot of fun when game got wacky as VIDEOGAMES should.

But is it a GREAT game? Let alone the best game of all time? I guess it all depends how you illiterate or young you were when playing this game, i guess. If ideas presented in the game were something that you never encountered before and if they felt like some deep philosophy to you -- well i guess it worked on you.

Personally i found the plot too "been there, done that when i was 15 years old".
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 04, 2015, 01:24:03 PM
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzS2dw2UJDbPTyn)
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Wii U) - 9/10
The best game in the series is the first one I've played, and I'm glad for it. I never felt overwhelmed by the platforming or the gameplay. I did have an issue with the character depictions, but overall the writing and the comedy were some of the best in a game. Pretty fun to explore and try and 100%, with only a few items hidden in impossible locations requiring the use of an FAQ. Highly recommended.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzS2-rKQpOVaCIF)
Bayonetta 2 (Wii U) - 10/10
This is pretty much the best game that's on the Wii U right now. The combat system retains all the good things from the first game and implements some new things as well. Combat in general feels a lot more intuitive and there are fewer frustrating moments. Gone are the insta-death QTEs, but the over the top elements are still there and are still quite enjoyable. The boss battles are very enjoyable and while the final boss fight isn't as epic as the first one in terms of scale, there's still so much good in this game, and the experience is very rewarding.

The Starship Damrey (3DS) - 6/10
Meh. Really simple adventure game and not much else really.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on March 04, 2015, 04:17:16 PM
Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PC):


Played through the first "episode" last night. It's kind of underwhelming. Revelations 1 wasn't particularly great, but I quite liked the atmosphere of the ship and sort-of melding of the old style locked door progression. The goo monsters were kind of dopey but at least they were distinctive. So far Revelations 2 takes place in bland environments with bland "zombies or whatever" enemies that fail to be intimidating, or are wildly derivative of other games (Outlast, Silent Hill). I also truly wonder at how this series became so obsessed with co-op partners and melee. Like, we've gotten to the point here we have a mandatory little girl character who can only use bricks. Sheesh. And you spend most of your time (if you are me) crouching around with the flashlight or magic little girl finger looking for shiny objects. Scanning in the first game was a much better version of this system.


Oddworld: New and Tasty (PC):


This was one of the few games I was jealous wasn't on a Nintendo system back in the day, so I was quite pleased to see this get remade and come out on PC. Unfortunately it's kind of awful so far. The controls are finicky and aggravating, combined with dexterity-based gameplay, making for a pretty lousy experience. I wasn't missing anything after all! It does look really good and the animations are charming, at least.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 06, 2015, 01:06:53 AM
Teslagrad (Wii U) - 5/10
There's a good game hidden in here somewhere. But the combination of a steep difficulty curve and one hit kills really takes a toll on you. Add to that random hard locks and it's a miracle I manage to plow through this game like I did. I'm not going to bother with the secret ending. The storytelling was good but it's hard to care once you're going through a difficult magnet puzzle for the 150th time and you're praying the game doesn't freeze. No screenshot because apparently I can't post one? Ugh, what a disappointment.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: iandemel on March 11, 2015, 03:49:41 PM
Here's the recent one I've completed I believe. The game that I completed is "The Beatles: Rock Band" for the Xbox 360.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on March 11, 2015, 08:16:14 PM
Chrono Trigger:

So, as some of you may or may not know, today happens to be the 20th anniversary of Chrono Trigger's Japanese release for the super famicom. so, I thought I'd give it a playthrough for old time's sake and give you guys some thoughts and impressions!

Chrono Trigger is an RPG where you play as a young man named Crono, a well intentioned young man who takes it onto himself to right the wrongs of time along with his friends. He's a silent protagonist who who wields glowing green bubbles of death and a mean Katana as he travels about time with his friends Trunks and Son Goku. I-

... what? you mean I haven't been playing Chrono Trigger? I mean...

(http://puu.sh/gvM1S/41b7dcf769.jpg) This certainly LOOKS like Crono and this game has plenty of time travel in it! I'll admit, they really did a nice job making the models here in this PS4 version look good but...


Okay, enough with the ruse. this is actually my thoughts and impressions on Dragon Ball Zenoverse! (at least I think it should be spelled Zenoverse and not Xenoverse...)

So, for those of you not listening to Cha-la Head-Cha-la on your MP3 player this second, this is a DiMPS developed RPG Brawler that uses a license as trotted out in Japanese video game development as Star Wars is for western development (Hey! they even both have Kinect games!). Dragon Ball Z kinda represents the loud and over-the top shounen anime style, and so many tropes of the genre found their genesis and popularity in Akira Toriyama's 1989 Manga, which was a sequel to a much more lighthearted and comedic romp that found itself styled after Journey to the West.

THIS GAME HAS NOTHING FOR YOU IF YOU ARE NOT A FAN OF THIS SERIES. None of this crap is gonna make sense if you have no knowledge of these characters. the story will be gobbledy-gook, as it's all about repairing the timeline to a TV series as it gets corrupted. they do little to nothing to try and ease you in, and you aren't going to get why these events are important other than "oh, they changed history so the good guys get their asses stomped in. best I better go Time Squad my way into the past and fix it!"

The mechanics will be a bit milquetoast and even awkward to somebody who's just coming off of say... Bayonetta 2 or something, but I feel it's servicable, and fun enough, as there's a lot of content here in the form of side quests, the main story, playing online with friends or strangers, and going through the incredibly addictive process of trying to tweak and craft the right skills/gear for your custom DBZ OC that it's got a charm to it. there's an inexplicable joy that my inner teen cries for as I go about  through the major story events of Dragon Ball Z with my curvy Majin lady who's dressed as a sentai super hero and has an attack that hypnotically forces some of the most brutal gods of death and destruction the universe has ever known to dance the Parapara.

This game does feel like it has the DBZ Filler in a sort-of way too, what with how GRINDEY it gets. the story missions drastically JUMP in difficulty  between each one, and so you'll be repeating the quests to get EXP, money, and sometimes drops. there's also crafting. this game feels like it's made from parts of an MMORPG. The way this game skinner boxes you can be somewhat despicable.

Let's take the Dragon Balls for example... you know, the thing the whole franchise is named after? yeah. So... you get Dragon Balls for beating time patrollers... sometimes. how do you get time patrollers to show up? well, you do a quest and fuffil a certain condition, and then the time patroller shows up... sometimes. of course, you need to get 7 of the things to summon the eternal dragon, Shenron to grant your wish.

There's 11 wishes to choose from. some of these are things like re-creating the cosmetic looks of a character, getting a chance to Respec, asking for an instant level up, Rare crafting materials you could be spending your time farming instead of farming Dragon Balls, asking for a bunch of money that you probably got more of just farming for the damned balls than Shenron would actually give you... but let's say you're a completionist.

There's a clothes set you can wish for.
there's an accessory that you can wish for.
there's an option to wish for character unlocks to play as during side quests and other modes. he gives you one each time you wish and there are 3 to be unlocked only through wishing from Shenron.
There's 6 super moves to get from him. he gives you 3 at a time with each wish.
There are 2 ultimate moves you can get from wishes, one at a time.

that's 9 wishes you need to make for completion's sake. that's 63 dragon balls minimum. that you farm from a guy that might decide to drop one and might decide to show up should you fuffil the condition for him to show up.

besides the serious camera issues and some control problems, there's also the way this game is framed, in that EVERYTHING is done from the hub world. when you finish a quest, you are spit back at a spot in the hub world. even from multiplayer lobbies.  this means every time you want to quest with friends, you gotta hike your ass from the pre-determined point on the map all the way back to the quest desk, connect to the server, and invite your friends.

Speaking of the servers, I think they weren't prepared for how many people would buy this game. often times you get booted from single player because of connection issues with the server. it's not quite always online DRM, but it's damn close to it, and that makes it VERY frustrating.

In the end though, it's still fun. there's just enough complexity to the fighting such as perfect guards and such to where there's some technique to fighting other than mash square. the character customization is top notch, as not only do you choose how they look, but you also choose clothes for them and you combine skills from various fighters or a few they made just for the game to really make your character stand-out. the Mentor system is quite cool also, making you study under characters from the show to learn their techniques.

Overall, I like it, and i'm probably still going to try and get a lil' OCD completionist about it.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 11, 2015, 10:25:33 PM
Wrapped up a couple of adventure games.

The big one is Grim Fandango Remastered. First off I'm glad I got the chance to finally play thing game, and to judge it on its gameplay and not on the insane hype that has been building up since the early 2000s. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the voice acting. There was a genuine interest to search every nook and cranny, and to hear every interaction Manny Calavera had with his surroundings. Ultimately though, what starts off as a joyous romp through the game's world goes tedious fairly quickly, as your constantly being forced to adapt to the adventure game logic the game throws at you. The progression made it seem like you were advancing, but miss one slight detail and the game grinds to halt. You're clicking away at the screen wondering what the hell you're missing. After too many moments like this, I just decided to experience the story a use a walkthrough when needed. Thankfully the last third of the story eases up these unique adventure game moments (just slightly). The story packs so much of a punch though, it's truly worth trying out. This is an adventure game-ass adventure game though, so be prepared.
I also played through Stick it to The Man. By contrast, this game is on the other end of the adventure game scale. It's very simple, and while there are a few puzzles that will make you think for a second, there's nothing that sent me searching for a walkthrough. The map on the GamePad made it easy to keep track of all my interactions, and the more linear levels offered a brief change of pace, letting the story breathe and take full center stage. It's not as good as Grim Fandango's, but the writing is still top notch, and the cast provides some good laughs. Unfortunately the game is way too short and there's really no replay value. Compared to Grim Fandango though, the short playtime made it a little bit more enjoyable, so it gets the slightly better score. Get in on sale for sure. I also played The Old Tree, a free 15 minute adventure game with some nice puzzles. It's a trippy game that can be finished by the time you finish your coffee break. And it's free. Can't beat free.

Grim Fandango Remastered (Steam) - 7/10
Stick it to The Man (Wii U) - 8/10
The Old Tree (Steam) - 7/10

(http://i.imgur.com/O9z0cmNl.jpg)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTDLjbw2EJgLmJ)
(http://i.imgur.com/Rm7Ok9jl.png)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 23, 2015, 06:47:11 PM
I also just finished Stick it to the Man (Wii U).  Not quite sure what to say about the game. I love the style, and the humor is pretty decent throughout. Gameplay was interesting - it felt like a nice throwback to some classic adventure games, but still unique and distinct from those experiences. But it's very short, offers no good reason to play through more than once, has an underdeveloped story, and lacks any significant challenge.

There are some unique Wii features. Lifting your gamepad up to point at the TV provides a neat mind-reading experience, but it's not very convenient to use. I found that playing off-screen and using the touch screen was more convenient than playing on the big screen and using the control sticks to maneuver your psychic hand... but both methods play well enough to be enjoyable.

Overall, the game is easy to recommend despite my minor misgivings. Anyone with a soft spot for point-and-click adventures is likely to enjoy this title, and it's definitely worth trying. Buying while on sale is preferable though - if only because it's a limited experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 24, 2015, 12:20:43 AM
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:
(http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081110202126/metalgear/images/5/51/Fields_of_white_flowers_(MGS3).jpg)

Unquestionably the best MGS game yet. The story finally shed teenage pretentiousness of 1 and 2 and went back to basics -- pure (spy) action movie. It's bigger than 1 and 2,  it's longer and has better bosses.

Controls:
A new third person camera is a huge improvement -- finally you can freaking see where you going without switching to dedicated first person mode. You almost can't tell that this was added later in a re-release. There is a one boss fight that is much easier to do in "top-down" mode but otherwise the game plays like a traditional third-person action game.

On the other hand you lose the radar screen. It was the most important UI element in both 1 and 2, mostly because neither top-down nor first person view allowed to see much. Much of the game you spent looking at the radar, almost like playing Pac-Man entire time. Radar also showed viewing cones for each enemy. Now you don't have a radar and can only rely on what you see with your own eyes. It kinda sucks sometimes, because as great as traditional third person camera is there will still be situations where you will miss an enemy and he will see you and raise an alert. There are motion detector and active sonar but both are kinda crappy and not an adequate replacement.

CQC controls make combat out of the stealth mode enjoyable for once, slamming dudes into the mud is very satisfying. In 1 and 2, combat was a clunky mess, one could say it was intentional -- to punish you when you lose stealth, but i would say it's just KojiPro can't design action gameplay for ****. Lying down, getting up and rolls are still clunky -- this was a problem in the final boss fight. Also sticking out from the grass while aiming with my sniper rifle requires you to press and hold both bumpers and both triggers at the same time -- come on, this is just bad design.

UI:
Start menu...  i can see why it was made that way, but it's just you spend WAY too much time in there. You cure yourself, you eat food, you change your outfits, you manage your inventory and do few other routines. Half of these things could have been done in the actual game without putting them dedicated menu. This menu loads 3d models for every entry so there is a bit of a lag on every input you do and overall UI in this game is pretty laggy and "waits" for something each time you press the button instead of just instantly switching to next screen.

Life/stamina bars system made it so most enemies and bosses don't really do too many damage (except for The Fury who is appropriately enraging because he can fly up to you and destroy your life bar you in a few seconds) and even if they do some damage, you can just go to menu and "cure" yourself, eliminating all damage to your lifebar.

Collectibles:
MGS1 Twin Snakes and 2 had dog tags that you could take from guards after executing some stupidly complicated "hold up" procedure. Hold-up still exists in MGS3 but this time you take information from the enemy (could be because soviet soldiers never carried dog tags). This works pretty well -- when threatened mooks can tell plenty of interesting stuff: where are the secrets on this location, codes for special frequencies and other stuff. Also, it's MUCH easier to do than in Twin Snakes and 2.

MGS3 has green frog toys hidden in all locations, the problem is while dog tags were tracked from the main menu (btw why couldn't i check which tags i have without exiting the game? stupid), frogs are never tracked anywhere. Though i guess you can write down all location names on paper and check it if you found a frog in there. Also i noticed at least one frog during the chase sequence and that is just some evil BS. I was moving so fast i barely even noticed the frog was there, let alone shooting it.

Non-lethal:
I was going for no-kill playthrough and it went pretty smooth. When i completed the game my stats showed me that i have exactly one death on me. It took me some investigating and recollecting to figure out who it was (also why can't i see my stats anytime from the game to check if i killed anyone? why do i have to wait for the end? stupid).

Apparently it was KGB guard from literally the first mission of the game -- i tranq'd him on the rope bridge and when i was walking by, bridge started to wobble and his unconscious body slipped off to the river. My non-lethal playthrough was ruined in the beginning and i had no way of knowing that. Somewhere near the end there is a way to see if you killed anyone -- without spoiliing anything: it shows you "the souls of those whose lives you took" and you can see who exactly it was. A lot of enemies have unique designs depending on locations so you can figure out exactly when and where it happened.

Bosses:
(http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/357/4/5/Metal_Gear_Solid_3_Villains_by_FirstPriest.jpg)

As i said The End is one of the greatest bosses in history -- amazing one hour long boss fight. He is also very forgiving -- he shoots tranqs and thus only hurts your stamina bar not lifebar. Because his boss fight is so slow, somewhat clunkyness of controls doesn't matter.

The Pain and The Fury were annoying more than anything else. Pain was at least ridiculous by himself -- dude that can control the bees, but Fury was kinda boring.

The Fear is probably second best boss in the game after The End. Just like with The End there are dozens and dozens of way to defeat him both lethally and non-lethally and the use of in-game systems is very ingenious.

The Boss herself gameplay wise was kinda a rehash. We already seen quite a few bosses done by the same "shoot from the back and hide" template in 1 and 2 (Ocelot, Vulcan Raven). Aesthetically and emotionally it was still great though, see this field of flowers? Beautiful aint it?

The Sorrow was also very cool but he is just a gimmick. At least he's good for showing you souls of those you killed.

There are couple of bosses outside of Cobra Unit and they're generally pretty good (Volgin, Ocelot, Shagohod).

The ending sequence was pretty similar to the one in MGS1 but much longer, so long it even kinda got tiresome. Also they added escort mission to it. If you somehow figure out how to cure and more importantly -- FEED your partner it should go smooth so it shouldn't be as annoying after that.

The story:
The story is super straightforward for MGS game. . This game doesn't really go into parody and deconstruction like 1, doesn't mock and criticize the player and the society like 2 -- it's just a "simple", straight faced spy action flick. And it is so much better for it.

I can understand people who call it the best game ever, but personally the gameplay is still not there yet. And even emotionally it didn't really do much for me though The Boss was a great antagonist.

Cool game. If you want to check what MGS is about and want only to play one game -- check out this one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 30, 2015, 12:50:32 AM
Rayman Legends (360):
FINALLY.

I finally got all teensies. I played and 100%-ed actual Legends part of the game way back in 2013 when i got the game.

Then it took me another two years to beat Origins copypasta levels -- because it was that much of a chore.

And even after that, i found out that i was missing Gold Cup on some levels. So i had to run around everywhere on level select area to find it. UI there was so confusing by the way:
(http://i2.minus.com/jdGKuslNM8f68.jpg)
I've played this game for two years already but up to this moment i haven't realized that gold, silver and bronze cups on the frame of the painting (under king and queen teensies icons) are SEPARATE from gold, silver and bronze cups that are floating above the painting. Floating cups refer to lum counts you get on the level, while cups on the frame... i honestly have no idea what they measure.

Usually you get lum count Gold cup automatically after you 100% a level. But there are a few pesky levels where it's impossible to get 600 lums unless you're absolutely perfect. You need to grab extra heart in level loading screen and then never get hit to get additional lums each time you find heart inside levels. Even bigger challenge are pink lum lines -- you can't allow to go out of sequence or else you will lose 40+ lums and can kiss your gold cup goodbye.

Mysterious Inflatable Island and Beware of the Mini Murray are like that -- lots of pink lines and a very tight lum count that makes getting Gold Cup on them much harder than on other levels.

I also friended several people to get achievement for beating friends scores in Challenges. That was a chore comparable to replaying Origins levels.

Last two achievements (getting final level of awesomeness and getting a million of lums) would require me to play Challenges for yet another year or so by my estimation, so i will say i am okay and say i am done.

Overall, Legends is quite a disappointment after Origins. Inexplicably for the game that has been delayed, it has less content than previous game and to make up for that they include nearly all Origins levels to pad it.

Online challenges are pretty cool and addicting, but i kinda burned on them after playing Wii U Challenges App (pretty sure i played Challenges App for longer than actual full game on 360).

Music levels were very cool, but they are like four of them.

Origins was a completely new thing (even if physics was too wonky). Legends is "less of the same" sequel.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on March 30, 2015, 09:56:31 AM

Overall, Legends is quite a disappointment after Origins. Inexplicably for the game that has been delayed, it has less content than previous game and to make up for that they include nearly all Origins levels to pad it.

Online challenges are pretty cool and addicting, but i kinda burned on them after playing Wii U Challenges App (pretty sure i played Challenges App for longer than actual full game on 360).

Music levels were very cool, but they are like four of them.

Origins was a completely new thing (even if physics was too wonky). Legends is "less of the same" sequel.

It's a shame, too, as I felt like Legends actually nailed the physics/controls compared to Origins, and had some stand-out level design (quicksand level comes to mind). My god that final world was disappointing . . .
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 01, 2015, 11:43:53 PM
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS):

I loved this game start to finish. Screenshots look shitty, but in motion and full 3D the game looks great and is super smooth. Overworld/Lorule design was very satisfying. Painting mechanic was great and jelled beautifully with both the game design and 3D presentation. I played it on Hero (cart I bought had already beat the game), and the difficulty was brisk, making every upgrade and heart piece meaningful. Money was the most useful its been in any Zelda game. The loose progression was awesome and I greatly enjoyed not intuiting the structure of the game (it took me to the last quarter to realize how I was supposed to get the Pegasus Boots). There was one or two underwhelming dungeons, but overall I thought they nailed the focused scope while allowing for shortcuts/alternate solutions if you had certain items. The smaller dungeons also allowed you to jump in and out, which I did a number of times, hitting a wall or dying, but having a new mid-dungeon enhancement or master ore piece that you can turn around on obstacles in the overworld. The story was so minimal as to be perversely distracting in its absence, but I still managed to be surprised by one thing. I thought Octoball was whack at first, but then I got into when going for the prize. Beats the **** out of bunny catching in Spirit Tracks.

Super Mario 3D Land (3DS):

Though the game initially offered no resistance, I enjoyed myself thoroughly for the first half or so, partially due to the to-me-novel 3D of the New 3DS. (I'd never touched a regular 3DS before, so had no conception of the effect, which apparently actually works well with the New 3DS.) But man, compared to 3D World's post-game, the Special worlds of 3D Land kind of blow. Way too much recycling, some levels more than once, with boring/frustrating time/shadow chasing modifiers. A cool moment or sequence here or there, but also some obnoxious remixes that added nothing other than irritation to the base stages. Overall level design feels a bit banal and restrictive (numerous times I tried to experiment with shortcuts only to get executed by invisible walls). I did like the idea of re-interpreting Super Mario Bros. Bowser fights as platforming boss obstacles, but in execution it only gets mildly interesting in the final level.

Having completed the final special level, I did a Google search to see if there's any point in getting all of the star coins and flags. It turns out that there's a special EX final level if you never die more than five times on any stage (on top of all of the coins and flags), and if you **** that up, no 8-Crown for you! This is really irritating. The penalty for dying more than five times is having the cheater-leaf boxes appear and beep at you. No way in hell I'm going to re-do the game with that in mind, and yet I am aggravated that I will never touch that last level. Bad design choice!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 01, 2015, 11:54:19 PM
It turns out that there's a special EX final level if you never die more than five times on any stage (on top of all of the coins and flags), and if you **** that up, no 8-Crown for you! This is really irritating. The penalty for dying more than five times is having the cheater-leaf boxes appear and beep at you. No way in hell I'm going to re-do the game with that in mind, and yet I am aggravated that I will never touch that last level. Bad design choice!
That's not how it works.

Beeping white leaf box does appear when you lose more than five lives. But it's mere appearance doesn't block anything. This rule was only effective in NSMB Wii and even then it didn't locked you out of anything except your final stars on save file weren't shiny anymore. 3D World has exactly the same rule about white leaf boxes.

It will lock you out if you TAKE white leaf power-up.

To unlock Crown-Crown you need to complete all levels with Mario and Luigi and get gold flag on each of them (with either Mario or Luigi -- no matter, as long as you get gold flag once -- it counts).

I agree about 3D Land post-word being weaker compared to 3D World. 3D World had like four post-words stringed one after another, all with original ideas and cool gimmicks. 3D Land just rehashed levels from the first half.

I still think 3D Land is the better game, overall
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on April 01, 2015, 11:57:40 PM
Having completed the final special level, I did a Google search to see if there's any point in getting all of the star coins and flags. It turns out that there's a special EX final level if you never die more than five times on any stage (on top of all of the coins and flags), and if you **** that up, no 8-Crown for you! This is really irritating. The penalty for dying more than five times is having the cheater-leaf boxes appear and beep at you. No way in hell I'm going to re-do the game with that in mind, and yet I am aggravated that I will never touch that last level. Bad design choice!

That doesn't sound right to me. I think if there is a stage where you did die more than 5 times, you can just replay it and if you beat it in less than 5 tries, it will then count that new attempt as if it was the only time you played the level and not hold the first time with more than 5 deaths against you.

EDIT: There. Azeke confirms what I thought. Just replay any troublesome level.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 02, 2015, 12:18:14 AM
Ha, yeah, you guys are right, I totally misread this: http://www.ign.com/wikis/super-mario-3d-land/Unlockables

I just read through it and somehow thought the shiny star requirement was part of the progression to getting the final level. Although playing through all levels with both Mario and Luigi is in itself a bit of barrier. But I'll probably do it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 02, 2015, 12:37:37 AM
^
Just make sure NOT to use power-ups in that bonus level and don't use yellow platform at the very end and you'll be granted happiness in life.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 03, 2015, 07:52:13 PM
^
Just make sure NOT to use power-ups in that bonus level and don't use yellow platform at the very end and you'll be granted happiness in life.

 Thanks, I will try my best, though I could never make it more than 2/3s of the way through Champion's Road.

I'm also baffled as to why you rate 3D Land over World. Land is good and all, but I feel like World outclasses it in every way, even single player only.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on April 05, 2015, 11:41:29 AM
3D World learns a lot from the example set by 3D Land and is a better overall game. 3D Land was the trailblazer. I can't speak for azeke, but I give 3D Land bonus points for being so original.

8-Crown without power-ups is insane. I couldn't do it. I just barely beat the stage with power-ups.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on April 05, 2015, 01:22:47 PM
System Shock 2: Usually I don't like the older PC only FPS games that are typically proclaimed to be the greatest thing ever. It mainly seems like nostalgia saying they are good. This is not the case with System Shock 2. It is a very, VERY good game! Especially if you like trial-and-error gameplay. I'll point out my only negatives.

- Beginning of the game drags. You are stuck mainly with melee weapons until you invest in skill some more
- End game is a pain in the ass. The replicators (think Circus of Value) don't carry a lot of ammunition, heath becomes scarce, the enemies with a lot health pop up frequently further depleting your ammo reserves, and energy weapons don't affect any of them either which is a pain in the ass too.
- The physics in this game are the worst I've ever seen. Jumping is awful, enemies can back up through walls sometimes, its basically a mess.

If you like Bioshock gameplay, its basically a more advanced version of it with stats, attributes, and the sort. Weapons jam, you can upgrade them anywhere, you can hack turrets and security systems, etc. I would rate it 9/10.

The middle part of the game is wonderful fun and the negatives are outweighed by the positive fun I had playing it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 06, 2015, 01:34:08 AM
I'm also baffled as to why you rate 3D Land over World. Land is good and all, but I feel like World outclasses it in every way, even single player only.
It's this
but I give 3D Land bonus points for being so original.
plus minute differences in platforming between World and Land.

You wouldn't know it by playing the game casually but 3D Land is actually a lot about momentum. You can't beat special 8-Crown if you don't know how it works.
Game had three speeds and regular jumps and boost jumps have different arcs depending on which speed you're on.

3D Land allowed you to carry that momentum throughout entire level -- you could have long jumped and roll jumped through most levels.

3D World nerfs long jumps and roll jumps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avrHM5AH5_4) and overall makes everything it can to stop you from moving too fast.

Also i liked SMB1-style bosses of 3D Land a lot more. Final Bowser fight in Land was much better too.


I "beat" one game yesterday.

Bayonetta (360):
Three (?) years and more than 200+ hours later i can finally say i am done with it. With 360 version at least. I think...

I've completed Non Stop Infinite Climax. The skill gap between doing gud on Normal and Hard was huge. NSIC will require to master combat system in full and skill gap to get platinums is even higher. I am not there yet, so i just ran through it to beat with additional goal to make it in less than three hours for entire playthrough -- doing this unlocks Bangle of Time. Had to redo some of the level to get better time and finally made it in 2:57.

I collected all 101 crows on all three difficulties.

I defeated Rodin, who is one of the most unfair BS bosses ever (completely by design):
I used Climax Brace just like on the video and it felt a bit cheap. I plan to do it "properly" without overpowered Climax Brace on U version -- it definitely feels doable.

The weapon you get for beating Rodin is super cool - you can basically get the ability to conjure enemy weapons out of thin air.

From this point on i shall fully transfer to U version. I am currently now stuck Pure Platinuming Hard campaign there.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GaziSalahuddin on April 06, 2015, 12:09:30 PM
I have played many games and also finished them. I have finished GTA San Andreas, Delta Force, Freedom Fighter, IGI I,II, Spider Man, Commando Strike Force, Tomb Raider etc..
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on April 09, 2015, 05:04:43 AM
I have finished Final Fantasy Type 0 HD. It is the most disappointing game I've played all year, without question. The combat's excellent and the mission design is varied & interesting, but good god...the story & characters...ugh...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GaziSalahuddin on April 10, 2015, 12:47:42 AM
I have finished Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and Prince of Persia T2T.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 13, 2015, 02:19:15 PM
Breath of Fire (GBA) - Although I've played through large portions of this game many times on both SNES and GBA, I've never finished it before... so actually completing this SNES-era RPG is a proud moment for me. 


The game design clearly has some weak points, including offering players poor direction at times and occasionally hiding important (or even necessary) items unnecessarily. But it also feels like a game that offers a lot of character and interesting game ideas to a genre that sometimes feels stale. On the whole, I really enjoyed the experience and look forward to playing other games in the series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on April 14, 2015, 01:10:51 AM
Borderlands 2: Spent $10, got at least 35 hours of content. It improved upon the first one in every single way, shape, and form.

And I like how I get all the references from the first one and how 90% of the online population has never played the first.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on April 14, 2015, 02:51:27 AM
I've been finishing a lot of games lately.

Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Wii U) - 7/10 - A third rate SNES platformer, outshined by the superior DKC and Mario World series, and released well over a year after the N64 had already launched. It's ok and not much else.

Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) - 9/10 - 100% file. Yes, it's easy, but the world is so gorgeous and presented in such a way that it's hard not to want to explore it all. I loved it.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U) - Neal Ronaghan/10 - Long levels and slightly repetitive design bog down a really pretty and clever game. Some ideas are criminally underused (including a double cherry-like designed course), other feel like they were beaten to the ground. Boss battles are recycled with mixed results and all the sense of exploration present in Epic Yarn is gone from this title. Somehow managed to complete 78% of the file on my first play through. But I don't think I'll be going back to it.

Fire Emblem (Wii U) - 10/10 - I freaking love this game. My 4th play through of Eliwood's story, first time I finish it without anyone dying.

Pokemon Shuffle (3DS) - 6.5/10 - I got 10 hours from it, and managed to capture a few legendary Pokemon. But I don't care for Pokemon games anyway so it don't mean much. It's competent as a match 3 puzzle game, and it's less obtrusive about its microtransactions than other similar games, so I guess that's a plus.

Liberation Maiden (3DS) - 6.5/10 - Got it on sale and I'm glad I did. Did not love the controls as a lefty, and even though it's a cool little game, the gameplay just didn't work for me.

NightSky (3DS) - 7/10 - I like it, but I still prefer Knytt Underground way more. The game is just too easy.

Trine Enchanted Edition (Steam) - 8/10 - I like the floaty as **** characters and the sometimes stupid puzzles the 2nd game threw at you, so this was right up my alley. I still think the second game is better though.

Super Mario 64 (Wii U) - 9.5/10 - This game is a goddamn masterpiece even with that shitty camera. Having never finished the game, I can now say I did it, and with 120 stars to boot. Thank you, Nintendosave states.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTH0c-kTfwSOZ8)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTGxQgIxnpkFSc)
(http://i.imgur.com/Rpti1Gul.jpg)
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTGWaXsLBECbcp)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 16, 2015, 09:56:18 AM
Mighty Switch Force 2 (Wii U) - I don't feel like this game got much hype, maybe because it was too similar to the predecessor... but I really enjoyed it. Level designs are fun with a nice level of difficulty. Just completing stages is easy enough, but beating the par times can be quite challenging because you need to know the level well and be able to get to the end with no mistakes.


Finished the game, although missed a bunch of babies and goal times. Won't actively push to get those, but will happily revisit the game and try to clean that up later.  Very glad to own this little game, and totally enjoyed my time with it so far.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 20, 2015, 02:00:30 AM
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots:
(http://abload.de/img/snakemoreowuak.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/vcQ40Xv.jpg)

The story and setting:
By the end, i found that i actually don't hate it. Sure, it's a clusterfuck, a complete mess crammed with all characters from all three prior games with nary a rhyme or reason aside from nostalgia pandering. None of the motivations make sense! But... i kinda liked it. Final battle (despite controlling like ass but that's MGS for you) was petty cool.

MGS4 is BIG on fanservice. They love to pat themselves on the back and constantly go "hey, remember THAT game? huh, how good was that?". Whether you're playing or in a cutscene you get "flashback" scenes to previous games. When i finished the game special counter happily reported that there was more than hundred flashbacks in entire game. One act (out of 5) is ENTIRELY nostalgia level set in the same location of a previous game. I think that overreliance on nostalgia somewhat cheapens the game. I think the effect would have been much bigger if i was a long-time fan and hadn't blasted through the series this year.

The setting is pretty interesting. It might be the best thing about the entire game. Dystopian world that is completely depednant on constant war, pivate PMCs dominating over conventional state armies, fetishization of all things military, turning populace into barely sentient fodder for war economy:
Commercials are very much like "Would you like to know more?" clips from Starship Troopers and they paint a very interesting if bleak world.

Gameplay:
Game changes (yet again) controls closer to traditional third-person shooter (or at least PS3 versions of TPS with bumpers for shooting). It's annoying to play the series and each time having to adjust to new control scheme and they still can't get it right. Jumping, ducking, and lying down are still put on one button which leads to constant confusion when you lie down instead of dodging in the middle of a boss battle.

Compared to MGS3 you don't need to spend as much time in the menu, camouflage is now semi-automatic and there is no healing so it's back to MGS1-2 system where you heal by eating rations or just by lying down. You still have to manage weapons and items limited inventory though and it can get annoying especially when game for some reason will insist on giving you specific weapons and switch to it, just because Snake used them in the cutscene. There are weapon mods system but i used it just once -- to buy silencer for MK23.

Codec is also toned down significantly -- there are only two frequecies you can call and one of them is "fan-favourite" Rosemary who gives the most generic advices about my psyche and is completely useless. Ocaton is still good for some laughs here and there, but it's not enough. I can't even call Drebin myself, he only calls me when he wants to feed me yet another stupid Beauty and the Beast backstory.

Act 1 and 2 were petty good with you thrown into battlefield where you could directly change income of the battle. It's a pity you can only take side of the rebels in both acts. Act 3 was Assasin's Creed tailing sequence, hollywood style chase sequence and a few hour long cutscenes. Act 4 was nostalgia pandering time and Act 5 was a small MGS2 tanker style area with two bosses. It sounds petty bad but it was redeemed somewhat with cutscenes by the end.

Overall it was 6/10 attempt to tie all storylines from all games together. Was it neccessary to begin with? MGS3 is by far the best game in the series because it started from a blank slate, it ignored the mindfuck of MGS2 and was so much better for it.

Then comes MGS4 and clumsily tried to tie it all together, which basically amounts to babbling "nanomachines" each time they need to explain something:

The ending has somewhat redeemed it and it was a strong and definite finale to the series and a character.

Technical problems:
Mandatory install i can deal with. But crashes and freezes depending on completely random factors are inexcusable. Game was frezing on me in the middle of Act 5 and i had to "fix" it by deleting game data and reinstalling it (takes around 10 minutes but it took me hours to figure it out). Apparently this just happens to some PS3s and it can even brick you blu-ray drive...

Bosses:
Bosses are usually the best part about MGS games. MGS4 has two and a half good bosses: Crying Wolf which was half decent and Metal Gear vs Metal Gear fight, maybe Screaming Mantis. All others were more annoying than anything.

The phase after you defeat BBs is weird, i don't know even know if i like it or hate it. They deliberately mix sex appeal of beaties dismantled of their battle suits with horrific depictions of war but i don't either worked for me. Especialy with all those terrible edgy backstories they gave them.

Final battle, while cool, has so much QTE it's barely a battle.

Some cutscenes in the middle get super tiresome with all badly acted melodrama, but action cutscenes with Raiden were cool and final cutscene tying all together was neat.

I really liked how game was showing me stats after finishing each act -- that is super useful if you want to do non-lethal playthroughs. However frantic, action filled chase sequences in act 2 and act 3 especially are too hard to do without killing people and that's where i gave up on non-lethal run.

It says it took me 14 hours on my save, but you can easily make it 20 because i had to redo Act 3 in it's entirety because it froze on me near the end and i didn't save.

I was given "Bear" rank by the end. I liked how (FINALLY) you're given clear explanations for all these animal ranks. Now i finally know that "Iguana" rank means that i tend to collect all items on the levels. Bear means that i like to use CQC.

MGS3 > MGS1 > MGS2 > MGS4

MGS4 is still okay and worth playing IF you played all other games. GOTY though? Haha, nope.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 20, 2015, 08:15:01 AM
Dark Void Zero (DSiWare) - I had wanted to play this game ever since reading the hype on release that it was better than the big budget Dark Void game and a loving tribute to retro gaming, but never seemed to get around to buying it. I'm glad that I finally did.

The game doesn't take itself too seriously, offers a fun retro feel without falling into the worst design pitfalls common to the era, and even includes a chuckle-worthy backstory that deserves to be read. With a variety of weapons to try, optional collectibles and bonus challenges on each stage, and high score tracking there is a reason to try playing through multiple times. With only three levels it's a pretty short burn too - at least, once you get past the learning curve enough to stop dying frequently. (The game does offer reasonable checkpoints in each stage and auto-saves after you complete each level... but you probably will end up restarting once or twice until getting used to the controls.)

Is Dark Void Zero a "must play" experience? Not really. The game is short and the difficulty is uneven in spots. The whole retro-revival scene is strong enough now that better games are available if that's your thing. But quick, cheap fun is a win in my books. I do recommend this game for anyone who likes old-school 2D games or has a soft spot for NES-era gaming.


Batman: The Brave and the Bold (DS) - Reviews of the game are pretty accurate: it's a great game but very short. That probably made it hard to recommend when first released, but if you can find a cheap copy now and don't mind low-difficulty then I'd recommend it to Batman fans of any age. Just be aware that it has the same tone as the animated series: light and humorous, showcasing lesser known heroes and foes instead of being a gritty or serious action game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on April 23, 2015, 04:43:20 PM
If you ask me to describe what happened in the ending in MGS4 my response is "uhhhh..."  People talk and talk about something or other forever and by the time it's over I forget what the hell the topic was in the first place.  Come to think of it MGS2 is the same thing.  All I remember about the plot of that game was that they didn't let me play Snake and Otacon cries a lot like he always does.

MSG1&3 work because they're basically just dumb fun action movies.  "Bad guys have taken over this.  Go stop them."  There's weird twists here and there but the overall idea is pretty easy to grasp.  2&4 try to be intellectual, except they're written by the same 13-year-old-trapped-in-a-man's-body so they're confusing and dumb and dumb in the way that's annoying.

Though a big problem is that MGS2 is basically a big "**** you" to the fans but here it sits right in the middle of the series and cannot be outright ignored.  So they have to reference it in later games.  MGS3 could ignore it because it was a prequel.  Sequels cannot.  Sorry, stupid Raiden and his dumb family and Revolver Ocelot being controlled by someone's fucking arm have to impact the entire future storyline of the series because back in 2001 Kojima thought he was being all cute and clever by making a game that played the player.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 23, 2015, 10:45:56 PM
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (GB via 3DS):

I initially kind of hated this game, given how much I love Wario Land 2 and 3 (and Shake It! (4 sucks, though)). It occupies a weird pubescent space between Mario Land 2 and the full realization of the Wario Land design in 2. But then I got used to it and came to appreciate it's vibe. The power-ups are limited, but satisfying, though being tiny Wario fucking sucks, and it's bogus that taking a hit with a power-up drops you to this state rather than the non-spike Wario base state.

The game plays footsie with later mainstays, like secret exits, collectable treasure, and triggering world events that alter the landscape of previous levels. Oddly, though, it drops the secret exit design element for the last three worlds, almost as if the director got tired of the gimmick partway through (even though there's an entire secret world early on!). It looks pretty good with an impressively expressive Wario and detailed sprites all around, though with a lot of repeated tile sets. This is offset by some unique settings, like the pirate ship and rail road levels. Some of the platforming gets tricky as it goes along, and finding the chests is very satisfying.

But boy, was I friggin' disappointed by the ending. I'd found all of the treasures on my own, and was expecting some kind of secret final area or some such, but instead it just factors into a calculation that mildly changes the final cutscene. Which, incidentally, I was 200 coins away from getting the maximum. This had a pretty significant souring effect on the whole experience.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 24, 2015, 01:53:32 PM
If you ask me to describe what happened in the ending in MGS4 my response is "uhhhh..."  People talk and talk about something or other forever and by the time it's over I forget what the hell the topic was in the first place.
You're better off not trying to understand the hack'n'eyed mess that is the plot MGS4.

I gave this game my full attention and it is still fresh in my mind and boy -- it's a complete and utter nonsense.

Half of the characters' motivations directly contradict with their own actions and the other half have no motivation whatsoever. They just do things because nanomachines reasons.

Finished:

Zombie Incident (3DS):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/zlCfzTR3ZiQeC7g4Fi) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAAtVHhl1g2Lqg)
I got this game for few euros and don't think it was worth it. Though i apparently spent 7 hours playing it.

If only it wasn't so tedious. Jumping on enemies especially when they're fly just beneath the ceiling gets old very fast.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 12, 2015, 01:29:53 AM
DMC1 (DMC HD Collection):
Finished finished. I S-ranked Dante Must Die mode (after doing the same on Hard mode).

Penultimate level with final boss alone took me two weeks to get right -- the time limit is brutal and boss patterns are highly random and disruptive. He stacks his attacks on top of another -- up to three and some combinations make not getting hit a complete random occurrence.


Tight time limit also forces you to go into extremely dangerous strategy to get some damage instead of just running away all the time.

S-rank time limit is 8 minutes on Dante Must Die and the best i could do was 8:30, thankfully i got enough points in other areas so it was enough to scrounge for S-rank overall.

After, i went into Normal mode and unlocked last entries in bestiary attacks book. It's kinda weird how that achievement for unlocking entire book (http://www.xboxachievements.com/game/devil-may-cry-hd-collection/achievement/63350-I-Read-You-Like-A-Book.html) is worth just 15 points, yet it's the hardest achievement by far, requiring multiple playthroughs and directly contradicting other achievements.

Anyway, i am "done" done with DMC1.

I also made an effort to finish DMC2 as much as i can. The only two remaining achievements for it are for beating 5000 and 9000 Bloode Palace levels. This is gonna be 4-5 hours commitment, and i don't know if i have it in me to actually do it.

I specifically wanted to finish other DMC game to concentrate fully on DMC3 more which requires an even bigger time commitment because of it's astounding depth.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 18, 2015, 12:37:55 AM
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops:
This awkward fanart i think somehow fits well for this game:
(http://www.360psp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Metal-Gear-Solid-Portable-Ops.jpg)

18 hours which is i think the longest any MGS took me. Final rank is Kerotan -- i am guessing that it's not good, because i was dying a lot. There isn't much of a reward for doing no-kill run, so i didn't bothered and killed most of the bosses with lethal weapons. In regular missions i mostly tried to go with tranq gun and regular old close quarter combat, though sometimes i played with a character with low CQC stat and it kinda sucked.

Main problems of the game:


I kinda liked the story and comic-book style cutscenes. Also that credits song:
I barely noticed any other credit songs in the series, but "Calling to the Night" is really, really good.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on May 21, 2015, 12:23:52 AM
Psychonauts: I can't remember the last platformer/collect-a-thon I have 100% in a while. This game lives up to a lot of the hype people give it. It is creative, has great character personalities, good plot, etc, all the praises it usually gets. Black Velvetopia, despite speed running through it my first time, is my favorite level simply because of the art design. I found the ending overall to be really nice.

However, the game suffers from "some" problems. First of all the mouse and keyboard are a TERRIBLE means of playing. I luckily have the patience to learn the controls, but they are infuriating when you first start out. Telekinesis, especially when it plays a role in boss fights, it rage inducing because of what a pain it is to use. Second of all, the first boss in the game is actually the most difficult one. This being due to unavoidable attacks + hard to use controls as you just started the game make it really irritating.

Some....scratch that, ALL OF THE PLATFORMING IN THIS GAME IS AWFUL! Trying to balance on ropes, using trapezes, grinding on rails, sliding down hills are all horribly controlled. It made me resort to using the levitation ball to actually skip a lot of these sections. You see how bad it all is in the Meat Circus at the end of the game when you have do a quick run through an assortment of the crap. Given it is not as difficult as people say (whiners), but it is still downright terrible.

Overall, great game, but so many minor nuisances make it hard to enjoy sometimes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on May 28, 2015, 11:29:08 PM
Valkyria Chronicles (9.75/10) : Short comment on the story. Its not anything revolutionary, but it is one of the best love stories (personally) in a very long time and a simple war story. It did a good job of keeping my attention and the bonus maps kept the story flowing very well and not seem abrupt (except the beach vacation one).

Moving onto the gameplay, this is one of the best Tactical RPG systems I have ever seen because there is a lot of room for creativity, devising strategies, and planning. You want to get A ranks? Well there is no set way to do it. The world is your oyster here and your mind is very important, more then the levels of your units (more on that later). There are tons of possibilities with class loadouts, creative exploitation of game mechanics (smoke grenade are a good example), and orders. I did use a walkthrough for a large portion of this game, but I found myself messing up instructions or the instructions not working. So what I did is make my own improvements to their strategies and found a way to do some of these in less turns. And unlike some other games where you can get a "god loadout" (Fire Emblem Awakening and Bravely Default come to mind), most maps have their own unique feature that this is prevented, therefore most maps aren't too boring or repetitive. Quickly on leveling, it isn't what a match rides on. You can be lvl 20 on a map with lvl 8 enemies, but still lose your A rank easily because of bad decisions.

Bad points about the game. 1) Some maps are way to stupid. Put Rosie here, use up all but two turns. Then put Alicia out and win. Another example is just putting Alicia out and only using her and getting an A rank (and I did this several times). 2) Most of the special weapons you hunt down aces for are completely worthless. The only notable weapons are the ultimate flamethrowers in the game, which are pretty much it. Otherwise there are like 8 sniper rifles that are worthless. 3) To get A ranks in most maps, it relies HEAVILY on the save/reload function.

Side note: The anime is garbage. Welkin is a retard and Alicia is a typical tsundere which was painful to watch.  Valkyria Chronicles 2 is supposed to be trash. Valkyria Chronicles 3 is supposed to be decent, but Sega won't internationalize it. So Sega hit gold once and then ruined it basically. Sounds about right.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 05, 2015, 06:04:43 PM
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) - Played through the game along with the recent RetroActive event, and really enjoyed it overall. 


The pacing is too slow initially and has some odd moments right up until the end, the Wii controls are rather disappointing (enough so that I'd much rather own the GameCube version), and despite some strong dungeon design the game wouldn't rate in my list of "Top 5 Zelda Games"... but all of that negativity fades away when I think about the overall quality of the experience.


Anyone who hasn't played it should try to find time. Despite minor flaws, the game holds up extremely well nearly a decade after release.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on June 06, 2015, 12:48:50 AM
Mighty Switch Force 2 (Wii U) - I don't feel like this game got much hype, maybe because it was too similar to the predecessor... but I really enjoyed it.
I firmly believe that Switch Force 2 is one of the better, if not best, games on the eShop. 100% par times was a nightmare but gives you an appreciation for the mechanics and level design, which are all polished much more than the original.

Also, the soundtrack is silly and bizarre.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on June 06, 2015, 02:18:45 AM
Mighty Switch Force 2 (Wii U) - I don't feel like this game got much hype, maybe because it was too similar to the predecessor... but I really enjoyed it.
I firmly believe that Switch Force 2 is one of the better, if not best, games on the eShop. 100% par times was a nightmare but gives you an appreciation for the mechanics and level design, which are all polished much more than the original.

Also, the soundtrack is silly and bizarre.


The soundtrack is great, but I feel the game was just a bit too under the radar for its own good. Not the game's fault really. Some of the latter levels are really good, but I don't think they hold a candle to the best stuff from the first game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 10, 2015, 09:31:00 PM
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS eShop) - Wow, there is a ton of content in this game!

The main gameplay is a Pipe Dream type of game - you place (or sometimes move/rotate) tiles that provide a path for your character to walk on, trying to help them get from the starting tile to the goal. If your character falls off the board, bumps into a trap, or runs out of time before getting to the goal you will have to start over. There is more to consider once you start playing, but that's sufficient for a rough overview of the game.

When you start playing, you soon find there are four different modes available, each that tweak the rules slightly to provide a different experience. I actually preferred either the purely action-based Mini Mayhem or the puzzle experience of Puzzle Palace over the slightly more random Main Event. Giant Jungle uses the same rules as Main Event, but remains enjoyable  simply because the massive boards offer so much more flexibility for you to play with.

But wait, that's not all! There are also mini-games and a "toy collection" to unlock, and a full level editor that allows you to create your own levels and share them online.  The unlockable bonuses didn't impress, but the level editor is very nice and helps to ensure you'll never run out of challenges to try.

I got this game just before Club Nintendo shuttered, and am glad to have picked it up that way. It's a solid experience overall, and they cram a ton of different modes into the game, but somehow it still felt kind of disappointing... Maybe that's because the so-called Main Event mode was the least interesting one for me, or maybe it's because I miss the excellent DSiWare Minis March Again! gameplay.

Still an easy game (and series) to recommend for any puzzle game fans though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on June 11, 2015, 01:55:02 AM
I finally finished Box Boy. Loved the small portions of gimmicks they fed you, but they never felt like they built on each other very much and the game kind of felt like it dragged on. It's a great but though, tons of content for a relatively cheap title.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 11, 2015, 10:49:17 PM
Uncharted: Drake's fortune:

Liked:


Hated:



Meh:
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on June 15, 2015, 10:04:34 AM
Picked-up The Walking Dead: Season 1 Complete edition on PS4 back when it was on sale for about $5.
For the few under a rock like me that didn't know, you play as Lee, a convict who gets freed on the way to prison during a zombie apocalype, who encounters a girl whose home alone and decides to take her along to protect her while looking for safety.

I'm not typically one for Zombie apocalypse games, but this game's narrative only uses it for a backdrop & source for tension, this kind of story could be done for about any sort of survival scenario because the story is more about making hard choices for the sake of surviving & protecting Clementine.  The game establishes some very tense moments through dialog choices and situations where you have to make quick decisions under time constraints, that gives you the impression of your choices having consequences.  The characters in the game will often make you choose sides between other survivors as well, possibly dictating how they react torwards you and what'll happen to them (I can't confirm this, as I haven't had a chance to play through it again).  It doesn't seem like the choices you make in the game affect the overall narrative as much as which NPCs align with you, but I wouldn't say that's a mark against the game, given the narrative is more about the relationships you foster with other survivors and how events shape your relationship wtih them.
 
And that's probably the game's biggest strength - how well is fleshes out characters (with the exception of a few minor ones).  Most characters have a pretty well defined set of personality traits/flaws, and while their dialog or actions may surprise you at first, upon retrospect, they make sense with context of their core character.  Ones which aren't as well defined are mostly due to the limited amount of time you spend with them in the game.
 
From an "adventure" game standpoint, the game is pretty simple, which for my sake works relatively well.  I think it would hinder the narrative if the puzzles were so obtuse that you spend an inordinate amount of time scouring the levels for an obscure item that didn't make any sense.  There are primary tasks which draw the story forward, as well as usually a side tasks you can do to draw favor from side characters that seem like they could also shape their opinion of you.
 
Overall, once this game sunk its teeth into me, it wouldn't let go of me until it chewed my corpse clean.  Absolutely engrossing story & brief enough to where even if it doesn't grab you like it does me, it'd probably be worth giving a run on a sale price.  Highly recommend, looking forward to season 2 going on sale so I can continue the story.  9/10.
 
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 16, 2015, 11:19:07 AM
Uncharted 2:
Graphics look insane, first game's visuals were brought down by textures popping a bit too often and overall low framerate, and U2 fixes both problems and still looks even better. More details, bigger vistas, more colours, more variety.

Give me a smoothly performing game and a great art-style with something to look at and that will be A+ for graphics from me (NOT resolution which is superfluous). Assasin's Creed II and Devil May Cry 4 were previous candidates for the most gorgeous games i played but U2 tops them and then some. Some of the vistas... Wow.

The biggest highlights were in later parts where i was left alone in a huge space and had to climb all over that place. The temple with mirror puzzle was just amazing.  Later temple was basically clockwork level from Mario 64 only encased in ice and gorgeous looking. Stellar art design.

(http://boardgamegeek.com/camo/d1bedaef273dc396c279c3df9a018390fcbe4f7c/687474703a2f2f666330382e64657669616e746172742e6e65742f667335312f662f323030392f3239372f342f372f556e63686172746564325f54656d706c655f30325f62795f617274717565656e32332e6a7067)

Shooting is still a bother for me. It's still the same terrible cover based shooting on dual analog. Melee was changed a bit but it's still stupid. Grenades put on left trigger is an improvement.

Platforming is still wonky and overall "characters in hamsterball" air-hockey feeling is still there and from i checked of U3 they still haven't fixed models sliding on the floor and not really touching walls where they should be. Which is weird because they have great animations but can't fix such an obvious problem in all their game. Maybe they are so afraid of clipping -- they'd rather leave some additional space between environment and characters?

Outside of annoying shooting and other minor grips it's a gorgeous game. If you, unlike me, are decent with console TPS, it will be a great game for you even.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 20, 2015, 11:19:05 PM
Uncharted 3: Drake's Something:
(http://lostlevel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/uncharted3_footage.jpg)
One really cool thing that Uncharted does since the very first game is that Drake has a great "pain face" and he often complains how painful his stunts are or like when grenade is thrown nearby he goes "no, no no!".

There is something humorous in seeing main character taking so much punishment and seeing his fear. It's almost like Jackie Chan when he winces and tries to subdue the pain by rubbing bruised spot.

It is a great example of both physical comedy and a very strong character establishing trick.

Gameplay wise U3 is nearly identical to previous game which WAS identical to U1 from gameplay viewpoint. The only two new things are shooting upwards as you hang from a ledge (i am pretty sure it was taken from some capcom? game) and ability to throw grenades back.

But graphics looks even better from 2 while still keeping relatively high framerate, no Assassin's Creed's "console standard 20fps framerate" here.

Game flows from setpiece to setpiece, each time showing great colourful environments, from London underground to stunning looking ship graveyard, to ship to plane (obviously both will be destroyed as you are in them, plane escape was especially cool with The Living Daylights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17SP5sAM5do&t=1m05s) ripoff homage) and so on.

(http://geekrevolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/uncharted-3-plane.jpg)

It's quite obvious that these games are constructed around locations and setpieces first with everything else including story rigged on top of the string of planned vistas. Not sure why they need four script writers for this if the only thing they do is provide justification for characters to move from point A to point B and write some snappy dialogs in between. This method also stunts any characters development, and there is basically none. And not just within one game, characters in entire trilogy stay completely static. So while you do have some okay archetypical characters in there, i don't your story is all that hot, lady.

Overall, it's still some cool looking romp. It's still great sightseeing experience at least, Bay-type summer blockbuster.

Shooty bang-bang is still annoying for me, but i think i am getting better at this. Or they made it easier...

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth:
(http://elder-geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/main2.jpg)

It took me almost a year to finish it. "Thanks" to a series of power outages at home i was able to give my DS more time and complete the game.

Not quite sure what is even wrong with it. It has everything previous games had, but something is missing and the result is mostly boring.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 04, 2015, 05:56:09 AM
Journey (PS3):
I liked it, i guess. It was like one of those animated abstract shorts, where you can't really tell what exactly happened but visuals and music were great.

It wasn't anything revelatory, but it was an okay 2 hours.

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS):
It's one of the most enjoyable Zelda games i played. Too many other games in the series sooner or later pissed me off with illogical puzzles, but geometrical nature of puzzles in Phantom Hourglass jived with me much more.

Simple act of drawing on a map, marking stuff, is very enjoyable by itself, like you are a kid who is drawing his own fake pirate treasure map and imagines his adventure.

Phantom Hourglass kept open-worldish nature of Wind Waker quite well, lots of things to do and collect and just sailing through ocean isn't as dull as it was in WW (in original release). You fight pirates, jump through random obstacles, fight back boarding parties, collect rupees, and salvage treasures (hi, Ridiculous Fishing).

This also allows for some non-linearity like i was stuck trying to enter goron temple (i was supposed to bomb random unmarked wall) so i quit and instead went into ice temple.

Ice temple had good level design and hook shot is an interesting mechanics.

I liked hammer in Mutoh temple, cool thing about it is that it's actually fairy holding it and you can attack any enemy from afar. Flipping puzzles with hammer was annoying at first, but then i stepped on one of them and saw that puzzle piece you're standing on won't flip and that makes these puzzles much easier.

Boss in Mutoh temple was cool in several ways. First of all it just looks interesting -- design is something out of Shadow of Colossus. Then this boss battle has a unique camera perspective that's like playing standard third person Zelda game like wind waker or ocarina.

Boss battle design itself uses the fact that only lower screen of DS has touch capability, so you need to change perspective by jumping high in the air so bosses weak spots can enter lower screen and you could hit them with your flying hammer.

Final boss was pretty cool as well.

Overall, great game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on July 08, 2015, 01:58:00 PM
Wrapped up Telltale's The Walking Dead: Season Two.
 
I found several of the new characters largely disappointing.  I've often forgotten their names throughout the span of the series until something happens to them..  Part of this is that their personalities are generally a bit bland, but the bigger problem is just how many survivors you encounter through the span of the 2nd season.  Season one's survivors were generally sparse with the exception of the starting group you encounter as the main character, with the survivor count not getting higher at that point.  In Season 2, you encounter an already established group of nearly a dozen people, and while not everyone survives, you keep encountering a new batch of people at every turn. 
 
That brings up a second grievance for me - In Season Two, there are just too many damn survivors.  Season 1 had you be a part of a desperate group's struggle to survive until they could find a safe haven or plan to exit the mess, with the walkers being nearly the only true threat.  Season Two went hard into the direction of "people being the real monsters".  What worked well in Season one was that the desparate situation with the walkers forced hard decisions.  The hard decisions in Season Two to me were largely due to people being shitty, which after a while made me more callous in my decision making because of getting fed up with the way the characters were acting. 
 
The pacing is challenged at points, too.  Season 1 was sometimes almost painfully slow, with spikes in the drama & tension, up until Episode 4 where all the **** just starts rolling downhill like a freight train, but it worked well in immersing you in those slow desparate situations where the story needed to show you'd die a slow death by doing nothing.  Season two rarely gives you a breath to explore, observe, or take in the events that have happened.  It's a constant stream of shitty circumstance coupled with finding a way out of it. 
 
And what the hell about the Kenny surviving Season 1 makes any sense?!?!  In whichever way the story is directed, it's almost heavy-handedly implied that Kenny sacrifices himself for the sake of either a) Being with Ben in his last moments & putting him out of his misery, or b) Dropping down into the building to boost Krista to safety and getting mauled by walkers in the dark.  I like the character, but to me it spoils the weight of Season 1 and also cheapens the opportunity to have a meaningful relationship with a new set of surviving cast in Season Two.
 
That's a lot of complaints, but honestly, as a whole, there's still a lot to like about Season Two.  Still does a great job of ratcheting up tension, making you make decisions where there's no "good" answer, and giving you the impression that your choices matter, even if they don't.  Its biggest problem has to do with challenges in pacing, memorable characters outside of the already established ones, and being the follow-up to a game that did so many things right.  A good following story & conclusion (hopefully) to season 1, let's hope Season 3 has a new progtagonist altogether with a new story.
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on July 09, 2015, 03:04:15 PM
Mighty Switch Force! (3DS)
Mighty Switch Force! 2 (Wii U)


Finally played the original 3DS thanks to Humble Bundle, and that gave me enough courage to return to the sequel and finish up the last few par time for 100% completion. I love this game so much, and I think I prefer the sequel to the original
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on July 09, 2015, 10:18:29 PM
I think that, despite some of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks' flaws, they are inventive and clever Zelda games. However, thinking back on that Goron Temple boss, I don't remember Spirit Tracks having any boss battles that were as unique. While I do think Spirit Tracks is a better game, Phantom Hourglass does have it's moments, as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 10, 2015, 10:24:30 AM
I think that, despite some of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks' flaws, they are inventive and clever Zelda games. However, thinking back on that Goron Temple boss, I don't remember Spirit Tracks having any boss battles that were as unique. While I do think Spirit Tracks is a better game, Phantom Hourglass does have it's moments, as well.


The DS Zelda games seem to get a lot of hate due to the controls. I don't love stylus-only controls... but the games were so well made that I felt it was easy to overlook any problems. Bosses were very well done, and offered some smart use of the dual screens. Glad to hear others speaking positively about them as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on July 10, 2015, 12:02:27 PM
Phantom Hourglass was great! Others felt that the Ocean Temple or whatever it is called was boring and repetitive. I can see that argument, but I disagree. It was challenging and the enemies at least kept my attention. The new floors were always exciting to get into. The later levels were especially well done and I loved the way you discovered them.

Spirit Tracks was boring. The pan flute system was bad. Transportation boring. The tower was boring and poorly designed, being a pain to go through. The dungeons were uninspiring. Going on underwater tracks was pretty, but...that it is.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 10, 2015, 02:54:01 PM
...
Spirit Tracks was boring. The pan flute system was bad. Transportation boring. The tower was boring and poorly designed, being a pain to go through. The dungeons were uninspiring. Going on underwater tracks was pretty, but...that it is.


Disclaimer: I never actually got to play that one, and it's high impossible to find now. I always just wrote off the negative comments previously because Phantom Hourglass was so much better than what "the masses" seemed to suggest.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ymeegod on July 16, 2015, 09:23:49 AM
(http://static3.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_tiny/1197/11970954/2504174-91tf3cersal._sl1500_.jpg)
My thoughts on Evil Within.

It's a pretty solid survival action game that's held back by some glaring flaws like the auto-save and instant death.  There's tons of "cheap" deaths and while I usually don't mind repeating a few minutes of gameplay but repeating the same CGI cutscenes was pointless.  And the quick-save is a hit or miss on some of these missions, usually saving at odd times like a few seconds apart to being so sparse that you curse the developers each time you die. 

And you'll die plenty.  168 times for my first playthrough :(.  There's a total lack of ammo and the drop rate is a joke at best.  Even on normal mode it takes 3 pistol shots to down one zombie but the chances of him dropping ammo is like 5% or so and even then it's usually one or two rounds.  Some weapons are pretty much useless like like Magnum since there's only ammo for it in a few chapters so really you shouldn't bother firing the gun until the last chapter (believe me you'll want to save that ammo). 

Some weapons are just plain weak.  When's the last game you played where the grenades didn't kill everything in the blast zone?  It takes two grenades to down even the weakest of zombies (and that's with it fully upgraded).  The melee weapons are one hit wonders then breaks.  Your fists, even at 240% extra damage output is a joke (you'll have to hit the weakest zombie at least 10 times).

----------------
The sneaking missions where the highlights of the game IMO but of course the game had to end with a horde mode, waves of waves of zombies with no ammo.  Curse you.

----------------

It's the closest thing to Resident Evil (1) that I've played in a while and it has it's moments but you'll want to use a guide (namely there's keys to find and you'll want to know what locker to pick) and you'll want to play only a few chapters a day.  One can only accept so many cheap deaths in one DAY:(.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 20, 2015, 01:56:40 AM
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (360):
(http://abload.de/img/140625083548804q4a.jpg) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRwgVIr3pco)
People call it the game with the most content in the series. This is wrong, it's content is actually on lower side.  It's just previously optional non-canon levels (like Snake Tales in MGS2) has become mandatory and endless grind for everything makes it seem longer. Main story is about 30 missions, but extra ops are way over 100.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was optional, but a lot of content and arguably the best content is hidden there. Game hides it's second and third ending in these extra ops. Monster Hunter missions are all there.

After getting first, fake ending you get credits sequence and that's where the real grind begins. You're encouraged to replay missions for S-rank, play extra ops, collect people for your army, upgrade your equipment, collect design docs and look for a man who manages to escape my base SEVEN times and runs away to hide in a jungle.
(http://abload.de/img/1402532376978ixr4j.jpg)

Some extra ops are not that bad and are pretty amusing in their own right (like ghost missions), but it doesn't change the fact it's all the same locations just reconfigured slightly.

Game is designed around the grind and it's impossible to get S-ranks and get everything and everyone on the levels on first playthrough. You simply don't have an equipment for it. Level-1 weapons suck so much you're likely to go out of ammo by the middle of a mission and if you don't have supply marker -- that's the end of a mission.

Only after you get tuxedo, sneaking and battle suits with special bonuses you have a chance. And even then boss battles pretty much require to get max-leveled up rocket launchers to complete them in less than 10 minutes.

Game has a decent variety in it's missions. First is a regular sneaking mission where your goal is to get through the level unnoticed. Your main tools there are tranq gun, close range combat and smoke grenades. Or you do it without gun and just sneak up on soldiers and poke banana in their backs pretending it's a gun and holding them up that way.

AI boss battle missions are pure combat without any sneaking at all. Just take the most powerful weapons you have: rocket launchers and mini-guns. Air strike markers are very effective.

Vehicle boss battles are a mix of sneaking and combat. First you dispatch a squad accompanying a vehicle (preferably without being seen). Even on default difficulty there at 20+ guys so you need to take out squads of four five times at least. Smoke grenades are pretty much mandatory. Then you need to damage the vehicle until a commander notices someone stole his squad and shows up and you tranq him.

All three types of mission have different rewards if you do them the right way. S-rank for sneaking missions, vehicle itself in vehicle battles and mech parts from AI bosses. Vehicles are used in Outer Ops -- yet another skinner box only you not even playing them -- just assign soldiers and vehicles and then wait for next turn to see the outcome.

It took me few retries to realize that AI parts and just "parts" are actually separate and to collect AI boards you need to destroy specific parts, while to collect actual parts for your Metal Gear you need to only destroy AI pod without damaging other parts.

Weird QTEs sequences when you take out AI boards scenes reproduce a scene of David Bowman from "2001" dismantling HAL while he begs him to stop as he loses his identity board by board. It was a cool scene in the movie, but repeating them time after time during first playthrough and then even more later is stupid. AI boards actually become one of the most obnoxious grindy parts because you have to fish for specific boards and they might or might not appear after you spent 10 minutes fighting AI boss.

Gameplay and controls are alright i guess. I just really got soured on them after facing the grind that is post-game. I got to second ending completed half of extra ops and S-rank half of main ops and after 40 something hours i think i am done. I just watched let's play to see post-post-game stuff.

They totally knew what they were doing with designing the game around grind -- there is ALWAYS some carrot hanging in front of you -- for me right now it's a mine that will allow to Fulton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system) guys much more easily and even reach S-rank soldiers who were previously unaccessible. I am resisting the urge to come back and grind a bit more to see this mine in action.

Story is pretty crappy, just like 4. 4 was heavily relying on fanservice for entire series, while PW is basically does the same just for one game -- MGS3. You're constantly fed with flashbacks and The Boss (http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/The_Boss) worship gets almost intolerable. Ending is supposed to provide a connection between MGS3 and MGS4 but it's clumsily executed. I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a moment where main character finally becomes "villain" from later games in chronology.

Just like with MGS4, setting and extra information is ultimately the most interesting parts of the game. There are hours and hours of recordings with characters talking about geography, flora, fauna and political situation of Central America post Cuban Missile Crisis, theory of AI, MAD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction) and million other things.

Making all bosses into vehicles and robots was very disappointing. That robs the player of actual interaction with the boss -- what can a tank or walking robot say to you -- he just roars.

Monster Hunter missions were prolonged, too grindy and controls are still not fast enough where combat becomes actually enjoyable. In other words -- very representative of Monster Hunter.

So overall. It's alright. Grind is stupid, but it DOES get addicting and fulfilling to play more to unlock more and more and more stuff. I almost kind wish i played it on a handheld. I also played it by myself and i suspect it's less grindy and more fun to play with a buddy but ah well.

So now i would rank series like that:
3 > 1 (TS) > PW >  4 > 2

Where only MGS3 is a great game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MDG94 on July 21, 2015, 10:09:44 AM
I know I am late to the party but I fairly recently played Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on 3DS. Now the way I see there is no end to this game. I have played about 50 hours of this game and there is no end. From what I understand you can play it for hours and hours and never get tired of it. I have gotten my fill and I will say this game is amazing. If you are a grind whore when it comes to RPGs you will love this game. If you want a RPG or just even a game that has a big gripping story to keep you interested, you will hate this game. but let me say, for me this game is so much fun. There is so much depth to the game play. I will say though that at first I was like you know it's fun but it's not amazing. However, once I started playing multiplier, the game just opened up for me. But, in all seriousness, if you have a 3DS....PLAY THIS GAME!!!! ;D
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: zalmute on July 21, 2015, 03:06:03 PM
The last game I have completed lately was Megaman 10. I am a big fan of the series and I have completed this game once before, when it first came out. Here are some jumbled and random opinions-The music is pretty good as always. I think its better than Megaman 7's soundtrack but not as good as 9. Gameplay I love how the playable characters have different strengths and weaknesses. I stick to Megaman mostly but playing the others is fun. One thing I want to note is that I felt the robot master's weapons were somewhat hard to use. Triple blade is great but its angles change during a jump so you have to account for that. Electric wool is this game's top spin as far as difficult to use weapons go. Playing with wii remote sideways made things challenging because my big hands kept hitting the trigger which in this game switches your items like mega man x.



Minor Spoiler- This game had an amazing boss however. The robot master archives- the reoccurring boss in the first Wily stage. You fought a computer that had access to various robot master's special weapons and fight patterns from other games in the classic series. Fan favorites such as elec man and slash man appear. Characters like slash man and Frost man from mega man 7 and 8 had sprite graphics for them which American fans may not have seen before.

I changed my opinion of this game having played it again. It was one of my lower ranked Mega man titles however I think I will place it mid way. My new order of favorite to least- 9,3,2,8,5,10,1,4,6,7, megaman & bass.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 21, 2015, 09:15:06 PM
Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones (Wii U) - Wow, I really enjoyed this game. Everything just feels really good, and there are some interesting puzzles to work through. MiiVerse integration is great and provides a nice sense of community as you explore the overworld. And after you finish, there are hidden levels to find and beat, time challenges to try and overcome, and a full set of level creation/sharing tools. Highly recommended, and I'm actually glad it's not a Wii U exclusive because more people should get to enjoy this game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on July 30, 2015, 10:14:16 PM
Batman Arkham City (PC) - The last fight and reveal was a let down, but what a great game. Definitely going to pick up Arkham Knight for PS4 soon. Sometimes the combat would get frustrating, but most of the time it was fun to find ways to take people out from above, below, beside, through traps, etc. I'm a big an of knocking out one guy in a room (that I know they'll discover the person), then I do an explosive gel quick drop and blow it up when they come to check him out. The story was pretty great, even though the end was basically the ending of SAW II, but with Clayface. The graphics are fantastic (especially at 1080p 60FPS running on Nvidia GRID on my SHIELD Android TV).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 09, 2015, 01:17:37 PM
Her Story (Steam) - Plenty of mixed feelings here. The core gameplay mechanic, the "desktop simulator", is absolutely brilliant. The game had me jotting down notes and for those first 2 1/2 hours I was immersed trying to gather clues and thinking of new keywords and search terms. I was there, I was the detective and I was going to figure out all the details from this case. Even the artificial limit of only being able to pull up 5 videos at a time didn't feel like an unnecessary constraint. It was very well done overall.

Unfortunately by the time you begin to unfurl the mystery you find out that the story is not good at all. I'll try not to spoil, but aside from a few chilling moments (the acting was pretty good overall) the story just doesn't feel rewarding. Minor spoiler I guess It feels like a massive collection of red herrings, and even though the story goes down the most realistic path, everything about makes you want for it to go down the more fantasy scenario.

Story Spoiler: I'm also disappointed that the game forced an ending on you. It felt like a brave choice to allow you to go through plot points in almost any way possible, and I thought the reward was going to be a totally ambiguous ending where there was no ending. You chose when to end the story. Sadly, that wasn't the case.It was a total let down.

Spoiler: I've read the story takes some cues form Barlow's previous work: Silent Hill Shattered Memories. I haven't played it so I don't know if it's true or not.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 16, 2015, 11:48:43 PM
Mega Man X (Wii U Virtual Console) - So I've got mixed feelings here. I strongly prefer the feel of older 8-bit games. They are more challenging, and I think they do more interesting things overall (although probably not fair to compare the first X game to a whole series of NES classics).  Despite that, MMX was a solid game and worth playing. I enjoyed my time with it, and would probably be happy to play again.


It did encourage me to immediately go back to MM10 on WiiWare though, to kind of wash the taste out of the beautiful but watered down 16-bit gameplay.  *8-bit elitism is the best elitism*
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on August 17, 2015, 05:39:24 PM
The last 2 games I beat were Battletoads on NES and Snake Rattle & Roll via Rare Replay. Even WITH the ability to rewind gameplay, **** BOTH of those games. Never seen such kill crazy games in all my life, and SR&R's final boss is just...ridiculous: instant 100% Health Regeneration if you aren't constantly mashing the attack button as he bounces between instant kill boulders...on an icy floor.

And don't get me started on the final 3 stages of Battletoads, ESPECIALLY Clinger Winger.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on August 17, 2015, 08:06:49 PM
The really annoying thing about Battletoads is that it COULD have been one of the best beat-em-ups on the NES.  That first level is awesome and if it stayed with that sort of approach you would have got a game that gave the TMNT and Double Dragon games a run for their money.  As a kid I actually figured the game was mostly a beat-em-up because the game generally feels that way up to the Turbo Tunnel, which is where we all got stuck.  We figured if we beat the Turbo Tunnel that it would continue with beat-em-up levels but it doesn't.  Instead the game completely abandons that gameplay and is really more about insanely difficult gimmick levels.

You know how the DKC games have levels that vary from the typical gameplay?  There are vehicle levels, swimming levels, climbing levels, barrel blast levels, ones where you play as the animal helpers.  Imagine if after the first level of DKC that those gimmick levels composed the remainder of the game and the standard sidescrolling platforming levels never ever reappeared.  That's Battletoads and that's actually a good example of how Nintendo turned Rare into something special.  Rare was very ambitious but they had poor restraint.  Battletoads throws every crazy idea they can think of but it's nothing but crazy ideas.  Nintendo reigned them in and had them mix levels with elaborate gimmicks with more conventional ones.  So Battletoads feels like several ideas that could probably have been the basis of their own game while DKC feels like one gameplay style that just has some levels that bust out some cool creative ideas.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 17, 2015, 08:46:15 PM
...


Partly true, because there are tons of gimmicky levels in Battletoads, but mixed in with lots of BS.  There is tons of beat'em up gameplay left in Battletoads after the first level.  The surf level comes to mind immediately, and the one where you are climbing through pipes, and I'm pretty sure there were a couple of others.


Also, people who are still crying about the Turbo Tunnel need to STFU.  It's hard, and depending on your reaction time very well might require memorization to complete. But it's not the end-all-be-all of impossible levels that people make it out to be, and not even close to the worst moment in Battletoads.  Especially because it's dirt easy to score a bunch of 1-ups in the rappelling stage just prior to the speeder bikes.


As a kid, I loved Battletoads because of the wild diversity it offered (even while I hated it for the brutally unfair difficulty spikes). If it just stuck to the pure beat'em up levels then the game wouldn't have been nearly as exciting or enjoyable - especially because the controls weren't actually that great.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 17, 2015, 10:09:05 PM
Speaking of Donkey Kong Country, I finished Tropical Freeze last week and man, there's a lot of mixed emotions going on with that game. The sheer levels of frustration coupled with moments of platforming bliss make this pretty much the second best platformer on the Wii U (personal preference goes to 3D World). I haven't played the Returns series yet, but I prefer what Retro did with the art style compared to what Rare did. I feel this game will age better than the SNES games in terms of overall art style and looks.

I never go used to the controls, but I think it had more to do with me not settling on a particular control scheme. I played with the control sticks whenever I was playing off-TV, and played with the D-Pad on the Pro Controller whenever I had TV to myself. It was definitely good to switch on the fly from those control options.

That said, **** the Barrel blast levels, and **** the ride levels that go back and forth between 2D and quasi-isometric views.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on August 18, 2015, 09:44:14 AM
Oh, D-pad is the way to go no matter what controller you're using. It's so much more tactile, I think the only exception would be in the water levels.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 25, 2015, 01:49:24 AM
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (Steam):
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/432697227729707314/05F42FB452BA1682EA70A26F943C3C8738E0DD86/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505679689)
50+ hours playing a game with two hours "campaign". Paid demo for an actual MGSV coming out in a week. Good thing i got both in a bundle for 30$ and just before second devaluation of my local currency which could have made it 1.5 more expensive.

Graphics look amazing, lightning is especially impressive with searchlights and shadows.

For the first time in the 25 year old series, Metal Gear has controls that are not trainwreck. Even 2D games had somehow found a way to be stupidly overcomplicated for what little you could do and 3d games had it much, much worse.

The entire game is just one map around 300 meters squared. After a while you'll memorize it in it's entirety. Side-ops are additional missions with different goals on the same map.

There is definitely not enough content there to call it full game or even half of a game. To circumvent this they went with Peace Walker route concentrating on pure gameplay to push player to replay mission with better rank or with some other conditions. And it works because for once gameplay is enjoyable by itself and carries the game after you're done with the story. Creative team redesigned stealth mechanics, level layout and controls from the ground up and made the gameplay the best it ever was.

I should especially note Deja Vu mission which is a great fanservice treat for original MGS. "Recreating" scenes from that game in GZ environment is kinda like flashbacks from MGS4 only more interactive than just "press the button to reminiscince". And Deja Vu has a few additional challenges that feature Robin Atkin Downes (voice of Miller) doing his best to impersonate nearly every character from MGS series culminating in MGS1-themed quiz in the end.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/432697227713682310/99D82B1F75ED1775E67CB8B46F2399DC24CDBF66/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=503300518)

One of my personal favourite moments was when i discovered that in "eliminate two targets" mission i can shoot one of the targets with a sniper rifle from helicopter landing zone across the entire map (280 meters). Coincidentally, second target happens to walk by near that landing zone five minutes in as you start the mission.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/1467398677396833888/45BE5D72D908CBF836BD7DD6F1FCE85396F9A55E/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=499230192)

So i go there, tranq everyone on my way, knock out Palitz, immeditely call for helicopter, carry Palitz to landing zone, kill Glaz with sniper rifle as helicopter lands and evacuate with one target. This takes around six minutes which in combination with bonus for being unnoticed nets me S-rank. Ideally it's better to extract both targets but taking Glaz alive takes way too much time because he is walking around the admin building surrounded by 20 guys and security cameras.

Another great memory was in the mission where i had to find cassette tape. You start the mission in the back of a truck and Miller tells you have leave the truck to do this and that, but it's actually better to just stay put because ultimately truck gets exactly where you need to be -- inside the admin building. So truck stops and cassete happens to be very near and you need around a minute to get there, grab it and get back to the truck, just in time for clueless truck driver to come back and smoothly get you out of there, completely unnoticed. It's all fine and dandy on Normal, but Hard mode adds a few complications and you can't make back to the truck before driver takes off. So i decided to experiment and tranquilized the driver as he left the truck, then i did my thing with casette tape, came back, kicked the driver back to his senses, and quickly hid on the truck before he noticed me. Obviously he spent some time looking around after that but 30 seconds later he just resumed normal routine and drove me back to completing the mission again completely unnoticed.

The last thing i did to get 100% was marking trials on normal, which is a stupid design because all trials on Hard unlock just by completing them two times while on Normal you HAVE to mark everyone on the map which is a huge chore. "Destroy anti-air cannons" mission was the most annoying to mark people on because everyone are on full alert and there are a LOT of guys there and you can't kill soldiers because if you do they will be replaced and you just have to mark yet another soldier. It took me an hour and seven retries to do it. Technically, you can do marking trials in minutes but that will require a lot more time than one hour to work out ideal route where you can mark everyone AND somehow stay unnoticed.

There are a few technical problems. Game is kidna "wonky" in general and things happen or don't happen randomly. Sometimes helicopter comes in 12 seconds, sometimes it's take him a minute. Sometimes soldiers notice you through the wall, i would have understood if they heard me or something, but how can they hear me through 2 meters of solid concrete? Sometimes this activates Reflex mode and you can't even shoot them to shut them up because the wall is in the way.

On PC there is an annoying problem with mouse cursor appearing constantly. Standard for any PC game nowadays mouse cursor should disappear when you start playing with controller, but GZ it just stays there. There are a few workarounds but i just put cursor into the corner of a screen.

A bigger problem is pop in. It's very jarring to look around with binoculars and see objects and soldiers appear before you like they fell from the sky. Game engine otherwise is a wonder of optimization providing great visuals, fast loading and smooth performance even on outdated PCs, but i wished they increased limit for number of objects appearing on screen at the same time.

Kiefer Sutherland replacing Snake is a bit weird at first, but he's fine. It's not like previous VA was that good to begin with, it's just people got used to his always constipated tryhard voice he put on over the years. Sure Kiefer has that signature slur (check out this great parody of Kiefer's Snake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt0wg9jQEbI)), but at least he sounds natural.

So in general, a great "two hour" game. Highly recommended if you want to get what Metal Gear Solid games are all about, just be wary that story (what little there is) won't do much for you if you didn't played previous games and might even turn you off with some icky stuff (torture, rape in audio tapes, some gore).

This is an inversion of usual for Metal Gear games where story has always been a big pull and gameplay dragged it down.

Ground Zeroes has great, fantastic gameplay that carries short and somewhat offputting story.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on August 25, 2015, 11:46:38 AM
Speaking of Donkey Kong Country, I finished Tropical Freeze last week and man, there's a lot of mixed emotions going on with that game. The sheer levels of frustration coupled with moments of platforming bliss make this pretty much the second best platformer on the Wii U (personal preference goes to 3D World). I haven't played the Returns series yet, but I prefer what Retro did with the art style compared to what Rare did. I feel this game will age better than the SNES games in terms of overall art style and looks.

I never go used to the controls, but I think it had more to do with me not settling on a particular control scheme. I played with the control sticks whenever I was playing off-TV, and played with the D-Pad on the Pro Controller whenever I had TV to myself. It was definitely good to switch on the fly from those control options.

That said, **** the Barrel blast levels, and **** the ride levels that go back and forth between 2D and quasi-isometric views.
That game is too hard. I want to love it but it's really hard after repeating a level so many times in a row just to get through. When I sit down to play, I want to feel like I got somewhere, you know? I remember getting much further in the original DKC. Mind you, I was a lot younger then. But I have played the VC version recently and I don't think it's nearly as difficult as Tropical Freeze. Freeze looks and sounds great, though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ymeegod on August 25, 2015, 04:32:27 PM
Finished up The Order 1886.  Enjoyed the game but it's missing 1/3 of the game.  A lot of questions go unanswered and the final boss battle underwhelmed.  Also the QTE was a joke, not only was there a ton of it but it was lackluster even compared to other QTE gameplay. Get ready to press X or triangle, here it comes, so EXCITING.

I can see promise in the setting/plot so hopefully there's an proper sequel but I would have been a bit annoyed if I bought this at $60.  It's easily 1/2 of a game and should be been priced as such.

------------------------------------

Trine 3 sounds like it ran into the same issue, ran out of funds so it was released rushed/unfinished.  *sad* face.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on August 28, 2015, 04:23:00 AM
I just completed my first playthrough of Until Dawn and...wow, talk about a game completely surpassing my expectations. I didn't really know what to expect of this game going into it. I'd completely avoided the media for it, it got almost no advertising leading up to release, and all signs pointed to Sony quietly slipping yet another minor game out the door.  From what little talk I'd heard of it, I was expecting a dumb B-Movie Slasher flick with Heavy Rain elements. What I wasn't expect was one of the best horror games I've played in years, and possibly the first modern successor to the original style of Resident Evil. Hell, there's actually a LOT of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories in here as well, right down the psychologist you talk to inbetween the early chapters that allegedly changes the way some scenes play out (I would have to replay the game to truly see it, so I'll take the reviewers' word on that).

The game is just exceptionally well-paced and dripping in atmosphere, and it gets a lot of leverage out of what's actually a very small set of environments when you think about it. The game feels a lot bigger than it actually is. Likewise, the game's much-touted "Butterfly Effect", where small choices you make early on have major repercussions later, is really a lot simpler than the game makes you think it is. However, by the end of the game I don't feel like I've been mislead. Everything that happened in my game felt like a natural extension of the choices I made, and the ending I received (6 survivors: 2 men, 4 women) felt like a fitting conclusion to the story I wove. I wasn't sure how I felt early on about how the game shifts from stereotypical horror to ****ing serious horror halfway through, but by the end it was really working for me.

As far as the gameplay's concerned, if you've played Heavy Rain you should have a pretty good idea what to expect here. Until Dawn's a David Cage-style Adventure game, where you spend most of your time guiding your character around spooky hallways/snowy paths and ruined rooms, every once in a while stumbling across a collectible you can examine for more backstory and (in the case of these totem items) glimpses of potential dangers for your characters. The rest of your time, you're engaging in extremely elaborate Quick Time Events with an unusual twist: sometimes, it's not only OK to do NOTHING but it can even be the BEST thing you could do in that given situation. As for the QTEs themselves, with one exception they're pretty damn easy: press the button before the timer runs out, select a choice before time runs out, and move the right stick in a direction before time runs out. No button mashing QTEs AT ALL, the bane of my existence in these sorts of games.

The one QTE that's the exception, though, is the one I had the hardest time with: sometimes, you'll be in a situation where your character needs to hide or otherwise NOT MOVE. In those cases, you need to hold the Dualshock 4 ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY STILL. You cannot move even a fraction of a quarter of a tenth of a millimeter, or you fail the event and get caught and potentially die.  This means you're spending sometimes 20 seconds holding your breath just like the characters are doing trying to do your damnest not to move. It's quite the experience.

And no, you can't cheat and set your controller down. The dualshock 4's rumbling while all this is going on to simulate your character's heartbeat, which is just enough movement when stationary to trigger the failure state. And you can't load a checkpoint. When you make a choice in this game, it autosaves and you have to just live with what you've done.

So yeah, it's a pretty damn interesting game, which is why it makes sense that Sony (as they do all their more interesting games) just kind of threw it out there without any fanfare.  Still, I had a blast with the game. In many cases, it reminds me of what The Order 1886 was trying to do but didn't quite get there: putting out a cinematic experience, but still incorporating heavy elements of player choice to make the player experience their own.

On a side note, it's been a ****ing insanely good year for Adventure games this year: The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, Life is Strange, Tales From the Borderlands, King's Quest, and Until Dawn have all been exceptional. Really, the only one I've played this year that hasn't been has been Telltale's Game of Thrones, which has thoroughly underwhelmed me at pretty much every opportunity.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 31, 2015, 05:16:08 AM
Super Mario World (VC on Wii U):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69iVq0uEJ9mocuz)
Cape was okay, good thing i was forced to use it only once for progression and it was very clearly marked. No bullshit from previous game.

Last boss was pretty long, especially because you have to beat entire level before him. DKC bosses might have taken inspiration from here before they also take around six hits and take different forms with wildly different attacks.

I didn't expected him to be real final boss because it was just the end of world 7, but apparently it was real ending all right.

I looked it up and there are indeed secret worlds after that but i don't think i am gonna bother looking all over in previous levels. I don't really want to look up where every single secret exit because if i am googling everything what's even the point. And i wanted to play every level hundreds of times looking for secrets even less. Also didn't find any switches because of this.

I would have gladly played more but controls still feel too slidey and uncontrollable. Not to the levels of 3 but still enough to demand pressing back button after each jump.

Batman Arkham Origins: Cold, Cold heart (PC):
(http://www.nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Heart-of-Ice-2.jpg)
First hour or so i was fumbling around because i completely forgot how to play these games. Took me a while to remember just how terrible the combat in these games is. And stealth for that matter.

Game starts you with a full arsenal from main game except they remove glue which conveniently decomposes thus answering the question why it was absent from later games in continuity. Weirdly there were no tutorial for those complicated gadget moves but i remembered my bread and butter ones by experimenting -- mostly knockout bomb and batclaw knockout.

Plot for DLC has been directly taken from Heart of Ice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Ice_(Batman:_The_Animated_Series)).

Final boss was pretty terrible, just like all bosses in this series. Some people for some reason liked Mr. Freeze fight in Arkham City, and it is rehashed here only in even stupider form.

It's still a good power trip fast food-tier dumb game -- you get to fly around as Batman (only two districts though), beat up goons and feel good while mashing buttons. Decent two hours spent.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on September 28, 2015, 01:58:55 AM
I just finished the Swapper for Wii U thanks to the Curve sale going on.

An absolute masterpiece. Deserves every bit of praise it has received, and it's just the epitome of what an Indie Puzzle Platformer should be.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on October 21, 2015, 02:42:28 AM
Life is Strange (PS3) Spoiler post full of spoilers.

Holy ****, this game. One thing I will say is that I feel vindicated in my decision to sacrifice Chloe. There's actual weight in the choice, and having to re-live the bathroom scene one final time puts all of your decisions in line. You realize that by keeping Chloe alive you were denying Nathan the opportunity to escape his hell, and if Kate committed suicide in your playthrough it put someone else's life in the balance for no reason. Chloe stays alive, Nathan isn't forced to confess when he's arrested for her murder, and Jefferson potentially goes on to kill Victoria or Max. The game is telling you in a subtle way that you did **** up, and it also add more context to the nightmare scenario before it (which was probably one of the best gaming experiences I've had, ever).

The "sacrifice Arcadia Bay" option just doesn't work, in part because of the jarring way it ends. I think my opinion of the game would have been different had I chosen that ending originally. Max and Chloe's relationship also seems to have more meaning when you sacrifice her, giving people the kiss they were probably waiting for all this time.


I think this is probably one of the best games I've played this year, and ever. The storytelling managed to overcome most of the other shortcomings this game has had, and while it puts some pressure on Season 2, I hope Dontnod find an equally interesting story to tell in the future.


EDIT: I have to add that The Swapper was also one of the best stories I played this year as well, aside from being a great puzzle game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on October 21, 2015, 03:24:31 AM
Life is Strange (PS3) Spoiler post full of spoilers.

I actually picked the opposite path to the one you did, though I had to stew on the decision for about 5 minutes going back and forth on it. For me, the reason I eventually went with the option I did is because the series has really pushed the angle that going back in time and changing things tends to make things worse in the long run. So immediately after the game makes this point in the grandest way possible, Max is supposed to go back in time again for the mother of all resets? No. I felt it was more important to the narrative of the game that Max, for the first time in this series, has to accept the consequences for what she has done, rather than running away to perform another reset.  Plus, after everything that's happened, I don't feel like Max would let the alternative event happen. Also, People can rebuild from the aftermath of my choice.  It was a very hard choice, though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on October 21, 2015, 09:42:14 AM
Life is Strange (PS3) Spoiler post full of spoilers.

I actually picked the opposite path to the one you did, though I had to stew on the decision for about 5 minutes going back and forth on it. For me, the reason I eventually went with the option I did is because the series has really pushed the angle that going back in time and changing things tends to make things worse in the long run. So immediately after the game makes this point in the grandest way possible, Max is supposed to go back in time again for the mother of all resets? No. I felt it was more important to the narrative of the game that Max, for the first time in this series, has to accept the consequences for what she has done, rather than running away to perform another reset.  Plus, after everything that's happened, I don't feel like Max would let the alternative event happen. Also, People can rebuild from the aftermath of my choice.  It was a very hard choice, though.

Now that I've had the chance to sleep on it, I don't think there's a "bad" or "non-canonical" ending. I think the game does an excellent job of proving that every action has a deep, profound impact. Maybe I moved more towards the ending I chose because my choices at the time lead to the death of Kate, someone who never deserved to die like she did. You can't rebuild from that, and when something like that lingers with you, I guess it pushes you a certain way. I loved that the game had the drive to do that because it meant players had different point of approach with the overall narrative.

While I agree with why you chose that specific ending, I like my ending. Mostly because it felt complete, but also because I got them to kiss, and even though it felt hammy at the time, I think it help solidify that emotional bond between you(the player, not Max) and Chloe. Ultimately, I think your enjoyment of the game comes down to whether you like her or not, and the writers did a good job for the most part.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 30, 2015, 10:57:46 AM
Just finished Life is Strange myself, after taking a break after episode 3 to wait for the whole thing to finish. And what a total crock it was. I let it trick me into thinking the narrative was actually dynamic, but it was almost as on rails as the Telltale stuff. The only real thing you can change is the suicide which mainly just changes some details in episode 3 and has little effect on 4 and 5 outside of some dialogue variants. And the ending is a just a binary input at the end that doesn't depend at all on anything that comes before it. Also, that nightmare section was an awful slog and an excuse to reuse assets. It added nothing to the story or characters, and given that the game is throwing the "friendship is magic" angle in your face every 30 seconds anyway it was totally unnecessary. It's also disappointing that the game veered into generic thriller territory in Episode 4, I was hoping more was going on.

In general, I'm bitter at the end because I really want someone to actually do one of these narrative games for real, and time travel mechanics was a brilliant way to potentially go about it. Like, imagine if the gameplay was real and you could warp about through the pictures at will, tweaking details and following chains of cause and effect throughout the whole thing. It would probably have to be only four hours long, but I'd much prefer that. I'll keep dreaming.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on November 02, 2015, 11:10:15 PM
Lost Dimension (PS3) - 7.5/10

Just finished my first and probably only playthrough of the game. I came away frustrated by the game and feeling relief after finally reaching the end, even if it's the "bad" ending, is good enough for me. The game just can't get away from it's own story and clunky levels. It sucks because there are some hints of good storytelling, but you're so bogged down by meaningless dialog that other one-dimensional characters. The gameplay is also a mix of good things (fun character abilities, fairly decent combat) and bad (overall level design, constant grinding). I'm about to upgrade to a PS4 so I won't be coming back to this game for a long time. Maybe that will be enough for me to get me back and give this game a fresh pair of eyes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 09, 2015, 12:36:24 AM
Assasin's Creed: Rogue (PC):
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-08_00002nfrvr.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-08_00002nfrvr.jpg)
100%, full sync, 34 hours.

On the shorter side, considering that 100%-ing II Brotherhood, Revelations, III AND Black Flag took me over from 60-100 of hours each send help.

(http://abload.de/img/2015-09-01_00005m9rmr.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-09-01_00005m9rmr.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-10-31_00001s4qg3.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-10-31_00001s4qg3.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00002n9qc5.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00002n9qc5.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_0000301r06.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_0000301r06.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_000049oow0.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_000049oow0.jpg)

Rogue doesn't do anything new. It combines american colonial setting (and characters) of III, ship battles of IV, building upgrading from II plus grenades from Freedom Cry.

The only dubious novelty it introduces is playing for "bad guys". As it turns out -- it doesn't make much a difference.

Modern setting plot is kinda disappointing -- IV sci-fi plot was very good, almost as good as mindblowing meta-ending of II. Rogue is picking up from IV and does the same trick as IV introducing a complete blank slate of a player which you know NOTHING about AND keeping that up to the end. IV actually did a very interesting twist with that character and made him/her quite important in the overarching plot, but Rogue doesn't. The game just ends. Good job.

(http://abload.de/img/2015-09-01_00007huryb.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-08_00002nfrvr.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_000150wobr.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_000150wobr.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00013maqc5.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00013maqc5.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-08_00001ghrr8.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-08_00001ghrr8.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00009m3pnm.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00009m3pnm.jpg)

Graphically it looks like slightly boosted III and IV with with some added lens flare effects. Cheap, but hey it works.

(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00019mhrym.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00019mhrym.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00008g2qt6.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00008g2qt6.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00012yyrsc.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-11-01_00012yyrsc.jpg)

I liked it. Nothing new, but a good entertaining collectathon/climbing simulator.

The Room (Steam):
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/401178534930146890/D9141A5BA89226F96A14405FE81FBE3530A4A5F2/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=546829432)

Visual design is just very pleasing on the eye -- all these cogs, buttons, lenses, levers, knobs looks cool. Sound effects add to somewhat creepy-ish hollow atmosphere of an old attic.

Puzzles aren't particularly hard and all solutions just require you to pay attention. Generally if you can't solve it in several minutes -- it's usually better to activate a hint.

Some of the mouse controls are kinda iffy which betrays game's mobile roots.

But otherwise it's a very cool puzzle game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on November 09, 2015, 07:23:21 PM
Beat Skyrim, (joined the Stormcloaks)
I found the last boss to be way to easy, maybe it was my armour but my god ten hits from my greatsword?
srsly?
Other then that a Fantastic game that makes it on my top twenty favourite games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on November 28, 2015, 11:09:05 PM
I beat the main story of Dragon Quest 8. Just an incredible game with tons of humour and personality, 125 hours flew by like it was nothing. Now bring on the post game!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 30, 2015, 05:51:42 AM
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain:
(http://abload.de/img/clipboard0214rhd.jpg)

Just by sheer playtime alone this is by far and away should be my game of the year.

And yet, i have a hard time admitting it. I have no right saying that i don't like this game having spent 200+ hours in it, and yet i kinda want to say it.

This is a game that simultaneously shows off all the bests and worsts of what modern videogame developer can do all in one idiosyncratic package.

Graphical and technical tour de force and exploitative free to play practices. Game design mastery and obnoxious late-game grind. Great voice-acting (yes, Kiefer included) and glaringly unfinished and disjointed story. Amazingly directed cutscenes and unsatisfactory ending to 25 year old series.

Phantom Pain picks up amazing Ground Zeroes gameplay and controls and wraps them in open-world skin. This was meant to provide a living evolving ecosystem that you can influence and game somewhat delivers on that, but the biggest impact it makes is this:

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/428195787334300575/F8B317F348EAEFAAC779F825E9C055553E8C0AC6/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=517858134)

Because of how empty the world is, you will be running towards some distant points a LOT. Upgrading Snake so he could run at 4x the speed is basically mandatory. Of course there is a horse and vehicles but both have their downsides of their own.

Breadth of tactical options available to you is astounding. TPP provides easily the most varied gameplay of the series, whether you play lethally or non-lethally, use weapons or helicopter, dispatch soldiers with your bare hands or hold them up -- it's all fair game.

As you get more and more weapons and items you become almost overpowered and that's where the game starts to actively push back. Enemies are setting up landmines, start to wear body armours and shields and are aware that Big Boss is out there kidnapping their comrades.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/431573128771491597/5C5D019F72E6C7F742AC323A45375FD67C7ACB59/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=514901365)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/431572596315973366/49F4531034B0A1CDE28F07180F87BC56E7A37837/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=513323988)

Buddies make you even more overpowered, especially Quiet and D-Dog. Having a dog around means that you will never ever get caught by an enemy you didn't see because "dog" will automatically marks everyone for you. While Quiet straight up kills dudes and can just kill everyone around if you don't stop her.

As to Quiet, her boss battle is a traditional sniper battle and it's the only good boss battle in the game (out of like two the game has). It's very good though -- you're constantly on your toes hiding and trying to find Quiet constantly changing sniper spots looking all around you with binoculars and listening for her song.

In a good MGS tradition -- there are a TON of ways you approach this, including some absolutely ludicrous ones (http://giant.gfycat.com/EmotionalSneakyGiraffe.gif).

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/428196161232293895/5F6E5A00267BF4505613DB90775EB4A7131964E1/) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=520970384)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/392169271225390652/2009F518B6412C74AC711DA86DCB4E0962A3F621/) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=532961654)

Because the game is divided into missions and is non-linear you're not forced to do entirely non-lethal playthrough. You can retry mission and basically time travel to relive previous adventure in different way and as a bonus open world design enforces permanency on everything.

Taking out outposts, destroying comm equipment, disrupting power generators and anti-air systems -- this status is kept throughout even if you go back to previous mission and find out that radar that you just destroyed is destroyed there too.

Game is leniently balanced so you can S-ranks even if you kill people. I mostly got S-ranks on my first try and had to retry them only to hit additional in-mission challenges.

Out of these missions "listen to all conversations" type is the most tiresome to get. It's dependant on enemies AI and how they interact with each other. There are a conditions: obviously, both soldiers should be present (so taking them out before conversation is out of the question), conversation might happen during specific time of day and in specific place and oh, sometimes if there has been an alert previously (any alert -- even from across the map) -- conversation isn't gonna happen. And sometimes conversation doesn't happen because the game glitched out or something.

Conversation that are not part of mission objectives are actually nice when they happen. It's cool to see soviet soldiers in Afghanistan portrayed as human beings, like one soldier wanting to come back to see his daughter, another advising his comrade to wear warm sweater to not to catch cold in freezing night shifts and so on.

Spoken russian is occasionally wonky (american accents) but translation is very good.

Sometimes climbing over a rock is kinda janky and interestingly they knew it because one mission optional objective places diamond in a place where you can only get by "skyrim-ing" yourself up a rock.

Story:

First fake ending was pretty bad, it gave no resolution whatsoever, more it actually had the gall to tease what will happen next should you just proceed playing the game further. Compare to Peace Walker which had a very definitive first ending and should you want you could have stopped there.

Bad ending is made worse by the last terrible two missions, first you get story heavy mission with the main villain explaining his nefarious and barely motivated plan in a classic Bond fashion while Snake just silently sits there. And that scene is just so bizarre.

And then "final" boss which is a damage sponge which is impossible to beat unless you grind your rocket launchers or helicopter. Boss' design is very shallow as well -- just keep shooting at it. Grind in advance and then just shoot.

And after that first ending you get post game which is even more underwhelming in terms of content.

Good thing that main gameplay is SO GOOD i don't mind playing it more. And even 50-100 hours i was STILL getting new and new weapons and ways to change up the game in new ways.

Story is a disjointed mess. It's disjointed because of episodic format, and a mess in other ways.

Characters are all weird -- Snake is suddenly a mute, Huey is now a shady mad scientist (think Baxter Stockman), Revolver Ocelot is Ocelot only by name. In every other games Ocelot is a very memorable, cartoony character, outrageous, smarmy, dramatic.

Compare
(http://33.media.tumblr.com/2b8bd986389c27e060878b74a0578f90/tumblr_npda3lI08r1tg07vxo1_400.gif)
(http://abload.de/img/clipboard015yoan.jpg)
(http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mamy9hxML71rb8fpgo1_500.gif)

With THIS guy:
(http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/5/5b/MGSV_URAGAN_Ocelot_1.jpg/600px-MGSV_URAGAN_Ocelot_1.jpg)

And then the second ending which i didn't even understood and had to listen to podcast to realize the significance of it. And even there i was like: "that's it?".

Post- post- game missions are amazingly even more terrible, especially "A Quiet Exit" which is awful. It requires you to grind but doesn't tell you this. And if you entered this mission without knowing it in advance -- "YOU CAN'T EXIT, SUCKER!". The option to abort the mission is disabled in this mission and this mission alone. I was trying to beat it with what i measly equipment i had for three days, all to no success.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/401179644837062302/AC2D38801475BC47955595552AEF8FF07623859B/) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=555599115)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/400055083637021791/44ABCD6C289122CC4109D60921A5BF19CE51098A/) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565669045)

Overall, my favorite missions were Subsistence missions where you are thrown in having nothing -- no weapons, no items, no armour -- no NOTHING and have to get everything on-site. It really forces you to tackle these missions creatively. My solution to the mission where i have to destroy communication equipment was just grabbing a landmine nearby set it up in a room and step on it on purpose destroying comm in the process (just one mine won't kill Snake).

Late game stuff was just me grinding while running around with invisible suit.

Collecting all animals took a long time in particular. By the time i was finished with main content i already had all animals that you can actually encounter in the game, but apparently there are "invisible" enemies that you can only catch with cages left in very specific areas.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/400055083619194741/C6DC671C2FE08DEA8FFCFDD3F650E86E0DF023D8/) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=562680205)

It is just so lazy -- it's like a collectible that is not shown on the map, you can't see it in game and there is about 60% chance cage will catch an useless gerbil instead of animal you wanted. They didn't even model these animals -- all you see is 2d picture of what the cage caught.

And then there is online stuff where Konami uses all their dark knowledge of mobile gaming to entice you to pay microtransations by using artificial resources with contrived economy. They even use nukes to encourage you into their online mode.

Overall:

Amazing, great game. Variety in situations and in ways you can tackle game challenges is staggering.

But just like with Peace Walker grinding can get obnoxious. Especially when this grinding is not just used to prolong your game time but also to force your hand to pay real money.

Thank you and curse you, Konami former videogame maker.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 30, 2015, 12:41:14 AM
Stealth Bastard Deluxe (Steam):
52 hours. 3000+ deaths. S-ranked and collected doohickeys in all levels:
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/364029076288423964/1998420E65BE538AEBA512DAF3189FA0D68E523A/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=587722173)

There are more levels in DLC but i think i will pass.

I started playing this game because sequel was out on Wii U (then -- exclusively) and Curve Studios made an excellent Fluidity on WiiWare. And finally and most importantly -- it was given away in one of the Humble Bundles.

Overall the game was... tiresome. While there definitely were some flashes of outstanding game design:
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/364029076280377058/1ECDACC6D19FCCE809D824B92C1E94F6606D4413/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=585993803)
But it was quickly buried under tedious repetition trying to S-rank levels.

Repetition has always been a bane for stealth games and it hits SBD especially hard because you are supposed to replay levels for perfect S-rank until you get everything right and because enemies are completely static and predictable in their behavior, S-ranking always just devolves into figuring one final solution and executing it perfectly. On many levels this involves pulling very timing specific jumps, sometimes even consecutively. Imagine spending two minutes of setting switches in a very specific order and screwing it all up because you were quarter of a second late or early to jump on a specific place. And now do it all over again. I spent way too much time on some levels because of timings specific stuff.

Like from from video the beginning of 5-6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjdw4KDqBqw) doesn't look all that hard, but it's actually one of the most annoying sequences in entire game, because you have to tail a bot in a very specific manner (somewhat rigid controls and invisible low ceiling make jumping between pits in the beginning way harder than it should be) and any deviation will lead to death. And it actually becomes even more annoying with later part where you need to figure out rather complex sequence of block pushing and pulling switches while bots are going round and round. This part makes first segment so much worse because one slip-up -- and you do that annoying bit tailing sequence all over again. 5-7 took me weeks and the solution (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT0OdPf8h4U) was bordering on a glitch almost (you're directly in sight of a bot but it's so brief it doesn't notice you).

Overall worlds 5 and 4 were by far the most finicky and tedious to do. Other worlds were almost a breeze to S-rank by comparison, even later worlds. It feels like these worlds were designed by some other guy likes super tight timing too much.

On some levels there are other clones who also want to get out and you cooperate with them. Most likely they're there to help you and get killed at the last moment (sometimes -- by your own hand) but in one memorable level i had to race other clone for survival. These guys add to overall cynicism theme of a game:
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/364029076284820783/643E9EFCA696AF42EA77F64463DD5D586F829579/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=586922733)

Overall: okay, but tedious. Sure you may opt NOT to S-rank levels, but i suspect it will be even less interesting in that case.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 30, 2015, 09:06:31 AM
Stealth Bastard Deluxe (Steam): ...


So I really enjoyed the sequel on Wii U.  From reading this, it sounds like the sequel was better enough that it's not worth going back for Stealth Bastard Deluxe?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 01, 2016, 08:14:29 AM
Siesta Fiesta (3DS eShop) - The game looks gorgeous and has some fun ideas... but it simply wasn't enjoyable for me.


A lot is asked from the player with respect to controls, but often special effects feel random enough that asking for precise positioning was frustrating instead of fun. Having the "ball" land in either far corner was often a problem because the bed wouldn't shift over that far - perhaps because I had adjusted the pen location accidentally during play. And the end of level popper - which seems to spin fast enough to be truly random - gave me 0-point skull heads at least 75% of the time regardless of how I changed my timing. When you do beat the game, the ending only asks you to go back and get all gold medals... I had earned only a single gold medal during the initial play through of levels, so (virtually) shelved the game at that point. Absolutely no interest in going back through again.


Some of those issues are surely my fault, but the game consistently felt like it asked a lot without giving suitable rewards in return. Power-ups all felt like risk/reward mechanisms instead of ever giving you the feeling of more control over what happens. Despite being absolutely charming, I felt like the game design never lived up to the art design. Play AlphaBounce instead.


Would like to play some other games from Mojo Bones. Even though I just didn't enjoy Siesta Fiesta enough to give even a tepid recommendation, the game was well-made and you could tell a lot of love went into the development.


Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS eShop) - The Rock-Paper-Scissors (with a couple of twists) gameplay was quite simple, but the charming story kept this game moving along nicely and left me wanting more once it was done.


Overall very happy with all three of the Level-5 games that I've played now. Would probably rank Crimson Shroud first, then Attack of the Friday Monsters, then Liberation Maiden... but that's a soft ranking. The first two could easily swap spots. Each game had flaws, but was really interesting and worth trying.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on January 16, 2016, 02:30:10 PM
Earthbound Beginnings (VC): Nice quirky little game. Short and sweet. My only problem with it is the lack of direction and how few actual boss fights there are. But still very nice....for a NES game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: JamesGoblin on January 30, 2016, 07:46:55 PM
If I remember correctly, it was Starcraft II, back in 2004.

After that I played exclusively MMOs (WoW, Warhammer, Age of Conan...) which one can't exactly "beat" - you either play them for years if they are good, or just walk away.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 03, 2016, 07:49:08 AM
Just finished Dragon Quest VI (DS) and really enjoyed the ride. Story was fun, there were very rarely any notable sticking points, and other than some grinding at the very end to boost my job levels I never felt like the game got too repetitive. There weren't many big surprises along the way - but that's what I expect from a DQ game.


There are still a bunch of secrets left to discover in the main game if I want to go back for them, and post-game content also available. Not sure if I'll keep going right now or not... but will probably futz around a little bit before moving on.


This game was able to nicely whet my appetite for VII and VIII coming out on 3DS later this year, and reminded me why I enjoy the series so much.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 14, 2016, 10:45:28 PM
Shovel Knight on Wii U co-op only. I started a single player campaign, but I don't think I'm going back to it. And I tried the Plague of Shadows DLC that unlocks after defeating the final boss. I don't think I'm going back to that either.

The game was fine, nothing spectacular. The art style is great though it's more 8-bit inspired because it looked too good at times. Yacht Club Games definitely nailed the retro-chic graphics. I recommend Shovel Knight, particularly co-op if you can stand the idea that it costs $39 for the privilege. I'm not bemoaning my purchase. I knew what I was getting into, and I decided it was worth the cost. The Shovel Knight Amiibo is very nice. I mention that bit about cost only as a warning for anyone interested. I can see it being too high for some people.

The game gets annoyingly difficult right in the middle of the game without warning. It has a decent difficulty curve then there are parts where it's m-f-ing bananas. The final boss is an asshole. Also, the plot twist is insultingly bad.

I haven't decided what I'm going to play next. I'm definitely going to complete Majora's Mask first before starting another game. My choices are Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and Bayoneta 1 and 2. I'm leaning toward Xenoblade Chronicles because I legitimately considered buying the 3DS port for $20 new, and I think if I restart it on Wii (I got to the first town way back when), it'll be easier to convince myself for good that I really don't need a worse version of a game I already own.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 15, 2016, 02:40:23 AM
Xenoblade, The Last Story, and TTYD are like, the trifecta of some of my favorite "modern Nintendo RPGs". If you're looking for a brief experience, however, I'd go for TTYD or the Last Story. TTYD is more charming, the Last Story has a lot of heart but some technical problems (both have amazing combat systems, though).

Haven't played Bayo 1 and 2. I gotta do that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 15, 2016, 05:04:38 AM
I'm probably not doing myself any favors as far as knocking down my backlog by starting with Xenoblade Chronicles which I heard is like an 80 hour game. I should probably not start with 47473927473 RPGs in a row. Based on your recommendation, I'll probably go with The Last Story. I've had it much longer than Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and it was the one Operation Rainfall game I wanted most. Besides the admittedly silly reason in my previous post, Xenoblade Chronicles appears to be seen as a more transcendent RPG experience. No one really talks about The Last Story.

I should probably also finish Skies of Arcadia Legend though I'd definitely have to restart that one. I was about 40 hours in and I haven't played it in like 12 years.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 15, 2016, 08:53:07 AM
Shovel Knight on Wii U co-op only. ...

I bought the Amiibo for co-op play, and feel that (for me) it's been worthwhile.

If you like the base game, then co-op play works well and adds a nice bit of depth. There is a nice amount of interaction in general levels - sometimes players get in each others way, other times it's helpful to have an extra shovel around. Bosses get more health so it's not just a cakewalk.

The cost is high to get in, and I really hope the Shovel Knight Amiibo will see more use in future games... but with kids who like to join in (and who are young enough they need the help) and a brother who was crashing at our place for a couple weeks, co-op play has been a fantastic experience.


I agree with recommendations for The Last Story, mostly because it's on my short list too.  ;)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on February 15, 2016, 10:07:39 AM
I'm going to go ahead and vouch for The Last Story as well. I put around 44 hours into it, but HLTB tags most people's experiences at around 21 hours. It's a very fun experience, specially once you get into a groove with the combat style.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 17, 2016, 06:19:58 PM
Majora's Mask is in the bag. I almost forgot how infuriating the Lunar Children stages are. Well, just Goht's stage and maybe Gyorg's stage. Goht's stage is stupid because at no point in the game are you asked to be that precise with Goron rolling. Gyorg's stage forces you to dolphin jump out of the water, a move I literally never used before that section. Every time you fail, the game forces you to watch a cutscene of a gate opening which you can't see from where you are. Collectively, that's really bad game design.

The prize for completing those sections are heart pieces (though two are optional in that you have to go out of your way for them) and, if you attained every mask, the Fierce Deity Mask. This is one of the few times Nintendo managed to not disappoint with rewarding players for completing optional tasks and quests. The Fierce Deity Mask makes the final boss a total joke, but you earned it so I think the trade-off there is fair.

Majora's Mask's end game is pretty good. The last dungeon is the best in the game (as well among the best in the series) and the Anju/Kafei side-quest is probably the one of the last most people tackle. I did that one right after Stone Tower. Granted, a couple of the masks you get during that quest are used to complete some odds and ends in the Bomber's Notebook so those are likely the absolute last. The Lunar Children stages notwithstanding, it's possibly my favorite final section of any Zelda game. At least the Lunar Children section isn't a fetch quest.

The plot isn't great. It's too vague for its own good. Nintendo has rarely excelled at storytelling in The Legend of Zelda series, and that's no different here. Characters, namely the main villain, lack motivation. There are too many questions and not enough evidence to support any conclusions or theories. What was the relationship between Majora's Mask and the moon? Who the hell even was Majora? Why was there an Elysium-esque field inside the moon? Who are the Lunar Children? I could go on. I kind of hate having to always chalk it up to "Nintendo sucks at writing."

Anyway, I've settled on phase one of my backlog reduction list. I'm almost finish Shantae and The Pirate's Curse so I may start with that just to get it out of the way.

1. The Last Story
2. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
4. Bayonetta 1 and 2 (I intend to play them back-to-back)
5. Xenoblade Chronicles

While it isn't in my backlog, I may insert Twilight Princess HD before Xenoblade Chronicles. Once I get through those, I'll decide where to place The Wonderful 101 (likely first in phase two), Lollipop Chainsaw, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Skies of Arcadia Legend, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Madworld, Earthbound (I never finished it, got to the Lost Underworld), Chrono Trigger DS, and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection. There are other games in my backlog, but those are what I remember off the top of my head. Those are plenty. My goal is to not buy another game until at least phase one is complete. There are a lot of games here, and I'm not confident I'll beat them all before NX launches. Wish me luck.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: michaelbaysuperfan616 on February 17, 2016, 06:32:31 PM
It probably doesn't count but I completed classic towers in Mortal Kombat X for PS4 last night before bed. The ending was not very interesting at all. The character was Total Khan. I don't know why I chose him I just thought I would try someone different than the normal.

I didn't pay much attention to the story in 9 so I am not sure if this is a direct sequel, a reboot, or if it picks up somewhere else in the timeline or if they are ignoring the timeline but it didn't really seem to make much sense either way. I am still disappointed that the MK team doesn't try better at making quality end game cinemas when they put so much effort into the rest of the game. With the rich story, the background of the franchise and the capabilities of the technology at their disposal it just makes me sad they don't put in more effort where it actually counts. To be fair I didn't finish story mode yet so maybe that is where the effort went, but I am not sure when, or if, I will get around to going back to story mode.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 17, 2016, 11:49:42 PM
Let me just chime in one last time about the Last Story: It's admittedly extremely cliched and predictable, but I'll be damned if it isn't one of the most satisfying RPGs I've ever played. The combat system alone is worth the price of entry- it doesn't become the amazing mob-destroying, pants-shitting monster of a system until around chapter 10 (which is "technically" 1/5 of the way through the game but not really), and then even after that there's EVEN MORE awesome folds that appear. I NEVER EVER EVER thought I'd play a JRPG with a combat system that had its own sniping and stealth systems within it that were really well implemented, but the Last Story sure as hell does. It also has mounted combat, "gimmicky" boss battles where you have to pull off certain combinations of moves and tactics to beat things, and has this absurd progression of events where things escalate to a point where you, a normal mercenary, are fighting these incredibly epic bosses and you just go to town on them. To top it all off, the game takes place in this amazingly charming and quaint town that evolves around you as you continue to play through it, and there's so many cool little side quests and stupid things that you get to do there that make the game so enjoyable.

Just thinking about it makes me want to go replay it. It's just so detailed, so rewarding, and yet, streamlined in an incredibly economic fashion that doesn't sacrifice gameplay for story and allows you to fully immerse yourself in the wacky world. While Xenoblade Chronicles blew me away with scale and scope, The Last Story is so intimate and lovable that I honestly have a hard time comparing them because I loved them so much.

Now, I also really, really, REALLY like Pandora's Tower, so maybe I'm just a JRPG fiend. But I think starting with The Last Story and ending with Xenoblade is a good choice.

I had, but quickly grew bored with, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, but azeke's big post about Rogue made me feel very nostalgic about it, and now I'm considering picking it back up. I also kind of wanted to get Watch_Dogs, too. Since I don't really have a backlog (or one that I am ready to face just yet), I am looking for something to play. With Pokken coming out next month, though, I should leave my schedule open for practice.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on February 18, 2016, 12:13:04 AM
Speaking of Nintendo games with good writing; Pandora's Tower.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 18, 2016, 02:29:10 AM
I was a bit curious as to whether or not the Wii U VC version of Pandora's Tower does away with the Dusk/Dawn Tower glitch, which almost ruined the end of that game for me (the gimmick in that tower saved it, though). If there's one aspect of owning the physical copy that I can't stand, it's that.

But yes, Pandora's Tower has an amazing backstory that you can miss entirely if you don't go snooping around. Underrated game and likely the most overlooked of the three Rainfall localizations, but in no way a bad title. Just less ambitious.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 18, 2016, 05:17:51 AM
You've pretty much sold me on The Last Story already in the earlier post. The hype is real. I hope I share your enthusiasm for the game. I don't expect to hate any of the games I listed, except maybe Lollipop Chainsaw, and even then, it seems like dumb fun.

I still have Pandora's Tower shrink-wrapped. I keep hearing good things. I mostly bought it because I wanted to support the game. I wasn't planning on playing it, but I may now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 18, 2016, 01:05:21 PM
I was a bit curious as to whether or not the Wii U VC version of Pandora's Tower does away with the Dusk/Dawn Tower glitch, which almost ruined the end of that game for me (the gimmick in that tower saved it, though). If there's one aspect of owning the physical copy that I can't stand, it's that.

Nope, NOA just dumped the exact unaltered North American version on the eShop so the glitch is still their on the Wii U version.  Shows how little they cared about that game that they couldn't be bothered to put the PAL version instead that doesn't have the glitch.

Oh well, anyone that hasn't played Pandora's Tower should still try it.  Outside of the nasty glitch that'll make you reset over a dozen time to clear the last 2 towers, the rest of the game is still really fun.  It's kind of like if Castlevania and Majora's Mask had a baby.  The combat is pretty good and the Bosses are legit awesome, easily the highlight of the game.  Oh yeah and the true final boss theme is amazing.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 18, 2016, 03:28:17 PM
A good description. Yes, the boss battles of Pandora's Tower are awesome and it shows how far you can go with relatively simple mechanics. There's some puzzling stuff, some thrilling combat, and more to be found.

It's a shame they didn't bother to address the glitch, as it's the one thing that would make me buy the game again. It's still an awesome experience, it's just sad that it will forever be marred by that technical aspect.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 18, 2016, 04:42:56 PM
Yeah, Pandora's Tower is pretty good, as mentioned it's evocative of what Castlevania would be like if it had approached a 3D transition differently (or at least if it had built on that one PS2 game). Unfortunately the final glitch is fucking severe and can be impossible to overcome, as was the case in my run as I had been doing all the scenes with the waifu and thus had nothing to fall back on for the workaround. If you do give it a shot take special care to avoid interacting with her too much.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 18, 2016, 05:44:34 PM
Unfortunately the final glitch is fucking severe and can be impossible to overcome, as was the case in my run as I had been doing all the scenes with the waifu and thus had nothing to fall back on for the workaround. If you do give it a shot take special care to avoid interacting with her too much.
All you have to do is save before you leave the observatory and reboot the game before heading to the next tower. Every time you go back, but yeah.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on February 18, 2016, 10:18:52 PM
I got through the first tower and never went back to the game. I just never felt the urge to go back to the game. It came out at the worst possible time.

I did beat Axiom Verge. Man, that game just failed to leave a mark on me. The first 2 hours were really good, but then the game fell apart after that. I got lost way too many times, the boss battles were pretty infrequent after the initial set of bosses (including the cheap ones like fighting yourself and the "boss battle" that follows it) and the upgrades just failed to deliver. At to the fact that the final battle is a bit on the cheap side (though I was able to exploit it a bit) and that you need to surpass a certain % of items and map discovery to see the "true" ending and I have a hard time coming back to this game with the backlog I currently have. Major props should go to Tom Happ for making this game, but I feel like this will go down as one of those early indie titles in a new console generation: pretty good but ultimately unmemorable.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 18, 2016, 10:24:42 PM
Unfortunately the final glitch is fucking severe and can be impossible to overcome, as was the case in my run as I had been doing all the scenes with the waifu and thus had nothing to fall back on for the workaround. If you do give it a shot take special care to avoid interacting with her too much.
All you have to do is save before you leave the observatory and reboot the game before heading to the next tower. Every time you go back, but yeah.

Wait, you talking about just for the last two towers or every time throughout the game? Because I just want to emphasize that you can get completely stuck no matter how you try to work around the final freeze glitch depending on what you do up to that point in the game.

@soren

Yeah, I completely agree. I was initially super enthused about the game and posted as much here, but the back half really falls apart. It becomes clear that the areas are mostly just tile set changes, and there are hardly any bosses at all. At one point the game leaves you with no direction and it becomes a real pain to trudge around trying to find something to do. The drone upgrades later on are interesting on paper, but the game doesn't really utilize them to a notable degree.

So just for posterity, I do not consider it on the tier of legit good Metroid clones. That tier is still only occupied by Shadow Complex.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on February 18, 2016, 11:02:03 PM
The drone upgrades later on are interesting on paper, but the game doesn't really utilize them to a notable degree.

So just for posterity, I do not consider it on the tier of legit good Metroid clones. That tier is still only occupied by Shadow Complex.


Yes! I kept waiting for something cool to do with that little drone but aside from a few main weapon upgrades you can get after you initially get him (which are more tests of endurance than anything else) he's kinda worthless. I only got the necessary upgrade to progress the story so maybe I'm missing out on something else.


There were a few "oh ****, nice!" moments (the first time you discover a secret world, the first time you fast-travel through Indi with Oracca, the hallucination in Ukkin-Na) but those are few and far between all the dull parts.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 18, 2016, 11:19:07 PM
Wait, you talking about just for the last two towers or every time throughout the game? Because I just want to emphasize that you can get completely stuck no matter how you try to work around the final freeze glitch depending on what you do up to that point in the game.
In what way? I never had the game freeze up or glitch on me up until the last two towers.

I also caved and repurchased Black Flag. Here we go again...!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 20, 2016, 04:01:39 PM
I started The Last Story yesterday then decided I really needed to just finish Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. I only had one full level left and some extras to collect to get the good ending.

The game was fine, nothing to write home about. It suffers from Wayforward Technologies' occasional annoying game design. I liked the pirate gear Shantae gets over the transformations. I would play Shantae and the Pirate's Curse again.

Next up: The Last Story
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 21, 2016, 10:18:44 PM
Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:
Great ending:
(http://www.zeldadungeon.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ST-Holding-Hands.gif)

Final sequence used train theme in a very cool way and final boss was epic in usual Zelda fashion.

Also before that, fight with Byrne was pretty exciting as well (great use of 3d camera):

Both these boss fights and later dungeons used controlling two characters at once gimmick. In some puzzles it was almost like RTS with level of multitasking required.

Speaking of two characters, Zelda in this game rocks. The animation where she shrieks at the sight of mice is kinda cute, especially because she is in the body of a huge armoured knight.

Dark dungeon near the end was annoying and confusing. Especially because if you died you had to climb entire tower and then some just to enter it again. Which is weird because otherwise game is very respectful of my time as a portable game and has very generous checkpoints.

Just like with Phantom Hourglass i loved how game used map drawing as game design element. Touch controls worked fine just like with PH, even dreaded flute segments took a minute each -- you just had to pay minimal attention. I highly suspect that people who had problems with them dearly need some gud to git.

Overall, a solid game. I do wish train was faster in overworld. Enemy spawns on overworld are supposed to diversify moving around and make it less boring but it was more annoying than anything especially with the way game chugged when tanks appear. Just for that alone i enjoyed Phantom Hourglass so much more.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on February 21, 2016, 11:24:05 PM
I finished Firewatch, but that's not a game you can talk about without spoiling it. Suffice it to say that's impeccably written and performed excellently by the voice actors. It's a very good game as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on February 21, 2016, 11:26:38 PM
But isn't it like $20 for 3 hours of gameplay?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 21, 2016, 11:51:03 PM
But isn't it like $20 for 3 hours of gameplay?

It has close to zero gameplay. I would also disagree about the quality of the writing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on February 22, 2016, 12:29:11 AM
(http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/thats-just-like-your-opinion-man-300x180.gif)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 23, 2016, 12:06:00 AM
Ha, I mean, there's two parts if I remember correctly where you have to following a homing beacon. I think that qualifies as gameplay.

Otherwise I ignored every conversation I could because I found the voice actors annoying on top of everything. From what I understand this does not alter events at all. It also ran kind of terrible on my decent laptop for no reason that I could discern. Come to think of it, The Witness also ran like ass for a game with simple effects and geometry, although it had a larger scope.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on February 23, 2016, 12:18:20 AM
Continuing my swing through the games of 2013, I just finished up Super Mario 3D World. Not much to say beyond just marveling at how good EAD Tokyo is at making platformers. I think their level design has improved with every successive game in the series, and I'm really excited to see the next one, which I have to figure is going to be an NX launch title.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 25, 2016, 10:52:35 AM
God Hand (on PCSX2 emulator):
(http://abload.de/img/godhandresultsqmpe2.jpg)
What a game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p869JF62xzU). A very special and unique game in so many ways.

Like:

There is no jump button.

Dynamic difficulty. The better you do, the harder game becomes. Get hit few times and game drops AI level to make it easier. And it's not hidden from you, each time AI level changes there is a big screen prompt and behind the screen audience sighs or applauds depending if you go up or down.

Customizable controls with a pool of 100+ of moves and you can set them to face buttons and put them in attack string in any order depending on what you need and who you face.

And probably the most unique feature -- tanks controls and camera that is fixed behind and just above Gene's head. This even gave me motion sickness at first.

That camera is indefensible. The way how i can't push stick in any direction and JUST GO in that direction is maddening because it works that way in literally all other game. If you want to run away it means you will be turning your back to enemy and won't see what they are doing. There is a radar but it doesn't REALLY fix visibility problems at all -- it simply existing confirms that camera is such a problem they had to address it somehow.

Camera goes from bothersome to outright terrible when you face more than one enemy because they can and will encircle you and could even launch projectiles from behind your back. It might not have been that terrible if game had more distinct sound cues like Bayonetta that inform what enemies are doing even when you can't see them, but God Hand also has a bug which drops sound effects if there are too many, which leads to some attacks being  silent.

Tank controls stunt not only camera and visibility but also movement. You can only move forward/back, to go left/right to you have to rotate and THEN go in that direction. There is a side dodge but: 1) side-dodge is NOT strafe because it's works with lock-on and you are basically circling around the closest enemy instead of just going sideways in a line 2) it's on a right stick, which means you have to move your thumb away from face button and then back.

This is a problem with dealing with attacks that are so wide there is no time to side dodge them until you get hit let alone taking your time to rotate yourself 90° and start moving left. There is a trick that allows you to side-dodge super fast but you have to press face button and push right stick in a very quick succession repeatedly which is impossible unless you're using "claw" fingers setup or move second thumb over to right side.

Because camera refuses to work with multiple enemies active, highlight of the game is bosses that you fight 1 on 1. The game kinda sorta turns into 2d fight with weird perspective, like "dynamic", over the shoulder perspective on 3DS version of Super Street Fighter IV:

(http://thegamebakers.com/bossfights/godhand_azel/godhand_azel_02.gif)

You kinda can overcome too many enemies problem by luring them to you one by one by taunting or throwing boxes at them. But later parts of the game feature areas with up to 8 enemies ALL activated instantly the moment you enter the area and it's a complete cluster.

And many bosses come in varieties of three, or even five! All of them attacking you and with the way camera works half of them will be behind you often readying to fire their projectile attacks while you can't see them.

Aside from clunky movement, the combat is fantastic. It's very different from other action games, mainly because enemies are more "solid" than in other games and various states of enemies and your own are extremely important here (staggering, stun, dizzying, guarding, guard blocking, anger and so on). In Bayonetta, you stagger everyone, mash attacks and when they connect -- enemy can't do anything because they're stunned from now as long you keep pressing buttons. In God Hand it's not a given your attack even flinches an enemy if it connects and most likely it is you who will get hit instead.

The key is to do so called counter-hits -- time your attack so that they connect in enemy's certain frames of attack animations. I am not good to at it, so i can't juggle crowds of fools and kick them all into each other (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30a-hDoKVSw), so my personal dumb strategy is to manage my bars to maximize God Hand usage.

I used moves like Yes Man Kablaam, Granny Smacker and/or Chain Yanker.

Granny Smacker is a move that can put enemies in dizzy state very fast (otherwise takes a LOT of hits OR guard breaking and my reflexes are not fast enough to do it) by bonking him/her on a head in extremely exaggerated fashion.

Once they're dizzied they can't retaliate and pummel QTE will activate near them. You can now safely execute Yes Man Kablaam move which raises your God Hand meter. If you're fast enough (pummel QTE lasts only 4 seconds) you can hit enemy with YMK twice. And just as you're finishing second hit you instantly activate QTE to start wailing on an enemy and get even more God Hand meter.

Chain Yanker move enters this system because it can pull any enemy from any distance and puts them in dizzied mode instantly. Then again, do Yes Man Kablaams and pummel for more meter.

I absolutely can't fathom people getting so good at this game that they can beat it without activating God Hand or roulette move even once (so called "Kick Me" sign challenge (https://www.google.com/search?q=Kick%20Me%20sign%20challenge)).

My puny game clear result above looks pitiful compares to these guys. I tried to to make it no death playthrough, but gave up on the last boss. Just couldn't muster enough motivation because it was exactly that  -- the last boss -- what's the point? I know i can beat him -- because i did, it just took me several continues, so after several days i just ate 1 death and left it at that.

At least credits sequence was well worth it. The game in general is absurd and hilarious:

(http://www.godfist.com/godhandfan/images/fan_art/038.jpg)

You will be facing gorilla wrestlers, mongolian wrestlers, punks, mohawk punks, robot mohawk punks, dominatrices, zebra dominatrices, spiked traffic cone dominatrices, fat clowns, midgets, power ranger midgets, wizard midgets. It is an insane and unapologetic circus of mooks and villains all lining up to savour the taste of your fist.

Out of all bosses Great Sensei was probably the hardest of them all. He has a sword that is like 5 meters long so he can easily reach me from way afar AND his attack come extremely fast AND he can clone himself into 5 clones with the most obnoxious attacks where you are basically stunlocked to death if any of them as much as touch you with the tip.

Azel and Elvis bosses were also very good. Gorilla was just funny.

Some later levels were even harder than bosses. With huge crowds of enemies that you had somehow to deal with despite inadequate camera. The way how later enemies become very stun happy makes it even harder.

Case in point -- midgets! Midgets Five boss fights is probably the most annoying boss fight in history of videogames because of those little midgets screaming in their voices, thrashing about stunning you constantly and shooting lasers from all over the place.

As game progresses you unlock more and more versatile and powerful moves, it's almost like RPG. This was the main reason why insisted on completing the game without dying -- you get a hefty bonus for beat each level without dying -- to buy new moves and several power-ups. There is in-game gambling (casino and chihuahua races) to earn money. You can also do extra challenges for money and i did that because i am still fighting and it's not as boring as gambling.

God Hand also has amazing music:

Overall:
Classic of the genre. Deep combat unlike anything that came before or other. Tank controls are super clunky to deal with. Super funny tho.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 28, 2016, 10:29:49 AM
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS):
This one took me five years if not more. I lost my first cart on chapter 20 something and had to restart on new one three years ago.

It took so much time because gameplay is kinda tedious. I try one approach and lose my hero because i didn't notice one enemy or due to a critical hit -- and i restart the map.

Inventory management between and during battles also doesn't help matters.

Characters are all so one dimensional, i realize this is a remake of a Famicom but they should have spruced it up instead of producing a faithful but boring remake.

Music is kinda generic and battle music gets old pretty fast.

Those rare moments when everything fits into place, RNG behaves and i manage to keep all my characters alive, properly upgraded and properly equipped were what kept me returning throughout all these years.

Final level looked almost impossible at first. Four isolated groups have to survive under waves of incoming enemies. But apparently it can be easily done with just Marth (with Falchion) and two mages with warp and "heal everyone on the map" spells. You can teleport Marth right in side the citadel near final boss where he will wreck house and kill everyone around the boss and two-hit Medeus himself provided mages keep healing him.

I thought that i have to not only to kill the boss but also escape the map as with all regular levels, so at first i tried to clear the map and close all spots from where reinforcements come. I managed to do that but one of my mages (Marth's sister) ended up trapped alone against waves of enemies. At that moment i decided that have nothing to lose and went right for the boss and warped Marth right near Medeus where he proceeded to kill him in two turns and game ended. I didn't manage to save Elice that first time so i had to reload map save checkpoints several times to manage to keep her alive.

"Where they are now" credits sequence is kinda cool, but if anything it just exposes how generic all characters really are. If they die they all receive the same "died in chapter n and vanished from pages of history" message, regardless of who they were. If they stay alive all they get is brief mention where they go afterwards and who they marry (or not).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 02, 2016, 07:51:18 PM
Teslagrad (Wii U) - Posted my thoughts in the "What are you playing?" thread so will only summarize here. The game was a disappointment, because it had good ideas but failed to live up to expectations. It was still ok, and I don't regret playing... but that's hardly a glowing endorsement.


Note: technically didn't finish because the game hard-locked my console twice during the final boss fight. I'm marking it done anyway.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 27, 2016, 02:12:18 AM
Finished Gravity Rush Remastered and went ahead and cleared the DLC missions after that. Story complaints aside (spoiler alert: I found out there is no "bad ending", that's just the regular ending because really shitty cliffhangers while you wait for Gravity Rush 2 are apparently a thing.) It felt great to control Kat and the game gave you a good sense of progression as she slowly because a bad-ass gravity controlling queen. The gameplay mixed things up well for the most part even if the boss battles were a bit stale. The game's finale doesn't seem as dauntingly hard and even I managed to beat it on my first try. Overall there is something very nice here and I am curious as to how things change in Gravity Rush 2.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 28, 2016, 08:40:09 AM

Finished The Swindle (Wii U) properly, after coming very close to giving up.


The game was great, I enjoyed the overall experience tremendously and found myself constantly wanting to try one more level - sneaking through randomly generated levels, stealing loot and hacking computers, and upgrading my character. The upgrade paths were mostly obvious due to pricing, but there were some questions the first time through about what to prioritize because I wasn't sure how different tools actually worked.


The first time through the game I lost... unable to pull off the ultimate swindle before my time expired. During my second attempt it was a quick and comfortable win because of the knowledge and skill I had build up. It felt satisfying to see such improved results with practice.

Unfortunately, there is one problem that needs to be brought up. Near the end there are bugs that can (and likely will) cause your console to hard-lock which were incredibly frustrating. Not sure exactly what causes the problem, but the only way I could beat the final stage was to use a fresh play (ie: make sure it's the first level you attempt after loading your save) and avoid hacking things as much as possible - especially avoiding the Hack Drone command. There were some other bugs I found during my time with the game, but none as upsetting or frustrating as having to power down the console multiple times in one day.

If a patch comes out to fix that issue, then The Swindle gets a high recommendation from me. Until that patch arrives I'm not sure what to say... it depends on your willingness to overlook serious bugs, I guess.
 :-\
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on March 28, 2016, 09:43:04 AM
Finished Gravity Rush Remastered and went ahead and cleared the DLC missions after that. Story complaints aside (spoiler alert: I found out there is no "bad ending", that's just the regular ending because really shitty cliffhangers while you wait for Gravity Rush 2 are apparently a thing.) It felt great to control Kat and the game gave you a good sense of progression as she slowly because a bad-ass gravity controlling queen. The gameplay mixed things up well for the most part even if the boss battles were a bit stale. The game's finale doesn't seem as dauntingly hard and even I managed to beat it on my first try. Overall there is something very nice here and I am curious as to how things change in Gravity Rush 2.


I loved Gravity Rush on Vita.  Did you play the Vita version?  Is this distinct from that version in any way?


The story is pretty weak sauce IMO, but the joy of this game came from the gravity mechanic that made traversing the city a joy, even if I felt the enemies & landscape felt pretty one-note.  I can tolerate a weak story again in Gravity Rush 2 if they at least add some variety in that regard.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 28, 2016, 01:12:43 PM
Did not play the Vita version, but I would think the Dual Shock's gyro works well for those who did play it.


But yeah, the story is mostly inconsequential. The gravity mechanic was so well done, and as you leveled up your powers it made the game much more fun in a way something like Rodea the Sky Soldier wasn't (you were pretty much locked into your flying powers there and that's it). I'm glad the game didn't bombard me with more combat as I got closer to the end. but I feel like it needs to be tweaked for the sequel.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 14, 2016, 12:21:12 PM
Assasin's Creed: Unity (PC):
(http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00008vejhe.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00008vejhe.jpg)

What an awful game.

This game screwed up every single component of the series.

They changed climbing and descending to make it more controllable and less prone to random jerky movement in the wrong directions but if anything it made things worse. Character is not supposed to climb any stuff unless you press A, except Arno STILL climbs some stuff occasionally and moves all over the place. And getting inside windows is a huge hassle which might work or not despite having a dedicated button that only does that nothing else.

(http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00001r5jrd.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00001r5jrd.jpg)

Combat is probably the worst thing in this steaming pile. It is slow (i. e. bad) and clunky. "Light" attack animation takes 3 seconds! It is still more or less same AC combat which was never been good, but at least it wasn't as actively detrimental before.

(http://abload.de/img/20160410130059_1lrd31.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160410130059_1lrd31.jpg)

Because the game has loot and RPG style leveling system it inevitably has godawful balance making earlier missions exercise in frustration and later mission -- boring invincible walk in the park. At the start if enemies as much as breath on you, you will die. Halfway into story ALL enemies start using their guns killing you randomly in one shot unless you have leveled up your health at least three times which is impossible unless you spend 20 hours grinding for sync points and money.

I suspect they made main character is so ridiculously underpowered to motivate people use their microtransations or play online modes something. Thanks, Ubisoft.


(http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00013gsjzi.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00013gsjzi.jpg)

"Stealth" (as much as term is applicable for this series) has also gone to ****. They added dedicated cover mechanic, but it's buggy and would rather move me in any other direction other than the one i want. Also there is no option NOT to kill people.

(http://abload.de/img/20160408001346_1e0k7n.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160408001346_1e0k7n.jpg)

Sync points are used to level up my character, but curiously story mode will only give you like like third of all sync points, majority of them are in co-op missions.

The problem(s) with these co-op missions that they are balanced with four players in mind and are pain if you're playing by yourself. There are clearly way too many enemies for just one player. Co-op missions are also completely detached from the story, so you are schizophrenically going back and forth in timeline creating confusion with characters you have yet to meet in the story dying and vice-versa.

And finally insane hitching. This game is just too damn big for it's own good. Hundreds of characters on screen, superdetailed environments and models. The result -- game stutters all the time and sometimes hangs up for a second or two. I can deal with low framerate (i have 100%'d two AC games on Wii U after all) but this is a new low.

(http://abload.de/img/2015-12-19_00006alk79.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2015-12-19_00006alk79.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00018d0kh8.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_00018d0kh8.jpg)

They kinda tried to do something about it by making distant districts engulfed in N64-type fog of sort but it doesn't work. You can tell that the scale is the problem because when you enter some kind of dungeon of other confined space, game stops hitching. Also DLC campaign Dead Kings has only three districts and that one performs much better. While Paris in main game has like 15 districts, of which 3 i never stepped into even once, each bustling with crowds.

(http://abload.de/img/20160410202330_1j1d0b.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160410202330_1j1d0b.jpg)

Level design actually has quite a lot of alternate routes. You can go in guns blazing through a corridor full of baddies (and die in one random shot from the roof) OR you can get in through a back door. The problem with these alternate routes is that these doors often require lockpick skill level 3 which you can only unlock after basically you have completed the game. And it's not just alternate routes, a big portion of chests are also locked behind this lockpick BS. I can't even indulge my collectathon addiction whenever and wherever i want because of their stupid progression.

(http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_000168akim.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/2016-01-07_000168akim.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20160409153515_1n9kth.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160409153515_1n9kth.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20160410234500_1o7c17.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160410234500_1o7c17.jpg)

Progression balance is sacrificed for tacked on online mode and microtransactions. Full sync requirements are pretty bad too, co-op missions have their unique collectathon items that only appear when you're playing which is a terrible design descision. Especially when these sync points are hidden behind locks and if you don't have level 3 lockpicks -- you will likely have to replay this entire mission from the beginning if you want 100% sync (which i gave up on almost immediately when starting this game).

(http://abload.de/img/20160412022646_158eeb.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160412022646_158eeb.jpg)

I kinda liked some of the story beats especially with Elise being a Templar and technically your enemy:
(http://abload.de/img/20160409213337_12renp.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160409213337_12renp.jpg)

Assasin's Creed in my opinion is great when it has weird sci-fi together with historical stuff. But apparently there are morons people who dislike "modern" futuristic sci-fi part of the story and Ubisoft it feels like catered to them starting with this game by placing future part of the story closer to past rather than modern times.

(http://abload.de/img/20160410160910_1xlcfq.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20160410160910_1xlcfq.jpg)

If only they polished it properly it could have been at least an okay if inoffensive entry in the series.

Johnny's Payday Panic (3DS):
I've spent 18 hours on this game.
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jF_5uoA4GzLND) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKFPj9ltNQ)

Sure gameplay gets repetitive by the end, but i didn't mind it because i was mostly playing it on a bus to and from work. As you keep playing mini-games change adding newer gimmicks making your job easier and faster to do until you could make a burger in seconds instead of 10 seconds as before.

Level-up mechanic is kinda weird because it's partly real-time (?). I turned my 3DS off and when i opened the game next day i discovered that i leveled down on one of my jobs. Starting from there i basically never turned this game off, just keeping it paused in Home menu when i closed the system.

I dunno i enjoyed it. It feels rather cheaply made but EBA inspired style carried it somewhat:
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jF_6uYoTKIWLk) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAAtVHhqU-IW0g)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 14, 2016, 10:23:51 PM
@azeke RE: Unity

I'm with you on this game being a total steaming pile even in comparison to ACIII. I think the issue with the climbing getting worse despite theoretically having more control is that there are simply too many details on the architecture and the game is running headfirst into the perils of ever greater realism applied to a silly core gameplay conceit. This both slows things down in an already clunky series and makes it that much harder for the pathing AI to accurately figure out what minute movements you're trying to make while free-climbing.

That's kind of a bigger picture issue that's hard to think of a solution to, whereas the awful combat is baffling. To counter complaints about it being to easy/slaughtery, they just made the enemies annoying pieces of **** to fight without actually revamping the simplistic combat. And smoke grenade spamming still works as well as it ever did. The only upshot to this game is that it broke me of collectoritis once and for all.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on April 17, 2016, 12:38:38 PM
DuckTales: Remastered

Despite being a huge Disney Ducks fan, I never played the original Ducktales on the NES. When you're a kid in a small town, your options are limited. Hearing the voice actors again was a treat.

Finally playing it and it feels great. Interestingly, the pogo stick mechanic in Ducktales feels so much better than in Shovel Knight. Great sense of exploration too. Some of the enemies and appearances don't make sense, but that's how it was in the NES days.

The only irritating part was the final sequence You can spend almost all of the previous game using the pogo stick to get around everywhere, but now, you are forced to not use it, if you want to make the timed jumps without dying

Score: 6.5 out of 10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 02, 2016, 01:05:40 PM
Mirror's Edge (2008, Steam):
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275094074047961996/54998FEDDF27E77F95E23B751C3616EEFFCE16FC/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=677194132)

This game is one of the best western developed 3d platformer i played and definitely the most original. Developer definitely put in quite an effort to realize their vision of fully first person platforming. This perspective makes ME different from basically all other 3d platformers from Mario 64 to say Prince of Persia.

Big problem with this this is that player loses spatial awareness -- it's much harder to see where exactly the character is at any moment. It is harder to time jumps because you can't see edges of platforms because they go under you as you're running.

This problem might have been solved by adding some kind of helper UI like top-down mini-map. Even if they didn't want to compromise their art-style they could still add cues like controller rumble when nearing the edge or adding audio cues or visual aids like special hand or feet animations. But nope. Faith exhales from time to time but these audio effects seem to be random. Missed opportunity because they basically completely ignored a way to give player more information and ultimately -- more control.

Lining up jumps is also harder in first-person but at least aiming reticle and a special button to reorient your viewing angle to the closest red target helps with it somewhat.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275094074047963528/94F1157AF6FA0B420EDDDCDA252DAAEE8873F8A7/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=677194309)

Aside from signature visual look, levels are designed to be very natural and organic: there are lots of random stuff scattered around and building and platforms are placed with all kinds of angles -- there are almost no 90 angles. This makes the task of lining jumps so much harder. With some of hardest jumps in time trials it turns into a lottery -- you hit the right angle maybe one time out of five.

City's realistic look creates yet another unaddressed problem -- stumbling into all kinds of random level geometry from poles to garbage cardboards to electric boards on walls. If you as much as touch a pixel of of these obstacles with shoulder you stop dead in tracks (Sonic problem). In time trials i often strafe around them losing momentum in the process but it's still better than losing all my speed entirely:

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275094074047373798/9DC5725616A723AF64573F0B3F5F4A3B2349C88A/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=677116046)

All these problems kinda made me think about octagonal gates on Nintendo controllers and how levels and controls were designed in 3D Land/World. Nintendo made jumps so much easier with both level design and movement "favouring" 90 turns (despite what some ignorant people say movement in 3d Land is NOT strictly 8-way but it kinda pivots into these directions).

Because of all these issues time trials (that are the ultimate test of gaming's controls) in Mirror's Edge amount to rote repetition of inputs (because you can't really see what are you doing and where you are in relation to objects) and a lots of luck and patience because some of the maneuvers are gonna be 1/10 chance.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275094074047964652/D4ED8E3798ED2F5E777F42BF0113E57E5210DCAB/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=677194478)

Still despite all this randomness and wonkyness there are a lot of neat things you can do with these controls:


Which makes randomness of platforming only more disappointing because there are clearly quite some space to apply player's skill it's just goes to complete waste because of these niggling little problems.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275094074043673018/36B8910BFDF5DE8982393D4A591AEA17FC02D363/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=676437103)

Of course all these problems are only exposed if you want to push the game (and your patience) to the limit in time trials. Just beating the story will be mostly okay because you won't be running against time in those. Story however has other problem -- combat and guns. While in most levels you can run away from cops, some later levels have heavy machine gun dudes that will always kill you if you just try to run past them forcing you to actually take guns into your hands and kill them which is criminally terrible both in how it feels and how antitethic it is to everything else in this game. Combat feels especially awful when you are running around everywhere under fire trying to find the exit and dying repeatedly.

However actual platforming level-design is not bad at all, aside from weird angles. You often have 2-3 ways to approach each challenge often with the easiest way highlighted in red. Figuring out alternate, much faster roads is part of the challenge.

Overall:
Great art-style, good title song, platforming is wonky but very cool when it actually happens. Time trials are frustrating. Combat and shooting are godawful.

I spent 24 hours on it, most of it in time trials.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: chesron4 on May 03, 2016, 06:49:08 AM
My headache would kick in within half an hour if I play this game, lol.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 09, 2016, 10:27:41 PM
Metroid 2: (Gameboy on 3DS VC):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jLqssA_VDN2Lm) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKFQWTmJEw)

Took me over a year playing (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41624.msg865864#msg865864) on and off, mostly off until i started a conscious effort to complete all my unfinished games (as evidenced by my recent posts here). Playing it on a handheld is good for this because i get at least two hours of play guaranteed every day (commute from/to work).

I screwed myself by trying to sequence break. The way the game is designed is that you're not supposed to advance into next zone until you cleared all Metroid in each zone, then you earthquake happens and you get an access to new area that was previously blocked off by lava. However, sometime last year i got too impatient and brute forced my way into next zone by passing through lava barrier and tanking the damage. It was all fine and dandy until i unlocked most of the map and suddenly had to find that one metroid that got away on entire map.

After several days of scouring all over it myself, i gave up and printed out a complete map and marked all metroid spots i clearly remembered and checked spots i was iffy about in game until i finally found it.

However i kinda like their decision to divide map into zones. This makes exploring without an in-game map easier because you only have to remember the layout of just one zone at a time and as long as you do them in order (unlike me) you should be good. I also wished i discovered the counter that says how many metroids i have to kill to advance (shows up during pause) sooner. When i passed through lava barrier i thought that maybe i was supposed to do it that way and if i knew about the counter it could see that i'm wrong and i missed 1 metroid somewhere.

After i got through that trouble, it was just straight path until the end.

Final sequence was pretty cool, with entire environment changed to look like abandoned lab with tubes and wire all over the place. Overall Metroid 2 is more diverse than first game though there are still some copy-pasted layouts. More variety in tiles helps with memorizing the map and helps to figure out where you are with just a glimpse instead of wondering which one of the dozen cookie-cutter locations this is.

Combat with metroids and bosses is more or less the same as in 1. With floaty jump and somewhat slow attacks it all amounts to endurance test and rockets spamming, it's kinda lacking in grace. Basically for all of them just stock up on energy and rockets and go at it.

Overall, cool game. Better than 1. Great power-ups, especially spider-ball. But i am looking forward to finally having an in-game map in the third game.

PS. while looking for screenshots and i found this cool article about the game:
http://ettugamer.com/2015/01/28/a-maze-of-murderscapes-metroid-ii/
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on May 09, 2016, 11:37:58 PM
In the same boat as you, zeke. Trying to clear out a backlog with little new content coming out in 2016.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: elvshaunt2 on May 10, 2016, 06:46:46 AM
Not much to worry, since summer is coming.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on May 10, 2016, 11:24:24 AM
Beat Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (on Wii U)
(http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ammo-Baron-Shantae-and-the-Pirates-Curse.jpg)


Kicked a few bucks to charity in the Humble Bundle, mostly to get Affordable Space Adventures. Tried this one too though and found a very competently executed 2D platformer with some Metroidvania tendencies.
 
Shantae controls very precise, music is super catchy and the visual presentation is coherently cartoony throughout. The powerups aren't very unique but they make you considerably more mobile. The story was decent enough, gameplay is varied and the dialogue is generally light-hearted and kinda funny.


Things I didn't like: all the women have stupidly skimpy costumes and the game actively contrives dumb reasons to dress them up in more ridiculous outfits. They make jokes about it, but it still feels at odds to give all these women a lot of agency and simultaneously dress them in bikinis and corsets the whole time. Just kind of a "can't have your cake and eat it too" situation, imo.


Also the final dungeon can go straight to hell with its insane spikey death traps everywhere. It felt rewarding to beat, but the difficulty absolutely skyrockets there. Lastly, concerning the ending: turns out to get the full boss battle you need to collect every bit of dark magic. But I saved in the final dungeon and I'm definitely not gonna backtrack, find all these secrets and go through it again. Watched it on YouTube though and yes it does look like a much cooler ending, but yeah no way.


Final verdict: 8/10 a very polished, fun platformer, with a few things I disliked, but overall would recommend! Kinda feel guilty only paying them a few bucks, since for most of the 12 hours it took me I was having a blast.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on May 11, 2016, 12:09:36 AM
Fallout 4
Not as great as excepted, but still a really great game, and of course the modding community is already amazing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on May 12, 2016, 07:51:21 PM
Dark Souls 3

So, before I start talking, lemme post my final build for my first playthrough.

(http://65.media.tumblr.com/a8daf937a673a384930ef9e1c31bc210/tumblr_o6xfp5biFZ1r4u2b2o1_1280.png)

(http://65.media.tumblr.com/b63ac61be1d534f84710fcbcc04ea11d/tumblr_o6xfp5biFZ1r4u2b2o2_1280.png)

This is probably middle of the road as far as Souls/Borne is concerned. the game actually feels like... really content-lite at this point? there's less bosses and even zones than even DS1 or Bloodborne. it's really kinda strange... The other weird thing is that in Bloodborne, it seemed like the folks over at From REALLY nailed boss design, but there's some really, REALLY awful bosses in this game... and it stands out, especially given this game's smaller boss count! there are really good ones though too. (champion Gundyr and Nameless King stand out immediatley in my mind.)

System wise, there's stuff I love and stuff I could live without. I like the balance between estus and ashen estus, and pretty much everything brought on by focus points and weapon arts. it feels like more than ever, it's doable to be a mage in a Souls game, and that Attunement is now worth leveling on a pure physical build depending on what weapon you're using and if the weapon art is a big part of what makes or breaks said weapon. I'm not so hot on the poise controversy, fast roll being so easy to attain, and the lack of stability in shields. even if you're using a greatshield with a really high stability ,it feels like blocking an attack eats up like... at least twice the stamina of a roll, and guard breaks are so devestating! combine this with how insanely long some of the attack chains on the regular mobs are in PVE, and like... it feels like the game isn't designed with blocking in mind, and that shields are meant to be a parrying tool and a suppliment for the dodge roll. Seriously, though, I'd fear for what would happen if they put Dark Woodgrain into a DLC or something.

lore wise, I'm glad they crutched more on the stronger Dark Souls 1 lore and gave some closure to certain characters, but at the same time, there's really not NPCs that stand on their own as their own thing. Seigward of Catarina takes the voice actor and appearance of Seigmeyer of Catarina but serves a role similar to Biorr of the twin fangs in what serves as a double Demon Souls reference later on. Anri of Astora is neat and following his/her questline through is important for one of the endings, but they ultimatley feel like a companion that should have been at your side the whole game and only factor into one little part of it. the one new NPC that really stands out to me in my mind that doesn't borrow that much from an existing character or archetype is Greirat of the Undead settlement.

in spite of all my bitching here though, I'm still playing a ton of this game, and I still love it, but I loved Bloodborne, and I loved Dark Souls, and I even loved Demon's souls!

That being said, I'm really looking forward to something like... I dunno, From Revisiting Armored Core or RUNE or one of their other odd IPs.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on May 13, 2016, 08:14:15 PM
Bayonetta 1 + 2

So yeah, these games are awesome.  At first I only planned on playing til I beat the games on their normal settings but before you knew it I was addicted and I just spent the last 3 months straight playing both games.  I ended up playing each for around 80 hours, beating their hardest setting, even went for Platinum's on the normal difficulties as well which I dreaded at first but eventually ended up loving. 

I didn't really have the patience going for all Pure Platinums though, since beating levels without taking any damage is a little too much for me.  I was crazy enough to beat Rodin in both games which almost drove me insane since he's a cheap motherfucker that required days in each game just to train my brain enough to be able to handle him.  Still though, I did feel like a major badass when I finally beat him. Just a crazy experience the whole way.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jK1bmUOohPbNy)

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jK1eJ01jmiiGS)

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jFSeI489ocNm5)

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jCAs5AWfYcsBf)



When it comes down to deciding which I liked more it's kind of hard to decide.   I liked the larger variety of weapons B2 provided, with most of them giving different styles of play allowing for more unique combat then B1.  On the other hand, B1 on Infinite Climax was a hard challenge that was still fair while Infinite Climax in B2 was pretty cheap, with some of the enemies and bosses having attacks almost impossible to predict and dodge in time, requiring you to basically cheat with Bracelet of Time against them which is insanely broken in this game.

So I'd say I enjoyed Bayonetta 2 more for normal play when I just want to **** around and kill everything as fast as possible because of it's smoother controls and better weapon variety, while I find Bayonetta 1 better for when I'm looking for a better skill based challenge on the hardest setting.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 14, 2016, 01:35:02 AM
Reading your impressions is bittersweet to me because while i am glad you enjoyed yout time with Bayonetta, i am also reminded that i lost my own Pure Platinum saves due to HDD malfunction.

I didn't really have the patience going for all Pure Platinums though, since beating levels without taking any damage is a little too much for me.
There is a trick that makes Pure Platinum challenge easier -- when you take damage you can exit to title screen and from there press "continue" and game will restart the encounter from the last checkpoint.

I was crazy enough to beat Rodin in both games which almost drove me insane since he's a cheap motherfucker that required days in each game just to train my brain enough to be able to handle him.  Still though, I did feel like a major badass when I finally beat him. Just a crazy experience the whole way.
Most people just Pillow Talk power-up which turns all your regular hits into overpowered wicked weaves. I know i did.

Also i recommend you to persevere through some grinding some and unlock nun-chucks in the first game, if you didn't already:
Easily one of the most unique and fun weapons in either games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on May 15, 2016, 02:54:46 AM
There is a trick that makes Pure Platinum challenge easier -- when you take damage you can exit to title screen and from there press "continue" and game will restart the encounter from the last checkpoint.
That certainly would make things easier.  Maybe I'll try it someday then, but right now I really need to work on the rest of my massive backlog.

Most people just Pillow Talk power-up which turns all your regular hits into overpowered wicked weaves. I know i did.

Yeah I eventually ended up just using a combination of Pillow Talk and Lt Col Kilgore, with Climax Brace equipped to finally beat him in the first game.  I tried to fight him without the Climax Brace but after a while I gave up on that since attacks just don't cause enough damage and when he gets low on health his attacks become way too fast for me to even react to anymore.  Of course even using those, it still required several more hours of practice since one mistake is all it takes to get my ass stuck in one of his combo's and suddenly most of my health is gone.  So many times I was just a few more hits away from killing him and then BAM, I'm cheap shot right before the final blow, only to have to spend another hour before I was that close again.  Still, I consider it a big win when I eventually won, even if it was the easier way to beat him since it was still insanely hard to me.

It's the same reason the only way I could beat him in the second game was by using Rosa with the Bracelet of Time since Bayo and Jeanne just don't cause enough damage to survive a longer fight, especially during the second half when his attacks can kill both of them at full health in a few hits anyway, making the only advantage they have over Rosa pointless.


Also i recommend you to persevere through some grinding some and unlock nun-chucks in the first game, if you didn't already:
Easily one of the most unique and fun weapons in either games.

I got the nun-chucks but didn't really use them too much.  Of course after watching that video I didn't realize how useful they could be so when I replay the game in the future I'll see if I can make good use of them.  I'd say my favorite weapon in both games was the ones you get for beating Rodin.  Being able to use all those different Angel/Demon weapons with it was just too good.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on May 15, 2016, 10:50:18 AM
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright

Almost 40 hours. Completed the game, a half-dozen paralogues, 2 invasions, and almost every challenge that was presented in addition to the free DLC mission.

I like the game, but it's far from perfect. While it does feel like the social aspects of the game are being put at the forefront here, there's still a bit of strategizing to look forward to. More often than not though you'll just be looking to avoid the cheap death. I honestly felt the RNG was not on my side. Way to many times I would roll up to a battle I was confident in only to have my opponent connect when only had a 15% chance of doing so. That would almost certainly snowball into me losing a character, and frustration. The difficulty curve had an odd way of ramping up sometimes. The levels themselves weren't all that memorable aside from the one inside the dragon and the one with the spitting rocks and even then I'm grasping at straws. Even the final battle was a bit of a let down, part of the difficulty coming from not being able to save between the last two chapters. That caused me to go unprepared into the endgame and I got sloppy.

I loved the social elements though, loved the challenge from the paralogues (even though the logic behind them was paper thin) and I loved having my female avatar marry Rhajat (on the subject of her, I felt nothing for her overall.I get why she exists but ultimately she doesn't make up for what kinda made Tharja cool. Her parents also made no sense. One thing that did suck was the slight disparity between genders in this game. Losing Kaze in chapter 15 didn't help. I felt bad that I couldn't get a main character like Sakura to marry. The male options on this game were very limited if you didn't opt for a male avatar.

Overall I like it, but I feel like this game will be overshadowed by Conquest and Revelations. It's not a bad game per-se, but I feel like you'd be hosed if this was the only game of the 3 you played.

Well, on to Conquest now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on May 15, 2016, 04:52:41 PM
Ooh! I'm excited to get back into Fates now! Thanks for the writeup, Soren!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on May 17, 2016, 07:03:53 PM
Beat Star Fox Guard (on Wii U).


(http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Star-Fox-Guard2.jpg)


This came out alongside Star Fox Zero, but honestly I've been playing this a lot more so far. Mostly because Star Fox Zero feels much more like a co-op game, though.

If you're at all into tower defense stuff, this really feels like the ultimate version of that. By monitoring 12 security cameras at once you gotta check for drones and robots that are trying to sneak into your base.
Select a camera that has a good aim at them, and take them out with the camera-mounted gun. There's a few special cameras, like ones that shoot charged shots, ice beams, or hover above to give you a good vantage point. Would've liked more of those though, flamethrowers, or maybe spike traps to slow bots down or something
This is exactly the type of thing Wii U excels at, with 2 screens for optimal control. This should've been a launch game!

Presentation is alright, a little light on music (the last planet has some cool tunes though!) and some sound effects get pretty repetitive. But the Star Fox layer of paint on top feels convincing. The robots are charming and kinda cute, there's voice acting, cutscenes, boss fights and everything. 100 Levels too, plus theoretically endless ones created online by others.

Plot is dumb in typical Star Fox fashion, but I'm glad I've finished this before Star Fox Zero because it feels like it sets the stage for Zero pretty well by fleshing out the world a little bit.
Haven't tried many of its functions yet, like the level editor, online mode or the Amiibo functionality, but I'm already pretty pleased with this purchase.

Minor gripe: from the 5 planets only 3 end in bossfights, would've preferred if all 5 did. Also the last boss is a lot easier than the second one, which just doesn't feel right.


There's no local multiplayer, but it's surprisingly fun to play this whilst others help check the cameras for incoming robots. Very quickly devolves into frantic yelling: "little dudes on cam 4!", "wait no a big yellow one on 12!", "the shield bot is almost at the core!"  etc.


Verdict: the most interesting evolution of the tower defense genre I can think of. A polished package overall that took me 7.5 hours to finish, and there's still quite a dozen extra missions and several modes to go back to. 8/10

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 17, 2016, 08:12:04 PM
Edit: wrong thread.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on May 20, 2016, 02:51:07 PM
Ghosts n’ Goblins - 3DS
 
I originally fell in love with this game in the arcade. The music and sound effects are probably its most enduring hook, but I am also a huge fan of the demonic motif's pulpy art style.

The dark theme, art design, great musical score, interesting enemy design, and diverse progression of stage settings, gives the game narrative depth, and the scrolling pre-turn menu animation adds a sense of expanse.  The gameplay itself is punishing, capricious, and attritional, which strangely adds to the scope. Progress feels earned and takes time, which makes the world feel bigger. Trojan, another Capcom title I love, and a contemporary, is probably similar in length if measured by size of setting. But since it can be beat it in 15 minutes on one life, its world seems smaller.

As a kid, I completed stage 2 in the arcade, and stage 5 on the NES, but I never owned a copy (edit- except for the caveat below)  until now. I won't say I beat it because I used in-stage saves to complete it. I prefer playing it in 10 minute intervals. It would probably take me hours of continuous play to clear stages 3 and 6.

One of my all-time favorite games; I'll play it perpetually as long as I have the 3DS.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 20, 2016, 03:23:51 PM
^ i have arcade version of GnG on Wii and judging from all i seen from NES version (Gamecenter CX episode and a speedrun on AGDQ) it's a lot more trolly version.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on May 20, 2016, 03:57:25 PM
Were you saying the Wii or NES version was the troll-ier? I definitely think the arcade is easiest just based on the fact that I was able to clear level 2 as a kid on a couple quarters. I played the Wii version at a friends house and it was really difficult, but that was a long time ago and we were partying pretty hard while we were playing so I'm not sure how it compares with the 3DS. I had actually picked up a Capcom collection for a PS2 I got second hand a few years ago just to play GnG, but the music was recreated so poorly I never bothered playing since that is one of the game's chief attractions for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 20, 2016, 04:02:25 PM
Wii Virtual Console has both original Arcade version and NES port.

NES port is definitely more trolly with random wizards (?) added that turn you into duck or something -- they weren't in original game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on May 20, 2016, 04:19:30 PM
Interesting. There is an item that turns you into a frog in the NES version. I had memories of the same thing in the arcade, but after looking it up online, I see that you had to do a specific set of actions to get an angel appear who could turn you into a frog. It's coming back to me now. There was also a way in the arcade version to continue to use your weapons as a frog, but in the NES version you can't as far as I know. I just jump over the items.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on May 21, 2016, 07:25:12 AM
Fire Emblem - Awakening

I completed this game a month or so ago on Normal Casual, resetting when a character died unless it was really unlucky. I was trying to avoid power gaming, so I didn't read anything on character builds, or even much on mechanics. After it was over, I did a bit of research and began to replay it.  I had planned on writing about that play through since I still have to play a significant portion of the game (I didn't realize the paralouges needed to be unlocked by marriages). But I feel burned out after getting most of them opened and Galeforce queued. I kind of want to take a long break and switch to the 2016 games, but I have about six chapters of unseen paralouge content left, and all the DLC unpurchased.

I really enjoyed this game. It's beautiful, while still rough around the edges in places, and ridiculous, while still being compelling. I think the music is fabulous, the map design visually clever, and I love the 2D art and anime clips.
 
The gameplay is fun and interesting, and as a newcomer, I appreciate that the systems have apparently been simplified. I actually ended up not paying attention to most of it and just relied on the hit percentages and obvious strengths/weaknesses to plan tactics, which was somewhat liberating. The story and characters are obviously cliche at times, but I still found it engrossing, and enjoyed my time with the characters. The main story is compelling enough, and the anime clips enhance it immensely. The collatoral dialouge is frequently amusing. The avatar 2D art is outstanding.

I did feel a tension between getting the most out of relationships and enjoying the battles. The battles are more fun if they are harder, but it's tedious to build relationships if you have to keep resetting, and opening up dialogue trees often conflicted with preferred battle orders. It sounds like the Birthright/Conquest split will address this for me.

I had originally bought the 3DS as a retro machine, but this game has really piqued my interest in contemporary titles.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on May 22, 2016, 07:50:11 PM
I do think the relationship's are very well written. (in Europe anyway #nomemes)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on May 23, 2016, 04:46:14 PM
 I finished my Castlevania play through this weekend and was going to write it up, but as the credits were rolling, I realized that I had beaten it already.  It was another classic title I played a lot but didn’t own and I didn’t have a memory of getting past the Grim Reaper.  Outside of when you are using the stairs, it’s a fabulous game.  Still very hard, but not as torturous as GnG.  The visual design of the stages and the music are the highlights for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 27, 2016, 11:05:10 PM
After Platinuming Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, I finally got around to finishing Quantum Break on my Xbox One and...suffice it to say that the only emotion I experienced the entire game was the relief I felt when I was finally able to uninstall it and free up that 122 GB of storage it was hogging. Not since Rise of the Tomb Raider have I see so much money thrown at a project that made me feel absolutely nothing, just pure indifference from beginning to end. Bleh.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on May 28, 2016, 01:47:05 AM
When did you Buy Quantum Break? The writing was on the wall well before release. If you brought it post release you're your own perpetrator and victim.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 28, 2016, 01:09:22 PM
When did you Buy Quantum Break? The writing was on the wall well before release. If you brought it post release you're your own perpetrator and victim.

I bought it at release, played a few episodes, and then put it up for a few months. I only just now got around to finishing it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on May 28, 2016, 07:13:11 PM
After Platinuming Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, I finally got around to finishing Quantum Break on my Xbox One and...suffice it to say that the only emotion I experienced the entire game was the relief I felt when I was finally able to uninstall it and free up that 122 GB of storage it was hogging. Not since Rise of the Tomb Raider have I see so much money thrown at a project that made me feel absolutely nothing, just pure indifference from beginning to end. Bleh.
I sure hope you made a mistype there, because that is an absolutely disgusting amount of data.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on May 28, 2016, 09:22:24 PM
Nope that's real if you install the videos also as the streaming is unreliable. It takes up so much space they don't know compression has been invented. It's absurd, there is about 2 hours of footage, but it eats up more space than a Bluray at 77GB iirc.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 28, 2016, 10:50:30 PM
Nope that's real if you install the videos also as the streaming is unreliable. It takes up so much space they don't know compression has been invented. It's absurd, there is about 2 hours of footage, but it eats up more space than a Bluray at 77GB iirc.

Yep, and I think I know why the videos are so huge: you can collect 2 items every chapter that get reflected in extremely minor and disappointing ways in the TV episode that follows, but I never once saw the videos pause to branch. I suspect that there are 8 versions of all 4 episodes (For each Junction Point: 1 with no items, 2 with 1 item but not the other, and 1 with both items) relatively uncompressed in that 75 GB download.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on May 29, 2016, 02:41:26 AM
I am pretty sure that the problem of video pausing when switching branches was solved years ago if you know, ever played Star Wars: Rebel Assault or any of it's kin. You really, really don't need four version of the same thing. It's straight up laziness and incompetence.

Reminds me of how much space Titianfall took up since it didn't compress the audio so that took up more space than the game or graphics. They then blamed the "Lack" of CPU power to decompress audio so they left it uncompressed to make it easier on the system. This when it was released on the PC which has an order of magnitude more power than the Xbox One.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 29, 2016, 10:10:24 AM
And I just remembered that you have to make a major choice before each TV episode that makes a big impact on that episode, so make that 8 different fully-rendered versions of each episode.

And I'm pretty sure video pausing during branching is still a thing to some extent. The BluRays for Beauty & the Beast & Lion King still do it for their additional musical numbers.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on May 29, 2016, 10:22:01 AM
Considering it was solved back when CPUs ran at double digit MHz, it's a **** Blu-ray player. The concept isn't even hard, you see elements on Youtube everyday, you buffer a couple seconds before the switch then using that time to read the next track buffering that. No pause.

The only thing that would get in the way is some hardcore DRM, but even then, you wouldn't have to decode until that point, you can still read ahead or hide the switch with a fade out since you are filming custom content with this in mind. In-game cutscenes do it to hide loading and camera movement.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on May 29, 2016, 04:37:50 PM
...Oh my god.

That is truly disgusting.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 05, 2016, 08:03:32 AM
Ninja Gaiden II (NES VC on 3DS and on PC with retroachievements (http://retroachievements.org/userInfo.php?ID=azeke&)):
(https://abload.de/img/ninjagaideniiswordofc2fyay.jpg)

As usual with NES games, i usually beat them on 3DS first (usually on commute), then redo it for realsies on retroachievements emulator.

Achievements feel very organic almost like they were they there from the beginning. Set of achievements wants you to complete a level with full magic bar intact, which means you have to find hidden magic symbol in the level and then defeat the boss while still not using magic. And it feels so natural for the game because the game was clearly designed to be beatable without using magic.

Well, almost. NGII new gimmick -- trailing phantom ninjas seem almost mandatory for flying bosses because you can't hit them without hurting yourself but your phantoms can. Phantoms don't use magic so they don't count.

Achievement for the first level also requires full health, which makes it one of the harder ones to get, ironically. But it's first level and it takes like a minute so it's okay.

Otherwise NGII's gameplay doesn't stray away too far from original -- don't stop for nothing, run past enemies, memorize spots where enemies respawn and methodically dispatch them 1 by 1, abuse screen border movement to despawn enemies and if push comes to shove -- use damage boost and invincibility frames.

Level design is very gimmick heavy -- every other level has something to it. It's either ice or running water or wind or darkness with lightning showing the way.

Many of the "annoying enemies" still can be dispatched by simply stopping, ducking and slashing. And now you don't even have to duck to kill birds. The annoyance comes from meticulous placement of scores enemies designed to send you into abyss unless you memorize how move through the barrage of enemies right.

Final stretch is easier than in 1, where you had to redo entire chapter from the start if you lost to one of the final boss' phases. Now you "just" have to redo the last level and don't have to redo boss phases from the start.


Her Story (Steam):
Games are toys, products of (industrial) design and the most important element of games are their mechanics: How was this constructed? Why exactly this or that part done in this particular way? What payoff developer expected based from these deliberate design decisions?

Because each interview is progressively opening up more and more pieces of truth (like rising the intensity in an action game in later levels) developer wants to kinda gate late content and this game it is achieved by sorting found clips by date and showing you only five clips on each request. Thus the most generic requests will just net you the earliest interviews and later stuff gets cut out.

Ending mechanic where player himself can decide when to end the game is quite interesting and there even a new game + of sorts where you can keep playing on to unlock the complete database.

Design wise -- very smart.

Plot twist itself is rather trite and kinda dead horsey (it's basically Prestige movie without Tesla magic (btw book was quite good too)), but it's execution with acting and writing is ingenious, especially considering inherent non-linearity of the format developer chose. Footage has a lot of details and actress' acting is nuanced enough to give out hints through repeated speech patterns or deliberate discrepancies.

There is no tomfoolery where certain clips are artificially hidden from you to keep intrigue up for longer: for example there is a request that is rather obvious in retrospect (just type game title) that will basically show you the gist of what and how happened. It's almost open-world in how free-form it is.

Overall: pretty cool. Sam Barlow continues to write the only interestingly told stories in videogames, while all others are content aping either movies or literature.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on June 05, 2016, 09:28:17 AM
Re-beat 999 (DS) this weekend in anticipation of Zero Time Dilemma (refreshing myself on where the plot's going). As a standalone game, it's great, but as the first part of a trilogy it leaves a very thin hook to Virtue's Last Reward (luckily, Uchikoshi took that and ran with it).

There's definitely some points that I wished I could hit a giant OBJECTION! button, but the characters do eventually reach the same conclusion. And this is a game beatable in a couple of days, which I'm probably going to appreciate as I play the sequel.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on June 05, 2016, 08:29:08 PM
Gone Home Not as good as Dear Esther, the writing and focus was lacking. I really, really like the concept of walking around a "real world" house and exploring but by the end of my 4 hour play through, the seams were showing. At lot of nice details were put in, but I didn't feel compelled to care about the characters.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on June 23, 2016, 06:47:19 PM
Adventures of Pip [Wii U] - Middle-of-the-road platform game has an interesting concept but it's not enough to hold it together. Changing between sprites is fun, but gets tedious fast. The game is relatively short which is a plus. Very few times do levels wear out their welcome and there's enough of a challenge to keep platformer veterans engaged. A few challenges are pretty entertaining. Boss battles are mostly messy slogs where you try and figure out the full pattern before you die and then execute it to perfection on your second/third try. Presentation is very weak, slightly amateurish (seriously, no credits at the end) and lacks polish. If you've played every other platformer on Wii U and this game is on sale, give it a shot. Otherwise, plays the nearly dozen better indie platformers on Wii U first.

Star Fox Guard [Wii U] - This game is better than Star Fox Zero. There, I said it. Yeah it's an eShop game and yes it's very low budget and it shows in the presentation but I felt engaged during the main story missions. The bosses offered a nice twist on the gameplay and even as I was playing solo I felt enough of a challenge going from the GamePad to the TV screen. Finished all the main story missions in under 4 hours so it's perfect for short bursts. Highly recommended. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on June 25, 2016, 11:09:22 AM
Kid Icarus: 3D Classics

I finished my play through last night and got the middle ending. I had played the original only once, and very briefly, so this was really my first experience with the game. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The platforming aspects have a nice difficulty balance. I died frequently, but no level was frustrating to get through. I finished Ghosts n Goblins and Castlevania recently, and the lack of save states in Kid Icarus reaffirmed how much longer those two games would taken to finish if you had to start the stage over after every death. I didn't mind it with Icarus, because it would probably be too easy a game with in-stage saves. It did limit my ability to play around other people though (which is one of the main attractions of the 3DS for me) because I really needed to get into a grove at times. Being able to save in-stage alleviates a lot of the need for that. It took me 6:40 at an average of 16 minutes a session, compared with 5:33/11 and 4:51/12 for GnG and Castlevania respectively.

The combat was pretty easy, particularly the bosses, but the action-rpg elements add a little depth, as do the scaled endings. I didn't even realize that was a goal until after I finished the game and looked it up online. I will eventually play through it again to get the better endings, but I have some other action platformers to play first, and I also own Kid Icarus 2 and Uprising, and want to give those a whirl.

I'm happy I tried out the first couple levels of Uprising before finishing this game. It made the change in game style on the final level seem a great set up for the sequel.

Other than Pit's jumping mechanics, my favorite part of the game by far is the new 3D background art. It takes the game's original classical Greek theme and infuses it with a renaissance art style (for example, Hades seems more Dante than Ovid), which obviously itself was heavily influenced by antiquity. It really gives the game a unique look. I would love to see more NES classics get the same treatment.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on June 25, 2016, 11:49:00 AM
Ico (PS2):

You can definitely feel the influence of this game through later games. It left the mark big enough to inspire (better) games like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and parts of modern Zelda even.

Castle setting reminds me of Gormenghast and maybe starting chapters of Song of Ice and Fire where Bran is climbing the roofs. And original Devil May Cry. I wonder if (stupid) decision to put jump button on triangle for western release was because Sony wanted to make it consistent with Ico which was released that year too. Very few games have a jump button on triangle.

The ending is very weird in a way that i actually like. It must have been some end of the year for PS2 owners playing Ico and MGS2 back to back.

The game overall is kinda boring even if it's not that long. The (deliberate) emptiness of the world and repetition of puzzles caused by a girl getting lost and dying set in quite fast by the end.


Still, pretty cool game for the time i guess. Though that resolution is inexcusable even for 2001 -- i played PS1 games in higher resolution.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on June 26, 2016, 05:59:43 PM
Just beat Advance Wars for GBA.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/GBA_Advance_Wars.png)


So obvs I'm hella late to this title (only a decade and a half or so...) but was interested because I remember it getting rave reviews back in the day. Plus as someone who likes turn based games and stuff like Age of Empires, this was a no-brainer.


Impression though? Eh, a little mixed. It looks nice, music is okay, and there's a lot of units and ways to give them terrain advantages. That said, it moves pretty slowly and I hate myself for never checking to see if you can turn off battle animations. The campaign is pretty lighthearted which I suppose is part of the appeal.


The last mission though, yeesh it was just an outright battle of attrition. Slowly whittling away at the enemy's troops while they keep respawning new ones. Took me 30 in-game days which translates to several hours. On a handheld pick-up-and-play strategy game!
Maybe I'm just crap at strategizing but I found that neither full-out offenses, nor playing very defensively really worked very well. You block yourself in annoying ways when there's too many units closeby.

Rating: 6.5/10. It's a decent timewaster, but I'm not sure I believe the hype. Sami should be in Smash Bros. though, her design is cool.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on June 26, 2016, 10:34:52 PM
Sub Level Zero (Steam)

It's your 6DOF shooter in the traditions of Descent. It even looks a little like the old game too and has some intentionally lower rez textures to complete the look. It's a Rogue-lite so you are dealing with perma-death. But not all is lost! As you pick up Nanites aka cash which is used to craft weapons it also acts as exp which unlocks more powerful upgrades that you can then craft and perks to choose in future games.

Unlocking additional ships is done by meeting goals like killing xxx enemies with a damage type. The more specialised ships are far more powerful than the default ship as by design it is a jack of all trades so it doesn't excel.

There are quite a few weapons I can see so far and each one is pretty unique. Machine guns, lasers, bombs, you name it, its probably in there somewhere.

Enemies are easy to identify which greatly accelerate the important part of the game which is killing them. Most enemies are pretty straight forward but some are just dicks to deal with as they have homing attacks, massive shotgun blasts, rapid fire, sniping or just plain explosive. Later levels have waves of them requiring some very heavy weapons.

The controls are fantastic working wonders with a flight stick and the combat is visceral. Its got loot, but you are not drowning in it like Borderlands where 100% of the loot might as well be useless, quick decisions can be made so you can move on.

Two nags is that it doesn't have an on screen map and that currently you can't look up crafting recipes which means you have to remember them. But it is continues to be worked on post release so things like these might get some looking at.

Highly recommended if you play this type of game.

There is another 6DOF shooter I played for a half hour called NeonXSZ. In comparison it plays like a mess as it overflows with statistics, dumps you into an open world without any proper guidance and the procedurally generated world is all over the place sticking you with enemies you can't scratch not to mention nondescript. Pages of instructions. Poor combat, slippery movement and a UI that needs to be more readable at a glance. It has a massive focus on grinding. I wanted to like this but the core gameplay element of movement is just done so poorly it is just unforgivable causing me to bounce right off. The Steam reviews are a bit suspect as they tend to give an undue amount of praise for something they only played for 2 hours or simply contradict themselves.

Re: Advanced Wars. Ref future games

You open up aggressively at the start of any map and expand as far as you can. Then prep for first contact making sure you are holding a choke point and/or are ready to trade space to absorb the the initial impact with the forces on hand. Once you stabilise, smash your way out of the front. When you breakout into open country and have cleaned up behind you the AI doesn't have much of a useful response as it trickles in lower quality replacement units in a disorganized fashion which gets worse as you advance so you can take them apart at your leisure. This applies to any map which you can build units.

Exploit the fact the AI doesn't know about combined arms which mean it doesn't organize it's troops into armies, doesn't have a long term plan and don't have units support each other even when they are together. All it does is maximise immediate damage which means it will disorganize itself to achieve that.

Also watch for transport helicopters trying to snipe your HQ.

Pre-placed unit maps are really puzzles, so not much to say there.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 09, 2016, 07:46:40 AM
The Legend of Zelda (NES VC on 3DS):
(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69jXBXIAzuP3fd1) (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADV0aDDFYzVw)
I finally completed it.

Similarities between the first Legend of Zelda and The Binding of Isaac are obvious -- UI is almost identical:

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/279596875699231616/2B2C9EBB34DCAEC2B48A5ED0E2139D9BEC0CE1B7/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=668926813)

BoI also takes some of the ideas of LoZ and builds new systems on top of it. LoZ has some special properties on hearts number: like sword beam is only active if you health is full. BoI goes one step further and doors that can only open if you have full health OR just one heart or a curse that boosts damage if you have half a heart (i.e. one hit away from dying) and so on.

It was kinda cool to play original game and retroactively recognize things that Binding of Isaac took, like one of the first bosses you encounter in Binding is actually one of the sub-bosses in the last dungeon of Zelda, and i knew of that just a week ago, because i obviously beat it only now. Spiders' (annoying) movement patterns are copied wholesale from LoZ. Some of the enemies can only be hurt from the back or the sides just like Zelda knights.

But this E3 i saw that this creative borrowing of ideas can go both ways because new Zelda game introduced yellow hearts which are the same as blue spirit hearts of The Binding of Isaac.

Okay so the game itself.

I've been trying to beat the game for years now. When i played on my original 3DS a few years back i managed to get to 8th dungeon -- and all by myself, without looking up anything which was and still is my big problem with all Zelda games (unintuitive puzzles gating my progression). I'd rather be left alone and look and wander and bomb random things rather than be stumped by a puzzle the logic of which i don't understand and get mad when i look up the solution. But then i lost 3DS and with it -- the game.

Obsessively playing Binding of Isaac for the last months and last E3 sale pushed me to buy it again and complete it.

I also had to look up where the last dungeon and this time i wasn't even angry when i saw the solution because i completely misunderstood "spectacle" in "spectacle rock" hint as a theater play and there was absolutely no way i would have gotten it by myself because i would have gone looking for things that look like theater stages instead of glasses. Still, 8 dungeons i found by myself -- that's the best ratio of any Zelda game i played so far.

Mages in the last dungeons were very annoying especially on that one room on the screenshot above where you have no space to move and dodge. I gotta admit i was spamming save-states on these rooms just to get through it.

The game unlocked second quest and i played it for some time and beaten two dungeons by inertia. 2nd dungeon placed in secret shop location was pretty cool -- i was surprised when i entered it wanting to buy a shield on cheap and discovered that they moved around all dungeons. But i don't think i will be coming back to it.

Still, cool game that inspired even better games. I kinda wished Zelda after that didn't shift the focus from action to puzzles that much, but it seems like new Zelda games is coming back to roots and is doing exactly that so i am excited.

Binding Of Isaac: Wrath of The Lamb: Eternal Edition: Not Rebirth, nor Afterbirth (Steam):

(https://abload.de/img/wheredoistart9mk5t.jpg)
With 490+ hours, it is my second played game after TF2.

Though a good 100 of those hours is just me leaving this game to run idly on my work PC. I arrive to work at around 8:30 so i use that half an hour to start a run and if it's worth keeping i keep game's window open in the background while i do my work until lunch break. Few times i kept especially promising runs on the pause like that for the night to resume them on the next morning. And one time i kept the run on pause from friday to monday.

Still, what made me play this seemingly simple game for 400 hours, collecting all 99 achievements?

The Binding of Isaac morphed from rather simple gamejam Zelda tribute into mechanical monster, bottomless well of depth with numerous versions/editions, 10+ endings, hundreds of unlockable items and secrets, tens of trinkets, a set of tarots cards, dozen playable characters each with their own strategies and item synergies and numerous ways to abuse the engine.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/275095970469610856/A7D619E6D162BA9B5EA76EDF7C347D8ADC5E2511/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=686646297)

On the surface it's all rather simplistic and it WAS that way back in 2008 (http://abload.de/img/a2owpy37_lkjifkg-p7dpjkj0w.jpg) when i bought this game initially. I started it and 45 minutes in, beat Mom. "Okay that was fun, i guess". 7 years later i randomly started playing it again, and oh man have they added some STUFF since.

(https://abload.de/img/clipboard01pxk32.jpg)

When i came back i started to see how the game really works, first i realized that keys are the most important resource because they give you access to treasure room on each floor which are guaranteed to have an upgrade of sorts. Then i discovered wikis on the game and Platinum God (http://platinumgod.co.uk/original) site and oh man. It was like a abyss opening and day by day by day i was figuring out how to break the game further while it kept throwing new and new challenges at me.

After you beat Mom ten times you unlock new level with new boss, then beat it dozen times and you have two new chapters that require additional conditions to even enter, then yet another chapter beyond that and then finally the finale, the true real no-kidding-this-time ending. You need to beat penultimate chapter five times to unlock the item that allows to enter the final chapter.

And with each "final" boss game changes dramatically -- you unlock more beneficial power-ups, entire systems become available to you, metagame evolves into the sprawling mess of systems and synergies. After a certain number of "Mom kills" game reaches milestone where it activates new set harder enemies and bosses. And alternate characters! Metagame is vastly different for most of them which provides a satisfying variety:


"Harming yourself to become stronger" and sacrifice in general is a major theme of the game -- how far are you willing to go to reach the final boss? How much are you willing to sacrifice -- your health, your time? You arrive at final boss as some insane looking overpowered abomination -- but at what cost?

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/276226315520642209/2395926BA026A328D26A2DDE824D77DAF4B737A2/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=720219256)

And finally -- Isaac himself who is at the beginning has all stats on average but sometime into the game he changes and gains potentially the most overpowered item in the game -- The Dice.

The Dice exposes yet another deep and abusable mechanic of BoI -- item pools (http://bindingofisaac.wikia.com/wiki/Item_Pools). The Dice allows you to "reroll" items that you RNG gives you in treasure, secret, angel and devil rooms. So if you don't like what game has given you on a pedestal here? Use the dice to change it into something else that you haven't seen before. For the first level you have a chance to reroll item in treasure room twice giving you a chance to choose and pick between three potential items.

D20 item that you can get later gives you even more control over item pool because now you don't have to have item on a pedestal to reroll -- you can reroll randoms pickups that are just lying on the floor. Game gives you even more ways how to break the game with D20 than with D6 with synergies.

Eternal Edition:
Eternal edition is an official update to the game that adds hard mode. Apparently it is controversial because most players think it is way too hard. I think they're weird because as a reward for having to deal with very hard tanky regular enemies and bosses Eternal edition also gives you "eternal" white hearts like candies, which allows you to get more permanent health containers. This changes the balance between characters significantly. Characters who have low health as a handicap are not crippled by it so much because you can get more health if you're good at the game (and then trade all that health in to devil for deals anyway).

Reibrth:
This game is original Flash-based release, in the years than i haven't played it, creators have released revamped game on new engine with even more content and systems and even ported it to consoles (Wii U included).

I didn't wanted to buy it, because i didn't wanted to redo everything from the start, after spending so much time with original game. Still looking at some of the videos here and there it seems like Rebirth+Afterbirth is an even bigger monster. I WILL buy and play and complete that game too -- but some time later, now i need to rest from Isaac for a while.

TLDR:
Now imagine me playing this game till 4am and hearing THIS for the first time X-(
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on July 10, 2016, 09:19:24 PM
I finally beat Paper Mario after putting it down for the past three months after moving. It still holds up after 15 years. I'm eager to start The Thousand Year Door, but I'm going to hold off for a bit. I'll probably finish Twilight Princess HD before tackling more of my backlog.

I admittedly abused the "create restore point" feature. It really helped when slogging through Dry Dry Desert and repeatedly fighting Amazee Dayzees to grind for experience which is pretty much the only way to do so since the game greatly discourages it through the leveling up system (e.g. regular enemies stop giving you experience once you hit a certain level).

The item system is, unfortunately, total bullshit. When I played the game on N64, I remember not having many of my best items by the end of the game because Mario can only carry 10 at a time and there's no store close to the end to claim items. I still remembered that after all these years so I was better prepared this time. Of course, I also was fully leveled up this time and had better badges which let me skip most of the enemy encounters in the final chapter so I was able to preserve many of my good items for Bowser. Sorry, [soplier]Bowser is the final boss[/soplier].

Overall, Paper Mario is just a very charming game that probably didn't get the praise or attention it deserved as an end of generation release. It's so good that it makes me detest Sticker Star even more and leaves me feeling a little empty about Color Splash.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 11, 2016, 09:09:45 AM
Re: Advanced Wars. Ref future games

You open up aggressively at the start of any map and expand as far as you can. Then prep for first contact making sure you are holding a choke point and/or are ready to trade space to absorb the the initial impact with the forces on hand. Once you stabilise, smash your way out of the front. When you breakout into open country and have cleaned up behind you the AI doesn't have much of a useful response as it trickles in lower quality replacement units in a disorganized fashion which gets worse as you advance so you can take them apart at your leisure. This applies to any map which you can build units.

Exploit the fact the AI doesn't know about combined arms which mean it doesn't organize it's troops into armies, doesn't have a long term plan and don't have units support each other even when they are together. All it does is maximise immediate damage which means it will disorganize itself to achieve that.

Also watch for transport helicopters trying to snipe your HQ.

Pre-placed unit maps are really puzzles, so not much to say there.


Thanks, will keep this in mind if I ever end up going back to it or another entry of the series!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on July 17, 2016, 09:13:59 PM
BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) - 8.5/10

It's more BoxBoy with fewer tutorial stages. It's crazy how this series with just two games has now become comfort food gaming. It feels fun to drop in and clear a world and the close the 3DS lid and go about your day. The puzzles are fun and the final two worlds have very tough but rewarding puzzles. I approve of more BoxBoy.

Pocket Card Jockey (3DS) - 9/10

I haven't finished the game per se but I feel I can give an accurate assessment. Spoiler alert: it's really good! The solitaire games are fun by themselves but mixed with the strategic element of the horse race you can have either a total blast, a frustratingly unfair time, or both. Even with that it's fun to, again, fire up the 3DS and do a round on Growth Mode, another on Mature mode and then go about your day. It's a perfect handheld experience and everyone should play it. Go ahead.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on July 20, 2016, 05:20:36 PM
 Pokemon X - Story Mode
 
 I finally finished my first play through of a pokemon game last weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it. [Aside from the core monster-collecting theme] the gym aesthetics, music, and multi-level environments were my favorite aspects of the game. I also found a significant portion of the dialogue surprisingly amusing.
 
 My final team was greninja, venasaur, gardevoir, talonflame, ageislash, and xerneas. I also used sylveon a lot before switching to xerneas for story purposes, and used vivillon a ton too. I probably raised another dozen or so pokemon 10-20 levels. Overall, I enjoyed using gardevoir the most, although she was somewhat sidelined towards the end.
 
 I thought the load times were fantastic and I wish all my 3DS games would open this quickly. However, I was frustrated with how slow the game is in other areas. I don't know if this is necessary to make the game accessible for the young audience (maybe slowing the flow of information makes it easier to comprehend) but the number and cadence of text boxes really slows down the combat. The menus also seem entirely too cumbersome, particularly for a touch screen device.

As result, I didn’t really get into the game until I started playing with the assistance of a type chart and an alphabetical listing of pokemon and their types. It was just too tedious to experiment with ineffective attacks, and I don't have time to commit to memorizing the monster types. I think I read that Sun & Moon is going to provide that information in-game, which will be a huge improvement for me.

I’m planning on buying Alpha Sapphire and Moon. I’ll probably go with torchic and litten as starters. The former because I didn’t get to use many fire or fighting attacks in X, the latter because I like the character design. I’m not sure if I’ll get AS in before Moon releases.
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on July 20, 2016, 10:42:46 PM
Unless you really want a Pokemon fix between now and November, you might just wanna skip ORAS altogether. I loved Pokemon X too and was a bit let down when I played through Omega Ruby. It's a good game and I don't regret playing through it, but it's the first Pokemon game I've played that I would say is just "good" (rather than great or downright amazing like some of them have been). Many of the aspects you mentioned like the story, environments, and dialogue all felt like a step down and the Gen III Pokemon designs aren't the best imo (though given how wildly opinions can vary from one generation of Pokemon to the next, I'm sure some people would find that debatable). The one pleasant surprise is the DexNav feature which displays all the Pokemon available in any given area on the bottom screen and shows you which ones you've caught and how many you have left to catch, so I guess it might still be worth it if you're really enthralled with that part of the Pokemon games. They did a good job improving that aspect of it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on July 21, 2016, 08:18:45 AM
I think I have the itch because I was already contemplainting buying AS last night, lol. I can't see me waiting till Novemember, but I'll have the right expectations now so I'm not disappointed. Thanks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 22, 2016, 09:54:51 PM
Persona 3 Portable:  Just finished this game off.  Mixed feelings in some ways. The combat system relies so heavily on hiding and hitting weaknesses, and the random level designs can feel tedious... but switching back and forth between dungeon crawling and relationship building prevents it from ever getting too tiresome.


Finally maxed the relationship with Mitsuru a couple of weeks before the end of the game, which was my personal goal. The spent the rest of the time before game end doting on her even though it didn't provide any bonuses - couldn't have maxed any other relationships anyway, and was too pleased with myself to worry about other stuff.


Final boss wasn't too bad because I had dumped all my stat boosting cards into two massively powerful personas before heading in. The battle took much longer than it should have though - I didn't know how to break the "reflect physical attacks" spell that had been cast, so was limited to much less powerful magic for a few phases of the battle.  Spoiler: All I had to do was hit it once or twice to shatter the barrier, and I could've gone back to doing massive damage... Oops.


I figure that should be a good primer for Tokyo Mirage Sessions... but will probably pick up something else in between to cleanse the palate between RPGs.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on July 27, 2016, 08:05:51 PM
Adventure of Zelda: Link to the Past - 3DS VC

I finished my play through last Monday. I beat the first two Zeldas when they were originally released, but I haven’t had any exposure to the rest of the games in the series until now. I can see why LTTP has such a strong reputation and I imagine it must have been really mind blowing when it first came out. The scope and intricacy of the world is impressive even by today’s standards.  I’m definitely in the camp that thinks “story” in a game is important, but I’m also of the mind that story-telling in this medium is most successfully advanced through visual or audial means. The brilliant sprite work and rich environments are evocative and excellent examples of how visuals can help add narrative depth to a world. I have always felt that LOZ is hampered by the cutesiness of the enemy aesthetic. LTTP addresses that deficiency very well.
 
I know by its reputation that the Zelda series is a dungeon crawler extraordinaire, but that really isn’t the focus of the first two games. For me, LOZ shines when you are exploring the over world, with the dungeons being largely hack-and-slash slogs. The dungeons are somewhat more distinct in AOL, but AOL is even more combat focused than LOZ. LTTP is firmly centered on dungeon excavation, and for me at least, presented more navigational challenges than combat ones. I don’t know if there is a term for horizontal platformers (I think "platform" implies vertical movement), but the underlying mechanic of trying to successfully navigate an object through a dangerous environment is a core feature of LTTP. That largely isn’t present in the first two games from what I can remember.

I’ll be starting Link’s Awakening soon. I’m tempted to replay AOL first to get a refresher (I re-beat the first quest of LOZ at the end of 2015) so I can be more conscious of the evolution of the series as I’m playing through it. But with five untouched Zelda games still left for me on the 3DS, I’d rather dive right into the new experiences. I've never been a big fan of puzzle type games, and was concerned that the "new" Zelda wasn't really for me, but LTTP has me excited to play more of the series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on July 29, 2016, 04:31:53 PM
Super Ghouls n' Ghosts - 3DS VC

I am a big fan of the Ghosts n Goblins series, but I have to admit I’m smuggling in a lot of the arcade experience when I play the NES port. However, Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts is a beautiful game with a vibrant art design that really does justice to the arcade installments in the series. The environments are fabulous and include fun dynamic elements. The music and sound are great, even though I wish they would have retained more of the tininess of the original main theme and sound effects. The sprite work in general is much improved (although I’m not sure I like the transformation of Arthur from a don quixote-type to a HGH fueled superhero).

The volume and placement of enemies was the biggest challenge in GnG, but I found that more manageable in SGnG. The greater variety of weapon-types is probably a huge factor, but it also seems that the enemies are a bit nerfed. The red arremers in particular were much less lethal this time through (even without the crossbow). However, I think the pure platforming is harder in SGnG, and there is more of it.

The game lives up to its reputation for difficulty, but, I think SGnG is far less frustrating than GnG.  When I finished SGnG last night, I was sure I had done it more quickly than it took me to play through GnG. But when I checked the game log, I actually spent 30 minutes more on SGnG. I think that helps illustrate that the difficulty is less frustrating than in GnG, but I’m sure the freshness of the game to me was probably a contributing factor as well.  All-in-all, I think the difficulty actually works as story element. This is meant to invoke a crawl through hell with all the proverbial torture and torment. Dying so much plays into that trope.

My only real complaint is that slowdown is a pretty significant problem, especially in the latter stages of the game. It had an unfortunate side effect of both increasing the difficulty of the boss battles, while lessening their aesthetic impact.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on July 31, 2016, 06:29:32 AM
7th Dragon III: Code VFD

I feel like Sega/Atlus did a good job sending this game to our own James Jones, because this game gets STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPID.


Okay, okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. lets get some positives out of the way. Yuzo Koshiro is still the friggin' man when it comes to composition and I feel coming out of crappy 3DS speakers or anything hooked up to the headphone jack doesn't give the audio design of this game justice. Also, if you love japanese voice acting, this game has a hell of a lot of that. The art design here is pleasant enough and I like a lot of the character design as well as designs for the dragons, and that there's... really only a couple of weird space alien things and a giraffe that they tried to pass off as a Dragon, which is good. The classes are also all wonderful and feel unique. a lot of them have multi-turn setup to get to what makes them great (this doesn't apply so much to the last two that are unlocked) and fiddling around with party composition is probably a good way to milk replay value out of this game, into addition to the battle system being snappy. the way it handles its encounters on a timer for the most part is pretty great too, and Dragons are fun to battle for the first half of the game before you get classes that can eliminate them in an efficient manner. Not to say I necessarily stopped having fun with the battle system at any point, given that's this game's most compelling content.

Now that I've cleared the air with a big ol' block of text about what i enjoy here, I have to really get into the things that chap my ass about this game. things that probably got to me a lot more than they probably should have.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but not a good one either... this game is essentially a game that seems like it was moved over from PSP development to 3DS. considering there were two of these games in Japan on the device and there is DLC that lets you use character models from that game, this may very well be the case. I actually like the SD look of everything in the original 7th dragon on DS. we're a little closer to having actual people here, but the character models are chibi people in comparison to how their artwork represents them. it actually is a bit of Pokemon X and Y syndrome in that regard, especially given the lack of 3D... at least the game's performance doesn't plummet to N64 levels in battles when there's a lot of enemies.

What is particularly on the not-good end of things is everything to do with the home base, Nodens. I think that having this place as the only real place for NPC interaction and the standard JRPG fare of cool-off period cheapens things. it not only makes the game world feel small in scope not having SOME sort of other towns or non-threatening areas to explore or check out. no, the two screens of Atlantis or Kazaak don't count. also, the latter is especially a shame given that it's a call-back to a fully realized JRPG town in the original 7th Dragon. Hell, if it wasn't for some of the dungeon design in this game, it would feel EERILY like the missing link between a proper Turn based RPG and say... FF13. More on that later.

The whole idea of upgrading Nodens is also superficial feeling, as the things that aren't items or skills research are pretty much a room that populates with NPCs and opens up a quest line. the quests themselves are thankfully spelled out for you and never tend to be horribly out of the way unless they pertain to a particular dungeon... then again, by the time you get to the bulk of the dungeoneering quests, you should hopefully have all dragons cleared out and be able to just spam opti-camo to get no encounters and have yourself a nice little walking sim to your next cutscene. other than that, some of the rooms seem to have little point to upgrading them. I feel like maybe the devs would have been better served thinning out the amount of dragon zenny and made it so you couldn't get a complete nodens until the post-game to make the choices more important.

Pro tip on that note; upgrade the sky lounge to level 3 ASAP and then become a complete whore with all the main NPCs, as they give you some pretty sweet rewards for spending some quality time with them while it cuts to black

This game's Narrative is where it falls apart. It starts off at Anime is Happening and ends somewhere between Sonic 06 retconning itself and complete and total ambivalence.  I might get a bit in-depth here for the sake of illustrating this. I will be just making a giant spoiler text block below.

Aside from this game's premise being Reign of Fire meets The Last Starfighter (7th Dragon 2020 for the PSP could very well be inspired by Reign of Fire directly), it's got so many tell-tale signs of just being anime. a bunch of the characters they introduce are fairly one dimensional. The potty-mouthed mascot, the sickly girl that just wants to help in spite of being a sick kid, the pervy but calm and collected boss, Koji Igarashi, the genetically engineered super solider that feels obsolete in your presence... harmless enough. this game treads familiar ground with time travel and the ancient kingdom of proud folks and the future that got blasted into the past. a lot of this seems to be narrative groundwork the previous games laid down and we're getting a best-of compilation while gaining a group of friends. although you have the cussy rabbit, this actually is got a sort of shoujou anime tone to it and it's lighthearted enough and it wasn't getting in the way. the game even made token attempts to really get me attached to some of these characters and revealed some dirty deets on some of the characters from the modern era to try and give some intrigue.

The things that should have given me warning signs that this game was going to jump off the deep end were when you learn that apparently dragonhood is how all life in the universe evolves and the incurable disease caused by the flowers was to weed out folks who don't have the potential for achieving dragonhood. Actually, alarm bells were ringing in my head that this was gonna be stupid and I pieced the plot twist together part of the way. the other thing that should have set alarm bells off is that they gave me this day off. this is a thing that usually only happens in a video game if **** is going to hit the fan. especially if you spend that day off making the nasty with another character. Mass Effect did it, so...

Yeah, in chapter 6, the game proceeds to kill off 99.5% of it's NPCs in an attempt to make you feel something. every main character that isn't Nagomimi dies, most of them from poisonus choking blood vomiting horribleness. the rest because your party personally has to kill them since they've become villans. by the end of it all, you're left with is some sort of vaguely defined Dragon god that your 9 person party was supposed to transform into but didn't, a bunny with a potty mouth, and a guy in a mask who's just been mysteriously following you only to spout nihilism at you in the end. Unit 13 (Jyu San Ba!) has essentially failed in their task to save humanity and killing VFD is a thing that you're really doing more out of spite than any hope that you can deus Ex Machina Humanity and Lucier-kind back from the abyss of death. of course you get the mickey mouse happy ending of pretty much retconning dragons out of existance and (mostly) fixing how you buttfucked time and space. I almost wish this game went full-on grimderp and Unit 13 embraced Dragonhood, or maybe your party leader at the time does and it makes you fight the final boss minus them and there were 8 different final bosses based on who your party leader's class or such, but that'd actually have been creative.

Seriously, **** the last two chapters, they ruin the whole game via a tonal shift so sharp it makes The Lone Ranger's butchering of native americans after the comic escape scene on a hand cart seem not terrible by comparison.



Also, speaking of wasted potential... the game makes you form 3 parties, and does a very token effort to sometimes split them up, but it's not like there's interesting interplay or interaction there. we get nothing like the phoenix cave or Kefka's tower from FF6. other than doing the big 9 person turn against bosses, the 3 team thing just feels like a wasted idea to get you to spend more of your near limitless money on the shop.


Also, this game's post-game content is terrible and difficulty spikes from room to room, making level grinding a nessessity almost constantly between each room of the extra dungeon.


Finally, I do want to say I applaud Sega's decision to make all the DLC free to early adopters. I feel like that's what the pre-order bonus on games should be now; treat the early adopters with respect and make folks who come in later have to pay for the extra content.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 04, 2016, 05:12:49 AM
Attack of Friday Monsters (3DS):
It was okay, i guess?..

It relies on nostalgia for specific time and place but obviously i wasn't there, so it just all flies by me.

I also got confused by the story: who are aliens, is main character alien or not, is his father alien or not, are aliens evil or not.

I completed the game but episodes 3, 4, 5 are marked as incomplete and it bothered me so i wanted to complete it in post-game but apparently i can't do it and all i can do now is just keep playing card game for a chance to get gleams to gather remaining four cards.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Triforce Hermit on August 04, 2016, 08:42:25 AM
MGSV TPP: Regardless of all the controversy, the **** story, the cut content, the controversy crap I don't care about, etc, this game is still the second best Metal Gear Solid game, with MGS3 remaining #1. I as happy with it, I am at 95% completion and just grinding animals, combat deployments, and trying to steal a nuke (nuke tab is broken so it is harder then it needs to be). The game stopped being fun at the last 5%. But the other 95% was great.

Azeke mentioned the Quiet Exit mission being bullshit. I can't tell him he is completely wrong, but the game is a great stealth sandbox if you take your time to explore your options. One of those options is mist parasites and night vision. It made completing the tasks easier (still a fucking bitch to do). S-rank was easy with it. I died once at the checkpoint, but it was pretty simple. Kill the soldiers who work as spotters for the tanks in the mist. Spam rockets. Done.

Ending was fine, except the huge fucking cliffhanger with "episode 51".

MGS3 3D: This port is a mixed bag. It still looks fine albeit the ending cutscenes looked worse then any other point of the game. You can crouch walk and use third person aiming which is unique. Circle Pad Pro/ N3DS is mandatory for competent controls. Sadly, the game suffers from frame drops and aiming with the N3DS nub, in the Fury and Fear boss fights especially, hurts your thumb. Still, it costs $20 on E-shop and that is a good deal imo.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 05, 2016, 06:54:09 PM
Beat Octodad: Dadliest Catch (on Wii U) today.


(http://www.bliptalk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/OctodadDadliestCatch-Gameface.png)


This funny, short game (3 hours maybe?) is kinda old by now, 2010 I think, but had never played it. Basically you're the dad of a family and do chores like housekeeping, groceries, irresponsibly serving your kids hamburgers for breakfast, and going on a trip to the local aquarium. The (dadliest) catch? You're actually an octopus, posing as a human dad.


Controls are a real mess, but that's where the humour comes in. Octodad is impossible to control, even more so when you co-op and assign each player a single limb to flail around. Towards the end though they start demanding some more precise, faster movements from you. Most of the game you can just blunder through by sheer perseverance, but it's a minor annoyance when they want you to do complexer stuff that the game clearly isn't built for.


Performance on Wii U isn't great, not gonna lie. Loadtimes feel longer than necessary, and there are pretty noticeable framerate drops whenever it saves a checkpoint. Many lines of dialogue are subtitled but don't get spoken at all if you're too far away or interfere with their triggers in any way. The Gamepad clones the screen though, so you can effectively switch the channel for off-screen play which is nice.


Overall there's a lot to like here. Very casual-friendly for co-op, funny writing & scenarios, it's nice and short, rarely gets difficult and there's two more bonus levels outside the main story. None of its flaws managed to spoil any of the (many) laugh-out-loud moments we had with this, so it's all good.  7/10, recommended!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 09, 2016, 02:50:38 AM
No Man's Sky

Alright. It's finally here. Played for about two hours. First and foremost to answer the question of what exactly this game is.

This is a survival game first and an exploration game second. Expect to micromanage your inventory from the very beginning. Inventory slots are painfully limited. I managed to get a decent starter planet. No real hazards to worry about. I've already read of some harrowing experiences on people's first planets. Some minerals are in healthy supply. But other, specially the Plutonium needed to activate the Launch Thrusters every time you take off are much harder to get. Also, carbon for your life supply, zinc for something else, etc.

The first time you take off and you see other planets in your starter system is a really jaw dropping moment. That moment when you set off for a new planet really made the hair on my arms stand.

HUD elements are sometimes a bit too ambiguous. It might take you a while to figure out how to craft different items. I appreciate not even bothering with the training wheels but a little help is never bad. I keep getting "You have unredeemed items, to claim them please use the options menu" messages but I can't for the life of me figure out what items the game wants to give me. Also I've explored several planets but missed the way to scan flora or fauna. I've just been mining resources from it but not reaping the rewards of scanning them I guess. There's a lot of things the game doesn't tell you which could prove useful.

I like the game but I'm worried the gameplay loop is going to be extremely shallow. The planets have a bit of samey quality to them. I hope that the further I travel I really start to see more differences instead of different colored rocks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on August 09, 2016, 05:46:21 PM
No Man's Sky

Alright. It's finally here. Played for about two hours. First and foremost to answer the question of what exactly this game is.

This is a survival game first and an exploration game second. Expect to micromanage your inventory from the very beginning. Inventory slots are painfully limited. I managed to get a decent starter planet. No real hazards to worry about. I've already read of some harrowing experiences on people's first planets. Some minerals are in healthy supply. But other, specially the Plutonium needed to activate the Launch Thrusters every time you take off are much harder to get. Also, carbon for your life supply, zinc for something else, etc.

The first time you take off and you see other planets in your starter system is a really jaw dropping moment. That moment when you set off for a new planet really made the hair on my arms stand.

HUD elements are sometimes a bit too ambiguous. It might take you a while to figure out how to craft different items. I appreciate not even bothering with the training wheels but a little help is never bad. I keep getting "You have unredeemed items, to claim them please use the options menu" messages but I can't for the life of me figure out what items the game wants to give me. Also I've explored several planets but missed the way to scan flora or fauna. I've just been mining resources from it but not reaping the rewards of scanning them I guess. There's a lot of things the game doesn't tell you which could prove useful.

I like the game but I'm worried the gameplay loop is going to be extremely shallow. The planets have a bit of samey quality to them. I hope that the further I travel I really start to see more differences instead of different colored rocks.

as someone who's played a lot of Starbound, No Man's Sky really doesn't surprise me all that much... or at least, people's thoughts on it don't.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on August 10, 2016, 03:29:22 PM
Yoshi's Woolly World

First off, I can’t get over how much I like the music in this game. They hit a lot of the notes that I expect from a game like this, but they do it exceptionally well. I’m positive that I’ll go back and listen to the soundtrack again at some point. Aesthetically, the game starts out great and gets even better in the later worlds. The tropical, jungle, and forest themed levels are particularly awesome and probably my favourite levels in the game.

On the gameplay side, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the challenge ramped up in the later worlds as I tried to obtain all of the collectibles. A lot of the increased challenge came from the collectibles being more well hidden, which I expected, but there were more instances of difficult platforming and puzzle solving than I anticipated as well. It’s still not super challenging and that might disappoint some people, but there’s something to be said for a game that can be consistently challenging (to some degree) without feeling frustrating at the same time. That was clearly the intent with Woolly World and I think the game pulled off that balance well in the later worlds.

There was one minor drawback to this. It might seem a little unfair to hold this against Woolly World because it’s a problem games of this ilk often have in general, but I didn’t like the fact that I could sometimes miss collectibles on my first playthrough of a level because I was presented with multiple options and chose the wrong order to play them in, with no way of going back. In some instances I found I was missing an obvious clue, but other times there was no discernible way to tell which order I should play the level in. I did run into this problem less in Woolly World than I have in some other games, however, and in the end it was more of a minor, occasional annoyance than a real issue.

Another surprise for me was how much the gameplay varied in the later worlds. The basic gameplay concepts behind swimming up balls of cotton, swinging from knitted scarves that move throughout a level, or creating your own platforms by throwing things are far from new, but these concepts were still implemented really well around the arts and crafts theme and did enough to keep the gameplay feeling fresh throughout the game.

The bosses were laughably easy. There’s a certain degree of challenge in trying to satisfy the full health requirement to 100% a level, but even then it’s a straightforward fight once you’ve seen their simple attack patterns for the first time. It’s clear that this is an intentional design decision though and I didn’t mind all that much since the fights (and the bosses themselves) were still amusing.

Yarn Poochy. Yarn Poochy is adorable.

As a bit of an aside, this game has given me a greater appreciation for Good-Feel as a developer. I played Kirby’s Epic Yarn and while the aesthetic, music, and general premise are all fantastic, the gameplay felt somewhat lacking. Yoshi’s Woolly World has all of the aforementioned positives (if not to quite the same degree as Kirby’s Epic Yarn), but it also has compelling gameplay. There’s nothing amazingly innovative in this game in a gameplay sense, but it still felt like a good game from start to finish. When you pair good level design with Good-Feel’s ability to build a game around these unique aesthetics and themes, and to be able to do it with such creativity and attention to detail, you've got the potential for something special. When we hear about Good-Feel’s next big Nintendo project, it’s going to mean more to me now than it did before I played this game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on August 10, 2016, 04:37:08 PM
As a bit of an aside, this game has given me a greater appreciation for Good-Feel as a developer. I played Kirby’s Epic Yarn and while the aesthetic, music, and general premise are all fantastic, the gameplay felt somewhat lacking. Yoshi’s Woolly World has all of the aforementioned positives (if not to quite the same degree as Kirby’s Epic Yarn), but it also has compelling gameplay. There’s nothing amazingly innovative in this game in a gameplay sense, but it still felt like a good game from start to finish. When you pair good level design with Good-Feel’s ability to build a game around these unique aesthetics and themes, and to be able to do it with such creativity and attention to detail, you've got the potential for something special. When we hear about Good-Feel’s next big Nintendo project, it’s going to mean more to me now than it did before I played this game.

Have you played Wario Land: Shake It?  If not then I heavily recommend playing it since that was Good Feel's game before Epic Yarn and shares more in common gameplay wise with Woolly World then Epic Yarn did.  That's one of the reasons I was disappointed with Epic Yarn because Shake It already showed Good Feel was capable of more compelling gameplay which Woolly World was a nice return to.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on August 10, 2016, 09:49:41 PM
I haven't, but it's definitely on the list now after playing Woolly World. I know Europe got a Virtual Console release a while ago and North America figures to get it at some point as well, but looking around it seems that used copies are really cheap, so I might just pick it up that way sometime soon instead of waiting for it to show up on Wii U.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 10, 2016, 11:34:39 PM

I haven't, but it's definitely on the list now after playing Woolly World. I know Europe got a Virtual Console release a while ago and North America figures to get it at some point as well, but looking around it seems that used copies are really cheap, so I might just pick it up that way sometime soon instead of waiting for it to show up on Wii U.


You won't regret it. Wario Land Shake It! is a fantastic game - gorgeous art and animation (although I wish the animation was a bit smoother), a wonderful soundtrack with different music on each level, and superb level design across the board with creative boss battles as icing on the cake.


Beating the game isn't hard - unless you seek out the special hidden levels, or try to beat the challenges on each level. That ups the difficulty quite a bit, but also showcases the level design and requires you to really make the most of what's available each time.


When it came out lots of people complained wondering how a 2D game could be worth the asking price - but anyone who skipped playing Shake It! missed out on a true hidden gem for the Wii!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on August 12, 2016, 03:18:50 PM
Yeah, every time I hear or see people talk about it they almost always have only good things to say about it. I'm not surprised to hear that the challenge comes from the optional content, since Woolly World is the same way. I'm fine with that given how well Woolly World pulled off structuring things that way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 12, 2016, 11:29:34 PM
Reposting from the download thread:

I'll chime in and say that I think Wario Land: Shake It is the best of the three Good Feel games overall. Beautiful style, and it manages to redeem the shitty Wario Land 4 rush-back-from-the-end-of-level gimmick, while controlling perfectly for a Wario game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 13, 2016, 02:02:33 AM
I am pretty much done with No Man's Sky and Hello Games in general. At this point I would actually pay money to have all the mining and crappy space dogfighting taken out of the game and have it be a pure walking simulator experience. There's just no fun at all here.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on August 15, 2016, 04:12:42 PM
Metroid: Zero Mission

With the buzz around its 30th anniversary, I had the sudden urge to play some Metroid and settled on Zero Mission. Somehow, even with all the the praise that surrounds this game, I was caught off guard by just how amazing it is. 

I’ll get the only real issue I have with Zero Mission out of the way first: it was a bad decision to not make the hard difficulty available to players right from the beginning. If the normal difficulty was very challenging and hard was effectively a “super hard” mode, this would still be a palatable approach. However, the normal difficulty in this game just feels a little too easy. This wasn’t an issue for me in the overworld, where more damage and less health would just mean I play a little more cautiously rather than running through the underground tunnels of Zebes with reckless abandon, blasting through anything that got in my way. Where it really hurts is during the boss fights. I got pumped up for the fight with Ridley, but when I actually got to the battle I don’t think it lasted even an entire minute. It was the same with Mother Brain and Mecha Ridley. However, as I said, that’s my only real issue with Zero Mission. Taken as a whole the game is fantastic.

I played Super Metroid recently when it came out on the New 3DS and there’s a stark difference in pace with Zero Mission. I played Super Metroid somewhat meticulously, since I’m by no means an expert on the game despite having played it before. By contrast, I feel like there’s a much greater sense of momentum in Zero Mission. It’s still obviously an exploration heavy game and often requires a thoughtful approach to reach new parts of the overworld, but even when I was exploring I felt like I was pressing forward at high speed. Part of this is attributable to the fact that there are Chozo Statues marking areas on the map and the fact that I was playing on the normal difficulty, where I didn’t have to worry about the enemies or hazards in the overworld as much, but Zero Mission just feels like a faster paced game in general. To that end, it’s amazing to me how the development team behind Zero Mission made a game that can feel this way. To make a game that so heavily leverages backtracking and precise overworld exploration feel like it has a constant sense of forward momentum at the same time seems like an incredibly difficult task, and yet they completely nailed flawlessly. People often talk about how indie developers have a difficult time making games that live up to the Metroid standard because these developers can’t make a large overworld feel as interconnected and cohesive as Nintendo can with Metroid. There’s a lot of truth to that and that may even be the biggest factor, but striking that balance between a great pace and exploration that still feels natural and consistently engaging is what sets Nintendo apart for me. I haven’t played nearly as many Metroid-inspired games as a lot of other people have, but Zero Mission feels like the pinnacle of this particular kind of game design to me.

The other thing I love about Zero Mission is that it’s just so cool. The general premise, the setting, the music, Samus, and even what story is present in the game. I’m not particularly well versed in Metroid and the deeper lore that surrounds it (though after playing this game that’s almost certainly going to change), but, following the series from afar, I was aware of major plot points like Samus being raised by the Chozo and parts of Zero Mission game taking place on the planet which she grew up on. And yet, despite the fact that I already knew this, the cutscene near the end where they show Samus as a child with the Chozo, before she gets her Power Suit back in the present, was still so cool to me. The masterful game design is what makes people love this series, but there’s an appeal to Metroid which you won’t find in most other Nintendo franchises even beyond that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on August 15, 2016, 05:19:42 PM
You won't regret it. Wario Land Shake It! is a fantastic game
I second this. I think this awesome game was an unfortunate victim that got drowned in all the hate over the infamous E3 with Wii Music and Animal Crossing City Folk. Of course, some of the reviews didn't help either, as I remember at least one reviewer who did not play / find the secret levels in the game and claimed it was short and easy. The secret levels are almost half the game, so he missed a lot from laziness.

One thing I'll warn about however is that Wario Land Shake It! is only in 4:3, not widescreen. When widescreen is enabled, it just has borders on the left and right sides of the screen. It's a bit of a bummer given the game's nice graphics, but it isn't a big deal gameplay-wise.

Good-Feel are a bit under-appreciated as a dev I feel. Or at least the three 2D platformers they've made are. They're pretty high quality, but I don't think any of them have sold all that well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on August 16, 2016, 12:23:16 AM
Good-Feel are a bit under-appreciated as a dev I feel. Or at least the three 2D platformers they've made are. They're pretty high quality, but I don't think any of them have sold all that well.

They've actually done pretty good.


Wario Land: Shake It: 1.06 million

Kirby Epic Yarn:  1.85 million

Yoshi's Woolly World:  1.37 million


Yeah none of their games have been Mario sized hits, but I'm pretty sure they all still made a nice profit and pleased Nintendo in the end.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on August 16, 2016, 12:45:36 AM
Considering Nintendo mentioned that Fire Emblem needed to sell around 750,000 units to be profitable, I think they're probably doing good with the numbers they're pulling in.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 16, 2016, 07:07:08 AM
I always worry about sales figures from Nintendo's perspective though.


Sometimes it seems like their viewpoint is skewed, as if something isn't a super mega-hit then they consider it a failure. Maybe that's a side effect of having so many multi-million hits in the stable and a limited set of development/translation resources to work with? I mean, why bother spending time on anything that isn't expected to sell as well as Mario? (Rhetorical question - I know there are many good reasons to expand their library with different types and brands of games.)


I see Wario Land Shake It with a million sales and think "wow, that's not bad at all", and just pray that Nintendo isn't looking at it and thinking "we should have churned out another Mario game instead".


Regardless, I'm glad the game exists. And that this conversation exists, because it reminds me to go back and play Shake It again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on August 16, 2016, 08:37:28 AM
I think the fact that they keep going back to Good Feel and having them make that kind of game would indicate they're pretty happy with how they've sold.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on August 16, 2016, 12:34:18 PM
They've actually done pretty good.
Wario Land: Shake It: 1.06 million
Kirby Epic Yarn:  1.85 million
Meh, if those are worldwide figures then I stand by my statement for these two, especially in the case of Wario Land. I also remember Kirby's Epic Yarn dropping in price quickly and eventually falling to $10 because of how much unsold stock stores had.

Considering the Wii U situation, Yoshi seems decent, and it's still for sale so it could get even better.

Considering Nintendo mentioned that Fire Emblem needed to sell around 750,000 units to be profitable, I think they're probably doing good with the numbers they're pulling in.
Sure, but my point was about popularity.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on August 16, 2016, 02:19:59 PM
Meh, if those are worldwide figures then I stand by my statement for these two, especially in the case of Wario Land. I also remember Kirby's Epic Yarn dropping in price quickly and eventually falling to $10 because of how much unsold stock stores had.

Epic Yarn was released October of 2010 and Nintendo's own Q3 report said it sold 1.38 million by the end of December 2010 that year.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110128e.pdf (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110128e.pdf)

Then their own end of year fiscal report has them selling 1.59 million by the end of March 2011.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110426e.pdf (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110426e.pdf)

Then there's the Neo Gaf thread where the guy keeps getting updated info about Nintendo's shipments and has Epic Yarn at 1.85 million as of the end of December 2014.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=963700 (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=963700)


Seriously I'm not sure were you live but worldwide Epic Yarn was a success that sold the majority of it's sales at full price.  A company like Nintendo isn't going to ship an extra 500k after the original sales if there's tons of unsold stock around.  If that was the case they could have cooked the books to make games like Other M cross the million mark by dumping even more stock.

Plus in the case of Epic Yarn, it's also the best selling home console Kirby game.  Seriously, just look at the charts from said Neo Gaf thread I linked above.

Kirby's Adventure: 1.75 million
Kirby's Super Star: 1.44 million
Kirby 64: 1.77 million
Kirby Air Rid: 1.35 million
Kirby's Epic Yarn: 1.85 million
Kirby Return to Dream Land: 1.79 million

Every other home console Kirby game not listed like Dream Land 3 and Rainbow Cruise never hit the million mark.  Which goes to show how impressive Epic Yarn did considering it wasn't even a traditional Kirby game and yet it managed to outsell every other home console Kirby game.  Hell, even when compared to the handheld Kirby games, Epic Yarn is the 2nd best selling Kirby spinoff behind only Pinball which did 2.19 million back in it's day.

Even Wario Land: Shake It did decently all things considered.  Yes it was a drop from the 2.20 million Land 3 and 4 both did, but at the same time Wario Land 2 only sold 1.48 million back in it's day which was a much bigger drop from the 5.19 million Land 1 did.  Wario World and Master of Disguise didn't even hit the million mark so it's not like it's the worst selling game in the franchise either.  Even when compared to the Wario Ware series, the original on the GBA only did 1.10 million, Twisted never even broke a million and Touched and Smooth Moves despite being casual friendly games on the casual monsters that were the DS and Wii sold just short of 2.5 million each.

So it's not like Wario has been a real gaming sales powerhouse outside of his first game on the GB which sold mostly on the fact it was called Mario Land 3 and still had very traditional Mario gameplay.  Of course even then it was a huge drop as well since Mario Land 2 sold 11.18 million, so the Wario series having drops between installments isn't anything new.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on August 16, 2016, 02:34:40 PM
You're missing the context of my point. Given the quality of the games, I still feel they deserved to sell better. Comparing them to other games in their respective series doesn't show anything, as I also feel many games in the Kirby and Wario series should sell better as they're both great series. Things like profitability never entered the equation.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 16, 2016, 05:14:19 PM
I'm pretty sure Nintendo was fine with Good Feel's Wii output, and satisfied with Woolly World given the WiiU install base, but I also wonder about the increased production cost of WW given its HD assets and long dev cycle. Though the stuffed Amiibos probably helped out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 18, 2016, 01:54:30 AM
Human Resource Machine (Steam):
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/271725976970435895/8B6F24C9EC1278EF184673DE22AE9F4D8F5B8CB8/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=742913351)

Too see it in action check out this webm (https://a.pomf.cat/kgfiuc.webm) i made or watch NWR video of James Jones playing the game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-Y9Q39x2E).

I am cautious about "playing" these types of programming puzzle games. Being software engineer who does programming for living the idea of a game that forces you to work, calls it entertainment AND doesn't pay you is preposterous. It is like that picture where dude works on a forklift all day and comes back home to relax and play forklift simulator videogame (http://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/work-is-done-today-time-to-go-home-and-relax-german-forklift-crane-street-cleaning-simulator.jpg).

Still i started HRM thinking i can finish it in a few days time. Because game features rather basic machine and starting puzzles are basically just exercises straight out of computer science textbooks i thought i can be done with it very quickly. And for many tasks i did, writing out the perfect (both in code size and speed) solution literally on my first try.

However few puzzles were much harder and had me trying to solve them in the span of several nights. I also had to write several vastly different solutions depending if i aimed for speed or tried to shorten the program.

Puzzle when you are asked by to split digits in a number (so that you get "437" and output "4 3 7") gave me a trouble, especially in efficiency challenge. It requires division by 100s and 10s but HRM can't do division by itself, and you have to emulate it by subtracting subtrahend repeatedly until you reach zero or negative value. To fullfill speed requirement i went way, way overboard with loop unrolling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_unrolling) and had to wrote a program so long it reached program limit:

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/271726283027712576/19975E0D2641140714EB439AD064079C8EC2FFF3/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=743814863)

Another interesting problem was sorting. Sorting is a classical task in Computer Science and as a student i spent a lot of time studying various methods and reading "Art of Programming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming)" which had an entire chapter dedicated to sorting alone.

Because i tend to gravitate to the simplest algorithms i first wrote selection sort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_sort), it was short (33 commands) but not fast enough. Then i started over and did rather complicated heap sort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heap_sort) which theoretically should be much faster, however because of primitive nature of commands (modern processors can access memory at address 2x+1 all in one command, but in HRM you have to write like 8 commands to do the same) and input data being too short my code ended up slower instead. Then i restarted again and wrote insertion sort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insertion_sort) algorithm which did the trick.

Re-learning all these things was kinda fun. Just like 15 years ago, i was once again stunned by the cleverness of heap sort algorithm.

The final puzzle with prime factors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_factor) turned out to be much easier than i thought it was. For the first day i thought that i HAVE to actually calculate prime numbers (at least first 7 of them), but apparently i didn't, because the way algorithm works it outputs prime numbers by itself naturally.

Game's art style and atmosphere with story vignettes helped to make it more of a fun game. Background ambient music very old by the end and i was just muting it.

Overall: this "game" might be interesting if you want to learn the basics of CS and will be hard enough if you go for optimized solutions. Not sure if i recommend to people who just want to have a good time though, because i fully realize that spending an hour trying to optimize the program by one command is not everyone's idea of fun.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 18, 2016, 08:42:39 AM
Interesting comments - recently picked up Human Resource Machine again with my brother-in-law and his (teenage) kids. He and I both have CS degrees. He does more coding than I do these days, I tend to be limited to less demanding web-based development. But everyone enjoyed the game, with kids playing and adults givnig hints and trying to improve optimization after a level was solved.  It was a good little puzzle for the hour or so we played.


That time was also enough to convince me to pick the game up solo and finish some challenges that I had ignored previously. My first time through the game I spent maybe 3 hours to see the ending - but didn't satisfy a bunch of optimization challenges and ignored a handful of optional levels.


I like your approach of trying to actually maximize efficiency (not just meet the stated goals), but am not sure I enjoy the game enough to sit down and focus on the problems long enough to push for the best solutions for both size and speed.  I'm also not sure that I'm going to do the prime factoring level. It's the only stage I haven't even attempted, as each time when I reached that point my reaction was simply "nope, not interested in doing that right now".  Maybe another time.  :)


The one thing that left me disappointed in Human Resource Machine was the background story. I feel like there is some cute humor at play, but the payoff for beating this game just didn't live up my expectations after playing World of Goo or Little Inferno.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on August 18, 2016, 05:40:46 PM
 Link’s Awakening DX – 3DS VC
I finished my play through last night and really enjoyed the experience. The previous games in the series were firmly on the fantasy continuum, but LA has a more fairy-tale like tone. It works well with the game’s aesthetic and gameplay. The emphasis is squarely on puzzle solving and platforming over combat, to the point where combat is downright easy. It doesn’t detract from the game though because the complexity of the environmental puzzles would become annoying if it were as difficult to clear rooms in LA as in LOZ or AOL. The sequential dungeon-crawling structure of the game is similar to past Zeldas, but there is enough thematic changes to make it fresh. The story itself is surprisingly poignant. The fairy-tale tone also opened the door to some surreal elements which I think add to the game’s appeal. There are numerous easter eggs, the fourth wall is amusingly broken, and the NPCs are often interestingly idiosyncratic. It’s all executed well and adds a layer of cleverness to the game. LA is obviously revered and I understand why.


 As an aside, I really like the introduction of the roc’s feather and would have killed for that in LOZ. The wizzrobes crush me in the last dungeon.
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 19, 2016, 01:13:14 AM
Serious Sam: BFE.

It took Too long to become a Big Fucking Encounter. The last level is absolutely epic. It also needed more varied environments, it's 100% set in Egypt, so it's all sandy yellow. The level designs aren't as creative as the first 2 games. It's not a bad game or anything, just takes too long to hit peak explosions.

Stange for me to say this, but they needed to Micheal Bay the **** out of this game.

I feel the same way, I played a several hours of this and it still never ramped up to the fun of the previous games. Parts of it feel like your playing a mundan COD clone. The weapons are fairly hard to find as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TofuFury on August 21, 2016, 04:40:21 AM
Tonight I defeated the final story boss in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. I still have plenty of DLC to complete and I'm working on completing the PVP covenant I'm in, so I have plenty of post game content to keep me busy.


Compared to the other games in the series, DS2 gets a lot of hate from Souls fans. It hides the lore from DS1, and instead focuses on doing its own thing. Honestly, while I still have to play 3, this is my favorite game in the Souls series so far. The locations are evocative, and I found myself having a lot of fun exploring this world.


While I understand many of the complaints Souls fans have for the game (soul memory, mob enemies galore, lacking an interconnected world), none of it bothered me. I died plenty, but always found a summon sign when I needed one. Mobs could be taken care of with careful planning. And I didn't miss the interconnected world of 1, though I do miss all the shortcuts.


As a whole, I felt DS2 was harder than 1 both in terms of normal enemies and bosses, though the bosses aren't quite as memorable as DS1. Still, the game provides plenty of help to take those bosses down, so I never felt stuck until I reached my first DLC boss.


While I'd recommend those interested in the Souls experience to start with 1. The difficulty ramps up with 2, so having some experience with 1 will prepare a player for 2.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 22, 2016, 07:56:16 PM
Just finished up NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (on Wii).
(http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/gamespot/images/2007/324/reviews/840380-938874_20071121_002.jpg)

This was my first time playing a NiGHTS game because, like everyone else on Planet Earth, I never owned a Saturn. Expectations were pretty high for this sequel due to the cult-status of its predecessor, but this one is tough to recommend.

NiGHTS is this androgynous jester-like figure who flies around through rings and collects orbs. Keep hitting circles to get a combochain going for more points. Pretty simple, intuitive, arcadey stuff. Very few buttons used and a host of controller options (GameCube support!!) should make this easy, but it never gets to that Super Monkey Ball level of precision. Controls feel clunky in the flying levels, with no option to invert the Y-axis, auto-scrolling that seems to actively hinder how far you can look. There's also a few dull platforming levels (escort missions...) with confusingly laid out levels, overly simple puzzles and stiff controls.


Story however is where this game really trips up. You're playing the dreams of two meant-to-be adorable moppets, but these lil' shits hog all the screentime with their poorly delivered dialogues, dead-eyed stares and realisations about the meaning of friendship (barf). The game is plagued by cutscenes (and loadtimes) that play out the trite story, when all you wanna do is fly around as NiGHTS. I'm not making this up, the gametime logged on the file is 3.5 hours after completing both kids' story. But due to unskippable cutscenes (even on retries, always lovely) I spent a whopping 7.5 hours completing the game!


There's some stuff to like though: music is top-notch and there's a musicality to the better flying levels. Some of the visuals are nice enough, with the CGI cutscenes being real standouts (the in-engine ones are awful though). The world feels different enough to not be totally generic, with its cutesy Sega Nightopians, varied bossfights and main character of ambiguous gender. Gameplay is also different enough from most other games that it's easy to see why people like NiGHTS so much, although unfortunately controls are clunky throughout this particular instalment.


Verdict: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is just likable enough on idea, world, music and bossfights. Those positives keep it from being awful; but its clunky controls, plethora of annoying talkative characters, endless unskippable cutscenes, stupid lack of checkpoints are all actively conspiring against it. If this franchise interests you, go for the (HD remake of the) original if at all possible. 5/10

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 22, 2016, 09:42:59 PM
Congrats on finishing the game!  I wanted to like Nights. Couldn't do it.  Didn't even finish the game before reselling, and I'm a bit of a game hoarder...   :-\
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TofuFury on August 22, 2016, 11:05:33 PM
I'm glad you had fun with Nights Steefosaurus. I only had the chance to rent Nights, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 24, 2016, 08:32:42 PM
Yeah NiGHTS is super likable, just a shame the Wii game has so many things holding it back. Hopefully they port over the original Sega Saturn game to Wii U (or NX) one, but I'm not holding my breath sadly. Is NiGHTS playable in the Sonic All-Star Racing games? Gotta be right, freaking Skies of Arcadia is in it and that franchise has been dormant for much longer.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on August 24, 2016, 08:39:10 PM
NiGHTS was the flag bearer on the original, but became a racer along with Reala in Racing Transformed. In Transformed, Ristar became the flag bearer.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 24, 2016, 09:07:33 PM
NiGHTS was the flag bearer on the original, but became a racer along with Reala in Racing Transformed. In Transformed, Ristar became the flag bearer.


Nice! It definitely feels like NiGHTS deserves more exposure than they ever got. They're just a character that's hard to dislike, even if the game I played starring them was mediocre at best. Find myself making a lot more excuses for this game than I normally would for something of similar quality; kinda speaks to how it's a unique enough franchise that I really want to root for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on August 24, 2016, 10:42:25 PM
Apparently, Rodea the Sky Soldier has some similarities to NiGHTS. I own it for Wii U/Wii, but I've yet to try it out. Really interested in doing so when my review load isn't so big.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 25, 2016, 05:13:00 PM
Apparently, Rodea the Sky Soldier has some similarities to NiGHTS. I own it for Wii U/Wii, but I've yet to try it out. Really interested in doing so when my review load isn't so big.


I've read the Wii game is the best one of those two. Supposedly it plays a lot better with a pointer. Considered picking it up a while back, but it's still super expensive here and I've got way too many unplayed games as it is already. It's cool that with Rodea Sky Soldier, Yuji Naka is still trying variations on the 3D sonic/NiGHTS Into Dreams formula. You'd think someone would get bored with a similar way of movement after so many years but he's still trying to make it work, gotta admire that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 26, 2016, 10:01:21 AM
Finally finished Help Wanted: 50 Wacky Jobs (Wii) last night.  It's a mini-game collection, and as always the quality of the mini-games varies...but it was fun and well made overall.  The story is weird enough to be funny, and the single-player structure is a pretty solid loop of earning/spending money and unlocking new jobs. Enjoyed it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 26, 2016, 04:09:45 PM
Apparently, Rodea the Sky Soldier has some similarities to NiGHTS. I own it for Wii U/Wii, but I've yet to try it out. Really interested in doing so when my review load isn't so big.

I've read the Wii game is the best one of those two. Supposedly it plays a lot better with a pointer. Considered picking it up a while back, but it's still super expensive here and I've got way too many unplayed games as it is already. It's cool that with Rodea Sky Soldier, Yuji Naka is still trying variations on the 3D sonic/NiGHTS Into Dreams formula. You'd think someone would get bored with a similar way of movement after so many years but he's still trying to make it work, gotta admire that.


Don't play the Wii U/3DS versions unless you really really hate your life.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 01, 2016, 09:52:46 AM
I beat The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds last night, it was a fun ride and very well balanced, of course owing a lot to A Link to the Past. I liked the non-linear approach to dungeons, although finding out how to get to the dungeons was half the challenge sometimes. Oh, and the ice dungeon sucks, and so does getting to it.

The items were all well done, and upgrading them added another layer. I should say all items except the boomerang, it wasn't really necessary in the game.

I could see where some would say the game was too easy, but I liked the level of challenge. If you get all the upgrades Link is pretty overpowered by the end, especially the Nice Fire Rod, which is a real death machine.

I still dislike the 'tennis game of death' Ganon likes to play. It's like a torture rhythm game!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 02, 2016, 03:56:25 AM
I beat The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds last night, it was a fun ride and very well balanced, of course owing a lot to A Link to the Past. I liked the non-linear approach to dungeons, although finding out how to get to the dungeons was half the challenge sometimes. Oh, and the ice dungeon sucks, and so does getting to it.

The items were all well done, and upgrading them added another layer. I should say all items except the boomerang, it wasn't really necessary in the game.

I could see where some would say the game was too easy, but I liked the level of challenge. If you get all the upgrades Link is pretty overpowered by the end, especially the Nice Fire Rod, which is a real death machine.

I still dislike the 'tennis game of death' Ganon likes to play. It's like a torture rhythm game!

I loved the game, but I also had the advantage of playing on a used cart that had Hero Mode unlocked, which really made all the game systems sing. They should really have the Hero option from the get go going forward.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on September 02, 2016, 04:27:48 PM
Last night I beat Tokyo Mirage Sessions.  This is actually only the second RPG I've ever beaten, with Super Mario RPG being the other one.  Something about this game of all things inspired me to play it until the end.  I really liked the session based gameplay.  I feel like I really understood the strategy of the battle system and if I can do that then it makes sense that I would dig the game.  The final boss wasn't that hard actually.  I beat him in one try, which was nice because there's a big cutscene right before you fight him that I did not want to fast forward through on repeat attempts, and I never had any of my party die on me.  Ironically the hardest boss I faced was in an optional side quest.  In fact the whole last area which features a couple return matches with prior boss battles is quite easy and I think as your character powers up throughout the game they gain so many key abilities that the game becomes easier as it goes.

So far this is my favourite Wii U game, but I've only played a handful of titles.  It's funny because when it came out my primary motivation for buying it was that I figured it would be a rare collectible someday and if it turned out to be a great game that was a bonus.  No, this was worth buying because it's a great game and a lot of fun to play.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on September 02, 2016, 11:11:12 PM
You never beat quest 64 Ian? :P

also Steefosaurus..idk Nights on Saturn is really fun ,but i didn't find myself wanting to continue Nights on wii.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 04, 2016, 09:41:58 AM
Finished Daxter (PSP).  It's not a horrible game or anything, but it certainly failed to live up to expectations. Reviews and ratings are extremely strong, actual gameplay and story aren't. At least it looks pretty good and seems ambitious on a technical front.  Although I don't regret my time spent playing per se, I really can't recommend it to anyone.


In an interesting move, the next game I've started is God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP). As the game started I immediately noticed that it's also developed by Ready at Dawn. My expectations for gameplay have already been adjusted...
 :-\
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 08, 2016, 01:00:13 AM
Obduction (PC):

Okay, I'm going to have to retract some of my suppositions from the impressions thread.I thought I was 1/3 of the way through the game, but it was probably over 2/3s. The fourth world specced out by the lore and such just turned out to be a two-minute set-piece of sorts. And also, the game never actually got hard, and was significantly more simple than Myst, much less Riven. I suppose much of this is reflective of a Kickstarter budget/price tag, but I'm flabberghasted by reviews that claim this is a real mindbender of yore, almost knocking it for being too cerebral.

I should perhaps qualify the difficulty a bit: the final puzzle is a culmination of a base-4 alien numeral system transcribed obscurely on grids. This would be satisfying and tricky, but the trouble is that the game did not require you to actually figure out the notation until the last juncture, in which you're basically locked in a room. I hadn't previously bothered figuring the thing out because there's a tool in the main town that lets you punch in decimal numbers or grid arrangements, thus I assumed I could always go back and puzzle it out when the need arose. But it never did, because every panel up to the finale was solvable (and seemingly meant to be solved) by randomly noodling with it for a few seconds. Kind of bafflingly poor design, compounded by the final restricted area that wouldn't be a puzzle at all if you could go back and check the translation machine. So another really bad puzzle concept right there. If I hadn't taken certain screenshots, I would have been **** out of luck.

But I wasn't **** out of luck! A worksheet I screencapped with the in-game tool had a base-4 grid pattern transcribed on it that was a fairly high number. I plugged it into the final console, and lo and behold it got me within spitting distance of the actual node I needed to access, and two minutes of fiddling with the pattern later, I had overcome the only real challenging puzzle concept in the entire game, because it was actually stupid and they provided you with the ability to cheese it, in fact made this a completely viable, if not primary, solution path!

A pretty big disappointment overall. I assumed there would be a Riven-esque meta puzzle to tie it all together, involving a convoluted pathway through the worlds, but once you complete the initial "turn on all the trees" goal, that's it, aside from finding the entrance to the bleeder, which is not a puzzle but is total bullshit that cost me a half-hour at the very end.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on September 08, 2016, 08:44:46 PM
So no man's sky huh?
*sighs*
I loved this game I really did.
For 2 hours, then I noticed things, hey that things the same, why am I doing the same thing again. Then I Realised.
Unlike minecraft that has infinite replayability, No man's sky is just a fancy minecraft rip-off game. Everything gets super redundant real fast, and if I was going to play something like this... I'll think i'll just stick to MC and Subnautica.

Pros:
Beautiful world
Randomly generated
Cons:
Gets boring really REALLY fast
And now there's no multiplier and the developers lied, god damn it.

A playable game but very redundant.
4/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on September 09, 2016, 11:02:27 AM
Journey

Totally worth it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 09, 2016, 12:19:29 PM
Finished off God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP). Despite some rough first impressions, it was pretty decent. Combo system ramped up well enough and it met most of the goals set out for an action-heavy game like this. The pacing was brisk and the game brief enough that it's easy to recommend for action junkies.


A shame that writing and characterization were so bad at times, and that the game panders so heavily to over-the-top violence and sexuality. Sometimes those choices were warranted considering the story, but sometimes they were simply in bad taste. Of course that probably shouldn't have been a surprise: the franchise doesn't exactly hide it's motives.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 10, 2016, 05:50:54 AM
Batman: Arkham Knight (PC):
(https://abload.de/img/20160910133137_1toq5y.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160910133137_1toq5y.jpg)

I was expecting deeply derivative product with now famous performance problems on PC, something like Assasin's Creed Unity. Was i wrong. This game is amazing.

(https://abload.de/img/20160910113855_19xqtq.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160910113855_19xqtq.jpg)

First Arkham game i liked well enough. It was a very good low-brow entertainment: satisfying power of Batman fighting mooks, exhilarating cape flying, some puzzle-solving and DC fanservice though the game targeted teenage boys a bit too blatantly with character designs. Combat was dumb and simplistic, bosses were bad as usual for western studio, but overall the game was enjoyable as a hamburger-tier game.

Arkham City was basically more of the same and put Batman in a huge city filled with pretty much the same but on a bigger scale: more mooks to fight, more puzzles and trophies to collect, more flying on cape through rings. It also solidified the structure, pacing of how the game dolls out challenges for you to choose from. There were 400 secrets that you had to do or collect (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAC_UqFMSgysfQ). Some of the challenges were quite annoying to do.

(https://abload.de/img/20160828165643_1e8pc8.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160828165643_1e8pc8.jpg)

Arkham Origins, in my opinion was the most polished out of them all which is a given because it came after City. Before Origins i wasn't really captivated by these games' stories, but i really liked Origins plot and especially it's ridiculously overproduced cutscenes. Otherwise it was kinda rehash of City but i thought it was overall a better made game. It added detective sequences and had less collectathon with just 200 secrets too (https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaW_0ozNNA).

By fourth game Arkham series has probably reached the peak of what hamburger-style AAA production can achieve. It builds on everything all 3 previous games did and makes the whole package better and more diverse. By the time i was done with Arkham City i was exhausted by the repetition, but not in this game.

(https://abload.de/img/20160905001431_1w8rho.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160905001431_1w8rho.jpg)

The strength of Arkham Knight is how proficiently it's made. It drips out new missions organically little by little not allowing player to be intimidated by hundreds of markers on open-world map. By adding several new types of activities with batmobile, finally Arkham games have achieved the level of variety where none of the activites don't actually get old by the end. There a lot of various side-missions you can make progress in simultaneously but most of them are not as prolonged as stuff in City and Origins and that's why it doesn't get repetitive.

(https://abload.de/img/20160902011915_199r3x.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160902011915_199r3x.jpg)

Fighting mooks or taking them out stealthily, flying, racing, racing with flying at the end, racing with vehicular combat, tank style vehicular combat, puzzles, environment puzzles are back (i missed them in Origins (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41624.msg836233#msg836233)).

Evev the bosses -- usually the worst part of any western AAA production are decent enough. The clearly realized where their strengths lie and made most bosses easy enough so not to get annoying. Some bosses are literally just one button press at the right time but it's so well done.

Story really goes some places and Hamill is delivering the best voice work of his career:


Plot pulls from BTAS, from "Killing Joke", "Death in the Family", "Under the Red Hood". Origins already had a great "Killing Joke" Red Hood flashback scene that was the highlight of the entire game, but Arkham Knight shoots amazing flashbacks and story pieces like that one after another.

Manic, deppressive atmosphere of the game with Batman getting the closest than ever to cross over the edge are helped by great camera work in hallucination scenes and small details like bugs crawling everywhere. Game managed to fool and pleasantly surprise me all the way to the end and even past that -- in New Game+

(https://abload.de/img/20160902034709_1v7qk7.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160902034709_1v7qk7.jpg)

And it looks amazing too:

(https://abload.de/img/20160910133518_16wpm3.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160910133518_16wpm3.jpg)

Pretty picture comes at a price and there are performance problems, especially during vehicular segments (game lags when rotating camera too fast or just when making sudden turns), but it is playable enough for other types activites: flying over the city districts is especially impressive.

(https://abload.de/img/20160830120730_1gpoks.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830120730_1gpoks.jpg)

I always really liked layered 3d design of Gotham across it's many incarnations. Gotham in Shumacher movies with it's crazy architecture especially impressed me. Arkham Knight's Gotham is more vertical than ever with overpasses built over other overpasses, over ground train lines, gothic skyscrapers, futuristic towers, and construction cranes on top of the modern glass and steel buildings.

(https://abload.de/img/20160830084932_182oxs.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830084932_182oxs.jpg)
(https://abload.de/img/20160830121358_1wzr01.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830121358_1wzr01.jpg)
(https://abload.de/img/20160830085858_14zr9u.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830085858_14zr9u.jpg)

This game introduces Batmobile as a main way to get around, to give it more purpose a lot of puzzles were made to justify it's presence and there are a lot of drone battles where you transform into Bat-tank and fight automated drone-tanks. Whole Batmobile business is kinda clunky but it helps to break monotony.

(https://abload.de/img/20160903212121_1qqqhf.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160903212121_1qqqhf.jpg)
(https://abload.de/img/20160830095030_1rrrq1.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830095030_1rrrq1.jpg)
(https://abload.de/img/20160830090842_16rozx.jpg) (https://abload.de/img/20160830090842_16rozx.jpg)

Great game. Sure there are some problems with framerate but outside of that it's an apex of what modern game developer can do with established open-world formula. Very enjoyable game, all the way from beginning to the end.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 10, 2016, 07:35:48 AM
So you actually liked the tank battles?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 10, 2016, 12:15:36 PM
Yikes. Knight is easily the most repetitive game in the series with the generic side content and car-built city with few crafted interiors. It's the most Ubi-like game in the series that way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 10, 2016, 12:39:05 PM
So you actually liked the tank battles?
They're not good, but tolerable. Just don't do too many of them one after another and spread them out given that game allows it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 10, 2016, 02:27:00 PM
The character models are bad, and the story is bad, and the driving is bad, and the game tone feels like an awkward denouement where Rocksteady proved they had their heads up their backside.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 13, 2016, 01:18:12 PM
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Steam):
After enjoying Arkham Knight (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg903310#msg903310) i decided to revisit original game and collect everything this time. Weird, i don't think i did 100% first time but i vaguely remembered the reward for 100% completion (i probably just looked it up and downloaded audio file or something)...

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402380883620/61C44D511BD2B7E2AC863E8CFDE8177F69649EB5/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761086348)

Coming back to the first game after so many years is weird. It has very much "Unreal game" look: plasticky models, texture visibly loading in and overall muddy look.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402386420213/1AB5928F38A4894AE7107B990069D46EA93E48C6/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=762002275)

And overall UI and man these designs are weird:

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402385062312/BBB75096E310CCFC92768FFF95420599DDF2B6C7/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761779284)

I think the idea was to make it look more like a comic book with yellow ink and sepia-like filter during pause.

Still it's impressive how many things they got right from the get go: signature death animations, DC fanservice, detective mode, grappling hook, cape flying, various gadgets. You can only grapple from the ground and that makes flying like in Arkham City onwards impossible but what is there is still very cool.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402380884165/DDEE422584ED4341684EBDE7FE559C0CD1D86423/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761086411)

Also it is nice to play a Batman game in 60 fps for once -- all other Arkham games i played had much lower framerate. Fluidity of the action still doesn't fix stiff by design combat but it is something.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402395154748/19742C97B19DEDB146C4740876A8EECDE70CE2B2/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=763114120)

They were quite proud of the combat, because they even made up a name for it and emphasized it with combat challenges. And while it must have been good for western game standards for the time, it has huge problems (still does): keeping "freeflow" ™ up is much harder than it needs to be: if don't do anything for longer than .7 of a second -- it drops. If you whiff and Batman strikes at empty air because mook fell to the ground -- it drops. If you expect nearby enemy to attack after you finish the animation and you press parry button in advance but he doesn't in fact attack -- it drops.

All this makes completing combat challenges more of a grind of repetition until you luck into the sequence where everything goes your way instead of proper accumulation of skill.

At least after almost a decade i finally realized how critical hits in Arkham games work.

Hard mode where enemy incoming attack markers are disabled is kind cool but i don't think it makes much of a difference because after spending some time in combat challenges you start to recognize which goon is gonna attack you even before the marker even appears because he will be running towards you. This "removing enemy attack marker" mode is similar to Viewtiful Joe's hardest mode with the similar gimmick.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402380880437/E7C391D81AE81B7592871B64CE5568AA3A0D8B31/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761085972)

Predator challenges however i genuinely enjoyed. They're more like a puzzle and figuring exactly how and in what order you need to do to hit all three medals was very interesting.

Completing 100% Riddler secrets was kinda disappointing though. There were all placed either right there in the open, or behind destructable wall or in the form of "aligning puzzle":

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262721402386418833/85A165769E64CFD0DEDCC1E235A42AEA2933A27E/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=762002027)

That's just three types of puzzles across 243 secrets. Good that City started to bring much more variety to puzzle solution rather than just "enter Detective mode and rotate camera until you a question mark". On the other hand City also doubled number of secrets and introduced rather annoying AR missions.

Also because of the way levels are constructed it was annoying to spend 10 minutes going inside the building to pick up last 2 secrets and then spend 10 minutes going back outside because there is only one way in and out and you need to climb that very high elevator shaft.

I also made sure to look at Arkham City tease (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=761266979) in Warden's office. I even remembered exactly which wall needs how many explosive charges to get access to it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on September 17, 2016, 11:48:05 PM
7th Dragon III Code: VFD

I really like the visual direction this game took. It’s certainly not beautiful in the same way as something like Bravely Default and Bravely Second, but that’s to expected since this all the environments are 3D in this game. What I really liked about the visuals, and the world in this game in general, was the attention to detail. One example of this is your party’s home base, Nodens, which is originally meant to be the building of a wealthy corporation. There are a lot of nice touches that make it feel like what you’d imagine a building like this to feel like; cafes and cafeterias on some floors, vending machines and benches on others, sunlight pouring in through the windows on the higher floors, a city skyline seen through a window in the Skylounge. There are a lot of NPCs scattered throughout the building as well and, with some fantastic music also present, it ends up feeling like an endearing place. The same attention to detail is extended to the other overworld locations, dungeons, and battle backgrounds as well. The first place you travel to outside of Tokyo in particular looks great.

Taking the story for what it is, it’s executed well and I enjoyed it. It’s fantastical and ridiculous, but that’s par for the course. I appreciate the fact that there was barely an attempt at trying to adequately explain a lot of the things that most games try (and fail) to explain; instead, the narrative just kept getting pushed forward and it kept the story interesting for me. I did feel like I was missing a lot of references, especially towards the end, since I haven’t played the previous games in the series, but the story is self-contained enough that I was satisfied with it in the end. I would like to see this series, or another series that is born from it, continue, as I think the overarching theme of hunting dragons across a futuristic Tokyo (and going back to the past to hunt them in Atlantis and to the future to hunt them in Eden) was really cool. I do wish they did more to expand the story and the background regarding the latter location I mentioned though. As for the characters, there are a lot of typical archetypes you’ll see in anime and JRPGs, but for the most part all the characters are likable (even the ones that you know will inevitably betray you to some extent) and I wanted to see them succeed or redeem themselves in the end.

Overall, the gameplay is great. It doesn’t do anything drastically different, but the team mechanic adds an interesting layer to the combat. Timed correctly, enemies can be debuffed in several ways, your team can be buffed in several ways, and fallen allies can be revived with team supports in the same turn, all without sacrificing any of your primary team’s actions. Buffs/debuffs do make a difference in this game and you’re limited to three primary party members in combat (as opposed to the standard four), so it’s a nice way to speed up the combat and a layer of strategy at the same time.

The dungeon crawling in this game is also very satisfying. There are random encounters, but the real fun of the game comes from hunting dragons, which can be seen roaming in the dungeons. The number of dragons (around 250, though I don’t remember exactly) seems daunting at first, especially since you don’t have a lot of fights against dragons under your belt when you first see it. However, once my team become stronger and I started to form strategies for beating dragons efficiently, it made it all the more satisfying to enter a dungeon and see that I’d knocked the number down by 30 or 40 a few hours later after clearing it.

There are some gameplay elements that I wasn’t as much a fan of. Instant kill moves are present in some boss battles and those are easily in the top five of things I dislike most when I come across them in JRPGs. The game also does a poor job telling the player what kind of other status ailments to expect when heading into a boss fight. Many JRPGs can get away with this, to some extent, but there’s really no reason for it in this game. There are no “surprise” boss battles; it’s blatantly obvious every time a boss battle is about to occur. Your team also has a navigator who is providing analysis and support from your base of operations on every mission, so there’s an obvious explanation in the story that could have been used to give the player a hint of what to expect (in fact this does happen in two or three of the boss fights, which makes it even more puzzling why it doesn’t happen for all of them). It may seem a little unfair to hold these things against this game specifically since they’re so rampant in the genre, but a poor decision is a poor decision no matter how often it happens. However, these are ultimately minor nitpicks.

The sections of the game where the party is split up into separate teams is probably going to be hit or miss for people, but I’m glad these parts of the game exist. As someone who grows irrationally attached to party members in JRPGs, I would have rolled with the same three party members I started the game with all the way to the end had it not been for these sections. It was fun to learn and use classes that I otherwise would have not used, and it was a nice change of pace from the classes my first team was comprised of. Because the second and third team party members also receive the same amount of experience and skill points as the first team in every battle while all your teams are together (which is for the overwhelming majority of the game), it’s also amusing to see how broken some classes become in between these sections. My third team struggled a bit when I first had to use them as my primary team, but when another one of these sections rolled around towards the end of the game, I was able to level up two of the party members’ skills so much that they were able to one-shot dragons by themselves with certain moves. Given that every class feels distinct and has its own style, it also greatly changes up the gameplay. What works for the first team will be different from what works with the second and third teams if they’re a mix of different classes, so the approach to combat has to vary from team to team in these sections depending on the team’s collective set of skills.

All of that is made true largely by the level of depth and versatility to the classes in this game. For example, during boss battles, one class (Duelist) can spend most of the fight setting up traps that don’t do a lot of damage, but can inflict useful status ailments. If you manage to set up all three traps within four turns, then a powerful attack is triggered at the end of that turn which deals a huge amount of damage. Given that the preparation required to create this scenario can take a lot of turns, you’re taking this class from playing a minor support role for most of the fight to being your hardest hitter. This is probably the most extreme example of it, but every class in the game has a varied enough set of skills that they can switch between playing of offense, defense, or support and remain useful in some manner.

I've played a lot of JRPGs on the 3DS this year and while this may not take the top spot among them, it doesn't feel out of place mentioning it alongside the likes of the Fire Emblem Fates games and Bravely Second. Overall, for me, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD is a great game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on September 18, 2016, 04:46:53 AM
Hey! Oedo! you're in luck! the original 7th Dragon for the DS which got fan translated is all about Eden and the original Group that stabs Haze in the face!


I'm glad you liked this game more than me. I felt like I took a gamble on something I wouldn't normally and got burned for it. Go read my review of 7th Dragon III Code: VFD earlier in this thread~!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on September 19, 2016, 07:51:53 PM
Ah, sorry to hear that you didn't like it as much Clex. I remember seeing your post a while ago, but I decided to wait until later to read it since I was planning on playing the game soon. It sounds like a lot of where the game let you down was in the story. I tend to be a lot more forgiving of JRPGs in that respect, but I can see how some parts of it might put people off. I found the whole "dragons are the ultimate form of evolution" explanation kinda questionable too, as much as I did end up enjoying the story in the end.

Thanks for the heads up on the original 7th Dragon fan translation! Seems like importing used copies of the game is still reasonably affordable, so I'm definitely going to look into that since this current flood of JRPGs won't last forever.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on September 20, 2016, 04:08:31 AM
it was the story, and just... not really liking Nodens being the real only place to explore that isn't a dungeon.


As for the original 7th Dragon, it's really quite good and has more traditional JRPG flavor in how it handles towns, overworld, and dungeons. the more Etrian bits of the system are still there too.

The one thing that isn't exactly great is the fact that in the original 7th Dragon, Dragonsbane flowers are actually poisonus, and your party takes damage every time you walk on a tile with Dragonsbane on it. it also destroys the flower if you stamp it, but it can respawn in dungeons (on the overworld, you can actually get rid of it forever on the overworld by eating the damage from stepping on it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on September 20, 2016, 03:26:16 PM
So speaking of dragons, I just finished up Yoshi's Woolly World (on Wii U).
(http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Yoshis-Woolly-World-16-1280x720.jpg)


As a relatively recent Wii U owner I've missed out on a lot of the 2D platformers the system offers. Rayman and DK are all still in the pipeline for me. All 3 looked gorgeous, but picked this one up first. I'm pretty bad at games so figured I'd start out easy.


Partial mistake there though; the later levels get pretty tricky still. It offers things like extra ability badges and even a mode where you get wings to compensate, but those still don't cover things like spiky pits or those damn blocks which flattened me constantly. Did really appreciate the winged "mellow mode" though, for co-op with someone who's never played a platformer before. Kinda too bad you can't have one player in mellow mode and the other in normal, but oh well.


Game looks amazing of course, and sound is decent too. I miss the saccharin song from N64 Yoshi's Story though! There's a ton of levels, well over 50, a decent amount of fun, but kinda easy bossfights, and absolutely endless collectibles. Collect yarn to unlock new Yoshi's, collect flowers to unlock more levels, etc. Kinda wish these things would stack perhaps though, I've got a bunch of flowers in every world but you need ALL of them for the extra level. Same with Yoshi's; I can't count the amount of levels where I got 4/5 yarnballs - not enough for a new Yoshi, since they don't combine with yarns from other levels.


Level designs vary nicely too, the last 3 worlds contain a host of standouts in particular. The earlier ones are a little samey perhaps though. If one is kicking your ass you can always pay to skip it in mellow mode, which is nice. I hate the checkpoints though, they're too sparse for a game this kiddy, and routinely having no checkpoints right before a boss is some real garbage. Also why no Kamek bossfight!?!


Overall I would recommend it, it's creative with its world, controls well, has fun boss fights, tons of stuff to collect. Have some nitpicks in terms of streamlining the experience, perhaps they can do that for the 3DS version. Rating: 7.5/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on September 22, 2016, 04:40:25 PM
it was the story, and just... not really liking Nodens being the real only place to explore that isn't a dungeon.


As for the original 7th Dragon, it's really quite good and has more traditional JRPG flavor in how it handles towns, overworld, and dungeons. the more Etrian bits of the system are still there too.

The one thing that isn't exactly great is the fact that in the original 7th Dragon, Dragonsbane flowers are actually poisonus, and your party takes damage every time you walk on a tile with Dragonsbane on it. it also destroys the flower if you stamp it, but it can respawn in dungeons (on the overworld, you can actually get rid of it forever on the overworld by eating the damage from stepping on it.

So I guess the fact that this happens in Code: VFD in Eden is kind of a nod to the original game? It's stuff like this which makes me sort of hesitant to jump into a series with a second, third, or later entry without playing the games that came before it, because I always think seeing references to older entries like this is really cool and it's easy to miss them if you're coming in later. On the other hand, I guess I might not have even been interested in the original if I hadn't played this game first and playing the games in the opposite order will offer an interesting perspective too. Thanks again for telling me about this game!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 28, 2016, 06:08:25 PM
Joined the Team Known as Codename STEAM (3DS):

After taking a break a few hours in, I resumed this game last week and powered through to completion. This is an unusually difficult game to parse my reaction to and I would be hard pressed to give it a number rating. I found some elements of it to be frustrating throughout and some only frustrating until I had sufficiently figured the game out and/or gotten access to better characters/weapons. This is tough though because I think the point of the game is to keep you feeling pressured and moving decisively under adverse circumstances.

More granules:

-It's continually irritating not being able to see the whole map, walking into overwatch traps, etc. But this makes information a resource in the way that it isn't in the Fire Emblem games, and you gradually learn the right cautionary procedures. You've basically got to get in the game's headspace.

-Getting overwatched by enemies can be extremely annoying. Sure, you can do this to them, too, but I felt the triggers on your behalf are inconsistent and I generally did not find it advantageous to play the game in that kind of methodical/trappy way. Also, it's very annoying that you can't see how much "steam" or whatever the aliens have, or if they have that restriction at all while on defense. You can seemingly get overwatched by them until you die. Information restriction is one thing, but I feel like once you have a bead on alien health you should also be able to see how much juice they have for their overwatch/next turn. As is, I felt like semi-informed blitzing was the only way to play the game.

-As a result, easily half the characters are worthless gimmicks. I stuck with John Henry, Henry, and Lion as my core three members, and they are also the first three you get. The excitement of getting new characters wore off pretty quick when it turned out that they mostly suck after the initial stretch. Somewhat conversely, I was irritated that I didn't have a sniper character up until they introduced the sniper character, and then the game clicked much more. With properly equipped Fox on the team you can pull off some sick **** and depending on the map I leaned heavily on her for much of the game.

-Unpredictable enemy reinforcements are super annoying. But again, this keeps pressure on and ensures that you can't just creep forward and wipe out alien formations.

-One-time use specials per character is a cool feature that adds personality and flexibility in a pretty harsh game. But most characters have terrible personal radius special attacks that you rarely use because you really don't want to get up in an enemy group's face. Henry is not a particularly good character, but I used him in every mission because he had the only truly good special. In fact, I beat the final boss in a clinch when it exposed its weak point after seemingly endless hammering, allowing second-to-last man standing Henry to shoot his patriot rocket for one million damage. But in a way this only partially makes up for the fact that I almost never used the specials of the rest of team (John Henry, Lion, Fox).

-There is functionally no character progression. You can unlock new subweapons and steam boilers, but most of them suck. Your steam allotment always feels kind of weak, and most weapons don't do a satisfying amount of damage. The imprecise aiming and enemy wobble also makes hitting weak points frustrating. But I still managed to beat the game. So I'm not sure how I feel. Though I definitely hit a few points where I was like "If I die near the end of this 30 minute map, with a fucked save point, I'm just not going to play this game again." But each time I squeaked out a victory, at least twice with nearly dead last-man-standing Lion leaping into the goal zone while surrounded by enemies. Which was exhilarating.

So all in all, an odd duck. I feel accomplished for having beaten it, mostly not having a good handle on actual strategy, but the ideal strategy might have been the antic fumbling that I employed.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on September 30, 2016, 10:55:07 PM
Balloon Kid is an odd but enjoyable game that's well worth your time.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on October 01, 2016, 10:55:51 AM
So speaking of dragons, I just finished up Yoshi's Woolly World (on Wii U).


Love the review. Mostly agree with it. I do think Rayman and DK Tropical Freeze are the two of the three best platforms on Wii U. So you probably won't go wrong with any of the two you pick to play next.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 02, 2016, 02:39:03 PM

Just finished up Severed, which was recently added to the Wii U eshop.
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--GPSvRjaP--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/aipgbzzpyztsshvhlx3p.jpg)


Released earlier on Vita and iOS, this is now on 3DS and Wii U too. Gorgeous game from Drinkbox (they did Guacamelee) which has you starring as Sasha (pictured above) who loses part of her arm when her family gets attacked. A creepy spectre-figure hands you what looks like a living blade, and we're off to get our family back!


You move through the world in a way that reminds me of Killer7, in that you point a direction and press forward, but don't actually have complete movement freedom. On rails a bit? You find puzzles, secrets and fight all in first-person view on the Gamepad, using a stylus. The fights are really cool here, you swipe to hack away at gruesome enemies and parry their attacks. If you land a bunch of succesful hits you get in a brief trance-mode and can kill the enemies by severing (titledrop) their limbs. Those limbs are used to upgrade your blade.


The good: looks and sounds great, sparse storytelling that still manages to convey emotions without spelling things out for you. The Mesoamerican-inspired setting is relatively novel too in games! The fighting is cool with the touchpad, and having the giant map up on the TV really helps once you've taken care of all enemies in an area and want to explore for secrets.


The bad: you can't walk backwards, which isn't super annoying but sometimes you overshoot and then turning is a little cumbersome. Also I feel like the upgrade system is kinda janky, I had like 1600 spare giblets left at the end with nothing to spend them on. Maybe because I played on the easy mode, but yeah. Also if you're playing the whole thing in one go, touch controls might get tiring. I took my time though.
Last nitpick is the credits song. The whole game has moody pianos and then it ends with almost Sonic-esque rock? WHY? I get that they wanted a song called "take my hand" but did it have to be so jarring?


Last note: it's cool to have a main character with an obvious physical disability in a game. Don't see that a ton, I feel like. They almost ruin this in the final area, but then turn it into a situation where Sasha needs to accept the loss of this limb, so that's nicely done.


Severed is a tremendous game in my opinion. If you want something moody, bloody, pretty short (7.5 hrs for 100% on easy), and heavily using touch controls this comes highly recommended. 8.5/10

Love the review. Mostly agree with it. I do think Rayman and DK Tropical Freeze are the two of the three best platforms on Wii U. So you probably won't go wrong with any of the two you pick to play next.


Thanks! Yeah I'm thinking Rayman might be next, since I'm not great at games and get stuck easily on difficult platformers haha. But DK will happen eventually for sure, love the atmosphere in those games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on October 09, 2016, 08:00:01 PM
I rage quit Grabbed by the Ghoulies midway through the second chapter. Something about getting the egg back from a skeleton. I got tired of the janky controls and the arbitrary conditions in every single kill room and the arbitrary health in each room of the freaking mansion. It just wasn't fun at all.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 10, 2016, 06:02:08 AM
10 000 000 (Steam):
Finally got the last achievement.
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/269475444208804926/1B6A1D2A817342AE38E76F40A6B2CAD2DD711C07/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=753456596)

It's a match-3 puzzle game but you need to match certain things to go past monsters and other obstacles and do it fast because game gets faster and faster.

I was kinda hoping to get more skill based gameplay akin to Puzzle and Dragons but it's closer to PuzzleQuest it it's randomness where pieces falling from the ceiling filling up empty spaces largely determine the outcome. Ah well.

I got to the end relatively quickly, but the last challenge to achieve 10 000 000 points on Explorer level took me a month of playing on lunch breaks. I even thought of clearing save and restarting it the game, but today i finally lucked into the win (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=778398057).

Randomness situation is worsened by controls forbidding to move pieces while your combo is still going. You need to match pieces constantly not to die because game doesn't stop as more pieces fall. Very often you might just die in the middle of a 5+ chain match without even a chance to even do anything because of this.

Whatever, i'm glad it's over.

Also got last achievements on Legend of Korra game (felt kinda sad) and Brothers: Tale of two sons -- funnily one of the last achievements was to sit on one bench that i missed, because back when i played the game i kept sitting on every bench i could see, but i missed one single one that actually leads to achievement.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 10, 2016, 11:02:46 AM
...


Posts like this are why I'm not a fan of "achievement" chasing. Sit on all benches, have some random and wildly unlikely thing happen, and get "rewarded"?  No thanks.


Finished Pikmin: New Play Controls (Wii) this morning. Not bad considering it's Canadian Thanksgiving and I'm sick as a dog.  The game was easy but totally charming. Didn't do very well with the final boss - but had lots of spare days and enough Pikmin in reserve to just brute force the battle.


My kids want to move on to Pikmin 2 right away, but I think we'll play something else first.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 10, 2016, 12:18:53 PM
It doesn't count as beating it but I crashed Minecraft! I created a pillar that goes way up into the sky made out of stone and then started a lava fall over it then I created a water fall to put out the fire and that only turned into that ugly **** that lava turns into when you pour water on it, and then I had a huge water fall so I tried to pour lava over the water to kill it off, in an endless cycle because the physics are weird in that game and I crashed my save. I had to disable autosave and go in and delete the entire pillar of destruction to restore that map.

Then I created a water world, where I flooded the entire world one water bucket spill at a time, and crashed the game again now I can't get back into that save. Apparently if you have too many water squares in a map it will crash. Sorry Kevin Costner I tried.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on October 10, 2016, 07:46:47 PM
How **** is your computer rat? XD
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 10, 2016, 09:28:40 PM
It's actually brand new, bought it a month ago. But I am playing the game on the PS4 dumb ass so nice try.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 11, 2016, 08:13:26 AM
Finished off Scurge: Hive (GBA) last night. Most of the game was very easy - enemies drop so much health when killed that it's almost hard to die on normal mode; in retrospect I should have upped the difficulty before starting - but the final boss took a few tries before figuring out a working approach.


Not quite sure what to think about the game now that it's finished. It's quite good except for one issue: there is simply too much repetition for my personal liking. Every stage used the same progression (get power-up, find keys, activate nodes, fight boss). The game would have benefited from variance at some point to keep you on your toes.


That said, the game is well designed and accomplishes what it sets out do. Scurge: Hive is a solid action game and remains easy to recommend.  The ending claims that the adventure is: "to be continued..." but I have my doubts the game sold well enough to live up to that promise - which is a shame, really. I'd be up for some more of Jenosa Arma's story.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on October 11, 2016, 11:02:05 AM
Finished off Scurge: Hive (GBA) last night.
...
Not quite sure what to think about the game now that it's finished. It's quite good except for one issue: there is simply too much repetition for my personal liking. Every stage used the same progression (get power-up, find keys, activate nodes, fight boss). The game would have benefited from variance at some point to keep you on your toes.

Sounds a lot like that Streetpass space shooter game, Mii Force. I got bored fast with that one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 19, 2016, 02:24:06 AM
The Legacy of Kain 2: Soul Reaver or Soul Reaver 2: The Legacy of Kain, whatever (PC):

I've glanced at this series before, but couldn't be bothered to figure out what was going on with the different titles and chronology or whathaveyou, but I saw this one for $2 or so on a GOG sale and it looked like the Dreamcast game I saw in EGM as a kid and thought looked cool. And I was jonesing for an actual full-fledged action adventure game, and had the notion that this series was well-regarded.

But looking in to it afterward, it seems like this game/series is mostly revered for its story, which would have been a big warning sign. This might be the talkiest non-RPG I've ever played, with frequent and agonizing chunks of time devoted to two verbose try-hard characters babbling gobbledygook exposition about some ongoing plot I could not care less about.

The actual game is only about 8 hours long, and a big portion of that is going back and forth through the same linear corridorish game world in "different" time periods, desperately trying to avoid participating in the awful combat system. There aren't any sidequests, there aren't any secrets, there's no inventory, and there are only 4 short dungeons and a handful of traversal obstacles between them. There is a "dark world" mechanic that is smoothly integrated, but it's severely underused to the point where I got stuck a few times because I forgot it existed.

The actual dungeons are decent, though, for what it's worth. Now I just want a goddamned real Zelda game. ::Looks into emulating Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy::
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 19, 2016, 11:45:54 AM
I hate this thread. You all suck. I never even have time to play very many games let alone beat any of them. That settles it this weekend I am locking myself in my apartment and playing at least one game from start to finish. Probably going to be Super Mario 3D World, its about time I finish that one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 19, 2016, 02:10:31 PM
I hate this thread. You all suck. I never even have time to play very many games let alone beat any of them. That settles it this weekend I am locking myself in my apartment and playing at least one game from start to finish. Probably going to be Super Mario 3D World, its about time I finish that one.


I usually have to make a concerted effort to beat games - it usually takes an ongoing investment of time over a month or two because I usually don't have a lot of gaming time on a day-to-day basis.


It's funny how my approach to a game changes as I'm nearing the end.  Depending on how much I like a game, my reaction can be totally different!
* Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) - the end was approached with trepidation, and sometimes I will choose to ignore the main quest (or even play a different game) because I loved the experience and don't want it to end yet
* Scurge: Hive (GBA) - just grinding to finish; even though I enjoyed the game a good deal, I've had my fill and want to be done with the game
* Pikmin 3 (Wii U) - simple satisfaction; the game is done, I'm ok with that; no rush to end or wasting time to delay myself from moving on
* Daxter (PSP) - pure spite; I've already wasted too much time with this game already and just want it to end, but am not willing to quit before finishing because the time invested is too high to back down now
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 19, 2016, 02:16:00 PM
Finished off Scurge: Hive (GBA) last night.
...

Sounds a lot like that Streetpass space shooter game, Mii Force. I got bored fast with that one.


I didn't get bored with Scurge: Hive. The challenge increased close to the end and I still think it's a good design overall.


But (as mentioned above) it had started to feel like a grind eventually instead of a natural progression or exploration of the environment.  Maybe the game was too drawn out and should have tried to cut an hour or two off the playtime?  Maybe one level should have included a mini-boss battle added midway through?


Still recommended, despite failing to live up to the "might be better than Metroid Fusion" feeling that it generated early on.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 19, 2016, 07:11:45 PM
The actual dungeons are decent, though, for what it's worth. Now I just want a goddamned real Zelda game. ::Looks into emulating Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy::

Oh wow that Sphinx & Cursed Mummy game is a deep cut right there. I remember kind of wanting to try it during the 3D platformer heydays. IIRC there's a pretty annoying gamebreaking glitch after the... second? Mummy stage, where if you save behind a door that's supposed to open and then die the trigger to open the door no longer exists, leaving you trapped forever with no solution but start a new game.



I hate this thread. You all suck. I never even have time to play very many games let alone beat any of them. That settles it this weekend I am locking myself in my apartment and playing at least one game from start to finish. Probably going to be Super Mario 3D World, its about time I finish that one.


Haha hey man don't turn it into a chore. Play what you want, when you want to. I once read that only ~15% of games get completed. While I'm definitely one of those "but if I don't finish it I can't check it off my list!"-people, it's useful to remember that completing games shouldn't be the goal, the goal should be to have a fun/enriching experience during your free time. (Altho Mario 3D World is great and the last main level is pretty stellar.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 20, 2016, 11:02:43 AM
I know that man, I been gaming since the 80's. But I never have time to even do small gaming really. I work 50-60 hours a week and I have school on the side. I do my best but it's not easy. I do game, but mostly just Minecraft because it's easy to pick up and play and easy to put down and move on.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 20, 2016, 11:24:45 AM
I know that man, I been gaming since the 80's. But I never have time to even do small gaming really. I work 50-60 hours a week and I have school on the side. I do my best but it's not easy. I do game, but mostly just Minecraft because it's easy to pick up and play and easy to put down and move on.


Ah okay. I hope you can find the time to play and maybe even finish an engrossing adventure then this weekend!
This is why I love short eShop games. Things like Spy Chameleon, Nihilumbra, Year Walk, and Tengami. You can play them for just an hour or two and still make a lot of progress or even finish them, so you also get that satisfaction of completing a game.
Same reason why I really like that many retail games use level-based stories (Mario 3D World, Yoshi Woolly World, Splatoon, Rayman Legends). They give you easier "exit points" than open-world games, if you will. Fits better with a busy lifestyle.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 20, 2016, 06:39:43 PM
The tricky part is, while I do work regular hours, as a news reporter I am essentially on-call 24/7 depending on you know breaking news. Even Sunday's are not 100 percent.

But I did recently download Minecraft Pocket Edition to my phone so I have the ability to do some micro gaming while I am on the go.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on October 21, 2016, 05:07:24 PM
Haha hey man don't turn it into a chore. Play what you want, when you want to. I once read that only ~15% of games get completed. While I'm definitely one of those "but if I don't finish it I can't check it off my list!"-people, it's useful to remember that completing games shouldn't be the goal, the goal should be to have a fun/enriching experience during your free time. (Altho Mario 3D World is great and the last main level is pretty stellar.)

Lol, it took me a good portion of last year to figure this out.  I hadn't gamed in years, and the last time I did I had a lot more free time. I initially fell back into old completionist and power gaming habits and wasn't enjoying myself as much as I should. Good advice!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 21, 2016, 11:58:08 PM
I normally make time for Minecraft during the week so today I decided to try Minecraft Wii U edition. I have the PS4 version so that is my main one but I bought the Wii U one a month or so ago and it finally finished downloading today. NO my internet is not slow, I only plug my Wii U in when I plan on using it to save power so I had a bunch of games downloading. Anyways I tried it out today, I didn't like the controls as much as the PS4 version. Maybe I am just used to them so hopefully once I get used to them it will be better.

But I hate the save feature. It is so slow. Maybe that has something to do with the external hard drive I am using. It is a powered one, actually it is an older Seagate I used to use for my primary PC back up storage. It is a 1.5 TB drive. For some reason the Wii U keeps disconnecting from the hard drive so that makes downloading games, or installing updates, take forever. I think this is why I stopped gaming on it as much.

Needless to say I did go back to Super Mario 3D World and remembered why I quite. I am at the last castle but it requires 7 more stars to enter it and I just can't seem to get any more stars. I only play a few levels here and there but after about 20 minutes of looking for stars I give up and turn it off.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 22, 2016, 10:28:39 AM
Lol, it took me a good portion of last year to figure this out.  I hadn't gamed in years, and the last time I did I had a lot more free time. I initially fell back into old completionist and power gaming habits and wasn't enjoying myself as much as I should. Good advice!


I mean, it's easy to preach this but practicing is another matter entirely. Obviously this is the biggest first world problem ever, but right now I'm playing through Final Fantasy 8 which hasn't been fun since the first disc - yet here I am, a good 60 hours later, still doing grindy sidequests because I've committed to the idea of finally beating this darn game. :p Rationally I should just drop it and play something fun instead, but yeah.


Needless to say I did go back to Super Mario 3D World and remembered why I quite. I am at the last castle but it requires 7 more stars to enter it and I just can't seem to get any more stars. I only play a few levels here and there but after about 20 minutes of looking for stars I give up and turn it off.


That also annoyed me! Mario 3D World is sooooo close to being perfect in my opinion, but a few things really hold it back. Why the arbitrary limit on how many stars you need?! I just wanna see all the levels, not replay a bunch I've already seen. It's especially weird because earlier on they often let you advance by beating just one out of two levels on those crossroad section on the map. Why suddenly a hard barrier at the end then? Totally agree.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on October 22, 2016, 08:37:34 PM
I beat Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 as Gunvolt. HIGHLY recommended game. It fixes a lot of problems I had with the original and makes for a really fun game. I hope to review it and share on NWR when I beat the game as Copen, the other character. Need to do, IIRC 80% of the challenges to get the final ending for each character.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 23, 2016, 10:18:02 PM
I made it all the way to the end of Super Mario 3D World, I died a few times on the last tower climb segment and gave up for a while. I spent the rest of the time testing all my recently purchased Game Boy games to make sure they all worked and so far every game is in working order.

Also looking through my Wii U purchases I remembered that I had already bought Kirby's Return to Dream Land so I played the first few levels of that. No I didn't get that far but I enjoyed the game a lot. I might put some time into this one. I just wish it didn't have that annoying shake the remote maneuver but I can I guess live with that if that. I wish  could play with the classic controller pro or even the Game Cube controller but since I am on a Wii U I don't know how to go about doing that if it even were possible.

I also spent some time in my PS3 digging through my retro library and spent a good twenty minutes on the first level of Gradius V. I don't want to make gaming into a chore that is for sure. I just wish I had more time to spend on a hobby I put way too much time and money into. Or I could scale back my purchases and keep just the stuff I know I will play but if I did that my entire library would be about 5 or so Super Mario games and Minecraft.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 23, 2016, 11:30:01 PM
I made it all the way to the end of Super Mario 3D World, I died a few times on the last tower climb segment...
You're not even close to the end though...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 24, 2016, 08:13:00 AM
Finished, but only to the first set of credits, Thomas Was Alone (Wii U) last night. Not sure how I feel about the game.

It was nice, I guess. The narrative was very well done and clearly the best part of the game, but didn't live up to the comments from some reviews. (Seriously: I remember one review where the reviewer mentioned both laughing and crying over the course of the game. The story isn't that good.) The controls are pretty tight, but the actual platforming isn't challenging at all. The game mechanics introduced are interesting but not particularly innovative.

The design does do a great job of nudging you along asking you to try new things - but the pace of introducing new challenges is slow enough and the platforming easy enough that the entire experience felt like an inevitable grind to the end. Up and to the right, so to speak.

The threat of failure with the game is so low, that I'd almost recommend watching the game instead of playing it yourself. So that's not a stunning recommendation. But at the same time, I do think it was an interesting experience and am glad to have played it. (Also glad not to have paid full price, however.)  Did others try this game?  Am I a cold-hearted bastard for not empathizing more for the sentient quadrilaterals?

I made it all the way to the end of Super Mario 3D World, I died a few times on the last tower climb segment...
You're not even close to the end though...

Well, it's one of the ends and I think it's fair if people stop there after enjoying what the game has offered. Even though I really like beating games, I'm not always driven to beat them 100% or to see everything a game has to offer.

Without giving away too much, the requirements to unlock the "true final level" might be more than supermario2k would be willing to pursue right away, based on his previous comments. The final stage requires finding and beating everything else (stars, stamps, and gold flags at the end of every level). But even if you choose not to do that, there are a bunch of post-Bowser levels to play through if you want.

Speaking of which, I never did beat the final stage in that game. Hmm... might be time to revisit that game, thanks!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 24, 2016, 10:56:00 AM
Well Azeke if that is the case then I give up.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 24, 2016, 11:11:56 AM
Well Azeke if that is the case then I give up.
What i meant is that there are more worlds coming after that Bowser boss fight. Not levels -- full fledged worlds and arguably the best ones too both in terms of visuals and level design.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 24, 2016, 11:22:42 AM
I am sure as a gamer that is good news, I love this game but damn it I thought I was near the end. It's okay I am not ready for it to end I just never have time to play it as much as I would like. I should have known though I didn't think there were 8 worlds yet and most Mario games  have at least 8 worlds.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 27, 2016, 09:37:26 AM
Not on a Nintendo platform, but have finally slain a personal demon in Final Fantasy VIII (on PlayStation 1) after over a decade of slow progress and I wanna talk about it. This is gonna be huge, feel free to skip!
(https://www.thefinalfantasy.com/gallery/home/ff8/dynamic_previews/ff8-squal-rinoa_scale_800_700.jpg)

All right so this is the 2nd crazy-large PS1 Final Fantasy game, following the immense hype of FF7 in the year 1999. Spanning a whopping 4 discs, with gorgeous FMV sequences and a waltzy soundtrack, it is up there in terms of presentation with the best stuff on PS1. That said I have many issues, so if you remember loving this maybe just look away now.

Positives first:
+As said, presentation is top-notch. Some of the FMVs especially hold up to this day, although they don't have voicing. You can clearly see though where Square got the idea for that Spirits Within movie from.

+There's a neat "junction" system where you can connect magic spells to your attributes (strength, hp, etc.) to increase your stats. Put Cure or Full-Life on your HP and Fire on Strength to make the most gains. It's an interesting idea which I don't think I've seen anywhere else.

+The setting is pretty cool. It does that futuristic steampunk kinda thing from FF7, but more fleshed out. Sure there's weird things like how everyone's using melee weapons in a world where ballistic missiles exist, but eh.

+Furthermore the game includes its own cardgame which in its most basic form is surprisingly fun and robust, and you can win cards, which can be modified into items or spells to gain better "junctions" (stats).

+Lastly, the game starts out pretty high-stakes right away, with an encounter with a fiery demon and a military operation very early on. This game definitely got me hyped for other JRPGs too, for which I gotta give it credit.

Negatives:

-Oh man. The story is just absolutely idiotic, there's these 6 teenagers who are basically in mercenary school who need to save the world from an evil Sorceress. But every now and then they dream/hallucinate of being these three other dudes. Is it in the past? Future? Entirely unrelated? I guess I won't spoil it here, but let's just say everything gets INCREDIBLY convoluted. Totally consulted a "plot analysis" on GameFAQs afterwards to clear up the stuff I missed.

-The characters. Several of them are absolutely insufferable. Chiefly amongst them Squall, who has mastered the art of ellipses and facepalming. Then there's Seifer/Draco Malfoy, the requisite schoolgirl (this is a JRPG after all), a dude who punches people and has a Mike Tyson face tattoo, and a cowboy wannabe ladies man who I think is meant as a satire on American culture but is still just obnoxious. The only one I vaguely liked was Quistis and her storyline gets entirely sidelined after disc 1, great.

-So the junction system I mentioned earlier is interesting in concept, but in practice means a whole lot of micromanagement in menus. First you need to get a bunch of spells, then apply them to attributes, once the party switches you switch loadouts with currently active party members etc.
Plus it has this weird effect where characters become pretty replaceable. I think Quistis and Rinoa are meant to be "healer" types, but I loaded Quistis up with a bunch of Ultima to her Strength and Death to her status-attack to turn her into a walking battle tank. Cool I guess that you can decide who takes on what role, but it kinda makes the characters lack a distinct function?

-The levelling system. Enemies level at the same rate as your best character does, MEANING it's better NOT to level up if you wanna have an easy time! This runs so counterintuitive to RPG thinking. My first playthrough over a decade ago essentially became impossible because I had 1 dude at level 40 by disc 2 and so the monsters would regularly trounce my party in just a few hits. Eventually I got so frustrated I started over entirely, running from every battle where possible, chucking away a good 30+ hours of time invested. Which brings me to...

-Length. This game is gigantic. My final save was at 96 hours in. NINETY SIX! And that's not counting the 30 hours of a previous run. Sure I could've shaved a lot off this if I hadn't done a bunch of convoluted sidequests and had looked up the most efficient ways to quickly power up characters, but the game tells you none of that stuff. So much time wasted trying to find monkeys in forests because a sea monster I chucked pebbles at wanted me to deliver him a message.

TL;DR
: Final Fantasy 8 got me into JRPGs and has some interesting aspects. However, it's ridiculously long, padded at that, contains some really obscure systems it doesn't explain very well, stars a mostly annoying cast who keep droning on yet still manage to communicate poorly, and has an overly complex story that's ultimately pretty dumb. If you're gonna play this, get a GameFAQ up right from the start and cut every possible corner it lets you. Rating: 4.5/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 27, 2016, 10:09:25 AM
Not on a Nintendo platform, but have finally slain a personal demon in Final Fantasy VIII (on PlayStation 1) after over a decade of slow progress and I wanna talk about it. ...


But hey, at least it's better than Final Fantasy 7.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 28, 2016, 10:41:37 AM
Not on a Nintendo platform, but have finally slain a personal demon in Final Fantasy VIII (on PlayStation 1) after over a decade of slow progress and I wanna talk about it. ...


But hey, at least it's better than Final Fantasy 7.

Get out. We're done we can't be friends anymore.  :@
Final Fantasy 7 is gaming perfection. You will remember that when the awesome HD remake gets released. That game alone is the only reason I got a PS4.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 28, 2016, 03:12:19 PM
That's nostalgia speaking.


FF7 had great ambition, but lacked the technical chops to back up what it tried to do.
The game introduces many new things, but those new ideas were detrimental as often as they were beneficial.
Worst of all was the translation work... whew, what a hack job!


Seriously, it's not as bad as my trolling makes it out to be. But the game was always a huge letdown for me when compared to the polished (but more limited) experience of 6.


Here's hoping that the HD remake is the game that the original FF7 wanted to be, rather than the game it actually was. All it would take is significant improvements to the script, graphics, and gameplay.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on October 28, 2016, 06:13:41 PM
It's Square Enix. They'll make significant improvements to the graphics. Script and gameplay improvements are more murky.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on October 28, 2016, 08:20:28 PM
Beat Gurumin 3D this evening! Took about 12 hours. Should remember this game this time instead of forgetting it like the PSP version. haha Maybe the second time playing it helps? Anyway, the camera is sometimes quite the pain even though you have control over spinning it around via the shoulder buttons or on the New 3DS, the little nub thing. I disliked how you have to beat all enemies, smash all jars, and then collect all treasures to "Master" a level. The former is annoying because there's no way to tell if you've beaten every enemy in a room while with the Cat Ears accessory you can at least get a tally of treasure chests and jars in each area. Some technical problems like stuttering music during loading transitions, but other than that, I'd give the game a C+. I recommend it. I hope to share a full review later.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 28, 2016, 11:04:59 PM
It's Square Enix. They'll make significant improvements to the graphics. Script and gameplay improvements are more murky.


Either way, it's cool they are doing a remake. I don't have much love for the game, but am in a stark minority. Most people agree that it's one of the defining classics in the RPG genre, and I don't deny that it had a huge impact on gaming in general.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 29, 2016, 12:04:14 AM
It's Square Enix. They'll make significant improvements to the graphics. Script and gameplay improvements are more murky.


Either way, it's cool they are doing a remake. I don't have much love for the game, but am in a stark minority. Most people agree that it's one of the defining classics in the RPG genre, and I don't deny that it had a huge impact on gaming in general.

A huge terrible impact.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on October 30, 2016, 11:25:11 AM
Very true. VII transformed the concept of a JRPG from "occasional-steampunk-with-mostly-fantasy-elements" into character-centric and character-distilled "unique" designs with little to no improvement in terms of plot. Also, I'm tired of Square Enix neglecting the Final Fantasy title that is ACTUALLY gaming perfection, Final Fantasy VI.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 30, 2016, 04:39:42 PM
... Also, I'm tired of Square Enix neglecting the Final Fantasy title that is ACTUALLY gaming perfection, Final Fantasy VI.


Nostalgia totally colors my viewpoint when it comes to FF6. It's a fantastic game and had tremendous personal impact on me. The fact that I own a GBA Micro solely dedicated to that game, ensuring it's always available to me, should prove my lack of objectivity.


Does FF6 really need a remake though? Unlike FF7 which missed the target in some aspects and could benefit from a new translation and some gameplay tweaks, I feel like FF6 comes much closer to hitting the goals they aimed for due to a tighter scope and better understanding of the technology being used to develop the game. A remake would increase accessibility, but between Virtual Console and (I think) iOS that might not be necessary. That said, getting hand-drawn graphics instead of sprites might be nice... or an orchestrated version of the soundtrack!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on October 31, 2016, 05:22:20 PM
About a week ago I decided I wanted a Halloween themed game to play start to finish and I settled on Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

Aside from it being late October, part of why I wanted to play Aria of Sorrow again was because I see a lot of people put it ahead of Dawn of Sorrow and for a while now I’ve wondered why (not because I disagree necessarily; I just didn't totally know the reasoning). I think I’ve gotten a better idea of it now. Level design is the most important part of games like this and I do think Aria of Sorrow is the superior game in that regard. It’s not quite Metroid: Zero Mission in terms of having exploration that feels worthwhile and challenging yet seamless and fast-paced at the same time (which makes sense given that the greater focus on fighting enemies in this game, especially in the second half, will naturally slow down the pace to some degree), but it’s definitely closer than Dawn of Sorrow is. I felt like I was moving through the castle fairly quickly in Aria of Sorrow most of the time and I never really had to figure out where to go next; I could just keep pressing forward. Dawn of Sorrow did have a couple of head-scratching moments for me and the exploration wasn’t quite as intuitive from what I remember. Remove some of the other padding that was in Dawn of Sorrow like the touchscreen seal system and more of a focus on grinding as well and, yeah, Aria of Sorrow does feel like a more refined game.

When it comes to the RPG elements in this game, I’m somewhat conflicted. I’m sure at the time this game came out the fact that there was a leveling system was still seen as a cool (and differentiating) feature, but playing it now I’m not sure what a rudimentary system like this really adds to it. On the other hand, I do really like the ability to absorb enemy powers and the different weapons. The area designs and enemies are varied enough that it does seem like switching between (and acquiring) different abilities is worthwhile and makes a difference on how quickly you can progress through the game. The fact that there are a lot of different weapons with their own specific hitboxes is a nice way to vary the combat too and a lot of the more powerful late-game weapons are really cool (once I got Balmung there was pretty much nothing that could get me to switch off of it though). I guess I’d rather just have a game like this be balanced around weapon, item, and ability upgrades. If there is going to be a leveling system, I’d like to see a little more thought put into it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s just there (I do remember Dawn of Sorrow taking it a bit further). I’ll be curious to see what happens with Bloodstained in this regard.

As far as the story and presentation go, it is (predictably) a cool game to play around this time of the year. Maybe it’s not quite as creepy or haunting as some of the older Castlevania games or something like Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, which I’m also playing, but Soma is Dracula’s reincarnation and you are fighting all sorts of horrible enemies in all sorts of horrible locations after all. The visuals and the great music add to that feeling as well. I am kind of disappointed that I can’t get the “best ending” without putting a lot more time into the game, but the “good ending” does provide a nice resolution to the story and I’m happy with that for now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on October 31, 2016, 06:16:36 PM
Oh boy. I was thinking about playing Final Fantasy VII and VIII (I haven't played either one for any significant amount of time) after the 3DS release schedule slows down later in the year, but after catching up with the newer posts in this thread some of you guys are making me reconsider.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on October 31, 2016, 06:25:30 PM
That's nostalgia speaking.


FF7 had great ambition, but lacked the technical chops to back up what it tried to do.
The game introduces many new things, but those new ideas were detrimental as often as they were beneficial.
Worst of all was the translation work... whew, what a hack job!


Seriously, it's not as bad as my trolling makes it out to be. But the game was always a huge letdown for me when compared to the polished (but more limited) experience of 6.


Here's hoping that the HD remake is the game that the original FF7 wanted to be, rather than the game it actually was. All it would take is significant improvements to the script, graphics, and gameplay.


I don't buy that nostalgia cop out at all. This game was heralded as ground breaking when it WAS NEW, nostalgia didn't play into that then. If you didn't get into it fine, if you didn't enjoy it also fine but the whole concept of mixing Materia was a fully fleshed out way of doing what they barely tried to do in 6. This was 6 done right. It mixed the futuristic dying world with the ancient magic of the old bygone era much better than 6. Of course I could just dismiss your enjoyment of 6 as pure nostalgia too you know. ::)

FF7 gets hated on because of the blocky graphics, hey even when it was new I wasn't impressed with the graphics, it wasn't really until Dreamcast that 3D graphics looked decent but the story of FF7 was a major hook, it reeled people in and the gameplay was fantastic. There were dozens of side quests, each character had their own story and made their own contribution to the game. There were dozens of party combinations. The story was very linear and it did things right that 6 tried to do but couldn't.

I was 16 when this game came out. I don't know about you but *I* sure as HELL do not remember my teen years with any sort of fond nostalgia at all. In fact not only do I hate it when people throw that out there, its misleading by the way, I just think when it's used people use it dismissively because they can't, or won't make a better argument. But if you are going to rag on 7 as being remembered fondly for nostalgia, a false equivelancy because 1, it wasn't a nostalgic time for me, 2 at that time I HATED Playstation so it doesn't drum up fond memories, and 3, then fall back on referencing the game that came earlier, on a system that is the very definition of nostalgic. I am sorry but no I don't accept that at all. Dislike the game all you want but don't tell me the ONLY reason I like it today is because I played it when I was a teenager, because, and this punches holes in that moronic, no idiotic, nostalgia claim every damn time, ADULTS were into FF7 when it was new and they had no nostalgia for it when it was new, GAMERS that grew up on SNES had no nostalgia for it because it wasn't FF6, it was FF7, its own game. Whenever someone praises FF2 or 3 or 4 they say oh it was ground breaking or great or whatever, but whenever someone praises FF7 its dismissed as nostalgia? No wrong, sorry.

The game garnered near perfect scores by everyone that reviewed it, the game nearly single handedly made not only Sony, and Playstation, the phenomenon it was, but also made RPG's a legit genre and took them mainstream.

I get how someone that either skipped the Playstation and stuck to Nintendo might dismiss the game, or at the very least downplay it's achievements, after all it is the game that cause the great rift between Square and Nintendo, so I understand someone who loved 6 would hate or belittle 7, because it's not on a Nintendo console.

If that is not a fair assessment of your situation fine, but I have seen no evidence you ever gave Playstation a fair chance so I have no reason to assume you gave FF7 a fair shake either, especially when you dismiss my enjoyment of it as nostalgia, something that I pointed out now is false, and then you fall back on a very much nostalgic game in the series.

I don't look back at 1997 with any rose tented glasses, that was the year of my second suicide attempt. That was the year I dropped out of high school. Did I play a video game that brought me some joy, sure, but I played that game YEARS later, in fact while it came out in 1997, when I was 16, I didn't get around to playing it until I was 22, so again how can you say my enjoyment of it when it was NEW was nostalgia and that my enjoyment of it today is just that? BTW, I don't replay it often in fact have only played it twice total, hence why I am looking forward to the remake, because the game is dog ass ugly and I would LOVE to experience it for the first time again, something I can do with an HD remake and not be "blinded" by nostalgia. Thanks. Also you said yourself you are blinded by nostalgia when it comes to 6 but that doesn't mean I am when it comes to 7, not when I didn't even experience at its peak.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 31, 2016, 08:54:31 PM
I'm not going to read spectrumy walls of text, so I'm just going to assume that it was acknowledging that FF7 is terrible. It broke the abstraction layer that made turn based RPGs playable, and shifted the medium toward an embarrassing and wrong-headed emphasis on pre-rendered story segments (and really, a focus on narrative in general).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 31, 2016, 09:49:43 PM
Eh, I still think that 7 had more ambition than it could fulfill given how new the tech was and big their vision was, while 6 was kind of the peak of what they were able to do given the system constraints.  6 also felt like a more traditional JRPG, while 7 took risks - some of which clearly did not pay off in my opinion.

I'm totally ok for us to disagree though.  And if you accuse me of looking at FF6 with rose colored glasses I'll happily agree.

However... I want to address this comment:

Oh boy. I was thinking about playing Final Fantasy VII and VIII (I haven't played either one for any significant amount of time) after the 3DS release schedule slows down later in the year, but after catching up with the newer posts in this thread some of you guys are making me reconsider.

Don't reconsider!  Give them a shot!

Love them or hate them, they are landmark games and totally worth trying.  Worst case scenario, you find they aren't your thing and gain a greater appreciation for games you like more. Best case scenario, it will hit you the right way (like it hits many others) and you'll add a new game to your list of personal favorites.


The fact that they can be divisive and draw strong emotions certainly isn't a reason to avoid them!  :)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Oedo on October 31, 2016, 11:48:40 PM
Oh boy. I was thinking about playing Final Fantasy VII and VIII (I haven't played either one for any significant amount of time) after the 3DS release schedule slows down later in the year, but after catching up with the newer posts in this thread some of you guys are making me reconsider.

Don't reconsider!  Give them a shot!

Love them or hate them, they are landmark games and totally worth trying.  Worst case scenario, you find they aren't your thing and gain a greater appreciation for games you like more. Best case scenario, it will hit you the right way (like it hits many others) and you'll add a new game to your list of personal favorites.


The fact that they can be divisive and draw strong emotions certainly isn't a reason to avoid them!  :)

I'll definitely still give them a shot at some point (I already bought Final Fantasy VII during a PSN sale a while ago), but they might get pushed further down my queue now. I would be more inclined to play them if I had a Vita I could take with me anywhere, but it's a little harder to justify sitting in front a TV with a JRPG that has a decent chance of not being as enjoyable as I'd like.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: supermario2k on November 01, 2016, 01:48:45 PM
I wouldn't say it is broken, nor would I say it is perfect. I was only saying that MY enjoyment of it, was not nostlagia because i didn't play it when it was new. The rest was a **** you to just say **** you.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on November 01, 2016, 04:11:41 PM
Delete your account.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on November 02, 2016, 06:08:42 AM
Gentleman! Final Fantasy 7 is a great game! It's true, but it's aged like old cheese.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on November 02, 2016, 08:53:23 PM
I'll just say this- I believe Final Fantasy is a series that values narrative over gameplay. While that might be your cup of tea, it isn't really why I play JRPGs, and while VII put Final Fantasy on the map in the West and paved the way for many other series to come, I can really only appreciate it as one the first successful venture into 3D for JRPGs. There are other games that were the first successful venture into 3D for their genre and- surprise- they have also received stellar reviews. But the fact that VII is being remade with only its story being kept intact is damning evidence of what elements are the most praised about the game and the franchise, in general.

Personally, I play JRPGs for customization and engaging battle systems, which is why I try to broaden my catalog of franchises whenever I can. When a game mixes a good narrative with a solid battle system and deep customization, I'm all for it. But I've never really found a Final Fantasy title that has engaged me from any of those angles with the exception of VI, which is refined in presentation and soundtrack, had a massive cast of characters, and just the right amount of freedom. But it's really the only Final Fantasy title I've enjoyed (outside of the Crystal Chronicles games- again, combat system, customization, atmosphere), and I'm not particularly interested or thrilled by the prospect of getting back into the series again. Especially now that it seems to be stripping away the turn-based, tactical nature of previous entries for action-based combat systems.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on November 02, 2016, 10:06:25 PM
I'll just say this- I believe Final Fantasy is a series that values narrative over gameplay. While that might be your cup of tea, it isn't really why I play JRPGs, and while VII put Final Fantasy on the map in the West and paved the way for many other series to come, I can really only appreciate it as one the first successful venture into 3D for JRPGs. There are other games that were the first successful venture into 3D for their genre and- surprise- they have also received stellar reviews. But the fact that VII is being remade with only its story being kept intact is damning evidence of what elements are the most praised about the game and the franchise, in general.

Personally, I play JRPGs for customization and engaging battle systems, which is why I try to broaden my catalog of franchises whenever I can. When a game mixes a good narrative with a solid battle system and deep customization, I'm all for it. But I've never really found a Final Fantasy title that has engaged me from any of those angles with the exception of VI, which is refined in presentation and soundtrack, had a massive cast of characters, and just the right amount of freedom. But it's really the only Final Fantasy title I've enjoyed (outside of the Crystal Chronicles games- again, combat system, customization, atmosphere), and I'm not particularly interested or thrilled by the prospect of getting back into the series again. Especially now that it seems to be stripping away the turn-based, tactical nature of previous entries for action-based combat systems.

I can't say I'm a huge turn-based RPG fan in general given that my interest expired with the SNES, but I agree with this. I really like FF VI, because it was my first RPG, and it had a compelling presentation and a bunch of unique characters with bespoke mechanics, lots of side quests, varied scenarios, secrets, etc. The story was just stringing it together, and the cut scenes were just brief intervals of sprites hopping around. I tried V after and hated the job system and found it overall unenjoyably primitive. I tried VII and found it ugly as hell, way too heavy on narrative, clunky in every aspect, mechanically generic due to the materia system, and worst of all incredibly slow due to the 3D battles, animations, summons, slow walking through the environments, loading, whathaveyou. I gave up on the second disc. I just don't think the gameplay is tenable in 3D, it requires the flexibility of abstraction provided by the 16-bit games.

The only other JRPGs I like are Earthbound, for its mechanics and aesthetic, and Chrono Trigger, for its great character tech system and time travel structure. I have the barest memory of the stories, but I'm sure they were nothing to write home about. Oh, and the pre-3DS Mario RPG games are good too, but those are practically poster children for mechanics over narrative focus.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Wah on November 02, 2016, 10:13:08 PM
If you like RPG's that are very different and ground breaking like Earthbound, FF and Chrono Trigger try Undertale, it's a trip you won't forget!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on November 03, 2016, 04:17:19 PM
Not on a Nintendo platform, but have finally slain a personal demon in Final Fantasy VIII (on PlayStation 1) after over a decade of slow progress and I wanna talk about it. ...
But hey, at least it's better than Final Fantasy 7.
Not sure if serious... At least FF VII is playable and doesn't do stupid things like level enemies with you, making leveling pointless and often a detriment.

The only thing I liked about FF VIII was the music. Blue Fields is still one of my fave pieces from any FF game.

Steefosaurus, don't let this stop you from continuing on and trying Final Fantasy IX! It's definitely the best FF on PSX, and one of my fave FFs in general. It doesn't get as much recognition because of its later release, even after the PS2 came out I think. No stupid gimmicks like leveling enemies, and the character personalities are done better, though the actual physical designs can be a little too goofy in a bad way. And of course, more stellar music awaits.

Does FF6 really need a remake though?
No, but that doesn't mean nothing could be made better about the game, aside from the obvious improvements in graphics and sound. As great as the SNES was during its time, the game was still limited by the hardware, and some of its ambitions could not be fully met. For example, I'm pretty sure there are more aspects they wanted to add into the second half of the game, but they did not have the time (or cartridge space) to implement them. Some of the story threads could also be better expanded upon now that there is no text limit. The character traits could be better balanced as well (for example, Cyan's skills don't make up for his poor magic in a game that's all about magic). Things like glitches have already been fixed in the GBA version and beyond though.

That said, I do not trust current Square to get it right. I wouldn't want to see the game have the kind of plastic-y look of, say, FF XIII, and they probably wouldn't keep the music faithful to the original instruments and such. There would probably be too many story cutscenes added to bog down the pace, and they would probably overplay things to be melodramatic, and turn characters like Terra and Cyan into a mountain of self-pity, removing any strength they once showed. On that note, any later FF spin-off tends to turn Terra into a pure mage, which is lame as she was such a good all-around character in the actual FF VI, dispelling the notion that a magic-user has to be weak.

In the end, it's possible to make a good remake of FF VI, but I don't expect one to be made.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 03, 2016, 06:24:58 PM
Not on a Nintendo platform, but have finally slain a personal demon in Final Fantasy VIII (on PlayStation 1) after over a decade of slow progress and I wanna talk about it. ...
But hey, at least it's better than Final Fantasy 7.
Not sure if serious...
...


(Was mostly kidding even though I'm not a fan of FF7. I haven't actually played FF8 enough to have a fair opinion.  Glad to see someone stick up for FF9 though; I feel like that game often gets forgotten or ignored unfairly.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 04, 2016, 06:46:02 PM
Steefosaurus, don't let this stop you from continuing on and trying Final Fantasy IX! It's definitely the best FF on PSX, and one of my fave FFs in general. It doesn't get as much recognition because of its later release, even after the PS2 came out I think. No stupid gimmicks like leveling enemies, and the character personalities are done better, though the actual physical designs can be a little too goofy in a bad way. And of course, more stellar music awaits.

Haha yeah FF IX I've actually started once years ago & never made it far in, but certainly planning to return to it! Love the design of Vivi especially. Honestly I'd long ago figured out FF VIII was really too obtuse for its own good sadly, but it was my first major RPG so I wanted to finally finish the game that got me into the genre - against better judgement, perhaps.

Do hope that others reading along also heed this advice, the first two Final Fantasies on PSX may be a tough pill for those who love the earlier themes. But at the time it was certainly a groundbreaking switch for the franchise (and entire genre), so they're worth a look for historical significance alone...
It's rather ballsy of Squaresoft to throw so much they did for their big hit FF7 out the window when designing 8, particularly regarding the junction system, and while I don't think it worked it's still nice to see ambition.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 10, 2016, 09:49:55 PM
So managed to finish off New Super Luigi U (Wii U) with all star coins found up to Princess Peach's castle and all Nabbits caught. My kids have really enjoyed playing - and lately watching me play, as the levels are a bit too advanced for them - and were thrilled to save the princess.


I'm not really a fan of the physics in the New Super series, it always feels a bit too floaty compared to what I expect from a Mario game.  But in this game it's easy to overlook that because Luigi always feels kind of slippery and floaty - so the game controls very close to what I expect. Level design was mostly very good, although a couple of the star coins and hidden levels seemed kind of BS. Random butt stomping to find secrets when you have a short timer isn't good level design in my opinion - although maybe I missed some kind of tip off about where they were? Regardless, I enjoyed the game quite a bit and would recommend it. In fact, this is probably my favorite entry in the New Super series.


Not sure I care enough to do the handful of unlockable levels right now though. Will probably come back for them a bit later?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on November 11, 2016, 12:04:01 AM
I beat River City: Tokyo Rumble for the 3DS the other night. It's a short game, maybe 4-5 hours, and it can become repetitive. However, the brawling, the leveling up, the different moves you can learn and unleash on foes makes the repetition not seem so bad. I liked doing some of the jobs for extra moolah and some new moves, but some of the jobs depend on luck to get, such as beating a character 3 times. You have to hope he spawns, and the odds of that are pretty rare.

As for the story, I think Kunio is hilarious, always calling his teacher "babe", who then gets severely ticked off by his lack of respect. He's more hilarious when I put it in my head-canon that Kunio was 45 years-old.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on November 11, 2016, 12:39:09 AM
I'm not really a fan of the physics in the New Super series, it always feels a bit too floaty compared to what I expect from a Mario game.  But in this game it's easy to overlook that because Luigi always feels kind of slippery and floaty - so the game controls very close to what I expect. Level design was mostly very good, although a couple of the star coins and hidden levels seemed kind of BS. Random butt stomping to find secrets when you have a short timer isn't good level design in my opinion - although maybe I missed some kind of tip off about where they were? Regardless, I enjoyed the game quite a bit and would recommend it. In fact, this is probably my favorite entry in the New Super series.

Oh it's easily the best NSMB game and my 2nd favorite 2D Mario behind only Bros 3.  The fact it was meant to be a harder DLC remix of the main game allowed them to really go all out in design since they didn't need to worry about any casuals being overwelmed since Luigi U was aimed at the hard core Mario fans.  I hope Nintendo continues to do this with future 2D Mario games as well.


Not sure I care enough to do the handful of unlockable levels right now though. Will probably come back for them a bit later?

Do it, they're some of the best levels in the game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on November 11, 2016, 11:10:24 AM
BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets (SNES/Satellaview via Emulation)

(http://i.imgur.com/ubG8bRh.png)

Well, here's something I never thought I'd play. If you don't know what the Satellaview was here's a primer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview)

This is game is an interesting curio. It was broadcast in 4 hourly installments, and you had the option to save your data so it could roll over to the next week. It was the first Zelda game to include time-sensitive actions, an actual in-game clock, the ability to rent items and voice acting. While the voice acting is not preserved in this version of the game I played, I can play it for the first time in English with subtitles.

I don't really know how I feel about this game. Most of the stuff in the game was groundbreaking at the time, but now just feels ho-hum, probably because the game isn't being played the same. The score attack element that would have united players who originally played the broadcasts back then is now rendered meaningless. The dungeons are fairly simple and all the boss fights are exactly the same as in ALttP, if not slightly easier. The only challenge comes from trying to complete all the goals set forth by the game each week. At 50 minutes, the game wants you to do a lot in a short time and I was unable to complete 100% of my goals each week. But there's no real penalty other than less time to work with. You can warp back to previously completed dungeons and if you missed a key item, an NPC at the entrance will just give you the items you missed.  This is done so that progression doesn't come to a screeching halt, but it still feels kinda meh overall.

It would be interesting to see how Nintendo could release these games now. I hope Nintendo found a way to preserve these games because right now the only way we can play these broadcasts is thanks to the people who preserved the data. And that's not the case with all the games. For now, you can play the game via emulation, and of course it exists in legal grey area limbo. But I'm glad I got the chance to play it, even if it was in an incomplete state (the voice acting is not available, so the lines were delivered via text at the bottom of the screen, which got a bit annoying since you are also constantly doing stuff and it can be fairly easy to miss any hints).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on November 14, 2016, 01:58:53 PM
Alpha Sapphire

I finished my play through of the story this past weekend. My main team was Blaziken, Vileplume, Florges, Sableye, Latias, and Gyrados/Kyogre.  I really enjoyed it. It seems that XY is more popular than ORAS on NWR and elsewhere. There were things I liked better about both, and I think they complement each other well aesthetically, so I don't really have a favorite. Both game environments are beautiful, but I particularly like the urban elements of XY and the wilderness areas of ORAS.  Overall I think I like XY's selection of Pokemon better, but I like the ORAS story better, I liked Team Aqua more than Flare, and I feel that ORAS is easier to play (I like the UI more, the DexNav and PokeNav Plus tools improve player quality of life, and the wild encounter rate seems lower and more easily avoidable in general).

I wanted to get the story wrapped up before Sun & Moon released but I'll probably slow play the post game. I liked being able to customize the move sets by sending my Pokemon to X for TMs. I'll probably wait to dig into Moon's main story until the Pokebank update comes in January (although the wording of what I've seen is still ambiguous as to whether Gen VII pokemon can be imported to Gen VI). In the meantime, I hope to pick up some xmas eshop deals on Y and OR. I'd love to have clean copies to run different team combinations through.
 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on November 14, 2016, 02:49:56 PM
Ever since Gen 4, transfer has been one way. So your Pokemon will go to Sun and Moon, but nobody's coming back.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on November 14, 2016, 03:09:51 PM
Damn, I didn't zoom in enough on the graphic I was looking at. Well, I guess I'll be playing Moon sooner than I thought.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 14, 2016, 04:32:30 PM
BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets (SNES/Satellaview via Emulation)
[...]

Well, here's something I never thought I'd play. If you don't know what the Satellaview was here's a primer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview)

This is game is an interesting curio. [...]

Wow there's something I've never even heard of! That's so... interesting? Thanks for sharing this, man gaming sure had weird innovations sometimes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on November 27, 2016, 11:29:28 PM
Wow there's something I've never even heard of! That's so... interesting? Thanks for sharing this, man gaming sure had weird innovations sometimes.


It's odd. I don't think they're essential games, but once you've played almost anything Zelda even the CD-i games might sound appealing. At least these Satellaview games have some Nintendo development put into them.


----
Thumper (PS4)

This game damn near broke me. I spent as much time on the last 3 stages of final level as I did on the rest of the level. I'm not a fan of the "let's change the game mechanics up just for the last boss" school of game design trickery, so the ending left me more annoyed than pleased or accomplished. It's a neat idea but it loses impact after you've stacked several other challenging parts on top of one another just before.

That being said the game does deliver some stunning set pieces and even for someone as uncoordinated as me pulling off a stage with an S Rank, specially later in the game, felt very rewarding. Overall I like what the game did to spice up rhythm games, though I'm not good enough to keep playing past the ending. I'd still say go for it if you like rhythm games. There's something you might find appealing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on November 28, 2016, 02:30:17 AM
I beat Ace Attorney 2: Justice for All via the Trilogy. That final case is amazing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 29, 2016, 11:23:00 AM
Okay this ain't even a review, just gonna vent. Rayman for PS1, let's go.
(http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/user_screenshots/saves18/182516/PLAYSTATION--Rayman_Nov19%2016_48_07.png)
So for a 1995 platformer this all looks pretty great right? Colourful, the animation is supersmooth mostly too. Soundtrack is decent, sound effects less so. However presentation only gets you so far. See all those spikes? That's Rayman for ya.

So this game definitely credits several people as "tests" (?) in the end-credits. Not sure what they tested but it sure wasn't playability. It controls alright~ish, if a bit finnicky and sluggish which would be alright, were it not for the absolutely satanic level design.
This game does absolutely everything it can to willingly screw you over! Spike traps, off-screen death drops, enemies spawning behind you, invisible spikes, spikes with a longer hitbox than their sprite makes it seem. Some vital parts of the level can only be triggered by standing on specific spots (unmarked of course).

There's regular enemies who take 3+ hits, constantly duck under your punches, there's enemies too small to even hit at all, they all respawn constantly anyway. If they hit you, get out asap cos your invincibility frames are very short - there's one beetle in particular who can go straight to hell. He'll regularly drain your three-block healthbar. And then you can start a level all over, or maybe only halfway back if there's a checkpoint (way too few of them).

But why even have a healthbar if you're just gonna make almost everything a 1-hit kill? And of course your lum count resets everytime so good luck farming 100 of them for one measly extra life. Now, maybe I just suuuuuck hard at platformers, but I just cheesed the whole game with the 99-lives code which I used FOUR TIMES. That's 396 lives, almost all of which I lost!! Oh and of course it ends on a dissapointing bossfight where you don't even fight the actual bad guy, who's already barely characterised. Oh and just to put a cherry on top of it, you can't even get to the bossfight without 100%-ing all the levels! I was at like 40% max, so yelled a big loud swear at the TV and used another cheatcode to get there.

Rayman absolutely astounds me, because it became a big franchise right? For part two they literally built two full games (Tonic Trouble as a test and then Rayman 2). That's cool and all but who in their right mind played this and thought "yeah this needs a big-budget full 3D sequel! It'll be our new mascot!"
Sure Rayman 1 is gorgeous, but that's literally it's only selling-point. Maybe it just sold stupidly well or something? Look, I like Michel Ancel's work a lot and future Rayman games were much better, but this game was absolutely screaming for an Easy Mode or something.

Rating: Rayman is the biggest proof I've ever seen how 1 aspect (difficulty) can utterly destroy almost any merit an otherwise fine~ish game has. Recommended to absolutely nobody, watch it on YouTube if you must. 2.5/10 solely for the visuals.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 29, 2016, 12:18:59 PM
Okay this ain't even a review, just gonna vent. Rayman for PS1, let's go. ...


Fully agree.
I remember playing through this game on GBA at launch. Want to know how to make a bad platformer even worse? Stick it on a tiny, poorly lit screen and downgrade the (originally, pretty decent) music.


That said, I'm glad the series didn't die out after that first bad entry. Rayman Origins is pretty awesome.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 29, 2016, 12:37:25 PM
Fully agree.
I remember playing through this game on GBA at launch. Want to know how to make a bad platformer even worse? Stick it on a tiny, poorly lit screen and downgrade the (originally, pretty decent) music.


That said, I'm glad the series didn't die out after that first bad entry. Rayman Origins is pretty awesome.

Yikes that sounds even worse... I think there's another handheld version which is meant to be better, maybe GBC?
And yeah I hope this didn't come off too negative, but it was probably the most frustrating experience I've ever had with a game? I've enjoyed Rayman 3 and Origins in the past and am technically 1 level into Legends already, but this really kinda soured me on the character for now. Will continue with Legends soon though to remind me how good the franchise can be when handled well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on December 05, 2016, 10:54:48 AM
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations (3DS)

I finally did it. Officially 38 hours on Birthright, 34 on Conquest and 33 on Revelations. 105 hours for someone who doesn't have the time as he used to have is crazy. My complete playthrough off all games went from March until yesterday.

Revelations felt more like a victory lap than anything else for me. I had plenty of chances to level up the numerous characters I kept getting with every chapter. Even then I couldn't keep up. I tried marrying everyone, making sure to mix up the royal houses liberally. I rolled up to the last chapters with a pretty good, slightly over-leveled powerhouse team. It meant that the final battle wasn't overly difficult, but it still provided a fair challenge. I don't want to comment to much about the story because it never really strayed the normal tropes of the series. Some story beats seemingly came out of nowhere (Gunter's revenge story, for instance) and therefore felt clumsy and not properly fleshed out.

I loved Fire Emblem Fates. I love all Fire Emblem games. It's a formula that is fairly entrenched in me. I've said before that I have an irrational love with the series and therefore my opinions on the series have to be taken with a huge grain of salt. I don't expect everyone to play all three games, but having a full year with my favorite series was a real highlight.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 06, 2016, 12:01:37 PM
There's still a lot of stuff left, but I hit the credits of Picross 3D: Round 2. This game is my 2016 game of the year. I never would have guessed this, but 3D picross may be the perfect video game puzzle, and is amazingly addictive. The tweaks for this version from the original add good depth and make the things you're chiseling away actually look somewhat like they're supposed to look. My only real complaint is that the controls are fairly clunky, and I was still tripping over them until the end. I'm not sure there was a great way to fix that, but it's still kind of annoying.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 06, 2017, 09:03:48 AM
The holiday season hasn't been particularly good. Not horrible, but busy in a way that simply hasn't been enjoyable or fulfilling.  But I did manage to play video games for 3 or 4 hours, which was enough to see the credits of And Yet It Moves (WiiWare).


So this was one of those indie titles that generated some buzz many years ago and has since been almost totally forgotten. It's also a game where the WiiWare version is likely the definitive version.


The goal is simple: get your little man to the end of the level. What makes the game interesting are the controls. Using your Wii remote as an NES-style controller, you can run and jump like in many platform games - but the novelty is being able to push the 1 button, pause all movement, and rotate the controller until you have a new screen orientation that suits you better. Ceilings become floors and vice versa, but in the WiiWare version you can also stop rotation at any point you desire (unlike the strict 90-degree rotations of the original release). All momentum you might have had prior to spinning the world is carried over, which can be dangerous or benefiical depending on what you are trying to do.


Did I like the game?  Yes, or else I would write so much about it. The design is interesting and it was enjoyable to play through to the end credits. The main game is quite short, and the difficulty low enough that you will always make steady progress towards that goal, but the game doesn't end there. A list of achievements encourages you to try new things, extra levels get unlocked for you to explore, while time trials urge you to revisit levels looking for short-cuts and efficiencies (if that's your thing). There are other modes also, although I haven't explored them yet.


Nothing here is going to blow you away, but it's a pleasant experience and offers plenty of content. Anyone interested in physics-based platformers would do well to check this game out - either on WiiWare or via other platforms.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on January 06, 2017, 11:23:11 AM
I finally finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.  After Chapter 3 I had to bump down the difficulty to Easy, and after another particularly tough boss fight the game almost wanted me to go full on casual. But I held steadfast, and even with DLC grinding I still had a tough final boss that lasted just over an hour. I finished all the side missions and feel satisfied by the conclusion. It's honestly a great game and a nice time capsule of a time and place for me. I know there will probably never be another game like this so I'm extra glad I got to play through it, even if it was a bit aggravating at times.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 06, 2017, 06:30:37 PM
I finally finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE.  After Chapter 3 I had to bump down the difficulty to Easy, and after another particularly tough boss fight the game almost wanted me to go full on casual.

Nice, congrats! Any chance you remember how many hours you ended up with? I'm currently just past chapter 3 and have already lost so many battles/bosses the game unlocked "Friendly" mode for me and suggested to continue on that haha. I have zero shame about it though and I'm having more fun now; really like how the game constantly tells you stuff up front like what level you should be, whether something is a request or longer sidestory etc. Feels like it has more respect for the player's time than many RPGs do.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on January 08, 2017, 12:26:48 AM
As a masochist (A.K.A. someone who likes his JRPG difficulty right around "SMT Hard Mode"), I'm surprised to see people having so much trouble with Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I will admit that the chapter 3 boss is pretty difficult and requires some heavy planning in order to pull off in Hard mode, but after that, the game opens up a great deal in terms of Session and strategy design.

Either way, I'm glad to hear people got through to the end of it, no matter the difficulty. It's just such an amazingly joyous game to behold and it's unlikely we'll ever get another like it.

I finished off The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD today in preparation for Breath of the Wild, and being the first time I've ever fought the final boss (I've played up until the final dungeon on GCN), I was a bit underwhelmed. I went in prepped with three fairy bottles and I found the next-to-last boss (Puppet Ganon) more difficult, if only because the method of damaging him wasn't as clear. While the Twilight Princess Ganondorf battle isn't really difficult itself, it at least has a very powerful soundtrack and lots of variety in how you are meant to approach him- in Wind Waker, it's pretty obvious by the end of the game that the combat system is pretty weak, turning even Darknut battles into a bit of a joke, but I just hacked away at Ganondorf unless Zelda told me otherwise and, hey, I won.

Wind Waker does a lot of daring things in terms of aesthetics, travel, and setting, but it's everywhere else that the game lacks substance. Many sidequests are tedious even when factoring in the improved travel, and the dungeon design is very uninspired, with only the first two (and Forsaken Fortress) offering much of interest. Despite this, the game leans heavily on its charm and that's the big selling point, although I'd argue that sailing is more fun and rewarding in the eventual sequel, Phantom Hourglass.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on January 08, 2017, 10:31:45 AM
I ended up with about 45 hours total. The first 3 chapters on Normal and the remaining on Easy. Completed all the side-quests and did additional grinding in the DLC dungeons. I do agree that the game respects your time, although there were two times where I forgot to save and lost a considerable amount of progress. So I guess I'm closer to 50 hours if you count the progress lost. I guess I'm just too used to autosave at this point in my life. I also don't think I can put more than 50 hours in a single-player story game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 08, 2017, 02:29:05 PM
As a masochist (A.K.A. someone who likes his JRPG difficulty right around "SMT Hard Mode"), I'm surprised to see people having so much trouble with Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I will admit that the chapter 3 boss is pretty difficult and requires some heavy planning in order to pull off in Hard mode, but after that, the game opens up a great deal in terms of Session and strategy design.Either way, I'm glad to hear people got through to the end of it, no matter the difficulty. It's just such an amazingly joyous game to behold and it's unlikely we'll ever get another like it.


Can't speak for everyone here of course, but perhaps Tokyo Mirage found an audience slightly outside of the usual SMT games? I've certainly never played any of those, but Tokyo Mirage looked so bizarre and "nobody will make something like this ever again" that I wanted to give it a shot.
I'm pretty bad at games in general though, so no surprise to see that occur in quite a complex RPG too.


I ended up with about 45 hours total. The first 3 chapters on Normal and the remaining on Easy. Completed all the side-quests and did additional grinding in the DLC dungeons. I do agree that the game respects your time, although there were two times where I forgot to save and lost a considerable amount of progress. So I guess I'm closer to 50 hours if you count the progress lost. I guess I'm just too used to autosave at this point in my life. I also don't think I can put more than 50 hours in a single-player story game.


Oh nice, that's reassuring! I'm at like 25~ hours I think and while it is a fun experience I wouldn't want to do it for another 75. So knowing I'm roughly halfway there is nice to know, thanks! :) Totally agree that spending upwards of 50 hours on a single game is pretty ludicrous. I know people like long games like Skyrim, Fallout etc. but that's not something I can understand entirely. Much prefer my games to be 10 hours max, I mean that's an entire season of a Netflix show.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on January 10, 2017, 02:58:20 PM
Super Metroid (SNES)
Awesome game. Had never really given it a serious go until a couple of weeks ago. Took 10 hours exactly (according to game timer) to finish with 80% completion - missing 2 reserve tanks and a bunch of middle upgrades. Ending is very cool but pretty predictable. For being nearly 24 years old, this game really holds up today. Makes me want to go back and finish Metroid Fusion and Metroid 2.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 17, 2017, 01:42:41 PM
Finished up Blek (on Wii U).

(http://browsertales.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/blek_puzzle_app_complete_walkthrough.jpg)

So this is a touch-controlled puzzlegame about handwriting that moved over to Wii U from iOS it looks like.
What you do is draw a black line (as seen above) that needs to touch all the coloured dots, but none of the black ones.

Where it gets tough is, you can't just draw one long line that touches all the dots and be done with it. Instead, as soon as the line touches the first dot or you let go of the stylus, the line you've drawn will repeat itself. Ultimately you can make some very complex movements that repeat each other several times. Pretty charming because it makes you feel like you have a very elegant handwriting, and seeing it replicated exactly has something appealing to it.
Presentation in general is great, smoothly fading in visuals with appropriate sound effects and charming voice samples whenever you mess up. You should really see this in motion, it's quite soothing.

At 60 levels this has a lot of content, but I have quite a few nitpicks. The difficulty really skyrockets around level 40 into incredibly precise and complex stuff. There's no level-skip or hint system, and since there's no easy way to go to a previous level you liked (you can only go back one level at a time, there's no level select), you can really easily hit a brick wall.

It also outright doesn't explain much; there's a way to draw two exact circles that turn into warp portals, but it's never explained. Found that out by looking at a youtube walkthrough for when I messed up a level for the 20th time. That and the difficulty ramp combined made the last 10 levels into a real chore for me, spent a lot of time trying to replicate youtube walkthroughs but not quite managing.

Overall, Blek is a neat lil' game going for 5 or 6 bucks I think. Is it more suitable for phones or perhaps 3DS? Possibly yeah, but the Wii U version is competently put together and plays well for the most part. The lack of a level select or a way to skip too hard levels really hurts it however. Maybe I'm just too dumb for these puzzles, but it really undermined the amount of fun I was having. Rating: 6.5/10



Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on January 17, 2017, 10:33:13 PM
BOX BOX BOY! (Nintendo 3DS)

With the recent announcement of BOX BOX BOX BOX BOX BOX BYE, I decided to finish off the bonus puzzles from the first BOX BOY! and move on to the sequel. I actually almost wish I had held off on those bonus puzzles from the first game, seeing as the last world pretty much introduces the mechanic of the sequel.

Anyway, what else is there to say about this monochromatic puzzler? Not much, honestly. It's pretty straightforward, and the difficulty of the puzzles really doesn't ramp up until you get to the post-game. I found this especially true in the first title, although I pretty much just powered through the sequel without many problems. I found most of the crowns to be quite easy to get in BOX BOX BOY!, mostly because of the absurdly high box limits they place on the majority of levels. There's tons of ways to be economic with you box placement, so I rarely had any trouble.

I know many people are a fan of the simplistic presentation and how it has dictated the puzzle design, but I find both titles pretty bland and I could really only play them in short bursts. Likewise, my main issue with the games are how they treat free-floating blocks and positioning- if you want it to be primarily block- and/or grid-based, why are there a number of puzzles that I felt I "cheated" because I put a block at an awkward halfway point? It kind of directly conflicts with the snapping mechanic that happens when Qbby hooks a ledge or creates two blocks vertically next to him. I don't know if others exploited this system, but I was confused as to whether it is supposed to be exploited.

The redeeming part of BOX BOX BOY! was actually the new shop item available for purchase- the comics! They're absolutely adorable and give a lot of charm to the characters, and while it is pretty much a straightforward puzzle game, I wish you saw more of the humor fond in those illustrations within the actual game. I could see a Ms. Pac Man-ish sort of intermission in between worlds to accentuate this. Anyway, both BOX BOY games are cute and never test your patience too much especially thanks to their really redeemable checkpoint system, but neither is a game that I think I'll return to in the future, and that's colored my opinion of them a great deal. While a lot of eShop games are designed to be played through once, there's a number that are much more satisfying because I can see myself going back to them, and BOX BOY just doesn't cut it. I'm not sure if this will color my opinions on whether or not I purchase the final game in the BOXY BOY trilogy.

7/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on January 19, 2017, 07:10:48 PM
SteamWorld Heist (Wii U)

Holy cow this game is really really good. I think I've discovered a personal pattern in which if I have a great, fun final boss fight, I can almost forgive any criticism of the game. This game definitely fits that bill. The early rounds are a bit of a struggle as you try and power through with low level characters and inferior weapons. But as you get your bearings the missions become more and more fun, and there's a certain level of strategy required for the boss battles. The final one was something special because once the process of beating it clicked, I was able to cooly create and execute a plan almost to perfection. It definitely left a good impression.

Now I'm going back and wrecking shop through the earlier levels to get all rep stars and complete all the challenge missions. This game is thoroughly enjoyable and I look forward to the next Switch game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 30, 2017, 08:24:57 AM
Drill Dozer (GBA) - This game has a certain amount of quiet hype behind it. Developed by Game Freak, this game released pretty late in the GBA lifespan - well after the DS was available. Drill Dozer reviewed pretty well but didn't seem to sell many units, and is now often listed as a hidden gem for GBA.


So what did I think about the game? Well.... it definitely looks good. Graphics have a lot of charm and it feels like they really knew how to get good mileage out of the GBA hardware. Controls are tight and feel good, which is crucial because each level is quite long and would start to drag if the movement and pacing didn't feel good. Enemies and boss fights are creative enough and have some interesting patterns, although could have used a little more difficulty (or at least less hand-holding).


Despite many positives, I'm not sure that I enjoyed the game. It never really drew me in, either due to story or gameplay, and I could have easily set it down and just quit without feeling any regret. So despite being a technically solid release, it's hard to recommend.
 :-\
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: rygar on January 30, 2017, 11:31:29 AM
Drill Dozer (GBA) - This game has a certain amount of quiet hype behind it...Despite many positives, I'm not sure that I enjoyed the game. It never really drew me in, either due to story or gameplay, and I could have easily set it down and just quit without feeling any regret. So despite being a technically solid release, it's hard to recommend.
 :-\

Interesting, I agree on the hype part, I feel like I've heard the game referenced quite a bit on the NWR podcasts, but I didn't know it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 30, 2017, 01:11:11 PM
Drill Dozer (GBA) - This game has a certain amount of quiet hype behind it...Despite many positives, I'm not sure that I enjoyed the game. It never really drew me in, either due to story or gameplay, and I could have easily set it down and just quit without feeling any regret. So despite being a technically solid release, it's hard to recommend.
 :-\

Interesting, I agree on the hype part, I feel like I've heard the game referenced quite a bit on the NWR podcasts, but I didn't know it.


I feel like that verdict is too harsh because the game doesn't really do anything wrong. It's a solid game that seems to accomplish what it wants to do. But it just never felt compelling. There are a bunch of secret areas that opened up to explore now, but that's just not going to happen due to lack of interest.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 30, 2017, 03:56:07 PM
Wrapped up Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE too, with the true ending too, I think?.
Don't really feel like writing much since a lot has been said about this already, but yeah it totally won me over. I think the game does suffer a bit from an unappealing first dungeon, and I ditched the first two partymembers ASAP because they were a bit annoying initially.

That said however, this is a superb RPG really. Fantastic battle system that can get very complicated on higher difficulty settings (I lost so many times in a row to one boss the game unlocked the 'Friendly' mode for me haha). Vibrant setting, pretty catchy tunes, and it doesn't waste your time too much. Before every bossfight it gives you a recommended level to be at, you can fast-travel around right from the start, the Gamepad neatly keeps track of all your important main and sidequests, maps etc...

All that convenience stuff goes a long way for me, finished it after 48.5 hours with all major sidequests done. Playing it early on I thought this would be a typical 7 out of 10 good, not great game. But past the halfway point they suddenly give it another shot in the arm, and once you can reliably dole out 6-move sessions the battles become a lot more manageable. Really really loved it, straight to my Wii U top 3; I never replay RPGs, ever, and yet...Maybe... Rating 9/10!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on January 30, 2017, 04:32:13 PM
Glad you stuck with it, Steef!

I'm always on the fence with Game Freak's non-Pokemon stuff. I will admit I was quite enamored with the demo for Pocket Card Jockey, but I still haven't gotten around to picking up the full title. While I enjoyed HarmoKnight, I wasn't all that pleased with its inclusion of levels that change tempo in the middle of the game and I think the ranking system is way too punishing for the boss fights.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on January 30, 2017, 06:26:50 PM
Drill Dozer (GBA) - This game has a certain amount of quiet hype behind it...Despite many positives, I'm not sure that I enjoyed the game. It never really drew me in, either due to story or gameplay, and I could have easily set it down and just quit without feeling any regret. So despite being a technically solid release, it's hard to recommend.
 :-\

Interesting, I agree on the hype part, I feel like I've heard the game referenced quite a bit on the NWR podcasts, but I didn't know it.


I feel like that verdict is too harsh because the game doesn't really do anything wrong. It's a solid game that seems to accomplish what it wants to do. But it just never felt compelling. There are a bunch of secret areas that opened up to explore now, but that's just not going to happen due to lack of interest.

I agree with you. I remember when Drill Dozer came out as sort of a swan song for the GBA. It got a lot of high praise at that time so I was quite excited to pick up a copy and play it. Unfortunately, maybe it was too hyped up or was expecting something a bit different but it never really clicked with me. It wasn't frustrating or broken nor was there anything technically wrong with it per say. It wasn't that compelling either. I guess it was good enough that I finished it all as well but I have a hard time remembering anything about the game. I think it had a low difficulty which could be one reason for it not being memorable. Although it tried to put forth an interesting cast of characters and create a new IP, I remember nothing about them aside from Jill being a thief and maybe battling the police a few times in boss battles. I kept waiting for the game to give me a reason to love it but it just never seemed to come. I always forget I've even played it or owned it unless it gets mentioned by someone or is referenced in an article.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on January 30, 2017, 06:36:13 PM
Anyway, what else is there to say about this monochromatic puzzler? Not much, honestly. It's pretty straightforward, and the difficulty of the puzzles really doesn't ramp up until you get to the post-game. I found this especially true in the first title, although I pretty much just powered through the sequel without many problems. I found most of the crowns to be quite easy to get in BOX BOX BOY!, mostly because of the absurdly high box limits they place on the majority of levels. There's tons of ways to be economic with you box placement, so I rarely had any trouble.

I know many people are a fan of the simplistic presentation and how it has dictated the puzzle design, but I find both titles pretty bland and I could really only play them in short bursts. Likewise, my main issue with the games are how they treat free-floating blocks and positioning- if you want it to be primarily block- and/or grid-based, why are there a number of puzzles that I felt I "cheated" because I put a block at an awkward halfway point? It kind of directly conflicts with the snapping mechanic that happens when Qbby hooks a ledge or creates two blocks vertically next to him. I don't know if others exploited this system, but I was confused as to whether it is supposed to be exploited.

Also agree with a lot of this. After hearing so much about BOXBOY both when it came out and then with its sequel, I finally got around to purchasing the first game. While I appreciate the minimalist look in providing something different from other games, that minimalism seems to work against the game after awhile and I'd tire of the game after awhile. Short bursts is all I could do as well. It has some tricky sections but much of the game is pretty simple and the end result is I haven't felt that interested in picking up the sequel after playing the first game. Now there's a 3rd game and potential game cartridge copy of all 3 games coming but I'm just not sure if I'd even want to play more of it. It's a real push and pull of a sudden hard puzzle to solve into easy progress for awhile and back again all while having a mostly unstimulating interface. Yet, he dances at the end of a level. He dances.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on January 30, 2017, 09:13:46 PM
Oh, how he dances.

I'm having a crisis of faith because I want a Qbby Amiibo so bad, but I don't think I necessarily care enough for the series to get a third BOX BOX BOX BOY BOY BOY title. I mean, I guess Qbby is more popular than, say, Mallo from the Pushmo series, even though I hold that series in much higher regard.

Now I want a Mallo Amiibo.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on January 30, 2017, 10:15:59 PM
That's strange. If I had to choose over which character I like more, I'd choose Qbby over Mallo also even though I like the 'Mo series more than BoxBoy. I wonder why that is. The only things I can think of are that Qbby has a bigger stakes story compared to Mallo and that Qbby just has a bit of a better design which can be changed up with costumes for different looks while Mallo... has a weird squiggly face that you can't really place as anything. His look and face are harder to identify keeping one at a distance from embracing him where as a dancing box with eyes is easier to warm up to. That's the best I can come up with.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on January 30, 2017, 11:24:43 PM
Drill Dozer (GBA) - This game has a certain amount of quiet hype behind it...Despite many positives, I'm not sure that I enjoyed the game. It never really drew me in, either due to story or gameplay, and I could have easily set it down and just quit without feeling any regret. So despite being a technically solid release, it's hard to recommend.
 :-\

Interesting, I agree on the hype part, I feel like I've heard the game referenced quite a bit on the NWR podcasts, but I didn't know it.


I feel like that verdict is too harsh because the game doesn't really do anything wrong. It's a solid game that seems to accomplish what it wants to do. But it just never felt compelling. There are a bunch of secret areas that opened up to explore now, but that's just not going to happen due to lack of interest.

I agree with you. I remember when Drill Dozer came out as sort of a swan song for the GBA. It got a lot of high praise at that time so I was quite excited to pick up a copy and play it. Unfortunately, maybe it was too hyped up or was expecting something a bit different but it never really clicked with me. It wasn't frustrating or broken nor was there anything technically wrong with it per say. It wasn't that compelling either. I guess it was good enough that I finished it all as well but I have a hard time remembering anything about the game. I think it had a low difficulty which could be one reason for it not being memorable. Although it tried to put forth an interesting cast of characters and create a new IP, I remember nothing about them aside from Jill being a thief and maybe battling the police a few times in boss battles. I kept waiting for the game to give me a reason to love it but it just never seemed to come. I always forget I've even played it or owned it unless it gets mentioned by someone or is referenced in an article.


My big issue with Drill Dozer is the game just plays too slow, which combined with the easy difficulty makes the game feel like a slog at times.  Now I actually 100% the game and some of the later hidden challenges are pretty difficult and a lot more engaging so I would heavily recommend anyone who's actually gotten that far in the game to at least try them since it's by far better then the rest of the game.

But yeah I can't blame people from being put off since the first 75% isn't the most engaging experience in the world.  Which is too bad since the last 25% is actually great.


Of course I must add that the thing that drove me crazy was how every time you get the 3rd Gear in the levels the music would change to the short and repetitive main theme for the rest of the stage which was bullshit since many of these levels started with great themes that were unique to each one, only to be ruined by the annoying main theme you'd have to here for the second half of them.  Seriously, who the hell thought this was a good idea?  It'd be like every time you got to the mid-point in a Mario game, you now have to hear the Invincibility theme play for the entire second half, replacing the much better and longer theme of the level with an much shorter and repetitive one that wears out it's welcome in the first 2 hours since it keeps playing in every single level.  The **** it's one of the most annoying music related choices I've ever heard in a videogame.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on January 30, 2017, 11:27:26 PM
That's the thing, Mallo is so oddly proportioned and lacking in character. I wish there was more to him. He needs that Fire-Emblem-Awakening sort of character redesign/reboot that Intelligent Systems seems to be so fond of.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on February 02, 2017, 03:40:54 PM
Last month, I got back into Lego City Undercover. Since my old file wasn't very far into the game relatively speaking, I started from the beginning in order to refresh myself on the story. I'm glad they didn't use another licence for this game besides Lego, because it allowed them to come up with their own story and do whatever they wanted instead of just retelling something familiar with Lego figures, which isn't very interesting to me. The writing can be funny at times, but can also fall very flat, but I'd still rather have them try too hard than be bland. There are even some moments which felt like they were poking fun at video games and the sometimes ridiculous tasks in them, particularly in the mine level. Chase McCain is also more my kind of hero, he doesn't have super powers and instead relies on his wits (or lack thereof...) to get the job done, and even gets beat up now and then.

The gameplay is just as shallow as other Lego games, with the combat perhaps being even moreso. The increased focus on exploration and discovery helps make up for this, so it's still fun. Therefore, I enjoyed the city more than the missions, though they did still have their moments, often related to the story. I never did much exploration in the city until later, because I would often stumble across tasks that required disguises I didn't yet have. I waited until after completing the story and obtaining all abilities before I began tackling the city. In the beginning, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for 100%, but they tried to make it as easy to manage as possible by separating the city into districts, as well as using the scanner to find objectives, so I appreciated the interface. I still ended up using an FAQ to find a few things, most notably a couple of the objects that are scattered around the entire city and therefore have no clues to their locations.

Overall, I'd give it a solid 8/10. Gameplay is the main thing that could be improved, as well as adding in co-op. If the Switch version has co-op, that would be the only thing which would tempt me to buy this game again. There are also performance issues, which include chuggy framerates and objectives sometimes glitching out, but it's no big deal. The couple of crashes did make me have to sit through the startup loading times when booting up again though...!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 03, 2017, 07:47:20 AM
Last month, I got back into Lego City Undercover. ... The couple of crashes did make me have to sit through the startup loading times when booting up again though...!


We are also playing this game (again) around here and slowly creeping towards the 100% mark.  Just under 90% at the moment if I recall correctly... but it's been rising pretty rapidly.  One thing I'm not keen on is going back into missions to collect missed stuff there - I seem to recall that some missions had hidden collectibles that required costumes you hadn't unlocked yet, which seems like a pretty bogus way to create "replay value".


However, we are enjoying going through the city and cleaning up all kinds of little things we missed previously. As Mop It Up said, it really helps to have the scanner and any cheats for your map that help point out where you need to go. Otherwise there is no way we'd keep plugging away at the percentages (although my kids still like just exploring the world even without any specific goal in mind).


Would love to see this in a multiplayer mode, but they might have to improve how some stuff is handled in the overworld to make it work. I'm thinking about car chases, etc, where the game essentially stops and loads up a special scenario for you to do. Not sure how that would work unless you forced both players to take part any time one of those actions is started?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on February 04, 2017, 01:52:19 PM
Every mission has something that requires an ability you don't yet have, even the final one, so you can never 100% a level on your first trip. I didn't mind it so much, it's kind of like how 3D Mario levels sometimes have a task you can't complete until you unlock some ability or powerup. I just waited until I had every disguise and ability before going back to replay the missions.

Co-op could be tricky yeah, but I think it's doable and would be a worthwhile inclusion, even if it ended up being a bit clunky. The only thing which would tempt me to buy the game again on Switch is if they added co-op.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 05, 2017, 12:08:13 AM
Resident Evil 7 (PC):

Spoilers!

Well, I finished this up quicker than I expected at a hair over eight hours, as it turns out I was halfway done when I wrote up my impressions.

And the game did not get any better from there; in fact, it got worse! The two final areas, a derelict ship and a derelict mine, are extremely bland, making the ho-hum house complex seem creative by comparison. And the mine is just a big monster closet, stuffed full of the same creatures (and slight variants) you've been fighting the whole game, which aren't good in the first place. Plus, as I learned early on, you can quite easily run past almost all enemies.

I was actually surprised when the end came, as the final boss is extremely underwhelming and easy (although the whole game is, really). I had a grenade launcher and magnum that I never actually used because I was saving them for when things got tight, but they were never remotely necessary. And the game is so scripted that I have zero interest in playing again on a decently challenging mode.

Overall, I'm kind of baffled at how positive a reception this is getting. I guess it's not as bankrupt as 5, but I am strapped to think of anything positive to say about it. I'd give it a 5/10 for being functional.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on February 05, 2017, 02:03:14 PM
Enter the Gungeon.

It's quite hard and I enjoy this a lot more than any variant of Binding of Issac which at this point feels obsolete compared to newer, better games.

The only real compliant I have is that item drops is a little too random as in it is almost absolutely so. You can have runs where you are loaded down with guns but that means you don't have the stat boosts like things as simple as having more health or status modifiers which enhance guns functionality. This results in some very uneven difficulty.

That said I appreciate that they are willing to let the dice roll as they happen with only a few nudges here and there, trusting in the player to make do.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on February 07, 2017, 12:08:20 PM
I "beat" Gravity Rush 2 (PS4).  I sort of played straight through the story mission beats rather than completing the side missions, which I'm finding myself regretting at this point as I go back to play through them all, because 1) they provide some side context to what you're doing in the main story, and 2) provide currency important to upgrading abilities, which could have been helpful in some boss battles & sequences I really struggled with earlier in game.


For anyone who has played the vita game or the remaster, the graphical improvement and size of the world will be jarring in comparison.  The world is so much larger in scale than before, both in land mass and distance between some of the land masses.  Additionally, they've added a bit more of layering to some of the newer areas, meaning there'll be veritcality to how you need to travel from place to place.


Enemies are a little more varied, which is appreciated.  The game has also included some variance on the combat with two different shiftable gravity styles beyond the standard - one which is more floaty and based on speed, and another which is like your character is weighed down but is a powerhouse.  You can shift between these and the standard combat style by different swipes on the PS4 touchpad, and it actually works surprisingly well.


Biggest hinderance to the game so far are the story missions.  It's clear they took note that the biggest gripe of the first game was the repetitiveness of the missions.  But some of the new missions include an over-reliance on stealth missions, which never play out very fun, and feel more like frustration when you're being limited in a game which the biggest joy playing it is when you're messing with gravity.  In some ways, it just seems like the devs came up with a neat concept to surround the gameplay around, but then couldn't think of inventive ways to twist gameplay in a way that didn't subtract from the fun of playing as this character.


Griping aside, I love the characters in the world, enjoy the story for what it is, and moving around in the world is still a joy.  While I beat the story proper, they've alluded to an epilogue that I won't delve into here at this time, I'm hoping it fills some story gaps I've had from the first game that I don't feel were addressed in the main story, especially if there's never another sequel in this series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 13, 2017, 10:38:42 PM
Xenoblade X


Finally, it's all over.

(https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69kEICOgWTFifsN)


I started in October and it took almost 4 months and over 270 hours, but I have conquered Mira.  I even made sure to beat all the optional Super Bosses as well since I wanted to make sure citizens of NLA have nothing to worry about.  Well until the eventual sequel at least.

Anyway, awesome game that I just couldn't put down.  Now I loved the first Xenoblade as well, and put over 130 hours in that with most side quest completed but didn't go all the way like with X.  I'd say the combat is what kept me going since I liked the battles more in this game then the first Xenoblade.  The amount of customization I kept going through with my main character kept things pretty fresh for me even after 200 hours in. 

The one negative I have is the Skell battles become kind of repetitive after a while.  One of the nice things about normal combat is all the different variety and options you have but then the Skells take away a lot of that.  I mean at first getting the Skells is awesome but after a while I wish they would have fleshed out their combat more.  Hopefully the eventual X2 sequels focuses more on improving the Skell combat so it's as fleshed out as the in person combat.



Now lets see if I can get through with smaller indie titles in my backlog before Breath of the Wild comes out since that's probably going to consume me for another 4 months after it's released.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 14, 2017, 12:32:58 AM
I'm impressed with XCX completionist files, and while I adore the game myself, it is one of those things that I will never 100% because of how non-transparent it is. I don't like sifting through wikias in order to progress through sidequests, and while I love the game, there's enough issues I have with some of its more absurd customization options and such that makes me feel that, at my already respectable 197 hour save file, I'm okay with walking away.

I completed Colony 6 in the original Xenoblade Chronicles and I've obtained an Ares 70 in XCX, those are the kinds of highlights that I can leave a game on. I will always appreciate both Xenoblade titles for the amount of detail, but the sidequests, to me, have always been something I can tackle if they are close to my narrative path. Finding a stranded girl in the middle of Oblivia and taking on her quests was worthwhile, to me. But XCX's design and continued reliance on gathering randomly generated field drops and low-percentage enemy drops is something I can't respect, and I don't feel like wasting my time for it. Unfortunately, XCX sort of relies on some of these types of quests in order to progress story and I don't like that.

If Monolith toned down their sidequest-padding/fetish just a bit and focused down on their character-driven sidequests (which are honestly some of my favorite parts of the game), they would be perfect. Hell, I still think they're perfect already since they dedicate themselves to interesting world design and immersion.

...I mean, who wants to talk about A Link to the Past?!

So I went full-ham and decided to do a 100% run of this game, which is definitely as time-consuming and intense as Xenoblade Chronicles X. Having played, but not completed, the game once before, I knew what I was doing going into the experience, and I admittedly had some help from one of my favorite 3DS games, A Link Between Worlds. I was surprised at how ambivalent I was upon completing the game. I really only found the design of a few dungeons to be all that impressive (Tower of Hera is always satisfying, and the Desert Palace has the neat mechanic of actually exiting the premises before going back in, and then dungeons 4 and 6 were really fun), while others were very frustrating because of how non-traditional they were. As I got further and further into the game, I respected how different a lot of these designs were, but just because they were different didn't necessarily make them fun. What was rewarding, however, were the bosses- with the exception of Moldorm. Lots of inventive ways of approach, yet the game never explicitly tells you how to exploit these bosses, and I managed to figure out a lot of their weaknesses all by myself.

There are a few moments in the game where ambiguous design and localization got the best of me. I went through pretty much the entire game not realizing that you could use the Pegasus Dash to knock apart piles of stones, and there's a few instances of hidden secrets that you really need to pay careful attention towards. However, the Magic Mirror environmental puzzles are really fantastic, and I feel that, if technology had allowed it, a dungeon that had you traveling back and forth between worlds in the way that you do on Death Mountain would have been the ultimate culmination of the mechanics of the game.

Speaking of the literal climax of A Link to the Past, however, I was underwhelmed by Ganon's Tower. While the design of the rooms was absolutely brutal itself, featuring a lot of rooms with Beamos and those mimic characters, as well as a nightmarish invisible flooring sequence, I steeled myself for the final battle upon reaching the top, and... just fought Agahnim again? And it's not all that difficult, either. And then you're given the freedom to stock up on Blue Potions before you finally fight Ganon. It doesn't feel all that exciting, and while later bosses in the franchise would be fought at the end of their respective dungeon, they also don't require some slightly secretive power-ups in order to defeat.

Ultimately, A Link to the Past feels like the opposite of XCX- a game where environmental cues are absolutely crucial and where everything means something. I was floored when I realized that undefeated tree outside the woodcutters' house turned out to be a secret passageway- but the fact that there's dialogue about its odd quality foreshadows this. It seems that the game was meant to be explored thoroughly many times over in order to find new things each time you completed a dungeon, and while its scale seems modest in this day and age, it's an impressive display of extremely dense world design that I hope Breath of the Wild doesn't skimp on, itself. While A Link to the Past is not my favorite in the series, I'm glad to say that I've completed it in full.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 14, 2017, 08:19:30 AM
Xenoblade X

Finally, it's all over.
...

Wow, nice job!

I had started the game, but set it down and never got around to picking it back up. Lack of story hurt in that regard - although I'm still excited to play after breaking down my backlog a little bit further.

...If Monolith toned down their sidequest-padding/fetish just a bit and focused down on their character-driven sidequests (which are honestly some of my favorite parts of the game), they would be perfect. ...

That would be awesome. I love the games for what they are, but agree that some of the side quests are pretty shallow.

Quote
...I mean, who wants to talk about A Link to the Past?! ...

Also awesome! When this game first came out, it blew away expectations of what adventures games should be. While the scope now seems limited now, the game world is still packed with interesting discoveries and layers.

Nice job to finish off this classic gem.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on February 14, 2017, 05:23:22 PM
That's some devotion to Xenoblade X. I didn't bother to 100% either Xenoblade game since there's far too much pointless busy work, but there's still plenty else to do in the game. Having a mountain of side stuff also gave me lots of opportunities to progress my characters at any point in the game, so I still liked the amount of content even if I didn't bother with a lot of it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 14, 2017, 10:38:33 PM
I'm impressed with XCX completionist files, and while I adore the game myself, it is one of those things that I will never 100% because of how non-transparent it is. I don't like sifting through wikias in order to progress through sidequests, and while I love the game, there's enough issues I have with some of its more absurd customization options and such that makes me feel that, at my already respectable 197 hour save file, I'm okay with walking away.

I completed Colony 6 in the original Xenoblade Chronicles and I've obtained an Ares 70 in XCX, those are the kinds of highlights that I can leave a game on. I will always appreciate both Xenoblade titles for the amount of detail, but the sidequests, to me, have always been something I can tackle if they are close to my narrative path. Finding a stranded girl in the middle of Oblivia and taking on her quests was worthwhile, to me. But XCX's design and continued reliance on gathering randomly generated field drops and low-percentage enemy drops is something I can't respect, and I don't feel like wasting my time for it. Unfortunately, XCX sort of relies on some of these types of quests in order to progress story and I don't like that.

Oh I agree with a lot of quest relying too much on random items which can be BS.  It didn't bother me too much since I actually spent the first 50 hours of the game pretty much just exploring Primordia, Noctilum and Oblivia on foot, since I was just blown away by the world and wanted to see more.  I also have an unhealthy obsession with constantly fighting enemies stronger then me just to see how strong my current team is.  I would usually see if I could take on enemies at least 10 levels higher then me and if I couldn't I would adjust my equipment, arts and skills and see if that would work. 

I didn't get my first Skell until over 60 hours into the game, and by that time, I was already insanely overleveled and had a **** ton of items already saved up so I was able to do many of the side quests when I started excepting them because I already had the required materials already.  I then tried to rush through the story as fast as I could before finally hitting the fetch quest wall to get the flying part for my Skell, which yeah became annoying.  It is rather funny though since I rushed through most of the story over-leveled but then I reached the final chapters and was underleveled since I stopped exploring and doing side quest because I was trying to finish the story.  The final boss was a real douche since I ended up being the same level as him with the rest of my team several levels lower.  It was pretty awesome though to discover some of the augments I had found from naturally exploring the game earlier ended up giving me the boast I needed after dying a few times since you can't go back to NLA at that section so I was desperately looking for whatever I could to win because I didn't want to restart the game and my earlier adventures are what gave me what I needed.

I actually planned on stopping after I beat the main story but after the plot twist at the end, I wanted to do some of the side quest at the end to see if any of them explain a little more about said twist.  Over the course of doing that I finished some Affinity Quest that helped explain more about the characters with some having some good stories to them which then made me obsessed with completing all of them.  So yeah I got addicted to learning more about the stories of each character and all the different races and lore of the world.  Because I was doing so many quests at once I found doing one usually ended up taking me in the area I needed to complete the other as well as I would usually end up accidentally getting the material I would need for a latter one.

So yeah even though I agree there was a lot of BS, the battle system and overall lore behind the game is what made me look past all that and eventually lead to an unhealthy obsession where I couldn't stop.

Wow, nice job!

I had started the game, but set it down and never got around to picking it back up. Lack of story hurt in that regard - although I'm still excited to play after breaking down my backlog a little bit further.

I agree the main story is weak but I feel Monolith Soft did a great job at the creating the setting and lore behind the game which is what made me want to keep going.  Quit a few of the side quest contain plots that are better then anything in the main story so it's worth getting back into if you really want to get engrossed in the world.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on February 17, 2017, 02:20:32 AM
Wow, there is a crazy person in this thread, but congratulations on 100% that game, something I haven't completed from burning out. If the game was a lot more focused I would have completed it even if I didn't 100% it. One day I will go back to it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 17, 2017, 02:39:21 AM
Yeah, that's a variety of impressive. The game is certainly set up to get you itching to clear all those hexagons, and I felt the call, but I just kind of flamed out on the game about 3/4s of the way through the main story. The mechs are fun to fly around in but I also found they made combat fairly dull and added another layer of equipment micromanagement that I really didn't want at that point of the game. I would have probably kept going to play out the affinity missions, but it's such a pain in the ass to manually assemble different teams in the city that I gave up on that too. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on February 17, 2017, 10:15:00 PM
Last night I was able to Platinum Titanfall 2 on PS4. The final trophy I needed was a gauntlet one where you have to run and shoot through an area with near perfect to beat a specific time. Took about 2 1/2 hours to get the run down to beat the time and get the Platinum

As for my thoughts, here they are in review form:
http://www.superphillipcentral.com/2017/02/titanfall-2-ps4-xb1-pc-review.html
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: stalfo on February 18, 2017, 11:02:09 AM
Lifespeed for the 3DS. The game looks great and runs super smooth, but the game just lacks an IT factor that made me want to keep going back. Ran through story mode and a championship series or two and was done with it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on February 23, 2017, 01:12:27 AM
So I just finished all the endings in 999 for the DS.  It's a pretty old game now but I only got it last year.  Getting the good ending requires getting a different ending first and those two endings only occur if you take a specific path.  The other endings, which are all "bad" ones, can all be reached multiple ways depending on how you do things.  There are numerous rooms you have to escape at different points and there are obvious junctions where you pick from several rooms.  So at first it's fairly easy to do another playthrough where you make sure to hit the rooms you've never played before and that will take you through three playthroughs.  You can fast-forward through dialog you've encountered before but you have to solve the puzzles of the rooms soon.  Each playthrough starts with the same room and you'll get very sick of it very quickly.

So I ended up using a walkthrough in the end to get the proper ending.  There are a couple rooms that only appear on the path to the true ending so when I encountered those I put the faq away and solved the puzzles myself.  I just used to faq to look up puzzles I already solved in previous playthroughs and to make sure that I made all the right decisions as you could easily steer the conversation in the wrong direction and get a bad ending.

I won't go into details but the ending is a little strange and I had to do some Googling to figure out exactly what was going on.  It has some twists that I honestly don't think anyone could guess ahead of time but that's kind of because they involve pseudo-scientific concepts.  You don't expect a story to suddenly present something like telepathy as a real thing, though it is cleverly written where you realize there were hints to it.

I enjoyed it a lot though as the repetition of repeated playthroughs is the only real downside as that becomes a little tedious.  I am now very interested in playing the sequel as I'm curious to see how the story connects to the first game.  Plus getting to play some new puzzles in the true ending after following a faq to repeat sections I already beat for a little while reminded me of how much I enjoy this gameplay the first time around and I'm now hungry for more.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 23, 2017, 08:09:08 AM
So I just finished all the endings in 999 for the DS.  ...

So I ended up using a walkthrough in the end to get the proper ending.  ... 


I am now very interested in playing the sequel as I'm curious to see how the story connects to the first game.  Plus getting to play some new puzzles in the true ending after following a faq to repeat sections I already beat for a little while reminded me of how much I enjoy this gameplay the first time around and I'm now hungry for more.


Nice job!


When playing the game, I also used a walkthrough after failing to stumble onto the "true ending" after several playthroughs. It diddn't seem like the game gave you any real clues about how to find the correct path - or if it did, the clues were too subtle for me to notice.


I think the first game had the best (and most insane) story, but there are significant improvements in gameplay with later titles in the series. The second game introduces a sort of conversation "map" so that you can jump into different threads of the game without having to replay from the beginning each time - a huge improvement. Definitely worth doing in my opinion.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 06, 2017, 05:45:35 AM
Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Steam):
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/92726196757538032/A71618458E44417B096D8093688A7749A160A2D3/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=877762190)
(https://abload.de/img/deathsknbhc.jpg)

The last secret is in my collection. I am at peace.

My second Isaac fever was finally subdued when 500+ hours after i started the game, i beat the last remaining challenge of Afterbirth+.

I took a break after religiously playing and completing old version (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.450) , but i knew i can't hold out for long. I was waiting for a sale and was watching youtube let's plays of the game on the side to prepare myself. Mainly northernlion and bisnap but also later started watching russian streamer neonomi who did Afterbirth 1001% in 40+ hours last summer.

Coinciding with me starting Rebirth+Afterbirth save file, these months there was also an explosion of sort of Isaac-related content, with both Antibirth and Afterbirth+ and it's mods coming out. It was very exciting times to both play and watch Isaac.


(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/108482634784973142/437E82B92AF21289E4CC8546118DC51DD73122B8/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=824606545)

I jumped into Afterbirth after Flash version so all the incremental changes that grew over 2 years since Rebirth dropped on me all at once: new 60fps engine, full proper controller support, fundamental changes to core gameplay, Afterbirth's tanky level 1 bosses, tricky enemies like blue leeches that catch you on your muscle memory of dodging to the side and may other things.

The biggest change from flash version to BoI: Rebirth and onwards is that health is now capped to 10. Now you can't hoard 30+ HP like in Eternal Edition and just mindlessly go ham on similarly overpowered tanky enemies not even bothering paying attention to damage you're taking: no matter the kind of hearts you have their total number can't exceed 10. This caps a limit on grinding you can do and makes the game more skill based.

Abundance of new items added over Flash version tips balance towards the player -- it's so much easier to become overpowered and outright "breaking the game" (any kinda combination to pry any number of items and resources from the game) is easier than ever. See "Binding of Isaac: Rebirth – Death of the Middle Class (https://justabluddyblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/binding-of-isaac-rebirth-the-case-of-the-missing-middle-class/)" article for a good explanation why Rebirth and all it's followup are kinda "broken" in comparison to original game.

Ditching flash in favour of new engine and proper analog movement support also help making the game less random. Low framerate and wonky gameplay made achievements like "beat level such and such without taking any damage" kinda of wash because it was largely a random happenstance rather than a display of your skill.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/92724032246240839/893E1A73422EFF0374E2E86A7D91D8C8DD7B34B4/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=858917180)

Rebirth made gameplay a lot tighter allowing for finer movement and dodging. To capitalize on that new precision they added a new character -- Lost that has no HP whatsoever and can't take damage period.

It was a bad idea. Binding of Isaac even if made less random is still not the kind of game that can sustain a character that dies in single hit. There are a LOT of teleporting/jumping enemies, enemies can spawn in right on top of you, suicide bomber enemies that spawn in and charge right away, enemies that can fire lasers from the other side of a screen or from OFF-SCREEN if you are in a big room -- hundreds of reasons how Lost can get hit and each of them ends the run.

Before starting playing Lost i never actually felt the need to restart my runs but with Lost you HAVE to do it to guarantee at least some semblance of survivability -- whether by finding or rerolling into powerful items that can stack on top of each other, boosting damage and then hoping you can kill enemies before they can hurt you. Or luck into getting three items out of 500+ random ones that allow to take SOME hits.

After reading the horror stories of Lost i decided on somewhat unorthodox playthrough to maybe make future Lost struggle easier.

Game gets harder after 4 Mom kills -- "Everything is terrible 1" event activates new enemies, bosses and room layouts. I decided to postpone it as late as possible. In a more natural progression "Everything is terrible 1" happens around hour 10. I managed to avoid it for 75 hours using a number of methods to skip Mom's heart boss and skip directly into Cathedral/Sheol. I even managed to unlock Lost during that time and beat Satan with him.

What finally forced me to finally break that barrier is that by random occurrence i turned into Blue Baby -- a character that otherwise unlocks way later (11 Mom kills while i still had just 3) and just couldn't pass on that chance to do some progress on that character way earlier than i am supposed to.

Funnily after activating "harder game" mode i barely noticed any difference so maybe it was all a waste of time...

But at least playing as Lost forced me play with a controller for finer analog movement after hundreds of hours of playing Binding of Isaac on a keyboard.

Other new characters are Lilith -- she can't shoot herself, but can command other familiar to shoot for her:(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/199676059307225817/12A1EFD94410BFD6159F56B8FC5FFF7D439246D2/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=794755335)

Afterbirth had a funny glitch/feature -- if you set game language to Korean, Lilith recharges her active item (which increases number of her familiars) much faster than she is supposed to which kinda breaks the game because you can create huge crowds -- firing squads that annihilate everything that way.

Trying to complete the game as fast as possible will require some planning ahead, especially with my roundabout way of avoiding Mom Heart kills. You should do the most useful challenges and characters unlocks first and that will raise the probability of these items appearing because item pools are still small-ish and not filled out with other, less useful unlocks.

On the other hand useless or outright detrimental unlocks should be done as laste as possible. That's why the very last challenge i did was Suicide King which unlocks a card that kills me (it has it's own uses but is actively bad in most cases for obvious reasons). You don't want this card or other "bad" unlocks to take space in your possible random drop selection and "pollute" it.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/92726196756802317/B88903D768766F86F600F8377F76AFDCF195DDA7/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=877581330)

Most of the in-game challenges are relatively easy and are just showcases for game's specific item combination gimmicks. However several challenges are extremely hard, like "Speed" challenge where entire game is sped up and you have to beat Mom in less than 15 minutes. It was brutal -- i remember having several close calls where i was literally 2 meters away from reaching the trophy and died because time ran out.

"Ultra Hard" is even harder and arguably the hardest challenge in the game where game doesn't drop hearts ever, you have all curses applied to you, all enemies are champions, and you have to reach the final final final boss of the game.

Greed and Greedier mode with some characters can also be very hard. After some getting used to and figuring out how to abuse room mechanics (Eve's Whore of Babylon, Judas' Book of Belial and Lilith's familiars so on) it becomes much easier. Characters that don't have room effect gimmick are harder. Keeper who is otherwise obnoxious to play as is suprisingly easy in Greed-ier modes but Cain, Blue Baby and especially Lost are brutal.

I had to resort to breaking the game to beat Greedier mode as Lost and Blue Baby. I was starting as Eve because she is the strongest from the start and was breaking the game and upgrading myself until i roll Missing Poster trinket which turns me into Lost.

Finding the last two items i was missing from my collection required breaking too -- i took 2 Steam Sales which reduced the prices of all items in shops to 0 and then just kept buying stuff until i stumbled into Mega Blast and Eden's Soul -- last Devil and Angel items i need to check on my collection page.

Afterbirth+ introduces new feature: Victory Runs and they help immensely with hard characters like Lost and especially Keeper. After completing the game game naturally you can restart it from the beginning with your end-game build and tear everything apart on early levels. You are overpowered from the start and will be fast enough to reach both Boss Rush and Hush in time quite easily. With some luck you can complete character's entire progression (both Angel and Devil line + The Void) in one go.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/92724293180435927/0E2C2E2544A7673F539A960643199A60522AF475/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=860767512)

Whew, what a ride. I have Switch Binding of Isaac cartridge pre-ordered, but i am not sure if i will have the power to do this all over again. But it will be cool to have a physical version with physical manual either way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on March 06, 2017, 02:26:02 PM
So I just finished all the endings in 999 for the DS.  ...

So I ended up using a walkthrough in the end to get the proper ending.  ... 


I am now very interested in playing the sequel as I'm curious to see how the story connects to the first game.  Plus getting to play some new puzzles in the true ending after following a faq to repeat sections I already beat for a little while reminded me of how much I enjoy this gameplay the first time around and I'm now hungry for more.


Nice job!


When playing the game, I also used a walkthrough after failing to stumble onto the "true ending" after several playthroughs. It diddn't seem like the game gave you any real clues about how to find the correct path - or if it did, the clues were too subtle for me to notice.


I think the first game had the best (and most insane) story, but there are significant improvements in gameplay with later titles in the series. The second game introduces a sort of conversation "map" so that you can jump into different threads of the game without having to replay from the beginning each time - a huge improvement. Definitely worth doing in my opinion.

I'm going to second those comments.  The sequel's mapping of the timeline is a fantastic addition.  I felt a little frustrated repeating certain elements in 999, and not having to do that again made a hell of a difference.  Still haven't played the 3rd one, but I bought it recently.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 06, 2017, 03:52:16 PM
I "beat" Gravity Rush 2 (PS4)

Currently half-way through the story missions. I hate anything having to do with stealth in this game. It seems contrary to Kat's purpose as a gravity shifter. I specially hate missions that have to trying to traverse entire sections of a map, only to fail and have to star the whole thing over again.

The game is visually stunning and a real showcase of the art direction and the PS4's graphical muscle. The Moon and Jupiter modes are and interesting wrinkle but I don't like the way they were presented (a series of interminable kill rooms meant to slowly ease you in to the mechanics, except you pretty much got them the first time around).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 08, 2017, 08:25:13 AM
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)

Great game. For anyone who hasn't played one of the Mario & Luigi series before, the series consists of cute and humorous RPGs set in the Mario universe. Battles are turn-based but allow you to dodge attacks (or do extra damage) by jumping or counter-attacking with hammers at the correct time. Gameplay is tight, but both very linerar and easy. Much of the value comes from humor and presentation instead of deep strategy (although the leveling up system does allow you some customization in where you put extra points).

Comments about this specific entry in the series? The writing and localization work is very entertaining, and does a great job of introducing new characters to the Mario universe (and Fawful makes appearances later, so is probably worth playing just for that bit of story background). Setting the game in the bean kingdom instead of the mushroom kingdom seems disappointing initially, gives lots of room for wacky story-telling and still feels familiar enough to be completely entertaining. There were a couple of odd moments where I needed to upgrade weapons to progress and didn't really know where to go without moderate wandering - in a game this linear, that felt awkward.

Highly recommended, even though I think that Bowser's Inside Story remains the pinnacle of the series.


Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (Wii U)

I've made my feelings about Tropical Freeze pretty well known in the "now playing" thread. To summarize, I'm not a fan. Game has way too many moments of pure platforming BS to be enjoyable, although it does look and sound very good.

Got this game as a Club Nintendo reward. Wish they would have sent out a soundtrack instead... but can't argue with free.


That's two games down in one day (although both have been in the works for a good while to get to this point). Guess that makes room to start playing Zelda next, and something on my PSP for the upcoming business trip. The Warriors maybe?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on March 13, 2017, 04:25:42 PM
I beat Ace Attorney 3 which means I just need to do the bonus case for Ace Attorney 1 to finish off the entire first Trilogy. The third game is overall a bit stronger than the second game but the second game's last case still stands as the strongest case in the series so far.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on March 13, 2017, 05:49:23 PM
I'm in agreement there. Game 2 Case 4 is really memorable and stays with you no matter how many other cases you encounter. The series has had a hard time topping it. Easily one of the top 3 cases.

The order of games I've played in the series has been AA4, AA1, AA2, AA3, Investigations, AA5, and most likely AA6 before I get around to PWvPL. I haven't played 6 yet but while I've enjoyed things in the games since AA2 I've found that it has been harder for the series to surprise me as it goes on or that it complicates things to its detriment. The final case in AA3 just seemed to go on and on. I get that it was a big finale for the series at that time and trying to really play on a lot that came before but I was so glad when it was over and the Fey storyline seemed to be over with.

If you keep on with the series, I'll be curious about your thoughts but to me it now seems to be in a bit of a rut and it is the offshoots like Investigations and The Great Ace Attorney that interest me more because there are more surprises they can hold by having more new and unknown characters and a bit different gameplay. I wish the series had the guts to have stuck with Apollo and crafting his world. Now they've jammed Apollo in with Phoenix and the series is trying to juggle this whole crew of characters to keep all fans happy while struggling to come up with new ways to build on the characters history. I think they should separate them or start retiring some of the characters.

However, as much as I'd like to get into hashing out the whole series, I don't want to hijack or do it in this thread nor do I have the time needed to get into it all so I'll leave it at that. Glad you are liking it but be forewarned that the series does seem to rely more on the charm of its cast than on amazing cases. (But I still think 4 is worth a play through because I'm a big fan of Apollo, Trucy and Ema Skye perhaps because they were my first introduction to the series but I've preferred them to Phoenix, Maya and Gumshoe.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on March 14, 2017, 11:39:11 PM
I pried myself away from the Switch long enough to finish Shantae Half-Genie Hero on Wii U last weekend. It's an ok game, I would say better than Risky's Revenge but nowhere near as good as Pirate's Curse. I only played the main game once but I think it's enough to make a good opinion of the game overall. The gameplay feels good and Shantae's usual array of powers always feel good. The level design feels a bit lack in the sense that you keep traversing old levels but there's very little that opens up from them. The boss battles also felt a little lacking. There's plenty here to keep you occupied if you love Shantae but if you only want to play one game in the series Pirate's Curse is still the best option.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on March 17, 2017, 10:24:30 AM
Huh. checking through this thread, I never mentioned my completed playthrough of Wild Arms in this thread! well, I have to rectify that!

First, the opening FMV, without commentary:



Oh gosh. <3 I soooooooooooooo wanna play Wild Arms EVERY TIME I watch that.

although, in a way, the intro is a bit misleading. what seems like it's leading up to some sort of Western inspired Anime adventure like Trigun (this game predates the anime, but not the manga), it actually sticks closer to more usual JRPG tropes than one would think. You'll encounter things like a princess and castles that house secrets beneath the castle, a lost and advanced civilization from 1000 years ago that plays a key role in the plights of today, Gemstone based macguffin, powerful monsters that lend the party their strength in the form of equipable stones, and the fuzzy and adorable JRPG mascot character! This is a world of swords and sorcery, there's just a couple of folks who choose to bring guns to a knife fight in this game.

By all accounts, this game SHOULD be a pretty bog standard 32-bit RPG. there's nothing particularly innovative about the battle system other than it uses very rudimentary polygonal graphics. It's turn based, you have one mage lady, one speedy swordsman guy, and one guy who's maybe a bit more defensive than the swordsman but has his powerful guns and tools he can use to level the playing field. besides maybe the mechanic of each of these 'tools' having individual ammo counts and the fact that in a twist on Final Fantasy 1's 'buy spells at shop' mechanic, the mage lady can basically learn any spell at any time in shops and dissolve spells she knows to make different ones, which means you should never have a situation where you don't have the right spells for a dungeon, although her most effective spells are the armor down and the speed down spells to cripple bosses and enemies.

The dungeon exploration is kinda cribbed a bit from Breath of Fire and The Legend of Zelda, where each character has a set of things they get that interact with the overworld, along with universal stuff like lifting crates and throwing them, a really neat dashing mechanic that works a little bit like mother 3's almost... the fact that the dungeons have more of a challenge to navigating them is part of what I find compelling here. some of these puzzles get obtuse and aren't well designed, but most of the time it's pretty intuitive to navigate the many ruins, castles, alien demon ships, ghost boat, caves, and libraries you'll be wandering around in this game. Sometimes they'll even split the party and have each one solving puzzles tailored to them and switching between one another to interact with puzzles in a lost vikings style. actually, that's how the game starts with each of them getting their own mini-campaign. it feels like the heroes of this game get equal billing most of the time. even if it is Rudy getting a lot of the top billing most of the time.

The story here isn't too overly complicated, thank goodness. It meanders at parts, given the heroes basically win the day, and then the game just keeps... going for a while until a new threat emerges... and this happens more than once. other than that, the characters are likable, the world is interesting enough, and the game doesn't suffer TOO bad from what has to be one of the most lauughable translations I've been subjected to in a while (there's a couple of instances where I had to do a double take on the names of things and how in the heck the translation team got from "Seig Zwei" to "Zeik Tuvai")

Regardless, this was enjoyable. I have Wild Arms 2 on my PS3, but that will have to wait for when I'm not drowning in Breath of the Wild (beat that game, but don't feel like doing a write-up) and other games. This wouldn't be a bad series for Sony Computer Entertainment to Dredge up. Media.Visions is still making games for Bandai Namco, so... i'm sure they wouldn't mind doing a Wild Arms project for the PS4!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 08, 2017, 06:39:51 PM
Runner 2 (Wii U)


Meh. It's not really my type of game, but I finished it without any real complaints... so I guess that's a recommendation?  Feels like a "love it or leave it" affair for most people though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on April 10, 2017, 09:06:44 PM
I remember being absolutely in love with Bit.Trip Runner when I first played it, and I must admit, I felt no sort of passion for Runner 2. While I never knock graphical capability, I think Runner is one series that should have kept its retro aesthetics.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 10, 2017, 10:04:15 PM
I remember being absolutely in love with Bit.Trip Runner when I first played it, and I must admit, I felt no sort of passion for Runner 2. While I never knock graphical capability, I think Runner is one series that should have kept its retro aesthetics.


I feel the same way - except that Runner was only middle-of-the-pack from the first series of Bit.Trip games for me.


(Runner 2 is still really good; it just doesn't hit the right buttons to appeal to me. Interesting to see that Runner 3 is on the way and looks to up the graphical ante even further.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 11, 2017, 01:24:36 AM
Yeah, I really liked Runner 1, easily the best of the Bit Trip games, but 2, while still good, didn't really have enough new ideas to sustain an expanded stand-alone title. And the aggressively ugly 3D graphics actively interfered with readability.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on April 11, 2017, 04:48:03 PM
Huh. checking through this thread, I never mentioned my completed playthrough of Wild Arms in this thread! well, I have to rectify that!

First, the opening FMV, without commentary:



Oh gosh. <3 I soooooooooooooo wanna play Wild Arms EVERY TIME I watch that.

although, in a way, the intro is a bit misleading. what seems like it's leading up to some sort of Western inspired Anime adventure like Trigun (this game predates the anime, but not the manga), it actually sticks closer to more usual JRPG tropes than one would think. You'll encounter things like a princess and castles that house secrets beneath the castle, a lost and advanced civilization from 1000 years ago that plays a key role in the plights of today, Gemstone based macguffin, powerful monsters that lend the party their strength in the form of equipable stones, and the fuzzy and adorable JRPG mascot character! This is a world of swords and sorcery, there's just a couple of folks who choose to bring guns to a knife fight in this game.

By all accounts, this game SHOULD be a pretty bog standard 32-bit RPG. there's nothing particularly innovative about the battle system other than it uses very rudimentary polygonal graphics. It's turn based, you have one mage lady, one speedy swordsman guy, and one guy who's maybe a bit more defensive than the swordsman but has his powerful guns and tools he can use to level the playing field. besides maybe the mechanic of each of these 'tools' having individual ammo counts and the fact that in a twist on Final Fantasy 1's 'buy spells at shop' mechanic, the mage lady can basically learn any spell at any time in shops and dissolve spells she knows to make different ones, which means you should never have a situation where you don't have the right spells for a dungeon, although her most effective spells are the armor down and the speed down spells to cripple bosses and enemies.

The dungeon exploration is kinda cribbed a bit from Breath of Fire and The Legend of Zelda, where each character has a set of things they get that interact with the overworld, along with universal stuff like lifting crates and throwing them, a really neat dashing mechanic that works a little bit like mother 3's almost... the fact that the dungeons have more of a challenge to navigating them is part of what I find compelling here. some of these puzzles get obtuse and aren't well designed, but most of the time it's pretty intuitive to navigate the many ruins, castles, alien demon ships, ghost boat, caves, and libraries you'll be wandering around in this game. Sometimes they'll even split the party and have each one solving puzzles tailored to them and switching between one another to interact with puzzles in a lost vikings style. actually, that's how the game starts with each of them getting their own mini-campaign. it feels like the heroes of this game get equal billing most of the time. even if it is Rudy getting a lot of the top billing most of the time.

The story here isn't too overly complicated, thank goodness. It meanders at parts, given the heroes basically win the day, and then the game just keeps... going for a while until a new threat emerges... and this happens more than once. other than that, the characters are likable, the world is interesting enough, and the game doesn't suffer TOO bad from what has to be one of the most lauughable translations I've been subjected to in a while (there's a couple of instances where I had to do a double take on the names of things and how in the heck the translation team got from "Seig Zwei" to "Zeik Tuvai")

Regardless, this was enjoyable. I have Wild Arms 2 on my PS3, but that will have to wait for when I'm not drowning in Breath of the Wild (beat that game, but don't feel like doing a write-up) and other games. This wouldn't be a bad series for Sony Computer Entertainment to Dredge up. Media.Visions is still making games for Bandai Namco, so... i'm sure they wouldn't mind doing a Wild Arms project for the PS4!

This was one of the first PS1 RPGs I played, and this was pre-Final Fantasy 7, I think. So having basic polygonal models was pretty cool then for battles. I loved the puzzle solving with the various tools and some of the puzzles for hidden dungeons and bosses were very cool. I loved Wild Arms then, but I haven't played it in a good long while. I really want to try it now. I know for a fact that I still love the soundtrack. SOOOOO awesome, whether the fully orchestrated pieces or the pure synth ones. Michiko Naruke did a fantastic job.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on April 13, 2017, 12:27:02 AM
Gravity Rush 2 + Raven's Choice DLC [PS4]

Finished the game and the recently released free DLC. Man, Gravity Rush as a series I really really want to love but the game just won't let me. The world of Hekseville is so elegantly designed, with a character that can easily traverse it and the devs feel the need to stunt that sense of discovery every step of the way. The world feels more alive than the previous game, but there's still nothing to do. The game is littered with boring, uninteresting fetch quests and every other mission has some sort of ridiculous stealth element. Oh man, the stealth. Kat has all these amazing powers but there developers never let you unleash the full potential. It becomes way more apparent in the DLC missions where you get to play Raven (who is mechanically more interesting and varied that Kat). I never felt a game so at odd with what it wanted to be and what it actually delivered. Having it come right in the middle of these great games (Horizon Zero Dawn, BotW, Persona, Nier Automata) just does more to exacerbate its faults.

The story tried to go different places and looked set to make some pretty biting commentary about inequality and social class structures, but then in the middle it seems like the writers remembered "oh yeah we left way too many loose ends on the first game and we really should tie those up now". It just ends up cobbling everything together in a ham handed way. I ended up with more questions than answers but was more than ready to put it down. Side stories help flesh out character development, but they're more of the same boring type of open world exploration. I did about a dozen of them and just decided not to bother with the rest. Didn't really miss anything.

You'd think I hate this game by what I wrote, but there's something joyous about it. The few times I got to really shine stayed with me, like putting Kat center stage and have her improvise a song you don't even know the words to (yeah it was a silly quicktime event, but it was a nice different moment) or taking the OP Raven for a spin in the middle of a boss fight. The game could push some buttons, it never quite figured out how to push them all.


Metroid Fusion [Wii U VC]

I liked it. A nice short Metroid game with just the right amount of bosses and light exploration to keep me engaged. Not really much else to say about it other than it's a very solid game everyone should play at least once.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on April 17, 2017, 01:55:19 AM
I've been remiss in passing along my objectively correct assessments of games lately, but I'll work some of the rust out.

Hollow Knight (PC):

While some of you suckers were wasting time with Zelda on your fancy new consoles, I was plowing 30 hours in yet another indie Metroidvania. Except that this is one of the very few that gets anywhere near real Metroid games, and either ties or exceeds Shadow Complex. I kind of don't want to say too much about it, but I think it does two things that really set it apart in a genre stuffed with also-rans.

(1.) It has a genuine sense of exploration, and allows you to get lost, confused, and overwhelmed by daunting but not impossible scenarios. Many genre entrants clumsily stitch together levels with some perfunctory backtracking, but this game does it right.

(2.) Ability progression, while somewhat staid in terms of content (wall-jumps, damage upgrades, e.g.), gradually and extremely satisfyingly changes how you understand and engage with the geography of the world and its inhabitants. There's some late game "lock and key" stuff that's a bit par for the course and disappointing, but your first hours in the game feel radically different from your last hours.

Also it's fucking massive and manages to squeeze a lot of mileage out of its aesthetic in a way that I think stuff like Ori and the Bling Forest failed to do. I could probably do without the Dark Souls-iness around the edges, but I do appreciate that it's challenging.

Snake Pass (PC):

Caught wind of this one shortly before release and pulled the trigger based on the sheer novelty of the concept. It was . . . okay I guess? It's kind of a cognitive experiment to see if you can program yourself to figure out the controls, and it was a specific kind of satisfying to breeze through the last levels as I achieved reflexive mastery. But aside from that there's not a hell of a lot to the game. I feel like it needed a greater variety of mechanics to make it a full-fledged experience. The stuff that gets introduced as it goes along feels mostly aesthetic, or just annoying. Ultimately there's a sense that once you've climbed one bamboo pole array you've climbed them all.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on April 26, 2017, 10:05:17 PM
I Platinumed Yooka-Laylee the other night, and it was an enjoyable experience overall. Some of the challenges such as certain Rextro arcade games, platforming segments, and boss battles were less than stellar in the polish department, but many don't need to be done to simply "beat" the game. To 100% clear it, though? Yes. Anyway, my full, in-depth thoughts are on my site with my review. Obviously couldn't post it fully in the Reviews section of the site since it's not on Switch yet.

http://www.superphillipcentral.com/2017/04/yooka-laylee-ps4-xb1-pc-review.html
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 27, 2017, 07:48:18 AM
I Platinumed Yooka-Laylee the other night, ...


Nice job! It's been interesting to see reviews that are consistently lower than I had expected for a nostalgia-fueled platform game. Still sounds interesting enough to check out, but after thinking long and hard during the KickStarter campaign if I wanted to back the results (and the fact there is no Wii U build) make me extremely glad I took a pass.


Fingers crossed for Bloodstained - the last big crowd-funded console project I had eyes on.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on May 04, 2017, 10:41:17 PM
I'm glad the Wild Arms review there gave you some nostalgic Flashbacks, Phil! I think I got Wild Arms because I wanted to get a PSX JRPG my friends didn't have, and a gaming mag I had suggested it as a hidden gem Pre-FF7 JRPG along wiht Suikoden, but I couldn't find a copy of that, so... little me got Wild Arms!



But that's not why I'm here. Although I'm not totally done yet, I've become smitten with a little game called Spark the Electric Jester and would REALLY love for the game to come to Nintendo platforms if at all possible.


it seems like even if you're not directly involved with the Sonicretro community these days, there's an embarassment of riches to choose from when it comes to options if you want high-speed action platformers that come from a background of the brighter end of the Sonic fan community! Spark the Electric Jester has a lot more sonic to it than say... Freedom Planet, with sections of pure automation through boosters and camera that has trouble keeping pace with the hero when they break the speed caps the game normally has in place. Spark is brought to us by Lake Fepard, the genius behind Sonic Before the Sequel and Sonic After the Sequel, as well as the coder for the recently developed Hedge Physics Unity powered 3D Platforming framework!

However, unlike Freedom Planet to which obvious comparisons will be drawn, Spark gets a LOT of DNA from Kirby, particularly titles like Kirby Super Star, Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Kirby Triple Deluxe, and Kirby Planet Robobot. While Spark doesn't run around directly assimilating from enemies, the powerups that Spark can find in his adventure all are multi-functional like those Kirby characters, with Spark's base electric jester mode drawing moreso from Beam Kirby with it's arching attacks and charge-up blast. (not to mention Spark's yellow tint and Jester hat).

The style of boss fights, the easy campaign with a harder alt character with a mono-ability, the final battle sporting a super powered ability fought over a rotating globe, even the choice in some of the abilities such as Fire Jester, Ice Jester, Hammer Jester, Edgy (Ninja) Jester all seem tailored for the kirby familiar player...

And yet, the hilly terrain, the ramps, springs, speed boosters are all hallmarks of Sonic gameplay. Heck, the Wind Jester ability has a sonic style curl! the game is fun and breezy!

One thing is that the levels can tend to go on LONG. the first couple are quite short, but by the end, expect to be spending 15 minutes per level dashing, wall jumping, fighting, and doing all sorts of platforming or combat challenges.

The soundtrack is just... oooh my GOODNESS, it's everything i look for in a video game soundtrack. <3


This game is $20 on steam, I think. seriously. go check it out. heck, there's a demon floating around on this game's kickstarter page, I'm pretty sure. Check it out. it's great. <3
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on May 21, 2017, 05:50:52 PM
Finished my run through Fire Emblem, the first Western GBA one. I think this one is originally called Fire Emblem 7: Blazing Sword/Blade.

Having only played one other entry of the series to completion (the GameCube title) I felt it was high time to return to this franchise. It's overall a pretty good entry; the grid-based combat looks nice, it has some catchy tunes, and clocking in past the 30 hour mark it's a pretty lengthy game too. For the ~5 bucks I paid (forgot the exact price) for this on virtual console that's nothing to scoff at.

At the same time however I felt the story dragged its feet at times, with over 30 individual chapters and the occassional sidemission. Doesn't help that the story is utterly predictable and every twist is telegraphed hours in advance.

FE7 doesn't have a really robust shopping system like the 'Cube game, you need to manually visit shops and trading weapons around is a bit cumbersome for a while. You can also really see how the 'support' conversations have become much more fleshed out; here they only happen if 2 characters spend A LOT of turns standing next to each other. In the GameCube one you could activate them yourselves in between missions.

I liked the defensive missions best, where you need to protect a castle or character for X amount of turns. Did lose a few people early on (about 6 in total), including a horseback rider who JUST hit level 20 (I was gonna class-promote him in the next turn). I also have this habit of getting a new character and instantly losing them, like the pegasus knight who died the very turn I recruited her. :(

Overall, Fire Emblem 7 is a pretty good entry. Its missions and in-between mission dialogues run a bit too long towards the end, but it's fairly digestible I would say. Pretty sure I'll move on to Sacred Stones next, but definitely need a break from the series right now. Rating: 7.5/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 21, 2017, 09:30:46 PM
... Pretty sure I'll move on to Sacred Stones next, ...


I enjoyed the first GBA one quite a bit more than Sacred Stones. Not really sure why...
Maybe it has to do with Sacred Stones being one of the 3DS Ambassador titles, and never quite appreciating games that I get fro free?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on May 22, 2017, 03:24:45 PM
I enjoyed the first GBA one quite a bit more than Sacred Stones. Not really sure why...
Maybe it has to do with Sacred Stones being one of the 3DS Ambassador titles, and never quite appreciating games that I get fro free?

That makes sense I guess, appreciate it more if you were anticipating a purchase that you've been working towards? Just out of curiosity, were the Ambassador titles the same for everyone? Was it a pick X amount from these options kind of offer?

I'm pretty out of the loop when it comes to handheld gaming since the GBA.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 22, 2017, 04:03:42 PM


The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Wii U)

Beat the final boss, but barely feel like we've scratched the surface of what the game has to offer. Completely enjoyed the game, and expect we'll play quite a bit more than we already have.

Some notes about what we accomplished and what we missed: 2 divine beasts restored, 85 shrines found/completed, 193 korok seeds found, 8 photo memories recovered, never fought a Lynel and lived to speak about it, didn't find the master sword or shrine of courage.

Edit: Played a bit further in the afternoon and found some shrines, korok seeds, a memory, and other general stuff. Expect this to get many more hours of play.

That makes sense I guess, appreciate it more if you were anticipating a purchase that you've been working towards? Just out of curiosity, were the Ambassador titles the same for everyone? Was it a pick X amount from these options kind of offer?

I'm pretty out of the loop when it comes to handheld gaming since the GBA.


Some of it is the difference between a game that I actively want to play vs a game that is just there.
Ambassador titles were the same for everyone. A good selection, but nothing earth shattering.  I'd have to google to even remember what they all were.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on May 26, 2017, 11:25:11 PM
Ambadassador titles were:

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (aka Super Mario World 2)
Warioware Mega Microgames (The first Warioware)
WarioLand 4
Metroid Fusion
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Mario Vs Donkey Kong

Yes, I remembered them all. Took me a moment on that last one. I did play though and beat 5 of them (Mario Vs Donkey Kong, Kirby Amazing Mirror, Warioware, Metroid Fusion and Yoshi's Island) in part because I owned them all and had beat them already so I knew I could finish them quickly enough. Tried to get into Super Circuit and F-Zero but the 2D versions just aren't as good as the 3D versions. Had started WarioLand 4 but could never get anywhere. I'd forget Wario's moves or couldn't figure out what I was doing or looking for in between plays. For those that complain about Nintendo handholding gamers, here's a case of them not doing that and the game suffering a bit from being too obtuse. (At least to me.) Put off Minish Cap because I was playing Link's Awakening for the first time and then got caught up in Phantom Hourglass later and then wanted a Zelda break and still have yet to dive into it. Put off Sacred Stones because I wasn't ready for the perceived difficulty and intensity of learning a Fire Emblem game yet. Yet, I imagine those two are really worth playing at some point.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on May 28, 2017, 01:13:24 PM
Although NWR has not been particularly kind to Minish Cap (I seem to recall Neal saying it was overly wordy and lacking personality in a video covering its Wii U VC release), it is one of my personal favorite Zelda titles because of the sheer density of the world map, which is small, but littered with neat features.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on May 28, 2017, 03:11:54 PM
That reminds me, I still haven't played Minish Cap. I should bump that up my play queue.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on May 28, 2017, 04:45:40 PM
Although NWR has not been particularly kind to Minish Cap (I seem to recall Neal saying it was overly wordy and lacking personality in a video covering its Wii U VC release), it is one of my personal favorite Zelda titles because of the sheer density of the world map, which is small, but littered with neat features.

I really enjoyed Minish Cap. I agree with you on the density of the world map. It was just fun to explore as well and easy to get around for the most part. I also liked the dungeons, even if some were more linear in design, such as the Palace of Winds. The spectacle, though, of the dungeon itself and setting is rather fantastic and more than makes up for it to me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on May 29, 2017, 02:59:42 AM
I have beat more games this year  than I have in like a decade

Drakes Uncharted 8.5/10 I had  bought this game for my brother a decade ago. I had seen the trailer and I thought it looked cool. I never got to play it myself. I got a ps4 recently and I got the remastered special edition. This game was fantastic. It's like playing an Indiana Jones game. A lot of climbing, a lot of raiding. I'm not too much of a fan of the gun play it could be better.

Drakes Uncharted 2 8.5/10 I played through them one after the other. So, in a lot of ways it was like playing one really big game. The story continues.

Drakes Uncharted 3 9/10 The story continues with some improvements on gameplay.

Drakes Uncharted 4 9/10 This one is double the length of the other three games. It took me 9 hours to beat 1,2,3. But it took 20 hours on this game. This one is really polished too. It feels like a major payoff to have played the whole series.

Yooka Laylee  8/10 I would say this is better than Banjo Tooie and Donkey Kong 64. Marginally less than Banjo Kazooie. MY biggest problem is the small number of stages. The stages are larger, but I'd like more locales. Maybe some cheap dlc would fix this?

Layers of Fear 7/10 The game is fun. I like graphic whoring around the environments, but it has some issues later on where the game is somewhat annoying. This is less of a game and more of a funhouse. Still, it is pretty fun to walk around. You don't have to worry about lives, there's no real danger in the game. There's not even a whole lot of puzzle solving.

PT 9/10 Short and sweet. A lot of games were inspired by this demo. I wish I had this on my ps4. I'd pay $7.99 for it. I had the chance to play it at a friends house a few years ago.

coming up
Rise of the Tomb Raider, Assassins Creed Syndicate, Last of Us
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 29, 2017, 06:59:56 AM
...


Wow, that's a lot of Uncharted! I don't know if I could play that much back-to-back (-to-back-to-back) without a break.
 ;D
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on May 30, 2017, 08:56:49 AM
Yeah. The final boss of the first Uncharted was pretty bad and I wasn't in the mood to keep playing after that. The second one has a lot of undesirable kill rooms, some of the which were very frustrating unless done in some specific magical pattern. I still have 3 on my backlog but no real desire to fire it up.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 30, 2017, 12:14:55 PM
I played all Uncharted games on PS3 and to me they were a bunch of cool looking vistas in-between all of the awful shooting and idiotic melee combat. Story is also obviously only there to provide (flimsy) justification why characters move from setpiece to setpiece so i am always baffled by people praising it.

These games are also more janky than say Assasin Creed in how they do climbing and movement animations which is weird because all of these games came after ACII.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 30, 2017, 08:17:49 PM
Didn't mean to stir up the Uncharted hate. I just can't imagine playing any game back-to-back-to-back-to-back...
(Although I don't know how different that really is than dropping 100+ hours into Xenoblade or Breath of the Wild or Monster Hunter. Some of those games have much less plot and development over that period of time also.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on May 30, 2017, 08:31:10 PM
I've done Super Metroid-Metroid Fusion-Metroid Zero Mission back to back to back, but those are shorter games with more substantive differences between them.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on May 31, 2017, 06:07:22 PM
I played the entire Mass Effect Trilogy back to back to back but there's a common plot across the three games and it's an interesting plot that I wanted to see concluded.  The game themselves also aren't that long so the three together is kind of like playing a big RPG.

I couldn't see myself doing it with really long games and if the story was barebones or idiotic then I could see finding it rather dull to keep with the same gameplay.  I think it just takes a certain type of game and it has to really click with you.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on July 05, 2017, 09:03:42 AM
I imagine the games are better back to back to back. They're pretty short.  1-3 are 9 hours. 4 is 20 hours.

At least they consistently improve. 3 and 4 are better than 1 and 2. It felt more like I played a single game than 4 games. The overarching plot-line between games is rewarding in the end. I also played the upgraded remastered editions, which may have tweaks to gameplay. I don't know how much. I never much liked the gun play in the games, it was pretty wonky. I wish it had more melee like Eternal Darkness and Zelda. I actually like to play the games with the cover mechanic, where instead of using all my ammo I run up to people and punch them. I did that with Gears of War too. If you don't like the gunplay there is an explorer mode. I'm not sure if that eliminates the gun play entirely or if it just makes it super easy. I've only ever played these games on normal.

I like set pieces. It's the same reason I liked Quest 64. The first time I played quest 64 I beat it the regular way, but throw it in gameshark and it's just an exploring game. I think it's the first game I saw with a day/night system that was 3d. If it had a party system, it would have been a well liked game. The locations were interesting, it just needed a little more.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 09, 2017, 11:26:25 AM
Finished off Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS) today.


I really liked the changes they made in this game compared to the first. Navies feel more fleshed out, although maybe not used as much as I'd like in the campaign. The less cartoonish story will likely turn off some people, but I enjoyed it well enough. CO powers are much less of a focus here than in other games from the series. Leveling up units who defeat enemies is a great addition; it reminded me of Military Madness and made me wish that support bonuses were also part of the game.


With all of that said, the campaign felt easier and a bit shorter than I expected. Not sure if that's faulty expectations going in, or if it really is a lighter game than the original. Still very happy with this game though - probably my favorite from the Advance Wars series at this point.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 13, 2017, 05:15:50 AM
Crimsonland:

I played a lot of original Crimsonland game back in 2000s, it was the only game of this type i knew and it was fun to beat each other records in survival mode with a pal.

This Crimsonland is a remake for modern consoles/Steam with added co-op and controller options.

(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/262722490454158831/6BE74A8F87ADDDD36703BE2724D68B88F13CD2B4/) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=768832230)

I think that since the last i played it they added feature: when you get an upgrade you emit a wave that pushes away enemies around you.

It's making all the difference. Last year i was eternally stuck trying to no-damage certain level but this pushing upgrade helps immensely against enemies who are faster than me and will otherwise completely surround and overwhelm me.

After i completed all levels on Normal without taking damage, i only had to do several more achievements for complete the game. The most obnoxious one was the one where you had to pick up 50 blowtorches -- a weapon that you usually avoid.

The final achievement was the one where i had to beat a high score in a hidden mini-game:

(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/787414679366133215/39A4FFD76929B8E6A8CEE140B00C6AFC86745933/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|1024:768&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C1024%3A768&background-color=black) (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=937854890)

It was actually pretty cool, because i never played games like these before (think 2048 or Threes).

Small Radios, Big Televisions:
A neat puzzle game with trippy visuals and electronic music. It reminded me of puzzles in Assassin's Creed II. Similarly, i couldn't play these puzzles at night because these type of music and weird sterile visuals always kinda weirded me out (in a good way). An okay time-waster overall.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on July 13, 2017, 09:49:38 AM
Mad Max- Great game.....but Jesus Christ is that ending depressing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on July 13, 2017, 09:42:37 PM
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Amazing. Didn't 100% it, but 65+ hours to do 50 shrines, get 45 Korok seeds, unlock all of the memories...not too shabby. Such an amazing game - although the Ganon battles are a little too easy. Honestly the Divine Beast boss fights were more challenging...even a Lynel is more challenging. Having said that, the battles are still pretty awesome, and Ganon looks utterly badass. Pretty fantastic story throughout though, could have had a better ending, but I guess pretty much everyone is dead. Going to re-attempt the Trial of the Sword next, and very much looking forward to The Champions' Ballad.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 19, 2017, 12:38:56 AM
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)

I've had this game for over 5 years now and finally got around to playing it.  This was my first SMT game and it was pretty awesome.  I love just the huge amount of options and customization it allows you to do with the demons through fusions.  It really makes the boss fights shine since many of them could be pretty cheap so I really had a good time finding ways to make the most broken teams possible to counter said cheapness of the boss, especially the final boss which holy **** was insane.

Plus the storyline was pretty good.  A nice blend of science fiction filled with angels and demons from every religion all in one with some nice choices involving human nature toward the end.  I ended up doing the Neutral Path which actually fits my own personality pretty well and was pleased with the end results of it's storyline.  I'm tempted to play New Game + now to see what the Law and Chaos endings are as well, but after spending 70 hours to beat this main game, I really need to move on to others.

I also own both Devil Survivor games for the DS and SMT IV and Soul Hackers for the 3DS so I'm actually pretty excited to eventually get to them now.  I bought all of these games because I always had an interest in the series but after finally playing it I see why it's so well loved by its fans.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 19, 2017, 12:38:34 PM
Delivered a crushing blow to the backlog today, by finishing the very last of my handheld games! And what a doozy it was too, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (for GBA).

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XwjaJs88q1U/maxresdefault.jpg)

Had this cart lying around forever and had a long trip, so I busted out the GBA to play this rather mediocre RPG. It's pretty bizarre how many portable games Harry Potter got; they made action/puzzle games for the first two films, and the fourth onwards on GBA/DS. However, the GBC got the best ones - small little sprite-based RPGs based on the first two, which included a lot more stuff from the books.
For reasons unknown to me (scheduling?), the third film only got the RPG treatment on portables, which I believe was also the last one of these.

The game itself isn't great, although it's not awful either. You traipse around Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione, attending some classes, occassionally finishing mini-games and stuff. You can battle rats, statues, suits of armour, a whole bunch of spiders, enchanted mushrooms, etc. in many of Hogwarts' hallways & grounds. There's some light environmental puzzles in this one, which helps alleviate some of the boredom that was prevalent in the previous RPG games. It's pretty neat how these Harry Potter RPGs focused on fleshing out locations you wouldn't see in the console games or movies either, like the portraits halls, staff rooms etc.

Sometimes you trip over a bit of plot and the story will continue. This where a major problem sets in though. You could hypothetically level up all 3 characters a bunch, but those who have read/seen Prisoner of Azkaban know that Ron is mostly an afterthought towards the story's end. So don't bother giving him equipment or leveling him up; it's useless.
Another problem with this story's plot is that while in the book/film it has a very nifty ending based on mysterious revelations and ingenuity of our characters, it doesn't exactly feature a bossfight like part 2 does. They've managed to create 2 end-bosses, one of which is okay (but dull since you need to heal a character constantly), whilst the last one is a total pushover.

All in all, Harry Potter 3 for GBA is a very easy (bit harder than the previous entry though) RPG that you can beat quickly if you want (5-6 hours). It's not as charming as the Chamber of Secrets on GBC with its neat spritework, and on the whole I would rank amongst the lesser Harry Potter games. The Lego adaptations on Wii are still the best ones by a country mile, and the Zelda-wannabes on GameCube are better as well.
Rating: 5/10, rather forgettable, but not outright bad.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 20, 2017, 08:15:08 AM
I finished Prey 2017 last night, and while I really enjoyed the game overall, the ending can go **** itself. Just imagine the worst ending any story could have, and...yep, it's that one. They really did that, because they couldn't find any other way to leave the door open for a Prey 2. Goddamnit.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 24, 2017, 01:10:24 AM
Shadow of Colossus (PS2):

(https://aproximatelytoomanygames.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/shadow-of-the-colossus-light-beam.jpg)
Great game. Just like with Ico (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg898335;topicseen#msg898335) i feel this game left the mark not maybe by itself but in how it inspired other games.

I mean the last Zelda game takes massive inspirations from SoTC not just in superficial parts like climbing big enemies, but even approach to open world is kinda similar: smarter horses AI, conscious effort on making surrounding environments as diverse as possible: lakes, deserts, forests, cliffs, caves, empty planes and ruins, lots of picturesque ruins. BOTW even takes some of SoTC's design minimalism in that game systems all revolve on only what characters have on themselves.

Of course main character of Shadow of Colossus only has bow and sword compared to late-game Link who has a supermarket of goods in his pockets. but that only makes it cooler.

Design of each boss encounter is very ingenious. It feels like design team wanted to make game more engaging than their previous game by presenting player things to kill but their signature slow and wonky controls and frankly atrocious combat of Ico showed that encounters with human-sized enemies will only hinder the game. So they made all enemies gigantic and made you scale them which also added platforming to the mix solving several problems at once.

It's even reflected in game itself -- smaller, faster colossi that you have to take down are more annoying because they move faster than you and game's loose controls don't allow for agility to take enemies like these head-on. But huge lumbering giants go down relatively quickly because for as slow as your character is -- these colossi are slower still.

I really enjoyed that game. So smart. Very "show don't tell". Ending is pretty cool too.

Last colossus was annoying until i looked how to do jump off a wall properly -- apparently i've been doing it wrong the entire game -- the tutorial for it was on 3rd colossus but after a while i forgot it and was trying to do like in Prince of Persia games.

Also apparently you can kill some special lizards in open world and collecting their tails does something. I collected like 4 of them on the last day and i am not going to collect them all but it's cool that you can do thing other than just riding towards the next boss. However it is worth just to stop for a little while and enjoy the scenery (again -- just like BoTW).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on July 24, 2017, 08:33:34 AM
I never finished Shadow of the Colossus because I'm an unskilled video game pleb. I tried twice, once on PS2 and then again on PS3. I would like try again some day. There's always the PS4 remake. I don't know if you have a PS4, but would you consider playing the remake?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on July 24, 2017, 11:46:02 AM
I never finished Shadow of the Colossus because I'm an unskilled video game pleb. I tried twice, once on PS2 and then again on PS3. I would like try again some day. There's always the PS4 remake. I don't know if you have a PS4, but would you consider playing the remake?




Unless the visuals were a problem for you, the PS3 is a great way to play the game.  Biggest sin of the PS2 game was bad framerate drops/slowdown.  The PS3 version is a lot smoother in motion, and looks pretty decent for a Re-release of a PS2 game. 


That said, I'm probably the sucker who will pay for the PS4 remake because I'll be due for another playthrough, assuming they don't bork something about the way it plays.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 24, 2017, 11:49:25 AM
No i don't have a PS4 and why would i if i can play all this year's lineup on this PS2 right here, but PS2 really struggles with SoTC and i gather playing with better resolution and framerate will be a better experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on July 24, 2017, 12:04:00 PM
I spent a few weeks and finally put the nail in the coffin on Ori and the Blind Forest.  Visually, one of the most beautiful 2D platformers I've ever seen.  The game's musical theme is incredibly appropriate for the theme of the world & story, and there are some wonderful arrangements made in re-using the theme throughout the game. 


Don't go into this game expecting compelling fights with monsters.  This game is very clearly 80% about the platforming, and 20% about battling enemies, which is evident in both how uninteresting most of the enemies are, and how the majority of the abilities I obtained through the upgrade tree were revolved around life and improving movement.  Because of this, most of the monsters (which are largely amorphous blobs that shoot other blobs at you) act more as another platforming obstacle or tool to reach a spot via one of the abilities you have.


The platforming feels great when you're doing well.  When you're firing off at all cylinders, you get a pace through a corridor stringing together different abilities to move very fluidly across treacherous paths, and this all leaves you with an awesome sense of accomplishment once you get past some of these parts (Super Meat boy can be a surprisingly apt comparison to these sequences).


That said, especially at the last sequence of the game, there are parts that you clearly won't learn the correct way to approach an obstacle until you figure it out via trial-and-error.  for the most part, this wasn't too bad ,but the last sequence felt particularly frustrating after getting through a dungeon with LOTS of sequences that seemed impossibly hard that I had to hit my head against a wall figuring it out. 


Story is pretty loose string narrative of what happened.  It isn't anything particularly compelling, IMO, but it gives enough of a story incentive to keep going and see what happens as a result of your actions.


These are all pretty small quibbles.  Play this game if you haven't yet.  Totally worth it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: taryupt on July 26, 2017, 10:17:53 AM
Contra 2 NES. Yes Contra 2. Couldn't beat this game as a kid because I was always playing single player and never knew the many lives trick. But last week after watching a walk through on YT, I played it on an emulator on my PC up to the very last level and won. Overall I would say the final boss battle was not as hard as some of the mid-levels I played.
~ my blog https://kitchenlola.com (https://kitchenlola.com/) ~
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 30, 2017, 10:19:01 AM
Finished Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the 2003 gba title, on virtual console.
For someone's who's played most Metroid titles and other "metroidvania" games, it always felt a bit odd to have never played a Castlevania title before.

This one is decent, run around hacking the Universal Monsters to death over-and-over. What's neat about this Castlevania is that it has level-ups and some light RPG equipping stuff, that makes retraversal a bit more tolerable. It's jarring that you never find any health drops though, and potions are rather rare so you need to buy them from a single place in the castle. There's some really difficult parts and tough bossfights, ultimately I cheated a few parts by spamming the save-state feature of the virtual console.

The story is kinda predictable though, with complimentary **** dialogue. I did however like some of the attempts at symbolism. You beat the presumed Dracula, whose real form is two embracing angelic creatures, in front of  Maria statue crying blood. Turns out YOU'RE Dracula (heavily telegraphed though, I mean they give you the power to turn into a bat) and you presumably just murdered some sort of Jesus/saviour figure.

Overall I'm glad to have played & finished a Castlevania title since it's always been one of the major series that I completely passed by. However I don't think I'll be back anytime soon, if ever. Ultimately I find the aesthetic just a little bit silly. There's neat touches such as the Legion, who you see get formed by tons of corpses , but it's never really scary. They do play it straight though, so you're left with a non-scary horror themed game which ticks lots of cliche monster boxes. It's a tense game, but only because of the difficulty at times and sparse chances to regain health.

In conclusion: rather well made, some cool visuals for GBA standards, decent music, and pretty long too at 12+ hours, but it never really succeeds at pinning down a unique atmosphere, unlike Metroid usually does. Hope this write-up doesn't sound too negative, because this is a solid 4-star game, but yeah.

EDIT: I think I was mildly surprised at the lack of traps? I expected more really, like Prince of Persia. Instead your only real obstacles are enemies, and you don't take fall damage so platforming isn't it either. Just seems like some more traps beyond the obligatory spikes would've worked well with the setting, like idk, buzzsaws or falling chandeliers?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 30, 2017, 08:59:19 PM
Finished Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, the 2003 gba title, on virtual console.
For someone's who's played most Metroid titles and other "metroidvania" games, it always felt a bit odd to have never played a Castlevania title before.

This one is decent, run around hacking the Universal Monsters to death over-and-over. What's neat about this Castlevania is that it has level-ups and some light RPG equipping stuff, that makes retraversal a bit more tolerable. It's jarring that you never find any health drops though, and potions are rather rare so you need to buy them from a single place in the castle. There's some really difficult parts and tough bossfights, ultimately I cheated a few parts by spamming the save-state feature of the virtual console.

The story is kinda predictable though, with complimentary **** dialogue. I did however like some of the attempts at symbolism. You beat the presumed Dracula, whose real form is two embracing angelic creatures, in front of  Maria statue crying blood. Turns out YOU'RE Dracula (heavily telegraphed though, I mean they give you the power to turn into a bat) and you presumably just murdered some sort of Jesus/saviour figure.

Overall I'm glad to have played & finished a Castlevania title since it's always been one of the major series that I completely passed by. However I don't think I'll be back anytime soon, if ever. Ultimately I find the aesthetic just a little bit silly. There's neat touches such as the Legion, who you see get formed by tons of corpses , but it's never really scary. They do play it straight though, so you're left with a non-scary horror themed game which ticks lots of cliche monster boxes. It's a tense game, but only because of the difficulty at times and sparse chances to regain health.

In conclusion: rather well made, some cool visuals for GBA standards, decent music, and pretty long too at 12+ hours, but it never really succeeds at pinning down a unique atmosphere, unlike Metroid usually does. Hope this write-up doesn't sound too negative, because this is a solid 4-star game, but yeah.

EDIT: I think I was mildly surprised at the lack of traps? I expected more really, like Prince of Persia. Instead your only real obstacles are enemies, and you don't take fall damage so platforming isn't it either. Just seems like some more traps beyond the obligatory spikes would've worked well with the setting, like idk, buzzsaws or falling chandeliers?


That's because you played one of the IGA "metroidvania" Castlevania's which are lacking in platforming challenge outside of one area in Order of Ecclesia.  The 8-16 bit era games on the other hand are pure action platformers filled with literally everything you just mentioned.  This is why I'd heavily recommend playing one of the older pre-IGA games as well since they're a whole different beast then what you experience with Aria.

I'd say at least try Super Castlevania IV for the SNES which is also on the Virtual Console since it's the most newcomer friendly to the older Castlevania gameplay.  I also feel it has some of the best atmosphere in a Castlevania game which is something from your impressions sounds like you'd enjoy as well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on July 31, 2017, 01:10:51 AM
I'd also add that I think Circle of the Moon is better than the IGA-made Castlevanias even if it lacks the budget of Symphony of the Night.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 31, 2017, 09:20:34 AM
Huh thanks guys, maybe I will at some point. Isn't Circle of the Moon the one you could barely see on a regular gba instead of a backlit SP?

Odd to hear though since Aria of Sorrow seemed to get pretty consistent praise, with reviews generally calling it the second-best Castlevania ever (after Symphony of the Night), and certainly as the best one of the gba titles. I remember IGN made a GBA list and it came second or something. But yeah maybe I'll try one of the non-Igarashi titles at some point to see how it compares. Not gonna get one at the moment though, I'm waging a minor battle with the backlog haha.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 31, 2017, 11:24:16 PM
Huh thanks guys, maybe I will at some point. Isn't Circle of the Moon the one you could barely see on a regular gba instead of a backlit SP?

Odd to hear though since Aria of Sorrow seemed to get pretty consistent praise, with reviews generally calling it the second-best Castlevania ever (after Symphony of the Night), and certainly as the best one of the gba titles. I remember IGN made a GBA list and it came second or something. But yeah maybe I'll try one of the non-Igarashi titles at some point to see how it compares. Not gonna get one at the moment though, I'm waging a minor battle with the backlog haha.


The biggest problem with Circle of the Moon was it was nearly unplayable on the original GBA because of the lack of backlight making the tiny sprites combined with the dark colors in the game so hard to see hence why it didn't get the reception as something like Aria.  But once the SP and Gameboy Player attachment for the Gamecube was released the game got a whole new life and more praise followed since now everyone could actually play it and realized how great it actually was.

Of course be warned much of this praise comes from the old school, pre-Symphony of the Night part of the fanbase who loves that Circle of the Moon has the brutal difficulty of the earlier games.  This is a series that back in the NES rivaled other hard series like Ninja Gaiden in difficulty and Circle of the Moon brings that back in Metroidvania form.  Seriously, the hardest bosses you fought in Aria are the equivalent to the early bosses in Circle of the Moon, the later bosses are on a whole different level.  The only IGA Castlevania which even comes close to the difficulty of the older games is Order of Ecclesia which is why it's the most popular IGA game among the part of the fanbase.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on August 01, 2017, 02:17:31 AM
Portrait of Ruin is pretty good and underrated even with somewhat some difficulty breaking powers. It's not a Metroidvania at at all but it's makes it up with the partner shift system allowing you to change styles on the fly. I can't remember whether the later Order of Ecclesia had some sort of system like it but that is a hard game.

Circle of the Moon is definitely pretty hard, a Metroidvania and there aren't game breakers on your first run. Playing it on a backlight system is a must but I toughed it out on the original GBA by playing under a lamp and intense staring.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 01, 2017, 09:36:22 AM
Just chiming in: Circle of the Moon is my favorite from the GBA entries. Part of that is probably nostalgia though, as GBA remains the only "Day 1" system I've ever purchased and Castlevania was easily the best title available at that time (although Tony Hawk and ChuChu Rocket were both excellent games in their respective genres).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 01, 2017, 11:02:12 AM
Seriously, the hardest bosses you fought in Aria are the equivalent to the early bosses in Circle of the Moon, the later bosses are on a whole different level. 

Lol yikes, I see what you mean then. The Grim Reaper figure gave me quite a bit of trouble already... I just watched the Netflix show and thought it was pretty decent, looks like that cribs from Castlevania 3 mostly right? I think I'll follow the suggestions here for my next one eventually, so either SNES IV or Circle of the Moon.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on August 01, 2017, 11:13:47 AM
It has borrowed something from every game I have played so I don't think it is angling for any one game which would be pretty stupid constraints to put on themselves as any one game has about a dozen lines of plot at most.

It's going to be great when they come up against Death(I hope it shows up). Death in all the games it appears in is a pretty badass boss you respect.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 01, 2017, 07:59:31 PM
Yee-ah, some Circle of the Moon love. I too powered through on an OG GBA, I should give it another shot at some point if it comes to a future VC.

Like has been said, it marries the "gamefeel" of the older Castlevanias with a Metroid structure, but I also think it's designed significantly tighter with much better nook hunting than the following IGA games (though I haven't played Ecclesia). The Sorrow games feel especially perfunctory to me on that front.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 11, 2017, 03:06:37 PM
Suuuuuper late to this party, but I just took down the final boss of Panzer Dragoon Orta on the original Xbox.

(https://somewhereinthemidstofnowhere.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/untitled.png)

It's a short game, but really delivers. Back in the day this was always the one game I was jealous never got brought to GameCube. For those who might not know of it, Panzer Dragoon plays as a rail-shooter in the vein of Star Fox or Sin & Punishment. You fly on the back of dragon (though it reminds more of a hercules beetle), blasting foes all around you.

The game is absolutely gorgeous, with its best cinematics rivaling Final Fantasy X & fantastic music. The environments are pretty varied too - ranging from snowy peaks and mountainous caverns to trippy Rez-style digital worlds. Plays really well too, the only thing that reminds you of its age is the fact that the right analog stick isn't used for looking around. You do that with the left, as well as movement.

If I could level some criticism at it, I would say that the story doesn't really get resolved, although it did make me curious about the lore of this fictional world. It's my first Panzer Dragoon experience, but I can see how they squeezed an RPG out of this.

There's a bunch more stuff I unlocked, including several extra missions and what looks like a complete version of the Sega Saturn original. Will be sure to try that sometime, once my hands have stopped cramping from the final boss haha. Would rate Panzer Dragoon Orta a very solid 8.5 or possibly even 9 out of 10.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on August 17, 2017, 02:04:06 PM
Sonic Mania


"Whew! That was Cool!" ~ Sonic the hedgehog, @0:14
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on August 24, 2017, 08:58:01 AM
Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai.

It plays more like a much more refined Neopolian. The base game is more of your classical melee combat with some range support. This is almost all cannons and guns.

Once you get the cannons unless you are outnumbered using terrible units or make big mistakes you are going to win as cannons provoke the AI to enter your killing zones. Not to say there isn't some close victories when you have multiple stacks come in with just too many targets to shoot or you let the Calvary get into your lines.

As with the base game Shogun 2 slims down the number of units compared to the other in the series so they exists in tiers instead of everyone getting the same sort of unit that has a different name and a couple of points difference. I makes assessing massively easier and cuts down on red tape so you can get on with more important things. Not to say there aren't unique units to a faction but they are few and far between with some pretty meaningful differences for example the foreign power Ironclads all play differently based on the real differences at the time.

The tech tree is a fair bit more interesting as there are clear upgrades with choice although rushing cannons is the big thing you must do. Some are real game changers like Kneeling Fire which doubles your rate of fire and delivers a shocking amount of alpha damage at the cost of mobility. Although I do laugh at the idea that kneeling is some sort of massive innovation that took decades if not hundreds of years since the invention of the firearm.

They are running out of periods of history to based their gameplay on though hence them using the Warhammer license. I wouldn't mind seeing them break out of the unit block gameplay in some sort of 20th century warfare that is as easy to control as the current games without having to micro like modern warfare games elsewhere.

I haven't played much of the the pre-shougun 2 era campaign but I doubt I play more as it doesn't seem very interesting and isn't really different from the base game in a fun way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 25, 2017, 10:18:30 PM
So if "beat" means seeing the end credits, I managed to beat Picross 3D (DS) today.


It's good, but after a while it's very mechanical - you just do the same thing over and over, and it gets kind of boring after a while. Maybe the hardest stages will shake things up a bit, but I doubt the logic will really take any unexpected leaps.


That said, it's still satisfying to finish puzzles off with 3 stars. It's the kind of mindless task that you just get into a groove with and can push out two or three consecutive puzzles without really noticing the time go by. Relaxing, in a way.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 27, 2017, 12:15:14 AM
Just finished Steamworld Dig 2, fantastic game, probably the second best game I've played all year after BOTW. The controls are fantastic, the pacing is great, and the Story has a nice surprising payoff. I highly recommend it. Four stars.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on September 27, 2017, 01:09:18 AM
I just started Dig 2 last night. Loved the first and I'm super excited to dig into this one further with all of the praise it has received.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 27, 2017, 09:59:06 PM
I found the first Dig very repetitive and phone gamey. Would you say the sequel does enough different for someone who wasn't wild about the original?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on September 27, 2017, 11:34:40 PM
Only a few hours in, and it feels very similar. If you didn't like the original, then you may not appreciate this one. I'll be sure to report back when I finish, but everyone else seems to be raving about it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on September 28, 2017, 05:21:43 AM
There is more variety in the second game, more exploration. There is still plenty of digging for treasures, so you may not like it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 28, 2017, 01:30:56 PM
Okay, thanks, would definitely be curious to hear a final verdict. The loop of the first game was pretty addicting (I think I ended up beating it in two sittings), but I also felt gross, and found the actual digging itself pretty fundamentally uninteresting.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 05, 2017, 02:05:22 AM
Sold my WiiU and 3DS over the last year, but remembered I still had a DS in the closet somewhere and exactly two games left I wanted to play on it:

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS):

Odd duck, this one. It kind of blends the old-style level-based Castlevania in with the SotN era, with a slew of largely linear levels you can revisit later to access treasure or complete villager challenges. It's initially refreshing, and enjoyably difficult, but once you start running back through the areas it becomes clear the level design is really pretty boring, and they bafflingly recycle certain maps wholesale. But there's a twist if you find all of the villagers that opens up Dracula's Castle for the full ending, and it's like one-half a Metroidvania by itself, but harder than the the previous games. Mechanically the glyph system is a good blend of weapon and magic systems from previous games, but there's kind of an insane amount of them you'll never see because they're tied to random super-rare enemy drops. Overall definitely better than the Sorrow games, but you can also kind of see where they dead-ended with the SotN template.

Monster Tale (DS):

I had long meant to play this given my love of Henry Hatsworth, and it had pretty good reviews, but damn is this game not good. It's probably the most perfunctory Metroidvania game I've ever played, filled with agonizing and pointless backtracking for dull-ass lock and key barriers. The whole hook of the game, the monster raising system, is pointlessly articulated given how little there is actually going on. It's too bad, you can really feel the studio fizzling out in this half-baked effort. Good music though!

And also:

Cuphead (PC):

I'm going to come in a little below the consensus on this one. It's fun for what it is, though I think the difficultly is a little overblown (and I can't get through a Contra game for the life of me). The production is obviously very well done and meticulous, but at the same time it kind of left me wondering why they needed to make a ridiculously intensive hand-drawn video game adaptation of old-timey cartoons in service of a stripped down Metal Slug game. Like, I can't really draw any intuitive connection between the aesthetic and the gameplay, other than I guess the cartoony sound effects helping with pattern recognition in certain contexts. If this was a standard pixel-art indie game I don't think anything about the design would be earning particular accolades (and the handful of platforming levels are kind of bad, and there's about twice as many shmup levels as there needs to be). Still, it's generally fun, I would give it probably a 7.5 if pressed. 


Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 05, 2017, 10:20:59 AM
...
Monster Tale (DS):

I had long meant to play this given my love of Henry Hatsworth, and it had pretty good reviews, but damn is this game not good. It's probably the most perfunctory Metroidvania game I've ever played, filled with agonizing and pointless backtracking for dull-ass lock and key barriers. The whole hook of the game, the monster raising system, is pointlessly articulated given how little there is actually going on. It's too bad, you can really feel the studio fizzling out in this half-baked effort. Good music though!
...

Ouch!

I enjoyed the gameplay well enough, as it felt pretty tight and had some interesting ideas. Yet we seem to agree that level design was mostly terrible - far too much pointless backtracking and lame fetch-quests through previously explored areas to pad out the game.

It's a shame. I felt like Monster Tale got about half-way to being something great, but was then pushed out before getting the polish and extra effort that it needed. There is a remake (or sequel?) slated for 3DS at some point that I might check out -  but I don't regret getting rid of my DS copy after playing through once.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 05, 2017, 03:33:03 PM
...
Monster Tale (DS):

I had long meant to play this given my love of Henry Hatsworth, and it had pretty good reviews, but damn is this game not good. It's probably the most perfunctory Metroidvania game I've ever played, filled with agonizing and pointless backtracking for dull-ass lock and key barriers. The whole hook of the game, the monster raising system, is pointlessly articulated given how little there is actually going on. It's too bad, you can really feel the studio fizzling out in this half-baked effort. Good music though!
...

Ouch!

I enjoyed the gameplay well enough, as it felt pretty tight and had some interesting ideas. Yet we seem to agree that level design was mostly terrible - far too much pointless backtracking and lame fetch-quests through previously explored areas to pad out the game.

It's a shame. I felt like Monster Tale got about half-way to being something great, but was then pushed out before getting the polish and extra effort that it needed. There is a remake (or sequel?) slated for 3DS at some point that I might check out -  but I don't regret getting rid of my DS copy after playing through once.

Yeah, it's a weird experience. It looks good, sounds good, controls and plays perfectly well, but they just . . . forgot to design a game. I guess it's kid-oriented, but all the stats and crap with the monster would seem to not jibe with that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 07, 2017, 11:41:42 AM
Silent Hill (PS1):

I was always fascinated by the series, but never actually played any SH game until Shattered Memories which i loved and think of as the only legitimately good written game i played.

Most of my exposure to the series was it's music. I remember having Silent Hill 3 on work PC back in 2005-2006 but never actually playing it. I was just putting the intro cinematic on repeat and listened to the music.

It's intense. Shattered Memories was already too much for me, and these "real" Silent Hill games are even scarier still. I just can't play games like these at night, so i have to play them on weekends during the day.

It's a Playstation game from 1999: voice acting is kinda bad, tank controls and movement is clunky, items and weapons necessary for progress are kinda hidden away from you so you need to look everywhere.

First boss i missed one the weapons and had to load previous save to find a weapon i missed. There was another boss that i also had trouble and after looking it up i discovered the best way is to use an item i completely missed in the previous area an hour ago. Second best way was to use another weapon i also walked past half an hour ago.

I REALLY didn't wanted to replay sequences right before that (spooky sewers...) so i had to make do with what i had.

At least puzzles didn't give me trouble -- i had solved them by myself except for one right at the end...

Can't really say much about the story nor i do i care to look deeper into it. My understanding is -- certain scary stuff happened, i beat the game, didn't quite get the ending but i am glad it's over. It's also interesting that Shattered Memories despite being billed as a remake of this game has nothing to do with it past names of the characters, even subject matters are completely different.

Because i took my time being cautious and i was saving a lot -- i got "Bad-" ending. Minus being my punishment for not saving a character because i didn't used one item in one specific spot in the middle of the game. I looked at all other endings at youtube.

The best track in the game is definitely Lisa's theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVDMlk6K_Tk

Onto the second game!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on October 08, 2017, 04:39:40 AM
Just finished Costume Quest I've been playing this game for three years now, it took me awhile because I basically only played it in October. It was a fun story that hit a lot of classic Halloween hallmarks, but the turn based combat is overly simple. At least there are no random encounters!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on October 13, 2017, 04:40:47 PM
Just finished Costume Quest I've been playing this game for three years now, it took me awhile because I basically only played it in October. It was a fun story that hit a lot of classic Halloween hallmarks, but the turn based combat is overly simple. At least there are no random encounters!
Costume Quest is a joy. Just pure fun and nostalgia. Love the music, love the concept, love the battle animations. Great game. My one criticism is the text is too small. This is the bane of many a modern game though.
Reminds me I have to finish CQ2 one of these days.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on October 17, 2017, 07:34:31 AM
MAKE A GOOD MEGA MAN LEVEL CONTEST 2

http://magmmlcom.ipage.com/

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/252039052927303681/369647673902628866/unknown.png)

Oh BABY do I have a lot to say on this one. I had a TON of fun playing this one from start to finish and I kinda remembered why I love Mega Man, found my artistic spark for pixel art, and I've fully committed to the idea that i'm going to enter this competition next year as a level designer.

I know Mega Maker is a thing that also happened this year and the tech there is DAMN impressive, so I have to justify this package and what exactly seperates it from a Super Mario Maker-esque free-for-all Vs. something more tuned.


For the uninitiated, Make a Good Mega Man Level contest 2 is what it says on the tin; Members of the Spriters Inc community gathered to host a contest using an engine made in Gamemaker 8.1 and with a library of pre-made assets available. the community voted on Mega Man's loadout for the contest, and then were tasked with making levels that would go on to be individually judged by members of the community chosen to be the judge panel for the contest that year. each judge scored each entry out of 50 points, and those 5 scores were averaged to determine how the stages were ranked.

If that was all there was to this, I'd say that this wouldn't be worth your time, but there's SO much to this whole thing. there's a hub-world packed to the brim with secrets, goodies, shops to spend bolts, NPCs to talk to with funny dialogue, bosses to defeat, some of the most crazily stacked boss rushes you'll ever play, and other little activities to help bridge the content of each wildly varying level!

obviously, there are some bad eggs among the bunch that were submitted, and the judges made each of these levels skippable via a teleporter, with no punishment for skipping over a level that's long, hard, or just plain frustrating. it's stilll fun to try these stages with no real pressure of actually beating some of the trashier entries.

the stuff that is good though managed to challenge my expectations and left me in awe with how much fun or creativity went into some of the truly good entries into the competition.

Of course, the levels have all sorts of collectables in them. energy elements serve as Power star-like end of level markers  that eventually allow for access to 2 sets of end-game activities in the form of a robust wily castle designed by the judges, as well as a final set of levels made by people involved with the community that didn't enter this year's competition for one reason or another. There's also the Star-coin like Noble Nickels, which can be traded in to Knightman for various goodies such as a fast travel device, extra costumes, and items that make the weapons cost less to fire, etc. The reward for collecting all the Noble Nickels is WELL worth the effort, I'd say.

Then there's also the Pit of Pits, a 120 floor pit of 100 trials style 'endless attack' mode that is a seperate set of user submitted rooms.


Given the already stacked 81 Mega Man levels just from the levels that were a part of the competition and all this content on top of it, there's a LOT of Mega Man here, and a lot of different interpretations of what makes Mega Man good and what one can do with a Mega Man stage. I somehow did not burn out on this. I loved every bit of it. I friggin' made a custom skin for it! that's how much I've been enjoying this game from top to bottom. I even played a fair bit of it for a twitch stream!


(footage not from the actual twitch stream... nor of a very good level from the competition)

If you have any real love of the blue bomber, and want a game that will last you some time, and you can approach the individual levels without them reflecting poorly on the whole, I'd implore you to check this one out!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on October 17, 2017, 08:26:16 AM
I finished The Evil Within 2 last night, and it does kind of redeem the 1st game. It has more than its share of problems. IMO, it's not a scary game, and is probably less so than even Evil Within 1. It's also kind of lacking in memorable set piece moments on par with some of the encounters in the 1st game, so much so that when it DOES callbacks to the 1st game it's rather welcoming.

Ammo is also kind of ludicrously scarce for a game with this much combat. I played on the normal "Survival" difficulty, and I was frequently out of both bullets & the gunpowder to make them. The game places a huge emphasis on stealth, which is fine but once combat breaks out it gets way too chaotic. I know that sounds silly considering the genre, but this game has late game enemies who are fond of rushing you while invulnerable & sucker punching you. They don't do the Resident Evil thing anymore of running up to you, stopping short, & giving you that half-second to aim & fire.

The game's structure echoes more closely to something like Silent Hill, which appealed to me way more than the 1st game's RE4 setup. Don't let the marketing fool you, though. This is NOT an Open World game. Of the game's 17 chapters, 3 of them feature small town hub areas you can explore.

The game's story seems initially trite, but as it goes on it becomes increasingly poignant & by the end the game kind of triumphantly (amd very cinematically) slams the book shut on the franchise...right before teasing...something with a post-credits scene.

Overall, an excellent game with some flaws that's more polished & better executed than the 1st game, even if it kind of lacks standout moments.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 18, 2017, 09:17:43 PM
Finished Chrono Trigger (DS) today.


Definitely deserves the "classic" label, and holds up wonderfully today whether you are playing it for the first time or revisiting the experience. The game just has an attention to detail that few other RPGs can match, and a nicely crafted story.


Despite being absolutely top-notch, the game still wasn't quite what I had expected. Knowing the theme was about time-travelling, and that the game offered multiple endings, I had expected less linearity - but it's only during the last bit of the game that you much leeway in where to go or what goals to pursue. And don't even think about many of the alternate endings until you reach the New Game+ mode.


Highly recommended to anyone who likes classic RPGs or good stories.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 22, 2017, 08:55:48 PM
Finished up Bit.Trip Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien just now. Really stylish endless runner/platformer, with cool presentation, and the music syncs up to the levels and obstacles really well. Lots of stuff to unlock too if you care about that; costumes, achievements, extra levels, alternate exits, etc.
Found it pretty difficult after the second world, so I switched it back to easy mode and am glad I did. The rest of the experience was a lot more manageable, and I still hit plenty of obstacles so it wasn't a cakewalk outright.

It also keeps highscores of your friends, which is a fun touch if you wanna see how bad your reflexes compare to others. Every level (except for 2 of the boss levels!) Mop It Up would be thousands of points higher than me haha! Kinda wish it also showed your position on the world list, relative to others, instead of just the 4 best players. Like yeah game, after 70 levels I really get that MegamanFan is the best at this game for sure, but that's a minor complaint.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 22, 2017, 10:09:49 PM
Put the finishing touches on Never Alone (Wii U) today.


Impressions haven't changed a lick: it's a beautiful game and a wonderful attempt at bringing some cultural exposure and insight through gaming, but sadly the gameplay is just not very good. I don't regret buying Never Alone, and am happy to have spent time going through the full experience... but can't recommend it to anyone in good conscience unless you are specifically looking to support an art project instead of a game.


I don't see myself ever playing through this game again, although I might go back and watch some of the bonus features. It's a shame there wasn't an easier way to get to just the content you wanted, without having to go through the poor controls and design of the actual game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Phil on October 22, 2017, 10:32:06 PM
I beat Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions for the 3DS. I haven't touched the latter game, but I did get to relive an adventure from my early college years. It's still my favorite in the series, featuring creative locations with plenty of puzzles and platforming challenges to overcome, turn-based combat that makes every battle enjoyable, and a presentation that looks stunning on the 3DS. Pretty much steam-rolled through the game except for the final boss, which I almost defeated before getting a game over. Then, I just said "eh" and switched to Easy Mode to beat the game. Superstar Saga took about 19 hours to beat the final boss, but that was with heavy plundering of the world map for secrets.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 24, 2017, 12:59:39 AM
Silent Hill 2 (PS2):

Second game has a lot more walking around in a foggy town than first game. "New" town of Silent Hill (which is apparently different from old one in Silent Hill 1) still has monsters but it's not as scary as first game was in the beginning. There are less dark places and obvious gory imagery and even closed spaces like apartment complex are not as spooky. Brighter environments and maybe increased detalization make the game less scary -- and by the way game looks great, fantastic not just for early PS2 game, most modern games today wished they could achieve the level of detalization this game shows. Mannequin enemies and the way forest randomly chucks monsters at you from the side of a road look more grotesque or even outright comical rather than horrifying:

This clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNUVTYCsC2Q&t=24m57s) (starting from 24m:57) also shows how main character looks at things. This helps player to indicate if there are enemies in the room because James will be staring directly at it. That and creepy ass music than only stops after you stomp the last monster in the area. Player character also looks at things that game wants you to find like puzzles and random items needed for progress. Pretty sure Mario also started to look at enemies and events happenning around him since Mario Galaxy and that feature was also noticeable in 3D World and now Odyssey.

Kinda big deal about Silent Hill 2 is how tank controls are now optional. In the options, you can select "2d" control scheme which is basically what modern games use now (and that's how i played). Old, "3d" (as it's labeled in the menu) tank control scheme allows for better movement options like strafing and you can look up and down. It is not such a big deal with SH2 because it is less demanding and much easier game than 1 but that's a thing to consider.

You are showered with medkits and bullets. Weapons are also no longer hidden somewhere away off the main progression. Now you simply can't run out of bullets to kill some boss, nor you need to find some kinda tucked away non-obvious item to achieve the "Good+" ending. For some of the bosses it's easier to just stand there and eat all the damage while shooting them or slashing them with OP weapon you get 70% into the game that kills everything in 1 top -- 3 hits. Yay for streamlining the experience.

Overall your game performance doesn't entirely decide which of the endings you get -- it's not like in SH1 where the better you did in the game taking less damage and saving as rarely as possible -- the better ending you got. Endings are decided by some other circumstantial factors which i now realize retroactively Shattered Memories did in more obvious, "in-your-face" ways (compared to SH2 where you don't know which ending you're gonna get until the very ending).

Game is an improved sequel in all aspects, i also really liked the story and insight into all side characters. Interestingly the best music track of the game is named after a character who doesn't really have much of a backstory compared to others:


Fantastic music for a great game.

Still, it is hard to recommend -- while less scary than first game you need to almost physically endure it's oppressing atmosphere and it is still very spoopy despite completely devoid of cheap jump scares. Or maybe i recommend it BECAUSE of that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ClexYoshi on October 24, 2017, 10:49:38 AM
First off, Azeke, did you play an original PS2 copy, or the HD collection's borked presentation?


Because honestly? a lot of what you're syaing here sounds contrary to everything I ever heard anybody ever say about Silent Hill 2. people honestly think Silent Hill 2 may be up there with the likes of Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, Ocarina of Time, MGS2, Shadow of the Collosus, Halo Combat Evolved, Final Fantasy 7, Super Mario Bros. 3, etc. as one of the greatest games of all time, possessing amazing storytelling, atmosphere, and being perfect.

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 24, 2017, 10:54:02 AM
did you play an original PS2 copy

Silent Hill 2 (PS2):




a lot of what you're syaing here sounds contrary to everything I ever heard anybody ever say about Silent Hill 2. people honestly think Silent Hill 2 may be up there with the likes...

Game is an improved sequel in all aspects, i also really liked the story and insight into all side characters.

Fantastic music for a great game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 25, 2017, 06:55:50 PM
Gunman Clive HD Collection (Wii U) - I had played the first Gunman Clive on 3DS a long time ago, but never got around to the second game in the series. Looking for something short and relatively easy to play, guess what popped to the top of my list?


The sequel builds on the first game, and quickly proves to be more challenging and creative. Similar to the first game, almost every short level tries to introduce something new to challenge the player - right up to the impressively entertaining final boss.


Everyone should give this game a shot - but play the two games in order, or you might be slightly surprised about the challenge (and plot) of Gunman Clive 2.


Highly recommended. (Are these out on Switch yet?)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: that Baby guy on October 26, 2017, 02:33:00 PM
I just beat Cuphead. It was okay. Waste of a fantastic style on a frustrating game. I get that the world wants challenging games, but Cuphead, itself, shouldn't have fit that mold. This is why I don't review games any more. Too many times I saw games try to be something that didn't fit what they should be. Cuphead should have been a light-hearted platformer with cheesy, old-fashioned story-based cutscenes and boss battles and stages that advanced a light-hearted narrative.

Instead, it was a tough-as-nails boss-battle gauntlet with a few awful Ghosts-N-Goblins style run-and-gun stages and some really genre-convention-reversing shoot-em-up stages, who's most difficulty stage featured frequent screen obstruction in a frustrating method of adding difficulty.

Even if it was just bosses, and only bosses, on the ground, the game would have been more enjoyable, but the platform and shoot-em-up stages were so bad, they bring it down. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't anywhere near as good as it could have been.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on October 26, 2017, 09:47:26 PM
I'm watching your Mario RPG play-through, and its actually really nice to hear your voice again. I really miss the pod-casting we used to do.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on October 27, 2017, 02:08:13 AM
SPAZ 2.

It's "Early access" but it was near feature complete at that point and most of the time was spent bug killing and multi platform development. It is .0001 away from 1.0. they basically used EA as a soft launch.

The first game had quite a few show stoppers which I help them fix but this time round I can't find any bugs period. It is an impressive feat and I have to give them a hand.

The game plays sort of like the first but now you are always playing a customisable clockwork scale ship and the old ships are now relegated as strike craft. Synergies are cool which less you boost performance of parts compared to having more parts.

The world is also a lot more persistent so no more trashing a system while moving to the next with a clean slate. Instead you rep can change galaxy wide or down to only the captain you attacked. One problem is that it is completely open ended so there isn't a real end game other than wiping out the zombies and conquering the galaxy.

The weapons are more balanced as it is much better to use a mix of weapons to target different forms of defence. Choosing which part to use other than what the weapon is important as the stat boost can be of greater value.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: that Baby guy on October 27, 2017, 06:29:29 PM
I'm watching your Mario RPG play-through, and its actually really nice to hear your voice again. I really miss the pod-casting we used to do.

Me too! We were the best of pros who didn't get paid! The streaming has been fun! Getting me to play games a little more, too!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 12, 2017, 10:43:58 PM
Paper Monsters Recut (Wii U eShop) - They platforming physics are floaty, but work well enough and seem oddly fitting for the theme. Level design is bland and the difficulty is low. Collision detection is spotty - I fell through the floor of a level to my doom more than once, and had many other bugs where my character ended up somewhere he (or she?) shouldn't be.


But it's cute, and harmless, and short enough that you don't feel like the game is dragging too much.
Despite being a "not very good" game, I didn't hate playing it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 14, 2017, 12:12:42 PM
I'm borrowing someone's 3DS to play Metroid Samus Returns... and instead took the liberty to install MyNintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess.

Welp, 17 HOURS later I've done every Picross, Mega Picross and even the final Micross puzzle in that. It's very simple, and reminds me of sudoku but easier to grasp. It's a free piece of software from MyNintendo (1000 platinum coins, which I racked up by checking Miiverse often, I assume?) but there's a lot of content here.

I suppose one might feel snooty about there being 'just 45' puzzle solutions which they recycle for the Mega Picross mode... But really, you don't play these games for the final picture. Found the whole experience very calming and incredibly addicting.

Not sure yet if I'm in the market for more Picross games now, because I could see this becoming a very dangerous new timesink. Also, I should be a good friend first and get back to Metroid so I can return the 3DS.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on November 15, 2017, 11:13:30 AM
Paper Monsters Recut (Wii U eShop)
This is incredibly shallow but I have avoided this game based on name. I don't like being reminded of paper cuts. I hate paper cuts.
Dumb, I know, but there it is. I feel similarly about games with "afterbirth" in their title. I've seen afterbirth. It's not pretty.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 15, 2017, 12:13:37 PM
...
Dumb, I know, but there it is. I feel similarly about games with "afterbirth" in their title. I've seen afterbirth. It's not pretty.


Is "afterbirth" a common word in game titles?  I've seen "rebirth", which hints towards a game that has been remade or reborn, but don't really recall "afterbirth". 


Maybe Binding of Isaac used it, since that game takes a slightly gory approach?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Fatty The Hutt on November 15, 2017, 12:27:04 PM
...
Dumb, I know, but there it is. I feel similarly about games with "afterbirth" in their title. I've seen afterbirth. It's not pretty.


Is "afterbirth" a common word in game titles?  I've seen "rebirth", which hints towards a game that has been remade or reborn, but don't really recall "afterbirth". 


Maybe Binding of Isaac used it, since that game takes a slightly gory approach?
Yes, it's just Binding of Isaac.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on November 15, 2017, 02:16:41 PM
But I'm sure if another game had that it in the title it would also generate the same response. Or would Kirby: Afterbirth of Dreamland actually intrigue more than repel?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 15, 2017, 04:05:13 PM
Wasn't there a Kingdom Hearts release called Birth After Sleep?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on November 15, 2017, 04:10:34 PM
Wasn't there a Kingdom Hearts release called Birth After Sleep?
It was titled "Birth By Sleep." I'm not sure if that's better or worse.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on November 15, 2017, 07:35:44 PM
When in doubt, assume worse with Kingdom Hearts.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 05, 2017, 11:00:55 PM
The room Two (Steam):

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FSn1fwsrn_U/maxresdefault.jpg)

The Room 1 really distinguished itself from other "escape the room" puzzle games with strong art-direction and rather high production for a mobile game. All the puzzles had physical quality to them -- open that hidden compartment -- get a key that fits into the keyhole on the other side of a box. Controls also contributed to physical nature of game's puzzles -- you needed to pull handles, open doors, turn levers and such with touch controls.

In the sequel, there are now many boxes instead of just one, there are several rooms with filled with knickknacks, mechanisms, levers, lenses and all kinds of machines.

PC ports of these game bring in higher fidelity (game looks notably better on big screen that on the screenshot above that i took from mobile version) and mouse controls that stand in for touch controls. There is at least one occasional where this is troublesome -- i couldn't open one door all the way because my mouse didn't register movement that wide that fast.

Neat puzzle game. Atmosphere and music get kinda spooky but not really, puzzles are intuitive enough, and game is nice looking. Recommended for 1-2$.

There is a third game on mobile but the studio said they won't start on PC port until 2018 (http://www.fireproofgames.com/studio-blog).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 11, 2017, 01:07:37 AM
Assasin's Creed: Syndicate (PC):
(http://abload.de/img/20170625102046_16ns46.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625102046_16ns46.jpg)

Assassin's Creed series evolves in steps. Every other iteration tries some new crazy stuff, gameplay-wise or some new tech. In the fray some gameplay features get lost (unarmed combat, ability to pet animals or pick up enemy weapons), removed after bad reception (tower defense missions, co-op missions) or even spun off into completely separate game (ship battles), and new tech more often than not will be glitchy (ACIII) even if very impressive with what it does.

(http://abload.de/img/20170625100204_15bs1l.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625100204_15bs1l.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170625223032_19xs11.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625223032_19xs11.jpg)

But the game right after that big experiment is usually good because teams at Ubisoft will have more time to self-reflect, collect feedback, cull and mix features into something better, even if it will be just a derivative compilation at it's core.

Rogue (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg884047#msg884047) was just a cocktail of III and II instead of crazy tech piece of Unity (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg893602#msg893602) released same year. Unity boasted insane thousand strong crowds, eye popping grafx and silky smooth 10 fps with constant hitching. Rogue did more of the same and was better for it.

(http://abload.de/img/20170923112658_1ecsak.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170923112658_1ecsak.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170916132855_1o2swd.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170916132855_1o2swd.jpg)

Syndicate does the same for Unity -- it reigns in it's ambitions in terms of scope -- WAY less people on way narrower streets, removes stupid bullshit noone liked (co-op missions) and retains what good parts Unity had (detective missions).

(http://abload.de/img/20170625231240_1ydsz8.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625231240_1ydsz8.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170916130653_1ypss8.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170916130653_1ypss8.jpg)

Being largely a remix, Syndicate doesn't address Unity's biggest mistake which undermines the entire premise of a series -- red areas on the map which prohibit you from going there in the beginning: you can not go into 90% of the the map because enemies there will kill you in one hit if you as much as look at them. Same with locked areas and picklocks that prevent you from opening chests and collect all collectibles along the way in one go forcing to return to these areas after you leveled up. Syndicate at least reduces the harshness of red areas and caps picklock levels at 2 (instead of 4 i think in Unity) but the concept is still there and it's annoying. Through this leveling-up mechanics they want to string up your playthrough on a linear and controllable path and that point what is even the point of branding the game as "open world".

There are still new things compared to Unity. You can ride an assortment of vehicles namely: boats, trains and auto- carriages:

(http://abload.de/img/20170625093055_1kps7f.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625093055_1kps7f.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170811210053_1qqs97.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170811210053_1qqs97.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170625180254_1d7sw3.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625180254_1d7sw3.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171202085059_1gus1m.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171202085059_1gus1m.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170625222806_14gsle.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625222806_14gsle.jpg)

Jumping off a roof onto carriage's roof and hijacking it is really cool. Trains and boats are useful when you to cover ground without actually controlling the vehicle-- i turned eagle vision scanning mode on and got on trains and boats and then left the game running for 10 minutes at a time to find the last helix shards.

Speaking of 100% completion this game does does a dirty trick -- in-game maps only show you 99% of collectibles, location of last few shards and chests is only available on online UPlay store.

Detective missions are back from Unity and the while most of them aren't super engaging the ending to detective storyline is amazing. They very clearly "borrowed" a lot of stuff from BBC's Sherlock show with presentation and the style of villain:
(http://abload.de/img/20170730122227_1x7s0x.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170730122227_1x7s0x.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170917193135_1qgsj9.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170917193135_1qgsj9.jpg)

Syndicate also has a rope. It is a better version of a hook from Revelations semi-automating the climbing process and with it you can go from roof to roof almost like Spider-man:

(http://abload.de/img/20170630233027_1hzs0l.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170630233027_1hzs0l.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170625223402_1h7s7z.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625223402_1h7s7z.jpg)

London in this game is architecturally the same as Paris, aside from main landmarks the buildings are the same. Level of detalisation in environment and animations is also very high but this time it doesn't reduce the game into a hitching mess:

(http://abload.de/img/20170702141713_1gzssr.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170702141713_1gzssr.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170729160821_1g9s97.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170729160821_1g9s97.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170805164214_1gls9b.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170805164214_1gls9b.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171202144930_16rswj.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171202144930_16rswj.jpg)


(http://abload.de/img/20171118184218_1m8s4i.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171118184218_1m8s4i.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171201183948_1ckshk.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171201183948_1ckshk.jpg)

Game has a lot flavour behaviours like people just playing games in the park, orchestra giving a performance. You can catch a glimpse of daily life in rougher parts of the city like bandits catching a thief and roughing him up or a woman who recruits a boy to be her pretend son for begging.

(http://abload.de/img/20170629210326_1scsm6.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170629210326_1scsm6.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171014114633_1i6shs.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171014114633_1i6shs.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170702140749_1g5sqg.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170702140749_1g5sqg.jpg)


Story is structured in chapters, punctuated by assasinations. Each kill is like a Hitman level  -- they even use the same term "opportunity" (again this is exactly the same as in Unity):
(http://abload.de/img/20170923121835_1ocsh7.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170923121835_1ocsh7.jpg)

Of two characters available i mostly used Evie simply because she is prettier and has really neat costumes. However Jacob's deerstalker is good because of it's wider eagle vision scanning radius and i used it for later parts where i scoured all over the city looking for the last remaining collectibles.

(http://abload.de/img/20170923120855_1cps2i.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170923120855_1cps2i.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170625093742_1bisek.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170625093742_1bisek.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20170730192057_1uts35.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20170730192057_1uts35.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171202091249_1xjsmd.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171202091249_1xjsmd.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171202093358_1r4sv0.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171202093358_1r4sv0.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171202132652_1z7sbe.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171202132652_1z7sbe.jpg)

Overall, Syndicate is a really solid game that removes most of the annoyances of Unity. It is a ACII-type game where you are in one big city (no islands, no jungles, no naval stuff). You climb buildings, open chests and jump into haystacks -- all too familiar, almost nostalgic routine improved with addition of a rope. If you like this stuff -- you will enjoy it.

Also for crazy people who want 100% completion Syndicate like most modern AC games has rather lenient full sync requirements. Thank god for that. No more missions of ACII Brotherhood that were impossible to full sync.


Assasin's Creed: Syndicate. Jack the Ripper DLC (PC):
This DLC features Jacob and Evie vs titular serial killer. Not quite sure why but this DLC looks a bit better for me: maybe it's colder palette of Fall or they actually improved textures and lightning:
(http://abload.de/img/20171209100852_17hss4.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171209100852_17hss4.jpg)

I enjoyed new locations they added for this DLC:
(http://abload.de/img/20171207205009_1vpsaq.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171207205009_1vpsaq.jpg)
(http://abload.de/img/20171210114610_1kps91.jpg) (http://abload.de/img/20171210114610_1kps91.jpg)

Story was okay and actual historical texts about Jack The Ripper case were cool.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on December 13, 2017, 04:45:58 PM
Can't help but smile at that "buy the shard location from our store if you wanna finish it 100%!" gimmick. Surely people are just going to instantly post the location to gamefaqs? Does it change for every player or something?

I've still not played one of those games, despite having owned the fourth one (Black Flag, the one about pirates) for well over a year now... Should get on that at some point.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 13, 2017, 10:20:40 PM
Can't help but smile at that "buy the shard location from our store if you wanna finish it 100%!" gimmick. Surely people are just going to instantly post the location to gamefaqs?
Do you really think Ubisoft are that stupid in their sinisterity?

Does it change for every player or something?
Of course it does.

They are still present and visible in actual world, though can be easily lost visually in a busy urban environment.

Mine last helix glitch was right on one the fast travel points (specifically the one i never had any need to teleport to). For all i know it might have actually been marked on the map but i couldn't see it because it overlapped with fast travel icon.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 19, 2017, 07:50:50 AM
Hahaha!  Mastering the ruins of La-Mulana EX (PSN)?  Done!

I know many people won't enjoy this game. That's ok.
It has some frustrating design choices, to be sure. But the exploration is interesting, most of the puzzles are hinted at well enough to be solvable (which seems improved in EX version compared to the WiiWare release), and progressing in the game feels very rewarding.

Very pleased to have finished the game. If not for the RFN retroactive, it probably wouldnt have happened... so I'm very glad the ballot box got rocked by ClexYoshi.   ;)




The big question now: where to go now? This is like a major gaming achievement from here, so moving on feels weird. I'll probably go back to Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita), but it would be nice to find a short game in my collection that could be finished before the end of the year.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 21, 2017, 02:35:12 AM
Here's some thoughts on a few titles:

Thimbleweed Park (PC):

I play a lot of adventure games and I rarely comment on them because it's kind of a disease and also few new ones are actually good. I finally bit the bullet on this, and spent a lot of the run time frustrated. It's actually a full-length game, which is rare in this genre at this point, but it's also a sloppy blast of a huge amount of locations, items, and playable characters, with verb commands on top. So it kind of exacerbates the annoying elements of some older titles, where there's a dozen threads going on that you get the gist of but don't know what to tug on to loosen the knot, leading to lots of wandering around trying to keep everything in memory while making jerky, unconnected pieces of progress.

I looked up three solutions, one of which I thought I'd tried, one of which I thought was bullshit, and one of which had me punching my knee. Based on my experience I'd rate this as pretty average. It's overall fairly easy and straightforward, but punctuated with aggravating bottlenecks.

But I even write this up because the very end of the game crosses into intriguing territory, and made me wish the game had done more to pay off it's seemingly played-out winky adventure game reference stuff. Making a softer Maniac Mansion wasn't nearly as interesting as what they could have done on both a story/aesthetic and gameplay level.

A Hat in Time (PC):

Saw this get a lot of pretty positive reviews, but this felt to me like an ambitious student thesis. A few interesting ideas here and there, mostly a clumsy jumble of Psychonauts and crummy PS1 3d platformers. Special shout out to excruciatingly elongated boss battles.

Steamworld Dig 2 (PC):

Got this out of console-less desperation, but it's definitely better than the first game. I did find that the first game's hollow progression recurred by the final stretch, and weirdly incorporated the challenge rooms that initially felt like a big improvement to variety and challenge.

Evil Within 2 (PC):

Didn't play the first one, but thought it sounded bad. After an annoyingly long on-rails "story" intro, I actually got really into this game and spent a good six hours making runs in the first big town area. I find the concept and aesthetics and all to not be scary at all, but there was still fun tension in the initial disempowerment and effectiveness of stealth. I ended up bulking up on upgrades from combing this area, and the rest of the game became kind of a walk in the park on the normal difficulty, and also the semi-open design massively petered off in favor of lots of scripty, mostly linear stuff that partially discarded the first third of the game. Weird and deflating, but overall passable on generic video game terms.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 29, 2017, 07:58:49 AM
Lords of Thunder (Wii U)


Enjoyed it a great deal, and will be replaying because I had to abuse save states a little bit to actually get to the ending. Do I feel bad about "beating" the game this way? Hell, no. Lords of Thunder is incredibly punitive at times, and getting through the final level would have been far too time-consuming otherwise. Do I enjoy the game any less, due to those facts? Hell, no. Very fun little shmup with a ton of charm.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on December 30, 2017, 08:39:30 AM
Lords of Thunder (Wii U)

Ooooooh I missed the news this came to virtual console, always wanted to give it a shot.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 30, 2017, 12:44:17 PM
Lords of Thunder (Wii U)

Ooooooh I missed the news this came to virtual console, always wanted to give it a shot.


I think it's worth playing. Feels pretty unique. The first stage is pretty easy, letting you build up credits to upgrade your health/armor, and then you get to pick your destination and type of weapon to use afterwards... so even though it's pretty difficult, you don't get sick and tired of the game easily.


As mentioned above, I did end up using save states to make the experience a bit easier and more enjoyable for me - but only really abused them with mid-level saves during the final level.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on December 31, 2017, 02:13:10 AM
Lords of Thunder is easily one of my favorite shmup.  Unlike many where it's pretty typical space themed, Lords of Thunder has a very unique late 80/early 90's anime metal fantasy theme going on.  This leads to a lot more unique level design compared to other shmups as well.  Plus since you're controlling a person instead of a ship you have a sword slash that does more damage when close to enemies which gives players a lot more options then other games in this genre provide.

Oh and the soundtrack is just incredible.  Unlike your typical game music from this era, Lords of Thunder actually has full 3-4 minute long tracks that are actually longer then the stages on Normal mode.  You have to play on the higher difficulties to hear the full versions of the songs, since the levels scroll slower on them to provide more enemies in them.

As mentioned above, I did end up using save states to make the experience a bit easier and more enjoyable for me - but only really abused them with mid-level saves during the final level.

Yeah that final stage is pretty crazy.  I've don't use save states myself but even when I go in with all my weapons and energy maxed out, with a shield and revive potion I usually end up down to the last of my health by the end of it.  Of course that's the other things I love about Lords of Thunder, they really reward players for getting good at the early levels so they have a shot at the later ones.  So many shmups can completely screw you over in the final levels over just a simple mistakes where if you play flawless throughout Lord of Thunder, you can save up so much money that one screwup won't destroy all your progress.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on December 31, 2017, 02:36:29 AM
I basically only know Lords of Thunder from the guys on RFN making fun of it years and years ago, but you guys are making me want to actually pick it up. If it were on Switch I definitely would, but I'm not sure I'm interested enough to go back to the Wii U for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 31, 2017, 10:44:10 AM
I went back to play Soldier Blade (TG16) after spending quite a bit of time with Lords of Thunder.  Wow, that game feels like a piece of cake in comparison. I used to think that Soldier Blade was tough, but it feels so... simple in comparison.


It's funny how the high difficulty in Lords of Thunder doesn't really feel that bad though - giving a stage select option means you can go at it again and again without having to continually see the same levels, and encourages you to try using different weapons.



Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on December 31, 2017, 04:56:05 PM
I basically only know Lords of Thunder from the guys on RFN making fun of it years and years ago, but you guys are making me want to actually pick it up. If it were on Switch I definitely would, but I'm not sure I'm interested enough to go back to the Wii U for it.

Just listen to this music from the game and decide if you can wait a possible few more years to play this.






If your Wii U is still around I'd say it's worth it.  Of course watch as Nintendo announces the Virtual Console for Switch in the next few weeks right after you do it and this is one of the first games for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on January 01, 2018, 10:18:52 PM
I just beat Doom on the Switch. Very fun ride, the aggressive play type it encourages makes it feel so much different than the majority of FPS. It gets a lot of things right, notably the feel of the first game. The original Doom wasn't just about running around killing things, it was also about exploring, solving puzzles and finding goodies after you have killed all the enemies and this game remembers that.

It's not perfect, the game is probably about one level too long, and the kill rooms get ran into the ground, although I can see why they were there from a technical standpoint. Killing monsters though, it feels really really good.

9 out 10

- Worst enemy: The floating Cacodemon is a pain in the but, absorbs a lot of damage and shoots out a ton as well.
- Best Weapon: The Plasma Rifle is great, it pours out a ton of firepower and the lighted shots work as tracers. Equip the Heat Wave mod and buff it up for a great AoE weapon that takes care of the side enemies.
- Attribute upgrade path: Build your ammo capacity, then alternate it with health. Build up armor last.
- Second Best Weapon: the double barreled shotgun feels great and packs a wallop
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on January 02, 2018, 12:54:12 AM
Grand Theft Auto V - 9/10-really fun. Wish there was more Franklin stuff. Did not feel like he developed enough.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 17, 2018, 09:20:14 PM
All right 2018 will be the year I clear the accumulated backlog! For real this time!
Starting wiiiiith Bomberman '94, on the TurboGrafx-16 virtual console!


(http://gonintendo.com/system/file_uploads/uploads/000/022/370/original/site.png)

I'm gonna assume everyone here is at least familiar enough with Bomberman right? Well, when the new Switch game released I wanted to play it but not make 'the switch' just yet, so I got this on virtual console as a compromise.

Gameplay is about the same as usual; you wander around on a grid-like area, place bombs to hopefully clear away obstacles and enemies if you time it right - or just blow yourself up because you weren't paying attention...
Sometimes you find power-ups that extend the reach of your blast, allow you to place more bombs simultaneously, temporarily freeze enemies in place, and a few more which I never really figured out. There's a couple more nuances, like ridable mounts which serve as an extra hit you can take, and it being advantageous to not bomb every block in the level because they let you collect bonus point coins for every block left intact.

However, this is ultimately very much a typical Bomberman game. There's a 3-4 hour story mode with 5 worlds (about 19 levels), plus a secret last level/world thing, and each one has several unique enemies with their own properties, new locales, a topical boss battle, etc. I kind of expected the ice world to also have slippery floors, but luckily that wasn't the case (that'd be awful since Bomberman does require a degree of precision). My favourites were the water world and the Dracula's castle themed one.
Fair warning: the game isn't very hard, but the absolute final level is both quite long and has a really tough bossfight. Either bring a bunch of lives, or save-scum your way through with restore points like I did.

Overall a very solid Bomberman game that I'd never played before, and would easily recommend - it holds up rather well! All I gotta do now is find 4 more people for that sweet 5-player multi action! Rating: 7.5/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 18, 2018, 07:28:33 PM
Double post SORRY but I have a few nights off this week and wanna start 2018 off by finishing some games.
Today I spent about an hour on Ghost Blade HD, enough to finish it thrice in easy mode.
(https://hucastgames.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/ghostbladehd_0_26.jpg)

This is a super busy, very colourful vertically scrolling shooter in the classic sense. 5 Levels, 5 continue credits, 3 possible ships, 3 difficulty levels, 1 pulse-pounding EDM soundtrack and endless laserbeams to decorate your own personal bullet hell.

What's neat about this one is that it used to be a Sega DreamCast homebrew game first, and the HD release came to Wii U just weeks before Breath of the Wild released. Given the amount of shmups on the Switch, I fully expect this to get ported at some point.

The game itself is exactly what you expect, but it's quite a quality product. The 3 different ships all feel suitably different (small & fast; medium with wide ranging shots; and one with very precise aiming), and it has a lot of options under the hood. You can display this in tate mode, change transparencies, invert buttons, change the images on the side of the screen, and in the credits I even saw an alternate soundtrack mentioned?

Complaints: loading times feel a tad long maybe, sometimes it's hard to see bullets between all the chaos, I hate the 'metal bikini look' on the standard background (see above), and the most petty complaint of all - I wish it played a cool sound effect before doing the "WARNING!" end of stage boss introduction. Now it's just a second or 2 of silence before the soundtrack kicks back in and that feels out of place.

If you're into shooters, this is a good option on Wii U (and hopefully Switch later on?), also for newcomers. I was able to beat all 5 levels on my second attempt (using every credit I had), so I'm sure the harder modes will satisfy genre veterans too. Is it the best shmup on Wii U? No, Sky Force Anniversary is a more complete package, and I personally prefer zoning out to XType+ over the frantic stress induced by Ghost Blade.
That said, it's great to see such a polished product from a small team who are willing to release things on the freaking Dreamcast and Wii U of all platforms (ok I guess it's also on Steam, PS4 and Xbone but shhhh).
Rating: 8/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 21, 2018, 10:01:13 AM
Ys: Memories of Celceta (Vita)


Finished the game this morning. Had been dragging it out a bit, hoping to get a few more trophies and just kind of grinding to power up the various player skills... but finally decided to polish off the final boss.


Let me get this out of the way: the game isn't groundbreaking in any way. Graphics can be kind of muddy, world design is all quite linear, and neither gameplay nor story are deep or riveting in any way. However, the combat is a solid blend of using attacks/blocks/dodges/special powers and it can be very empowering once you get enough experience. For a somewhat mindless Gauntlet-style game where explore a maze-like world and constantly beat up on enemies, the whole package is very enjoyable.


Glad to have played it, and will probably go back to play through some more with the clear data at some point. Won't appeal to everyone though, and it looks like Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana (which is on my short list of games to play) will be a better overall experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 29, 2018, 10:40:22 PM
Finished a couple more short games this weekend.


Zoda's Revenge: Star Tropics 2 (Wii VC) - Talked about this game a bit in the "what are you playing" thread, and didn't have a kind assessment. But now I think that was a bit harsh. As an adventure or RPG game, it's not very good. But as a straight action game it's actually pretty solid.


I do still have issues with the game. The story is pretty terrible from start to finish. It's not like the first game was a great epic or anything, but this is a clear step down. The lack of knock-back and short invincibility afterwards can feel pretty cheap if you ever make contact with an enemy, and there is that one boss on a field of arrows that just seems like a lazy and terrible design.


Still not something I recommend, but no longer something I regret playing.




Risk of Rain (Vita/PSTV) - This game has really grown on me, after middling first impressions. Despite having all the potential negatives of a rogue-like, where the RNG might seem to be out to get you, the action is very solid and enjoyable. I wish that stages were more varied, but the many playable characters (with smart differences in how they play) and the cycle of unlocking new stuff ensures the game has great replay value.


Even though I've beat the game with one character, still actively playing (and really enjoying) it... so I guess that's worth a recommendation.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on January 30, 2018, 04:27:26 PM
So over the weekend I beat Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS.

The ending is essentially "buy the sequel, fucker!" which... worked as I have Zero Time Dilemma coming on it's way from Amazon.  Okay, I legitimately enjoyed this game and it's predecessor 999 enough that I was planning on completing the trilogy anyway, though maybe not this soon.  I could probably have let someone get it for me for Christmas.  The ending leaves enough dangling that I would really have hated it if I played the game when it was current and had to wait four years for the sequel.  I had to Google the ending I got to confirm that, yes, this unresolved cliffhanger IS the ending.  I've never had to do that with a game before.  Honestly the "is this the ending?" feeling kind of hurt my whole opinion of the game.  As I was playing it I considered it superior to 999 but now I'm not so sure.  The gameplay is much more user-friendly and thus is more fun to play but the story in 999 is much more satisfying.

There is a key part of the ending that I have issues with.  Marking these as spoilers though as this is key stuff you should absolutely not read if you haven't beaten the game!

The big twist in the ending is that the main character, Sigma, is actually an old man having had this 22 year old consciousness transferred into the 60-something year old body of his future self.  At first this seemed completely ridiculous but later when I looked up discussion about it I found there are lots of subtle references to it from the other characters that seems odd at the time but you don't really question.  In that sense it's kind of brilliant - tell the player that the character is 22 years old and he'll totally buy it and find it odd whenever someone calls him "grandpa" or remarks how he's been in school for a long time but will never make the assumption that the character is something different than he says he is.  The game is almost entirely first person, the main character is the only one without voice acting, and you only ever see your hands.  All the cutscenes with the main character in it are at an angle that doesn't show his face (or they're flashbacks).  I didn't even find this odd as it assumed the camera angles were to provide immersion and make it feel more like I'm the main character.

But there are some major issues with it that make it unbelievable.  Seeing young hands is covered because it turns out the arms are cybernetic with artificial skin so the skin is made to look young.  But does he only ever look at his hands?  At no point did he look at any other part of his body?  Didn't he presumably have to go to the bathroom at some point during the multiple days the game covers?  What if his pant leg rode up and he saw his old legs?  And how does Sigma just never happen to see a reflection of himself?  There are mirrors that are dirtied up to cover that but what about reflections in water or in the numerous glass or shiny metal items in the facility he's in?  At no point did he not see a glimpse of his reflection and think "what the hell?"  And finally his appearance as an old man is too extremely different than his young self for him not to notice.  His hair is noticably longer, kind of like a mullet.  I notice when my hair is getting long even without a mirror because I can feel it on my neck.  Okay, maybe he noticed but assumed he had been asleep long enough his hair had grown out.  But the real kicker is that old Sigma has a cyborg eye.  Not one that just fills his eye cavity but a big honking monocle like thing that protrudes from his head.  He somehow never touches it (or maybe his robot hands are programmed not to notice?) and no character at any point says "hey how did you get that cyborg eye?"  The thing is that old Sigma didn't need to have such radical changes to his appearance and this concept would have been much more believable.  Ditch the eye (aren't cyborg arms enough?) and keep his hair the same length and MAYBE I can buy this.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 30, 2018, 09:25:49 PM
...  The gameplay is much more user-friendly and thus is more fun to play but the story in 999 is much more satisfying.
...


Totally agree here.


Haven't played Zero Time Dilemma yet; secretly hoping the whole series will get re-released in one package, with the updates to 999 that Vita version saw. Not sure how likely that is though... I've also been waiting for a Layton compilation and there doesn't seem to be any movement there either.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 10, 2018, 02:53:27 PM
Yay!  Finished my 4th game of the year, putting me nicely on track to reach my end of year goal.


So what are my final thoughts on Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)?  Mixed.


The game is super cute, but the challenge is very low. They try to make up for that by adding several different challenges to accomplish for each level - finish the level, collected all gems, beat the target time, and a bonus goal to get a checkmark. Most of the time, these varied goals and the creative level design work well together to hold your interest and encourage you to see what will happen next. Having bonus stages pop up randomly (or at least it felt random to me) is also a nice diversion.


Where does the game falter? Often, especially in later levels, multiple goals in a level can't be accomplished in a single run through. It's nice to have a reason to revisit levels, but having to revisit them at least 4 times seems excessive. The challenge also never really ramps up all that far (granted, I stopped doing time trials early on... they might be more challenging, but weren't the much fun for me).


Is it a game worth recommending? Depends on what you want. I'm glad to own it, but glad I didn't pay full price. Games don't have to be hard to create a sense of accomplishment... but sometimes the lack of challenge here made it feel like "keep busy" gaming rather than something I was passionate about playing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 10, 2018, 07:10:58 PM
Finished the Shadow of the Colossus remake. Beautiful remake of an excellent game, despite some small issues related to the game's original design like some generally obtuse Colossi encounters & one Colossi fight that's just shittily designed (#9 with the geysers. It's a pure crspshoot if the Colossus going to be in the "right spot" for it to work).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 10, 2018, 09:48:03 PM
Where does the game falter? Often, especially in later levels, multiple goals in a level can't be accomplished in a single run through. It's nice to have a reason to revisit levels, but having to revisit them at least 4 times seems excessive. The challenge also never really ramps up all that far (granted, I stopped doing time trials early on... they might be more challenging, but weren't the much fun for me).


Is it a game worth recommending? Depends on what you want. I'm glad to own it, but glad I didn't pay full price. Games don't have to be hard to create a sense of accomplishment... but sometimes the lack of challenge here made it feel like "keep busy" gaming rather than something I was passionate about playing.

You missed the best part of the game then.  The time trails is where the game offers it's challenge and shows just how well designed the levels are.  The later levels especially will require you to have quick reflexes and skills to complete in time.  If you were looking for a challenge you really missed out by not sticking with them since they really pick up in second half of the game.

Plus did you do the true final level, Mummy Maze Forever?  That was the Champion's Road equivalent to this game and will literally add several hours by itself because of the intense challenge.  I agree that just doing the main game is lacking in difficulty but it more then makes up for it in the optional content for those looking for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 11, 2018, 12:03:22 PM
I'll have to head back to check out Mummy Maze Forever, then.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 11, 2018, 07:29:31 PM
Mummy Maze Forever is one of the hardest video game things I've ever completed, and probably the only rogue-like I'll ever **** with. It's basically like a whole different game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 11, 2018, 10:00:39 PM
The mummy maze levels were fantastic - although I didn't spend much time with post-game content after finishing, I can get behind those being maybe the coolest part of the game. (Will likely go back at some point for a bit more, but haven't had much time since finishing it to play games.)


But saying that time trials are the best part of the game doesn't work for me. Sure, they could be challenging - but I find that rushing through levels and memorizing quickest paths to be the opposite of fun. Finished the time trials for the first chapter, and didn't care enough to continue. It's awesome if they work for you though.




Went back to Risk of Rain (Vita) today and beat that game again. The more I play that game, the more I enjoy it. Lots of stuff unlocked, but still lots of characters classes yet to play.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 11, 2018, 10:31:56 PM
Mummy Maze Forever is one of the hardest video game things I've ever completed, and probably the only rogue-like I'll ever **** with. It's basically like a whole different game.
What the hell this sounds incredible. I need it right now.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on February 13, 2018, 12:45:39 PM
So what are my final thoughts on Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)?  Mixed...
Oof, you're now 0 for 2 when it comes to some of my fave games. It's a pity, just when you were starting to get back onto my good side...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 13, 2018, 03:03:45 PM
So what are my final thoughts on Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)?  Mixed...
Oof, you're now 0 for 2 when it comes to some of my fave games. It's a pity, just when you were starting to get back onto my good side...


Just a coincidence - surely not intentional. It's not like I'm aiming to be your evil nemesis or anything...
*ahem*
at least, not yet. Just wait to see what comes next.




For what it's worth, I do like Captain Toad for the charm and cute level design; it's just the lack of difficulty in beating levels/finding all gems/reaching checkmark goals was disappointing. My stance on Star Tropics 2 also softened after accepting that it's just an action game, instead of an adventure/RPG with action elements.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 15, 2018, 03:45:47 AM
Yume Penguin Monogatari (Dream Penguin Adventure, Famicom):
(http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PA.54155.001-248x360.jpg)

What a great game. It really is stunning how fantastic Konami's 8-bit games were. Great spritework, colours, animations and an innovative concept that can only compared to ranking systems of action games or maybe if Kirby's Epic Yarn actually penalised you for not collecting 70% of all beads.

Main character doesn't have health and can't die, your only punishment for touching enemy or their bullets is time-wasting animation of penguin (funnily) flopping around on his back. However you need to kill certain number of enemies and get hit as least as possible or else you won't progress and game will force you to replay the level.

This concept is framed as a story of a fat penguin who got dumped by his penguin girlfriend for slim and rich penguin in a top hat:

(https://abload.de/img/penguinstorywpsbb.jpg)

^ that's 10/10 premise right here

So now our hero goes through several levels while slimming down at the same time, and if you reach the end of a level too late or too fat -- you will have to replay it.

I only knew about this game last week from subbed Game Center CX episode (http://www.sa-gccx.com/episode/yume-penguin-monogatari). I played it most of the week on lunch breaks completing achievements (http://retroachievements.org/Game/5241). Such a fun and funny game. Did all of them except for the last one.

It's an easy, somewhat short game, controls are kinda wonky, but i really like ideas and the artistry put into it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on February 15, 2018, 03:22:26 PM
I wrapped up Pyre (PC) this past week.  The game stuck with me in a way I didn't expect.  The game environment, art style, music direction, and world building is fantastic, but the actual game play in-between matches of the Rites is pretty tedious visual novel style, which isn't necessarily a bad way to handle story beats, but just wasn't something I was looking for in the game.


Short summary for anyone curious about the game: You play a person banished from civilization to a land called the Downside, which is where all who break the laws of the Commonwealth are sent to.  Your sin is literacy, and you're picked-up by a band of travelers who are participating in events called the Rites, which is the only pathway for those who have been banished to be returned to civilization and their crimes absolved. 


Unsurprisingly, there is a subplot to that main thread in the game that is additional motivation to free yourselves and your companions, but there's an ambiguity as to whether or not you enabling that sub-plot is for the greater good or if you're being manipulated for others' gain.  Because of this, i'm compelled to consider a re-play, which isn't something I do often for new games. 


The Rites in the game are the core meat of the gameplay, which are 3 vs 3 matches where the goal is to basically run a ball to the opponent's Pyre spot on the map.  Each character has a unique set of abilities and speed, which makes the selection of your team members an interesting dynamic, as well as affects how you play (offensively vs defensively) as you get deeper into the game.


It's on sale for 1/2 off on steam, I have no problems recommending it at that price ($10).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 19, 2018, 03:02:09 AM
Pac-Man 256 (Steam, PC):

It's a neat idea and a cool refresh of classic pac-man gameplay but a final end-game grind to upgrade all skills annoyed me. I guess it's more acceptable if you play it on the phone constantly, but i aint doing that for 20 hours straight.

Whatever, neat game, but grind is stupid. At least they did rip-out all microtransations stuff.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on February 20, 2018, 10:48:55 PM
So, I took a break from the dismal angst of War the Horseman and dove into Dandara.

It's good. It's most certainly not a Metroidvania, as it shepherds players onto the critical path far too often. But it does so many really great things with the limitations of its design that it's impossible not to feel satisfied upon completing it. Well, unless you use the last sub-weapon unlock to completely cheese the final boss.

Yeah, that's a bit of a downer. So are one-hit kill moves in a game that's about methodical and deliberate movement, but what are ya gonna do. There's enough going on in this quirky title that distinguishes it from its contemporaries, but it's worth a look for its fascinating Afro-Brazilian aesthetics and inspirations. While a number of games that attempt to communicate the culture and/or heritage of a certain region (Never Alone, Year Walk) are usually a bit of a letdown in terms of actual gameplay, what exists here is pretty great, and the story is never particularly overbearing. Oh, and I may or may not have written an article (http://rpgarticles.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-economy-of-space-in-dandara.html) about the figurative economics present in the game. Shameless plug.

Now I gotta play some other garbage to write about.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 21, 2018, 04:05:20 AM
Gonna write a pointy-headed post comparing Celeste to the End is Nigh if I can finish TEIN and work up the energy of hatred one of these games deserves. Watch this space.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on February 25, 2018, 02:52:42 AM
Just beat Zero Time Dilemma for the 3DS.  Much like my earlier post about Virtue's Last Reward the ending has a bit of "buy the sequel, fucker" except there is no sequel yet or even announced.  Though actually I found the ending a little bit less of a cliffhanger than VLR.  Both games end with unfinished business but VLR gave more little details about what was ultimately going to happen in ZTD.  There is unfinished business in ZTD but it's very broad without a lot of details.  Without getting into details I feel like ZTD is more leaving things open for a sequel while VLR left tons of unanswered questions and very specifically teased ZTD's premise.

ZTD had a very non-linear progression that took a bit of time to understand and was initially off-putting.  But once you start to see how the pieces fit it's starts to work and ends up being pretty clever.  It has lots of twists and turns including some where afterwards you realize "oh they were hinting about that early on!"

Having played the whole trilogy now I can say that these games have to be videogames.  You couldn't make these into movies for example.  They all specifically try creative stuff that relies on the videogame as the medium.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on February 26, 2018, 02:51:18 AM
Just beat Zero Time Dilemma for the 3DS.  Much like my earlier post about Virtue's Last Reward the ending has a bit of "buy the sequel, fucker" except there is no sequel yet or even announced. 

Huh.

That surprises me as my impression for the couple reviews I read through on the game seemed to imply this was a conclusion to the trilogy and not that there was unresolved business. I also find that surprising considering how long it took ZTD to get released and the development company seemed to make it sound like it was a struggle to get the sales necessary to even have the third game released. You'd think they wouldn't take the risk to have fans asking for something they couldn't deliver later like it seemed might be the case with ZTD. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for that next Rhythm Thief game, Sega!  :@  Unresolved stories are the worst!




Yume Penguin Monogatari (Dream Penguin Adventure, Famicom):
(http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/PA.54155.001-248x360.jpg)

What a great game. It really is stunning how fantastic Konami's 8-bit games were. Great spritework, colours, animations and an innovative concept that can only compared to ranking systems of action games or maybe if Kirby's Epic Yarn actually penalised you for not collecting 70% of all beads.

Main character doesn't have health and can't die, your only punishment for touching enemy or their bullets is time-wasting animation of penguin (funnily) flopping around on his back. However you need to kill certain number of enemies and get hit as least as possible or else you won't progress and game will force you to replay the level.

This concept is framed as a story of a fat penguin who got dumped by his penguin girlfriend for slim and rich penguin in a top hat:

(https://abload.de/img/penguinstorywpsbb.jpg)

^ that's 10/10 premise right here

So now our hero goes through several levels while slimming down at the same time, and if you reach the end of a level too late or too fat -- you will have to replay it.

I only knew about this game last week from subbed Game Center CX episode (http://www.sa-gccx.com/episode/yume-penguin-monogatari). I played it most of the week on lunch breaks completing achievements (http://retroachievements.org/Game/5241). Such a fun and funny game. Did all of them except for the last one.

It's an easy, somewhat short game, controls are kinda wonky, but i really like ideas and the artistry put into it.


I meant to comment about this awhile ago but I agree 100% that the premise of this game is awesome and your write-up and description of it makes me want this in my life as well. I would so totally play this if it got a VC or western release and I normally shun most NES era games. I'd never heard of it before now so thank you for writing about it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on February 26, 2018, 12:14:04 PM
Just beat Zero Time Dilemma for the 3DS.  Much like my earlier post about Virtue's Last Reward the ending has a bit of "buy the sequel, fucker" except there is no sequel yet or even announced. 

Huh.

That surprises me as my impression for the couple reviews I read through on the game seemed to imply this was a conclusion to the trilogy and not that there was unresolved business. I also find that surprising considering how long it took ZTD to get released and the development company seemed to make it sound like it was a struggle to get the sales necessary to even have the third game released. You'd think they wouldn't take the risk to have fans asking for something they couldn't deliver later like it seemed might be the case with ZTD. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for that next Rhythm Thief game, Sega!  :@  Unresolved stories are the worst!

The box even says "the conclusion to the Zero Escape Trilogy" on the back but the story clearly isn't over.  Maybe the series' creator couldn't think of a proper ending so he left things "open".  Or maybe he's kind of a jerk. :)  Or they're being misleadingly accurate by advertising it as concluding the "trilogy" which is technically true, while the series would continue on.  The ending is such that they don't need to make more games that use the visual novel/escape the room style gameplay.  So they could use the same characters and pay off storylines with a different series with different gameplay.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on February 26, 2018, 10:39:25 PM
Given what happens when Spike Chunsoft does non-visual novel spinoffs of visual novels... christ, I hope not.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on March 27, 2018, 09:18:12 PM
Here's a game that has very little coverage online it seems, FullBlast, for Wii U/Steam/iOS/even the Ouya and probably some other devices.

(https://1079638729.rsc.cdn77.org/androidgame_img/fullblast/real/4_fullblast.jpg)


It's a vertical shoot-em-up. The above screenshot is from a phone version it looks like, but apart from some UI changes and the addition of bars on the side of the screen, it looks similar to the Wii U version.

The gameplay is decent mostly. Hold down fire, swerve to avoid incoming bullets, a few weapon upgrades can be found as well as screen-clearing bombs. Nothing new, but it's functional save for a few minor glitches I encountered in the final boss (occassionally my bomb wouldn't work even though I clearly had one; the boss can get frozen in the same position sometimes).

Presentation... is a bit lacking. Plot (evil aliens are here, kill dey ass) is explained through a few text dumps at the beginning and ending of levels, several of which contain mildly amusing typos. Visually it's not ugly, but the art style is suuuuuper generic. Music is a bit of a crapshoot too. It has some rock tunes, that are in no way catchy, and don't really suit the alien invasion vibe - electronic music would've fit better maybe, or some old-school mystery music (X-Files). Worse is that the volume is all over the place. Maybe the mastering was off, or some overlooked quirk in the programming caused this, but it's really annoying.

Difficulty is another problem area. FullBlast isn't very hard on the lower settings, BUT if you lose a life, it resets your weapon upgrades all the way back to a puny single laser. I game-overed a the final boss, and then you're stuck with 2 possibilities: A.) try the level again, now with just two lives, one bomb and just a single opportunity to upgrade your weapon... or B.) start over from a few levels back to build up a supply of lives, bombs and weapon upgrades.
I feel like this idea is good in theory, since it makes cheesing the game by constantly retrying less doable, but at the same time... I wanted to cheese through it towards the end.

So yeah. Super obvious translation mishaps, typos, unimaginative art direction, bad music that seems to randomly get LOUDER and then quieter, not too many enemy types, a few recycled bosses ("but now there's two!")... Yeah I can see why FullBlast got overlooked.
 It's not TERRIBLE, and the price was really low, but I wonder who this is for? Hardcore shmup fans will think it's too easy, but the unforgiving implications of dying make it a bit annoying for newbies. The phone origins make me think it's meant to be a fun lil' timewaster, but the levels are too long for that... You get the idea.
Two stars.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on April 04, 2018, 08:50:18 PM
Continuing the backlog purge, I passed the finish line in 2008's Speed Racer: The Videogame (actual title), on Wii.

(https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/1293/384205-942716_20080717_screen003.jpg)

This was released to coincide with the high budget film reboot of Speed Racer directed by the Wachowski's. Now I like a lot of their films - loved the Matrix and liked the sequels, Cloud Atlas I think is a very flawed but endlessly fascinating masterpiece, I enjoyed Jupiter Ascending as a dumb popcorn flick - but Speed Racer is probably the most deeply flawed one they made. That said, it nails a few aspects: crazy colourful visuals, a good sense of speed, it really commits to its corny aesthetic and I bet a lot of kids like it.

To my surprise however, the game apparantly reviewed pretty decently. Soooo here I am, a decade later to the party. The game is a futuristic racer, with some physical combat aspects, so surprisingly close to F-Zero in some ways. Control is done via tilt controls only, so I busted out the trusty Wii Wheel!
It's pretty decently implemented though the constant flicking motion to ram opponents does get tiresome after a while of play.

And ram them you shall. The game goes hard on car-fu (geddit) as a means to earns speed boosts to go even faster and make the already garish colour palette even more filled with neon. On the highest of three difficulty settings (there's a fourth too, but that's just your average 150cc Mirror Mode), you're on the tracks with 19 other who are constantly jostling you. It's almost impossible to keep a lead for long, which makes me suspect some heavy rubberbanding is going on.

With 20 racers all playable and with different cars and handling you have decent options, and the game cleverly pads out its measly 5 racetracks by designing at least 4 versions of every one of them. Short ones, long ones, medium, a mirrored version. A bit cheap perhaps but I imagine the budget here wasn't very high (judging by the limited soundtrack and cartoony "cutscenes").

Everything runs smooth though, no slowdown and a very good sense of speed. There's some amusing glitches, like pretty regularly the songs would just forget to loop making for a very quiet end of a race.
Speed Racer: The Videogame is a lot better than many movie tie-in games (more fun than the movie I'd say), and while it isn't fantastic, nor will it fill that F-Zero shaped hole in my heart, I could cautiously recommend it.
Wii doesn't have that many great racers besides ExciteTruck (I don't love mario kart wii haha), so this is a decent shout if you want to play another game with tilt controls and can stand it's woefully bloomy garish colour palette.

Three stars.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 04, 2018, 11:30:28 PM
I remember developer of that game (and Shatter) being at constantly angry at Nintendo because his game bombed. For a Wii game back then "bombed" meant less than a million. Nowadays indies are happy is they reach a hundreds of that number.

It's a cool game and a movie is pretty great at what it was supposed to do -- at capturing the feel of a children's cartoon and delivering high speed action. Critics expecting Schindler's List have no one but them to blame for their disappointment.

An article by Adam Saltsman (https://pastebin.com/m0xLSKzg) connects Speed Racer and Vanquish as 2 misunderstood pieces:

Quote

It is a cartoon, animated with a degree of bravado the likes of which the world rarely gets to see. It has all the energy of an unhinged Madhouse anime but informed by a remarkable level of attention to detail, and a willingness to distort time and space even within the same shot. If the story requires it, the foreground can be a perfectly traditional shot, while the background is mirrored geometrically, like a kaleidoscope, utterly without explanation; or maybe the background is moving in slow motion while the foreground remains in real-time; or both at once, in one memorable sequence. Whole sections of the film proceed as essentially flattened sprites in a diorama while other scenes possess a sense of space and dimensionality unrivaled in the medium.
 
SPEED RACER’s masterpiece status doesn’t come from just “being stylish”, though, whatever that might mean. It is a masterpiece because under that delectable veneer of chaos, immaturity, homage, and parody, every single imaginable detail, even the relationship between time and space in the diegesis, has been meticulously and obsessively tweaked and tuned to support, strengthen, and bind together the otherwise almost-always-flying-off-the-rails audio-visual story-experience.

Oh and Wachovski's best movie (by very, very, very far) is obviously Bound
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on April 08, 2018, 05:59:47 PM
I finished-out Golf Story (Switch) earlier this week.  My ending impression of the game is frustration, because there's the core golfing which is sound (if simple), but what starts as a bunch of quirky missions where you use golf to solve problems gets repetitive.


I enjoy the courses but wish the obstacles got a bit more zany as the game went on.  The end 3rd felt like a drag, and yet, the way the "story" ends make me feel like there was a portion of the game playing through a Pro league left out because they ran out of ideas near the end.


Golf story was worth a play, but it's a game that could have been served better with more time put into variety of gameplay and maybe a bit more cooked into the narrative.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on April 10, 2018, 12:25:47 AM
I beat The Stanley Parable. it has a gimmick that wears thin before the game if over, and I only played it for an hour.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on April 11, 2018, 05:16:05 PM
I finally conquered a playable version of Heart and Slash!

As someone with no real love for rogue-likes for a variety of reasons, Heart and Slash hit all the right notes for me, largely because of the great variety in level design and a somewhat cohesive narrative that is told via the game's only true questline. The difficulty curve is somewhat backwards here, at least for Heart- as you conquer more bosses, you get permanent buffs to you attack and defenses that stick with you over every run. The experience system is also very nice, as it is used to upgrade weapons and equipment, but upon death in a run, you get to transfer over all of your remaining exp to the next run.

There are five bosses in Heart and Slash, but you can only ever do three per run, and the last one will always be the same. Likewise, there are only three different "locales" in the game- the opening factory, cityscape, and space elevator. However, all three are drastically different in design, which results in a variety of different kinds of encounters. The cityscape in particular is great, as it has lots of intentional vertical and open space. The Space Elevator can actually be hilariously broken if you obtain the jetpack and upgrade it to the max, as you can bypass a multitude of floors on your way to the final boss.

I do wish there was more to Heart and Slash than what already exists, but I have been very satisfied by my experience. The game was also recently updated with an endless dungeon mode, which I haven't explored yet, but will definitely revisit at some point. The game can be a bit glitchy, but I really respect what the developers did with the rogue-like formula, as it ended up being something perfect for me, personally.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 11, 2018, 11:48:23 PM
I was looking into Heart and Slash because it was combining action combat gameplay with roguelikes and as i suspected RPG progression ruins action game foundation.

When i saw that even basic enemies don't get interrupted in their animations when you hit them -- i lost all interest and closed the video.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on April 12, 2018, 12:23:22 AM
Well, not all of us have such refined taste in character action as you, azeke. I care for neither genre, but this blend worked just fine for me.

...also, I’m fairly certain light attacks don’t cause hit stun, but heavy attacks do. Every weapon has both.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on April 18, 2018, 10:12:51 PM
I recently beat Kirby Star Allies

It's Kirby, so you know the gameplay.  I dunno if I just burned through it quickly, but it felt pretty short.  The friends gimmick works pretty okay, and for the most part you can use it as much as you like it.  I learned at one point that you only need allies to combine powers, get through certain doors, and activate certain abilities.  The plus is that you can immediately dump them when those parts are over.  However, there is the temptation that you constantly use the Dream Allies (Metaknight, Rick and the Free DLC Trio, etc), which I gave into.  Between Animal Pals and Gooey, you pretty much have all the power combos you need.

Speaking of the combos, they felt pretty limited at first.  I thought you'd be able to mix them all like in Kirby 64 (albeit that game had very limited abilities), but certain ones don't work.  It seemed like all you could was add elements to physical weapons (Fire/Ice/Water/Electricity to Hammer/Cutter/Yo-yo/etc); however, I did find that more worked than I thought would, including some fun surprised.

If you decide to play, do yourself a favor and turn off the hints.  I learned about this way too late in my play though.

Rating: Robot/Robobot
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 19, 2018, 09:46:44 AM
Recently finished the two Zelda: Oracle of _____ (GBC) games on 3DS Virtual Console.


Seasons was quite enjoyable. The mix of action and puzzles felt pretty good, the in-game world felt well designed. No real complaints here - it's just a solid, old-school, portable Zelda title.


Ages didn't fare quite as well though. The world didn't feel as smoothly designed, and it felt like the game relied more on fetch-quest nonsense than I enjoy. Dungeon design still felt pretty sharp though; my complaints are mostly limited to the overworld exploration.


Combining the games to have an over-arching story with an added final boss was a neat idea. I don't think that the concept holds up well though, and the password system and needing to go back and forth between different games to unlock stuff feels a bit forced. Although I collected many of the passwords, the rewards of going back to an old game rarely seemed to outweigh the hassle. That said, playing the games back-to-back so that you get the extra boss was worthwhile and I'm glad to have done it that way.


Both games are recommended, but with a caveat that the playing experience isn't totally even.
Whether to start with the better (IMO) Seasons and then move to the lesser Ages or take the opposite approach is a tough choice. I don't regret the way it worked out for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: riskman64 on April 19, 2018, 11:17:03 AM
Subsurface Circular on Switch. It's a neat game that makes some interesting comment on the real world. It plays like a point-and-click mystery game, and you spend most of the time questioning robots while riding on a subway train. The puzzles are fairly simple, but the dialogue is engaging. Ultimately, I think the game is a little on the short side, but you can replay it multiple times to try out different dialogue options and to listen to the developer commentary as you play.


I grabbed it on sale on the eShop and found it a worthwhile title to experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on April 19, 2018, 11:24:33 PM
Finished Never Stop Sneakin' this past weekend. It felt good to actually finish something for once.

I stand by where I put it on my GOTY list, especially since it's a roguelike with an explanation that actually makes sense in universe.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on April 20, 2018, 02:32:11 AM
Recently finished the two Zelda: Oracle of _____ (GBC) games on 3DS Virtual Console.


Seasons was quite enjoyable. The mix of action and puzzles felt pretty good, the in-game world felt well designed. No real complaints here - it's just a solid, old-school, portable Zelda title.


Ages didn't fare quite as well though. The world didn't feel as smoothly designed, and it felt like the game relied more on fetch-quest nonsense than I enjoy. Dungeon design still felt pretty sharp though; my complaints are mostly limited to the overworld exploration.


Combining the games to have an over-arching story with an added final boss was a neat idea. I don't think that the concept holds up well though, and the password system and needing to go back and forth between different games to unlock stuff feels a bit forced. Although I collected many of the passwords, the rewards of going back to an old game rarely seemed to outweigh the hassle. That said, playing the games back-to-back so that you get the extra boss was worthwhile and I'm glad to have done it that way.


Both games are recommended, but with a caveat that the playing experience isn't totally even.
Whether to start with the better (IMO) Seasons and then move to the lesser Ages or take the opposite approach is a tough choice. I don't regret the way it worked out for me.


Do you think the reason Ages feels off is because you played Seasons first? I played them in the same order and felt the same as you, but I've heard some friends argue the other way, and preference seems to coincide with the order you played them.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on April 20, 2018, 03:15:00 AM
I played ages first and felt it was the weaker of the two.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 20, 2018, 06:57:57 AM
...


I don't think the order that you play the Oracle of ____ games in will matter all that much.


Some people may enjoy Ages more because it tended to feel more direct - I felt like there was less exploration or discovery or clever puzzles, and more clearly directed paths with action along the way. Personally, that's not why I play portable Zelda games though. I want the little bits of exploration and moments of discovery.


Is it possible that I was experiencing Zelda fatigue for the second game? Maybe. But I was really excited to start and the sense of disappointment only sunk in later, as it became clear to me that the design of Seasons was more to my liking. Anytime you play two games that have similar but subtly different designs, it's possible that one will appeal more to you... and that was exactly my experience.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on April 22, 2018, 10:07:43 PM
Even if I played Seasons before Ages, I strongly believe the latter has a weaker design in almost every way. Some of the puzzles and quest chains are needlessly complex in a way that just flows better in Seasons, but Seasons’ central mechanic is far better because of how it stacks upon itself and forces the player to learn different combinations and iterations on the idea.

Also Subrosia is a vastly superior Underworld.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on April 23, 2018, 10:20:14 AM
Punched the clock on Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (3DS) today!

(https://assets.rpgsite.net/images/images/000/062/842/article/Radiant-Historia-Perfect-Chronology_Jan282018_09.png)

This one's a remake of Radiant Historia for DS, that was a late DS title, this remake's a late 3DS title. I know it's about timetravel, but I can't imagine this sold amazingly. Which is a minor bummer since it's a pretty good RPG!

Story: there's a world/continent slowly being engulfed by sand, and instead of tackling the core problem, all the nation-states have instead decided to wage wars over the remaining scraps of habitable ground. WONDER IF THERE'S A METAPHOR HERE!!!?!?!?!?!?!!? You play as Stocke, who fittingly seems like a bit of a stock JRPG protagonist at first (single-minded, determined, selflessly heroic, etc.), a secret agent trying to end one such war - and maybe save the world somewhere down the line too.

Cool thing here is that this game takes obvious cues from Chrono Trigger and heavily deals in timetravel. There's at least 2 diverging timelines and dozens of moments where you make crucial decisions, many of which end in the world's annihilation. This remake adds many more 'possible timelines' to the original story, could be cool if you're really into this world. I however didn't play them because this game offers...

Flexibility: I wanna really commend this title's dedication to 'quality-of-life' improvements. Using the friendly mode you can eliminate almost every overworld battle if you want by pre-emptively striking enemies, removing many encounters. Additionally, the many added timelines can all be placed at the end of the story for people like me who just wanted the main adventure.
Save points are found often, and you even get a suspend save feature for when you can't find one. With exception of the endgame, this plays great in 30 minute chunks on your public transit.

Presentation:
Pretty great I'd say. Visually it's not phenomenal, but it's not ugly either. Feels like a natural progression from Chrono Trigger in some ways. I understand some people didn't like the character redesigns in this version over the original; having never played that I can't comment. Atlus does sell the old skins as a DLC pack haha, so if you muuuuust... That said I didn't mind the designs, they're good enough.
Sound is where this one really shines though, several really great music tracks which you'll hum along to, and most of the dialogue is voice acted decently too.

Gameplay:
Radiant Historia is an RPG. You walk through fields, towns, caves, deserts and such. You talk to people, buy stuff, choose whether to engage or avoid enemies on the field, level up, manage equipment, etc. There's very light puzzle elements in the field, but they're a bit tedious really.
The battle system is pretty great, it involves carefully structuring/altering the turn structure to get as many sequential hits in as possible and rob enemies of turns. Reminds me a bit of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Additionally, enemies are on a 3x3 grid, and you can push them around. Gather them all in one spot, and attack that spot to deal damage to all at once! There's some light tactics to be found here.

That said, while functional, Radiant Historia's gameplay feels more like a visual novel at times. There's a LOT of dialogue, as the game's core strength lies in mostly likable characters (honestly that's a feat for an RPG, many recent ones have such annoying characters) and lots political scheming. Not a bad thing per se, but it's not as involved as a Chrono Trigger for example.
Some things I would have liked: a bigger party and/or the possibility to swap Stocke out. Your main character always takes a spot in the active party, but I also want to have Gafka the honourable warrior, Raynie as a magic user, and Princess Eruca cause she has a cool gun in the fray. It's not a BAD thing to have too many likable characters, but I found myself defaulting to the Stock/Raynie/Marco line up because they were highest level and it gives you a fighter/magic/healer party. (Even though Marco is a rather boring character haha).
One more nitpick: there's a single moment that feels a bit 'fan service' to me. They also sell 'hot springs' DLC. Guess this is a cultural thing, but yeah it just makes me embarassed to play games like this. It's not very bad here, but I just wish this trend would reverse entirely.

Recommendation: Should you play Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology? It's one of the better modern RPGs I think, but I don't think it's quite in that 9/10 zone like NWR scored it. If you like RPGs, but have grown to hate bloated gameplay and annoying characters, then this offers something really neat. I liked most of the cast, the main character is a capable guy for once! The story isn't a knock-out but moves at a very high, constant-action-required pace.
The friendly mode + append setting for the added timelines really helped shorten the game too, I finished it in 19 hours and did a few sidequests early on. You could easily triple/quadruple that if you don't skip most battles, play on a harder mode, do more quests, etc. Atlus has packed this one to the brim with optional content.

3DS has many noteworthy RPGs already, and I wouldn't call this an absolute must-play, but if you want something akin to Chrono Trigger and can accept that those highs are unlikely to be reached here, it's a very solid choice. Four stars.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 23, 2018, 10:57:24 AM
Nice - I was a bit bummed that the Radiant Historia remake came out before I had a chance to play the original... but am still excited to play it. Post-game reviews like this only make me more excited for it.


Of course, that doesn't mean playing the game right now. As you say, lots of great RPGs and currently Etrian Odyssey IV is drawing my attention.
:)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on April 23, 2018, 12:18:44 PM

Of course, that doesn't mean playing the game right now. As you say, lots of great RPGs and currently Etrian Odyssey IV is drawing my attention.
 :)


Hope that if you get the chance to play it, you'll enjoy it! For what it's worth, the demo of Radiant Historia is VERY generous. Gives you well over 5 hours of gameplay easily. If you have the DS version still I'd just play that though, I quickly stopped once I got to the new additional story timelines since Nemesia's character, around whom that seems to revolve, is probably the most annoying 'catchphrasey' person in the game.

I'd say Radiant Historia is more skewed towards players who enjoy stories in their RPGs, whereas Etrian Odyssey might be more about exploration?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on April 23, 2018, 10:14:25 PM
Radiant Historia is a game for people who like Square Enix RPGs where battles are a necessary evil, while Etrian Odyssey is a game for people who like... well, pretty much only Atlus RPGs, where dungeon design complements the battle system because it forces the player to continuously engage in battles.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on April 24, 2018, 12:05:56 AM
Radiant Historia has one of the best storyline's I've seen in an JRPG so I think the game is easily worth it for the story alone.  Of course it needs to be noted that there is a True Ending to the game that pretty much requires a guide to get.  In order to get the True Ending there's certain sidequests that need to be completed and one of them requires players to do a certain set of actions at different points in time that are impossible for anyone not using a guide to now.

Then again this is for the DS version which I played back in 2013 so I have no idea if they changed it for the 3DS game.  So if they haven't or anyone is playing the original DS version don't be afraid to look up the quest you need to do to get the full ending to the game.  I mean it's not a huge change but it does provide better closure to the story if you see it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on May 06, 2018, 06:04:43 PM
Finished God of War 2018 & got the Platinum. Superb game overall, but it's end/post-game side content is weak. I've been really hit & miss with this series, but the strong characterization & focused exploration really sold me on this one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on May 07, 2018, 09:08:54 AM
I wrapped up the main story in Nier: Automata on Saturday, and I have mixed feelings of sadness, gratefulness there's at least side quests to play, and glad I could look past the anime bullshit to experience this game's story.  While the game starts with a basic premise of what can or can't have "human" intelligence/being/self-determination over time evolves into a story centered around an overarching existential crisis. 


What is, or is there any purpose to my existence?  What meaning does my life have?  If I've lost the purpose behind my existence, how do give myself a purpose in spite of my origins?  All of this interpreted through a story of Androids vs robots in a proxy war between the last vestiges of the human race and an alien intrusion.  I don't think i'm quite doing the games' premises and questions justice in writing it out.


The music is something that through the game does a fantastic job of not only being a beautiful soundtrack, but also setting tone through the various parts of the game.  They reprise the music at different points that adds extra oomph to the events taking place or muting it in a way that's really impactful.


Glad I gave the game a chance after hearing some spirited advocacy of the game in some podcasts I listen to.  This one will be sitting with me for a while, and I think I'll be sinking some time into the side quests just so I can get every ounce I can out of the game before I have to move on.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on May 07, 2018, 07:51:52 PM
For those who have played both versions of Radiant Historia, would you recommend it to someone who owns the DS version but never finished it? I'm tempted to pick it up, but wonder if I shouldn't just restart the DS version.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Michie_ on June 02, 2018, 06:49:06 PM
Wario Land 2.


It wasn't as good as the first or the 4 one. It's a shame they never ported the VB version, I always hear that's a really good game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on June 02, 2018, 11:12:26 PM
Wario Land VB was fun. Its actually the only Wario Land game I've played outside of Wario Land Shake on the Wii.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 18, 2018, 07:59:17 PM
It usually takes me a while to get through games, if I finish them at all, even when I really like them, so I just now beat Celeste. There are a lot of games like it on Switch in the really challenging 2D platformer genre, but I think this is the best of them, even over something like Super Meat Boy which is fantastic and rightfully acclaimed.

The mechanics were a little hard to get my head around at first, but once I did they offered great and interesting depth with many variations along the way. Even now that I've beat the campaign there's still so much left for me to go back and do, and I fully intend to. This is one of the best games on Switch, and honestly one of my favorite games on any platform.

10/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on June 29, 2018, 01:54:16 AM
Well, here are a few thoughts. I took a swerve into the anime game realm.

Phoenix Wright 1 and 2 (DS):Thankfully these are much more adventures games than visual novels, with most of the attendant pluses and minuses in a transfigured arrangement. Nailing evidence and contradictions can be a real thrill, but getting stuck when you know what point you want to make but can't land on the right statement/evidence combo can be extremely frustrating. Presentation-wise these are great, with some of the best spritework I've seen in any 2D game, both funny and evocative. And speaking of funny, I actually "loled" at points given the sharpness of the script. The anime tropey-ness gets annoying, but the actual line-level writing is often very clever and timed beautifully. Makes sense given that these were done by the same guy as Ghost Trick, another game with smart writing and an expressive presentation. I played these back to back and feel like I've got the Ace Attorney experience in full, so I'll probably call it here.

999 and Virtue's Last Reward (DS and PC):Finally caved and played through 999 on DS, the only console I own at the moment, and then the sequel immediately afterward on PC. Again, these games are engaging and frustrating in equal measure. Both long-winded and tedious and addictively involving. Really there's nothing like VLR in particular, where the quality of life improvement of the story tree actually becomes part of the text in an ingenious and satisfying way. More games should try to tackle time and probability like this. It is especially unfortunate, then, that VLR is ugly as sin, peopled by lame characters, and by the end completely ludicrous. (Also, Jesus Christ, someone saw me playing this with both anime wank-bait character on screen at the same time and I was fucking embarrassed. Totally unnecessary.) I didn't play the PC version of 999 with the story tree addition, but it wouldn't have been worked into the plot and there aren't that many branches anyway. It certainly had the superior atmosphere, cast of characters, and escape room design. I got really frustrated by how many dumb brain teaser puzzles padded out VLR.

I'm full up on this for now, but is the last game worth it based on this reaction?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on July 03, 2018, 03:02:50 PM
I'm full up on this for now, but is the last game worth it based on this reaction?

The third game is the weakest of the trilogy.  If you find the gameplay of the Zero Escape games addicting then go and get it.  If you found the story of VLR ludicrous then be prepared that ZTD is even more ridiculous in places.  I really enjoyed the trilogy but I would only recommend ZTD is you're really into the series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on July 04, 2018, 02:40:25 PM
Donkey Kong Country (SNES). Classic game, but doesn't hold up that well to be honest.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on July 05, 2018, 07:20:25 PM
I'm full up on this for now, but is the last game worth it based on this reaction?

The third game is the weakest of the trilogy.  If you find the gameplay of the Zero Escape games addicting then go and get it.  If you found the story of VLR ludicrous then be prepared that ZTD is even more ridiculous in places.  I really enjoyed the trilogy but I would only recommend ZTD is you're really into the series.
Thanks for the feedback. Is ZTD as chockful of rolling-dice, adding darts, pattern-swapping style puzzles as VLR? That really started to irk me, as it moved away from the more adventure-gamey escape rooms of 999.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on July 06, 2018, 12:12:05 PM
I'm full up on this for now, but is the last game worth it based on this reaction?

The third game is the weakest of the trilogy.  If you find the gameplay of the Zero Escape games addicting then go and get it.  If you found the story of VLR ludicrous then be prepared that ZTD is even more ridiculous in places.  I really enjoyed the trilogy but I would only recommend ZTD is you're really into the series.
Thanks for the feedback. Is ZTD as chockful of rolling-dice, adding darts, pattern-swapping style puzzles as VLR? That really started to irk me, as it moved away from the more adventure-gamey escape rooms of 999.

I think it was more like VLR than 999 but I don't really remember too many escape room details.  The story is more what stuck with me.  I played VLR and ZTD so close together that I don't remember what puzzles were in what game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 10, 2018, 10:58:18 AM
It's a throwback triple bill for me, cleared out 3 Wii games over the past week in my quest to catch up on stuff I missed during the Wii generation.

1. Need for Speed: Pro Street (2007)

(https://www.video-games-museum.com/en/screenshots/Wii/3/31830-ingame-Need-for-Speed-ProStreet.png)

Not gonna lie, this is a pretty boring game. They ditched the actual streetracing for semi-underground aesthethic; circuits are now closed off and only accessible for sideways baseball cap wearers. These idiots with tribal stickers on their cars compete in a seemingly endless string of samey races, all to be crowned King Douchebag.

It's a hacked-to-the-bone port of the PS3/360 version I think, there's empty grandstands everywhere, visuals are dull and a bit muddy. But for what it's worth, everything is functional. There's cutscenes with some very mild sexism, a super annoying announcer praising the living daylights out of your every move.
Steering works fine with the tilt controls; the drag races are, well, a real drag though. You gotta take the Wiimote out of the Wii Wheel, and use waggle to shift gears. Awful.

I couldn't stand this one anymore after a few cups, so I used a cheatcode to skip to the final one. That one looked equally drab and lifeless, so I retired this game for good. It's functional, sure, but just a messy project. It controls like an arcade racer, but you can total your car easily and then you need to spend hard-earned cash on repairs. That's not what I want from Need for Speed yo.

Two stars. Functional, but very lifeless.

2. Kororinpa: Marble Mania (2006)

(https://www.destructoid.com/elephant//ul/3631-468x-02Charlie.jpg)

It's a marble rolling game. Guide a marble, or a round penguin/pig/cat/dog/the planet Saturn through an obstacle course, collect crystals along the way, and reach the exit. This one's a Hudson production, there's a sequel too!

This is a fun use of the Wiimote, basically what Super Monkey Ball on Wii should have been like. It has a cute aesthetic with vibrant colours and lil' animal sounds when you roll a cat around. Some 50 levels, which you can clear in about 2.5 hours max. There's mirror modes for all of them and another 15 or so bonus stages to get if you're diligent about getting all the special green gems.
For someone like me though, who only plays through games once most of the time, I just did the basic levels and was happy with that.

An annoying thing is that you wanna flip the Wiimote fast to see if you can launch yourself to the goal in time-saving Monkey Ball style, but the game often doesn't allow you to. You absolutely must get a bunch of the gems to finish a level, and it'll easily tell you you're out of bounds even when it's obvious you would land on a further piece of track.
Worlds are okay, 2 of them (toyland and candyland) have absolutely atrocious music, while the forest and 2 city worlds are pleasant and jazzy. It's good you can custom pick your soundtrack though, which includes stuff like a Latin version of the main theme and a Star Soldier remix?

Three stars, short but decent, and kinda cute.

3. MadWorld (2009)

(https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/10080/850514-madworld_onomatopoeia.jpg)

Famously hyped but a sales dissapointment for Sega. I think this is PlatinumGames' first solo outing right? This one's better than I thought, even if it does feel like a shallow version of Bayonetta. The art style shamelessly rips off the Sin City film adaptations, so it still looks pretty good nowadays. Music is decent too, lots of rap songs which feel appropriate.


The violence in this is ridiculous and after a while becomes oddly stale, but the plot is just interesting enough and the announcers juuuust amusing enough to not check out completely. Lots of bossfights in this which are the main highlights. Some annoying waggle though, who thought mapping the dodge to a nunchuck waggle was a good idea?!
Sometimes the game struggles to correctly interpret your flailings which really sucks during the power struggles/finishing moves in bossfights. High tension situations are the worst possible times for control issues, kinda annoying.

Honestly this one is most interesting as a precursor to Bayonetta. Over the top style, focus on scoring systems, weird motorcycle stages, funny credits, crazy bossfights - all of which are PlatinumGames hallmarks by now.

Three stars, a bit shallow but better than its juvenile style suggests.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on July 10, 2018, 09:16:24 PM
I'm full up on this for now, but is the last game worth it based on this reaction?

The third game is the weakest of the trilogy.  If you find the gameplay of the Zero Escape games addicting then go and get it.  If you found the story of VLR ludicrous then be prepared that ZTD is even more ridiculous in places.  I really enjoyed the trilogy but I would only recommend ZTD is you're really into the series.
Thanks for the feedback. Is ZTD as chockful of rolling-dice, adding darts, pattern-swapping style puzzles as VLR? That really started to irk me, as it moved away from the more adventure-gamey escape rooms of 999.

I think it was more like VLR than 999 but I don't really remember too many escape room details.  The story is more what stuck with me.  I played VLR and ZTD so close together that I don't remember what puzzles were in what game.

I finally beat ZTD today (just now!).  Unfortunately, I don't remember 999 as much since it was so long since I played it, but I think ZTD plays more like VLR from a puzzles perspective.  They feel very similar, but ZTD does take things up a good notch.

At first, I wasn't a fan of the fragmented timelines, but once the story started coming together and the full timeline showed itself I realized it works really well.  Like Ian, I think I enjoyed the story more than anything.  But I won't say ZTD was the weakest of the three.  To me, that's 999, but only because of how you had to replay puzzles to see the story. But VLR is definitely my favorite.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on July 10, 2018, 09:46:32 PM
Sorry for the double post.

Just beat Zero Time Dilemma for the 3DS.  Much like my earlier post about Virtue's Last Reward the ending has a bit of "buy the sequel, fucker" except there is no sequel yet or even announced.  Though actually I found the ending a little bit less of a cliffhanger than VLR.  Both games end with unfinished business but VLR gave more little details about what was ultimately going to happen in ZTD.  There is unfinished business in ZTD but it's very broad without a lot of details.  Without getting into details I feel like ZTD is more leaving things open for a sequel while VLR left tons of unanswered questions and very specifically teased ZTD's premise.

ZTD had a very non-linear progression that took a bit of time to understand and was initially off-putting.  But once you start to see how the pieces fit it's starts to work and ends up being pretty clever.  It has lots of twists and turns including some where afterwards you realize "oh they were hinting about that early on!"

Having played the whole trilogy now I can say that these games have to be videogames.  You couldn't make these into movies for example.  They all specifically try creative stuff that relies on the videogame as the medium.


I disagree about the unfinished business aspect. In the true ending, the only unfinished business is if they shoot Zero or not, right?  I mean, whether or not they prevented the apocalypse is questionable, but they have the power of friendship and determination (or w/e) to try and prevent it.  That left me thinking that they don't need another Nonary Game.  There was the one ending in which they were unable to prevent the outbreak, but that's the one that leads directly into VLR, right?  Akane starts building the AB game (and I guess runs into Sigma later) and they go from there.

The true ending to VLR was definitely, "Ok, now we just have to play this Nonary Game one more time to save the world!"  But that's not what I'm getting here.

Most of the endings were great, except there were two twists where I was like "WTF?!".  Maybe I need to rewatch those scenes, but it seemed like the Delta was just sitting right fucking there the whole time in one scene.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on July 11, 2018, 01:05:20 AM
West of Loathing.

It's very funny.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 15, 2018, 09:21:25 AM
Okay Wii-wiik continues!

1. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_mcvNyHTd-0/maxresdefault.jpg)

Yeah, yeah, I'm ashamed I didn't play this earlier too. Y'all know the drill. Very creative levels, good music, looks nice and colourful. There's a couple aspects I didn't love, the opening and closing cutscenes felt a bit out of place to me. Also sucks that it makes you go back to the old structure of entering a level 3 times to get separate stars, particularly annoying when you get sidetracked by feeding one of those stars to get a bonus star challenge and it boots you right back out. Lastly, the lives system is utterly pointless. Never game overed here either. Just ditch them already, but no they would keep 'em all the way up to 3D World.

But those few complaints aside, this is a great title of course. Some levels and bossfights seemed almost inspired by shoot-em-up games. Five stars, boom.

2. Rayman Origins (2011)

(https://sickr.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/rayman_origins_swimming.jpg)

So for the first 3 world I was enjoying this... More than Galaxy? Presentation is top-notch with the drawn artstyle and really fun music. Blasting through the levels at high speeds, kicking enemies out of your way, the occassional side-scrolling shooter levels with the Moskito... This really feels like what the original Rayman (which I HATED (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg908582#msg908582)) always should have been like. At its best moments, Rayman Origins feels like they're doing what Sonic never really managed in my eyes.

But of course they had to Rayman some parts of it.
-There's not really a story here, but... the final villain (nor his 'plan') ever get shown before the final level I don't think? At least in the original Rayman you saw a glimpse of the Magician in the opening cutscene, and the level select is viewed through his binoculars. Not a big complaint, but it feels a bit sloppy for a game which is otherwise polished to a mirror shine.
-It is utter bullshit they make you collect a required amount of Electoons before unlocking boss fights. Don't make a high-paced game if you're then gonna force me to do time trials and collecting doodads in early levels before letting me continue. Just bogs it down.
-The difficulty still skyrockets towards the end to an insane degree. Luckily here it's VERY much helped by pretty liberal checkpoint, the ABSENCE OF A LIVES SYSTEM and soothing music to calm your annoyance.
-In another asshole move the game will sometimes prompt you with "hey you're dying a lot, wanna go elsewhere"? Thinking this would be a mercy-rule level skip I happily accepted the first time. Nope, just takes you back to the level select. Screw that, it's basically just a "wanna quit?" taunt for people who suck.

Overall I would recommend it still, but maybe go for the sequel instead. Rayman Origins lures you in for a while, but gets devilishly difficult, a couple of levels basically require pixel-perfect runs. Four stars.

-Oh I forgot one more most minor of gripes. The credits on this are like 15 minutes long, it's like they listed every single person who works anywhere for Ubisoft. Not a big deal or anything but at some point I was beginning to wonder if all these people even know they're being credited.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 15, 2018, 12:34:35 PM

-Oh I forgot one more most minor of gripes. The credits on this are like 15 minutes long, it's like they listed every single person who works anywhere for Ubisoft. Not a big deal or anything but at some point I was beginning to wonder if all these people even know they're being credited.

Well, never play an Assassin's Creed game, then, because those credits are routinely over 30 minutes long. Hell, they even have checkpoints. So long as you can skip the credits, I don't care how long they are.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on July 15, 2018, 07:57:49 PM
If your credits are that long, then you really need to make it a mini game like Sakurai did in Smash.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on July 16, 2018, 05:45:33 PM
I've been sinking some serious time into Hand of Fate 2 for my review over on another site.

This game is pretty much the combination of everything I love and hate about card games and board games and the role-playing genre. It's methodical, it's stressful, it's high stakes, and its so damn fun. It might be one of the most unique combinations of mechanics I've seen in a video game in a long time, and the even more incredible thing is that the game has twenty-two unique chapters with vastly different twists on its core gameplay. That's just so cool.

I'll be tweeting out my review as I don't want to get railed for self-promotion, but this game is an extremely impressive independent title that has a substantial amount of content at half the price of most modern titles. Don't miss it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 16, 2018, 06:11:39 PM
I've been sinking some serious time into Hand of Fate 2 for my review over on another site.

This game is pretty much the combination of everything I love and hate about card games and board games and the role-playing genre. It's methodical, it's stressful, it's high stakes, and its so damn fun. It might be one of the most unique combinations of mechanics I've seen in a video game in a long time, and the even more incredible thing is that the game has twenty-two unique chapters with vastly different twists on its core gameplay. That's just so cool.

I'll be tweeting out my review as I don't want to get railed for self-promotion, but this game is an extremely impressive independent title that has a substantial amount of content at half the price of most modern titles. Don't miss it.
As I mentioned on the NFR Game of the Year 2018 show, I'm quite fond of Hand of Fate 2. If only the transitions between the board & the combat arenas wasn't so janky. That transition goes on for about 30 seconds in the PS4 version, and from what I've heard the Switch transitions are even longer.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on July 16, 2018, 06:25:27 PM
Good things come to those who wait.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on July 17, 2018, 02:28:58 AM
Chris Bandic-nt 2: The Recootering Remastered (PC):

Okay, so I 100%-ed Crash 2, given that it was far more reasonable than the first game in this respect and I wanted to have the "full" experience of what is generally agreed to be the best game in the series. And boy, I don't know if I've ever encountered a lamer reward for doing so in a game. I thought there'd at least be a real final boss fight or something, but no, you're granted the privilege of pressing a button and watching a 30-second cut scene. Yeesh.

Anyway, this game is certainly an improvement over the first in some aspects. The cooter feels a bit snappier to control this time around and the slide move both alleviates the shittiness/ambiguity of the spin move/hit boxes and adds in a needed jump extender, even if it's stiffer and less consistent/fun than the obvious Donkey Kong Country roll inspiration. And there's nothing quite as miserable as the bridge levels from the first game.

On the other hand, they doubled down on the awful novelty levels with the boulder chase, animal riding, and jetpack segments, along with terrible "regular" gimmicks like the bee hives and ice floors. There overall seems to be a bit less focus on the more competent 2D level design in favor of the fundamentally flawed jumping-forward-through-corridors ethos. I will say that I kind of like the small-scale approach to bosses, though I don't think any of them match the weird cleverness of the fight against the weasel gangster in the office from the first game. And once in a while the game does hit a compelling stride, including in the 3D courses when it doesn't depend on precise depth perception from its cramped and low-set camera angle. I suppose I'd rate the first game a 5.5/10 and the second game a 6.5/10 to be charitable. Really, though, I think you should be laughed out of the room if you think these are on the same level as like Mario 64. I can see in the abstract perhaps preferring this approach to a 3D platformer (Mario 3D World for instance is sort of in the same vein), but the Crash implementation is pretty fundamentally flawed in various respects.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 17, 2018, 07:04:56 PM
Well, never play an Assassin's Creed game, then, because those credits are routinely over 30 minutes long. Hell, they even have checkpoints. So long as you can skip the credits, I don't care how long they are.


Haha yikes, I've still got Creed 4 on the docket for an indeterminate future date. I'm one of those "credits are part of the movie" idiots and I like reading fun names and job titles I've never heard of, so I don't tend to skip credits. But yeah this was pushing it.


If your credits are that long, then you really need to make it a mini game like Sakurai did in Smash.


There's a way to get the credits to be interactive, but it requires you to beat the "Land of the Livid Dead" final bonus level. Whichhhhh is crazy hard and not easily unlocked either. Just beating the game regularly will just let you jump and punch around on 2D plane in front of the credits, interacting with nothing. :(
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on July 22, 2018, 05:02:38 PM
Well, never play an Assassin's Creed game, then, because those credits are routinely over 30 minutes long. Hell, they even have checkpoints. So long as you can skip the credits, I don't care how long they are.


Haha yikes, I've still got Creed 4 on the docket for an indeterminate future date. I'm one of those "credits are part of the movie" idiots and I like reading fun names and job titles I've never heard of, so I don't tend to skip credits. But yeah this was pushing it.

You should see mighty no. 9's credits.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Sarail on July 24, 2018, 06:30:58 PM
Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Goodness, what a game. Game has a super heavy emphasis on battles - I mean, the game is titled Battle Chasers, after all. But if you're looking for a JRPG type of game to play that is crazy big on aesthetics and art style, then Battle Chasers is for you.

I loved every single bit of my 52 hour play-through. I found all of the ultimate weapons for my primary three party members and levelled them to max level. Using the Tolkas Arena is a great way to do just that.

I found the sound effects and music really well put together. When Gully lands a hit on an enemy, you really feel the hit - thanks in part to the HD rumble, of course. I loved the art style, and you can definitely tell artists who worked on the Darksiders series, worked on this game as well. Alumon could be straight out of Darksiders!

But yes, heavy emphasis on battling, and story sequences are played out through a series of comic still frames with small bits of animation thrown in here and there. Most of these take place before dungeon boss sequences – but there are points where they'll stop the gameplay to drop another to pad the story along. They're fun sequences, definitely. Great artwork.

Seriously, if you love JRPGs, then this game is for you.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 28, 2018, 07:50:33 PM
You should see mighty no. 9's credits.


But that would require playing Mighty No. 9.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on July 31, 2018, 09:47:45 PM
Axiom Verge

I was excited to finally play this one Switch.  I don't think I ever got it on Wii U, even though I really wanted to try it then.

This is really impressive to say it was made by one person.  I think I ended up backtracking a whole lot, trying to remember why I couldn't get past certain points, which felt cumbersome at times.  But once I was towards the end, it felt like the game sped up.  While it felt like Metroid, having the different ability sets made it feel more unique than familiar.  I didn't 100% the game, but still really enjoyed it.

Highly recommend.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 10, 2018, 11:53:48 AM
Two more down off the Wii pile, who needs modern consoles?

1. Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010)

(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--8x9TBNKT--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/18j2tmxa03rfjjpg.jpg)

Because Rayman Origins proved a right bastard towards the end I decided to take on a more calming, easier platformer... Welp, wrong move. DKCR is pretty great, it can be played slow, exact and methodical or you can just barrel through at high speeds. Lots of colourful details in the environments and backgrounds, super catchy tunes, and the occassional teeth-gritting barrel rocket or minecart sequence.

I have to commend the Super Guide modes Nintendo had in a few Wii games, but the implementation is a bit half-baked. I'd prefer if you could take back over from the CPU at any moment since I used the super guide for a few levels which cost me 15+ lives in a single sequence. I think Mario 3D World did it better by making you invincible, but you still get to play, not just watch.

The final level can get bent, by the way. You lose Diddy after a single lost attempt against the final boss, before you even have a chance of learning his patterns. Want Diddy back for an effectively double life bar and useful hover jump? Tough ****, better replay the rocket barrel stage before it too then, 'cos we put a checkpoint at a point where you can't get Diddy again anymore. Typical Retro Studios bossfight bullshit haha.

DKCR is a good time mostly though, don't love the motion controls for the roll and blowing on flowers, it feels better suited to the groundpound only. I think I'll play Tropical Freeze soon, but I'm a bit platformed out for now.
Four stars.

2. Red Steel 2 (2010) a.k.a. door opening simulator

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/red.steel.2.02.lg.jpg)

This one's more interesting to discuss, but a less successful game. Red Steel 2 is a pretty high quality production on Wii, I feel. Neat cell-shaded look, Wii Motion Plus is used to make a lot of different sword attacks possible, in addition to gunplay with the pointer, it's fully voice acted, and builds a pretty fun ninja-western world.

That said, you can really feel the game straining against the Wii hardware limits. I had several glitches locking me behind doors requiring reloading of a previous checkpoint (luckily they are everywhere), as well as it completely freezing the Wii. Most noticeable of all though, the environments are comprised of MANY smaller interlocking environments - Metroid Prime style.

Remember how the loading in Metroid Prime felt almost seamless from door to door? Yeahhhh not the case here. Almost every door will take a couple of seconds minimum, and since most of the environments are pretty sparse once you've cleared out the enemies, the gameplay loop quickly turns into moving between empty spaces, knocking down an ENDLESS supply of crates for money (hello carpal tunnel), and waiting for the next door to open.

Presentation is pretty good, the story is suitably cliché without turning into complete parody, a few of the later bossfights are genuinely challenging, the missions are just short enough to trigger your 'just one more' impulse. Overall, it's a pretty breezy experience to play through, but it also feels very shallow. I enjoyed my time with it, but will definitely forget all about it 5 years from now.
Three stars, barely.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 11, 2018, 11:47:41 AM
Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Goodness, what a game. Game has a super heavy emphasis on battles - I mean, the game is titled Battle Chasers, after all. But if you're looking for a JRPG type of game to play that is crazy big on aesthetics and art style, then Battle Chasers is for you.

I loved every single bit of my 52 hour play-through. I found all of the ultimate weapons for my primary three party members and levelled them to max level. Using the Tolkas Arena is a great way to do just that.

I found the sound effects and music really well put together. When Gully lands a hit on an enemy, you really feel the hit - thanks in part to the HD rumble, of course. I loved the art style, and you can definitely tell artists who worked on the Darksiders series, worked on this game as well. Alumon could be straight out of Darksiders!

But yes, heavy emphasis on battling, and story sequences are played out through a series of comic still frames with small bits of animation thrown in here and there. Most of these take place before dungeon boss sequences – but there are points where they'll stop the gameplay to drop another to pad the story along. They're fun sequences, definitely. Great artwork.

Seriously, if you love JRPGs, then this game is for you.

I recently finished Battle Chasers myself, it was a great game. The Perk system was really important and I would often re-arrange mine to get the most out of my crew. My mine three settled down to Calibretto, Alumon, and Garisson. Who did you play as?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Shaymin on August 13, 2018, 12:28:20 AM
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PS Vita)

I had heard where the ending was going, but to actually see it play out was exhausting (I think the final chapter ran for like, five and a half hours... you disable the map and add a time limit, thanks dicks).

Wasn't too thrilled with the early fridging, especially considering the last time the series had a female MC she ended up strapped to a groping machine at one point. At least it had a nice payoff, though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on August 13, 2018, 01:51:09 AM
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
The treasure hunt in this game is atrocious. There are nine INVISIBLE small bug things scattered throughout the huge map and you are given zero indication of where to find them. It's indefensible and a sin of game design. There are some things Metroid Prime does well, like it makes platforming in first-person work and there are really fun movement options with things like the morph ball. However the last part of the game ruins any goodwill with it's pseudo remake of Milon's Secret Castle. Prime 1 also had a treasure hunt though I remember it's macguffins were all placed in rooms you've not visited yet, and if you simply explore the entire map you will get to fight the final boss. In Prime 2 this isn't the case with it's INVISIBLE items placed in hard to reach areas of placed you've already visited making it near impossible to finish the game without a guide. Lastly another thing that bugs me is the kill rooms where enemies with too much health lock you in a room and force you to kill them, it doesn't help that the shooting mechanics feel dull, like it's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
This game gets heaps of praise but going back to play it for the first time in 2018 it doesn't hold up. There isn't really a story, or even any characters that you can get invested in, in addition to the most annoying dungeon design I've ever come across with invisible teleport puzzles every few paces. The game rarely gives you a good indication of where to go making it extremely difficult to play without a guide. For it's time the battle system would have been revolutionary but there are games released now that do it better and in terms of soundtrack Digital Devil Saga runs rings around it.

I feel like the dungeon designers should have taken to the motto "Do No Harm", I honestly would have rather had more long boring corridors rather than the "puzzles" that feel like they are designed to actively annoy the player.

Yakuza 0
The story telling in this game is phenomenal, the game has so many characters but they manage to make every single one of them unique and feel like they have a presence in the world. The game contrasts a high stakes drama, with a (to the point of comedy) hyper-violent battle system, with lighthearted set of extremely silly side quests and mini games.

Storywise I think I preferred the build up and journey compared to the pay-off at the end, I feel it's a lot to do with this being a prequel and being constrained by having to fit in a timeline. Inside the Yakuza is a big game of politics and I can see how easy it would have been to fall into the trap of making all the Yakuza members feel the same, but they all have their own backstories and motivations and personalities that really make you invested. During the game knows how to craft a mystery and there were many points where I was screaming at the TV things like "Oh my God!" or "Nooo how could you!" or "Whooooah". The writing is just that good.

The game has a real sense of humour, plenty of memorable story missions and there's enough side content to keep you going for 100+ hours. It's cheap too! Highly recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Sarail on August 13, 2018, 10:48:50 AM
Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Goodness, what a game. Game has a super heavy emphasis on battles - I mean, the game is titled Battle Chasers, after all. But if you're looking for a JRPG type of game to play that is crazy big on aesthetics and art style, then Battle Chasers is for you.

I loved every single bit of my 52 hour play-through. I found all of the ultimate weapons for my primary three party members and levelled them to max level. Using the Tolkas Arena is a great way to do just that.

I found the sound effects and music really well put together. When Gully lands a hit on an enemy, you really feel the hit - thanks in part to the HD rumble, of course. I loved the art style, and you can definitely tell artists who worked on the Darksiders series, worked on this game as well. Alumon could be straight out of Darksiders!

But yes, heavy emphasis on battling, and story sequences are played out through a series of comic still frames with small bits of animation thrown in here and there. Most of these take place before dungeon boss sequences – but there are points where they'll stop the gameplay to drop another to pad the story along. They're fun sequences, definitely. Great artwork.

Seriously, if you love JRPGs, then this game is for you.

I recently finished Battle Chasers myself, it was a great game. The Perk system was really important and I would often re-arrange mine to get the most out of my crew. My mine three settled down to Calibretto, Alumon, and Garisson. Who did you play as?
Ah! I ran with Red Monika, Alumon, and Garrison. Garrison, especially, got WAY incredibly strong.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 13, 2018, 08:49:08 PM
Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Goodness, what a game. Game has a super heavy emphasis on battles - I mean, the game is titled Battle Chasers, after all. But if you're looking for a JRPG type of game to play that is crazy big on aesthetics and art style, then Battle Chasers is for you.

I loved every single bit of my 52 hour play-through. I found all of the ultimate weapons for my primary three party members and levelled them to max level. Using the Tolkas Arena is a great way to do just that.

I found the sound effects and music really well put together. When Gully lands a hit on an enemy, you really feel the hit - thanks in part to the HD rumble, of course. I loved the art style, and you can definitely tell artists who worked on the Darksiders series, worked on this game as well. Alumon could be straight out of Darksiders!

But yes, heavy emphasis on battling, and story sequences are played out through a series of comic still frames with small bits of animation thrown in here and there. Most of these take place before dungeon boss sequences – but there are points where they'll stop the gameplay to drop another to pad the story along. They're fun sequences, definitely. Great artwork.

Seriously, if you love JRPGs, then this game is for you.

I recently finished Battle Chasers myself, it was a great game. The Perk system was really important and I would often re-arrange mine to get the most out of my crew. My mine three settled down to Calibretto, Alumon, and Garisson. Who did you play as?
Ah! I ran with Red Monika, Alumon, and Garrison. Garrison, especially, got WAY incredibly strong.

Yeah, Garrison was doing 10-11k damage with a Warblade Strike at the end for me. I had his perks setup for Criticals and Bleeding for most of the back half of the game, and I could sting almost any enemy and he would be dead in three turns.

Monika was great to, only Character I could get evade somewhat consistently. And her assassin attack did a ton of damage.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 13, 2018, 08:52:31 PM

2. Red Steel 2 (2010) a.k.a. door opening simulator

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/red.steel.2.02.lg.jpg)

This one's more interesting to discuss, but a less successful game. Red Steel 2 is a pretty high quality production on Wii, I feel. Neat cell-shaded look, Wii Motion Plus is used to make a lot of different sword attacks possible, in addition to gunplay with the pointer, it's fully voice acted, and builds a pretty fun ninja-western world.

That said, you can really feel the game straining against the Wii hardware limits. I had several glitches locking me behind doors requiring reloading of a previous checkpoint (luckily they are everywhere), as well as it completely freezing the Wii. Most noticeable of all though, the environments are comprised of MANY smaller interlocking environments - Metroid Prime style.

Remember how the loading in Metroid Prime felt almost seamless from door to door? Yeahhhh not the case here. Almost every door will take a couple of seconds minimum, and since most of the environments are pretty sparse once you've cleared out the enemies, the gameplay loop quickly turns into moving between empty spaces, knocking down an ENDLESS supply of crates for money (hello carpal tunnel), and waiting for the next door to open.

Presentation is pretty good, the story is suitably cliché without turning into complete parody, a few of the later bossfights are genuinely challenging, the missions are just short enough to trigger your 'just one more' impulse. Overall, it's a pretty breezy experience to play through, but it also feels very shallow. I enjoyed my time with it, but will definitely forget all about it 5 years from now.
Three stars, barely.
Red Steel 2 was one of my favorite Wii games, and probably the best Wii Motion Plus game in my opinion. It's a little light on the content, but it felt about average for an action game to me at the time, Of course, I did a 100% on all side quests and upgrades so that helped. I really enjoyed the boss fights, and normally that is one of my least favorite things in games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on August 13, 2018, 09:40:24 PM
Finished Chasm tonight on PS4, a game that released exactly one week before Dead Cells.

Just go play Dead Cells instead. Yeah, Chasm is a "real" Metroid-style Castlevania knock-off, but it's extremely average. I had an enjoyable 12 hours with it, and feel no real compulsion to go back to it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 14, 2018, 11:58:59 AM
Metroid Prime 2: EchoesThe treasure hunt in this game is atrocious. There are nine INVISIBLE small bug things scattered throughout the huge map and you are given zero indication of where to find them. It's indefensible and a sin of game design. There are some things Metroid Prime does well, like it makes platforming in first-person work and there are really fun movement options with things like the morph ball. However the last part of the game ruins any goodwill with it's pseudo remake of Milon's Secret Castle. Prime 1 also had a treasure hunt though I remember it's macguffins were all placed in rooms you've not visited yet, and if you simply explore the entire map you will get to fight the final boss. In Prime 2 this isn't the case with it's INVISIBLE items placed in hard to reach areas of placed you've already visited making it near impossible to finish the game without a guide. Lastly another thing that bugs me is the kill rooms where enemies with too much health lock you in a room and force you to kill them, it doesn't help that the shooting mechanics feel dull, like it's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on.


This is the biggest Metroid game I've yet to play. Every time I think about doing so I read something that makes me hesistant, like your post haha. Are those invisible bugs only there at the end, or could one hypothetically get them during the playthrough already? I might compromise and just keep a guide with their locations open, the Metroid Prime padding scavenger hunts are such a drag on the games. Kills the pacing, needlessly adds time, and it's not like they tend to add some sort of critical element without which the story would make sense.


Red Steel 2 was one of my favorite Wii games, and probably the best Wii Motion Plus game in my opinion. It's a little light on the content, but it felt about average for an action game to me at the time, Of course, I did a 100% on all side quests and upgrades so that helped. I really enjoyed the boss fights, and normally that is one of my least favorite things in games.


Yeah the boss fights are certainly the highlight. I haven't played other Motion Plus games besides Nintendo Land, so couldn't compare, but yeah it does feel pretty accurate. What else required Motion Plus, Skyward Sword, Flingsmash, and Wii Sports Resort are the only ones I know of tbh.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 14, 2018, 08:32:17 PM
I think the ones you listed are the highlights
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on August 14, 2018, 11:14:16 PM
I assume it's possible to get a few of the keys before they're necessary but personally I didn't get any of them berforehand.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 16, 2018, 09:58:59 AM
Here's a big one, The Last Story (2012, Wii).

(https://cdn02.nintendo-europe.com/media/images/06_screenshots/games_5/wii_7/wii_thelaststory/Wii_TheLastStory_03.jpg)

This one got recommended to me on the Discord, and man was it a ride. The Last Story is a fast-paced action RPG where you fight in real time and simultaneously direct your party of mercenaries around. They get caught up protecting a lady of royalty of an island nation on the verge of (basically nuclear?) war with a southern continent.
No random battles, all the fetchquesty bits are entirely optional, a score  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VnX8UqoKkY)with  (https://youtu.be/6JupAorolkE?t=1m11s)so  (https://youtu.be/ICSprZTmk78?t=34s) many  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGUJBWipxOw)highlights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHpMwAehK0s), fantastic localisation with loads of U.K. accents represented and fun banter... Yeah I really dug this one.

Are there problems? Sure, the framerate can't always keep up with the size of the city they've created and will outright stutter during some of the bigger fights in the mines with loads of enemies and particle effects from spells popping off everywhere. The multiplayer mode is also down of course now, since it was online only - no local option.
The game is kind of ugly by today's standards too. Lots of bloom, and the major hub city is essentially all browns/beiges/grays. I personally also really dislike many of the character designs, though your mileage may vary there. Their voice acting picks up the slack though, really strong here.

Those technical & visual problems aside, I would also say the game makes some... curious narrative decisions at times. I'm pretty sure there's a sidequest which allows your main character to date several NPCs? I didn't follow that quest so could be wrong, but it feels inconsistent with the otherwise pretty central love story.

More importantly however, the game gives these false choices sometimes. There's fairly major reasons why you would want to refuse to cooperate with the Duke, and many characters encourage you to turn down his offers. But actually turning him down is basically impossible, since your character is dim as a lamp and won't see the super obvious warning signs until it's way too late.
While that's kind of neat in that the story basically makes you an accomplice to actual fucking genocide, it also really, really sucks you can't prevent that from happening because of these false choices. Don't pretend like I have a choice, especially on major themes like this, if you're just gonna force the player to pick one option anyway.

I have one more curious complaint about the pacing: the game is just around 40 chapters long, which I cleared in 27 hours. However, around chapter 30, 31~ish the plot basically goes full-throttle towards the finish. I suppose it's a good thing that everything felt tense and critical enough to wanna keep playing, but it basically overshot my planned bedtime by oooooh four hours? Haha, I suppose blaming my lack of self-control on the game is unfair, but that felt a bit wonky in terms of time balancing.

I've read some things online about people thinking the battle system doesn't really take advantage of all its potential until the very last bosses. Not sure I agree with that, as it gets really complex and stressful by the end. The last fight especially is really tough and took me close to an hour to figure out. Up until there though, the game is mostly smooth sailing which I like.

The game is just kind of delightful really. You can paint your armours in really garish colours, so I had the big brute guy in hot pink and black, the shy introverted girl in a hideous tint of snot yellow, my main character I tried to turn into a walking rainbow for shits & giggles, had another one in Halloween colours running around. The game also tracks some really idiotic stats, like the amount of times you bang your head on street signs, trip over fallen oranges, and even rewards you for rudely bumping into people a lot. You can even load banana peels on your crossbow to trip up people and they even work on one of the final bosses, hilariously.

Add to that quite some strong characterisations, again, fan-tas-tic music, fast-paced combat, skippable filler chapters, some gorgeous CGI cutscenes, and you basically get what Final Fantasy 8 should always have been: a quarter of the length, techno-fantasy mix, floating castles, prison breaks, sewers, romance to actually root for, much more streamlined inventory stuff and way less obtuse.

Recommendation: if you have The Last Story still wrapped on a shelf somewhere, hook up your Wii (U) and play this one. You'll know within half an hour if you'll like it, since it hits the ground running and rarely lifts its foot from the gas. If I was an objective reviewer, I'd point to the problems and give it four stars. Luckily however, I can freely choose to ignore them and declare this my favourite Wii game since Brawl.
FIVE STARS.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 18, 2018, 03:33:22 AM
Went back to and finished Rime for the Switch. Sure it has an unpleasant case of the stutters all too often, but it doesn't really affect the gameplay. Which is easy breezy puzzle platforming for the most part. The story has a satisfying ending, although the connection to the rest of the game is kinda tenuous.

Score: A Solid 7
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on August 18, 2018, 11:19:35 AM
Went back to and finished Rime for the Switch. Sure it has an unpleasant case of the stutters all too often, but it doesn't really affect the gameplay. Which is easy breezy puzzle platforming for the most part. The story has a satisfying ending, although the connection to the rest of the game is kinda tenuous.

Score: A Solid 7
It makes more sense if you go back and look at the chapter names now that you've unlocked chapter select.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 18, 2018, 04:29:25 PM
Finally finished Freedom Planet (Wii U), and rather enjoyed the game. It played well and had interested level design. The different characters feel good and are unique enough to add good replay value. There might be a few too many WTF moments regarding the story for my preference... but it still holds together well enough.


Definitely gets a recommendation from me. Anyone who wants a fast paced and colorful action/platformer should check it out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Sarail on August 19, 2018, 01:03:19 PM
Here's a big one, The Last Story (2012, Wii).

(https://cdn02.nintendo-europe.com/media/images/06_screenshots/games_5/wii_7/wii_thelaststory/Wii_TheLastStory_03.jpg)

This one got recommended to me on the Discord, and man was it a ride. The Last Story is a fast-paced action RPG where you fight in real time and simultaneously direct your party of mercenaries around. They get caught up protecting a lady of royalty of an island nation on the verge of (basically nuclear?) war with a southern continent.
No random battles, all the fetchquesty bits are entirely optional, a score  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VnX8UqoKkY)with  (https://youtu.be/6JupAorolkE?t=1m11s)so  (https://youtu.be/ICSprZTmk78?t=34s) many  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGUJBWipxOw)highlights (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHpMwAehK0s), fantastic localisation with loads of U.K. accents represented and fun banter... Yeah I really dug this one.

Are there problems? Sure, the framerate can't always keep up with the size of the city they've created and will outright stutter during some of the bigger fights in the mines with loads of enemies and particle effects from spells popping off everywhere. The multiplayer mode is also down of course now, since it was online only - no local option.
The game is kind of ugly by today's standards too. Lots of bloom, and the major hub city is essentially all browns/beiges/grays. I personally also really dislike many of the character designs, though your mileage may vary there. Their voice acting picks up the slack though, really strong here.

Those technical & visual problems aside, I would also say the game makes some... curious narrative decisions at times. I'm pretty sure there's a sidequest which allows your main character to date several NPCs? I didn't follow that quest so could be wrong, but it feels inconsistent with the otherwise pretty central love story.

More importantly however, the game gives these false choices sometimes. There's fairly major reasons why you would want to refuse to cooperate with the Duke, and many characters encourage you to turn down his offers. But actually turning him down is basically impossible, since your character is dim as a lamp and won't see the super obvious warning signs until it's way too late.
While that's kind of neat in that the story basically makes you an accomplice to actual fucking genocide, it also really, really sucks you can't prevent that from happening because of these false choices. Don't pretend like I have a choice, especially on major themes like this, if you're just gonna force the player to pick one option anyway.

I have one more curious complaint about the pacing: the game is just around 40 chapters long, which I cleared in 27 hours. However, around chapter 30, 31~ish the plot basically goes full-throttle towards the finish. I suppose it's a good thing that everything felt tense and critical enough to wanna keep playing, but it basically overshot my planned bedtime by oooooh four hours? Haha, I suppose blaming my lack of self-control on the game is unfair, but that felt a bit wonky in terms of time balancing.

I've read some things online about people thinking the battle system doesn't really take advantage of all its potential until the very last bosses. Not sure I agree with that, as it gets really complex and stressful by the end. The last fight especially is really tough and took me close to an hour to figure out. Up until there though, the game is mostly smooth sailing which I like.

The game is just kind of delightful really. You can paint your armours in really garish colours, so I had the big brute guy in hot pink and black, the shy introverted girl in a hideous tint of snot yellow, my main character I tried to turn into a walking rainbow for shits & giggles, had another one in Halloween colours running around. The game also tracks some really idiotic stats, like the amount of times you bang your head on street signs, trip over fallen oranges, and even rewards you for rudely bumping into people a lot. You can even load banana peels on your crossbow to trip up people and they even work on one of the final bosses, hilariously.

Add to that quite some strong characterisations, again, fan-tas-tic music, fast-paced combat, skippable filler chapters, some gorgeous CGI cutscenes, and you basically get what Final Fantasy 8 should always have been: a quarter of the length, techno-fantasy mix, floating castles, prison breaks, sewers, romance to actually root for, much more streamlined inventory stuff and way less obtuse.

Recommendation: if you have The Last Story still wrapped on a shelf somewhere, hook up your Wii (U) and play this one. You'll know within half an hour if you'll like it, since it hits the ground running and rarely lifts its foot from the gas. If I was an objective reviewer, I'd point to the problems and give it four stars. Luckily however, I can freely choose to ignore them and declare this my favourite Wii game since Brawl.
FIVE STARS.

Oh, goodness. Great review.

I have five favourite RPGs. And those five are as follows:

Chrono Trigger
Xenoblade
Final Fantasy VI
The Last Story
Final Fantasy IX

In that order, too. I long so much for an HD revisit of this game for Switch. I'm not sure what Mistwalker Studios are doing at the moment (maybe phone games, LOLs), but Nintendo need to buy them outright, and make them their new "Final Fantasy" studio. I seriously love The Last Story so much, as I feel it could be a stronger series than Final Fantasy could ever dream of being. Sakaguchi knows how to create wonderful characters, and their stories are so fantastically woven together in The Last Story. I want The Last Story II...and then TLS III...and TLS IV...and so on.

If Nintendo aren't going to get Camelot to continue with Golden Sun, then The Last Story should be their franchise RPG series. Yes yes, they own Monolithsoft, and Xenoblade is all kinds of wonderful, but there's something about the characters and story of TLS that Xenoblade just can't touch. They're so memorable, and their actions speak massive amounts of volume more than the previously mentioned RPG series.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 19, 2018, 03:18:21 PM
Oh, goodness. Great review.

I have five favourite RPGs. And those five are as follows:

Chrono Trigger
Xenoblade
Final Fantasy VI
The Last Story
Final Fantasy IX

In that order, too. I long so much for an HD revisit of this game for Switch. I'm not sure what Mistwalker Studios are doing at the moment (maybe phone games, LOLs), but Nintendo need to buy them outright, and make them their new "Final Fantasy" studio. I seriously love The Last Story so much, as I feel it could be a stronger series than Final Fantasy could ever dream of being. Sakaguchi knows how to create wonderful characters, and their stories are so fantastically woven together in The Last Story. I want The Last Story II...and then TLS III...and TLS IV...and so on.

If Nintendo aren't going to get Camelot to continue with Golden Sun, then The Last Story should be their franchise RPG series. Yes yes, they own Monolithsoft, and Xenoblade is all kinds of wonderful, but there's something about the characters and story of TLS that Xenoblade just can't touch. They're so memorable, and their actions speak massive amounts of volume more than the previously mentioned RPG series.

Thanks, I love that people here still remembers games like this and Pandora's Tower! Yeah Mistwalker are doing mobile games now, they're called the Terra Battles series I think. Apparantly the director said he intended Last Story as a one-off, but I also found this article (https://nintendoeverything.com/hironobu-sakaguchi-asked-about-a-follow-up-to-the-last-story-has-new-3ds-interest/) of him expressing at least some interest.
 
But yeah given MonolithSoft's recent success with XC2 and the speed at which they can produce (XCX, Project X Zone 2, Breath of the Wild assistance, XC2, XC2: Torna are all within 3 years of each other), I expect Nintendo sees them as their main RPG house now - with AlphaDream & Intelligent Systems on the side. [EDIT: whoops totally forgot about Pokémon haha]

I think Last Story could really benefit from a Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn type of sequel, with characters from the Gurak kingdom in the lead roles this time. A major gripe for me with the story was how the genocide on their civilians is just never brought up again really, despite being a rather brutal, heart-wrenching sequence. A sequel from their perspective could paint our heroes as (accomplices to) genocidal mass-murderers; I'd say that's enough reason for conflict to rise anew. The current ending, while satisfying, is a bit too happy and perfect given the events that transpired.

From those of your list I've only played Chrono Trigger, which I loved as well. From Final Fantasy I only played 8 and low-key hated it, should try 9 or one of the classics one day... I did start Xenoblade X years ago, but maybe I'll download the first Xenoblade after I'm done with Pandora's Tower instead to complete the 'Rainfall trilogy'.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on August 19, 2018, 08:56:15 PM
I really want to play The Last Story, whenever I go to a used game store I immediately go to "T" in the Wii section. It's such a shame it wasn't put on Wii U virtual console.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 20, 2018, 08:48:54 PM
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
It only took me 29 years to beat this game. Such a classic. It's such a difficult, yet easy game - once you learn all the patterns and stuff you can burn right through it. It would be awesome if Tecmo put out a direct sequel on Switch. Now I'm on Ninja Gaiden II: The Sword of Chaos.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on August 21, 2018, 12:33:13 AM
Wow, Ninja Gaiden is considered one of the hardest NES games ever. I remember watching the Angry Video Game Nerd episode about it and he couldn't get through.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Soren on August 21, 2018, 09:24:51 AM
The Last Story is one of my favorite RPGs ever, and this is coming from someone who's not really that into RPGs.


I finished Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus on Switch. I decided early to just play on an easy difficulty and just space out. And it works great for that. Finished the main story in about 10 hours and while there's some filler content still to explore I found that I don't really need to play it much more than that. (Also the loading times between areas can be too much). It's honestly a marvel that I got to play it on the Switch screen because even though this is a great port it sometimes feels like the game is about to crumble at the seams from how much it's taxing the hardware. Scenes can look muddy and it always feels like there's a light coat of vaseline on the screen. That being said the combat feels really good. Gunplay is excellent even with Joy-Cons. The plot is beautiful b-movie nonsense and I couldn't stop grinning as it got more and more ridiculous.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 02, 2018, 06:12:49 PM
Ninja Gaiden II (NES)
Better than the first one. Harder, yet also a little bit easier. The double/tripe Ryu Biff is awesome, especially since it applies to weapons. I really didn't even get the hang of using it properly until the actual final boss fight - I feel like it would be *incredibly* difficult without having that buff going in. Only took about three tries. Fucking great NES game though, cut scenes (while the dialog is corny as ****) are amazing. Time to start the final part of the trilogy.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 02, 2018, 08:49:00 PM
I recently finished (and Platinumed) the SP Campaign of Onrush, and overall I quite enjoyed it. The game desperately needs some new modes & maps it'll never get and some of the challenges towards the end of the campaign are downright sadistic. The "Tournament" events are also a colossal pain since they drag on for 4-5 matches, and you have to win all of them in what can often be a very luck-reliant affair.

Still, great to see creativity in the racing genre again, which of course means it totally failed in the marketplace.

I also recently finished (and Platinumed) Guacamelee 2, and...eh...it's OK. It's basically Guacamelee 1 again, but with slower pacing, more Ikaruga B.S. and more chicken powers. The team has still never learned when to end a joke, so they'll have sections of the game dedicated to mocking specific things (including criticism of Guacamelee 1) that feel like they just drag on forever.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on September 03, 2018, 06:32:47 PM
Deus Ex Mankind Divided (PS4)
I really love the world of Deus Ex. For the sequel they took something dumb where basically everyone temporarily turned into zombies in Human Revolution and instead of ignoring it they fully explore the consequences of this dumb thing that happend. It feels like it's missing the stakes of Human Revolution but this is still a great game. Breaking into people's apartments and snooping around is always a joy.

One gripe I had with the game is that the subtitles are really tiny and lots of the in-game dialogue isn't captioned. Which is a shame because there is some really great world building to be found from listening to radios and televisions.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD (PS3)
Wow what an amazing game. The attention to detail really is incredible, and there are some really memorable moments that will stay with me towards the end of the game. I think Jonny said it best on RFN when he said Kojima needs an editor, if you cut down the exposition monologues during the ending by half you would have a greater impact. Metal Gear Solid 1 is still my favourite of the two, there's something endearing about low-poly Snake and it feels more impressive that such a game was pulled off on the PS1 rather than the PS2.

Yakuza Kiwami
Kiwami is a remake of the first Yakuza game and I don't think there's any arguement that Kiwami isn't inferior to Yakuza Zero. Kiwami has everything Zero has but less, there's things you expect to be reused and then there's some things like the boat area which seemingly have no reason to be in both games, however since Kiwami has the claim as the original game it's difficult to tell who's copying who like a snake eating it's own tail.

From the gameplay to the story Kiwami feels very familiar, however I commend the work they've done making Zero and Kiwami feel like a cohesive story, even though Zero was added after the fact and I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes in future entries. The game's redeeming feature that ups it from a good game to a great game is Majima Everywhere, it makes as much sense as it sounds and adds another layer of humour and surprise to the game, keeping it just fresh enough to warrant playing despite the mass reuse of elements from Zero.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on September 03, 2018, 07:42:48 PM
Still, great to see creativity in the racing genre again, which of course means it totally failed in the marketplace.

Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 03, 2018, 10:15:09 PM
Still, great to see creativity in the racing genre again, which of course means it totally failed in the marketplace.

Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...

Split/Second's an easy pick there, along with Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. Going back to the N64 days, I'd also cite Beetle Adventure Racing and Diddy Kong Racing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on September 04, 2018, 05:28:05 PM
Overcooked 2 (Switch)
Overcooked 2 is really fun but it's a disappointing sequel. There isn't much of a step up in content and in some cases it's lateral or a step down.

To change chefs you have to go back to the main menu now unfortunately making it more a set and forget feature. Online is very limited and has connection problems, we also encountered bugs that meant we had to restart levels but it didn't happen often enough for it to be a big issue. There's not really much of an evolution in terms of challenge and while there are still some annoying levels I didn't think there were as many as the first game.

It's a fantastic co-op game, but if you're interested I'd start with the original Overcooked Special Edition that comes with some extra dlc.

I Am Setsuna (Switch)
It's a ok RPG but it doesn't go much further than that. The battle system isn't anything special but it works, same goes for the story, it's not overwhelmingly boring as there are a handful of interesting story beats but overall the characters aren't that memorable and neither is the world. I liked the soundtrack and I feel like they did the "Only Pianos" thing better than Breath of the Wild did.

My Switch says my playtime was around 35 hours so it's on the shorter side of RPGs, but your time is probably best spent elsewhere
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on September 04, 2018, 11:43:24 PM
Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...
To me OnRush looks like ExciteTrucks but with half of it's ideas cut and the remainder presented as the bees knees of racing games: you have ExciteTrucks' points system and combat giving points for destroying opponents in variety of ways, but there is no terrain deformation, there is no actual racing (however putting cars back into the pack IS a very neat idea), there is no constant barrage of mini-challenges along the road.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 05, 2018, 12:36:10 AM
Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...
To me OnRush looks like ExciteTrucks but with half of it's ideas cut and the remainder presented as the bees knees of racing games: you have ExciteTrucks' points system and combat giving points for destroying opponents in variety of ways, but there is no terrain deformation, there is no actual racing (however putting cars back into the pack IS a very neat idea), there is no constant barrage of mini-challenges along the road.

I can't speak for ExciteTrucks since I never played it, but I did play Excitebots and if the mini-games in the former are as intolerable and unreliable (due to the motion control) as in the latter I think I would prefer Onrush or Split/Second.

Make no mistake: Onrush is desperately lacking in match types, something that maybe would have been addressed had the game been successful, but since it wasn't...it is what it is, and I mostly like what it is. I despise "realistic" racing games, so when you have a company put out a roller coaster in racing game form, it appeals to me. It's not doing the same ol' crap racing games still regurgitate year after year.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 18, 2018, 11:32:17 PM
Etrian Odyssey IV (3DS) - Polished off this game tonight, or at least the normal campaign. There is plenty of post-game stuff to delve into if desired, and lots of character builds available to play with. I rarely dive into post-game content, but after finally getting my party to the point where I really enjoy their development and abilities it might be fun to keep the game in my system for another week or so before moving on.

Quick thoughts?
- After overcoming the mediocre start, this game became a really enjoyable slow burn. The longer I played the more interesting it became. By the end, it was hard to set down, always wanting to explore just a little bit further.
- Really enjoyed the class and sub-class system. Sub-classes really help give you options to balance and customize your team. It's also nice that you can reinvent your characters by reassigning their skill points without starting over. (You do drop a couple of levels... a small price to pay for building out characters you really like.)
- Story was mediocre; Etrian Odyssey Untold did a much better job in this regard and left me very excited to play Untold 2. Luckily the gameplay is rock solid and the dungeon/enemy designs well designed.


Anytime that a game leaves you excited for me, it's a good thing. All too often I'm breathing a sigh of relief when it's time to move on, instead of thinking about how enjoyable the last few hours were.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 20, 2018, 03:48:50 AM
Zero Time Dilemma:

I'm mostly out of stuff to play, so I circled back to finish the Zero Escape series. From a cursory Google search it looks like this game was fairly controversial and forum-litigated, but I'll add a few notes:

-Game is oogly. I wasn't wild about the switch from mostly pixel art to 3D models in VLR, but that game at least had a distinctive atmosphere and character designs. Not so much in ZTD.

-Puzzle design is better than VLR, which relied way too much on brain teaser crap, but it also is seriously lacking in challenge. Still, I appreciated the efforts to mix it up with stuff like the rotation hall and the alien number system, even if the escape rooms themselves didn't really make sense with the plot this time around.

-I was anticipating the plot getting as bugnuts and twisty as VLR, but instead it was mostly building up to an idiotic cheat-reveal that didn't actually affect the story much, and made the Heavy Rain twist seem reasonable. I had caught on to the idea that, unlike it seems, this game is actually in first-person like the previous two, but I thought it was going to go for some bonkers fourth-wall breaking thing that would encapsulate the previous games, but instead it's a pretty underwhelming ending to a high-concept series. Also the characters blow, including new portrayals of existing ones.

-The fragment structure is an intriguing approach and a neat idea to differentiate this from VLR, but they didn't really pull it off. It's mostly just confusing for majority of the (long) run-time. Again, to some extent this is clever because the characters are confused and displaced in time, but I rarely had any idea what the actual context was w/r/t the other groups. It gets fun in the last stretch when you start hopping around, but overall, with the simultaneous existence of the timeline tree, it feels like they didn't execute the concept all the way. Like, with a more ambitious fourth-wall breaking concept, they could have had the actual fragmentation of the episodes be part of the game's meta-puzzle, requiring manual reconstruction to open new causal paths. Instead I just got infuriatingly bottlenecked at one point because I didn't realize the opening vote round is an active switch system that you have to modify the right way to progress, even if you've already made all of the choices. Like, if the whole game had something like that going on, it could've been really cool, but instead it was just this one-off gotcha that forced me to consult a guide.

In the end, I'd have to say I think I liked the first game best as a self-contained product, even if it wasn't as fleshed out in the multi-verse mechanics as VLR. I feel like the ideal game is somewhere in-between 999 and VLR, but it shall never be. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 20, 2018, 09:35:59 AM
Zero Time Dilemma:

...

In the end, I'd have to say I think I liked the first game best as a self-contained product, even if it wasn't as fleshed out in the multi-verse mechanics as VLR. I feel like the ideal game is somewhere in-between 999 and VLR, but it shall never be.

Scathing review! ;)

I never got around to VLR, and feel bad about it because the other games were fun... but not bad enough to make the effort.  Your conclusion seems reasonable to me, based on my experience so far and what I've read.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 26, 2018, 10:50:52 AM
Finished off Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) last night, beating every stage with all coins and gold flags - but I didn't go back and play through as Luigi and have little interest to right now. The game is very good, but it's not "start again immediately and beat every stage another time" good.  Coming back to revisit the game and play as Luigi at some point in the future is totally feasible though... and something I might do after taking a break to play something else for a while.

There were a few moments where Mario's position when jumping wasn't clear, which lead to unexpected deaths - frustrating, but rare enough that it's not a significant issue.

No specific highlights come to mind... but that's only because the whole game is solid, frequently introducing interesting new challenges. Definitely recommended. It's a gem for portable platformers.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on September 26, 2018, 11:12:29 AM
I loved Super Mario 3D Land so much that I replayed everything. On two separate occasions I swore I would revisit a Mario game then didn’t. I never went back to complete Champion’s Road in Super Mario 3D World. I also stopped playing Super Mario Odyssey without getting all the Power Moons. I stopped at 600-700 something.

I’d probably double dip if Nintendo released an HD edition of Super Mario 3D Land on Switch.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on September 26, 2018, 01:09:05 PM
As I said in the other thread, Mario 3D World is better the first time through when collecting all the medals and stamps, but 3D Land is more fun to just replay when trying to rush through the levels as fast as possible.  The shorter more compact levels hold up better on replays compared to the larger more spaced out levels of 3D World.  With 3D Land I actually had the most fun rushing through all the levels a second time as Luigi, while in 3D World it was a blast the first time but when replaying as the other characters kind of becomes a drag over time.

I would also add that I find the Castle and Airship levels in 3D Land some of the best pure platforming gameplay in a 3D Mario.  I'd probably rank 3D Land as my second favorite 3D Mario behind only Galaxy 2.  The levels might be short but I find that a good thing in this games case because they really make use of all the space in each one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 26, 2018, 02:10:42 PM
I agree that the short levels are a boon; especially if you go in with a powerup, stages can be completed extremely quickly.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 27, 2018, 01:00:41 PM
Spider-Man - PS4
Excellent game. Is it like Arkham? Sure. But Arkham is like Spider-Man 2, without the web swinging. The story is done very well, graphics are amazing, and gameplay is slick. Boss battles are all pretty awesome too. I'm at 99%, I think I just have to level up the rest of my gadgets, which means getting Ultimate on a couple more Taskmaster challenges, and this will be my first platinum trophy game. Post-credits scenes set up the sequels nicely. Hopefully that unlocks the 28th suit too (maybe that requires getting the rest of the hidden landmarks photographed though). I somehow haven't have that one spoiled yet.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 29, 2018, 10:52:10 PM
Dragon Warrior Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Saw a quote that was from (I believe) Square Enix indicating that they were surprised so many adults loved the game in North America, because it's essentially targeted at children in Japan. It definitely does feel like that is the target, but Rocket Slime is just so charming and delightful that I consider it an "all ages" experience.

From start to finish, the game is littered with humorous references to the Dragon Quest world, and more bad puns than you can shake a slime at. That charm covers some of the games limitations (challenge is nearly absent; upgrade systems don't work well unless you have a particular fondness for needless grinding; some of tank battles can be a bit repetitive) and the short length ensures that the game ends before you really grow tired of what it's got to offer.

Strong recommendation for people who enjoy the Dragon Quest series and want a light-hearted adventure with some familiar characters.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 29, 2018, 11:31:34 PM
Spider-Man - PS4
Excellent game. Is it like Arkham? Sure. But Arkham is like Spider-Man 2, without the web swinging. The story is done very well, graphics are amazing, and gameplay is slick. Boss battles are all pretty awesome too. I'm at 99%, I think I just have to level up the rest of my gadgets, which means getting Ultimate on a couple more Taskmaster challenges, and this will be my first platinum trophy game. Post-credits scenes set up the sequels nicely. Hopefully that unlocks the 28th suit too (maybe that requires getting the rest of the hidden landmarks photographed though). I somehow haven't have that one spoiled yet.

The final suit unlocks when you 100% the game, which only requires that you complete all the side content. You don't have to Gold the Taskmaster challenges.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 30, 2018, 02:14:58 PM
There's a hidden 28th suit that you have to unlock by taking a picture of all of the secret landmarks. It's a disappointing suit...but I kinda want that platinum trophy.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 30, 2018, 03:27:27 PM
There's a hidden 28th suit that you have to unlock by taking a picture of all of the secret landmarks. It's a disappointing suit...but I kinda want that platinum trophy.

You don't need the T-shirt suit for the Platinum. I don't have it, and I do have the Platinum.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 30, 2018, 05:50:51 PM
Hmmm. What do you need for the platinum then? I have 100% the game through only things I haven't done are those landmarks and gotten all the ultimate Taskmaster challenges (to finish all the gadget upgrades).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 30, 2018, 09:50:17 PM
Hmmm. What do you need for the platinum then? I have 100% the game through only things I haven't done are those landmarks and gotten all the ultimate Taskmaster challenges (to finish all the gadget upgrades).

Have your purchased all the other suits besides the hidden one? Without seeing your trophy list, I don't know what you're missing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 30, 2018, 10:51:28 PM
Yeah I have all the other suits. I'll check out gamefaqs or something, thanks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 30, 2018, 11:07:19 PM
It may be the "disturb a bunch of pigeons" or I may not have actually gotten spectacular on any drone challenges actually.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on October 07, 2018, 09:57:11 PM
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Better late than never.

When I picked the game up again a few months ago, I considered doing the bare minimum to get to the end before deciding that would be doing a disservice to a modern masterpiece. I finished the main quest, completed all shrines, all side quests, collected all Captured Memories, found all but 29 Korok seeds, defeated most if not all mini-bosses, upgraded all armor except the Starlight Memories jewelry and the Armor of the Wild set. I got impatient because I just wanted to murder Calamity Ganon.

Breath of the Wild is brilliant. It's been a long time since I played a game that made me feel this way about interactive media. I never got into open-world games before. I lost interest first. Then, Nintendo said, "Yeah, but what if you can climb like 99% of things?" which changed everything. The game's single greatest accomplishment is that it made the overworld interesting. In other 3D Zelda games, the overworld is mostly empty and traversing it is boring. I could not fathom why the overworld was so large in Twilight Princess. There was nothing to do. It was just space that wasted a lot of time. Skyward Sword tried to fix that but didn't quite get there. Breath of the Wild cashes the check Skyward Sword wrote in 2011. Traversing the overworld is most of the game and it was never boring.

The game isn't without faults. However, with Breath of the Wild, when I'd say, "Ehh, that wasn't great," I usually gave it a pass. The game got so much of everything else right that it often felt weird to complain about something. For the sake of discussion:

1. Enemy variety was lacking. The combat was so good but never felt fully utilized since there were approximately three and a half types of enemies.
2. Not all the Shrines were great. Typhlo Ruins, for example, was especially terrible. I know some people like that part; it just didn't resonate with me. Maybe i'm a little bitter that the area didn't light up upon completing the shrine.
3. Zelda sucked. Almost everything about her sucked. Her character design was great then everything else sucked. Her personality was bland. Serious Zelda is worst Zelda. When she wasn't being melodramatic, she was just kind of there. I don't understand why she had a British accent.

The series was slowly trending in the wrong direction since Wind Waker. Each subsequent game felt a little less special than the older ones with the exception of A Link Between Worlds. It was almost as if Nintendo didn't know how to make anything else or didn't have the courage to try. That is until Breath of the Wild came along. The series feels like the gold standard for the genre again.

Most of the Zelda formula was tossed out the window. Very little of the game was artificially gated. Combat was deep. There were so many options now. Link couldn't just block everything, or wait for an opening. There was no set structure after the first four Shrines. The Great Plateau is quite possibly the best and most effective tutorial in any video game. Additionally, roads felt like part of the world rather than paths the player must follow. The game practically invites players to wander off. If an NPC is walking hella slow on his donkey or something, walk around him.

Similar to seeing distant fields to the north I couldn't visit, I liked how Hyrule felt lived in. Breath of the Wild "cheats" by previously having Calamity Ganon wipe out most of the population before the start of the game. It works though. There are, for example, ruins of settlements all over the place. That's excellent world building. For the first time, NPCs were part of the world. They were affected by what happened 100 years ago. Show, don't tell. I'd argue those environmental hints are better world building than the cutscenes. As far as narrative medium, video games often still feel like they're chasing movies. There are better ways of telling players about the world. Breath of the Wild both does that well and does not do that well.

I'll probably skip the DLC for now, and I'm not interested in Master Mode. I want to move on to a different game.

EDIT: Breath of the Wild has supplanted A Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda title and second favorite video game ever. I'm not sure I can rank it above Super Metroid yet. Since I just completed the game on Friday, I'll let it sink in first.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 09, 2018, 07:59:49 AM
Congrats, Adrock - it was a long time coming.  Totally agree with your assessment of the game though - it's an instant classic, and every time I go back to the game it's easy to lost myself in it all over again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on October 18, 2018, 12:52:51 AM
Mega Man 11

Well it's a Mega Man game alright.  Doesn't really reinvent the formula but it's still a good installment.  The levels are bigger then other classic Mega Man titles which I really enjoyed since they really go all the way with the idea's they introduce.  It also has one of the best set of weapons in the series where most of them are very useful and some just destroy the game when combined with the Power Gear.

The only real negative is it kind of ends in a whimper, like they just ran out of time.  There's only 2 real Wily Stages, then the 3rd is just the re-fight with the Robot Masters and the 4th is just a fight with one of the easiest Wily fights in the series that literally rehashes the first part of the Wily boss fight of MM 10.  But other then a disappointing ending, the main game is still really strong so I'd heavily recommend it to any Mega Man fans.

Of course after playing it I was thinking about where I'd rank it and realized that I'd been over 12 years since I last played MM1-8 on the Anniversary Collection on Gamecube.  I think it's time I bought Legacy Collection on Switch to replay all of them to see if my taste has changed since then.  Of course I still need to finish all the games on the X Collection as well since I was literally playing it right before MM 11 was released.

Well it looks like I'll be playing nothing but Mega Man until Smash Bros comes out.  My backlog will never be finished. :'(
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on October 18, 2018, 09:47:35 AM
Thanks, ejamer. While I thoroughly enjoyed the hours I put into the game, it may be some time before I revisit it, if ever. “Breath of the Wild” is very dense. It’s almost too daunting to start from the beginning. Maybe I just need to wait a couple years. Still, considering how prone I am to put games down for months or years, I’m probably better off making time for other games.

Axiom Verge (Switch)

Yes, I managed to complete two games in the same month. Try not to faint.

I have a pretty obscene backlog, but I don’t want to view it as a burden. Video games are supposed to be fun so they should be something I want to complete rather something I force myself to. I’ve been adjusting my attitude in regards to the games I buy. I won’t always feel compelled to complete some games (e.g. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy), and that’s okay. Lately, I’ve held off buying new games because there are games I already have and really enjoy but put down when life gets in the way.

“Axiom Verge” was one such game. The art, music, and atmosphere are all extremely well done. The controls are probably better than the Pro Controller d-pad would lead me to believe. The story is interesting though a bit difficult to follow. Still, “Axiom Verge” lacks polish. I don’t want to give everything a pass because one man developed the game, particularly since it just so happens to be where all the game’s flaws come from. It’s harder to be objective about your own work. With that in mind, some rooms are so f-ing frustrating. One room in E-Kur-Mah involves blindly jumping down into lower levels of a giant room only to be ambushed by enemies, and it kept happening in that same room. That same stupid motherfuc... That room is poorly designed.

Unfortunately, this kind of stuff keeps popping up. It really holds “Axiom Verge” back from being truly special. A lot of third party games lack the polish I’m referring to. Think about how much about Super Mario Bros. a player can learn before the first pipe in Level 1-1. That kind of attention to detail is vastly under-appreciated. “Axiom Verge” is uneven in this sense. Sometimes it gives players a new thing and forces them to use it to exit an area. Other times the game just assumes they’ll figure it out. New weapons are auto-equipped, but it isn’t as if the enemies in that room or the surrounding rooms are vulnerable to that new weapon. “Axiom Verge” very much prescribes to the shoot-things-until-they-die line of thinking. That’s fine, but it could have been so much more.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on October 19, 2018, 09:50:08 AM
I wrapped-up Persona 5 late last night.  As someone who has dropped off of JRPGs for the last 10 years, Stellar game, love the characters in the story.  This is my first foray into the series, so the battle system felt fresh like a strange mix between Pokemon and Final Fantasy.  Hitting enemy critical weaknesses seems especially important here, where it causes a stun that allows you to hold up you enemy for cash, items, or to have them join your protag character's slate of usable personas.  Chain stunning enemies is important both to keep them accumulating damage, but also prevents them from exploiting your character's elemental weaknesses or status effects, because they all hit like a tank. 

The way it breaks out actions into school days on a calendar is a great way to give you the chance to break up dungeon crawling, and it creates a nice shift from the seriousness of where the story is going with humor and more slice of life moments.  It was a great way to draw down the tension in story and make the more drastic moments impactful.


I got stuck hard at the last boss until I chatted with a friend who told me I was 7 levels below where he was when he got to the end game.  Grinding-out levels to make up that deficit made it a much more manageable beast to defeat. 

I'll revisit in a month or so to do a new game +, as I want to see what the social links I missed look like, and to explore other parts of the game I neglected in my first playthrough.  I assume it'll be much quicker than the 120 hours that went into the first playthrough given how OP I'll be.  Absolutely would recommend, and i'll miss the cast of this game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on October 22, 2018, 01:20:04 AM
Silent Hill 3 (PS2):
The game really loves that shot with Heather looking at the camera over the shoulder:
(https://memestatic1.fjcdn.com/comments/Thats+heather+mason+from+silent+hill+3+_8b1e0e01257931e8e0922893d8a93f03.jpg)

The circle was finally closed, 15 years later.

This is the game that started my fascination with the series (and even entire console gaming thing) way back in 2003. I "procured" the game and installed it on my work PC, but never managed to actually play it past first few minutes. However, the opening music captivated me and game's songs with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's vocals haunted me ever since.

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's and Akira Yamaoka's collaboration on the series is retroactively considered a start of the end for the series, mainly because of her being responsible for bad voice acting on HD Collection (among other things). However i am not playing these maligned versions of 2 and 3 and i love the songs she did, so there is no problem for me personally. And there were way more important reasons why the series kinda withered and died (the first hour of SH4: The Room spells out that the initial Team Silent spark is out by then already). I say i got me some great games and i am not gonna cry over things that could "have been" and just enjoy and celebrate for what the series was, is and will be in our memories.

SH3 feels like a very conscious retread of original Silent Hill game. It feels like a knee jerk reaction to criticism of Silent Hill 2 "feeling disconnected from first game" in that 2 has completely different and unrelated plot, completely different protagonist and a completely different tone. It was less scary too. So with 3 feels like pendulum swings back so hard, it feels like a rehash (an entire level reused from 2 doesn't help too).

Granted, 3 brings in all technical achievement of 2nd game: visuals, in-game models and lightning look great, game has proper controls (as-in not tank-like), so it's a better game than 1 on that alone. It's also way less obtuse than 1: important for progression weapons and items are not hidden away from you and you don't get a "bad" ending just because you missed some obscure thing way outside of the campaign main line (all reasons why i don't think SH1 is even a good game).

However the game adherence to a more classic type of gory horror of 1 kinda cheapens the game, which didn't happen with 2 which was more subdued and had a definite story and a message to tell.

The imagery and nightmarish horror effects are still very, very impressive. And overall it's a great game if you can handle more outright scary stuff than rather mild Silent Hill 2 by comparison.

If i rank SH as of now, i think the #1 would be either Shattered Memories or SH2 and 3 would be second.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on October 26, 2018, 10:01:37 AM
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (Switch)

Not much has changed from my initial impressions in the other thread. The game is fine. It’s biggest issue is it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. “Shantae: Half-Genie Hero” is probably my least favorite game in the series though I haven’t played the original on Game Boy Color.

If I’m counting correctly, seven transformations are completely optional in that they never have to be used even once. On top of that, bat and spider are only required for 100% completion in that they are only used to collect optional items. The former is situationally useful such as crossing gaps while the latter was used three or four times. Mouse is similarly seldom used except in very specific situations. I believe it’s used for only one required item, and unfortunately, it’s probably the worst transformation in the game from a gameplay standpoint which is made worse by the Switch Pro Controller’s faulty d-pad. I’m about to open my Pro Controllers and try the tape fix. Releasing a controller like this is unacceptable, but that’s on Nintendo. The Pro Controller is great otherwise.

The graphics are very vibrant and clean (maybe too clean) though I may prefer the old sprites. The music is catchy. “Dance Through the Danger” is cheesy yet oddly endearing. The controls are a mixed bag. The harpy transformation intentionally lacks traction and requires repeated button presses to stay airborne. The lack of a map is a bit annoying in some parts. Overall, the levels are fairly straightforward so the game mostly doesn’t need it.

The gameplay sticks fairly close to “Shantae: Risky’s Revenge” and presumably the original. There are two areas in which Shantae is sliding down a ramp and must jump over pits and rolling debris. Those areas are meant to add a little variety, but they’re generally terrible. They lack the charm and inventiveness of say, Retro Studios’ “Donkey Kong Country” games. Also, it should be noted there’s magic that gives Shantae invincibility and an item that gives her unlimited magic. Granted, they’re attained pretty late. They still make the final boss a joke. They can be turned off or not used for anyone looking for more challenge. I went through the trouble of finding those things so I used them.

The presentation definitely suffered from Wayforward not meeting the last few stretch goals. An animated opening and ending would have been nice. Voice acting would have been greatly appreciated because there’s a lot of text, and the story isn’t that great. However, Cristina Vee is a good voice actress so I would have welcomed her voicing Shantae (and Risky Boots) throughout the entire game instead of a few lines here and there. I won’t dock points from “Shantae: Half-Genie Hero” for this. The game was crowdfunded. Wayforward didn’t have the money. It did what it had to in order to even make the game.

Ultimately, I had my fun with the game though I had trouble getting past it not being as good or varied as its predecessor, “Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse.” I briefly attempted a couple of the DLC modes, but I’m probably not going to play through most of them. For example, Beach Mode has Shantae in a bikini and when she’s outside, there’s a countdown to getting sunburnt which leads to automatic damage so she has to constantly grab sunscreen which is strategically placed throughout the stage. No thanks. I googled the “win screens” and anime boobs aren’t worth the trouble. I may revisit the game for “Pirate Queen’s Quest” to play as Risky Boots because I believe she actually plays differently.

I’ll probably start “Octopath Traveller” next. I don’t know how long it will take to finish. I have about six weeks before “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” so I’ll try to finish as much as I can.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 31, 2018, 10:07:23 PM
Severed (3DS)

So I posted in the "what are you playing" thread about this game, mentioning that it was a disappointment initially. I've still got mixed feelings, but liked things well enough by the end of the game to at least understand why some people were really impressed.

What did I enjoy about the game? First off, the art style is fantastic and although I think they took a bit too light of a touch on the story aspects, once everything is done it's got a pretty solid sense of narrative (the game just takes a long time to build into it). Combat is generally good, and I like the push to earn body parts from your enemies that can later be used to upgrade your abilities.

What was I less keen on?
* Level design is pretty ho-hum. There are a few clever moments, and once you get far enough into the game the world is interconnected enough that you don't have to waste too much time back-tracking... but "puzzles" are very light and the vast majority of your progress will be entirely linear and obvious.
* The way that battles scale up by giving enemies an increasing number of buffs (instead of finding more strategic ways to challenge the player) felt disappointing. I did like seeing some enemies be made immune to magic though, as otherwise you might fall into a rut with combat technique.
* the upgrade system was maybe a bit too generous - I had everything fully powered up well before the end of the game, and was sitting on a mass of excess parts. Maybe this is because I'm a bit of a completionist, so ended up getting pretty much everything in the game on my first playthrough and focused on earning extra body parts whenever possible starting early in the game? It would have been nice to have some tougher decisions to make though.

So my final opinion?  I do recommend the game, but people should be aware of what they are getting into. Severed is a mostly linear, touch-based 3D dungeon crawler with a very interesting theme and art style. You might need to stick through the first half of the game to see enough to really appreciate what's being done - but luckily the game is short enough that doing so isn't much of a burden.

What it reminded me of: a mix of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Wii) and Killer7 (GameCube).  Severed is quite a bit shorter than either of those games, and more polished than Killer 7. However, I would recommend either or both of these titles to anyone who really enjoyed Severed.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 04, 2018, 10:39:50 AM
Silent Hill 4: The Room (PS2):
(http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/546/546135/silent-hill-4-the-room-20040909115253737.jpg)
What a hilarious turdburger.

Devs bent over backwards to implemenet ALL features players hate:

This game is a bad joke on people who play it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 04, 2018, 04:24:13 PM
Took me ages to wrap this one up, but beat Pandora's Tower (Wii, 2011) this week.

(http://www.gamepodunk.com/uploads/gallery/album_106/gallery_456_106_73145.jpg)

You play as the chain-wielding Aeron, distinctly lacking in personality for most of the game, and you're travelling with Elena, a cursed girl. This curse means she will transform into a gross, dripping purple monster if left untreated. Thus, you team up with the vaguely helpful and also rather creepy Mavda who promises a possible cure. All we need to do is feed Elena, a vegetarian by religion, chunks of slimey monster meat at regular interviews. Consume the hearts of 12 special 'Masters' (bosses) and she'll be cured for good...? Maybe?

Where to get this monster flesh? In any of the 12 Towers (dungeons) nearby of course! Just rip it right from an enemy using your chain, and ultimately murder the Tower Master to yank their heart out. It's rightfully gross, rather disturbing, and not out of place in a horror tale. Adding to the misery: it's pretty obvious that at least the first 5 or so Masters don't even have a fight to pick with you, and most of them are tragic, once-human victims of war and abuse. You're clearly the aggressor in this scenario, legitimising all means in pursuit of an uncertain goal.

When not killing monsters and getting lost in spiralling dungeons, you're trying to keep the spirits of your understandably frightened companion up. Mostly this is done by chatting to her, getting her involved in uncovering the origins of the cursed (she learns herself how to translate, way to go!), and buying or crafting her gifts. While the methods are a bit crude ("just give women gifts and listen to them, in order to level-up your affinity with her!"), I do think the relationship angle is the game's biggest strength.

If you return too late from a Tower and catch Elena mid-transformation, you may find her profusely apologising for making a mess and breaking stuff you bought her, and even attempting to cover up slime spots despite dripping more goo everywhere.
I couldn't help but feel empathetic; if you care about people, especially frail and sick ones, this aspect may really resonate with you.
It's always been a bit skeevy in games like Harvest Moon on GameCube, where you give women the flowers growing in their own yards in order to marry them. By not solely making the relationship a romantic one, but also allowing for a more nursing/caring one, I think Pandora's Tower does manage to somewhat escape the inherent weirdness of dating mechanics in games (i.e.: presumed male player with interest in demure women who react predictable and rather robotically to very surface level conceptions of affection - essentially just bribing for love with goods).

That said...
It took me months to play through this game, because there's just a whole bunch of little flaws.

-The difficulty curve seems almost inverted. Towers 2-6 gave me some real trouble. I died fairly regularly, was constantly running low on supplies, underleveled, out of cash, barely making it back in time to Elena, etc. Then after a few smarter upgrades (skipped straight to the best armour, pooled only resources into upgrading a single weapon) everything suddenly became a lot smoother. But those can't happen early on, meaning the back half of the game feels easier than the beginning. Don't think that was intentional.

-Controls and movement aren't as good as you'd like. The Wii  pointer for the chain works really well, but swinging from anything is just totally unpredictable garbage. You frequently fall off ledges you shouldn't be, but also can't make the jump work reliably. Dodging has a very stiff animation that doesn't smoothly transition into regular movement. Using a weapon, you don't have many combos apart from a charged one, which I found mostly unhelpful a lot of the time.

-Music. This one's a mixed bag, it's decently atmospheric and they reliably repurpose classical pieces to build tension. The Towers are largely ambient noises with occassional musical swells. (The dies irae-esque chanting is a bit prepostorous during the ending perhaps.) When music is prevalent however, in the Observatory where you chill between dungeons, it just gets a bit grating. This has to do with...

-The length of the game. While all the boss fights are cool/interesting, I would REALLY have preferred this game to come in under the 15 hour mark. Just squeeze 2 bosses into a single dungeon, maybe add a floor to every one of them, and cut 5 dungeons out. It's so annoying how 5 entire dungeons are just remixed/harder versions riffing on the same elemental themes you encountered earlier. As it stands, I took 28 hours to reach Ending A. That's just way too long, especially since the game's mechanic mostly plateau out rather early.
I know this comparison is unfair, but The Last Story was 27 hours for me and had me engrossed all the way. Here meanwhile, the prospect of dedicating an hour or two to a dungeon was just not very appealing.

-Speaking of Endings... None of them really quite nail it, do they? The happiest ending is so absurdly, comically happy it completely falls out of tone with the otherwise grim, moody atmosphere. There's a real whiplash ending too which seem to come out of NOWHERE, and then the 2 most appropriate ones both end in the deaths of at least Elena, and Aeron in one too. Feels like something in between Ending A and the S-rank end would have been more appropriate and narratively satisfying?

Conclusion: Pandora's Tower is a really intersting and uneven game. In some regards it feels very close to a moody Zelda, or maybe what 3D Castlevania could have become, and I imagine it might have parallels to Shadow of the Colossus too. In other aspects it feels very different from any other videogame.

It succeeds in building atmosphere, invokes body horror and can genuinely unnerve at times there's a moment where I thought Elena would eat the main character that caught me off guard. Most convincingly, the game got me to care about protecting Elena, playing perhaps overly cautious and returning often to keep the timer at bay.
However, many of those positives come at the price of a way too long game with a rather repetitive gameplay loop. If the sprinklings of mystery pass you by, there's very little to keep you going here. I won't fault the game's ambition, but I don't think it delivered entirely either.

Three stars, comes recommended as a very interesting curiosity, but keep your expectations in check.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on November 19, 2018, 07:12:46 PM
I brute forced my way into completing Bioshock Infinite (PC) today.  To be brief - The gameplay is much improved and I felt I made much more consistent progress throughout than I did in the original.   That said, I wouldn't necessarily even say I was having a lot of fun, more like it was less a slog than what the original was.  The story was interesting enough for me to want to unfold all that was happening, but  didn't throw me for a loop like the original did.

In essence, compared to the original:

- Story: 7/10
- Gameplay: 7/10
- Pacing: 10/10
- Barbershop Quartets: 10/10
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on November 20, 2018, 04:21:26 AM
Would you please kindly... Yeah the whole thing fell apart after that. It's weird that it took 3 games for them to finally put powers as right click.

Seriously, switch out your gun to use them was such a pain I didn't use them as much as I would have and missed so many opportunities. It didn't help the powers were pretty ineffective at killing without environmental(Even then) without mag dumping. Infinite fixed both of these problems so the combat was a lot more fun. It's those little details.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on November 21, 2018, 01:02:25 AM
Would you please kindly... Yeah the whole thing fell apart after that. It's weird that it took 3 games for them to finally put powers as right click.

Seriously, switch out your gun to use them was such a pain I didn't use them as much as I would have and missed so many opportunities. It didn't help the powers were pretty ineffective at killing without environmental(Even then) without mag dumping. Infinite fixed both of these problems so the combat was a lot more fun. It's those little details.

Or you could just play Bioshock 2, the best game in the series and the one that allowed you to dual wield from the outset. :P

Seriously, one of the nicer things to come from Infinite is the game's general disappointment leading to people going back & giving Bioshock 2 a critical re-evaluation.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on November 25, 2018, 03:13:48 PM
Took me ages to wrap this one up, but beat Pandora's Tower (Wii, 2011) this week.
Did you ever run into the infamous freeze glitch? You didn't mention it in your impressions. That glitch is one of the reasons I still haven't played the game, as I haven't wanted to bother with that kind of thing.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on November 25, 2018, 05:25:15 PM
Did you ever run into the infamous freeze glitch? You didn't mention it in your impressions. That glitch is one of the reasons I still haven't played the game, as I haven't wanted to bother with that kind of thing.

No, the glitch only appears to occur upon re-entry of the final tower(s) in the NA version, according to pages like this (http://pandorastower.wikia.com/wiki/The_11th_and_12th_Tower_Glitch_(NA_Version)).

This means you have one very useful option:
Clear the final two towers in a single run! It's totally doable if you rush and aren't opposed to using guides. I would highly recommend using this  detailed, annotated video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT1weiIHkAY) and following it to the second. Yeah that's tedious and may feel like cheating/spoiling the game for yourself, but here's my reasoning:

1. This way you can completely avoid the glitch altogether, assuming it indeed only occurs upon re-entry.
2. There's one or two totally unfair "use this new, randomly spawning item you've only just started using on one specific, unmarked spot to open up invisible portals you cannot progress without" moments in these last towers. You could hypothetically figure these out by sheer happenstance, or perhaps they're hinted at in one of the texts and I missed it... But frankly, it's disrespecting your time late into an already bloated game.

If you still wanna play with an NTSC copy AND do the final tower(s) at your own leisure without a guide, there's a lot of workarounds posted to the Internet. Some claim to reduce crash rates to about 5% (http://pandorastower.wikia.com/wiki/The_11th_and_12th_Tower_Glitch_(NA_Version)). Keep several save files handy for sure. Not sure if any of these work, I did none of them.

Basically, the problem seems to stem from a loading error (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/620591-pandoras-tower/66376172?page=1). People seem to recommend variations on the following: you go to Sheerdrop Spire first, return to the Observatory, stand in the spot where you can access the Towers from, do nothing for at least a full minute until 'the cape stops moving in the breeze' (yes, really). Then open up the Tower select menu and leave that open for several minutes too, before going in.
Some people also say to only enter through the Dusk Tower, and only reach the other through portals.

There's a few more additional/optional steps, such as deliberately 'saving up' cutscenes (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/620591-pandoras-tower/71847968) between Elena and Aeron and emptying those out of the memory (?????) right before going in, as well as purposefully bringing some monster meat into the tower (aka letting it spoil). I've also seen people recommend you DON'T bring meat though, so YMMV.
Both of these require more preparation though, and to be honest I think saving up the cutscenes really requires you to constantly be mindful of the glitch and would heavily impede a normal playthrough - doesn't seem worth it.

It's a real bummer, especially since there's a lot of cool lore to be discovered in/after these tower(s) and the story will definitely feel incomplete if you just stop before finishing it. Therefore, in my view, using the single run video and following it to a tee is 100% justified given the amount of trouble it appears to save you.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on November 25, 2018, 05:44:08 PM
Wow, I wasn't expecting that kind of detailed response. Bravo. After I posted I then noticed that you dated the game as 2011 rather than 2013, so that made me think you probably played the PAL version.

Unfortunately I already bought the US version long ago, might not had heard about the glitch before I did, so I don't want to spend money buying another version, nor do I want to pirate.

I think there were still a couple people reporting the glitch happening on first entry, but even if so it appears that it's far more likely on re-entry at the least. Since I like to take my time and explore things and complete side stuff, then yeah, using a guide and beelining to necessary completion doesn't sound like a fun idea either. It's why it turned me off playing the game even if it doesn't sound like a big deal to others. It's too bad people couldn't develop a homebrew "patch" to fix this glitch.

I mean I guess I wouldn't be following a guide the whole game, so maybe it'd still be worth playing, but knowing it's going to end on a sour note one way or another makes it a bummer.

Anyways, thanks for the advice.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on November 27, 2018, 10:44:31 PM
Yeah, I've commented about this before, but I hit the glitch and could never solve it after hours of trying every posted work-around at the time. It was a huge bummer, as I actually liked the game quite a bit despite its issues and really wanted to beat it. This is what 3D Castlevania should have been like!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 01, 2018, 03:43:17 PM
Mega Man 11 (PC):

Just beat this one an hour ago, clocking in a whopping 3.5 hours. I'm frankly pretty surprised this game got such a glowing reception. It's a significant step down from Mega Man 9 in the design and "gamefeel" departments. There's two or three levels that have a cool motif that shapes the gameplay (Torch Man, Blast Man) but for the most part things are pretty dull/overextended. The boss bots are mostly rehashes of previous boss bots. Mega Man feels sluggish, and the 3D approach keeps things from feeling as snappy and precise as they should. The game is also trivially easy until the first Wily stage; I didn't even figure out half of the boss weaknesses until the final rush because I beat them on my first shot with the buster. The gear system feels like an afterthought and I went long stretches where I forgot about it. There are no secrets to find in the levels (fine for a 9-style game, but this one really needed more meat on its bones). There's only two real Wily levels, and Wily himself is a joke, beat him on my first try.   

There are a few decent ideas kicking around. Having multiple forms to the boss bots is a good concept, but deployed haphazardly. Being able to knock shielded enemies out of their defense with a charged shot is a good addition, relieves a standard annoyance of these games. While the 3D models/backgrounds are hit or miss, the energy effects look good.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on January 22, 2019, 09:13:29 AM
I'm just 3 or 4 trophies shy of wrapping up Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4), which for me has been the video game equivalent of a Chinese buffet - going back for plate after plate that isn't quite filling until it accumulates and hits me at once that I had too much, then doing the same thing next time I go.

In a lot of ways, the PS4 title feels like the logical evolution of Spider-Man 2.  Combat is brisk but erratic, requiring a healthy use of dodge-then-counter tactics.  There are move and ability upgrades that can diversify your tactics some, but I found sticking to the same few moves took care of most enemies.  The story is good enough to keep you invested, even if you have a good idea of where the story is going to lead, along with a few surprising moments. 

The star of Spider-Man is exploring the city.  I was skeptical reading reviews gushing praise about the web-swinging, since I've read similar praises about other recent Spider-Man titles and found them absolutely lacking the kind of momentum, logic (swinging off of air instead of connecting to buildings), weight you want to feel in movement, and fluidity as you string together swinging from a web, running along a wall, jumping off, running UP the side of a building, leading to a fight where you ground pound an enemy on your opening move.  This game nails the fun of simple movement, a critical component (to me) for an open-world Spider-Man.

And it's this fun in movement that makes side missions and non story critical tasks tolerable, because if it weren't for that, it'd be a chore.  The majority of non-story missions involve either taking a photo of a building, collecting something, time trials, or fighting waves of enemies.  On top of this, each district has a good 15-20 different crime events to stop, which are usually beating down different factions of enemies, with an occasional mission to find a hostage, chase down a runaway vehicle, or rescue civilians trapped in vehicles.  Maybe if I hadn't mainlined so much of the story up-front then doing all the side missions wouldn't feel like a game of "clean up the map".  I would have preferred less side missions that were more developed or diverse, but given the length of the story, I suspect this was a form of padding the length of time to get 100%. 

But the fact I'm still chipping towards 100% completion is a testament to its strengths.  And holy moly, all the collectable costumes.  Hard not to recommend to anyone whose enjoyed open-world superhero games or a fan of Spider-Man.

8/10.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on January 23, 2019, 05:27:24 AM
Celeste (Xbox One):
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dw1mb65XQAEaPxJ.jpg) (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1084635731895746561)

Got the game from Games with Gold on Xbox One and since my 1$ subscription was gonna run out at 16th of January i kinda put aside Assassin's Creed Origins for a while to finish Celeste to at least reasonable degree before my Gold subscription runs out.

A great game. Really, really good level design. It's a shame the game is more known for other aspects instead of great game and level design it has. The way how game teaches your movement options and at the very same screens hints at the tricks you can do to abuse them to reach optional strawberries is very smart.

Hoping the game soon goes on sale so i could buy for reals and finish the fight. Some strawberries still left here and there and some extra levels.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 30, 2019, 08:25:15 PM
Finally finished Freedom Planet, and I loved it!

Nice job!  Are you going to do any of the post-game content? We put the game away once finished, but it was enjoyable enough that I wouldn't object to going back for a second round and to explore some of the other characters, etc.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 08, 2019, 11:01:32 AM
Ys Seven (PSP)

I've been slowly pushing through this game for the past couple of months, and finally wrapped up the main story. It was enjoyable and worth the time invested.

The Ys series of games haven't always appealed to me, since action-RPG games seem like a weak mix that don't excel at either story-telling or tense gameplay... however, I've learned to appreciate the more casual nature of these games. Combat is a bit button-mashy, although knowing when to make smart use of special attacks and dodging goes a long way to ensuring your survival. Story is mostly typical JRPG fare, including a introducing bunch of familiar tropes for playable characters, but does the job well enough. On both points, you can continually make progress without having to invest too deeply - which has been perfect for me.

I was mildly disappointed to find that there was no post-game content similar to what Ys: Memories of Celceta provided - it would have been fun to race through Ys Seven again with overpowered weapons/characters to complete the quests that I missed. (On the other hand, having already played for something like 25 hours was probably more than enough. The fact I wasn't sick of the game by then is a good sign.)

Although there are "better" games available in the series, Ys Seven still gets a strong recommendation from me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 10, 2019, 12:38:39 PM
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Wii)

Attractive art and great use of the license.Overall the beat'em up action is well done and the fact you have a new playable character available for each of the 4 "episodes" helps to keep the game fresh and interesting. More creative level design and/or more secrets to discover would have improved the game, but it's not bad as is... and the post-game Bat-mite Challenge is a nice bonus.

My one complaint is difficulty - I know they targeted kids with this game, but it's a shame they didn't add some more challenge levels or settings. Beat'em up games like this are great fun, especially with a friend on the couch, but there is essentially no possibility of failure here so you are literally just putting time in unless you set some kind of artificial limitation to challenge yourself.

Enjoyed playing it, but hard to recommend unless you are gaming with kids.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on February 16, 2019, 06:13:36 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/CtCEkA8.gif)

Alan Wake

With the arrival of Steam Play, I installed this game on my Linux drive and gave it a spin. I played it way back in... 2010? for the first few levels on my cousin's Xbox 360.

Alan Wake is a horror novel writer who visits a small Pacific Northwest town with his wife but then she goes missing. Things start getting weird and it's video game time!

Alan Wake is a game where you run around the woods after dark, shining a flash light at people and shooting them. That is most of it. Occasionally you run across a mild puzzle or fight a "boss battle." There are flocks of birds and flying objects as well. The twist to make it stand out is you have to give enemies a certain amount of light before you can shoot them.

The controls and game mechanics aren't that great. you're run button is the same as your dodge button so every time you sprint you do flail around for a split second. Sometimes the environment gets especially evil and things get blurry and shadows bleed into the image, so you don't know what you're looking at. I wish you could zoom the third person camera out further.

The world design funnels you through an open level and the action mostly happens on the designated path. There is a lot of empty space, but sometimes they try to fill it with items like ammo and grenades to give you a reward for exploring, but it's still mostly empty. There are a number of collectibles that have no bearing on the game and aren't even mentioned in world. Collect your multiple thermos and shoot you stacks of beer cans to unlock achievements! yay! One thing worth collecting are pages of your manuscript which you can read with voiceover from the earnest protagonist. The writing is a bit cheesy , but it helps fill out the storyline.

What I did like was the overall game story. One part Stephen King, one part Twin Peaks, combine into a tub of cheap knock-off juice. The vibe and premise are intriguing and you end up fighting your way through the samey-combat to do the next cutscene or voice over.

The game is good looking. Remedy has a talent for combining a realistic art style and setting with a lot of mood and style. There is a ton of grass blowing in the wind and bushes that don't look like paper cutouts. Be warned though the character models do a really bad job of lip syncing the dialog in the cut scenes.

The sound effects and music are also well done, I enjoyed the songs at the end of each chapter.

I think the game would have been improved by reducing the combat by about 75%. The sections where you are problem solving during the day were my favorite parts. Maybe instead of killing 200 people in the woods you could kill 50, but it would have meaning!

I was a big fan of Max Payne, and this was okay but not quite there. Remedy's newer release Quantum Break isn't very appealing to me but I may give it a try someday.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 16, 2019, 08:30:00 PM
I probably wouldn't have the patience to play through Alan Wake today, but I did have a go at American Nightmare a while back and thought it was pretty good. Tightens up the gameplay from the original, and has a novel structure. The way the narrative is weaved into the game is also enjoyable, and almost certainly a better use of live action actors than Quantum Break.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on February 17, 2019, 05:47:35 AM
Alan Wake is one of my favorite games of the last generation. I didn't think the combat got out of hand until the DLC, which is VERY combat-focused.

Pity the game sold so poorly that Remedy will never make a sequel to it, despite them constantly teasing that they will in their subsequent games (Alan Wake's American Nightmare & Quantum Break).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on February 17, 2019, 04:22:14 PM
Finished LocoRoco (PSP). Not really keen enough on the game to keep playing through levels to get better scores and/or more stuff. It was generally pleasant, although sometimes frustrating (for all the wrong reasons). As discussed in the "What are you playing?" thread this game ended up being kind of disappointing - considering how many "best of PSP" lists it sits on, and the critical acclaim it garnered from reviewers, it couldn't live up to the hype.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: kaijugamer on February 18, 2019, 01:36:37 AM
I just finished the single-player campaign of Splatoon 2. I didn't know much about it at first because I went directly to play Online Multiplayer. It was fun but kinda short, good thing Octopath expansion is available.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on February 21, 2019, 07:09:43 PM
I finished Starlink the other day. This is overall a really good entry in the Star Fox series. The ground combat feels really good (and that's not something I ever expected to say about a star fox game) and the RTS elements feel like a more logical evolution of Star Fox 2's real time elements than something like Star Fox Command. The new controls for All Range Mode take some getting used to but once you get used to them it'll be hard to go back to the all range controls in older Star Fox games. It's hard to describe but it just feels like you're more in control. The lack of classic on rails action is disappointing though.

The decision to move focus away from the Star Fox team is a bit strange honestly, and some of these new characters don't feel as strong as the main Star Fox team. That said, I really like Eli's old cowboy schtick, Shaid is pretty cool, and Chase compliments her ridiculously OP pilot ability (which is matched only by Fox himself) with a really solid backstory and the perfect amount of youthful optimism. While the other new characters they added are kind of forgettable those three in particular feel like much better additions to the Star Fox team than Krystal and I hope to see them included in future entries.

Overall it's a good game and you should play it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on March 17, 2019, 02:56:37 PM
Resident Evil 2 Revelations

(https://i.imgur.com/u5iZvHU.gif)

After sampling Resident Evil 2 Remake at my cousin's place, I decided to go back and finish RE:R2 (is that the right acronym?)

Claire on a Prison Island! Wait...

This first level of the game makes a bad first impression right from the start, at least it did for me. The setting is generic horror and enemies are even more generic. A rusted out prison and you are facing rusted out "zombies" wrapped in barbwire and carrying spike clubs. Your weapons and items are very limited and it emphasizes survival rather than action.

This game was really designed for two player, and it sucks. One player has weapons, the other does not. In one player you occasionally have to switch back and forth and it's feels clunky. Let's make the game harder with bad gameplay!

The style of gameplay flips in the next chapter and you're playing Barry Burton who is armed to the teeth in comparison.  I like this much better, it feels more like Resident Evil 4 where Leon was equipped to handle whatever the game threw at him! To balance it out your unarmed partner is even worse!

You continue building your arsenal and abilities as the game goes on and it gets easier and easier. What a strange way to design a game!

- This game is BROWN, it's HD console in 2007 brown. It gives Gears or War 1 a run for its money. It gives Resistance Fall of Man a run for its money!

- Claire has a lot of botox and can't move her face.

- After the prison you get a lot of other fun generic horror settings: Creepy Mine, Factory of Death, Run down village, and eventually secret villain lair!

Despite the bad first impression, the game rolls along gets serviceable. Its fun managing your inventory and upgrading your weapons. The cutscenes are cheesy delicious. It doesn't reach the level of the first Revelations game, but I could see where some would prefer it.

The not-so-secret reason this game really exists is for more Raid mode. That seems to be what people online were into. I played a couple rounds and it's alright. It's RE Raid mode!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: decoyman on March 17, 2019, 04:03:32 PM
Resident Evil 2 Revelations
…Let's make the game harder with bad gameplay!…

Resident Evil 2 Revelations
…- This game is BROWN, it's HD console in 2007 brown. It gives Gears or War 1 a run for its money. It gives Resistance Fall of Man a run for its money!

Hallmarks of the series, both! :D

I recently played Dust: An Elysian Tale, and had a good time with it. It's a modern, side-scrolling, metroidvania adventure/buddy-copswordsman game with great graphics/effects, decent voice-acting, and fun (if a bit button-mashy) gameplay all under a Disney-esque exterior.

My only complaint with it is that it ends rather suddenly. They spend the whole game building up this villain who seems like he might be sort of sympathetic, but suddenly the game's over and much of the build-up just disappears without any resolution. He's just evil, it turns out, don't worry about it! And then I read a developer diary and realized that yeah, there was supposed to be another chapter after that one, but it got cut when they were trying to meet this Xbox Live Summer deadline. So… that explains that.

Still, it's a good play and I'd recommend it. It's all the more amazing because it was designed almost solely by this formally trained animator who'd never designed a game before and taught himself pretty much everything he needed to create it (i.e., LOTS OF PROGRAMMING).
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on March 17, 2019, 07:25:53 PM
I actually liked how the broke up the roles of RE:R2. Worked out great for my wife and I as she liked the more non-violent role. I'm much better with weapons so we made a pretty good team (when she didn't run off screaming and get into worse danger than I could handle)  ;D.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on March 18, 2019, 12:53:24 AM
Maybe I just need a good coop partner. It's irritating for Capcom to say "Liked Resident Evil 4? Well, number 5 REALLY needs coop, Bro. Want to play it single player? too bad."
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on March 18, 2019, 07:26:57 PM
Having a good (or at least equally skilled) partner makes or breaks co-op games. though that is part of what makes the potential dynamics so entertaining for me.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on March 18, 2019, 07:46:32 PM
I've lost some good coop partners along the way. One stopped playing video games. One went full World of Warcraft. Another quits as soon as he dies once...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: oohhboy on March 19, 2019, 02:11:01 PM
RE5 was broken by forcing a partner on you. She was such a liability even on normal. You would think Capcom would learn from that.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on March 19, 2019, 05:46:12 PM
I've played Revelations 2 every which way you can imagine single-player: on Normal, on Hard, under the 3 minute time limit of THAT mode, Invisible Zombies mode, etc. To me, it's far superior to the 1st Revelations, and it's one of my favorite games in the series. My only real gripe with it is that the game's low budget really shows in the lack of gloss & polish over the character models & environment.

I didn't mind the forced co-op play in Rev 2 since the 2nd player has a specific purpose that's actually really useful to Player 1. Compared to using that stupid scanner in Rev 1, I'll gladly take switching to player 2 for 5 seconds to point/shine light at a spot/enemy, and then swap back. At least the 2nd player isn't constantly wasting your ammo shooting YOU in the back, like some other RE co-op characters I could name.  The co-op character in the 1st Revelations was just for set dressing, since they couldn't kill enemies and enemies ignored them so they were pretty much pointless.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 19, 2019, 07:31:58 PM
Finally polished off Crimson Gem Saga (PSP) and not quite sure how I feel about it.

Overall, I enjoyed my time playing. It was quite old-school most of the way through, and a little bit grindy... but the battle system was enjoyable enough and encouraged you to use items/skills often as your characters would regularly level up and/or find potions to keep the big spells fresh. Voice acting deserves a shout out for being much better than I expected.

However, the story had some pacing and structural issues - even by RPG standards - before ending on a cliff-hanger that wasn't particularly satisfying. If not for the nice sprite work and art, some parts might pass for an advanced (but still amateur) effort from RPG Maker.

Still, not every game is going to end up being a classic within its genre. While Crimson Gem Saga doesn't hold up to some of my favorite RPGs, it kept me playing happily from start to finish... and if a sequel ever did come out that built onto the story further I'd be willing to give that a go too.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on March 27, 2019, 02:50:43 PM
In a futile effort to play games before they go offline, I finished Guitar Hero Live (2015, Wii U) today.

(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZUSSl5rZPA9vhaXfDMMC27oR6Cg=/158x0:1778x1080/1280x854/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46114374/7239_0229_GHLive_Stage1.0.0.jpg)

I'm pretty sure this one absolutely bombed at retail, because I got it last year for like 5$. It's a bit of a deviation from the last Guitar Hero I played (the third one, Legends of Rock). You no longer play as cartoony characters; the developer instead has staged quite a few different shows with real crowds, so you play from a first-person perspective in this FMV-type game, with real crowds and actors playing bandmates.
Presentation has also really been cleaned up, it's a lot sleeker in menus and even the note ribbon's look is less colourful/garish. The game has 2 modes now, a campaign of around ~45 songs, and a (now defunct) MTV-esque mode which would play a good 400 music videos over streaming that you could drop into at any time.

The Live mode, which was discontinued late last year, was pretty fun. Ideal for casual play, really, but the music selection was pretty lacking in certain genres. Finding hip-hop is pretty rare for example, but also the punk and metal selections have suffered from an influx of more modern pop-rock stuff. The electronic music is all EDM/dubstep stuff too, Modestep, Skrillex, and the like. You'd think Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers would be the obvious choices there, but apparantly not.
Since you play along to music videos this mode had a bit less personality than the campaign, too, but it's a neat idea - bummer that it ended.

The campaign meanwhile is themed around 2 music festivals, where you play as fictional (cover?)bands. It's pretty well done, settings vary from basements and secret VIP shows, to folksy gardens full of bearded hipsters, rock venues, stages with lots of LEDs for rave music, and even a massive mainstage. It's pretty incredible the amount of work that must've went into these video productions; even the flight cases are labeled.
That said, there's a certain inherent FMV-goofiness about the whole thing. Particularly the signs in the crowd are way too generic ("rock stars!", "so excited!"), and there's a bit too many fashionable people backstage instead of grumpy audio techs and production assistants.
Overall though, this style of presentation really works quite well. It's especially effective when you're doing poorly and bandmates scowl at you or demand you get back in the groove, because it feels like you're letting real people down. Crowds throwing toilet paper is maybe a bit excessive for a missed solo, but maybe that's common in Colorado.

I did have some trouble adjusting to the new guitar controller, since they moved from 5 rows of notes to 3, but  there's 6 buttons now since notes can come down in either black or white varieties. It does feel a bit more like playing actual guitar now, because sometimes you need to combine notes from different colours to form chords. But it also leads to a bit more of a learning curve. There's also some calibration difficulties which have to do with input lag - but the game has lots of options to counteract this.
The difficulties don't feel 100% ideal though; the first 2 settings are real pushovers only using half the buttons, but on Normal they're already demanding quite complex combinations. Something in between would've been nice to start out on, to learn the new controller layout.

Songs are no longer played individually now, since you're performing short 3-5 song sets now. It's nice how things are themed around genres now, but that does lead to some wonky pacing. Quite complex stuff like Skrillex (where you have no idea what instrument you're meant to be playing) and Halestorm come quite early in the campaign, whereas in the back half you get a real snoozefest hipster garden event which basically relegates you to rhythm guitar. I also kinda miss a really tough song to end on, perhaps during credits; Queen isn't exactly DragonForce in that regard.

Should you play Guitar Hero Live? With the Live mode gone, you're left with a ~3 hour campaign, and the songs rather vary in quality. Less classics, a bit more pop, electronic and folksy stuff. I like that they moved away from having exclusively metal/punk/rock stuf to vary things, but that also means there's less of every genre. The new controller works pretty well in offering a different challenge than previous outings, but I think this mostly appeals to people who like replaying songs for high scores and leaderboards (those still work) a lot. 4/5 Stars, bummer this direction didn't pan out for the franchise.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 09, 2019, 12:52:52 AM
So I polished off the final scenario in Catan (DS).

The AI isn't very sharp, but no worse than some people I've played against (oh, how the truth stings). The scenarios included are solid though, and cover everything from basic Catan gameplay up through various Seafarers challenges. Not having download play available as an option does hold the game back though.

Deciding how to rate a game like this is odd... playing the actual board game is better if that's an option for you, but this cartridge does a fine job of simulating the experience while traveling or when friends aren't around. So I'm pretty happy overall about the purchase.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on April 12, 2019, 05:50:56 PM
So...Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I beat it...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D36zKmKXsAAFcpU.jpg)

...utterly. I've killed every boss & mini-boss at least once, and most of them twice in New Game +. I found every item, and I maxed-out every skill. And despite not being the most skilled player when it comes to Action Games, I did it all without the oh-so-"demanded" "Easy Mode."

Yeah, I have mixed feelings on Sekiro. It has a very specific play style that you will either learn and master, or you just won't move on. In a sense, it's kind of a rhythm game more than it is an action game, as success entirely comes from whether you can memorize patterns & then tap out the correct button sequence to block attacks, dodge, & counter.  Honestly, I prefer a game like Nioh or Bloodbourne that gives you a hefty challenge, but also gives you options for how you can get through challenges. It just gives greater variety to the various situations.

Still an excellent game, but I'm glad to be done with it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 15, 2019, 12:38:27 PM
Keltis (DS)

Keltis is one of a handful of card/board game conversions that I recently acquired.

The original game was designed by Reiner Knizia as a remake of sorts for Lost Cities, although Keltis supports more than 2 players and throws in some unique twists around scoring and end-game conditions. It's not terribly strategic - sometimes feeling vaguely like Solitaire - but your decisions matter and a little bit of planning will go a long ways towards your success.

Rather than go into detail about how to play the game here, I'll just drop this link and you can go see videos or rules explanations of how the base game works: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34585/keltis

For this video game conversion, there are some neat additions. Notably, you get a solitaire mode that presents target scores for your to reach during each stage. Special rules are introduced that alter the cards and power-ups available to you from stage-to-stage, and the difficulty slowly ramps up until you reach the end and find out how your overall score compares to others. This isn't an earth shattering addition, but since you won't always have an opponent available it does help give the DS version some extra value.

There are some notable drawbacks, however. First is that you can only play multiplayer using a single DS - there is no other multiplayer option that I can find. Passing the DS back and forth isn't terrible and the game does allow for this without revealing your hand to your opponents (assuming nobody makes a mistake and presses the wrong button while passing) but it's still a disappointment. Second is that the available languages are limited to German - there is no other option. This language issue is unfortunate, because there really isn't any technical reason not to have some translated text available; perhaps it's a licensing thing since the board game itself also hasn't been brought out in English yet.

Do I enjoy the game? Sure. It has a pleasant feel, and is a nice little time-waster.
Do I recommend the game? Eh... if you don't speak German fluently, then it's probably worth passing on this one. Even if you do speak German, there are simply better options to look into first to get your board gaming fix on the go.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on April 20, 2019, 05:09:22 PM
Dusted Dracula in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) last week and a lot of my earlier impressions still hold true.

The game does end on a strong note though, as the design of Dracula's castle is fun and interesting. Lots of new powers to discover, lots of labyrinthine passages to work through, and a much more cohesive feel than most of the other small stages you play through earlier in the game. Bosses are appropriately challenging, but most have pretty well defined patterns that you can exploit with some patience and effort.

Overall, I liked (but didn't love) the experience. A lot of criticisms I had for Portrait of Ruin apply here too, although for me Ecclesia was more enjoyable.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 22, 2019, 10:59:46 PM
I just beat Super Meat Boy on Switch. I've owned it on a couple platforms before this but never got that far on those. I think it's a really excellent game, but my opinion of it has dimmed slightly after playing Celeste, which does this style even better. This is great, though, even if the last few levels were a real slog.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 06, 2019, 06:22:51 AM
Finished off Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) last night with decided mixed impressions.

I'll talk more about my opinion of the game in the RetroActive discussion thread (here: https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=57740) but suffice to say the game started and ended poorly, and never seemed to win me over fully when playing. Probably second to last among the portable Zelda games I've played so far, and thrid to last for Zelda games overall...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on May 06, 2019, 09:05:59 PM
I think it's a really excellent game, but my opinion of it has dimmed slightly after playing Celeste, which does this style even better.

[Team America vomit.gif]

Sekiro: Shadows Always Ring Twice (PC)

Welp, got sent home from work early today due to a server crash, and thought I'd take an opening crack at the final boss with the spare hour. And lo and behold I beat the mofo in about 45 minutes. The first phase of the true dude is really intimidating, but I was able to figure out how to deal with the perilous attacks and other patterns in about a half hour, and then it took me about ten minutes to get his much easier second phase down (mikiris!) and then I beat the third phase the first time I got to it, although largely because I managed to do a lightning reflect for the first time (outside of Dunce Dragon boss). Only spirit emblems I used were on the umbrella to block the wind attacks and do the follow up slash. And that's it! I beat all other available bosses. Now I feel kind of empty and nonplussed, especially after expecting a potentially non-viable climb over the last battle.

Time estimates for major bosses:

-Guardian Ape: 1.5 hour
-Corrupted Monk: 1 hour
-Real Monk: .5 hour
-Genchiro: 1 hour
-First Owl: 2 hours
-Second Owl: .5 hours
-Hate Demon: 1.5 hours
-Bridge Knight: 2 hours

The rest were 15-30 minutes, but mostly on the shorter side. Hard to say what the hardest boss truly was. The Bridge Knight is not actually difficult, but I hadn't really learned the combat at that point. The first owl is legit difficult, but I also stubbornly refused to play defensively for the first hour and a half, but once I did I progressed rapidly, and after I actually killed him I was like "Oh, that wasn't so bad." And the "harder" version I found pretty easy once you figure out the dodge timing on the firecrackers and that you can mikiri his zoom charge. Hate Demon was a legitimate pain in the ass, but it took me like 45 minutes to figure out that the charge attack gets neutralized by any jump, no matter how sloppy. In general, I was bad at jump counters, so I had to actually train myself to respond to a perilous signal with jumping instead of just dodge spamming or tanking the damage. Though the Guardian Ape took me on the longer side, it was again largely because I refused to play defensively, and it's annoyingly time consuming to beat the first phase cautiously. Also, his rolling grab might be the single shittiest boss attack in the game. I also hadn't used the umbrella to that point, and once I figured out you could block the scream in the second phase, that was the ball game. (And the ape spouses were a joke.)

Least favorite thing: The ghost bosses, who don't even give you beads. It was easy cleaning them up near the end, but it really irks me that you basically have to use consumable items to have it not be insanely obnoxious. There at least should have been an unlockable divine confetti type renewable power-up, even if it was weaker than the consumable version. Terror is all around a garbage mechanic, but fortunately it only comes up a handful of times. (Still nowhere near as lame as that Dark Souls status effect that can permanently cut your health bar in half!) Enfeeblement, though a real ball-buster, is also kind of funny and works for that area of the game.

Only other significant issue: The spirit emblem system is fairly lame. This really should have been a rest-renew thing like the gourds. Having to maintain a stock adds nothing to the game and only discourages you from playing around with the arm tools and combat arts. In the last quarter or so of my run, when I started actually using emblems more to speed stuff up, I was shocked at how quickly my ~700 cache depleted. If I actually had to grind to buy more before the end, I would have been displeased.

Potential issue: Most of the combat arts (and many of the prosthetics) seem kinda useless. They take so long to wind up that it really didn't seem worth trying to figure out situational uses for them instead of just doing the meat and potatoes approach to fights, especially as I got better at the fundamentals. I'm sure there are tons of Youtube videos of people "styling" on bosses using this, that, or the other thing, but I didn't think he game really encouraged that. Which is fine, I guess, but I felt like I had unlocked all the skills I had any interest in by the time I was halfway through the game.   

Overall, great game. Hard but doable, actually fun to play*, manageable level of obtuseness for progression and side quests*, looks good and runs well*. I think I might do a new game run for the hell of it (victory lap) and to tackle the other, shorter final boss path.

*Unlike Dark Souls

Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on May 10, 2019, 08:26:20 AM
Sekiro: Coda

So I just finished the "evil" fork and beat the only remaining boss. I think the award for toughest fight now goes to Emma/Old Man Isshin. Took me a solid 2.5 hours, over three sessions, because it's extremely tiring. Emma is much harder than the throw-away Genchiro phase of the other final boss fight. You can wipe her out in 30 seconds if you get lucky and hit every deflect perfectly, but she can also rip you apart in a flash. Probably two-thirds of my attempts she either killed me, or I let her kill me because I had already used up too many gourds. Isshin's first phase is pretty brutal, as his deflect counter is almost instant, and he has several perilous attacks I did not know what to do with other than dodge and flail. And depending on which attacks he selects you can have pretty limited opportunities to get hits in. His second phase is the easiest part of the fight, as the fire attacks are trivialized by the umbrella and let you take big chunks off his vitality with the follow-up attack. I did have to resort to gobbling a few disposable health items, but I was close to burning out and could feel my hands shutting down. Still, an excellent fight and a fitting culmination of two playthroughs.

Although I wasn't quite as jazzed with my second run. With the exploration gone and the boss speedbumps removed, you realize how small the game truly is. That's not a major complaint, as I rarely replay games and don't really think it should affect how they're designed, but it nonetheless took a little bit of shine off the experience. This was not helped by the fact that the bosses on New Game seem to scale damage output and defense, so it didn't feel much different than the first run other than that I was much better at the game and could one-shot most of them. Still, I wanted to really egregiously tear through the game as a bonus, and that wasn't the case (outside of mooks, which can still chomp your health). I feel like they should have let you keep collecting beads and get a screen-wide bar going. Was very unhappy to get hung-up on the Guardian Ape for 30 minutes because he's still annoying and did the same massive damage.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 10, 2019, 09:04:57 AM
Hey wow, so my son polished off Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS) the other day. Outside of asking me one question, he did everything entirely on his own, saved every slime, got all the collectibles, and basically kicked butt. He loved the humor and silliness in the game, and enjoyed the mix of gameplay it offered.

I know that's an easy game, but this is (I think) the first time he's ever gone through a game entirely by himself - although some of the LEGO Star Wars games might be close. Way to go, kid!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on May 18, 2019, 12:05:48 PM
Finished playing Big Bang Mini (DS).

This game has two main ideas: first that you flick upwards on the touchscreen to shoot projectiles towards enemy targets floating on the upper screen, and second that you interrupt your own shooting whenever necessary to drag your avatar around the bottom screen dodging bullets and debris that are coming down towards you. This combination of motion-based target practice and bullet-hell survival meshes nicely, and the colorful graphics and lively music help tie together the whole frenetic package.

That said, gameplay is kind of thin since you basically do the same thing over and over... but there is more variety than I expected for this type of arcade experience as you gain special powers over time and have many little tweaks applied as you progress through different stages.

The game didn't overstay its welcome and felt like a nice, polished package. I enjoyed playing and wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone looking for a quirky action game that can be played in short spurts.


Also finished playing Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure (Wii U VC)

This series of games will always have a soft spot of nostalgia for me, but I feel like Bonk 2 ended up being easily the best of the three. The first game is cute and still fun, but very simple and straight forward. The second game feels like it hit a sweet spot with improved level design and complexity, but keeping the simple charm of the original alive. The third game is still good, but never seemed to hit its stride the same way that 2 did... it feels a bit more like things were just thrown into the levels sometimes.

Still very happy to have played through the game, and there was some nice fan service along the way for gamers who have enjoyed playing through the previous Bonk games.

(Did New Super Mario Bros on DS steal its sprite scaling ideas from this game? There were definitely some similarities - especially when you are large and get the super meat to have an invincible rampage, or have to stay small to get the increased bouncing off walls. However, in a surprise to nobody the level design in Mario's game is better.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: kaijugamer on May 29, 2019, 03:47:23 AM
The World of Light of Super Bros. Ultimate. It felt tedious and unnecessary.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 12, 2019, 08:16:01 PM
Polished off Dragon's Curse (TG-16) thanks to good old Wii Virtual Console. It's an old game, so has some design niggles that won't appeal to everyone... but it's also a great game! Enjoyed every minute and would fully recommend this (or the recent remake) to anyone who enjoys retro games.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Franz123 on June 12, 2019, 08:44:27 PM
I played Final Fantasy VII. :)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ShyGuy on June 15, 2019, 11:45:57 AM
The Evil Within

(https://i.imgur.com/PKZab7Q.gif)

Boy, this game is a FLAWED masterpiece. Well, maybe not masterpiece, but the foundation is solid. A spiritual successor to Resident Evil 4 by the original director, it gets some things right and some things wrong.

I read somewhere online someone described the game as full of "boy, I never want to do that again" moments, and it's pretty accurate. Here are some my thoughts in no particular order

- Boy, this game is DARK, literally. Sometimes you can barely see what is going on. It doesn't matter if you crank the brightness up, sometimes there are sections and corners that are just crushed blacks. You have a lantern in the game, but the game cheats a bit. You can have your lantern out and three feet in front of the character is pitch black.

- The level variety is top notch. The game often wallows in Clive Barker style generic grimness, but it breaks it up with daylight sections, and changes in the environment. They must have spent a ton of time modelling everything in this game.

- Speaking of never wanting to do that again, way to much stupid running sections. running away from the camera, running towards the camera, jump into a cut scene so it doesn't really matter, the game is full of it.
- The gameplay is pretty varied as well. There is stealth, there is gun heavy action, there are puzzles, there is survival horror.

- Speaking of survival horror, the first two level are really desperate, you don't have much in the way of resources and it feels like the original Resident Evil games.

- It changes the gameplay style by chapter 3. At chapter 3, you have built yourself up to the point where you start feeling like walking tank Leon S. Kennedy. I preferred this action horror style.

- The game has a lot of trial and error learning sections. You are probably going to die a few times just because you don't know what you're supposed to do. It feels a bit unfair, and the game isn't easy.

- The story is mostly rubbish. the end doesn't resolve or fully explain. and you figure out most of the twists and turns way before the game tells you. The basic premised of the game really takes the weight away and it makes it feel like there are no rules in this world. Rules are important in horror.

- There are way too many story "collectibles" notes, tape recorders, newspaper clippings, missing posters, diary pages.

- The upgrade system is fun, and there are a lot of different ways to handle it.

- I'm probably going to have to check out the sequel, which I hear is notably different.

All in all, low quality story, good gameplay mechanics, way too dark. A "moar extreeeeme" version of Resident Evil 4.

What happened to the nurse?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on June 15, 2019, 02:06:59 PM
The Evil Within

(https://i.imgur.com/PKZab7Q.gif)

Boy, this game is a FLAWED masterpiece. Well, maybe not masterpiece, but the foundation is solid. A spiritual successor to Resident Evil 4 by the original director, it gets some things right and some things wrong.

I read somewhere online someone described the game as full of "boy, I never want to do that again" moments, and it's pretty accurate. Here are some my thoughts in no particular order

- Boy, this game is DARK, literally. Sometimes you can barely see what is going on. It doesn't matter if you crank the brightness up, sometimes there are sections and corners that are just crushed blacks. You have a lantern in the game, but the game cheats a bit. You can have your lantern out and three feet in front of the character is pitch black.

- The level variety is top notch. The game often wallows in Clive Barker style generic grimness, but it breaks it up with daylight sections, and changes in the environment. They must have spent a ton of time modelling everything in this game.

- Speaking of never wanting to do that again, way to much stupid running sections. running away from the camera, running towards the camera, jump into a cut scene so it doesn't really matter, the game is full of it.
- The gameplay is pretty varied as well. There is stealth, there is gun heavy action, there are puzzles, there is survival horror.

- Speaking of survival horror, the first two level are really desperate, you don't have much in the way of resources and it feels like the original Resident Evil games.

- It changes the gameplay style by chapter 3. At chapter 3, you have built yourself up to the point where you start feeling like walking tank Leon S. Kennedy. I preferred this action horror style.

- The game has a lot of trial and error learning sections. You are probably going to die a few times just because you don't know what you're supposed to do. It feels a bit unfair, and the game isn't easy.

- The story is mostly rubbish. the end doesn't resolve or fully explain. and you figure out most of the twists and turns way before the game tells you. The basic premised of the game really takes the weight away and it makes it feel like there are no rules in this world. Rules are important in horror.

- There are way too many story "collectibles" notes, tape recorders, newspaper clippings, missing posters, diary pages.

- The upgrade system is fun, and there are a lot of different ways to handle it.

- I'm probably going to have to check out the sequel, which I hear is notably different.

All in all, low quality story, good gameplay mechanics, way too dark. A "moar extreeeeme" version of Resident Evil 4.

What happened to the nurse?


If you want to know more about Nurse Tatiana, go play the DLC. She pops up there in the real world at the end.

Now go play Evil Within 2. It's a MUUUUUUUUUUUCH better game, and Mikami had very little to do with it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on June 16, 2019, 10:05:52 PM
Mega Man 10 (WiiWare) - So this is my second time trying to play through the game.

The first time, I only played a few levels and set it aside thinking that it was quite a step down from Mega Man 9 (which was a joyful return to one of my favorite series). This time the experience was much better and I ended up pushing through the game in a few days.

There is a lot to like about MM10, but as others have said in the forums here, I think the game isn't particularly well balanced. Some level designs and challenges are great, others less so. However, in the end it's still a really well made game with a ton of content. Glad to have picked this back up, and will probably play through a couple more times (using different characters, trying the hardest difficulty, or maybe just fooling around with the challenges) before moving to something else.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on July 22, 2019, 04:48:48 PM
Finished off Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS) and mostly enjoyed the experience. The actual battles were pretty great 90% of the time, but my earlier complaint (no way to tell what level an enemy was without starting the battle, and huge power swings as you level up making it extremely difficult to beat an enemy that outranks you by a few levels) still stands. With just slightly better balancing, or just more visibility about the strength of those you might battle, the game would have been much better off.

Still a lot of fun though. Anyone who played and enjoyed other old classic Puzzle-RPGs like Puzzle Quest should definitely check this game out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on August 02, 2019, 07:03:03 PM
Finished Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Wii U's premiere holiday 2015 title!

(https://animalcrossingworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mario-tennis-ultra-smash-screenshot-donkey-kong.png)

Positives first:
The gameplay is pretty solid here. The tennis action feels mostly responsive and fluid, you have several moves (dropshots, lobs, smashes, topspin, diving saves) at your disposal, all of which counter each other in some way. The characters have some degree of variation amongst themselves too. Some are fast and dive further, others are more powerful, some are slow, there's a few tricky ones like Boo which kinda teleport, etc.
If you like a challenge, the game has you covered too, with 4 difficulty settings and you can adjust these per CPU player too if you like your challenge varied.

Visually it's quite a treat too, the stadium looks really nice, as do the courts and character models. Everyone has individually styled rackets (DK has one made from a tree branch, Bowser brandishes a spiked one, and so on), although weirdly they didn't give everyone tennis outfits - just the princesses, strange. Everyone has at least one smoothly animated victory and loss pose, this stuff's all fine.

Onto the negatives:
Soundwise, the music is extraordinarily generic. Boring electric guitar stuff you already forget while hearing it. Furthermore, the announcer could not sound more bored if he tried. They don't even call out character names, just "Game, Set & Match for receiver/server!", very dull.

Content is the core problem here however. Yes, there are 9 courts, but they're just recoloured versions set in the same stadium with slightly different physics. Yes, there's a minigame. Just one though, and it's about keeping up a rally - something the A.I. doesn't seem interested in. Yes, there's a single player mode too, but it's a really uninspired succession of tie breaks that get progressively more difficult. No tournament theming to contextualise this mode. It ends on what could technically be called a boss encounter, but this match is somehow easier than several preceding ones and gives new meaning to the word lackluster.

Lastly, both of the new mechanics here (Mega Mushrooms to make characters giant, Ultra Smashes are powerful punishing shots) feel a bit underdeveloped. There's a tangible increase in range and shot power from a Mega character, but often you get mushrooms at nearly the same time, somewhat levelling the playing field. (It's also just kinda boring visually.) Ultra Smashes are a better addition, but it does feel like the A.I. gets to do more of them than the player does - but that might be attributable to my (lack of) skill.

Bottom line: There is fun to be had here, the tennis is pretty solid, the characters animate smoothly and there's a few neat character picks like Boo, Dry Bowser and one of those 3D World faeries. I also like how it has modes that are more stripped down tennis: one without mushrooms and even one which also cuts out the more advanced moves. I imagine in multiplayer the more chaotic courts will lead to some laughs too.
That said, Ultra Smash is undoubtedly the most spartan entry in the series. It's honestly baffling how Nintendo tried to sell this for 50 dollars, while the Nintendo Selects line-up contains vastly better games (Wind Waker, Pikmin 3, Tropical Freeze) at half the cost. I know it's not classy to consider pricing in reviews, but it's pretty shameful in this instance. It's still full price on the eShop too btw, while NSMBU is reduced in half and packs a second game in for free.
Two stars. I had fun, but only for about 5 hours and got it used for 10 bucks.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on August 07, 2019, 10:51:03 PM
Polished off Mega Man ZX Advent (DS).

This game isn't perfect - story is an absolute mess, difficulty spikes aren't very even, and it would be easy to complain about how some powers have no meaningful use in the game - but I still think this game gets a lot more right than wrong. Once you beat the first couple of bosses and the metroidvania-style world begins to open up things move along nicely. The controls feel tight and there are a handful of powers that are very enjoyable to experiment with. The game is a challenge, but (once you get into the Mega Man groove) never really unfair or unreasonable when playing at the Normal difficulty.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the game. Not sure there is much to bring me back for more... but would happily hold onto it and play through again in the future. Recommended.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on August 25, 2019, 11:16:57 PM
The Witness (Epic Store):

Got the game for free back in, i don't know April? -- and have been playing it.

Finished with almost full completion. Just one puzzle away from full 100%. It must be one of those stray panels lying somewhere in the forest...

It's a very smart game, puzzle design constantly pushes you to rethink everything you see by doing seemingly minor changes and i enjoy that. Solving some of the puzzles was very tough, but i enjoyed the process of analysis and trying to glean what designer wants of me.

I had to employ external tools to solve some of them. Obviously, screenshots and notes on paper, but even beyond that i used color picker from MS Paint for one kind of puzzle. I am not sure how one can solve these without doing that and knowing colour theory.

For one of the hardest challenges in the game i even wrote a program in javascript that solved part of the challenge for me because these were annoying for me to deal with. I enjoyed writing that program so much, i kept rewriting it with many different tools and frameworks which also helped me to stay more or less up-to-date professionally. So that was fun in by itself too.

Some aspects of the game can feel pretentious to some but to me they felt too elementary if anything. While i was nodding during some voiced messages in the game, i was like "yeah-yeah, i get it" for most of them.

When i was just starting -- a big question for me was -- "why is this game in 3d to begin with?" Wouldn't it be better served just as a 2d sequence of puzzle panels since at the start that's all you see. While the game somewhat justifies placing it's puzzles in 3d i still feel the world in this game holds largely decorative function, which is a function in on by itself i admit.

Visuals are striking and beautiful and the game very consciously guides the player to move him from one impressive vista to another, even highlighting some of them with very strategically placed couches or just by with a clearing in bushes with a coastal view.

It's not a game for everyone -- you need a LOT of effort to play it and complete it and then actually complete, and then ACTUALLY for real complete it.

Herei's how my folder looked like by the end:

(https://abload.de/img/witnessfolder19jzt.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on August 27, 2019, 10:02:27 AM
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)

Initially, I thought this was a decent if a little unpolished Zelda homage. Initially. It’s filled with so many odd choices that I have a really hard time recommending it at full price.

1. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is, for all intents and purposes, a four button game and for no good reason as far as I can tell. The sword is mapped to A, items can be mapped to B and X, + brings up the menu on the item screen, - brings up the menu on the world map screen but basically is the same as +. The shoulder buttons/triggers and Y aren’t used at all. The game would have been a lot more fun if the shield could be mapped to R.

2. The game allows you to collect items before you meet the person who explains what it is. Relatively early, I picked up some brains. The NPC that wants them wasn’t accessible until much later. For the first few hours of the game, I kept finding scrolls, but I missed the NPC who dropped her scrolls all over the world. The item screen displays how many of an item were collected with no way to highlight it for a cheeky and/or informative blurb. There’s just a sense of “Well, I guess these are just in my life now.”

3. I have no idea who this game is for. The anime art on the title screen appears no where else in the game. The graphics are cutesy yet seemingly not in the ironic Conker’s Bad Fur Day way. Toilet humor, implied stalking, and references to the main character being a mass murderer among other things are sprinkled throughout, always feeling completely out of place. The game is mostly really easy with some absurd difficult spikes that would just stop younger players. Some of the puzzles are hellacious.

If nothing else, games like Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King really illustrate why Nintendo’s first party games are largely timeless. There’s a level of polish that is absent from so many indie and even large third party titles. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King is just filled with excessive amounts of asinine bullshit including but not limited to:

1. It apes the “dah dah dah daaaaaahhhh” moment from Zelda when opening a chest except here, there’s a slight delay when regaining control so if an enemy was attacking, you’re getting hit. Other games would give you invincibility frames. Not Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King.

2. The world map is too pixelated to be useful.

3. There are running sections that pair falling floor tiles with conveyor belts and indestructible enemies that shoot energy balls at you, and let me tell you those sections can suck a cornucopia of dicks. This is coupled with the fact that you respawn at the room entrance, not the safest platform, meaning if you fall at the very end of a long sequence, you have to do it all over again. And you lose half a heart for falling. One particular section in the last dungeon includes a portion in which damage is unavoidable unless you managed to get optional item earlier in the game. I died there so many times I ended up just reloading my save twice.

4. There’s one room in the last dungeon that has conveyor belts in a rectangle surrounding some switches. If you’re closer to the edge at the corners, the game doesn’t just push you from the vertical belt to the horizontal belt like literally every other game with this mechanic. Instead, you fall between them then respawn at the room entrance.

TLDR: If you’re looking for a Zelda-like game, there are probably better choices. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King isn’t bad; it isn’t particularly good either. If you want to try it, I recommend waiting for a sale.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on September 04, 2019, 06:06:51 PM
Ha!  Take that, Crimson Shroud (3DS)!  I totally kicked butt in the New Game+ mode (although did use a walkthrough for a few hints about where to find randomly dropped keys). The style of game still appeals to me quite a bit. The design has some issues, no doubt, but I wouldn't mind seeing a full RPG done in similar style.

Not much left to do in this one, and even though I missed the official Retroactive deadline it's been a fun ride to play through again.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on September 04, 2019, 06:51:08 PM
I've beaten Control, Remedy's latest game. Unfortunately, the best I can say is "wait...that's it?" I just do not understand where all the praise is coming from, and I ADORE Remedy's previous work on Alan Wake (and tolerated Quantum Break). It's just an incredibly average shooter with below-average Metroid design; a story colder than the vacuum of space; and a location of limitless possibilities that is only EVER used imaginatively ONCE in the best sequence of the entire game (with the best song in the game)...at the end.

There's just a crippling lack of imagination and heart to this game, and it runs like hot garbage even on my PS4 Pro. Hopefully the DLC can save it.


At least Alan Wake FIRMLY exists in this game's world, and there is a LOT of indication that Alan Wake 2 is coming on the horizon.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 29, 2019, 08:10:01 PM
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch):

Months after starting and nearly 100 hours later, I have finally destroyed Ganon forever and brought eternal peace to Hyrule.

I completed all shrines, divine beasts, memories, side quests, DLC ('cept for Master Sword trials, fuuuck that) and collected exactly 441 Koroks.

All in all a phenomenal game. The first third or so of my time was especially sublime, as I had viewed basically no media about the game ahead of time and had read as little as possible. A true sense of wonder and discovery that I didn't know if I could get from a game again, even if it wears off when you do a completionist comb-through. And even then, I was still digging up new nuances right up until the end (you can drop bombs while paragliding? You can do tricks while shield surfing? There's a fucking magic creature on that mountain that I saw glowing once and never again?!).

It's fitting that they used the original Legend of Zelda as a prototyping tool for this game, because I can totally envision how BOTW, excellent though it is, can serve as the base for a new series paradigm, much like how the NES game was the crude foundation for A Link to the Past, and thus the fundamental structure for over two decades of medium-best experiences.

They completely nailed the texture of the open-world experience with the environmental symbiosis and constant (and systemic) interactivity. Nothing else comes close in my experience, and in my opinion this is Nintendo leading from behind in a now-omnipresent genre that to this point has failed to truly capitalize on the original groundbreaking, but shallow, thrills of GTA III.

But as I mentioned, part of the joy here is imagining how BOTW could make the jump to a LttP level of sophistication. Double the rune powers and interconnected systems? Every shrine a shrine quest, the best element of the game? Underwater swimming and flight? Full Majora's Mask NPC complexity? A causal relationship between different dimensions/times? Skyward Sword-level combat articulation?

Aside from providing a rejuvenating glimpse of the future from a necessarily adolescent perspective, there are a few legitimate flaws.

-The divine beast dungeons are great and completely fit the ethos of the game (and it's really damn impressive that they built these actual objects). They turn the open-ended tactility of the game inside out in focused bouts, and I wouldn't have it any other way. BUT, there should have been twice as many, with more varied bosses, and the lizard one felt pretty uninspired (one 90-degree turn? C'mon, it should have been in all directions). The Champion's Ballad dungeon was fantastic, though, and an encouraging preview of how they can run with the tools they've built.

-I enjoyed pretty much all of the shrines, even the tilt ones, but they definitely erred on the side of easiness. Because this approach is new, I still found them viscerally fun, and I usually strongly dislike mushy "physics" puzzles. They managed to achieve a sweet spot between intended solution and ingenuity that maybe only the Portal games have pulled off (within a simpler framework). That said, there were about 100% too many combat trials. If these were actually varied and thought-out like the Champion's Ballad one, this would have been fine, but fighting the same robot 15 times got real old. It would have been better to just reduce the number of shrines, nothing magic about 120.

-While the shrine quests were awesome, most of the regular side quests were not. This is a open world sandtrap they haven't swung their way out of. For every good one that leverages the strengths of the game's design approach (following the Zora love letter downstream) there are five stock ones (collect 40 mushrooms). But shrine quests; man, I can't remember as stressful and delightful a moment as trying to nail that platform with an arrow from the top of the Rito spire while the shadow cutout passed over. Imagine an x^2 version of something like that through an enhanced underlying framework.

-Money is actually important and useful in this game, which is now a solved problem with the series. But in general, I felt like there needed to be another reward structure underlying the quests and activities. Stasis golf? Cool! Oh, it's just rupees? I'm moving on. The armor attributes are a potential basis, but maybe something like shifting arrows to regenerating resources with expandable caps (and types). I really underutilized arrows because I was paranoid about running out and not being able to do Korok bits.

-The armor sets are fun and a decent stop-gap for a tool inventory, but some of the upgrade paths are too onerous. There also really, really needs to be a quick select option for custom sets. I probably lost hours of my life due to a counter-intuitive impulse to save time by not going into the menu to switch gear to climb or swim faster. Similarly, there should really be a button combo to drop weapons without menu intervention.

But that's pretty much all the criticism I can muster, and they're all things that can be fixed or re-thought. Here's to the future.


Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on September 30, 2019, 08:56:29 PM
I completed all shrines, divine beasts, memories, side quests, DLC ('cept for Master Sword trials, fuuuck that) and collected exactly 441 Koroks.

Congrats! Pretty much agree with your entire post tbh, it's crazy to think they could build so much upon this foundation still... I like your ideas of diving and flying more. Maybe some underwater cave diving?

By the way, if you ever feel like going back, maybe reconsider doing the Sword Trials. I thought I would hate those because it sounded like filler content, but they've been a really fun surprise, to me at least.

While I don't really think the reward's worth it (a problem this game has more often), the actual moment-to-moment experience of Sword Trials is really thrilling. Fundamentally it's just a neat way for the development team to craft a few more crazy scenarios for you to figure out; things like sailing a one-man armada into a harbour, getting shot at from all directions would never happen in the world of Hyrule, but here it's more acceptable.

Thematically, the three Trials also work nicely since they appear themed around the Power, Courage and Wisdom themes often seen in Zelda games. So for the first one they expect you to go all-out with combat, whereas the last one is pretty much impossible without grasping many of the game's subtleties.The presence of the Sages basically confirms this.

I definitely struggled a lot on the last Trial because they'll suddenly throw Lynels and Flying Guardians at you, neither of which I ever really learned to fight. Had to just swallow my pride there and reach for the ancient arrows, bye-bye. Tip: cook every hearty radish separately with nothing else, that nets you several Full Recovery meals instead of just one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on October 01, 2019, 08:11:41 PM
I completed all shrines, divine beasts, memories, side quests, DLC ('cept for Master Sword trials, fuuuck that) and collected exactly 441 Koroks.

Congrats! Pretty much agree with your entire post tbh, it's crazy to think they could build so much upon this foundation still... I like your ideas of diving and flying more. Maybe some underwater cave diving?

By the way, if you ever feel like going back, maybe reconsider doing the Sword Trials. I thought I would hate those because it sounded like filler content, but they've been a really fun surprise, to me at least.

While I don't really think the reward's worth it (a problem this game has more often), the actual moment-to-moment experience of Sword Trials is really thrilling. Fundamentally it's just a neat way for the development team to craft a few more crazy scenarios for you to figure out; things like sailing a one-man armada into a harbour, getting shot at from all directions would never happen in the world of Hyrule, but here it's more acceptable.

Thematically, the three Trials also work nicely since they appear themed around the Power, Courage and Wisdom themes often seen in Zelda games. So for the first one they expect you to go all-out with combat, whereas the last one is pretty much impossible without grasping many of the game's subtleties.The presence of the Sages basically confirms this.

I definitely struggled a lot on the last Trial because they'll suddenly throw Lynels and Flying Guardians at you, neither of which I ever really learned to fight. Had to just swallow my pride there and reach for the ancient arrows, bye-bye. Tip: cook every hearty radish separately with nothing else, that nets you several Full Recovery meals instead of just one.

I'm probably just going to sell my copy, but good to know that the sword trials are more interesting than they initially seemed. I made it maybe six levels into the first tranche, died unceremoniously, and had no intention of burning another 30 minutes on a rogue-like thing. I also never really had a great handle on the combat nuances, leaning heavily on champion abilities and meals to brute force through difficult encounters. It was only late in the game that I got somewhat comfortable with deflecting guardian beams. This is probably another legit issue with the game, in that the early going conditions you to be pretty combat averse, and by the time I was powered up I was pretty firmly in the habit of avoiding it unless situationally necessary. Also, silver monsters everywhere after you beat all the dungeons.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on October 02, 2019, 08:45:06 AM
I'm probably just going to sell my copy, but good to know that the sword trials are more interesting than they initially seemed. I made it maybe six levels into the first tranche, died unceremoniously, and had no intention of burning another 30 minutes on a rogue-like thing. I also never really had a great handle on the combat nuances, leaning heavily on champion abilities and meals to brute force through difficult encounters. It was only late in the game that I got somewhat comfortable with deflecting guardian beams. This is probably another legit issue with the game, in that the early going conditions you to be pretty combat averse, and by the time I was powered up I was pretty firmly in the habit of avoiding it unless situationally necessary. Also, silver monsters everywhere after you beat all the dungeons.

Yeah, that's basically how I've been playing it too. Recently burned through all my shields finally trying to learn the Guardian parry, which I can do about 50% of the times now.
What I like about the Sword Trials is they force you to be smart & economical. Gotta spread groups out with bombs, always keeping one in stasis, try to go for sneak attacks, shoot enemies off platforms into water/lava, etc.

There's an early level in the third tranche where you have basically nothing and it's thundering everywhere; I used magnesis on a rusty sword and pushed it into enemies' faces - resulting in them getting struck by lightning. Then later on you can convert those rusty weapons into useful ones by feeding them to an Octorok.

Definitely get why it wouldn't be your thing, but the one advantage of this gauntlet-style of doing things, is that it allows the game to assume some level of persistency. A major reason why the shrines are always relatively easy, is that the player could theoretically barge all the way from the Plateau to a remote area, and only do Shrines there. Thus, every shrine needs to be theoretically beatable with the same base abilities and basically no equipment.

Sword Trials feeds you the exact equipment for future floors, so they can craft levels centered around using elemental weapons, or ranged ones, etc. That said, I think they're mostly worth it for players who liked the Eventide and Shrouded Shrine islands.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 03, 2019, 10:16:10 PM
Just finished playing through Metroid: Other M (Wii) in prep for the forum retrospective (link: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=60133.0).

I'll save most of my commentary for that thread, but will say that - despite some significant issues with the game - it was a very enjoyable experience overall and the roughly 10-hour playing time breezed by. Hopefully others will join in with the discussion later this month when we talk about the game!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 23, 2019, 09:00:20 PM
Finished off Carcassonne (DS) and Balloon Kid (3DS Virtual Console) recently.
Really enjoyed both, although obviously they are very different.

Carcassonne did drag out a bit because I greatly prefer that board game with expansions and smaller player counts (4 max) while the DS game often put you into scenarios with 5 or 6 players and doesn't include any of the expansion content that helps balance out player choices. Still good though, and the local multiplayer via download play is a great feature. (Catan is probably a better video game implementation, but requires multiple cartridges to play multiplayer which is a real bummer.)

Balloon Kid was exactly as described - take Balloon Fight and turn it into a weird platformer, complete with boss battles. And yet, somehow it still surprised me. Controls took a little practice, but after that it was smooth sailing and a lot of fun. Glad this one was recommended in that other thread, and feel like it was a few dollars well spent.
---

Also finished off The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS). For a long time, this was fighting to be my favorite Zelda game... but it's also probably the hardest time I've ever had to finish off a game from the series.

The world building is great, but really wants to have you be fully immersed in the game so that all of the little intersecting details are visible. Unfortunately, my playing sessions are much more casual these days - shorter, less consistent, and spread out over time. That made it harder than it should be to pull the whole fabric together without missing bits and pieces or forgetting certain details that I was supposed to pursue. So what used to be something I'd call a strength is now more of a dual-edged sword, forcing me to rely on some walkthrough content to get through a few parts in the overworld.

Also, given the build up and how many other great moments the game had, the final boss was a bit of a disappointment. It's fine; there's nothing wrong with that battle. It just doesn't stand out. Somehow I had expected a bigger set piece battle, or something really unusual after coming through such a long (for me) journey... instead it was a pretty normal Zelda boss battle.

Still, the game was pretty amazing. Except for one or two opaque moments, everything is just really well assembled. Dungeon design is generally great, and they really went all out on the weirdness factor. The 3DS port also has a lot of minor improvements and is definitely the best way to play this game. Not sure it's my favorite Zelda any longer - 2D games tend to be easier for me to dive into, and Breath of the Wild is hard to beat on the 3D side (even though that's quite a different type of design) - but Majora's Mask is definitely a great game and a perfect choice for some Halloween gaming.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on October 31, 2019, 10:00:13 PM
New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS) - Thankfully the game was quite short, because it was perhaps the most mediocre Mario game I remember playing. The conceit of collecting lots of coins - keeping both a running total over the course of the game, and a "high score" aspect for each level of this game is completely wasted on me.

I didn't enjoy it enough to bother playing all levels or looking for more than a couple of secret exits, and that "bare minimum" completion level in a Mario game makes me feel kind of sad. Usually these games keep me glued until (at least) finding all the stages and exits.

That said, this wasn't really a surprise. I didn't have high expectations going in, and the "New Super Mario Bros" series has rarely been one that really works for me...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on November 01, 2019, 09:24:01 AM
Yeah, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is pretty weak. I did like New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U (the former getting the edge). This is going to sound very old-man-yells-at-cloud-ish: none of the New Super Mario Bros. titles feel timeless like the original Super Mario Bros. games. Part of it is the very plastic-y, non-distinctive art direction. You can tell the games apart by looking at resolution, but the art makes them bleed into each other. The power-ups weren’t that exciting either. The box art of old Mario games showed some of the coolest stuff you got to do in those games. “I wear a cape AND get to ride a dinosaur.” When Nintendo put Yoshi on the New Super Mario Bros. Wii cover, it ironically wasn’t new anymore. With New Super Mario Bros. 2, there are a bunch of coins. Mario has been collecting those for almost 30 years by 2012. Why was that noteworthy? I don’t remember what collecting a bunch of coins even did in the game. What did you get for all the trouble?

To me, New Super Mario Bros. 2 was a missed opportunity in that it should have been based on Super Mario Bros. 2 even if the art was the same.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 01, 2019, 09:48:42 AM
... I don’t remember what collecting a bunch of coins even did in the game. What did you get for all the trouble? ...

As far as I can tell, coins don't do anything at all in the single-player game.
If you break a million coins collected, the title screen changes slightly (in a meaningless way).

There was the idea of street pass competitions vs people to try and get the most coins possible in specific stages, I think... although Street Pass is so utterly dead now that I can't say with much certainty. That idea would be neat, despite being kind of pointless.

There are also lots of neat little tricks to increase your coin count if you are an expert player... but the question remains: why bother? They don't do anything, so who really cares about doubling your coin count in some arbitrary stage?

Quote
To me, New Super Mario Bros. 2 was a missed opportunity in that it should have been based on Super Mario Bros. 2 even if the art was the same.

I love this idea. It would have been much more appealing to me than what we actually got.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on November 01, 2019, 11:33:44 AM
New Super Mario Bros Wii, U and Luigi are 3 of the most polished and refined platforming experiences in gaming.  Even the first on the DS is a lot better then many give it credit for.  But even as a big fan of the NSMB series, I couldn't even get into New Super Mario Bros 2.

It feels like it was a game made by people who already hate the NSMB series and were trying to make what they already viewed the series as.  Which might be true since the game was a rushed outsourced project since the main NSMB team that did DS and Wii were busy working on U, but Nintendo freaked out after the 3DS disastrous post launch sales before the price cut and wanted a 2D Mario as soon as possible.  The other NSMB games get criticized for lack of new idea's, but they at least found interesting ways to build on old ones.  NSMB 2 on the other hand feels like a true copy and paste job with hardly any creativity.  This is made worse by the fact the difficulty is made non-existance with the easiest level design in series history.

Of course the ultimate kicker in all this is there are actual good levels designed for this game, but they're all DLC.  Yeah, I downloaded all the DLC levels because I'm a huge Mario fan that needs to experience everything I can out of the game even if the main game was pretty weak.  I'm glad I did though since there are legit well designed levels in the DLC, including some really hard ones as well.  But this just makes me even more shocked at how mediocre the main game is, since these DLC levels shows the team clearly was capable of much more then they did.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 19, 2019, 09:26:08 PM
Catrap (3DS VC) - Not sure what to say about this one. The puzzles were good and it's definitely a clever game... but by the end some stages dragged on longer than was enjoyable and the game lacked any real personality.

Having recently played through Mole Mania, my natural inclination is to compare the two... and in both style and gameplay I think that Catrap falls a bit short. Mole Mania also has more content, although any individual screen there tends to be shorter/easier than what you get from a Catrap stage.

So despite being a really solid puzzle game, it didn't leave as strong an impression as it could have. Fans of the genre will have a good time though, and should have an easy time getting their money's worth from this cheap Virtual Console release.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on November 19, 2019, 11:40:04 PM
I finished Catrap last week on Monday. Also, finished getting all the items and playing the final boss in Metroid: Other M last monday too. Felt like I accomplished so much.

I haven't played Mole Mania yet. Saved it for later so can't compare the two but I really liked Catrap. It became a bit like a Streetpass/Animal Crossing game where I'd play a bit of it each day usually with a goal of getting through 5 puzzles. Of course, some levels stumped me more than others so at times I didn't accomplish much. (80 and 88 were the ones that took the longest for me to figure out and 100 was probably a good 45 minutes.)

It's true that it is kind of a basic game in music, characters, look and atmosphere. And as I was finally solving 80 and 88, I realized that the biggest concept the game works around is falling blocks. The blocks always go down, they can't go back up so the solution has to be based around the order they descend. Yeah, that's not an idea that should be hard to grasp but I never really thought about it much in the first 60 - 70 puzzles until I started getting stumped near the end. At the same time, for the relatively low amount of elements (rocks, ladders, sand/dirt), I'm quite impressed with the amount of variation and different puzzles the game designers were able to come up using them. This was another winning Game Boy game in my books and one I'd recommend. I suppose I should add it to my vote in the Game Boy thread.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on November 19, 2019, 11:40:13 PM
I then turned my attention to Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land and just finished beating it a couple hours ago so that is another Game Boy game down. Your comment of it being a sort of slower platformer is quite true. Part of that comes from Wario who pretty much only has one speed (unless you've got the Rocket Hat to make him walk faster). Having player Super Mario Land again a few weeks prior, I'd still put that game ahead of this even though it is pretty basic. I just like that Mario can move at a faster pace, the levels aren't (or don't feel) long and it zips along keeping it from overstaying its welcome. You probably would want more once finished.

That doesn't mean Wario Land is a slog or I wouldn't have kept playing it so regularly but there are times you do wish you could move along faster and the level design is just a slight step up from being basic but overall mostly unmemorable. However, the game does have a different feel from a Mario platformer through Wario's actions and level make-up so I appreciated that it is able to create its own identity. The first section didn't really do much to impress me but as I advanced into the next couple and began to figure out more what the different powers could do and how to acquire treasures then the game started to become more engrossing. I suppose I could have read the manual for it sooner but I'm glad I checked it out 60% or so into the game to make sure I wasn't missing any other important details otherwise I don't think I'd have understood the ending to the game much.

Also, of the Super Mario Land games, I think this one is probably the most difficult. It is one of the few games where I began actively using the save state VC features frequently and almost out of necessity. I'm not sure what I'd have thought of this game if I had to originally played it on a Game Boy. It was the first course in Sherbert Land that got made me begin to resort to it with its falling logs and swooping birds. With some weird enemy hit detections at times along with Wario's brand of jumping, I begin to get annoyed quickly with that level and saving after advancing to certain parts so that I could instantly boot up and try again without having to recover so much of the same ground. Later on, whenever I came to a save point that you could pay money for, I'd just save with the VC restore point and keep going. That helped me a few times but there were still other times I'd forget to use it and I really hated losing all the coins I collected in a level and having to start over especially when I was getting close to the end of that level.

Oddly, the game gives no hints about boss fights either so it can be trial and error to figure out what to do. This would mean losing and having to redo a level or part of it to get to the boss to try again in the original release but now I could save at the boss's door and instantly try again. I'd have hated to face the final boss before. Took me at least 4 tries of experimenting before I lucked out in discovering how to damage it. I'm going to look up and see if I was missing something but it just seemed to be that you threw the genie lamp around and hoped it randomly landed right side up to spew out a cloud. Kind of weird. If I had to keep covering that same ground in the level just to get back to the boss fight from the game's save point, I'd have been so ticked at that fight and other instances I encountered. Since I was into restore points so much, I then began to abuse them for the coin minigame at the end of the level. Had more than enough when the game ended that I didn't even need all the treasures and their value to max out Wario's coin total and get what the end credits listed as a Perfect Game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on November 20, 2019, 07:47:47 PM
I also played through Wario Land 1 on the 3DS VC, and was not wild about it. I love 2 and 3, but felt like 1 was an undercooked, sluggish half-step between Mario Land 2 and Wario Land 2.

That said, supposedly Wario Land Virtual Boy really nails the Wario Land 1 approach, and is on par with the later sequels, though structurally different. And I'll probably never be able to play it!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 27, 2019, 02:03:59 PM
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) - Slightly mixed feelings about the story in this game. Even by Layton standards, it felt like they pushed things a bit quickly at the end and left few too many threads underdeveloped or unresolved. Still a very good game though, and one that I enjoyed playing.

Recommended, although somewhere in the middle of the pack when compared to other games from the series.

After seeing the credits scroll, I probably won't go back to finish the bonus puzzles; completing 137 puzzles from the main game felt sufficient. But might give London Life a shot; it sounds like a bit dull, but that Brownie Brown style is simply charming... anyone want to speak out for (or against) investing some time in that mini-game?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on November 27, 2019, 04:07:45 PM
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) - Slightly mixed feelings about the story in this game. Even by Layton standards, it felt like they pushed things a bit quickly at the end and left few too many threads underdeveloped or unresolved. Still a very good game though, and one that I enjoyed playing.

Really? I'd like to hear more on this. It's been about three years since I played this but I don't remember thinking anything felt underdeveloped or unresolved. Deets, please! I crave to hear further deets on this opinion!!! Perhaps in the Layton thread I started though since I already used that to dig into Miracle Mask a bit.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on November 27, 2019, 09:43:33 PM
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) - Slightly mixed feelings about the story in this game. Even by Layton standards, it felt like they pushed things a bit quickly at the end and left few too many threads underdeveloped or unresolved. Still a very good game though, and one that I enjoyed playing.

Really? I'd like to hear more on this. It's been about three years since I played this but I don't remember thinking anything felt underdeveloped or unresolved. Deets, please! I crave to hear further deets on this opinion!!! Perhaps in the Layton thread I started though since I already used that to dig into Miracle Mask a bit.

Yeah - I'll throw Layton discussion there.
Link:  http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=62372.0;all


In the meantime, I finished off the final few stages of Labryinth (DS). There are at least two games with the same name, but this is the DS implementation of the board game (also known as "The aMAZEing Labyrinth" before getting rebranded). 

It's a solid implementation of the board game, with download play support... but it's not much more, and the story behind the campaign mode is a rather silly shadow of an Indiana Jones-style plot. Glad to have played it, and we'll probably enjoy playing the multiplayer here as my kids like the game, but it's not something to run out and buy unless you already know that you like the board game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on November 29, 2019, 03:41:52 PM
Katana Zero (Switch)

It’s short and fun. I got Katana Zero for like $10 on the eShop, and I wasn’t disappointed. I liked figuring out the best way to take out a room of dudes. The controls are mostly really tight. I only had trouble precisely slicing upward from a wall jump which caused numerous deaths. The game expects you to die a bunch of times, and this is even written into the story.

The plot is mostly incomprehensible. I had to check Wikipedia to gain some semblance of what the hell happened in the game. I’m still not entirely sure on some bits. The dialog is a little weak. A lot “fucks” thrown around that don’t add anything, and the writer has presumably never heard a child talk before.

Askiisoft appears to be planning DLC. There is a door in a post-game section with a locked door. If it’s free, I’ll check it out. I am mildly curious about the disturbing implications of the post-credits scene (side-bar: the world needs to stop putting things after the credits). I feel like that’s something to revisit. Parts of this world are not fleshed out which is at least partially why the plot and certain events did not make sense. Was it all (or part of) a massive drug trip? Maybe? Which parts? I don’t know.

All in all, a nice little indie action game. I recommend it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 01, 2019, 11:36:31 PM
Got my first ending after recruiting all three allies and defeating the final boss once on Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (3DS).  Not sure if that should count as beating the game or not though... the credits have rolled, but the story continues in the new mode that opened up.  There also appear to be at least a couple more possible endings depending on what actions I take during the game, so lots of play left in this one.

And really, that kind of sums up my opinion about the game. End credits don't mean much when the game is well-crafted and fun to play, and gives the player good reasons to come back for more. My initial impression about the game was a bit soft - unsure if it was going to live up the relatively strong reviews it received. It did though, and is one of the better retro love letters of the past decade in my opinion. Very strong design all around with branching paths, hidden power-ups, and fun boss designs.

The "final boss" of my initial play-through seemed like it would be a slog initially... but his patterns were easy and they conveniently gave players an easy out to use (if they so desire) by giving you a massively overpowered special weapon just before you encounter him. It's cheesy, but a nice option at that point of the game and one that I made use of.

Definitely recommended for any fan of retro gaming.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on December 02, 2019, 09:08:34 AM
So a while ago Broodwars mentioned Beetle Adventure Racing! as a racing game which did things a bit differently than the usual fare.

Split/Second's an easy pick there, along with Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. Going back to the N64 days, I'd also cite Beetle Adventure Racing and Diddy Kong Racing.

(https://gamefaqs1.cbsistatic.com/box/8/6/7/1867_front.jpg)
I've since dug up the cart and yeah, it's quite a bit better than you'd expect from a licensed product. A lot of the racing games on N64 are stinkers, so it's helped by its relative quality to others.
Basically you zoom around in Volkswagen New Beetles (or Holden HSVs in Australia's version), barreling down long tracks at full speed, looking for shortcuts and collectable crates.

What's different here compared to racers of its time are a few things:
1. Shortcuts are near-mandatory to look for at the highest difficulty mode.
Each level has like 5 branching paths, most of them not easily spotted, which help you cut corners, collect boosts or lead to risky jumps. They vary in how useful they are, and some are really risky propositions that may hinder you more than help you if you mess up.
The game honestly doesn't have many tracks, so cramming them with alternative routes was a smart move to make it feel more substantial and keep things fresh upon repeat plays.

2. "Dynamic level design" may be overselling it, but most of these tracks change in a meaningful way at least once or twice.
The beach level never sees you return to the start, and the Jurassic Park rip-off level changes positioning of the T-Rex and lets a volcano erupt on the final lap to change the finish straight. Others are less interesting: they'll just gate off a previously accessible road to change the final corner.
While only the T-Rex level really benefits from this, it's interesting how later games like Mario Kart Wii's Bowser Castle and Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed used this mechanic too and were praised for it.

3. Permanence of items.
Instead of how items replenish in Mario Kart, here boxes can only be picked up once. This creates a clever risk-reward mechanic that makes you consider future laps. On the beach you want to grab the boxes in the water because you don't return there later, but in the countryside you take the same road thrice; when will that turbo be more useful, for early overtakes, or prolonging your lead later on?
It's clever how this is also applied to road signs. You can trash all the signs in lap one, but that leaves less guidance to tell you about corners in the remaining two laps. Only bummer is that this only affects the player; you don't see A.I. cars missing corners because there's no signs to inform them, but then again that might be asking too much from the N64.

The game definitely has negatives: there's really just 6 tracks to race on, music is super generic, the sound cuts out in a weird way in tunnels, framerate doesn't always hold it together, there's wonky collission physics when you hit other drivers, the Multiplayer Battle Mode feels like it took way more work than it was worth with this style of game, and the possibilities for recovery are so bad they just gave you a button to reset to the main road.
However, it nails a sensation of speed and makes the best out of a game with just one theme (New Beetle cars) by adding outlandish levels. It holds up a lot better than things like Top Gear Rally/Overdrive, Cruis'n Exotica, and MRC... I don't know that I love it 20 years down the line, but if you're going back to 3rd party N64 racers, you're better off playing this than San Francisco Rush or Roadsters.

P.S.: Bonus, I found the 2003 thread on this game here. (https://nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=1191.msg4780#msg4780)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 04, 2019, 08:58:40 PM
The Legend of Zelda (NES Classic)

I did it. I finally beat the original Zelda and thus can cross it off my video game shame list. I also finally used the NES Classic for more than a lark.

In 2019, The Legend of Zelda isn't good. I have no nostalgia for it. I imagine if you didn't play this in 1986, you have no idea why anyone ever liked it. I can see how influential the game was and how subsequent games (in the series and gaming in general) used it as a starting point. Unfortunately, The Legend of Zelda is filled with an egregious amount of baffling design decisions including but not limited to:

1. Early game difficulty is clownfuck lunacy.*
2. Advancing through the game without a guide means randomly burning bushes and bombing sides of mountains.
3. Every dungeon requires randomly bombing walls.
4. Wizrobes suck a menagerie of dicks.
5. Poorly translated "hints" are obtuse at best. Seriously, they're like "There's a rock somewhere."
6. Ganon is invisible for most of the final boss fight. You have to stab blindly around the room and manage to hit him five times before having the opportunity to kill him with a silver arrow. (It may even be possible to enter the final boss room without getting the silver arrows).

I blame these on the fact that the game was released in 1986. For its time, The Legend of Zelda was probably amazing. I just can't appreciate it in the same way. Seeing Nintendo overcorrect for the next what, 30 years by holding players hands has a little more context now.

*It is possible to become overpowered for a bit. The Legend of Zelda is poorly gated. Once you have the raft and stepladder, you can pretty much go anywhere.

This is my second attempt at playing The Legend of Zelda. I made it through like five dungeons back in 2003 on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition Promotional Disc. I gave up because I just didn't know what to do. I have no idea how anyone ever beat this game before the internet. This time, I consulted a guide often and still had to scum save my way through. Nope, not sorry.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on December 05, 2019, 11:06:59 AM
So a while ago Broodwars mentioned Beetle Adventure Racing! as a racing game which did things a bit differently than the usual fare. I've since dug up the cart and yeah, it's quite a bit better than you'd expect from a licensed product.
While I don't agree with a lot of statements you made in this post (it looks like you're back on my list again, bummer!), it's at least nice to see someone else appreciating this overlooked game. The Beetle Battle mode was a bit odd and probably wasn't worthwhile adding over one or two more tracks. I've never been very into racers, but I can still have some fun with some of them with the right elements, and the right elements are these sorts of quirky racers. I haven't liked most racers after the N64; as the technology increased, they started getting more and more realistic and boring.

The Legend of Zelda (NES Classic)
I did it. I finally beat the original Zelda and thus can cross it off my video game shame list.
Conglaturation! ! !
I completed both quests of this game without the Internet. Not that it was easy or anything, and it took a while, but it's doable. I understand your bewilderment however, as for me, I have no idea how anyone could complete Castlevania II: Simon's Quest without help. One important thing to note about Zelda 1 is that it originally came with paper materials such as maps and item descriptions which were especially helpful for the beginning, so the game wasn't as obtuse as it now appears on modern releases. I also didn't play the game in 1986 (there's no way I could have!) and I still like it, though I think part of that is there isn't much else out there quite like it. I think the types of aspects people like about games will determine if this one is still worth playing, and honestly for most people I don't think it will be, but some people may still like it like I do.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 06, 2019, 10:59:11 PM
I also didn't play the game in 1986 (there's no way I could have!)
Not with that attitude.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on December 07, 2019, 11:07:04 AM
3. Every dungeon requires randomly bombing walls.
Oh! I had forgotten to comment on this, but this isn't true. The first four dungeons can be completed without bombing any walls, as can the sixth one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 07, 2019, 02:01:19 PM
3. Every dungeon requires randomly bombing walls.
Oh! I had forgotten to comment on this, but this isn't true. The first four dungeons can be completed without bombing any walls, as can the sixth one.

I also think the "randomly" qualifier isn't entirely true.

Bomb spots aren't visibly marked in this game like in later Zelda titles, but (at least inside dungeons; the overworld is different) you can usually get a good idea of where to bomb based on what the map looks like. You still need to do some trial and error, but it's not completely randomly.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on December 07, 2019, 03:18:19 PM
The maps in the last three dungeons require bombing through some walls to reach them, so there's still a lot of quesswork before they're found. That said, another thing about bombing walls in dungeons is that entrances to rooms are always in the center of a wall, so there's only one spot to try. It isn't as bad as having a whole mountainside outdoors.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 07, 2019, 04:59:04 PM
Ehh, I think y’all are being just a little pedantic.

This was the first time I completed The Legend of Zelda. I don’t remember anything about my first real attempt in 2003/2004. That said, yes, the bomb-able section is always the center of a dungeon wall. No one knows that at first. If you haven’t found the dungeon map, you’re just bombing walls to check. At least the blast area is pretty large. Also, Link can only carry a maximum of 16 bombs by the end of the game, and they’re not easy to come by in dungeons especially when bombing walls just in case. If it makes y’all feel better, I’ll amend #3:

3. Ever having to bomb an unmarked section of a wall at any point in any dungeon in order to advance in the game at all is baloney.

Ultimately, the point is that this isn’t good game design. The Legend of Zelda Is just full of stuff like this.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on December 07, 2019, 05:36:50 PM
We probably are, and I do think your criticisms are valid even if I disagree with many of them. The reason I chose that specific quote is because it's factually incorrect, so it felt like you were trying to exaggerate the game's issues.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 07, 2019, 06:19:32 PM
In my defense, I wrote that original post almost immediately after defeating Ganon so my irritation at the game was fresh. The dungeons are mostly pretty short so perhaps they blended together for me. Some rooms with a secret bomb-able wall create an additional entrance to other rooms, merely have Rupees, or hide an old man (presumably quasi-Cask of Amontillado sealed in a room for reasons unexplained) giving vague advice. Some of them may have seemed required because I found them during my play through. My bad. I think the amended statement stands though.

Playing The Legend of Zelda in 2019 affected so much of the experience for me especially after having played later games in the series which benefit from decades of advancements in game design. I liked seeing where it all started from even if I won’t play it again.

I’m on the fence over playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. If I complete it, I’ll feel compelled to go back to Spirit Tracks as I stopped playing midway through.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on December 07, 2019, 06:47:56 PM
No worries, that makes sense, I know how stream-of-consciousness posts can go. And if it weren't clear, I have no beef with your amended statement. Thanks for being understanding.

While Zelda II is mostly linear and doesn't contain as many opaque elements as Zelda 1, there are still a number of esoteric design qualities to it which will likely lead to guide-dang-it moments. Judging from your thoughts on Zelda 1 and some other retro games, I think you've not going to like the game either, albeit possibly to a lesser degree. It's also still one of my fave NES games, so that right there should be enough of a warning sign to steer clear.

I'm curious, do you know what it was about Spirit Tracks which made you stop? I actually enjoyed that game overall, however I do have some issues with it and I could understand certain elements totally driving someone away.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 07, 2019, 07:42:00 PM
Completing Zelda II is more for completion’s sake. I just want to say I did it. As far as how much I’ll like it, I may have simply missed the boat on NES. SNES was my first console so I tend to be more forgiving toward games from (or inspired by) that generation. That said, I plan to eventually give the Sega Genesis Mini a fair shake. I’ve had the wireless controller for a while now. Before that, the next game I want to cross off my shame list is Super Mario Bros. I never beat 8-4. I haven’t tried in almost 25 years.

Regarding Spirit Tracks, let me backtrack a bit. I liked Phantom Hourglass but never felt the urge to replay it. I don’t remember my thought process at the time. However, it’s entirely possible I only bought Spirit Tracks because it was a new Zelda game. That said, for the part of the gameplay I enjoyed from Phantom Hourglass (dungeon exploration), I didn’t think Spirit Tracks offered enough new concepts to justify its existence. It may have simply ran its course for me. I got to the midway point then just stopped. I didn’t enjoy the train parts.

Also, the setting and story elements didn’t appeal to me. It felt very out of place for the series. Magical train tracks? All the train-pun names? Granted, I have at least one shame for not catching that Marin is a nautical reference in Link’s Awakening. Still, that seemed far more inconspicuous than Anjean of the Lokomo tribe (unless Marin’s last name is LaSwimfin-Sailsmore). I’m sure that bothered me personally more than most people.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on December 12, 2019, 07:59:57 PM
Super Mario Bros. (NES Classic)

Finally beat 8-4.

I never had an NES growing up. I don’t remember how the controller felt. I didn’t take the one out of the NES Classic box because I read that the cord is hilariously short. The 8bitdo wireless controller feels stiff and sometimes caused unnecessary deaths. Not sure if it’s going for authenticity.

Super Mario Bros. holds up. I don’t have too much to say about it. I’m glad I finally beat it just to say I did. Go me. Go team. Team work makes the dream work.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 13, 2019, 12:56:42 PM
Super Mario Bros. (NES Classic)

Finally beat 8-4.
...

Yay!  Congrats on taking down one of the true classics and scratching that game off your list.

... Zelda II ...

Made it pretty far in Zelda 2 once or twice before, but can never manage to keep caring until the end.
It's hard, a bit obtuse, and (for me) not much fun.

Nope, this is one game that will never get off my list of shame.
I'm not going to try again, even with save scumming as an option.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on December 13, 2019, 04:16:33 PM
... Zelda II ...

Made it pretty far in Zelda 2 once or twice before, but can never manage to keep caring until the end.
It's hard, a bit obtuse, and (for me) not much fun.

Nope, this is one game that will never get off my list of shame.
I'm not going to try again, even with save scumming as an option.

The easiest way I found to beat Zelda 2 is after beating the first temple boss, jump over the spot where Link normally puts the jewel that turns the whole thing to stone so it doesn't happen and you'll just exit the temple but are able to replay it.  Then just keep replaying the first temple for the next half hour and you'll be able to gain a few levels, and always level up attack power.  This way when I get to the swamp and 2nd temple, I'm able to kill most enemies in 1-2 hits, and I repeat the same thing in the 2nd temple where I don't turn it to stone so I can replay it a few more times to keep leveling up my attack power.

This way when I finally reach the Death Mountain maze which normally would give me such grief, most of the enemies die really fast now, which as a result is letting me level up even more since I'm not getting Game Overs as often as I once was.  Then when I finally reach a wall where I'm not getting enough exp anymore to level up, I can revisit the early temples to put finally put in the stone and get an instant level up.

So basically anyone that want to beat Zelda 2, if you're willing to do some grinding in the 1st and 2nd dungeon, and be sure to max your Attack power as early as possible, it'll go a long ways for the rest of the game.  Magic doesn't become that important until the 2nd half of the game so don't bother leveling that early on and Life is also pointless since if your attack power is too weak, the tougher enemies will take so long to kill that your extra health will end up being meaningless anyway.  Doing this is what finally allowed me to beat Zelda 2 and makes the later half of the game so much more manageable.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 20, 2019, 11:28:33 AM
Got my first ending after recruiting all three allies and defeating the final boss once on Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (3DS).  ...

... and now I've gotten every ending, and beaten the game in most of the different permutations available.
Curse of the Moon remains a great game, and the deeper I got into it, the more I appreciated the design they put in. Some points can feel tough or cheap, especially if you aren't doing a full character run so have limited options to defend yourself against specific enemies, but in the end everything is fair as you can and will master the various challenges with some effort.


Anyway, even though this is the game I've been picking up on-and-off for the past few weeks, I really wanted to check and see how people have done with completing games in 2019.  According to records in my backlog, it looks like I beat 24 games this year (some were short, some weren't) which seems like a nice total.

My goal is to find time for two more during the holidays - probably short/retro games that only take a couple of hours, or maybe something already in progress. That would mean I acquired the same number of games I beat, making this the first net neutral year for my backlog in a long time!

Did anyone else have gaming-related goals for the year, and did you come close to reaching them?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 21, 2019, 07:29:34 PM
It's freezing and I've had some PTO to burn at the end of the year, so I've played through some games.

Jedi Fallen Order (PC)

This game seems to have been picked over quite a bit already, so I'll limit my remarks. In one way, it was a relief to have a relatively focused single-player game like this available from a big publisher. They seem to be an endangered species.

On the other hand, it's kind of a lousy game. I'm not yet quite deadened enough to not enjoy moving through a 3D environment like this, but lots of it is just semi-automated window dressing. The whole Dark Souls thing also feel weirdly divorced from that kind of adventure gameplay. The enemy part could have easily been replaced by a beat-em-up system in the vein of Force Unleashed and it probably would have been a better experience. The mook fighting sucks in this game, and the enemy respawning mechanic makes zero sense in context. The Sekiro-style duels against bosses are better, but there's only a handful of them in the game, three of which are the same. And my god, fighting animals blows.

Devil May Cry 5 (PC):

So, I played through the first game on PS2 when it came out at a friend's house, and remember really liking it. It felt kind of like a 3D Zelda game skewed toward combat. I hadn't played anything like it before.

Years later, I played DMC 4 on 360, and mainly remember that it seemed to have little in common with the first game, and was kinda boring.

Year later still, and 5 seems to have little to do with either 4 or the first game. Gothic castle to, like, gothic underworld or something with 4, to modern city and vans and **** in 5? Maybe I'm just forgetting.

Anyhow, it came across to me as Bayonetta for boys, right down to the biblical sin concepts manifesting as creatures, with the same tiresome campyness, but executed more insufferably. The levels feel very bare and repetitive, and switching between characters, in combination with the extensive upgrade lists and convoluted EX mechanics, made it feel chaotic and strangely futile. I suppose you're meant to replay it a bunch for better scores and have everything unlocked, but I like to run through this type of game once as an arcadey beat-em-up evolution. (Not counting Viewtiful Joe, which is the best of this genre, and the only one I perfect-scored.) In that view, I found Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 perfectly enjoyable, with involving spectacle, well implemented gameplay variety, and tight pacing. DMC 5 by contrast had loading screens between menu options, and loading screens in between asinine cutscenes.


Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch):


I was optimistic about this, despite finding that Dark Moon soured pretty badly in the last third, and overall I think it's a pretty great game. It has tons of personality and bespoke interactive elements, which mostly makes up for a fundamental gameplay system that grows somewhat stale by the end. (Oh hey, this thing spins!)

The bosses are quite fun as set-pieces (muah to the dance floor battle), and it was rewarding to go back through the floors to clean up the missing jewels with a comprehensive knowledge of the game's design language.

Certainly the best game in the series, and it's hard to envision where it goes from here. Smash Bros. trailer ghost form?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on December 28, 2019, 12:36:47 PM
Beat Plants Vs Zombies (DS) and was mildly disappointed in the base game experience. There are a couple of relatively easy strategies that seem to be hugely overpowered, and the game didn't ever do much to really challenge or switch things up. Some new stuff opened up afterwards, but I'm not super excited to go back for more... maybe if there were a way to speed up the levels (which might exist, but I didn't know)?

Also finished Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (Wii U), but only with the bad ending. Going to spend some more time exploring that game to see if I can squeeze out the better ending, since it's been an enjoyable romp. Really do love the style, and find the controls and level design are pretty tight.

(Update - Got the good ending too. It's much more satisfying.)   :)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on January 02, 2020, 06:22:01 PM
Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)

Well what better way to end the decade then by playing one of the most talked about games of said decade.  After beating it I can certainly see why it became so popular and inspired many.  It was a very enjoyable game and I really liked the world design and sheer variety of enemies.  But I am left somewhat puzzles by many of the descriptions many use to describe the game.

I mean the game was challenging, but no where near the meme people use to say "this is the Dark Souls of whatever."  The game usually has several different paths the player can choose to go at any time, and if I was having trouble at one part of the game, I'd leave that place and go someplace else and the new place would be easier and some of the items and equipment I'd find at the new place would then help me back at where I was struggling at.  Same thing with managing my equipment and waiting until I hit a tricky section to start upgrading the weapons and armor that would suite me best.

Now dont get me wrong, I still died a lot and had many rage moments throughout the game so it's quite challenging.  But for the last decade I've heard so many people act like videogames had become so easy for the last 20 years and Dark Souls made them challenging again which is just complete BS after finally playing the game.  Yes the game doesn't have a lower difficulty setting which become standard in a lot of games, but many games with difficulty settings have harder difficulty modes that are comparable or even harder then this game.

So yeah, I had a great time with the game itself but feel many have misrepresented what the game actually is.  It's hard, but no where near this legendary level many make it out to be.  The beginning felt overwhelming at times but once I got used to the controls and how the varies aspects of the gameplay worked, I had a blast from there.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 02, 2020, 11:59:03 PM
Nice job on Dark Souls!


Finished off Trace Memory (DS) (aka: Another Code) and rather enjoyed the game.

Point-and-click puzzle/adventure games are almost always something I enjoy, and this game from Cing didn't disappoint. It's very short, but that's probably good because some of the technical aspects haven't aged particularly well. There is some stuff I could look for in a second run through - I didn't solve all the mysteries and left some key story points hanging - but I'm not sure if I'll go back or just move forward to the Wii sequel...

Maybe 2020 is a good year to finally play through Hotel Dusk and Last Window also!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on January 05, 2020, 11:06:15 PM
Devil May Cry 5 (PC):
In that view, I found Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 perfectly enjoyable, with involving spectacle, well implemented gameplay variety, and tight pacing. DMC 5 by contrast had loading screens between menu options, and loading screens in between asinine cutscenes.
You probably forgot that W101 has just as many loading screens in between chapters.

DMC5 is a brilliant game, imo and it's one of only two games of 2019 that i actually enjoyed and the only one i played past several hours (the other being Mario Maker 2).

Playing DMC5 for hundreds of hours across two platforms (Steam and Xbox) offset the disappointment from Astral Chain which i couldn't even finish...

As to my games

Luigi Mansion (3DS):

I've had 2nd game and bought a remake of the first years ago by now. Release of the 3rd game motivated me enough to actually play and finish these games.

First game is a nice adventure type game. Some decent camera tricks here and there, some very cool environments (space room was very cool).

Collectathon element with Boo hunting gets a bit old by the end.

I liked it, though maybe there was an expectation of something more substantial if you go by nostalgia-adled fans.

Luigi Mansion 2: Dark Moon (3DS):
Now this one is a real deal.

Pretty much everything is dramatically improved here: animation, scale, design.

First starting missions are paced kinda bad -- they're way too long and have you going back and forth between very few rooms for no other reason than to show you cutscene that then unlocks a door for you to progress. But after that game kinda gets into the rhythm and improves both on the pacing of each individual missions and designs of actual environments. Some of the game's best level design is in later half which is kinda of a shame. Two of the bosses that end chapters are very bad (ice sled boss and the ladder guessing game), but thankfully they're one and done affair and usually you also get 3 starts on them on first try.

Scoring all over the levels and looking for boos is actually fun this time around -- you have to look out for things that are notably missing in the environment to find boos. I was actually motivated enough to find all Boos on all levels. Didn't really felt the need to 3-star rank all levels but i definitely see how one could get into the groove of 100% everything in that game. Jewel collectibles are very fun too.

I REALLY liked it. I liked it so much -- this is the game that ruined my circle pad -- the rubber thing came off exposing cracked plastic nub behind it. I still played and enjoyed the game with just that nub.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on January 10, 2020, 09:11:29 PM
Devil May Cry 5 (PC):
In that view, I found Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 perfectly enjoyable, with involving spectacle, well implemented gameplay variety, and tight pacing. DMC 5 by contrast had loading screens between menu options, and loading screens in between asinine cutscenes.
You probably forgot that W101 has just as many loading screens in between chapters.


Did I forget W101 having long loading scenes between basic menu options, or between cutscenes within its (long) chapters? I recall everything being perfectly fluid inside the actual episodes of the game and its UI, but perhaps I have rose-tinted glasses on.

Another issue I have with DMC5 that I forgot to bring up is that I find Dante himself kinda unpleasant to play as. He felt sluggish. I much preferred Nero and V, and found it nettling that the more enjoyable playable characters got sidelined in the last third.

I hear you on the Dark Moon 3DS ergonomics, though; I made permanent indents in the circle pads with my thumbnails.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 27, 2020, 09:32:59 PM
The Kore Gang (Wii) was pretty uneven.

At it's best, the offbeat humor hits and everything feels like a love letter to early 3D platformers where you explore large stages, collect little macguffins to unlock bonus artwork, and chase multi-level goals to reach the next stage. In it's worst moments, you'll be cursing the terrible camera, mediocre controls, bolted on story that never quite manages to commit far enough, and bouts of uninspired level design.

When this game released (a long time ago now) some people were pretty excited, because it was a project that was almost a decade coming and seemed likely to be cancelled. A few have called it a hidden gem. Sadly, I think it falls short of that label and is better described as an oddity -- something best suited for people with patience for old-school design foibles and projects that didn't receive quite enough polish before getting released. If that does describe you then dive in; there are redeeming features and some fun to be had along the way.

Glad I played it. Glad it's done. Not getting rid of the game, but don't see myself going back for a second play anytime soon.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 07, 2020, 01:28:01 AM
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Switch)

A worthy successor to Castlevania.

The gameplay is on point, exactly what I was expecting and hoping for. I spent over 60 hours with the game just doing everything such as upgrading rank and grade of shards, preparing food, crafting weapons/armor, mastering techniques etc.

Performance was mostly fine, a few noticeable hiccups where the frame rate dropped. It was still mostly fine. I can only imagine how bad performance was on Switch last year before the updates.

The graphics are a mixed bag. They don’t look horrible per se (mostly weirdly dark to hide some of the visual downgrades), but they’re definitely worse than what Switch is capable of. The game would certainly look better under a more seasoned team developing specifically for the platform instead of scaling. Once I noticed there were no shadows, for example, it was impossible for me to unsee that.

The story is typically forgettable so nothing new for a Koji Igarashi game. I’m okay with it though I think the world was rich enough to do more with. There is one decent twist toward the end of the game. Otherwise, the plot is full of tropes and mostly just there to give Miriam a reason to kill monsters.

Speaking of, I liked Miriam as a character and hope to see her again in a sequel. ArtPlay could stand to tone down her boobs. Not gratuitous, just unnecessary. Miriam’s voice actress, Erica Lindbeck, did well though her accent was woefully inconsistent. David Hayter as Zangetsu was... not great. He used his Solid Snake voice then added a bad Japanese accent. Hayter was part of the original Kickstarter campaign, originally supposed to voice Gebel. I get it. Gebel is barely in the game so if Hayter was supposed to be a major draw, giving him a bigger role makes sense. Still, I would’ve preferred a Japanese actor to voice Zangetsu if everyone just insisted the character must have a Japanese accent.

I was particularly disappointed in the final boss. It neither felt like a final boss nor held a candle to IGA’s other games. For example, Portrait of Ruin was the first game in which Dracula and Death are fought together. Bael was surprisingly tame design-wise.

Ultimately, I had a lot of fun. It has been a long time since I played a good Metroidvania. Who better to bring me back to the genre than the master himself. I’ll definitely play it again some day, preferably without the scaled down graphics and lower frame rate.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 14, 2020, 07:43:40 AM
Assassin's Creed: Origins (Xbox One X):

I bought Origins with my Xbox One more than a year ago now. Have been playing it in spurs and finally finished it (plus expansions) last month.

One of the new things in this one is a new Skyrim-like compass-line system showing you directions to the icons on the map. Even beside that fact that i usually disable mini-maps and other UI elements like these, i never understood how to make sense of these compass-lines. Especially now that i have OLED tv that is prone to burn-in, it's even more important for me to remove all static icons. At first i tried to remove all UI altogether but you still need enemy silhouettes and health bars on for combat, so i kept only that. There was still an icon-reminder that i have an ability point and for some reason you can't disable it. This is bad because some of the later abilities require more than one point and you eventually run out of abilities that cost only 1 -- so this icon might stay there for quite a while.

Without minimap and all kinds of nagging reminders of what you need to do and where you need to go, game looks less "check-the-box"-y than it really is.

Eagle vision in previous Assassin's Creed games was basically just a Batman-vision ripoff with weird limitations, like in Unity you could only keep it up for 2 seconds tops. But someone in Origins team came up with a fantastic idea about "eagle vision". In Origins, when you press eagle vision button, camera is yanked up high and you get a literal EAGLE vision (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1099588248870027264), so you can scout around from bird's eye view perspective. You don't have to bring up map every time you need to check up your immediate surroundings nor does the world turns into magical blue-hue allowing to see through walls and automatically highlighting things of note. New eagle vision is simultaneously more "realistic", more useful AND gives player more agency.

It even makes more sense lore-wise! Eagle was a symbol of the series since Assassin's Creed 1 and each game had eagle as visual element symbolizing the main character, and only in Origins eagles actually became useful -- as camera-men, like Lakitu is for Mario 64. It's hilarious how simple this idea is.

Eagle feathers also were a part of the mythology of the series, and they were brought them back too and re-connected to the myth of Judgement of Maat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat). Very smart.

Setting-wise i had doubts at first, because despite that the game celebrating the history of Egypt it is set during the times of Caesar and Cleopatra which is thousands years AFTER peak of Egyptian kingdoms when they actually were building pyramids and Sphinx and stuff. Egypt as a Roman province interested me less because we kinda got too much of Roman stuff in movies and shows. Still when i started playing i actually really much enjoyed a mix of cultures represented in the game: Egyptian and Roman but also Greek. It kinda reminded me of the first AC game where cities had different architecture, religion and languages.

Diversity of nature: from deserts of Egypt to lush mountainous forests of Lybia to flooded riverbanks of Nile. Culture-wise, it would be all kinds of buildings and artifacts from (already by that time) ancient Egyptian Pyramids to Ptolemaic Lighthouse of Alexandria to glimpses of Roman domination over both Egyptian and Greek legacies -- there are a lot of sights to see and climb around.

After i finishing the game, i also fully completed Discovery tour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jiq1o1NJXY). I especially loved fantastic detailed illustrations and maps made by professional archaeologist Jean Claude Golvin (https://jeanclaudegolvin.com/en/project/egypt/) used as reference. Fascinating stuff and i like that several times they specifically note how they go against historical facts to deliver a better game. At first i thought i will only do the parts required for the achievements but ended up doing them all.

Previously, Assassin's Creed game had similar missions like these where you were being shown a normal daily life of people of that historical era (https://www.supercheats.com/assassins-creed-iii/walkthrough/encyclopedia-of-the-common-man), i really enjoyed the one at the end of Assasin's Creed 3 because it was a conclusion to you building this village and bringing these people there at different times during campaign and as a reward you got to see them going about their daily life. Kinda like Tarrey Town quest.

Discovery mode is like an expansion of this idea and seems like a great re-use of historical material they collected for the game. It is a great mode if you don't actually want to play the game and just want to chill out and gawk at the sights and maybe read some historical factoids (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1218832093607813125).

RPG combat and all the pointless loot management is really annoying at first, combat is still pretty bad. Enemy levels are really prohibitive at the start of a game during the first hour of a game where you don't have armour, weapons and abilities. A random soldier one-hitting you is just annoying. Of all things they fixed after Unity fiasco that RPG things was one thing that they unfortunately kept in.

Climbing is pretty good (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1102174616288677888), both in the cities and the nature. The way how you can climb any rocks is kinda similar of BOTW. The mission design also took a few notes Breath of the Wild -- Origins is way more exploratory and trusting of the player. In previous games -- when you get a mission -- game would just plop an icon at the exact location on the map but in Origins mission givers would just say: "go to the west, there is cave there and do this and that". It is so much more immersive to navigate the space yourself and just look around without the game just leading you like a sheep towards an icon on a map.

Modern segment of the plot is becoming smaller and smaller with each new iteration it seems -- it's just one small cave this time around. However i still really enjoyed sci-fi time-travel segments with weird-ass visions inside pyramids and sphinx. I know i am the minority here but genuinely love that element of the series and i'm sad that they listen to their playerbase and keep reducing it. Egyptian pyramids have always been a magnet for all kinds of "ancient aliens", "secret society", "super advanced precursor civilization" conspiracies so it was fun for AC that is so seeped in all these conspiracies to finally go into the pyramids.

Assasin's Creed looks amazing (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1102152248447197184), plays fine, Discovery tour is a nice extra and is fun in by itself. RPG levels-based combat is still annoying at times, but at worst you can lower combat difficulty and enjoy other parts of the game -- exploring and climbing around. A fantastic reinvigoration of the series. Very polished and a great game all around.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on February 14, 2020, 09:12:26 PM
Strongly disagree with respected Azeke, particularly about the climbing in Origns^

Disco Elysium (PC):

I bit the bullet on this after it reared its head on the end-of-the-year lists.

It makes a strong impression in its opening hours, when its D&D overlay is still intimidating and when you have seemingly urgent benchmarks to hit with hotel fees.

Unfortunately, the actual gameplay obstacle gets neutralized after a few in-game days, and you're left with a "story" experience that incorporates an abstruse 20-category stat system to mildly direct your narrative.

Add that the game desperately needs a waypoint system, and has a needlessly clunky tool interface.

As for the story itself? I guess it's cool to see political consciousness in a video game, but I struggle to recall an actual message.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on February 18, 2020, 06:53:49 PM
Blazing Chrome (Switch)

So yeah, this game is basically Contra, but that's a good thing because it's awesome.  Bloodstained got so much attention for bringing Castlevania back since IGA was involved, but Blazing Chrome should really get the same attention since it managed to do the same for Contra, without any former Konami employees involved making what this games team did even more impressive in my eyes.  The level design in top notch and they really nailed gameplay.  The sprite work is also amazing and legit looks like what a true 32-bit game from the mid 90's would have looked like.

Seriously, anyone that misses Contra should not ignore this game. 


Oniken (Switch)

So the developer behind Blazing Chrome is a Brazilian indie studio called Joymasher.  This is actually their first game that originally came out in 2012, but it also on Switch, with some sale having it for only a few dollars.  After playing this it's no surprise they would eventually make something as awesome as Blazing Chrome.  Like that game, they completely nailed the look and feel of late 80's/early 90's NES action games.  It reminds me a lot of Vice: Project Doom which I played for the first time on the NES Switch Online last summer.  It's really hard and some of the latter levels will get you cussing, but the game saves after each stage so I'd say it's more fair then the NES actions games it takes inspiration from.

So yeah, Joymasher is the real deal.  Oniken and Blazing Chrome show these guys know what made these older action games so great and have been able to faithfully replicate the experience.  I should also add they made another game called Odallus that is between Oniken and Blazing Chrome, but this one I'm a little more mixed about.


Odallus: The Dark Call (Switch)

I actually beat this game last summer but since I recently finish Oniken and Blazing Chrome, might as well give my thoughts on there other game as well.  If Blazing Chrome was their take on Contra, this game was their Castlevania.  My only problem is they're trying to do both older level based Castlevania with some Metroidvania elements and it doesn't work as well.  Some of the levels feel kind of barren and the exploration not very rewarding.  One level in particular I don't know if it's the Switch port or the other versions have the same problem but feels like it wasn't even programed properly with some spot literally making you fall through the floor and the boss causing the screen to start glitching like crazy.

Now I will say about this game, once you beat it you unlock a Veteran mode which does greatly improve it.  Levels not only have more enemies, they increased the variety as well with several new ones that will only appear on Veteran.  They also added some new parts to the levels as well, like in one where you just randomly find better armor in Normal, there's an actually challenging platforming section to get it this time.  I went and did some research on this game and Veteran mode is something that was added later after the original debut, so it makes sense it improves the biggest issue by making levels more action packed with a greater variety of enemies.  Veteran mode also has most of your ability upgrades found in the early levels so you can't easily miss them like on Normal, making exploration not feel as tedious as Normal mode was. 

Of course the really glitchy water level was still glitchy, so hopefully that's been patched since I played it last summer, because that level alone will sadly turn a lot of people off.  I mean it's still beatable, but you just have to be prepared to put up with some BS, which is too bad because the rest of the game on Veteran mode at least is a great Castlevania style action game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 15, 2020, 12:50:03 PM
Xeodrifter (3DS) - Great budget title; it's short and has less enemy diversity than I would like... but is quick and fun to play. I'm ok with bite-sized games, and this is a good one.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on March 15, 2020, 10:09:04 PM
ICO (PS2)

Been a while since I beat a game.  ICO is one of those titles that I intended to get shortly after getting a PS2 because I had heard good things.  But I never got around to it and then thought I should get the PS3 version that comes with Shadow of the Colossus but never got around to that either.  Finally I got it for Christmas from my brother.  I didn't get a PS2 until 2007 but still we're talking 12 years of procrastinating on a game that is easy to find used for a cheap price.

It's a great game and a very unique one.  I can't quite think of any game that plays like it.  The game is essentially a puzzle platformer where you need to figure out how to get from point A to point B.  You're trying to help this princess escape a castle and she is a lot more limited in what abilities she has so you need to get to point B and then figure out how to provide a path that she can maneuver.  It's quite short and could probably be beaten in a weekend but as an adult that fits my schedule quite well.

My one complaint is that the combat isn't very fun and seems tacked on, like the designers felt a game has to have combat.  If you go too far away from the princess, and at some scripted points, these shadow guys appear to take her away and you need to fight them.  These parts are pretty much just hacking away at enemies and are pretty tedious.  Also remember this game is from 2001 and 3D cameras were still pretty rough.  The game uses a fixed camera angle in each room but you can rotate it with the right analog stick.  But this isn't a full 3D camera, it moves on a swivel as if you are actually turning a positioned camera and it will eventually stop in either direction.  For the most part this isn't an issue with platforming as it shows a good angle for each jump but it becomes a problem when fighting these shadow guys.  They will grab the princess and fly her to a portal that they're spawning from and you need to pull her out before she completely sinks in or it's Game Over.  Often these damn portals are off camera and you have to blindly guess where they are and the time is tight enough that you will not get there in time unless you take the most direct route.  I felt that was quite cheap and irritating.  Personally I would have been quite content if the game was just about the puzzle platforming without any enemies.

The last hour or so does not let you save.  It still has checkpoints so you don't have to do the entire segment over again if you die but you obviously can't turn your PS2 off.  I came upon this part about 10 minutes before I was planning on cooking dinner so I had to delay my meal while I finished the game.  This doesn't ruin the game but it is something to be aware of if you play so that you can plan your schedule ahead of time.  The game also required me to look at the manual to figure things out, including how you save which is not obvious.

I seem to be pointing out a lot of flaws but I really enjoyed this game a lot.  It's hard to describe what makes it good as the gameplay is just fun and requires a lot of thinking.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: M.K.Ultra on March 17, 2020, 11:17:29 AM
ICO (PS2)
I seem to be pointing out a lot of flaws but I really enjoyed this game a lot.  It's hard to describe what makes it good as the gameplay is just fun and requires a lot of thinking.

Are planning to play Shadow of the Colossus and/or The Last Guardian next? I highly recommend both if you enjoyed ICO.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on March 17, 2020, 11:39:28 AM
ICO (PS2)
I seem to be pointing out a lot of flaws but I really enjoyed this game a lot.  It's hard to describe what makes it good as the gameplay is just fun and requires a lot of thinking.
Are planning to play Shadow of the Colossus and/or The Last Guardian next? I highly recommend both if you enjoyed ICO.

I don't have a PS4 so no Last Guardian for the time being.  My brother has the PS2 version of Shadow of the Colossus so I could borrow it from him some time.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on March 29, 2020, 10:26:47 PM
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)

Bought this one off a friend quite a while ago.  I think this is honestly the first time I've played my Wii U since Breath of the Wild came out.  Had to do an update which I can't stand about recent console generations.  I dread the next time I turn on my PS3.

Anyway, Captain Toad initially seemed very short since I had the credits rolling after a few hours.  Ah, turns out there are multiple episodes so the game is much longer than it originally lets on.  I finished the game for real today on what I think is the second weekend playing it.  There are some bonus levels still to do but they require a ridiculous amount of Gems (optional collectables in each level) to unlock and the levels remaining are existing levels with new challenges.  I found myself feeling like I wasn't having fun anymore so I decided to stop.  I've beaten the game and that's sufficient.  I don't typically do 100% because I get bored or the extras are too difficult.

I liked it.  It's a good thinking game but also requires some timing and reflexes to complete.  At times your instinct is to just jump like in a Mario game but you can't so you have unlearn what you've been doing for so long.  I still want to play it actually, I just don't have more new levels aside from the remixed bonus ones.  My only real complaint is that there is some touchscreen stuff that you need to do with enemies breathing down your neck and I find that to be a huge pain.  I'm assuming the Switch version provides some way to do that with normal controls with no touchscreen in docked mode.  Also the camera moves with the motion of the gamepad so if you don't hold the controller still the camera will move on you.  You can also control the camera with the second analog stick, which is what I did, but you can't turn off the motion camera if you decide to not use it which is the typical Wii era bullshit that drove me nuts for 10 years.  I made it work and still had fun so it didn't break the game but there is no excuse for that nonsense.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on March 30, 2020, 12:34:38 AM
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)

Bought this one off a friend quite a while ago.  I think this is honestly the first time I've played my Wii U since Breath of the Wild came out.  Had to do an update which I can't stand about recent console generations.  I dread the next time I turn on my PS3.

Anyway, Captain Toad initially seemed very short since I had the credits rolling after a few hours.  Ah, turns out there are multiple episodes so the game is much longer than it originally lets on.  I finished the game for real today on what I think is the second weekend playing it.  There are some bonus levels still to do but they require a ridiculous amount of Gems (optional collectables in each level) to unlock and the levels remaining are existing levels with new challenges.  I found myself feeling like I wasn't having fun anymore so I decided to stop.  I've beaten the game and that's sufficient.  I don't typically do 100% because I get bored or the extras are too difficult.

I would say Captain Toad is the kind of game I think is greatly enhanced by going for 100%.  There's a lot a secrets and tricks through the levels that you wont even notice just by playing it regularly.  Of course be warned, if you 100% the game you'll unlock the final level which is insanely difficult.  It consist of 50 rooms that are randomly generated each time you play so memorization will not help you.  It basically becomes a Roguelike at this point and the later half of rooms are intense because you have to think fast because they have a lot of enemies as well as those mummy's chasing you the whole time.

So this game does have a lot of value to it if your looking for a good challenge.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on March 30, 2020, 06:57:44 AM
Captain Toad is probably the only game I've 100%'ed and I had a blast. I'd be happy if we got a sequel at some point
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 30, 2020, 09:18:20 AM
...
Of course be warned, if you 100% the game you'll unlock the final level which is insanely difficult.  It consist of 50 rooms that are randomly generated each time you play so memorization will not help you.  It basically becomes a Roguelike at this point and the later half of rooms are intense because you have to think fast because they have a lot of enemies as well as those mummy's chasing you the whole time.
...

I remember playing the game all the way through, and feel like we probably got everything... but don't recall this roguelike part. Might have to go back and replay, because that sounds like fun. (Captain Toad in general was pretty fun and creative; I didn't find the main game to be difficult though, so it was kind of an "empty calories" experience as far as I can remember.)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on March 30, 2020, 06:27:03 PM
I remember playing the game all the way through, and feel like we probably got everything... but don't recall this roguelike part. Might have to go back and replay, because that sounds like fun. (Captain Toad in general was pretty fun and creative; I didn't find the main game to be difficult though, so it was kind of an "empty calories" experience as far as I can remember.)

It was called Mummy-Me Maze Forever.  You had to collect all the Super Gems for each level, and do all the Bonus Objectives for each level as well to unlock it.  It's this games equivalent to Perfect Run or Champions Road, but I'd say it's even harder since you can't memorize it since the block layout always changes, and you can't use a certain character or Tanooki suit to help.  It's also a lot longer then the other final levels since on average a successful run will take around 15 minutes to complete.  So if you've spent over 10 minutes and have reached the 40's then die, it's back to the first room.

I'd say about 1/3 of my total playtime on Captain Toad came from this level alone.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on March 30, 2020, 06:39:24 PM
I remember playing the game all the way through, and feel like we probably got everything... but don't recall this roguelike part. Might have to go back and replay, because that sounds like fun. (Captain Toad in general was pretty fun and creative; I didn't find the main game to be difficult though, so it was kind of an "empty calories" experience as far as I can remember.)

It was called Mummy-Me Maze Forever.  You had to collect all the Super Gems for each level, and do all the Bonus Objectives for each level as well to unlock it.  It's this games equivalent to Perfect Run or Champions Road, but I'd say it's even harder since you can't memorize it since the block layout always changes, and you can't use a certain character or Tanooki suit to help.  It's also a lot longer then the other final levels since on average a successful run will take around 15 minutes to complete.  So if you've spent over 10 minutes and have reached the 40's then die, it's back to the first room.

I'd say about 1/3 of my total playtime on Captain Toad came from this level alone.

That does ring a bell... but maybe we didn't actually play it very much after unlocking it.
By that point, I think we were all Toaded out.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on May 02, 2020, 02:35:51 AM
Oninaki - Switch

It's uhh something of a mixed bag. Not sure if it's the odd pacing of the writing or what but I keep getting the feeling that this game came out before it should have. The gameplay isn't terrible once you find your favorite daemons/attacks & grind their levels a bit. Heck, once I got my fav (Zaav) to around level 5 or 6 he becomes OP when manifesting against bosses at 200% affinity. 

As for the ending? Might be one of the most disappointing endings I ever got. Looked online & the other ones don't look much better. Can't say I feel the desire to 100% things at the moment but I did unlock all of Zaav's memories at least. Found the backstories of your daemons more interesting than the main plot myself so if I do jump back in it'll be to unlock a few others.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on May 10, 2020, 11:36:38 PM
Daemon X Machina - Switch

I'm a lover of mechs and the target audience for a game like this. I ended up having fun and the game does have a base gameplay that feels good. The graphical style is also really nice, it's stylised in all the right ways and there's a little bit of environmental destruction although not nearly enough. There are plenty of things you could criticise about the game. The main gameplay loop shoots for something like Monster Hunter but it misses the mark, many of the weapons you find look cool but aren't very effective, and there's little rhyme or reason to the pieces of equipment you collect. There's some sort of attachment system I couldn't get the hang of and the pre-misson buffs felt pointless. Most of the skill tree doesn't change how you play.

Add to that the fact that the story is a complete mess. Not even a good mess, the way anime can be sometimes, a bad mess. The game has something like 11 different factions all with their own motivations and politics. It has like 36 named/voiced characters each with their own motivations. The game throws characters at you seemingly at random and some of the important story moments are told to you through text messages. It doesn't attempt to make sense, takes its self too seriously and things just happen. There is a version of this that could have been incredible over the top dumb anime nonsense, but this sadly isn't that. Like I said, boosting around and firing missiles is fun, and the bosses are pretty cool, but you'll only want to play a few missions at a time as the gameplay loop isn't quite there.

Persona Q - 3DS

I'm not a huge fan of Etrian Odyssey and I'm a believer that the SMT series is superior, but I was willing to give this a go. The battle system has some improvements over Etrian Odyssey and the fusion system is a more interesting system for gaining skills than EOs skill tree. I still came away from the game a little sour though. The game has some incredibly annoying puzzles and frustrating dungeon design that had me pulling up gamefaqs. Far more annoying puzzles than I've ever encountered in Etrian Odyssey, the game will want you to go into rooms in a specific order and without a guide I wouldn't have had the patience to finish it. The bosses are annoying and usually have no weakness, and I gave up doing side quests because they offered so little experience. The game gives you a bunch of characters without a way to catch them up in levels and gaining experience is painfully slow. So for the most part you'll be sticking with the same squad with some minor experimentation.

The characters regress into caricatures without the nuance of Persona 3 and 4. I hate Teddy in this game even though I liked him in P4. If you want to see the two casts interact you'll have a better time playing Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, where it at least attempts to add something to the canon, rather than coming off as official fan fiction. The story of Q has approximately two interesting story moments and for a lengthy RPG it's not good enough. Maybe Etrian Odyssey isn't for me, but I would have a hard time recommending Q.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on May 20, 2020, 05:02:32 AM
I don't finish a lot of games, but SteamWorld Heist really grabbed me and I just finished off the final boss. Of course, after priding myself on getting all the stars on every mission, one of my characters died when the boss had only 4 HP remaining and cost me one, so I know I'll end up going back and fixing that.

The Switch has an incredible lineup of indie games, but I truly believe this game stands with titles like Celeste and Stardew Valley as among the very best examples on the system. Playing a turn-based strategy game from the side-on perspective really changes how you think about it, and the game offers enough different weapon types and special abilities to keep it fresh the whole way through. SteamWorld Dig got a sequel, which is also great, and I really hope Image & Form is able to go back and make a sequel to Heist that expands upon it to the same degree.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on May 21, 2020, 02:22:14 PM
I don't finish a lot of games, but SteamWorld Heist really grabbed me and I just finished off the final boss. Of course, after priding myself on getting all the stars on every mission, one of my characters died when the boss had only 4 HP remaining and cost me one, so I know I'll end up going back and fixing that.

Yeah this is a good game, writing's decent too. Did you use all of the characters Insano? I kinda found myself sticking to a rotation of maybe the first 6 or so, there were 2 or 3 I almost never used because they arrived either underleveled or just seemed weaker.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on May 21, 2020, 07:33:22 PM
More Stadia!

I didn't realize that my pro sub would hold after I canceled, but saw that there were additional free games added.


Zombie Army 4:


For some reason I thought this was a horror spin-off of a sniper game, so I was very nonplussed to discover that this is yet another horde-mode dealie with an attendantly hideous load-out interface and garish score overlay. Terrible experience, tapped out after a half hour.

The Turing Test

More of my jam in the puzzle game vein, but ultimately feels kinda undercooked and rinky dink in production. The problem with these Portal wannabes is that they never have as good a core gimmick as Portal did. In this case, the line-of-sight energy transfers, is fairly ho-hum and overly straightforward. It kind of feels like one of those physical puzzles where you move a ring through knots, but easy.

Also, another strange choice for this streaming platform, with its low production value and lack of any other potential Stadia benefit.

Speaking of Portal-likes,

Superliminal (PC):

Another undercooked indie Portal wannabe! This time the gimmick is perspectival, where any object you pick up can be up- or down-sized depending where you release it in the environment in relation to your POV. It's a neat tech trick at first but it runs out of interesting applications pretty quickly. There are some divergences into other ancillary mechanics, but none of them are particularly interesting or well developed. And like the Turing Test above, it reeks of being cobbled together with a small pool of assets in a generic engine.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on May 24, 2020, 05:02:02 AM
Battle Princess Madelyn (Switch)

Short version: I can't really recommend this game.

I finished Battle Princess Madelyn even though it wasn't great. Story Mode was longer than it should be (by the developer's own admission) but still not that long. I wanted to finish a game because I have too many games and I keeping buying games on sale. Also, I just got my digital code for Indivisible which I didn't know I was getting (I thought I was only getting the collector's edition physical version which I will now not open).

I didn't do a full count, but I think Battle Princess Madelyn was made by like five people including the audio. That said, I can see where some of the jankiness came from. Anyway, I doubt anyone here particularly cares about this game, but if you're skimming, I tried to make it easier by bolding some things. Some minor spoilers, no specifics.

What I liked:

1. The music is excellent.
2. Some sprite work is pretty good, notably Madelyn herself. Operative word: some.
3. Core gameplay is fine (besides aforementioned jank, more on that below)

What I disliked:

1. Some enemies take a lot of hits which makes them feel bullet spongey. Seemed unnecessary. You can upgrade weapons twice yet that never felt like it made a big difference. I only played Story Mode so I don't know if Arcade Mode is different.
2. Lots of backtracking, but it isn't fun. You never get like running shoes or anything later in the game. There's one warp point per areas called a Travel Stone, and you can immediately fast travel there via the menu. Walking through the actual areas multiple times is a chore.
3. Inconsistent art. The cutscene art is anime inspired; the dialog box character portraits are a completely different art style. Why? Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King did something similar. I don't get it.
4. Story is pretty generic, sometimes confusing which is odd because that's what Casual Bit Games partially sold the game on in the Kickstarter. Apparently, this is one of the issues that arose from being a Kickstarter game due to stretch goals and whatnot. Casual Bit Games even made a Director's Cut "Royal Edition" that cuts the story mode and revamps the Arcade Mode.
5. The game has weird difficulty spikes. This is especially odd considering the lead developer and CEO of Casual Bit Games specifically made this game for his four-year old daughter. The game is named after her.
6. Final boss out of no where. There's no lead up. I thought there was more dungeon because you fight like three early bosses at the end of a room. Seemed like there would be a gauntlet of every previous boss. Nope. After three of those, you walk up some stairs and Uh-Oh Spaghetti-O, now you're in the final boss room. Then, when the real final boss appears:
(https://media.giphy.com/media/d1E2qvruXFtGi6A0/giphy.gif)
7. Madelyn is actually kind of annoying. Her dialog liberally uses sarcasm. Felt forced, particularly in the way some people think being sarcastic is a personality type.
8. 16-bit era non-Nintendo jank/lack of polish:
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on May 24, 2020, 06:57:07 AM
I don't finish a lot of games, but SteamWorld Heist really grabbed me and I just finished off the final boss. Of course, after priding myself on getting all the stars on every mission, one of my characters died when the boss had only 4 HP remaining and cost me one, so I know I'll end up going back and fixing that.

Yeah this is a good game, writing's decent too. Did you use all of the characters Insano? I kinda found myself sticking to a rotation of maybe the first 6 or so, there were 2 or 3 I almost never used because they arrived either underleveled or just seemed weaker.

I mostly stuck with the same crew. They were always the highest leveled ones I had and I was used to their abilities. I forget her name, but the one with the Kill Shot power was incredibly useful once you got the hang of planning around that ability.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on May 24, 2020, 07:39:08 PM
So I just completed Mario's Picross on the Game Boy.  The ending is basically "Congratulations!"  Not even a Mario cameo.  But you don't play a Picross game for a story.  It's a great game and very addictive.  Though at the end the puzzles became hard enough that you had to make educated guesses as to what spaces to clear and couldn't systematically solve the puzzle through elimination.  Each puzzle has a 30 minute time limit and if you guess incorrect spaces you lose time, starting with two minutes and exponentially increasing with each wrong guess.  There is a flaw in that after failing a puzzle you can just try it again and I can remember a few key spaces that I successfully guessed on.  So while I failed a few puzzles towards the end as they got harder I never failed any twice because I could use what I learned from the previous attempt.  I don't know how you get around that though and today if you really wanted to cheat you could take a photo with your phone and use that as a reference for your second attempt, or literally pause the game and look at your photo to figure things out without the timer going.  You can't really fault a game for not anticipating future tech and of course there is Game FAQs for anyone that really wants to cheat anyway.

I don't think I would recommend this to everyone as I don't think it has universal appeal.  My brother for example was completely turned off.  So look up Picross as a concept and see if you like it and if you do, you'll enjoy this game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on May 27, 2020, 05:21:47 PM
Though at the end the puzzles became hard enough that you had to make educated guesses as to what spaces to clear and couldn't systematically solve the puzzle through elimination.  Each puzzle has a 30 minute time limit and if you guess incorrect spaces you lose time, starting with two minutes and exponentially increasing with each wrong guess. 

I played this last year around August/September and I have to disagree with this assessment. There are no puzzles that require the user to guess a bit and hope they put in the right input for a square. All the puzzles can be solved logically and through careful deduction. I remember facing some puzzles where it seemed like there just wasn't enough information or wondered if I just had to start guessing away. I wondered if the early age of this game meant that some puzzles were just impossible/broken because it seemed like I'd hit these dead end loops with no progress. However, eventually after sometimes going through each row and column a few times with careful examination I'd begin to find one square here and then one square there until finally you'd reach or figure out one that broke open the puzzle and you could then rapidly piece the rest together. It was like a detective constantly searching for the next clue to break crack the case. What I learned was that sometimes figuring out a square that should be empty was just as important as figuring out one that should be filled and those empty squares could be more tricky because they required using logic from a couple other parts of the puzzle.

My big complaint against the game was the automatic time deduction from a mistake. Sometimes, I just pressed the wrong button or didn't let go of a button in time as I filled in a row and then got the penalty. Like, I would have corrected it on my own but didn't get the chance. I liked that Time Trials finally got rid of that feature. I've actually been playing this game again and the Time Trials because I also found it weird that the game never stated if you completed all the Time Trial puzzles. Plus it presents them in a random order so I wasn't ever sure if I did see or complete them all. I just started to recognize a couple of the images again so I figured I had done them all. Now, I've gotten the list of the Time Trial puzzles and checking them off when I complete them. It's beginning to look like I have gone through them all but I wish the game had given some notice on that.

I know some reviewers have knocked the game for only being limited to the 15 X 15 size grids when newer Picross games will have 15 x 20 or larger but I was fine with that. I kind of like the smaller grids because I don't always want to spend 40+ minutes on one puzzle. Plus, they seemed to include some of the most diabolical 15 x 15 puzzles in the game so you will still be challenged. Had a couple where I was definitely racing the clock and a few times the clock did beat me (although that was often from rushing and getting a time penalty for a wrong square [WHICH I WOULD HAVE CORRECTED WITHOUT YOU GAME!!!]) Like Ian Sane said, I'd just take a moment to remember some things (usually the border / outside rows and columns if solved) and then quickly fill those again from memory after restarting and go from there resulting in my finishing the puzzle up on that second go around.

Still, a solid, solid game and a Game Boy that title that isn't hampered in anyway from the hardware limitations. With the SNES Online Switch program bringing over some Japanese only titles, it highlights some of the missed opportunity for the 3DS GB VC. There were 2 other Mario Picross titles for the system released in Japan only and it's a shame they couldn't have been ported over and included in the VC now like Sin and Punishment 64 or Earthbound Beginnings finally were. The feeling is that the GB VC sales just weren't there or that popular to justify such a thing but I also don't think the cost would or should have been that high to have done those ports. Oh well.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on May 27, 2020, 06:31:02 PM
I'm with you on the time deduction for the wrong button.  There were some where it went down to the wire but I failed because losing two minutes when you had a weird moment where you crossed buttons in your mind made all the difference.  Also since the penalty increases, when you press the wrong button could make a big difference.  Maybe I legitimately made a true mistake early on and it cost me two minutes.  Then the wrong button press costs me four minutes.  The two minute was a deserved penalty but the much more costly four minute one wasn't.  I also noticed that the d-pad on my SNES controller (I played it on the Super Game Boy) is a little stiff because sometimes I would press the d-pad to move the cursor and then pressed the "chisel" button and then get punished for a wrong guess when I didn't mean that spot, just the cursor didn't move when I expected it to.

I wasn't sure what the Time Trial was doing though and that it had unique puzzles.  I played this game in two segments where I played about half the puzzles months ago so I couldn't remember if I had seen those Time Trial puzzles before or not.  Since there are more I will probably get back into it.

For some of the more difficult puzzles I suspect I lack the patience to solve puzzles beyond the typical approach I take.  I tend to look at one line at a time.  If I can't eliminate more possibilities in one line I go to another.  I am bad however at planning moves in any strategy game multiple moves ahead so if I have to look at two lines at once and eliminate spots that way I'm screwed and I think the game moved in that direction towards the end.  I actually feel like this needed three conditions: chiseled, identified empty space, and hypothetical.  I would make marks of hypothetical empty spaces to determine pieces that had to be chiseled no matter what but I had to remember to go back and erase them because there were indistinguishable from identified empty spaces.  If I could do that I could probably solve multiple lines since I can mark down the hypothetical situations and eliminate them.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on June 01, 2020, 12:12:24 AM
Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Switch)

Short version: It's good. I recommend the game if you like platformers and some mild shooting.

I completed everything in the regular game and what I presume was DLC outside of the collection. Mutant Mudds becomes really challenging. Some of that difficulty is due to being restricted to one power-up at a time as Max (the blond kid). You also have to unlock the powerups: Power Shot, Extended Hover, and Vertical Boost. I kept wondering why Grannie wouldn't just let you take all of the powerups considering mutant alien mud creatures have invaded earth, and there's no narrative reason for this (plot is pretty thin as is, not a criticism). If you could take all three powerups even halfway through the base game, the regular levels would be fairly easy. You have to complete 16 levels minimum (by collecting 1600 Golden Diamonds, 100 per level) to unlock Vertical Boost.

A few criticisms:


Anyway, despite the difficulty, Mutant Mudds never felt especially unfair. Even the Game Boy/Virtual Boy inspired G-Land/V-Land stages are merely tough but fair. Sometimes you don't get the right cycle of enemy movement and platform movement (e.g. disappearing/reappearing blocks, vertically moving blocks etc), and there's no way to proceed without either just taking damage or waiting for the cycle to get close enough (if it even does). I noticed occasional input lag though that may be the wireless controller. I used the Switch Super Nintendo controller. which may also have the same D-pad issue as the Pro Controller in which it sometimes registers an up input when you didn't press up. Caused many deaths, nothing too major though.

Once you collect all the Golden Diamonds and Water Sprites, you get to play as Grannie. I doubt anyone cares about spoilers for this game, but I'll play it safe. At this point, you do get to use all the powerups all at once. You can unlock the CGA-Land stages within the regular stages (per cursory googling, CGA stands for "Color Graphics Adapter" which makes sense given the color palette). Most of the CGA-Land stages suck a cornucopia of dicks (in terms of difficulty, not quality). Hope you enjoy dying a lot. The "Ghost" levels similarly suck a cornucopia of dicks. I said "****" a lot playing through them. I'm not sure they can be beaten with the standard loadout or even with only one powerup. I played a few with the standard loadout then quickly stopped doing that because I don’t hate myself.

In conclusion, I considered jumping into Mutant Mudds Super Challenge. I figured I'd never play it if I didn't do so immediately since I'm used to the game's mechanics. Upon booting it up, I realized I have to play as Max with the standard loadout again which I am not used to anymore. Will I play Mutant Mudds Super Challenge?
(https://i.imgur.com/fci7n4a.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TOPHATANT123 on June 11, 2020, 01:54:52 PM
Deadly Premonition Origins (Switch)
There's not a lot to say about Deadly Premonition that hasn't already been said. The graphics are horrible, the sound design is hilarious and the controls are awful. Despite this the game tells a fantastic story with an insane sense of humour. It feels like a crossover between Resident Evil and Sims 2 for DS. The game's ending left an impression on me and I doubt I will forget this game anytime soon.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Final Mix (PS4)
To get right into it, my main gripe with this game is the combat. It's bad and frustrating. You walk up to enemies and spam the attack button over and over until they die. Often you will need to heal or dodge, but the gameplay has a huge over reliance on spamming the X button. The game has magic and summons but from my experience I found these to be completely useless, doing either little or no damage. Better to save the MP for healing and reliably pressing X.

There's no satisfaction in clearing a room of enemies as they
immediately spawn in again like it's the end room of the facility level in Goldeneye.

There isn't much in the way of character progression. Maybe once or twice you'll switch out Goofy's equipment, or mess around with the skills that are set. But for the most part these enhancements are imperceivable and don't change how the game is played.

The story has moments of Nomura insanity, but not nearly enough for my tastes. Hopefully he will be less restrained in next installments.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on June 13, 2020, 05:50:21 PM
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (WiiU)

After hearing about the new Shantae coming out I'd figure I'd take a step into the ol' backlog & finish this one up. I hear this one's considered one of the best of the series though I'm not as sure for now so I'll call it a tie with Risky's Revenge. My biggest gripe might be that last dungeon was driving me nuts. Maybe I've been away from 2D platformers for too long, but I had more trouble getting to the final boss than actually beating 'em.

Final rundown:
playtime: 9hours 26mins
heart squids: 25/32
dark magic: 12/20

Usually I don't bother to 100% things but if I try Pirate mode, who knows.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on July 11, 2020, 11:21:51 PM
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch)

As a fan of the series I finally played the newest installment, which funny enough started development as an indie homage before eventually being turned into the real thing.  The developers are huge fans of the series and it certainly shows since it's filled with references and callbacks.  They certainly wanted to leave their own mark on the series, with this game easily being the largest installment, taking me over 20 hours to complete and 100%.

Of course I do think they kind of over did it at times.  For starters the game starts you as a human before turning you into a Pigman, within the first 10-15 minutes.  The Pig has the worst combat ability and is the least fun character to play as.  You then play as the pig for the next several hours, mostly using his abilities for puzzles which some are pretty fun, but this whole section shouldn't have been as long as it was.  Especially when the Pig transformation ends up being pretty worthless during the second half of the game, so it's like, why put so much attention on this things that just drags out the beginning if it's not even going to be that important in the end?

The second transformation turns you into a Snake and that's when things get better since the Snake can crawl on walls and spit venom.  This vastly improves the quality of puzzles and gameplay for the next section.  After that you got the Toad Man transformation and can finally use your sword again.  Now combat is fun again, and the Toad's main ability involving his tongue opens up even more creative puzzles.  The next section is easily the most polished because of that and it's no surprise is the most universally loved part of the game.

The next section though after you get the Lion Man starts to feel kind of rough.  The game suddenly gets obsessed with trail and error puzzles, with pretty cheap enemy placements at time as well.  Now I didn't mind it as much since the game is very generous with checkpoints so it's not like you lose a ton of progress.  But still, it's annoying to get cheap shot by offscreen enemies or suddenly die because of a moving platform you had less then a second to react to.

The rest of the game is more or less like this.  Some really great puzzles and idea's followed by some not so great ones.  Like there's a shooting section that's clearly inspired by Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, but man does your character have a ridiculously big hit box.  Some parts get a ton of projectiles on screen and it's almost impossible to avoid getting hit at times.  Of course once again the game is pretty generous with checkpoints, so even when I died during this section it wasn't that big a loss but it does make a lot of the actions sections feel almost pointless since it's kind of easy to just tank your way through to the next checkpoint and hardly feels like your skills are even being tested.

There is a haunted mansion toward the end though which is easily my favorite part of the game.  It feels like a giant Zelda dungeon with one giant puzzle that connected to a ton of smaller ones.  I personally loved it but I've seen quite a few online that hated this section.  Some of the puzzles are pretty obtuse, which I didn't mind but can certainly see why others would.  I did have a problem with the cheap ghost enemies that can shoot you from offscreen, which killed me quite a few times.  Once again the game has a ton of check points so it was still easy for me to get back to were I was to complete the puzzles, but for the love of ****, stop putting in cheap enemies if they don't even need to be there.

This also brings up another thing that drove me crazy.  The game has some great bosses that are creative and challenging, but if you die twice, on the third try the game will constantly give you hearts throughout the fight.  They don't even ask you if you want help or give an option like the Super Guide, they just automatically start giving you hearts throughout the fight.  I tried looking in options if there's a way to turn it off and didn't see one either.  Seriously, it's like the developers are saying if you die twice to a boss you're not good enough and must need some help.  Just seems kind of condescending to me, which is rather weird since they have no problem putting in some rather obtuse puzzles that you need to do before reaching the bosses and they give you no hints on those.  So they're going to make it hard to get to the boss but once you're at the boss they will make it easier whether you want it or not?  Come on guys, be a little more consistence in the design of the game.

This leads me to the ending which was then just a little anti-climatic since you gain an ability is great to use and the final area starts with some great obstacles and fights that use it, but then it ends up being pretty short.  The final boss also ends up being one of the easiest in the game, which is kind of disappointing since previous Wonder Boy games usually go all out in their final boss fights.

Overall though I still had a good time with it.  There's a lot of great puzzles, which the classic Zelda fan in me loved.  The game needed some better polish though.  The developers where clearly huge fans and had a ton of idea's but probably should have cut a few of them to make sure the remaining ones were more refined.

Oh and I can't forget about the music.  They got Yuzo Koshiro, Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, Keiki Kobayashi, and Takeshi Yanagawa all to contribute.  The results are nothing short of spectacular.  Here's a few tracks from just the early parts of the game.

Title Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BrUAfjYwWM)
Fields (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-HloEoBPDI)
Misty Woods (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3dj-3OmHSQ)
Boss Battle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lXdJHb_Sp8)  (My personal favorite)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 12, 2020, 11:53:45 AM
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (WiiU)
[...]
My biggest gripe might be that last dungeon was driving me nuts. Maybe I've been away from 2D platformers for too long, but I had more trouble getting to the final boss than actually beating 'em.

Yeah the final dungeon is an absurd difficulty spike. The final boss is way cooler if you collect all the bats, too, but I never bothered going for it since the prospect of going through that dungeon again was too daunting. There was no easy teleport straight to the final boss either right?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on July 17, 2020, 05:31:15 PM
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (WiiU)
[...]
My biggest gripe might be that last dungeon was driving me nuts. Maybe I've been away from 2D platformers for too long, but I had more trouble getting to the final boss than actually beating 'em.

Yeah the final dungeon is an absurd difficulty spike. The final boss is way cooler if you collect all the bats, too, but I never bothered going for it since the prospect of going through that dungeon again was too daunting. There was no easy teleport straight to the final boss either right?

If there was, I never used it. I stocked up on recovery items so beat the final boss on my first go around.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 22, 2020, 10:09:52 AM
Asassin's Creed: Odyssey (Xbox One X):

(https://abload.de/img/image3ajzd.jpg)

Did all achievements in 200+ hours. It was exhausting. But still finished it 100%, the feeling is similar to how i felt after completing MGSV (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg885573#msg885573) -- they really should have cut down most of the content and stayed slim and brief. Game is largely the same as Origins and some things are slightly improved from Origins, but the overall bloat  just becomes tiresome instead of enjoyable. They wasted so much of own their time and hard work for such a little and underwhelming outcome. It feels like they stretched their devs and talent so much -- most of the quests felt like busywork and there was no quality and impact felt for anything in the game.

The decision to make both Kassandra and Alexios playable as main characters, that alone doubled if not quadrupled their voice acting time and budget. I picked Kassandra and her VA is okay, but from what i heard of Alexios as main character in youtube videos -- he just sounds as loud buffoon. All that time these 2 actors spent on their lines (and motion capture!) feels like a complete waste on Ubisoft's part because the game is so monotonous -- NOBODY is gonna be in a hurry to replay it just to hear different VA.

Other NPC voice actors also feel like they were stretched thin. It feels like there are only 5 people doing the voices even if imdb page lists hundreds VAs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8545606/fullcredits#cast). One guy especially stands out, his voice and mannerisms are so noticeable and cartoonish he always takes me out.

Gameplay-wise Odyssey is pretty much the same as Origins. Everything good that Origins brought (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg965153#msg965153) is still there: brilliant eagle vision redesign, BOTW-like climb everywhere, less emphasis on a map and NPCs giving you directions based on actual in-game sights (again -- very similar to BOTW), great graphics, interesting setting and gorgeous vistas (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1227420464403881985). The game is even more colourful than Origins and visuals really pop with HDR.

They fixed a problem i had with Origins with UI elements. Because my TV is prone to burn-in i always try to hide all UI elements but in Origins a few of them were always shown. Odyssey fixes that, allowing you to remove everything. For some of the bosses i had to bring back my health indicator and ability icons because i needed to see cooldowns on abilities and when i need to heal, but most of the game i played without most of the UI.

One of the differences from Origins is notoriety system, like in GTA or very first Assassin's Creed games. Of all things to bring back they reintroduced the most annoying one. Now you get penalized for looting and killing people (yeah, the game called Assassin's Creed penalizes you for killing -- figure that one out). Eventually the heat on you gets too unbearable with soldiers, mercenaries and even citizens and random dogs attacking you -- you're forced to run away. It's just annoying and breaks power fantasy of roaming around in this open world doing whatever.

The main villains are now yet another secret organisation they made up instead of Templars because neither Assasins nor Templars can't exist properly before Crusades start. It's not a big deal but i wonder why had to make up yet another new power-hungry "not-Templar" secret society when they already had Order of the Ancients in Origins. It is especially dumb because in DLC story Order of the Ancients shows up too! And the game have even more secret societies than these two -- there are also Followers of Ares! How many masked cults can one country have?

Odyssey also removed a longstanding tradition of baddies having post-death cutscene which at least gave some characterisation to their villains and was a signature feature of the entire series. Was that also because of bloat? They made so many cultists, they couldn't afford doing the lavish death cutscenes for all of them? It's really a shame.

The bloat also probably hurt quests -- so many quests feel like so generic like they were autogenerated. And many of them WERE: game features special time-limited quests that pop-up randomly and these are your generic "deliver this to that guy", "kill this person". Some of them are just "i'm down on my luck, gib me money plz" -- these are the best because you just get an exp right then and there without all that delivering or killing business.

The sheer number of story and side quests was why quality of writing took a major nosedive. And to make things even worse -- Ubisoft was so eager to utilise their new dialog branching systems -- number of lines were multiplied several times over. And many of the decisions you make in dialogs DO change the story rather significantly which is good in theory but looking back feels like yet another wasteful decision on their production team because they multiplied their writing and quest making budget for seemingly no result -- because again who is going to replay this huge open world game.

I actually got to see the impact my decisions make on a story -- because of a bug. Due to random error my save file got overwritten by previous version and i lost 20 hours and had to replayed some of the quests. Man, i was so demoralized because of this, i didn't touch the game for a week. But still -- what else am i to do sitting home? So i came back and it wasn't too bad and i got to see different outcomes.

And the impact of my dialog decisions also turned out to be yet another underwhelming mess. My choices definitely DO make changes but they're don't really follow any logic and just feel random. When i didn't kill one person first time around that led to additional time wasting and when i DID kill him after file-save bug it led to cutting that quest line down to 10 minutes instead of 20. There isn't really any logic or reward for doing things one way or another even if you DO replay quests.

And some of the writing is just plain bizzare, like one quest line involves an NPC asking me to kill his grandma? And this is supposedly a good and standup guy? Oh by the way, the game features "romance" system in dialog and i can romance this dude too in-between all that grandma killing. Really sets the mood.

That "romance" system is kinda hilarious for how out of the blue it is. Sometimes you just walk up to random NPC and speak for the first time and a dialog choice with heart symbol appears right away. It almost feels like a parody of romancing options from Saint's Row (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eg2Jr7gWCg) but implemented completely seriously.

I am okay with the fact that open-world games like AC: Origins are mostly auto-generated these days (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVq_hgaX8MQ). But i really dislike the trend of not only autogenerating the map but to also fill it with autogenerated mission as well, like Shadow of Mordor does.

Odyssey introduces similar system to Shadow of Mordor orc generals with mercenaries than you occasionally have to hunt down or they start hunting down you. And as i mentioned -- some side-quests are auto-generated too. Publishers really want to cut down costs of making these huge open world games and it feels like you're being tricked.

Odyssey also has user-generated missions, though i never opened them even once. From i've seen it's bad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA39nB_RhnE&t=19s), but i like the aspect of opening-up dev tools for quest making to players.

But the most obvious autogenerated thing in Odyssey are tombs. These are just mazes, with the same generic copy-pasted corridors and same rooms, it feels like an 8bit RPG with confusing 3d labyrinth that was added just to pad time (and it's not like Odyssey needed to add any more padding). There is no climbing, no grand set-pieces, like we got in previous games with churches and secrets inside them. We just roam around in these tombs and occasionally move some blocks to clear the way. It's especially insulting when you compare them to pyramids from Origins because each pyramid was entirely unique outside and inside.

Combat is basically the same as in Origins and the same loot system. There are now even more abilities -- they even added a second melee wheel of abilities. Lower enemies you can just kill by assasinating them one by one (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1233638688766267392), but bigger enemies and especially bosses require to run around spamming arrows (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1249264306568511489) and waiting until cooldowns on abilities end and then activating. That's how i was killing most of the end-game enemies in Origins and the strategy stayed mostly the same here. Only this time there are no healing arrows so i have to circumvent that with different loot weapons. Overall all bosses are huge bullet-sponges so battles span a lot of time doing the same thing -- running around shooting arrows and dodging and activating abilities. It takes a lot of time and is really annoying when you die right at the end and have to redo the entire boss encounter. Cerberus boss fight was especially infuriating because it (literally) dropped you into this boss fight so the game was checkpointed and i couldn't even go back to previous point in the game and change and upgrade my loot accordingly. I think that alone took me almost an hour of retries.

Speaking of loot, they also added another annoyance -- if you get too many loot weapons and armour you become "encumbered" and start to move really slowly, so you're artificially forced to either dismantle all your trash weapons or sell them to the nearest blacksmith. Loot is just became more annoying to deal with especially the procedure of dismantling hundreds of loot trash weapons and clothing out of your inventory.

Game has lots of extra costumes, ships and costumes to buy but i was more than fine with what game was giving me, though for half a day Ubisoft REALLY wanted me to buy anything from their costume store so they've been showing an ad for their DLC sale every single time i was opening a map which was kinda annoying.

Speaking of DLCs. Game has 2 extra DLC campaigns. Each has 3 episodes each and are pretty long. One is on the same map as regular game just with added missions and other one features a new pretty big maps for each of the episode.

Legacy of the First Blade is more focused on the story -- however it just exposes further how tired Assassin's Creed's "revenge story" has become really. In both main game and in this DLC especially you always know that everyone main character becomes close to WILL die violently at the hands of baddies du-jour so they can fuel the story.

Fate of Atlantis i liked more because it had 3 rather big location with fantastic and different style. I loved "floating-islands" design of Elysium (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1282212219623809025) and grand gold-laced futuristic Atlantis. I really like fantastic architecture in videogames and movies -- the weirder and more aesthetic the setting is -- the more i like it.

Speaking about weird, Odyssey did something really, really, REALLY strange in (one of it's) ending and i actually kinda like it. They actually pushed the envelope on the sci-fi side of a series and changed the relationship between main characters inside and outside the animus. So kudos for that.

Overall the biggest problem with the game it is filled too much with filler. Where Origins quests and story felt brief and meaningful, Odyssey is almost all filler and at odd with itself. In Origins they purposely capped themselves to only leave the most interesting quests in and in some places there wasn't even much to do, but at least it played good. While in Odyssey it feels like bar for quality was lowered so much -- nothing leaves an impression.

It's a good game in minute to minute gameplay, but they really should have cut like 70% of it instead of stuffing it so much.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on July 28, 2020, 07:12:28 PM
Xbox Gamepass (PC):

I saw that this was $1 for a month to start, and wanted to play Carrion, so I signed myself up. The desktop app is weird and kinda terrible, and makes you jump through dumb sign-on hoops, and a good third of the time the games don't boot right, but given how cheap it is, these are forgivable quirks.

Carrion

I was excited for this, but it's just kinda okay. It makes a strong first impression because the monster is fun to control, and the gamefeel is quite different from much else out there. Unfortunately it's very linear, not really a metroid-type title, and fundamentally repetitive. Combat is more of a hassle than anything, and the level design is rather plain and one-note.

The Messenger

I'd been wanting to try this out for a while, and was happy to find it on the service. Ultimately, though, I found it somewhat hollow and repetitive. Some of the boss fights are fun, but most of the regular level space feels very similar to traverse regardless of whatever gimmicks are introduced here and there. The big "metroid' switch up is not actually that interesting or engaging, and the 8-bit 16-bit lightworld/darkworld flips are pretty arbitrary--nothing ever feels different.

Sunset Overdrive


One of the few Xbox titles that looked interesting this generation, and I was pleased to find this runs perfectly well on my laptop. But boy, what a whiff of a game. Once you unlock all your traversal abilities, it's genuinely fun to cruise around the map, but that only goes so far when the combat is a miserable chore and the level design is by-and-large the dullest open world suite you could imagine. There are maybe four or five story missions that actually leverage the movement toward engaging challenges, and those are easily negated by repeated, dreadful, mandatory base-defense sequences.


Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on August 12, 2020, 07:08:09 PM
Xbox Game Pass (PC):

My $1 intro price rolled over, but hell, I'll stick around for another month at $5. I might exhaust the catalog in that time, but I can always just drop $5 back in if a few things drop that I want to play. Although, I guess there's always the specter of them jacking the price up, but it doesn't seem to be on the near horizon.

Halo 3

Finish the fight! JK, there will be infinite Halo games. I'm not a big fan of the franchise, and in fact actively dislike the fact that it made certain of its features standard for years (very limited weapon inventory, shield regen, e.g.), but I nonetheless played through the first two games on Legendary back in the day. I got 3 on Gamefly pretty close to release, but popped it out and returned it after about an hour because it felt exactly like the previous two games and I was sick of it.

Many years later I was in the mood to revisit, and it runs great on my computer with OG graphics. And it does still feel virtually identical to the first two games. In the current landscape, however, it was moderately refreshing. It repeats the franchise's flagship sins (repetitive environments, repetitive gameplay, AI boners, weird pacing, botched checkpointing, etc.), and adds a few new ones (throw-away auxiliary items, crappy new vehicles/weapons, lack of dog-fighting, reduced enemy pool), but I mostly enjoyed blowing through the campaign on Heroic (too old to **** with Legendary bottlenecks). No collectibles, no map, no loot, no crafting, no skill tree, no stats, decent time!

As was my experience with the previous games, I had the most fun careening around trying to blow past as much combat as possible, and/or the overpowered vehicle sequences. It's bizarre they only put you in a plane for like two minutes, though. Notably, there's a hideous all-Flood level in extremely narrow corridors that 100% blows, perhaps worse than any previous Flood sequence, which always sucked. Also, the "boss fight" and final escape sequence were absolutely awful. Not sure overall why this is considered such a pinnacle, but I'm glad I can put a cap on the "real" series.

Gris

Pretty much as standard an indie cinematic platformer as can be imagined. Great hand-drawn look, decent level design, if overall very easy. Sniffing out the collectible bits tends to be more engaging, but the game is also poor at signposting how the progress works, so it's very easy to go past points of no return when you think you're trying to explore. This is a problem in a lot of these games, where "go left or right?" can screw you out of a complete run of a level. The areas in Gris are also quite long, so I have no desire to re-run them to clean up the missing stuff and possibly miss something again. On the plus side, there is no dialog, so you can completely ignore whatever "this is about emotions" thing they were going for.

The Touryist

Been interested in this for a while, but not enough to pay for it. Enter GamePass! First of all, the game looks great. They really nailed the voxel thing down to tiny details, and it definitely augmented the whole experience. Overall, it's quite a pleasant time, and keeps you chugging after progress and interaction as you open up more islands. Ultimately many of the side quests devolve into busywork with little tangible reward, but it's entertaining enough rooting around in the environments to keep you engaged, and the majority of the minigames are engaging enough in their own right. Weirdly, though, there are a few extremely irritating platforming bottlenecks that I don't understand how they made it through play-testing. There's one particular sequence where you have to jump on rotating orbs to finish a temple that just blew my mind how it existed.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Morningshark on August 25, 2020, 01:52:54 AM
Played both Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA) and Partners in Time. For "reasons" I won't divulge, the last few hours of Partners in Time were horrible because of some frame rate drops. That said, I had a great time revisiting them. It's been years. Of the two, I enjoyed Superstar Saga more, and of all of the Mario & Luigi titles, it seems like the most versatile in terms of hardware it could be played on because it's a fairly brisk play through, with zero reliance on touch screen, microphone, dual-screen mechanics. I'm hoping we get a new Mario & Luigi title, despite the sad closure of Alpha Dream, but if we don't, a port of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga in HD would be great!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on August 26, 2020, 07:08:51 PM
Nintendo has stated in the past they typically don't buy studios, they buy talent and bring them in. I would not be surprised if Nintendo did this with a portion of the talent at Alpha Dream and they have them carry on the M&L games or some other projects.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: RABicle on August 31, 2020, 10:38:05 AM
Little Red Lie
Pretentious misery porn, avoid.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on September 10, 2020, 02:56:50 AM
LA Noire - Great Game. It's exactly like GTA except you're a detective. I hope for a sequel. Maybe San Andreas Noire.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 10, 2020, 07:01:08 PM
Xbox Gamepass (PC) Continued:

Ori and the Willy Wisps:

I am on record here as finding the first game thoroughly mediocre, particularly in terms of Metroid-style design. The sequel is very similar, but significantly bigger. Within the general linear flow of the progression, however, I found the sequences better designed and more intricate, and the increased focus on horizontal mobility enhances the moment-to-moment gameplay. Swapping out the weird shooting from the first game for a Hollow Knight-esque melee-focused combat system is definitely an improvement, but the busyness of the visual design makes combat difficult to track at times, and, like with the first game, there's just too much of it. The addition of sidequests pretty much only serves to provide more secret junk to rustle up, which is fine, as the big-ass map needed the density, though I did like the races.

Like with the first game, I found the visual palette repetitive and borderline garish along the lines of Trine 2. And the sentimental narrative is even more eyerolling. Still, overall, I'd probably give this a 7/10 compared to the first game's 5/10. Weirdly, though, they removed the one formally innovative element from the first game, the incorporation of quick-saves into the basic gameplay.

Battletoads:

I have vivid memories of renting the NES game multiple times and never making it out of the tunnel level, so I am both a prime target for a revival of this property, and one of the vast majority of original players who never saw most of the game. Outside of surface similarities (beat-em-up core, vehicle segments), nothing about this new game really feels like the old game. Instead, it's more of an interactive cartoon frequently swapping genres  and inserting minigames, which is a perfectly fine approach for a game in 2020. That said, most of the constituent elements aren't that fun, and the brawler gameplay gets tiresome quickly with its dependence on spammy ranged enemies. The tongue system was a good idea, though!


Crosscode:

I'm cheating here, because I didn't finish this game. I quite liked it initially; it felt like the rare retro-styled game that leapt forward in time to carry on the particular visual and design ethos of ambitious 16-bit action RPGs. But the more I played of it, the less I liked it. Everything is just too much: too many systems, too much enemy health, too many screens between towns, too many branches on the skill trees, too much grinding required for trading, too many rooms in the dungeons, etc. By hour 25 or so with no end in sight, it felt like chewing a mouthful of dry carrots, and I just spontaneously quit the game and uninstalled.

It bears mentioning that the narrative presentation is actively offputting. The concept of the game is a confusing mess that feels like otaku fan fiction of itself, and the "We're instantly best friends!' character stuff is cringe city.

Super Lucky's Tale:


So this one is frustrating. I recall the original VR release of this getting pretty poor reviews, but also that the re-release for regular consoles being heavily tweaked and improved. Given the paucity of 3D platformers out there today, I was happy to check it out.

It was just okay at any given point, kind of a cross between Crash Bandicoot and Mario 3D World. Never particularly interesting or challenging, but basically competent and fulfilling a certain gaming need. Bad pizza of platforming, if you will.

But then like a week after I finished it, it turns out I was mistaken (?) and they put the actual rejiggered version out on Gamepass that's supposed to actually be good. Or at least a major improvement. I'll never play that version.   
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: nickmitch on September 22, 2020, 02:42:27 PM
Golf Story:

This was a fun one.  The humor really makes the game, but the core golf gameplay is really solid.  The RPG element are pretty good, and made me feel like I was progressing a bit too slowly at times, but really it was just right.  Leveling up gives you points to add to your stats, and adding points to power takes away from other stats.  This means you'll lose accuracy and spin as you gain power, but you can get those back by adding points.

Puzzles were fun, but I wish there were more.  Being able to tee up from anywhere is a fun gimmick, but felt underutilized.  The side quest challenges often felt harder than the courses, but were more fun than frustrating.  Actual courses and match play were pretty far on the easy side.  I only lost once, and it was the final tournament.  Speaking of side content, not being able to play minigames after you beat them once is the pits.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 05, 2021, 03:38:40 PM
Resident Evil 5 (PlayStation 4)

Completed the base game on Normal difficulty, and I'm considering going for my first Platinum (though not necessarily looking forward to Professional difficulty). This was the first time since maybe 2011 that I've put a significant amount of hours into the game which holds up pretty well. The bumped up resolution and frame rate on PS4 is what I remember RE5 looking and feeling like years ago. However, I recently watched some old YouTube videos and nah, it's much better now. Playing the game on PS4 in 2020/2021 shows some of the warts of the previous generation far more clearly. The level design is pretty simplistic here, and it felt at times that PS3/360 hardware couldn't handle more. Most of the areas in which you're actively engaging in combat are small to medium sized rooms/hallways gated by loading doors.

The gameplay definitely shows its age. For example, you can't run and shoot, you can't reload while running, the cover system (when available) is rudimentary at best etc. Despite those things, RE5 is still enjoyable to play today. Even in 2009, Capcom could have done more with the multiplayer aspect. Kicking a few doors down together, hitting some switches, and pulling some levers is about as far as the co-op gameplay goes. For all the heavy-handed dialog about partners in this game, it hardly felt cooperative. It's largely two people shooting things at the same time. QTE is still and will always be total bullshit.

And for a remaster, it would have been nice if Capcom at least tried to fix or improve the CPU partner's AI. It wasn't as if the developers didn't do anything except improve the resolution and frame rate. Mercenaries and Mercenaries Reunion are now a single mode. I wonder if Capcom's plan is to eventually remake RE5 once they finish remaking RE4. It's already been like 12 years. We've seen full remakes in far less time.

The story is typical B-movie grade, Resident Evil fair masquerading as something more. It's silliness which can be both charming and frustrating. RE5 doesn't lean into the series' cheesiness as much as RE4 did. And if Capcom really wanted people to think Jill Valentine died, it had to put that in an earlier game so it would hit harder similar to how Wesker was hella murdered by the Tyrant in the original Resident Evil. Then, when he showed up three games later at the end of Code Veronica and suddenly has super powers, it matters. That said, the twist that the hooded, thief lord/plague doctor mask wearing character was Jill the whole time meant almost nothing. It's also not a good twist because who else was it going to be? Clearly, the plots of the games are created as they go and very few seeds are planted for future installments, and the overall series narrative suffers as a result. I'm not expecting award winning writing here. Rather, it could stand to be more cohesive and coherent as a whole. And as much as it pains me to say this, Jill should have actually died in the present day events of the game. That's how you raise stakes. As is, Jill "died" years before the start of the game and is alive at the end. Status quo was maintained, and no risks were taken. Jill hasn't done anything noteworthy in series canon since so narratively, I don't think anything would have been lost to that end. Chris doesn't even mention her in RE6.

On a personal level, I really liked the character of Josh Stone, and I'm disappointed he was barely in the game and has not appeared in a Resident Evil game since.

Anyway, I want to address the issue of race in this game as I'm not proud of my takes from 11 to 12 years ago. I have a much broader worldview at 36 than I did at 24, and I've been thinking about this a lot since replaying RE5. Here goes:

I don't believe it was the developers' intention to make a game that was offensive to people of color though, admittedly, I don't have enough information about the individuals involved in the production of the game to definitively make that call one way or another. It should be noted that racism, particularly at the time RE5 was originally released, was and apparently still is a really big issue in Japan.

That said, if you set an action game in Africa, you're likely going to end up having players shoot black and brown people which isn't inherently a problem because aforementioned black and brown people aren't portrayed as unjustifiably hostile. Like the villagers/Ganado in RE4, they were just living their lives until bad faith actors invaded their space and fucked everything (figuratively, and possibly literally). I believe the developers' intention was that pharmaceutical conglomerates like Umbrella and Tricell are a global threat, and they'll hit anywhere to further their agenda (of creating BOWs out of viruses or some other such nonsense), and it doesn't matter to them who is in their way or who they have to harm in order to get what they want.

We should also acknowledge that the main antagonist of RE5 is a blond, white guy. And perhaps more importantly, Wesker's goals weren't racially motivated. He thought everyone was inferior to him. Not a huge stretch to pull a megalomaniacal/hero-in-his-own-mind move of wanting to create a new world order with him at the precipice. To achieve that goal, he infected a huge swath of a country's citizens, most likely destroyed an entire culture, and something something Uroboros.

The problem though is once you get to Chapter 3 in RE5 and encounter the Ndipaya Majini. There's supplementary literature within the level in the form of a "Village Youth's Diary" detailing that after being infected, "The men are all dressing like our ancestors and fighting each other." The bolded part isn't racist per se but is, in my mind, definitely racially insensitive. Sure, they were taken advantage of by Tricell, but I can't think of any reason why, based on the game's text, they would need or have the capacity to dress like their ancestors upon ingesting all that plaga. Why would that ever need to happen? From a gameplay perspective, the developers wanted tougher enemies for that part of the game, the Ndipaya Majini essentially functioning as RE4's Los Illuminados (the cult dudes in hooded robes). However, going full tribal was unnecessary and seemed more like Capcom retroactively coming up with an explanation to a problem they created yet didn't need to create. Just have the Plaga Type 2 enemies wear something else instead of the most stereotypical and racially insensitive thing one can put in a game set in Africa. I don't know how that got through QA. Like no one at Capcom was like "Maybe we shouldn't?"

Here's a very obvious solution: just make the Plaga Type 2 enemies Tricell scientists and personnel. Excella was so obsessed with Wesker that she sacrificed her own employees, implying further that Tricell is so corrupt and evil they indiscriminately tested on whoever they could. If Capcom really wanted, it can even include the Ndipaya Majini without putting them in tribal gear. Tricell used them because they were there.

This is exacerbated by the fact that one of Sheva's alternate costumes puts her in tribal gear. Her personal history does not have her as part of a tribe. Why the **** is that in the game? And it's like a "sexy" tribal outfit. Come on, guys. We treat these things like they don't matter. I don't know, man... maybe they should though?

I read an interview wherein Shinji Mikami stated he refused to "eroticize" his female characters or portray them as submissive. In the Resident Evil games he directed, that's fairly consistent. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (not directed by Mikami) put Jill in that ridiculous mini-skirt so when she appeared in that very cleavage-y catsuit in RE5 (also not directed by Mikami), it was hardly surprising. Once Mikami left Capcom, no one was gatekeeping that stuff. Collectively in RE5, it's easy to see where some of the problematic elements originated from. So while the developers may not have meant to be offensive or insensitive, intention doesn't change that something is or at least can be construed as such. Ignorance may be the reason, but it is not an excuse.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 08, 2021, 05:49:26 PM
The problem though is once you get to Chapter 3 in RE5 and encounter the Ndipaya Majini. There's supplementary literature within the level in the form of a "Village Youth's Diary" detailing that after being infected, "The men are all dressing like our ancestors and fighting each other." The bolded part isn't racist per se but is, in my mind, definitely racially insensitive. Sure, they were taken advantage of by Tricell, but I can't think of any reason why, based on the game's text, they would need or have the capacity to dress like their ancestors upon ingesting all that plaga. Why would that ever need to happen? From a gameplay perspective, the developers wanted tougher enemies for that part of the game, the Ndipaya Majini essentially functioning as RE4's Los Illuminados (the cult dudes in hooded robes). However, going full tribal was unnecessary and seemed more like Capcom retroactively coming up with an explanation to a problem they created yet didn't need to create. Just have the Plaga Type 2 enemies wear something else instead of the most stereotypical and racially insensitive thing one can put in a game set in Africa. I don't know how that got through QA. Like no one at Capcom was like "Maybe we shouldn't?"

Here's a very obvious solution: just make the Plaga Type 2 enemies Tricell scientists and personnel. Excella was so obsessed with Wesker that she sacrificed her own employees, implying further that Tricell is so corrupt and evil they indiscriminately tested on whoever they could. If Capcom really wanted, it can even include the Ndipaya Majini without putting them in tribal gear. Tricell used them because they were there.

Having never played a Resident Evil game, I have a few (possibly dumb) questions: Does the Plaga mean there's a sort of viral plague which infects people? If yes, do they turn into zombies? And do they then spread that plague further by eating each other?

I ask because a lot of older zombie tropes are often traced back to either Haitian vodou or West-African folklore. (Western) storytellers stripped away the religious/spiritual elements and obvious slavery allegories, and then combined surface level descriptions of zombis with real-world diseases like cannibalistic Kuru from Oceania. That way you get pretty close to typical zombies-as-diseased stories.
From there the leap from disease to viral pandemic spread through biting and such basically gives birth to the zombie apocalypse genre, like the Romero movies, which in turn trace a seemingly straight line to Resident Evil. (I'm vastly oversimplifying and am definitely no expert in any of this subject matter.)

As an outsider reading your description it sounds like they unquestionably adopted the racist stereotypes which underpin zombie fiction's origins: a hodgepodge of mystical exoticism and heaping wildly different cultures on a single pile of "others". An imaginary, homogenous group of others who skew non-white, have cannibal traditions, believe spirits can leave the body and leave slow-walking living husks stripped of their soul, who live in mud huts, dress in tribal gear, and speak in tongues to their ancestors through voodoo magic.
And it feels like they just wholesale regurgitate all those deeply reductive tropes because "it's part of the genre"?

At best that reads as just careless ignorance caused by insular corporate cultures which do not include viewpoints of the places their stories are set in. Careless regurgitation of colorist standards (am I wrong in thinking Sheva is a light-skinned African woman who hunts darker skinned African people/zombies?) and colonialist white savior complexes.
I don't know whether any of this is on purpose, and like you say they likely thought the primary message was against bioweapons and aimed to portray the local population as victims of ruthless weapons manufacturers.
But if the only African setting they could think of (are there more?) was mud huts & spear throwing... I mean, especially if it's set in modern/near-future times (which I'm assuming based on the weaponry and sci-fi plot), that's uh... That sure is a choice.

Hope I haven't said anything dumb or ignorant here, but I'm just kind of over excusing this sort of stuff. They can still inadvertently repeat ingrained racist ideas inherited from upbringing/society, even if they don't intend to. I'm not saying all zombie fiction is inherently racist, or that people should stop liking the games or whatever. By all means we should see more games set in African countries, and see the vast diversity in locales, cultures and people of the continent.
But if they indeed remake this someday, I hope they wield a defter hand and take the opportunity to make some big changes.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 08, 2021, 06:00:54 PM
I will defend a lot of the stupid crap that RE5 does, with the lone exception of all that tribal crap (including Sheva's tribal outfit costume). C'mon...even if we want to pretend that Capcom Japan was woefully ignorant about what they were doing, Capcom USA clearly understood what was happening (given the notes in the game about it) and would have warned them.

As for the Plagas, Discord, the Las Plagas are a parasite that's injected (or in RE5, fed to) into a host that allows a person to control their actions, basically turning them into a voodoo zombie of sorts, but not one that carries the bite-based infection of the Romero zombies.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 09, 2021, 09:10:28 AM
As for me, I've been busy of late. I tried to make 2020 (and now 2021) the year where I got major games out of my backlog, stuff that's been sitting there for years irritating me.

As such, I finally played Assassin's Creed 3 via its recent Remastered release, and BOY do I hate that game. I hate its whiny, wooden main character (voiced by an actor who can't act); I hate its shitty pacing; I hate how it takes 5 hours to cross the gigantic maps; I hate how you have to waste hours in a pointless maze minigame in order to unlock fast travel points in the cities; I hate how the ending makes no sense (if the precursors were wiped out by a Solar Flare, why would Juno be able to shield the Earth from one now?); and I hate the really terrible mission design dictated by secondary objectives that are WAY too strict and finicky. And mind you, I played the REMASTERED release, where the developers went out of their way to "fix" the mission and environment design.

But more than anything else, I hate how this game completely half-asses the American Revolution, the thing I'd been wanting to play the game to see. You certainly see snapshots of it, but the game does a really terrible job of telling the story of the revolution.

Oh, and the developers also wrote and recorded a fantastic speech from Connor that wraps up his character arc; cut it from the game; and then left it in the code. Enjoy.


Edit: Youtube embeds don't seem to be working too well these days, so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g59vyPocZQQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g59vyPocZQQ)

I've played more, but I'm trying to split these posts up.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 09, 2021, 09:30:02 AM
With AC3 Remastered finally out of the way, I played through Assassin's Creed Liberation Remastered as well, since it was on the disc as well. I played the original version of this game on the Vita, and I remember liking it. Playing it now, it's...fine. It's an average Assassin's Creed game, and quite short by the series standard, but that's part of why I like it: it gets to the point. You're an assassin, here's your area, there's your target, go.

I still feel like the gameplay in Liberation is way too restrictive and tedious, but the mission design is decent and the Bayou in general is just SO much more enjoyable to get around than AC3's "Frontier" area. Liberation is also the ONLY game in the AC series to really try to DO something with the fact that this is an experience controlled by Templars. As such, the game censors dialogue and plot points that make the Templars looks bad, and only by "hacking" the game can you see the "truth".

On the heels of these 2 games, this probably sounds suicidal but I was really in the mood to replay Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. Instead, I finally played through Assassin's Creed Rogue via its Remastered release.

Rogue gets on my good side right off the bat by throwing you into the AC experience within seconds of starting the game up, and in general it never left my good side. Rogue is an incredibly short game if you don't bother with the side content and collectibles (which I did do and get), which is both a benefit and a detriment here. On the one hand, I appreciate above all that Rogue doesn't waste my time. On the other hand, Shay's story of being an Assassin that turned to the Templars is really rushed, to the extent that certain beats don't hit at all since we have no emotional attachment to that location or person.

Likewise, the short nature of the game also means that you never really feel a difference between playing as an Assassin & playing as a Templar, and the game could have spent a lot more time explaining the Templar philosophy instead of just showing this particular branch of the Assassin Brotherhood to be incompetent assholes.

Still, if you want more of Black Flag's ship combat and exploration, Rogue is a pretty decent time that won't waste yours.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 10, 2021, 11:52:45 PM
Last 2 for a while, I suspect. And just like the others, I expect the coming of the deafening silence.

Mortal Shell - It's a Souls-like. I feel like I could leave the write-up just at that, but there are a few minor things that make this game notable from your standard Souls-like: for one thing, there is no leveling system whatsoever, nor equipment really (with the exception of weapons). Instead, you play as a skeletal naked person that has the ability to harden to temporarily withstand any attack. However, scattered throughout the main hub area are the bodies of 4 fallen warriors. By possessing those 4 corpses (or "Shells"), you gain access to essentially the game's 4 character classes: a knight in armor with balanced stats; a wizard with slightly better health but slightly lower stamina; a rogue with low health but very high stamina; and an armored knight with high health but very low stamina.

Instead of gaining levels, you collect what the game calls "glimpses", which are specific to each Shell and  unlock stat bonuses unique to each shell (for instance, the standard Knight can get a bonus to their stamina regeneration upon Hardening; the Rogue gets a teleporting shadow dodge, etc.).

Here's the thing about this system: I played through the game as the standard Knight, and the main reason why is that this is the Shell that's put in your path right at the beginning of the game. You have to find the other 3 Shells, and all of them are hidden behind tough early-game hordes or mini-boss fights. So by the time you GET those Shells, you've already gotten used to playing as the one they practically gift-wrap you, so why would you even bother learning how the other Shells play? You'd think that the 4 shells being swappable would encourage strategic use of them, but since the glimpses ARE shell-specific the game HIGHLY encourages you to pick one and specialize. The game also outright LIES about what you need to do to unlock the Shells' abilities, something I was aggravated to discover online after spending hours combing the hub area looking for objects belonging to my given Shell so the Seer could unlock its true potential, only to discover that you just need to talk to her and hold down the confirmation button until a circle filled in.

The whole game is like that: overly cryptic, even by the standards of Souls-likes. The game likewise has an interesting system with items where you don't know what items do until you use them; but the more you use them the better the effects of that item get. For instance, there's a mushroom in the game that poisons you the first few times you use it, but after that it provides healing FROM poison and temporary immunity. It's a weird game.

What also sets the game apart from other Souls-likes is its length: it's a VERY short game, consisting of 3 dungeons (2 short, one long) and a hub area. This allows the game to end before it wears out its welcome. It also allows for a scenario where the player does a "no shell run", where you beat the game with essentially 1 HP. Because the game's creatures all essentially idle until you get close to them, you can essentially run past most of them on your way to and from the game's 3 primary bosses. Because of the game's emphasis on strategic hardening and dodging, it also turns the game's boss fights into essentially Punch-Out. Now, did I do something so incredibly suicidal?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqqbbBEW8AEczAH?format=jpg&name=small)


Maybe.  :P
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 11, 2021, 12:15:25 AM
Finally, there's Final Fantasy XV, my old nemesis. I've attempted to get through this game probably 3 times now, but after putting the game up for years due to just not caring anymore about where the plot was going, I finally finished it.

Having finished it, I don't want to hear **** about Final Fantasy XIII from people ever again. Say what you will about that game, and I will openly admit that game is flawed as hell, but as bad as that game's storytelling is...at least the story was PRESENT. You could play through that game and not even pay attention to the mountains of Datalogs, and you could still understand that game's basic story & villain motivations. Its story wasn't run through Square-Enix's corporate shredder to sell back to players at a premium 1-2 years later. It didn't sell its soul to Audi; Assassin's Creed; and fucking Cup Noodle to make a quick buck.

In order to understand FF 15's story, you need to...

- Watch the prequel CGI movie Kingsglaive.
- Watch the prequel "Brotherhood" anime episodes (which were never dubbed, by the way)
- Wait for 2 years of story patches that added cutscenes.
- Buy the "Royal Edition" content; which includes a bunch of story and side content added to the main game, as well as the Episode Gladiolus; Episode Prompto; and Episode Ignis DLC packs.
- Buy the Episode Ardyn DLC pack.
- Play the Multiplayer story mode (whose servers are no longer up) that fills in the gaps of a time jump that takes place late in the story.
- Play certain temporary festival content (like the Assassin's Creed Festival content that no longer exists).

FF 15 frustrates me because there is a good story here and a decent game to go with it, when the game decides to share what it IS. It's a game where the developers constantly play "Keep Away" with the plot, to the extent that by the time I finally finished the game I had no clue what Ardyn's PLAN was. I knew WHO he was, but not what his deal was or what he hoped to accomplish. That's kind of an important thing for the player to understand in an RPG.

Now, the DLC that actually released does fill in some crucial holes, though Gladiolus' DLC is pretty pointless and Prompto's is fairly dull. Ignis' and Ardyn's DLC are a blast to play through, particularly Ardyn's, and WITH Ardyn's backstory firmly established I can say that I love him AS a villain. It's just a pity that it took Square Enix YEARS to finally convey what his deal was.

I despise FF 15's story for how half-assed it comes across in the main game. Hell, the game's entire emotional core is built around a romance between Noctis and Lunafreya that exists ENTIRELY off-scren. I want to like the main 4 guys, but NONE of their relationship is explained in the game itself. I felt NOTHING when characters died or were severely harmed in this game (with the exception of Ignis). In fact, it says a great deal that I had more of an emotional moment when the fucking CAR died than when the game killed off a major character. The game kills off GODS COMPLETELY OFF-SCREEN, and then mentions them in passing.

Also, as much as the holes in FF 15's story bug me, it also bugs me how this game wants to be this epic "road trip" story, and yet refuses to commit to it in the name of generic "Open World Freedom." Let me put it this way: FF 10 was also a road trip story, and it kept its momentum by forcing the player to journey ever onward, not allowing them to return to previous locations until the road trip was over. By contrast, I spent my first 40-50 hours in FF 15 ignoring the plot and just driving around the open world doing monster hunts. By the time I finally returned to the story in Chapter 3, my characters were already strong enough to take on the game's DLC superbosses. By refusing to commit to their story & acknowledging player psychology (i.e. "if you put a sidequest in a dedicated player's path, they're going to do it, come hell or high water, wherever it takes them"), they shot their game's narrative momentum in the foot.

As much as I hate how FF 15 handles its story, though, I genuinely enjoyed the monster-hunting (aside from the damage-sponginess of the enemies) and light dungeon-crawling. The side activities like cooking & fishing are quite enjoyable. The DLC is quite good in its own right, but man is this game STILL (even now, all these years later) an openly unfinished trainwreck and a slog to get through.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on January 11, 2021, 01:20:17 PM
Thanks for the RE5 info Brood! I tried watching one of those FF15 movies (Kingslaive) and it's pure cringe. And that's coming from someone who owned Spirits Within on VHS. Animations looked incredible, but woof.

As such, I finally played Assassin's Creed 3 via its recent Remastered release, and BOY do I hate that game. I hate its whiny, wooden main character (voiced by an actor who can't act); I hate its shitty pacing; I hate how it takes 5 hours to cross the gigantic maps; I hate how you have to waste hours in a pointless maze minigame in order to unlock fast travel points in the cities; I hate how the ending makes no sense (if the precursors were wiped out by a Solar Flare, why would Juno be able to shield the Earth from one now?); and I hate the really terrible mission design dictated by secondary objectives that are WAY too strict and finicky. And mind you, I played the REMASTERED release, where the developers went out of their way to "fix" the mission and environment design.

But more than anything else, I hate how this game completely half-asses the American Revolution, the thing I'd been wanting to play the game to see. You certainly see snapshots of it, but the game does a really terrible job of telling the story of the revolution.

Yeah Assassin's Creed 3 really is terrible. It all looks great, and there's like 5 different games sandwiched in there, but none of them are polished at all. They can also inadvertently lead to a scenario where you play as a Native American man whose village was massacred, so he takes revenge by.... Establishing a 24/7 on-call murder squad of hitmen who you send all over the east coast to slice up dudes, while simultaneously operating a lumber trade empire, and distributing pamphlets intending to overthrow the British rule to... establish the U.S. government???

It's a plot which really only makes sense because the series needs to wind up adjacent to reality, but from a character perspective it's... puzzling. I guess the Assassin order is just prescient, and pursues the Templars regardless of what governments they erect in the process?

What I also hate is like, why are these games pretending to be open world at all? Half of all missions are location based anyway, and all the tailing missions outright make it impossible to use the open city. It's a bunch of hallways disguised as GTA: 1770ies. Sometimes messing up the stealth has consequences (like in the prison), other times it just seamlessly segues into combat. There's so little consistency despite its no doubt astronomical budget. I've got Black Flag in the backlog still, but just thinking about AC3 makes me not even want to try to get to it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 11, 2021, 04:32:19 PM
Discord, Black Flag is IMO the best game in the series. It's basically "What if Wind Waker was about Tetra?" The AC stuff is the worst part of the gane, but it is an amazing pirate game.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on January 11, 2021, 05:23:18 PM
Black Flag is the only one I've really played and I suspect I won't be returning to the series afterwards. It isn't that I don't enjoy the series, it's just that I feel like I'm getting my fill of it out of Black Flag.

It definitely runs well on Switch and the way the world is set up with the little islands and stuff really helps it avoid direct comparisons with more modern open world style games like BOTW. I definitely recommend it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 11, 2021, 10:22:57 PM
I will defend a lot of the stupid crap that RE5 does, with the lone exception of all that tribal crap (including Sheva's tribal outfit costume). C'mon...even if we want to pretend that Capcom Japan was woefully ignorant about what they were doing, Capcom USA clearly understood what was happening (given the notes in the game about it) and would have warned them.
Just curious what that entails, mostly to see if it aligns with my list of issues.

Anyway, broodwars answered most of Discord.RSS's questions so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on them. It should be noted that functionally, plagas infected enemies were essentially Capcom making "smarter" zombies. The plagas are parasitic while everything pre-RE4 was viral. Not sure what the benefit of that change was. They're overcomplicating something that wasn't that deep to begin with. Narratively, we'd be getting in the weeds with series lore which is a confusing mess, and one I feel the recent remakes tried to rectify. I read something about Nemesis now connecting to RE4.
As an outsider reading your description it sounds like they unquestionably adopted the racist stereotypes which underpin zombie fiction's origins: a hodgepodge of mystical exoticism and heaping wildly different cultures on a single pile of "others". An imaginary, homogenous group of others who skew non-white, have cannibal traditions, believe spirits can leave the body and leave slow-walking living husks stripped of their soul, who live in mud huts, dress in tribal gear, and speak in tongues to their ancestors through voodoo magic.
Honestly, I doubt the developers thought that hard about it which I think is actually part of the problem. If they looked into the origins of zombie lore, they may have come up with a better story. I still have a bit of trouble completely understanding parts of RE5's plot, namely how some of the key Macguffins connect (assuming they even do or were meant to). As it stands, RE5 finally adopted a twice discarded idea of the "Progenitor Virus" which all the series' other viruses were (retroactively) created from, including Uroboros. The Progenitor Virus is derived from an African flower called "Stairway of the Sun" though I have no idea what it has to do with the plaga. They seem like separate entities that don't really crossover in the game's plot which is bad writing. They were just both in Africa, I guess.

That leads to another, perhaps more important question: Why Africa? "Why not Africa?" -Capcom, probably. My speculation is since the earliest known human remains were discovered in Africa (not sure if that's still true, but it probably was when RE5 was developed), it's supposed to illustrate just how long people in the RE universe have been fucking around with viruses, plagas etc. Africa is a vast, untapped setting especially in video games, and RE5 didn't go far enough. It's a shame really. I completely understand the criticism that Kijuju is portrayed really dingy, almost slum-like suggesting that's how the developers view Africa as a whole even if the implication of the text is that Kijuju was fine before Umbrella Corporation/Tricell ruined everything.
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And it feels like they just wholesale regurgitate all those deeply reductive tropes because "it's part of the genre"?
That's probably correct. Resident Evil started as a remake of an NES game called Sweet Home. Obviously, it developed into its own thing. I believe series creator, Shinji Mikami, admitted to drawing inspiration from George Romero's movies.
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At best that reads as just careless ignorance caused by insular corporate cultures which do not include viewpoints of the places their stories are set in. Careless regurgitation of colorist standards (am I wrong in thinking Sheva is a light-skinned African woman who hunts darker skinned African people/zombies?) and colonialist white savior complexes.
Possibly. I kind of feel like it's dumber than that. To me, the issues with RE5 stemmed from careless ignorance to a refusal to fully pivot when the reveal didn't go as planned. My understanding is Sheva was a relatively late addition. RE5 was originally intended to be a single-player game starring Chris Redfield. Capcom publicly revealed it, and white-guy-shoots-black-and-brown-people did not go over well. Then, instead of going back to the drawing board, Chris got a black partner who Capcom still wanted to be hot (which absolutely can be read as colorist) thus RE5 became a co-op game. You can tell Sheva was kind of shoehorned in because she barely does anything essential plot-wise. The narrative throughline of RE5 is the rivalry between Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker dating back to the original game. None of that even had to happen in Africa; it just happened to happen in Africa.

Capcom kept digging though. Sheva is there "because Africa" and making her lighter-skinned than many of the Majini she's murder-death-killing kind of makes the original issue worse. The developers very easily could have elevated the B-plot (Tricell fucks up a fictional African country) to the main plot and saved the Chris/Wesker stuff for a subsequent game. It doesn't even really make sense why the BSAA dispatches Chris, a North American BSAA agent, to Africa when the BSAA has an African branch. RE5 could have starred Josh Stone (a darker skinned supporting character who trained Sheva), delved deep into the history of Haitian vodou and West-African folklore you previously mentioned to create a more interesting and palpable origin story for the Progenitor Virus, and ultimately presented a more coherent narrative that actually intricately used its setting to its advantage. Unfortunately, in 2009, Capcom definitely did not have the courage to make a POC the lead in one of its tentpole games. It still doesn't as the cast of subsequent titles are:
(https://i.ibb.co/N1qSQFY/whitest.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on January 12, 2021, 06:42:36 PM

As it stands, RE5 finally adopted a twice discarded idea of the "Progenitor Virus" which all the series' other viruses were (retroactively) created from, including Uroboros. The Progenitor Virus is derived from an African flower called "Stairway of the Sun" though I have no idea what it has to do with the plaga.

I always interpreted Uroboros as being derived from the plaga sample that Ada stole from Leon at the end of Resident Evil 4.

I will defend a lot of the stupid crap that RE5 does, with the lone exception of all that tribal crap (including Sheva's tribal outfit costume). C'mon...even if we want to pretend that Capcom Japan was woefully ignorant about what they were doing, Capcom USA clearly understood what was happening (given the notes in the game about it) and would have warned them.
Just curious what that entails, mostly to see if it aligns with my list of issues.

The Many Stupid things about RE5...hmm...I'll have to think about that. It's been so long since I did my Platinum runs on the PS3 version of RE5 Gold. Just off the top of my head...

1. Annoying New Jersey guy that turns into into a giant sea monster (aka "Irving") - Well, RE4 gave us "squeaky-voiced midget Napoleon" (to quote Yahtzee), so my big issue with the dude is less that he's there than that he's given no introduction or development. He just...exists, then he doesn't, and the game never mentions him again.

2. The big action set pieces (too numerous to count) - It's funny. I've been on both sides of this argument over the years: the frustrated RE fan that wanted a spooky, tense Survival Horror experience...and the action gamer who just enjoys a good 3rd person shooter. In the end, I'm fine with RE5 being a big dumb action game (what my mother would call a "macho shithead movie"), because the combat is so fast and satisfying and this game WAS meant to be the finale to the main Resident Evil series plot. I also think a lot of people who hated on RE5's action focus hadn't played RE4 in a while, a game that basically gave up on being a horror game halfway in and went full-tilt action movie against steroid zombies wielding gattling guns.

I would also note that the main villain of this game is a scenery-chewing David Bowie lookalike who wears sunglasses at night. Resident Evil is a DUMB series, and it was welcome to BE dumb...once. And it's hard to argue that this was the wrong call, considering RE5 is STILL the best-selling game in the series at 13 million copies, despite FAR better games in the series having come in its wake. The problem is that Resident Evil KEPT not only being this dumb (and arguably got even dumber in RE6), but being so self-serious about how dumb it was. It wasn't until Revelations 2 that the series started to have fun at its own expense.

3. Wesker is Nightcrawler (aka Wesker's hilariously stupid superpowers) - Much as I'd like to knock RE5 for this, this is a Sins of the Father situation. Code Veronica introduced this stupid element, and RE5 was left to deal with it. I will say, though, that I love that the way you take him down is to turn off the lights in the arena so the idiot wearing sunglasses at night can't see you.

4. The teleporting Josh Stone - No, not going to defend this. It's just terrible writing the game actually attempts to lampshade at one point.

5. Samus Aran (aka Jill Valentine) - Nope, I've never understood why Capcom decided to turn Jill Valentine into Zero Suit Samus. It was a stupid idea, and pretty much every RE game since has tried to ignore that it happened. The game doesn't even provide an explanation for why Wesker changed her hair color after mind-controlling her.

6. Sheva's godawful AI - Yeah, it's awful. I just chock that up to it being Capcom's 1st attempt at an AI partner, and it's worth noting that their AI partners have gotten SO much better in the intervening years with RE6 and Revelations 2. It doesn't make her habit of repeatedly wasting MY ammo to shoot ME in the back (because I'm standing between her an an enemy) any easier, but at least you can mitigate the damage she does by making her the pistol user while you wield the more powerful weapons.

7. The restrictive inventory system - Yeah, I miss the attache case, but if you keep it organized it is a lot faster to switch weapons and manage inventory that it used to be, and it does keep you in the action.

8. The boulder punch - You know...the boulder punch is stupid and nonsensical...but it's also kind of hilarious, and In the Moment it doesn't really bother me. Thing is, I think people focus too much on the boulder punch (which doesn't even crack the boulder. It just rolls it off a precipice) when there's a much more stupid thing going on: you're fighting a mutated, bladed David Bowie in an active volcano over pools of lava that should disintegrate your characters just by being within 50 feet of them. Compared to EVERYTHING else going on at that moment, is the boulder punch REALLY that big an issue?

9. The BSAA - The existence of the BSAA is actually legitimately my biggest problem with this game, as well as those that followed. Why? Because we've now reached the point where Resident Evil isn't about people fighting tooth and nail to survive against hideous monsters. It's now about Private Military Companies fighting each other in this giant proxy war with no end in sight. That's what RE6; Revelations 1; Operation Racoon City; Umbrella Corp; the CG movies; and even RE7 to some extent were about. And, mind you, EVERY character who survives an RE game up to this point apparently joined one of these PMCs (except Leon, who might as well be in one).

I GET that this is actually a logical extension of stuff set up as early as Resident Evil 1. That doesn't make it any easier to swallow that Resident Evil is now about fighting terrorists or armies using BOWs in some foreign country, not about fighting the Unknown. The introduction of the BSAA; Tricell; Terra-Save; FBC; etc. turned Resident Evil into Call of Duty more thoroughly than all the explosions and quick-time zombie motorcycle fights ever could.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on January 13, 2021, 07:22:59 PM
I always interpreted Uroboros as being derived from the plaga sample that Ada stole from Leon at the end of Resident Evil 4.
I thought so to until I looked it up. The sample Ada stole in RE4 appears to be unaccounted for. The Plaga Type 2 (Town Majini) and Plaga Type 3 (Ndipaya Majini) in RE5 were created from a sample Wesker obtained from Jack Krauser's body in RE4. I haven't been able to confirm any real connection with Uroboros which apparently is viral (https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Uroboros_Virus).

Quote
The Many Stupid things about RE5...hmm...I'll have to think about that. It's been so long since I did my Platinum runs on the PS3 version of RE5 Gold. Just off the top of my head...
I don't want to quote these individually so here goes:
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: TrailerMan on January 17, 2021, 03:55:26 AM
The last game I played was a game called Sludge Life. It was weird, but overall interesting. It reminds me of a 1990s MTV music video.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on February 21, 2021, 04:06:12 PM
Untitled Goose Game (Switch)

(https://i.ibb.co/y8MyrqM/4-C3-DBDD3-C023-4-D7-C-A136-4668-A47-ED415.gif)

I snagged this on sale in December then just didn’t even boot it up as I’m wont to do. I haven’t been playing video games lately with a pretty big project at work just taking up a ton of time and brain energy so when I unwind, I’ve been opting for streaming video as opposed to anything I have to actively participate in.

That said, Untitled Goose Game was perfect for where I am mentally. It’s a very short game, only took about an hour and a half to complete everything on the to-do list except the time trial ones which I probably won’t go back and complete. There’s no reward and no game over. Just a nice, mostly stress-free puzzle/stealth game which quite honestly, was good for a change. Video games are supposed to be fun, and when I notice myself getting frustrated with a game, I often turn it off once I start feeling like I’m not getting the joy I wanted or expected.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on March 10, 2021, 08:25:28 PM
The Outer Wilds (PC):

I first tried this game many moons ago, but dropped it pretty quickly after finding it overwhelming and kind of tactilely nauseating. But it's held in such high regard, I eventually went back to it and forced myself to get used to the physics and absorb the scope.

I have fairly mixed feelings. On paper, it's an extremely cool idea, creating a Groundhog's Day loop within a clockwork solar system. In reality, it kind of sucked to play a lot of the time and lacked a rewarding sense of interaction/progress.

I feel like, given the pretty strict constraints of the game, they tuned it way too hard in favor of dexterity-based challenges with the extremely touchy boosters. This is exacerbated by the varying gravity between different planetoids (or lack thereof), which keeps you from ever really getting a solid intuitive grip on what's going to happen when you have to make risky maneuvers.

There's also the additional bottleneck of stingy oxygen and fuel tanks, which is simply never fun. This is even an area where they could have introduced persistent progress into the game. Like, keep it possible to finish the run from the very beginning, but allow you to expand your tanks to make the game less frustrating as you go and reward non-critical exploration, of which there is a ton. You might say that this wouldn't work with the time-reset structure, but they already fudge that with the ship's computer somehow keeping track of all your notes, so I'm sure they could have just folded that in (alien knowledge allows your system to become more efficient, e.g.)

It was perhaps unavoidable given the nature of the game, but I also felt it did a not-great job of guiding your progress. It felt like things were either rubbed in your face or way too opaque, BUT with a healthy dose of "am I really supposed to do [thing] or am I just not getting it?"

I'll list some spoilered examples of points in the game where I consulted the internet out of annoyance:



-QUESTION: Can I land on the sun station or do I have to use the blocked teleporter somehow? ANSWER: You can land on the sun station but it's really hard, better to use the teleporter.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I got close to landing and could have done it. 


-Q: Is there a hidden entrance in the rocks around the sun station teleporter that can only be found as the sand drains at a certain point, or am I supposed to jet pack around the cactuses inside the top of the tower? A: You can jet pack through the cactuses, but it's much easier to walk through as the sand drains at a certain point.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I got close to jet packing through the cactuses and could have done it.


-Q: Am I missing something about how to get to the quantum cave, or do I really need to blunder through those catacombs like two minutes after the loop starts before the sand buries them? A: Blunder through those caves.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I watched a video of the correct path because I didn't want to waste more time restarting the loop and landing on the twin, but I could have done it.


-Q: Can I use the gravity well to slingshot up into the tower of quantum knowledge or do I have to sit inside of it waiting for it to fall into the blackhole? A: You have to shoot a probe in and then use that signal to find the tower in space after it falls through the black hole.

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. You can just sit inside of it as it falls into the black hole.


-Q: Do I have to navigate through that pack of anglerfish to get to the glowing orange orb inside the bramble meteor to find the missing explorer or am I missing something? A: You're supposed to use the music signal to find the explorer elsewhere in that space.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. I forgot about the signal tracker. BUT you do have later navigate through those fucking fish, in a really critical context.


-Q: What the **** is going on on the quantum moon surface? I'm in the north pole placement of the shrine, but it's not warping me to the eye of the universe. A: That's not the north pole placement, the geography of the moon changes based on what planetoid it's orbiting.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. Well goddamnit, I was pretty close to the north pole and I didn't bother going back outside to check the landscape because I had already landed on the moon twice on the same orbit and didn't realize it changed.


-Q: How do I get inside the giant storm on the water planet? Do I have to blitz it from space? A: You can blitz it from space or get up from the under the current layer in the ocean.

POINT AWARDED TO: Draw. I tried both methods and didn't think either was possible.


-Q: How the **** do I get into the Ash Twin project? Is there some secret entrance to a teleporter you can only find at a certain point of sand exchange on either of the two planetoids? A: You have to wait for the "eye of the storm" of the sand funnel to pass over that teleporter building and then run in.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. Although this is bullshit. There's no reason to think that the sand funnel works by "tornado" rules rather than being a solid column. You can apparently fudge this by running over right as it moves past or by blasting down-thrusters, but I tried both methods and didn't think it was possible. Ultimately this is the only progress-related thing that I'm sure I wouldn't have futzed out on my own, but completely critical and egregiously poorly designed.



So, as you can see, the game fostered an unease in which I was reluctant to waste time "challenging" myself with the puzzle structure, because there was good odds it wasn't even a puzzle. But because I broke and looked these things up, it didn't feel like I had holistically overcome these hurdles, even though I would've figured it out/brute forced my way eventually (aside from the last example).

I spent a lot of time engaging with the game's logic and systems, and ultimately came away with a bit of bitter taste in my mouth, despite my deep inclination toward liking this type of project. Kind of a like a bad relationship! 



Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on March 14, 2021, 12:42:02 PM
Bummer about Outer Wilds, I've generally only seen positive things about it so this is a useful new perspective. Will still probably get it if the Switch port is okay, to see for myself. Like you say, I'm all-in on the concept, but yeah first person gameplay in a low-G environment does sound like a recipe for nausea.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on March 15, 2021, 01:20:14 PM
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on March 15, 2021, 03:44:20 PM
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...

Nice! The last boss is so difficult without the Shotgun character. Really cool game, I was best with Starch (laser + homing missiles) most of the game, but couldn't do the last boss with Starch. Wanna say Coral was the slow Shotgun class right?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on March 16, 2021, 12:09:11 AM
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...

Nice! The last boss is so difficult without the Shotgun character. Really cool game, I was best with Starch (laser + homing missiles) most of the game, but couldn't do the last boss with Starch. Wanna say Coral was the slow Shotgun class right?

Yeah, that's her. I used Lemon(spreader gun) for the majority of the game, including the final boss. I actually needed Coral to defeat that security boss, Judge.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on May 20, 2021, 07:03:59 PM
Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch):

I am not a Paper Mario originalist who demands that Nintendo reiterate the 1,000-Year Door. In fact, my favorite game in the franchise is Super Paper Mario, and I'm perfectly happy to see what new approaches IS cooks up for each new entry. That said, I skipped Sticker Star based on poor reviews, as well as Color Splash, which didn't seem to deviate enough from that annoying-sounding formula.

But Origami King had a pretty warm response from what I saw, jettisoning the purely disposable combat item system, so I decided to dip back in.

It's . . . okay.

It looks great, it plays smoothly, if a touch on the pokey side. I enjoyed boinking around the environments in a mildly Luigi's Mansion-ish fashion, digging up toads and treasures. There's also a surprising amount of variety in the adventure gameplay department, though nothing too individually mindblowing.

Less successful is the meat-and-potatoes combat. I just don't really care for the brain-teaser format of the ring system, which always felt either completely obvious or impossible for me to figure out in the allotted time. It's telling that the game rewards you for solving the puzzles with one-round fights and punishes you for failing them by making you engage in this system for longer. Nor is there really any meaningful leveling up, equipment, or other standard RPG components that help keep the mook fights interesting. By the end of the game, I was doing my utmost to avoid non-mandatory encounters and would groan out loud when I tripped into one.

But, weirdly enough, the boss fights are generally really good, tense and engaging, always introducing new wrinkles into the formula that you have to learn on the fly (man, **** those scissors). I would have been perfectly happy if the only time the ring system came into play was during those boss fights and maybe the odd hand-crafted mook roadblock with non-randomized layouts.

Really, though, the game overall seems barely interested in its traditional RPG vestiges. Like, there's even a completely real-time category of enemies, including bosses. I wouldn't be surprised if the developers wanted to jettison the menu-based combat altogether, as they did with their best game, SPM. I hope the next title is freed to become a full-on gonzo Nintendo take on the adventure genre, though with the demise of the Mario and Luigi series that seems unlikely.

Finally, regarding story/character/writing junk, which I guess has more salience in an RPG, it's nothing to write home about. The core plot is perfunctory and the weird insistence on mostly generic toad characters definitely holds the game back from developing any particularly interesting scenarios or interactions. The tropishly naive origami gal is pretty dull, and the non-koopa companions are likewise fairly bland (though the game earns points for the end of "Bobby's" involvement). The odd line of random toad dialogue is funny, but otherwise little of the story's presentation or content is memorable. Not a big deal for me, but definitely room for improvement.

I'd say a solid 7.5/10 game, and a marked improvement on the last Mario RPG I played (Dream Team), even if it's barely an RPG.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on July 03, 2021, 09:28:30 PM
Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS):


I finally got curious enough after the Dread announcement to give this a shot, despite my misgivings about the studio and bouncing off Mirror of Fate.

On the front of things, I was impressed by the "game feel", which alleviates some of my concerns coming out of the Castlevania attempt. Samus feels very snappy and fluid and you can really fly through the environments as you accrue upgrades.

I also appreciate that they kept far more of the original Metroid II design bones than I was expecting. For the most part it sticks to the hivey ethos of the progenitor, where you're digging through discrete zones to root out the Metroids within, weird blotchy distribution of upgrades and all. The only significant deviation I noted was the digging machine stuff, which was pretty bad, but the extra stuff in AM2R I think is arguably worse and more bolted-on feeling. (Funny, though, that both approaches felt the need to insert an annoying robot boss.)

Well, also the final Ridley fight, which was actually challenging if a bit too protracted. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I think the final Metroid variant is also different from the original, and more obnoxious, but it was probably the right call to switch it up.

Visually it looks okay-ish; a bit bland as most 2.5d games like this tend to be, but Samus herself looks good. Definitely limited by the hardware, so I'm hopeful the final Dread product will benefit from higher fidelity.

BUT

Goddamn does the counter system suck, worse than I anticipated. It isn't just an optional thing that speeds up combat, it infects nearly every enemy interaction. Almost all the varmints have obnoxious charge moves that you can't ignore. You just have constant organic missiles firing at you at all times, and it sucks. The freeze beam is so weak and short-lived that it's equally annoying to freeze enemies and smash them with the counter as it is to just counter normally. Every beam strength upgrade you get is matched with redder variants of the same enemies that are just as spongy, and commonly even invincible without countering. And they do outrageous damage.

Like, in the context of this particular game, I can see the counter thing being welcome in terms of the Metroid fights and rewarding knowledge and skill to shorten the encounters, but as a blanket mechanic is absolutely blows, and I don't know why Nintendo okayed it.

I also do not at all care for the aether system, or whatever it's called. I did not want another meter to babysit in this context, and it seemed to directly contribute to the sponginess of many of the enemies. The shield ability is okay as a fallback when you're low on health, but the mapping ability in particular is baffling. You get it very early on and it just totally takes the wind out of exploration. You can just find everything automatically and there's no reason not to. Maybe this would have been okay as a late game thing, but as it is it totally neuters one of the core pleasures of this style of game. I really don't know what they were thinking with this, other than feeling like they needed to layer on a bunch of missile upgrades with lame lock-and-key solutions that would not be at all fun to discover organically only to realize that you just had to come back later lay a super bomb.

So overall, very mixed on this remake. I would probably prefer it over AM2R if it wasn't for the tedious combat. I think in the end the original Gameboy game is pound-for-pound better, more impressive and atmospheric. And, I think, absolutely playable.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on July 18, 2021, 02:21:47 AM
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)

I started with Bowser's Fury. It was really good and definitely helped justify double dipping (I was going to wait for a drop to $40 then settled for $45). I ran into a couple bugs. When I was at 48 Cat Shines, Fury Bowser wouldn't go away no matter what I did. I had to collect two more Cat Shines while Fury Boswer was raining fire then was forced into the "final" boss fight. The camera and controls during the Fury Bowser fights were pretty bad.

I finally beat the final two stages in Super Mario 3D World (Mystery Box Marathon and Champion's Road) and all I had to do was buy the game again after seven years. It's still good even if it feels a little dated. The limited camera mostly worked. When it didn't though...

Also, some of the Green Stars were infuriatingly difficult to obtain. I wanted 100% completion which is absolutely not going to happen because I forgot you need to clear each stage with every character. Will I replay every stage four more times including the aforementioned and obscenely difficult Mystery Box Marathon and Champion's Road?
(https://i.imgur.com/fci7n4a.jpg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on July 25, 2021, 12:19:21 AM
No More Heroes (Switch)

I got the Limited Run Games physical release.

This game did not age gracefully. Much of the humor didn't hold up under a 2021 lens. Maybe I found it funny when I first played the game in my early-mid 20s. At 37, it was mostly intolerable. I remember liking Travis Touchdown as a character except he's kind of a ****. Additionally, models for the red shirts and NPCs walking around Santa Destroy are pretty bad even for a 2008 Wii game. The graphics in general are extremely dated despite the art style and everything seemed darker, particularly the shadows.

The story was nonsense. I don't know how much of it was intentionally nonsense or something Suda51 would claim was intended to be nonsense if anyone called him out on it. Travis' primary motivation was apparently to sleep with Sylvia (as she promised once he became the top assassin) but also revenge he didn't remember he wanted until the very end of the game. Also, he won his beam katana in an online auction yet somehow is a world class assassin who "lives for killing" except the entire United Assassins Association was merely an elaborate con cooked up by Sylvia so Travis could kill his half-sister, Jeane, for killing his parents (statute of limitations on spoilers has expired). Jeane's backstory was also weirdly dark. If it was a con, why would so many people act like the UAA was a thing and subsequently put themselves in a position to get murdered. No More Heroes doesn't commit to anything, and it was difficult to parse out what was even happening within its narrative. Maybe that was the point. I don't know. I guess it's better to simply ignore all of that.

The gameplay mostly holds up, the driving simulator in the overworld and a few minigames notwithstanding. The fighting is a little mindless but I still liked it. I started the game using the Joy Cons. Despite barely using them, the left Joy Con began to drift. *lose horn* (http://*lose horn*) That said, I played most of the game using the Pro Controller, and it was... better. I lauded the original release for its motion controls yet I only went back to the Joy Cons for a couple missions that practically required it.

My main issue with this port is that Suda51/Grasshopper Manufacture made very few quality of life improvements besides 60 FPS and a resolution bump to 720p. The frame rate in the open world was absolutely horrendous.

No More Heroes' greatest sin was how little it respected the player's time, and the port, unfortunately, did not fix this. There are still no "Retry" and "Restart Mission" options. If you fail or know you are going to fail, you have to sit through the loading screens to leave the mission and reenter the Mission then click through the intro every time. And you can pass certain Assassination Gigs, but it's kind of not worth it unless you get a Gold rating because some are so difficult. If you do manage to pass, you have to drive all the way back to K-Entertainment, accept the gig again then drive back to the location actually play it. Y'all had 13 years and couldn't be bothered to fix that. Come on, man.

I don't think I'll play this game again though I don't regret revisiting it/double dipping. I'll probably play a palate cleanser game before jumping into the sequel. I would like to finish that as well as Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes before playing No More Heroes III.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Order.RSS on July 29, 2021, 05:20:30 AM
No More Heroes (Switch)

This game did not age gracefully. Much of the humor didn't hold up under a 2021 lens. Maybe I found it funny when I first played the game in my early-mid 20s. At 37, it was mostly intolerable. I remember liking Travis Touchdown as a character except he's kind of a ****.

The story was nonsense. I don't know how much of it was intentionally nonsense or something Suda51 would claim was intended to be nonsense if anyone called him out on it.

No More Heroes' greatest sin was how little it respected the player's time, and the port, unfortunately, did not fix this. There are still no "Retry" and "Restart Mission" options. If you fail or know you are going to fail, you have to sit through the loading screens to leave the mission and reenter the Mission then click through the intro every time.

Thanks for this write-up!
Having never played the series myself, I've seen some people say NMH1 "deliberately wastes players' time" with the mindless overworld chores, to make... Some sort of point about how a daily grind may be boring and slow, but is more profitable/useful for progressing than the move-fast-and-break-stuff approach of the assassination lifestyle? Did you get that impression at all, or nah?

Travis did always strike me as an arrogant idiot meant to represent the worst player impulses. The type of person who has been conditioned by anime and games to think the world revolves around them, sees women as targets/objectives to unlock, and sees violence as a natural conduit for conflict resolution. Always assumed that was the central idea behind the No More Heroes title, but maybe I'm wildly off the mark there?
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on September 08, 2021, 09:22:22 PM
12 Minutes (PC):

I'd heard of this game in fits and snatches over the years and was very interested in the concept. I've thought for a long time that the adventure game genre could take a big leap forward with more contained and more interactive experiences. A time loop was a great opportunity to explore a new direction.

Unfortunately, it kind of sucks. This is probably the only game I'd rate a 5/10 and still recommend enthusiasts to check out. It's a kinda fascinating study of what could have been.

Given that this game was in the works for like five years, I have to assume that the gravity of the task, creating a 10-minute Groundhog's Day, was ultimately outside the scope of what they could achieve. That's either a troubling comment on the possibilities of interactive entertainment, or a big failure from the team.

It's easy to come up with possibilities on one hand that the game logically should have explored, but didn't or couldn't. Instead, the game feels very constricted within a constricted space. A few quality-of-life improvements, like a ZTD time map, or even a macro recording ability or a rewind, would have rendered the game absolutely trivial, which is probably why they didn't include them.

But someone should actually address this concept in a more compelling and articulated fashion! It's one of the unexplored possibilities of games!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 21, 2021, 12:49:26 PM
Let's catch-up.

The Room Three: (Steam)

More of the same -- more boxes, more rooms, more elaborate puzzles and doohickeys to twist, turn and pull. But with expanded scale the series already pushing the limit with how much time you have to spend walking between rooms compared to actual puzzling.

Game goes further into horror element and now has several endings. Thankfully story branches out just at the end you only need to replay the very last part to see all endings.

Devil May Cry 5: (Xbox One, Steam)

(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/999142914943402762/04FF582106444353522AC739A92CDCCF61CA9828/?imw=1024&imh=576&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=true) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1685617215)

DMC5 is probably my favourite game of the last 5 years. I rarely buy new games and those that i do buy i barely play (at least within that first year). DMC5 really is the only exception. I kept coming back to it and enjoyed the process of getting 100% on it so much i did it twice -- on Xbox and Steam.

5 improves on everything i wanted to be improved on. Side-dodges finally became viable for dodging with more fluid animation. New air-taunts are great for both style and movement. Swords moveset unified across Nero and Dante, Dante has lots of fun new weapons, Nero feels much better to play.

Nero's mechanical arms weren't not game-breakers i thought they might be. Because arms break as you use them, you will have to plan ahead which arms to equip if you're going for S-ranks or in the Bloody Palace because certain arms are way better for certain enemies. And Nero gets even more abilities after finishing the game, improving the mobility and combat further still.

Dante's new weapons are fun. Ice nunchucks from DMC3 are back and gained two new elementals powers. New gauntlets have their own dodging, parrying and even style switching mechanics. Dante can dual wield 2 rocket launchers or swing a bike like weapon, even a hat turns into a weapon in Dante's hands. But the biggest upgrade is a new sword which allows Dante to create and control sword shards around him and more importantly -- tap into Sin Devil Trigger. Sin Devil Trigger is the epitome of "stupidly overpowered but fun". At first i thought this turns DMC into something like MMO where you're just waiting until gauge for your ultra move fills up and then you just activate it destroying everyone, but then i learned about Quadruple SSS.

Quadruple SSS is now my favourite action game mechanic since Bayonetta's Dodge Offset. Not only it allows to turn into badass demon for a few seconds mid combo, it also cancels nearly everything. It is a fantastic option to get out of lengthy recovery animations like the one after shooting a huge laser from double rocket launchers.

The only bad thing in DMC5 is lock-on which is bafflingly bad and inconsistent, especially compared to previous entries. DMC4 had a setting to control how game locks-on to enemies -- they removed it in 5 for some reason and instead lock-on is completely random at times. Way too often i pressed lock-on expecting it to latch on to the enemy i was fighting but game instead locked-on to a random bat across the arena. It is really puzzling how bad it is -- they polished every other aspect of the combat to a mirror sheen but lock-on is not just busted -- it's the worst in entire series.

S-ranking all the levels was quite a challenge, especially on DMD. DMC5 has lots of overpowered weapons (Dante's hat and Sin Devil Trigger and Nero's arm breakers) so it's doable with some planning. "Hell and Hell" mode that kills you on in one hit was actually easier than i thought because you still have 3 retries to finish the level and you get S-rank automatically with "No damage" bonus.

Vergil is back too and fittingly -- is more overpowered than ever before. Stupid bullshit from DMC4SE is gone: Vergil can trick down normally again and character plays way better.

Completing 100 floors of Bloody Palace without dying took me a while. Specific floors are very dangerous, especially later ones and require planning and/or training, especially the ones with Fury enemy (red lizard that is intangible most of the time). Vergil's Bloody Palace alone took me more several months of retries but when i returned to DMC5 on PC all the training paid off and i finished his BP on first try.

Overall, despite busted lock-on -- DMC5 is easily the most accessible and fun game in the series. Everything bad from DMC4 is gone, everything good from DMC3 is back and better and more. I am nowhere near skilled enough to tap into this game mechanics fully (there are entire movesets and styles that i still ignore while playing) but it is still extremely fun to control with what i can handle. It decrowns DMC3 Switch port with style-switching as the most fun game in the series.

Metal Gear Revengeance: (Steam)

(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/394422442015427578/E348D693539E8943CCFCA56EB7D5A6CC095CEE33/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=540854582)

Inspired by 100%-ing DMC5, i went back to MGR. I mainly played the game back in 2015-2016. Looking at my screenshots i took at the time (https://steamcommunity.com/id/azeke/screenshots/?appid=235460&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid) camera and lock on were really pissing me off. After S-ranking the game in 2016 i dropped it for a while. In 2017 i finished main batch of VR-missions -- some of them were extremely finicky to complete, as VR-missions in Metal Gear series tend to be. And finally this year i finished the last of VR-missions and completed special achievements for DLC-missions.

In general -- this is a middling (if not outright bad) action game. Fundamentals are broken -- lock-on is horrific (especially with enemies that LOVE to jump/fly around across the stage), camera is probably the worst in both Metal Gear series and for Platinum. Even such a basic thing as movement is bad because main character really likes to "slide" and jump around semi-randomly when attacking -- game overall has a very "squirrelly" feeling. It feels like Platinum tried to replicate combat from Batman games where character magnetically jumps towards the closest enemy automatically.

The balance is non-existing. Metal Gear games are always anti-fun on harder levels, but this game takes this to new levels. Because your weapons are upgradeable, you're supposed to upgrade them during the campaign. And not upgrading is not an option -- you have to do it. This basically destroys all balance turning even the basic enemies into bullet- slash-sponges if you don't do upgrades. New Game on blank files is impossible -- unupgraded slash does a fraction of % of boss' life gauge. You read it right -- a fraction of 1 percent, as in -- you need to do 100-1000 slashes to kill the boss.

It feels like Platinum knew this is untenable and they added gimmick to "Revengeance" difficulty mode where parrying slash always does 10-20% of fixed damage to enemies. Ironically this makes this mode easier than previous "Very hard" mode.

Characters' movesets feel so barren. Even Raiden -- the character with the most moves has maybe 3-5 good moves, while DLC characters even less so. No weapon-switching in real-time also feels awkward. The sole point of Metal Gear UI is that so player could quickly switch WITHOUT going into dedicated pause menu screen. But in MGR you still have to pause the game so it's the worst of both worlds -- dealing with somewhat quirky Metal Gear UI conventions AND not even being able to do it on the fly. And generally that's the way with all ties to Metal Gear they did -- nearly all of it harms the game instead of elevating it: stealth is pointless, grenade system is finicky and at odds with action part of the game, Kojima productions imposed blade mode QTEs feels forced, especially with bosses.

Bosses are fun enough to play casually and music is good though tho i can't discern screaming lyrics. S-ranking magnet boss on Revengeance difficulty took me SO long... Because of insane time requirement i had to learn almost speedrunning strats to skip bosses' phases to make it in time. Same with final boss -- exploding ground crack patterns were tricky to learn. Especially when boss started to combine attacks -- he can create a lava wall and jump at you right through it so you can't even see him starting the attack.

Additionally there are DLC levels where you play as robot dog and Jetstream Sam -- rival character for Raiden. Robot dog's combat is even more basic than main character's, and so robot dog's campaign shifts more to platforming and stealth. It is very short -- around 40 minutes if played normally, or 8 minutes as a speedrun (https://youtu.be/9H1dosN-Oso).

Jetstream Sam's campaign is still short but character's is designed so well. It is kinda similar to Ninja Gaiden because how charging changes the entire moveset. Additionally Sam can double jump, taunt and his side rolling is way faster. You're gonna need side-rolling because the hardest achievement in the game is finishing final boss of his campaign without taking damage on hardest difficulty. When Sam parries an attack he still gets chip damage so you have to roll through attacks to avoid damage. Also you need to taunt because that doubles your damage -- but also makes incoming attacks faster. No-damaging the final boss took like hundreds of retries because it so easy mess up the input for side-rolling and the boss moves around the arena so swiftly already dysfunctional MGR camera can't keep up after him so you don't even see him and have to rely on sound cues. At least sound cues are done well so the only problem was my reaction and execution. Using Mike Kobe's speedrun (https://youtu.be/a09VEzlZfOk) as a guide i finally did this and finished the whole DLC in less than an hour completing all the achievements.

Overall MGR feels like a middling action game attached to "hype" cutscenes. Half baked mechanics completely fall apart when you play past the first playthrough. Jetstream Sam's combat and movement is the most fun and well designed part of the whole game and i wished he got a full game instead.

Metroid: Samus Returns: (3DS)

This was the game i was repairing my 3DS for (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=36196.msg978319#msg978319). Analog nub is used for both movement and aiming so had to have it in working for this game. As i was playing i was hesitant to make movements too fast, like quickly tapping "down" twice for morph ball because tugging the nub too hard was how i broke it the first time. This hampered my exploration when i discovered places where i needed to morph mid-air to push myself into a hole or start spider-balling alongside the wall.

Game has a semi-hidden way to morph-ball instantly if you press on a map on a touch-pad but the placement is awkward to press for either thumbs, especially from the left side because you simultaneously still need to push in a direction on a nub to keep the momentum going. Watching other people playing this game, i see people doing morphball mid-jump all the time to save time and i still don't understand if they really just tap down twice that fast or use touchpad.

Similarly, later in the game i needed a way to get out of morph ball quickly for a certain segment (*cough* chase sequence *cough*) and wasn't too keen double tapping "up" too fast. But i discovered that doing parry was a great way to get out of morph ball instantly.

Speaking of parrying -- complaints about it are way overblown. If anything game doesn't use parry enough because some bosses have only one parriable attack, if that. For regular enemies counter is even less of a problem because it always easier to simply jump over them or chuck a rocket at them which is how you would deal with them in all other games in the series. You can't even say that enemies attack patterns have been redesigned to force player to parry because Metroid 2 enemies (and Metroid Fusion enemies that recreate them) were already charging at you in the same manner.

Parrying felt like developers were trying to evolve series combat from "just spam rockets at everything". However the combat is still not fun enough by itself because you need to stop and wait until enemy attacks you, and this kills the flow. Maybe the old "just spam rockets" approach wasn't too bad, after all?

New robot boss plays unlike anything in original Metroid 2 and is instead a puzzle boss that forces you to do very specific things to defeat it instead just shooting rockets at it.  But another "new" boss they added is the complete opposite and IS a rocket-sponge because it is supposed to be a fanservice boss in the style of earlier games -- though i really don't think Metroid fans liked it becaгse how redundant and canon-bending it felt.

Robot boss also exposes another weird game design decision -- everything in Samus Return kills you too fast. That robot in particular has attacks that can one-shot, two-shot you even if you have fully upgraded. Even regular enemies can destroy several HP bars with one attack. This really undermines the power fantasy you get by upgrading yourself in later game. Insta-kill attacks make it really annoying to learn dodging robot's attack patterns while you wait for the part where you even have the chance to harm it -- if you figured out what to do that is.

Level design felt a bit generic and somehow more generic than Gameboy game (how is that even possible?). They did try to add some memorable vistas -- once in a while there is some picturesque Chozo temple ruins, or a dam or a crystal cave, but it all kinda blends together. Area names not having discernable themes or even a memorable names doesn't help.

New patterns on Metroid Queen boss forced me to several moves because i thought there is no way not to take damage here unless i am able to do this. With these new moves i was finally able to get all the last upgrades on a map and 100% the game.

Overall it is an okay game, but i don't think it would leave lasting impression on a new player or satisfy long-time series fan. After finishing Metroid 1, 2 and Samus Returns on 3DS, i really didn't understand why the series (at least the 2d half) warrants such a fervor...


Super Metroid: (Wii U Virtual Console)

until playing Super Metroid.

It really does feel like Super Metroid came right at the right time allowing developers to reach a perfect balance of story, moment to moment gameplay and replayability. Even the map that they added for the first time in series they managed to get juuust right on the first attempt. Super Metroid's map shows all you need but doesn't hold your hand. And some secret corridors are still hidden so there are enough areas for you to explore on your own. And for things player can't figure out -- there is a still scan ray to outright show bombable/rocketable blocks. Interesting how scan ray evolved into visors of Metroid Prime and then later kinda became industry standard becoming Detective Vision of Batman Arkham Asylum and Eagle Vision of Assasin's Creed. And retroactively turning into a scan pulse in Samus Returns.

Because we're back on the same planet as Metroid 1 areas have names and more importantly clear themes. Level design is very varied and there are lots of unique memorable assets spread all over helping to memorize the map layout in player's mind.

Still, i got stuck occasionally, but i always felt like it was my own fault. Like the area where Super Metroid locked me up until i realized game has a run button. I should have paid more attention to controls in settings or read the manual to check what all the buttons do. In the same vein -- when i gained all weapons and switching between them started getting cumbersome, i similarly wondered if there is a function to switch to regular beam instantly and there was -- it was on Y this entire time.

While i am on controls -- i was using SNES controller i got with SNES Mini and it was kinda awesome to play SNES game with the controller it was designed in mind with. I really liked the feel of that controller even if that whole Wii U setup was kinda clunky because i was using SNES controller plugged into a wiimote, and often used Gamepad as a screen while i was using my main TV for youtube watching or for podcast listening.

However, game's actual controls are really not ergonomic. The most obvious one that Y button and Select need to be swapped -- it really makes no sense to keep weapon switching that you need so often away from a face button. Run button also has no business being on face button -- it needs to be on a shoulder so bad so you can press it while you jump and shoot. Even jumping and shooting buttons are placed a bit weirdly. Good thing game has customizeable controls but it takes too much mental rewiring to relearn a game away from default so i kinda gave up and stayed on default button layout.

Another time i got stuck in my first playthrough was when i reached that glass tube connecting two zones. I knew of that place because i've seen that screenshot many times before:

(https://noblecactus.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/ukpy86m.png)

I knew of this room enough to recognise when it is being referenced in other games, like in both (https://youtu.be/qwDTFJuTlNY?t=1102) La-Mulana (https://youtu.be/tclPUAjCiow?t=1095) games but i still never understood why exactly that place was so memorable to so many, outside of unique visual of a giant glass tube.

When i got stuck in that underwater zone i gave up after wandering around there -- and it doesn't help that this zone is extremely annoying to traverse. So i gave up and looked up the solution and it was totally fair -- i should have put 2 and 2 together to realize what the game was trying to tell me.

Bosses are mostly "just spam rockets at them", indicative to boss design in all games in the series released so far. Except for that angry shrimp boss which i managed to kill completely randomly just by trashing about and randomly button mashing when it grabbed me. I had to look it up to understand what even happened. Apparently i somehow stumbled upon a trick to kill this boss instanly. Energy bar showing that this hurts Samus as much as the boss is actually badass in retrospect.

And game continues to use UI like that to show main character's emotions: desperation, fear of death, sense of relief, even righteous anger (similar to how Ace Attorney explodes energy bar to show character's frustration). Telling a story like that with just an HP gauge and few character sprites is so much more effective than cutscenes and voice-overs to spell character's thoughts out loud they'd do today.

I knew wall jumps exist from Samus Returns so when i saw that frame of animation where Samus tries to lean against the wall, it gave me a hint i can do something there. Then i spent almost an hour just learning and practicing wall jumps. This didn't help me much to sequence break or anything but it was still satisfying to learn by myself and use ocasionally for better mobility.

Apparently you're supposed to learn wall-jumping from "animals" later in the game but i never found them until my second playthrough when i specifically was looking for them -- and despite already knowing the trick -- these guys still taught me something. There are three of these monkey like critters and they do wall jumps to teach you how it's done. After you follow them, two of them jump down and do it all over again but the third one jumps into the small hole in the wall showing me that i can and should do that too. So i spent another half an hour trying to jump and turn into morph ball to cram myself in there. Because there is no button for instant morphball in this game i had to learn to do very fast sequence of right-down-down-right inputs. This could have been elementary if i had spiderball jump but i didn't even knew it exists despite that i was on a second playthrough already.

My first playthrough was around 8 hours with 54% completion. For 2nd playthrough i went faster with ~2:30 with 66% completion (and with animals saved).

Level design, art, sound effects, pacing the unlocks, hiding secrets everywhere, and still hiding even more secrets under those secrets, even secret moves. The game is filled to the brim with content and first playthrough barely even scratches the surface because game is awesome at hiding abilities and secrets. After you finish the game, demo video on title screen even changes to cheekily tease the player more hidden moves like special beam combinations (https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Special_Charge_Beam_Attacks). Even now, many months after finishing the game and having watched lots of videos about it, i still keep learning new things like a simple way to get to wrecked ship without grapple beam. I learned that speedrunners use technique called ocean fly (https://youtu.be/4Vkj4ubj2pg?t=1451) to glide over that whole sequence but that is way beyond normal player's ability. But when watching some random video just this week i found out it's possible to do it in a much simpler way, it is astonishingly easy in fact (https://youtu.be/Wx2bP8Fi9sE?t=134). Now it really feels like grapple beam here is almost like a ruse because of how brain dead easy it to pass through there without it.

Super Metroid music is memorable (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihqU8vw1vz8) and matches the mood of the levels it plays on perfectly. It is so good, all other entries hardly even bother competing with it -- because as i realize now Samus Returns music is almost entirely made of Super Metroid remixes. Even Metroid Prime can't help but remix Super. It feels like Super Metroid's towering shadow is so long it can't help but diminish all later games in the series, at least in terms of music.

And then there are mods (https://www.romhacking.net/?page=hacks&game=729) -- how awesome is that game's design is both robust and flexible enough to stay perfectly playable while hacked left, right and centre. There are mods that rotate, flip or turn the map upside down -- and game still stays playable all the way to 100% completion. And these are just "simple" mods -- there are mods that have entirely new map and story.

Creative prowess of such magnitude, polished craft from the beginning all the way to the end is truly awe-inspiring. I now understand completely how this game turns people into rabid fanatics of the series and creates disappointment everytime when newer games in the series can't quite measure up -- but what CAN?

Simply because how games are made now -- it is hard to imagine any modern game better than this -- even and especially from Sakamoto. Made today, the game would have too many cutscenes breaking "show don't tell" approach. Super Metroid's insane polish and detail is due to grueling development cycle (https://www.nintendo.com/super-nes-classic/interview-super-metroid/) -- yet another thing hardly possible today.

Modern Super Metroid just couldn't be such a rich and fruitful target for speedrunning and rom-hacking, simply because glitches, let alone hacks would be squashed within days. Super Metroid from 1994 is beatable without most of the suit upgrades, but today's dev team (justly -- from their perspective) feeling their hard work was wasted by players circumventing entire areas and aspects of the game would find ways to "fix" that (just look at latest patch for Metroid Dread (https://twitter.com/OatmealDome/status/1460807843414749187) where they do exactly that). Especially with perception of "shorter game is bad" which can lead to material damage of less sales.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on November 21, 2021, 02:18:18 PM
i don't necessarily agree that the run button must be a shoulder button. Mario games use B for everything and still work.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Daniellason on November 22, 2021, 02:52:14 AM
I used to play Mario and racing, I've been playing it since I was a kid, and I still love playing it with my son today.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 23, 2021, 01:50:20 AM
i don't necessarily agree that the run button must be a shoulder button. Mario games use B for everything and still work.
Mario's B doubles as both fire and run. In Metroid games you might need to press/mash/charge fire while holding or releasing run indepedently. Also while during platforming and switching weapons. It is better to put often used functions on face buttons, but not when buttons you will need to press and hold simultaneously are on the opposing sides of diamond button layout.

Modern platformers like Rayman Origins and Ori map run on a shoulder/trigger. I have problems with their design otherwise but they got at least that part right.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ThePerm on November 23, 2021, 03:47:58 AM
I thought about that, but I can imagine Ryu Hayabusa running through Super Metroid with NES controls just fine. More button combinations make a game more accessible, but you could do most things with less buttons using button combinations and timing. It would fundamentally change the game though.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 06, 2021, 02:39:25 PM
I bought a pack of 4 Nintendo vouchers a year ago, hoping that Nintendo surely will release some games that would interest me. I tried to use these vouchers to preorder Warioware and Metroid Dread but their release date was after vouchers' expiration date. So i had to buy some games to justify these vouchers. That's how i ended up buying Super Mario 3D World for the third time just for

Super Mario 3D World: Bowser Fury (Switch):

Great DLC? expansion? Bowser interruptions got a bit old by the end and the way you have to replay that boss battle, going through same motions was a bit annoying.

Still great 2 hours, and it really showed what original 3D World movement and controls are capable of in a more open world. And no, 3D World movement was never restricted to 8-directions -- it's the same here as in original game.

I think i enjoyed it more than Odyssey despite rather formulaic structure. For one it's an actual platformer which Odyssey doesn't even try to be one.

Yoku Island Express (Switch):

А fun puzzle Metroidvania, similar in design to Toki Tori 2. Finished game last year and overall enjoyed it. I think i remember being annoyed at some boss because i couldn't understand what was i supposed to do.

Metroid Fusion: (GBA cart on DS Lite)

I spent too much time tinkering with that Metroid Fusion cart and DS Lite itself (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=36196.msg978389#msg978389) to make them work so i felt motivated to finish this game on this DS Lite, come hell or high water.

It would be so easy to stay in Super Metroid's monumental shadow -- just like hundreds of games do. Even actual Metroid games after-Super, sometimes chase that Super Metroid high.

Metroid Fusion soundly rejects nostalgia and changes EVERYTHING: old yellow gunship is unceremonously destroyed and replaced with new purple one, main character's look is changed completely, ALL weapons and ALL controls are revamped. If anything, this earns mad respect for Sakamoto and team.

To justify why Samus lost all abilities again, Fusion goes to most extreme -- basically killing and rebuilding main character from ground up. All abilities are now reconceptualised as biological-genetic mutation powers instead of mechanical suit upgrades. The horror element appropriately moves on from Alien to The Thing with X-parasites shape-shifting and body horror.

Just like Metroid 2 on Gameboy, Fusion on GBA was designed around short gameplay bursts so map is divided into smaller sectors. Computer constantly briefs on what you're have to do and places targets on a map, probably to reduce frustration for players getting lost.

But how effective is that really if the game is never a walk from point A to point B? More often than not, goal will be locked behind something so you need to go around the map. Navigation panels reveal some of the map, but most of it will be hidden until you reveal it.

Fusion is not necessarily linear and signature Metroid exploration is still there but the game does feel restrictive sometimes. I wished i could skip briefing cutscenes but game doesn't allow that even on subsequent playthroughs. Which is weird because there are some QoL changes for New Game+ on completed save file, but cutscenes are still forced on you.

Near the end game straight up locks you up, shutting down all exploration, only allowing to finish the game. I had to look up where and when exactly does that happen so i don't get trapped down like that on next playthroughs. There are special passages between sectors and i discovered some of them but not the one from final sector. These passages are also hidden very deviously, so even if you know there must be one it is hard to find them, like one of these passages is placed so it is always obscured by mini-map UI.

Fusion streamlines controls and abilities to adjust to GBA's two face buttons. To eliminate weapons switching they removed scan ray, grapple beam and dedicated super rockets (super rockets are now just ugprades over regular rockets). There is no run button so Samus goes into boosted run automatically if you walk long enough. Diagonal aiming is on shoulder button and defaults to up aiming because most enemies fly and attack from above.

Most bosses are (again) rocket sponges you need to press down right shoulder button constantly. It became a problem for me because when i held DS Lite, it's right lower corner pressed too hard into my palm. I also had trouble sticking to the walls and ceiling which was especially annoying during tense boss fights. Not sure if it was my problem or controls' but half of the time Samus just refused to cling to the wall.

Also wall jumping was made easier to do, but for some reason it gets disabled after you get space jump?..

Some of the bosses were annoying like spider who can grab you, throw you on the ground and then grab you again. Similarly floating toaster boss was even more annoying because how hard it was to avoid getting hit. Compared to them, yet another Ridley fight felt refreshing because it was just a regular "shoot a bunch of rockets" deal but with wackier sound effects.

First playthrough was 5:15 with 59%. I tried to go fast on 2nd playthrough but apparently still took too much time collecting stuff with just 2:40. I then went for another playthrough with the goal of 100% but i didn't know i could restart over finished save file (marked with Metroid symbol) to see area completion marks. So i never finished it fully, just getting 93% but i enjoyed it still.

One shinespark puzzle room (https://youtu.be/sUbSVj5agoE?t=869) was especially fun to figure out and execute. It also forced me to learn how exactly shinespark works and helped to solve another puzzle (https://youtu.be/j9PMSMXfia0?t=1369) that i spent several hours on previously. Space jump room (https://youtu.be/sUbSVj5agoE?t=589) wasn't as fun to do, but it was ingenious in it's own way -- like some kinda extremely annoying Flappy Bird level. Still, scouring around all sectors looking for passages and items was fun however endgame music became too repetitive because it was constantly blaring, never changing regardless in which sector i was.

Overall game is fun enough on first playthrough, but the way game traps you into endgame was disappointing. On second playthroughs i wished game would allow to skip cutscenes and opened up passages between sectors earlier. Still, a good game.

Oh, and i forgot about SA-X. I didn't think SA-X encounters made too much of an impact, it only happens like 3 times and on first playthrough it is just "hide and wait it out" scripted sequence or "run away or die in one hit". Also during endgame if you explore the game to collect items you're running all over the station but never meet SA-X, further breaking the illusion of being hunted.

Onto Zero Mission!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GK on December 07, 2021, 12:24:51 AM
The Deadly Tower of Monsters PC

Decided to dip into my Steam backlog & finish this one up. Decent isometric action game once you get used to the controls. My main gripe might be that the platforming can feel excessive at times, but there's a teleport button, so missing moving platforms isn't too punishing.

The director's commentary never stops cracking me up.




Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: MagicCow64 on December 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
Game Pass (PC):

I impulsively jumped on a Game Pass cheap sub scheme without really thinking it through, and realized shortly afterward that there wasn't much on there I actually wanted to play that I could run on my computer. But then I noticed the new "Cloud" tab and was absolutely gobsmacked at the feature. It runs perfectly, far better than Stadia, and has a ton of content that I would only touch in this exact circumstance.

Kameo:

Despite owning a 360 at several points, I never tried the post-betrayal Rare games despite being curious about them. Thanks, cloud! The concept of a Zelda-type game with full Majora's Mask type transformations to approach exploration and combat is a good one, and the game is surprisingly ambitious on a technical level. But boy, the controls for the most part absolutely suck and the level design is extremely basic. And goddamn, so much bad combat. I sincerely doubt Nintendo ever would have let this thing out the door in its published state. Really the only positive I can drum up is the Metroid Prime-esque roly poly gameplay, which actually feels good.

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts:


I've been kind of fascinated from a distance by Rare's weird implosion post-Nintendo, and I finally have the chance to give the red-headed step-child a spin. And boy is it weird. It's extremely in your face about game trends from the outset, stating that people only want shooters in the 360 era . . . and then it reformulates itself as a quasi-platformer revolving around Lego vehicle construction, which absolutely no one was asking for. Despite that, it's kind of weirdly compelling in its commitment to an awkward, left-field idea. The actual levels are messy and disorienting and the objectives range from trivial to controller-throwingly frustrating, but I nonetheless kind of respect it. But Jesus Christ, the physics/collision model in no way supports the racing/combat challenges, and the mere notion of going for the bonus trophies is stomach-turning.

Blinx the Time Cat:


In retrospect it's hilarious that anyone was trying to champion this as a Mario-killer type game. I made it about 30 minutes in. It's basically unplayable. The weird arcade-y game structure is also completely incompatible with the headline gameplay hook, which, insanely, you can't even use freely.

Gears of War 4:

I never bothered with this in non-cloud form given its reputation, but with the cloud? Why the hell not. It's worse than 5 in every way and has an extremely depressing vibe to the whole thing, given that it just resurrects the Locust in mostly the same form and makes the entire previous trilogy feel totally pointless. But it does introduce a set of annoying, spongey monsters and robots. The amount of time I spent inside of a stupid critter waiting for the AI teammates to shoot me out . . .

Halo Infinite:

The real test of the magic cloud, a day-and-date debut of a high-stakes Halo refresh. It looks great, plays seamlessly. The gameplay itself is very snappy and smooth and the new grappling hook really gives the experience a much-needed kick in the ass. I'm so far liking the open-world take on the franchise, which elevates the original sandboxy-ness while providing an appealing progress structure that was previously lacking. There is a bit of a loss in terms of the old "just make it to the next checkpoint" ethos of the first games, but that was already deployed a number of times, so why not toss a map at it and see what happens.

Overall, it's insane to me that I'm paying like $5 a month for access to this technology.





Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 06, 2022, 05:07:28 AM
Metroid Zero Mission (Wii U Virtual Console):

I want to reiterate how much i like SNES controller i got from SNES mini. Because Wii U still treats it as Pro Controllers i was able to play Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Fusion with it. The whole setup wiring Wiimote to SNES controller and then playing on Wii U gamepad was kinda awkward but i really liked it.

In general, i like Zero Mission, but not as much as Super. Because it's less moody maybe?.. The most enjoyable part for me was when Zero Mission veered from remaking Metroid 1 and added an original segment with unknown items and power grip. That segment really came out of nowhere and was kinda creepy.

Otherwise ZM follows the pacing of all Metroid games where you keep upgrading as you play, eventually becoming a powerhouse by the end. But the ending breaks that pacing so after peaking at the original ending you're dragged back and stripped down to nothing. Emotionally going from the high of killing Mother Brain and then having to scurry in air vents hiding from everything is too constrasting and destroys pacing. I kinda stopped caring at that point and didn't play the game for several weeks because of that.

Level design in Space Pirate ship also becomes kinda bad, with prolonged sections that are meant just to slow you down and annoy. Tunnels with dozens of bomb blocks for no other reason just to be a hassle, robots that just stands there blocking your way and gates closing if enemy sees you.

Even the final final ending annoyed me because i thought i was supposed to somehow get into the area where escape pods were so i was looking all around not realizing there will be yet another, final boss. And even after that i couldn't understand how to get into the escape pod so i died some more on final escape sequence because i didn't understand i was supposed to jump in there.

Another annoyance was defeating Mother Brain the first time and i also got kinda lost in Ridley's Lair because i was supposed to go back and forth between Norfair and Ridley on a detour through some caves to kill a wasp boss.

Once you actively start optimizing your gameplay and going for completion game becomes better. Even Mother Brain becomes easy once you understand the "secret" trick of "don't shoot the brain when it flashes".

Only then true design of Zero Mission is revealed and players realizes how the map is riddled with shortcuts like swiss cheese. First playthrough only pretends to be linear and guided by Chozo statues, but there are skips and fake walls to circumvent almost everything. Pointlessly long corridors can be zoomed right through and even seemingly random slopes can be used to chain sparkshines.

My first playthrough was 5:55:40 with 76%. First run feels weaker than in Super Metroid but second playthrough is more enjoyable due to Quality of life changes like showing area item completion percentage and map showing the presence of items.

On second playthrough i tried to "speedrun" it and got 1:41:03 with 70%. I arrived at the last area when it was already 1:30 and didn't want to spend too much time risking going over 2 hour mark, so i got less items.

Third playthrough was my 100% attempt. It took me 5:38:55. Because the game shows most items on the map, the remainder are hidden in secret rooms behind fake walls and these are the most tricky ones, including notorious puzzle rooms.

Since Fusion, shinespark puzzles became my favourite part of the series because they push the movement system to the fullest. I liked shinespark puzzles in ZM too, but overall they weren't as ingenious as the ones from Fusion. The hardest puzzle rooms in Zero Mission are the ones about Power Grip and precise twitch jumping. Adding shinespark in ball form is pretty fun but doesn't really change much.

To date i only 100%-ed Samus Returns and Zero Mission and this time i knew that final boss will be way harder than usual because of this. Back when i played Samus Returns i was really frustrated how tanky the final boss turned out to be, not realizing it was because i fully completed the game.

So far, Super is still easily the best Metroid game while Zero Mission would be #2. Onto AM2R and Metroid Prime!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: pokepal148 on April 13, 2022, 03:59:44 AM
I hit 100% on Ty 3: Night of the Quinkin on PC. It's an interesting, charming, and deeply flawed game and I had fun revisiting it for the first time in more than 15 years. Many of the game's issues come from it being rushed with only half of the develpment time the previous two games had but there are also some issues that come from just questionable design decisions that bog down the whole thing.

- The level design for the game's remarkably few traditional on foot missions is pretty solid. Although it is let down by the melee mechanic (we'll get to that) the more linear design works well for Ty. I haven't played the second game to completion in a while so I don't want to make any comparisons there but compared to the first game's more open design this game feels much more focused while still leaving plenty of room for collectables to be hidden.

- The melee mechanic is annoying and unnecessary but by the time it starts to become a problem because you start facing more advanced enemies in the on foot levels you can use the new boomerang customization mechanic to make yourself a pair of exploding boomerangs and start Michael Bay-ing everything instead. In what is a rather baffling move for a freaking Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game, most of the enemies are immune to having boomerangs thrown at them in order to incentivise the melee combat system. The only way past this that I am aware of is to make those boomerangs explode so if you decide to play this game for yourself, exploding boomerangs are absolutely your friends.

 For anyone who has played a game called "The Hex", I'm pretty sure the tacked on melee combat that gets added to the second Super Weasel Kid segment is a shot at this game specifically. For anyone who hasn't played The Hex you should really stop what you're doing and play that game instead.

- The boomerang customization mechanic is an interesting addition but because they tried to make combat an actual thing in this game and failed miserably you are kind of incentivized to just use it to create boomerangs that can quickly cut through enemies. In the previous games exploding boomerangs and the megarangs which would bounce between enemies were extremely overpowered. The boomerang customization mechanic allows you to create a boomerang that bounces between enemies and creates explosions upon contact which is a really good way to negate the game's shitty melee combat. There's even a turret section later in the game you can just completely bypass this way.

It is a completely different beast if you go for 100% though. At that point you are incentivized to build different types of boomerangs for different objectives. I had one boomerang that I built to be able to locate hidden objects for example while another one was built so I could use it to bring certain collectables to me, which is mandatory for a few of the game's collectables.

- The Crabmersible which is used in what is essentially this game's overworld is borderline uncontrollable with how slippery it is and takes a bit of getting used to but it is way more fun than it should be. You basically run around on a crab mech launching homing missiles at everything in your path. It is just stupid, mindless fun and even trying to force it to do basic platforming challenges for collectables when this thing isn't particularly well suited for platforming is fun in its own way, which I get the feeling was the intention.

- I would find the mech or "bunyip" missions much more favorable if they didn't have you go through the same levels twice, once with each mech, and usually with similar objectives. The levels themselves are also extremely similar to eachother thematically since one of the Mechs, the Thermal Extreme bunyip, has the ability to swim through lava so most of the mech stages has a bunch of lava to swim through and they are also all snow areas because I guess whoever designed these stages really liked that contrast. It results in a bunch of similar looking stages and the Shadow Bunyip and Thermal Extreme Bunyip don't feel distinct enough from eachother for it to feel like you are really playing the same stages in different ways. By the end of the game their abilities are similar enough that the only differences really are that the Shadow Bunyip has the ability to activate certain moving platforms with its grenades and is generally more satisfying to use in combat while the Thermal Extreme Bunyip has the aforementioned ability to swim through lava and a grappling hook.

- The Go Kart stages are kind of hit and miss and in what appears to be an attempt to pad the game out are now mandatory for story completion instead of just being a thing for 100%. Some of them have interesting objectives like having you pick up some collectables during the race before finishing in first but the demolition derby missions feel extremely luck based, especially since some of the items are difficult to use and this game's red shell equivalent is kind of inconsistent when you use it.

- The Gunyip Stages are generally more enjoyable than the helicopter and submarine stages from Ty 2 but that is not a particularly high bar and they are easily the weakest part of the game. They are however mercifully infrequent. There is a dogfighting minigame that is kind of fun, although it is quite shallow.

- The story is weird. When I was young I appreciated how dark and edgy it was but coming back to it as an adult what I've noticed is that the game kind of just stops taking itself seriously once you get out of the tutorial. It feels like some higher up at Krome decided they wanted the series to go in a grimdark direction but everyone else in the team realized it was an awful idea and did what they could to retain the series's more humorous and goofy side. While you lose the series's vibrant and colorful Australian landscapes in favor of a post apocalyptic and weirdly alien hellscape you still get the series's generally fun and charming writing.

Unlike other 3d platformers that went in a similar direction around this time, Ty feels self aware enough to be essentially in on the joke and while this anachronistic element can be jarring it definitely feels like the lesser of two evils compared to actually going serious like a certain hedgehog game with guns and mild swearing that came out a month after this one originally did.

There are people who criticise the fact that there's a new character who exists because they needed someone who wouldn't recognize Ty for a story segment and is completely forgotten about afterwards but the fact that this character introduced the line "Zombie Frills, meet Mr. Boomerang!" into my life more than makes up for it. The game's dialogue is camp and stupid in the best way and there are some absolute banger moments that you'll have to see for yourself.

The story does feel extremely rushed towards the end though. It feels like there's a cutscene that just didn't make it into the final game that would have revealed that at some point the series's usual villain Boss Cass was possessed by the Quinkin so there's a jarring moment right before the final boss fight where Ty walks up to the suddenly posessed Boss Cass completely unphased by this new development. Since Boss Cass's voice actor passed away a few years ago idk if this is something that they could fix whenever this game inevitably gets brought to the Switch with new enhancements unless they recast him and that would be extremely unfortunate in and of itself because Boss Cass has some of the best voice work in the series.

But honestly the story in Ty games is only worth paying attention to because of the fun dialogue and corny Australian accents anyways and Ty 3 has both in spades.

- The Steam version added a hardcore mode where if you die the game erases your save data which I'm not touching with an eleven foot pole. The Steam version has achievements for completing and 100%-ing the game in hardcore mode which is kind of shitty because this game really was not remotely designed around that. It is really easy to die during the gunyip and crabmersible segments so I'm going to recommend you not do hardcore mode.

Although I haven't finished the second game in a while I would probably recommend it over this one just because of how much of a stronger overall package Ty 2 is but if you liked that game and what I've said interests you than go for it.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: NWR_insanolord on May 07, 2022, 01:16:05 AM
I took a couple breaks in the middle, but tonight I finished off Pikmin 3 Deluxe on hard mode, with all the fruit. This was my third time through the game between Wii U and Switch, and the first on hard mode. I was a huge fan of the first two, and this is the best one yet.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 20, 2022, 01:41:22 PM
Metroid Dread (Switch):

Ranking highly replayable games is two-fold: on the first playthrough you just go through story and and on consequent runs (fast or 100%) you truly start digging into level-design and combat design. Sometimes one harms another. Fusion puts so much emphasis on it's story it removes exploration and reduces next playthrough to just retreading the exact same path. On the other side -- Zero Mission's first playthough is kinda messy due to uneven last part, but next playthroughs are great revealing the true brillance of design that was completely obscured on first run.

Metroid Dread has a very good first playthough, probably the smoothest series ever had. It's linear as Fusion but isn't as restrictive and reaches  the highs of Super Metroid -- and then some.

You are being led along "golden path" with items spread like crumbs. Usually as soon you get a new unlock -- there is an item just lying nearby that you can now pick up and it always leads you further down the story.

Game doesn't lock you in as completely as Fusion does and you're usually free to go eplore somewhat. Adam still occasionally requires to be activated to progress further but you're never locked down and forced to finish the game like in Fusion, even Super Metroid does this on the last save room.

Pacing and level design felt great during the first run. All the bosses were fun to figure out and the final boss was challenging, capping a fantastic first playthrough.

In-game time for my first run was 9:46. Then i went for 100% on the same file and it only took me just 4 additional hours. That's on the low side because Dread doesn't have as many collectibles. QoL features also help save time: map marks if there are secret items in each room and shows competion percentages for each area. Also when you reach final area, game additionally unlocks all teleports so fast travel is even easier.

During 100% collecting it was kinda hard reading map UI, it's functional but probably should have been more schematic and less detailed to make it more readable. As it is now, it is kinda busy and makes things hard to find occasionally.

As usual, most time during 100% item hunt was spent doing shinespark puzzles. Shinepark mechanic keeps evolving: Fusion introduced shinepark stop and restart on slopes (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1547937656297754628), Zero Mission added ballspark, and in Dread Samus can keep shinepark while sliding and bouncing off walls (https://twitter.com/azeke1984/status/1548270217351991298). You can even spark down and combat is designed so you can use shinespark offensively to kill some bosses faster.

Game has fantastic movement, best in the series. Samus Returns had great controls and MercurySteam evolved them even further in Dread. One of my favourite tricks in Samus Returns was using touchpad to instantly morphball and now it's a separate button. I also used counter button to stand up from morphball quickly. Dread's morphball button does both and it is a great option when you need duck/uncurl in the air or during action moments.

New abilities are great introduction. Flash shift is mandatory to dodge fast bosses and for traversal. Grapple beam also speeds up moving around levels because you can pull yourself towards any blue surface on a wall or ceiling -- especially useful underwater and in EMMI sequences.

Parries are even better than in Samus Returns and new dash parries feels good. Special cutscenes on parrying bosses' attacks are great even if they stay the same same on repeat.

Cutscenes have even more "Samus is badass" moments than in Samus Returns (https://youtu.be/B7IzVoLerCs?t=272). Action direction and camera work is brilliant.

Areas don't stay cold, metallic and soon enough into the game you will be exploring new environments. Game makes great use of parallax and background details. Walls and blank spaces in 2d projection are pitch black and create nice contrast on my OLED tv, and i'm guessing on OLED model too. Moments when game plays with darkness and foreground shadows look stunning.

After doing 100%, i started a run for speed and it was surprising how much i got lost at first. Game still allows the player to get lost when you veer off polished "golden path" or look for speedrun shortcuts, like i did. Most i could find was long corridors you can zoom through with shinespark and it seems like it was intentionally designed that way. You even get special cutscenes for shinesparking in special spots. But apparently there are a several fully intended sequence breaks and the game is a great watch for speedrunning.

Zero Mission and Fusion had a run timer if the run was on New Game+. For some reason Dread doesn't have it, so the only way to check the time is to save and exit into main menu. In fact, there isn't much of a New Game+ at all, all you retain on save file is mark of completion and unlockable gallery art.

My "fast" playthrough was 3:41 and after that i immediately restarted on Hard. Hard mode made surprisingly little difference: just like in Samus Returns enemies and bosses hit very hard destroying several energy bars in one hit even on Normal, so it depending on the mode you will be dying in 2 or 3 hits, which doesn't matter as much. Enemies and bosses also drop lots of items and health so you will be replenishing constantly. Also while speedrunning you will be constantly running around with low health so damage numbers matter even less.

Hard fast run took me 3:21 and with that, save file was completed. Unlockable art was great but my favourite piece was Metroid Fusion-themed wallpaper (https://cdnen.samurai-gamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/11065207/Metroid-Dread-Metroid-Fusion-Ending-Reward.jpg).

Overall -- Metroid Dread looks great, plays well, has great level design, fantastic movement options and satisfying combat, fun bosses. Only the music feels somewhat generic and too ambient for it's own good. The best musical moment was Super Metroid remix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8F5EtBrmOE).

If ranked within the series, Dread is better than Zero Mission and Fusion both for first/one playthrough or for repeated playthroughs. Just last year after playing Super Metroid for the first time, i couldn't believe a modern game can be as good (https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.msg978748#msg978748) and Dread isn't, but it's a very sold #2 and a great game in it's own right.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on July 22, 2022, 10:26:10 AM
Last game I beat is Norco (it's free on Xbox gamepass, but also on PC).

It's a point and click adventure game set in a bleak Southern Louisiana dying town overtaken by an oil rig operation called Shield.  You're a woman returning home after the death of her mother, and find an abandoned home with your brother missing.  The feeling of returning home after a long way away is depicted perfectly here - your character will run across several people they knew from growing up.  Some of them are worse for the wear and will bristle you, some will know your brother and your family.  There's a history that informs the characters relationship with you.  There's dialogue options, but in most cases there's an option that the NPCs see as the truthful one, and one which your character might have a rosy view of, and their responses to you reflect that.  It's a neat wrinkle and shows how people can have different recollections about what took place.

The gameplay mostly is standard faire - click at the background where there's icons, glean information from it, sometimes pick-up items that can be used to solve puzzles or unlock additional dialogue options from NPCs.  A few neat wrinkles - there are sections of actual turn-based battles.  Your party members each have different attacks - one might be a QTE sequence, another might have to complete a game of Simon for a successful attack.  It's simple enough to be unchallenging while being a nice break-up to diversify the gameplay.  They also add some interesting layers on top of solving puzzles that work well to flesh things out that I won't share since they were a neat surprise.  As you gather more information, there's actually a separate screen that has different icons representing key characters/location which'll be tied together by threads in how they're connected.  You're able to click on them as new info is gathered, and the depth of detail is impressive.

I won't expand on the story itself other than to say I was satisfied with it.  There are unanswered threads or questions that I wish would have been resolved, but even if they didn't, they inform or flesh out the world in a way which I think makes it better off than if they didn't create them at all.  The broader thrust of the story gets abstract/escalates beyond the original framework, but it's bread-crummed in a way which makes logical sense. 

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the experience.  I'm not a big point-and-click adventure player, but this game was approachable while still offering some challenge.  Highly recommend.



Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: broodwars on July 22, 2022, 10:33:34 PM
After multiple attempts to get through Xenoblade 2 to no avail, I finally broke down and forced myself to get through its Torna DLC expansion.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYUD--uUcAIQX9t?format=jpg&name=small)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYUQ4q_VEAEbidO?format=jpg&name=small)

I maxed out all my Blades & gathered all the Community members except the final one, who requires that you kill 4 superbosses. There's no way in hell I'm ever grinding my characters up to Level 100 to take on a superboss who will probably pull some party-wiping bullshit out of his ass halfway through his healthbar (like seemingly most of the Unique Monsters do in this game), so that'll have to do.

Overall, as the Nopons would say, "meh". Combat and character progression is considerably more enjoyable than what I've played of the main game (which I've put a similar amount of time into) just by virtue of ditching the Waifu Lottery and implementing the Vanguard system. I don't have to constantly roll the dice and restart the grind every time I run into a field effect I want to use, which does so much in terms of making Torna so much less tedious than the main game.

However, inventory management is still a total clusterfuck of managing a constant stream of vendor trash with stat effects so inconsequential that I just gave up on even bothering with it until the end of the game. The game features 2 Titan landmasses, and one of them is just recycled from the main game so exploration got old fast. Side quests are particularly generic and uninteresting, which is particularly unfortunate since this game is nearly entirely based on them.

As for the story, it's...well...mostly inconsequential and not altogether compelling until literally the last 5 minutes. It seems largely concerned with setting pieces up for use in the main game without actually establishing them in Torna itself, leading to an odd scenario where the Setup isn't itself actually setup. It's just assumed that you know who these characters are, presumably from the main game. Malos in particular feels undercooked and shoehorned in just to give you something to fight at the end. Gotta say, he is the master of attacking you with single digit framerates in that final battle.

Overall, I enjoyed exploring the one new Titan and seeing how Xenoblade 2 might have played if it didn't rely on mobile game gacha mechanics to pad out its run time. Torna is better then the main game in some ways, though that's really not saying much considering how tedious the main game is.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on July 27, 2022, 04:05:26 AM
Metroid Prime (Wii, as part of Trilogy)

Super Metroid and Zero Mission at times had wistful, almost mystical atmosphere. Metroid Prime took that atmosphere and remade into 3d, walkable environments.

Game is more of an action-adventure game than FPS, the closest similarity would be Half-Life 1, which also has a lot of platforming and wandering around despite billed as pure linear first-person shooter.

Getting used to controlling game with wiimote and nunchuck took me a while -- and the problem isn't even in aiming. Having shooting on A and jumping on B (trigger) seemed backwards but it makes more sense once you start playing because you occasionaly need to mash shooting and that's harder to do on wiimote's trigger button. As game goes, all kinds of new finger tangling button combinations are introduced. Even for map or options you have to press 1 and 2 which is cumbersome when holding wiimote vertically.

Because of lack of buttons beam and vizor switching were relegated to wiimote flicks and they can be unreliable. Every once in a while game wouldn't recognize my flicks or i was getting confused and pressing vizor button when i wanted beam or vice versa. To add to frustration beam switching animation also takes a bit of time. Animation of shooting a rocket also wastes time because it switches arm cannon to rocket mode and you need to press shoot button an additional time to revert to blaster mode. It's a difference of 0.5-1 seconds but it starts to matter later in the game when you're swarmed with enemies.

Designers of this game really, REALLY thought the vizor is important. The UI, rains drops on the vizor glass, even occasional reflections on it -- they really wanted to keep reminding you that there is a piece of glass between you and the world. Many enemies LOVE to mess with your vizor, they spit on it, jam it, overload with flashbang explosions. Getting blinded for several seconds isn't even that bad but vizor shenanigans also interrupt your shot charge and drop lock-on, messing up combat.

To justify vizor's heatvision mode some rooms are completely dark. These are easily the worst parts of the game. One specific part in Phendrana drifts is a sequence of completely dark rooms filled with space pirates and drones. That part frustrated me so much i made a point to never return there again.

As much of a nightmare that was, dark rooms in mines are worse still. You have to deal with darkness, platforming AND combat metroids! You need to look at metroid outside of heatvision to determine which beam kills them, but then you have to go back to heat vision to stay on a platform, and also keep switching beams while you're doing all that. Absolute nightmare.

Bosses also get frustrating, especially when you run out of rockets during the fight. Game in general is starving for rockets and power bombs are even more rare. But they're worth it, because power bombs can triviliaze encounters and bosses that you'd rather nuke than fight through which is often a slog.

Rocket deficit is very deliberate it seems, one puzzle is even designed so you're forced to spend 36 rockets and if you leave the room -- puzzle resets. The reward for it is wavebuster -- proton pack looking beam great for destroying pesky drones (for pun's sake i also tried to bust some Chozo ghosts with it -- but regular charged shot works better against them). However wavebuster consumes lots of rockets so now you're even more starved for rockets, yay.

At least in big boss fights game has a mechanic where game reorients you towards the boss automatically after you uncurl -- really helpful, especially with wiimote turning being as slow as it is.

Final challenge of finding artifacts ended up my favourite part of entire game. Figuring out the puzzles just gave me another chance to enjoy atmosphere and location design. By that time rooms are filled with annoying enemies but at least you can just run past them or use x-ray visor for ghosts.

I actually got several artifacts before game allowed me to read hints for them, so when i came to artifact plaza, statues activated and when scanning it just said "artifact obtained". Now i kinda wish to know what the hints were.

Also while running around i was wishing Phendrana Drift had direct access to main hub on Tallon surface because having to get there through Magmoor Caverns got old. Because of that Magmoor Caverns feels more like a corridor between zones than a proper area.

In fact most of the rooms are just linear corridors with no additonal exits. It is probably this way because of 3d design but it leads to longer time traversing between levels especially with Samus not able to speed boost or even run in Metroid Prime.

My first playthough with 67% took me 16:17 hours but real time was a lot longer because of restarts -- a lot of them on Omega Pirate and last sequence of bosses because they to so long and i died on them several times.

I don't think i can go for 100% on this one -- in modern 2d Metroid games map indicates if room has an item or not and these games are the only i got 100% for. Prime doesn't do that so there goes that.

Metroid Prime music is more techno and ambient which i often use as synonym for "generic and unremarkable" but tracks in this game are very memorable. Phendrana Drifts is a classic and Magmoor Caverns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M1LIuDTftw) is a great remix of Norfair theme from Super Metroid. I wished Metroid Prime Trilogy still had original menu select theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLE_PvJ5mY) but for some reason it was replaced with generic choir.

Overall: Prime is a fantastic conversion of Metroid atmosphere and gameplay into 3d, great art style keeps it looking great even 20 years later, the best musical score since Super, but dark rooms suck and boss design is aggresively tedious.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on August 09, 2022, 02:01:07 PM
Prime was so good and reading your comments makes me want to go back to it again. Aside from time the only thing that keeps me from replaying the Wii Trilogy is the inevitable remake/rerelease on Switch.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on November 20, 2022, 09:45:56 AM
Another Metroid 2 Remake aka AM2R (PC, version 1.4.5):

Aside from 1 hiccup where i forgot spiderball is a thing, game's first playthrough is very streamlined. Most of the items are placed right along critical path, the game feels deliberately designed so you get most of the items on your first playthrough. Considering that you must kill 30+ bosses just to complete the game, this is a very smart design that allows two-hour speedruns (and probably 100% two hour speedruns?).

Original Metroid 2 tried to make main quest of eradicating Metroids more varied by placing them in different environments -- in the sandpit, over a lava pits and so on. AM2R largely follows that example but the fights themselves still don't evolve except for changed room layouts. Ultimately, all Metroids are killed by spamming rockets at them -- with enough energy tanks you barely even need to dodge too -- just stand under them and keep shooting rockets.

Highlights of the game are special events and special bosses: escaping exploding power station is a hectic action setpiece, exploring Federation's science ship is fun with nice Metroid Prime series feel and funny log entries, activating digging machine, turning the lights on inside the Tower (depending on the order you do it -- you might have to fight Omega in the darkness).

For art, game pulls some sprites directly from official games but it also has original assets, some of them look a bit amateurish (Torizo boss) but game looks great otherwise.

Music is okay and mostly relies on Super Metroid remixes, Hydro Station (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHoVkgsyq3M) is a pretty cool remix of Green Brinstar theme. Electronic theme kinda reminded me of Binding Of Isaac: Antibirth soundtrack which also came out in 2016 -- compare item room ambience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYdlkfquFYU) and very similar ambience sound after finishing the boss in Antibirth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxUKUlGdWLE&t=4355s).

Close to the end game unlocks pneumatic tubes connecting all areas of the map and they are great implementation of fast travel. I really liked figuring out where rooms with pneumatic tubes are on the map. I still don't understand why one of the pneumatic portals is closed in the first half of the game, but then gets blown up by something in latter half...

After first playthrough game starts showing collectibles percentage on the map and it's weird how it's not tied to the current area you're in. Metroid counter is local to the area, but collectibles progression is global for the whole map. That actually prevented me from getting 100% -- i just couldn't find last several rockets for the life of me. I scoured all over the map and even found several shortcuts for speedrunning but couldn't find the rockets. If item indicator could show which area exactly i am missing the last 2% in, it would be over in less than 15 minutes probably.

My first playthrough took me 07:18 with 89% completion. For second playthrough i picked New Game+ and Hard mode. NG+ removes all lava restrictions unlocking most of the map from the start. This might be a good idea for speedrunning (?), but it ruined my run because without lava telling i am done with that area, i kept going deeper than i should have. Additionally Hard difficulty turned out too hard for me especially fighting those pesky Metroids on a tricky terrain. I gave up on a game for a while.

Few weeks later i had a chance to borrow Playstation Vita for a few weeks and it happened to have AM2R port on it! I guess it's a sign!

AM2R (PS Vita, version 1.0):

Playing AM2R on a Vita felt weird for the first hour so. Most of it, i spent in options menu setting up controls so they match my setup i had on PC with SNES Mini controller. Buttons more or less match GBA Metroid control scheme with one additional face button doing morphball.

Despite that Vita is a bigger handheld it somehow feels more cramped to play than on 3DS. Thankfully, i got system with a hand grip and it made holding the system more comfortable. Analog sticks feel fragile and they had a drift (despite that original owner already changed them once already). I fixed drift by increasing deadzone in game's settings, but stick is still placed too close to d-pad, so i found myself touching the stick accidentally when controlling the game with a d-pad.

Port is wonky and prone to slowdowns and crashes. But i was saving often enough so i wasn't too annoyed and took each crash as an opportunity to improve my time. However when i reached underwater area with enemies that shoot bullet hell patterns on dying was way too much for Vita port. Then i reached Serris and the boss is completely bugged -- only the head shows up and then he disappears leaving me alone in a room hard-locked.

After looking it up -- there are other ports that fix these and other bugs but i couldn't be bothered enough to learn how to install/update homebrew on Vita. I guess that finishes my experience with Vita port -- back to original PC...

AM2R (PC, version 1.5.3):

I updated the game. Apparently, the community around the game are still adding all kinds of things to it (https://gitlab.com/Miepee/AM2R-Mods), like crazy time-trials levels (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD18VKwdkXk), multiplayer mod (?), randomisers, horde mode (?). Base game too has been updated with newers sprites (no longer just copies of GBA games!), new effects and logs.

I restarted and completed the game, and again got stuck with 98% completion with over 2 hours time. This time i gave up, and googled map to check what i was missing. While referencing the map i also discovered that in-game map also doesn't show collectables if they're on the same cell with unlockable items like wave beam and such. Yet another way how AM2R's map is bafflingly worse than Fusion's and Zero Mission's despite emulating them in every other respect.

Getting 100% shows a special cutscene -- a story hook for Fusion and unlocks Fusion mode -- take that Samus Returns: no Amiibo required!

Continuing comparison of 2 remakes i found myself wanting to parry enemies that charge you, which proves how natural of an evolution parry ended up to be especially against Metroid 2 enemies. Funny how both remakes ended up doing similar decisions to spice up monotony of killing the same metroids over and over again, adding Chozo-made robot bosses.

Watching some youtube videos about AM2R i saw many people praising it for "inventing" morphball/unmorph shortcut, which i feel is misplaced. AM2R is a product of active Metroid modding community where such shortcuts have been a standard for more than a decade now (see Project Base (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2767/) for example). AM2R didn't invent instant morphball or Metroid Prime-style tractor beam (https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Tractor_beam) but i think so few people are aware of Metroid mods, everything that repackages community's ideas in a more accessible package feels like new.

Even if Samus Returns places morphball button rather awkwardly on a touchscreen, parry button works also as an unmorph which is the functionality you need the most.

Overall: a great fan-service game. I wished map's item indicator was a better but otherwise it's my only nitpick.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on December 12, 2022, 05:36:52 AM
Luigi's Mansion 3:

Kinda crazy to say but i think i liked 2 better?.. Next Level games basically re-did the exact same game and not only didn't improve on annoying features of Dark Moon, but feels like doubled down on some of them.

Structure-wise they just renamed separate mansions as floors and made more of them. Even removal of mission structure doesn't make as much of a difference and is even detrimental in some ways: in 2 because each mission has a linear path where you're going from point A to B you can tell which gem is where by its placement, i.e. the first gem is somewhere in the starting area, third gem will be after the second gem and so on. The sequence is broken with gems of 3 which can be anywhere on the floor.

With more than dozen bosses, you could feel how NLG ran out of ideas -- gimmick from Dark Moon's ladder  quessing minigame is back and no less than four later bosses (including the final one) force you to play magic 3-cup game. Another recurring gimmick -- making boss a piece of wooden furniture -- ladder in 2, piano and pirate ship floor in 3. In general, fighting most bosses is just surviving through their attacks and waiting for that one phase where you will are allowed to harm them. It becomes tedious especially if you die on later phase and have to replay it.

Game's good bosses were memorable for the story and humour reasons and not for gameplay like the movie set ending sequence, dancing hall -- other ones felt generic or just bad like naval battle on floating ducks.

LM3 makes good use of physics -- it's fun to throw and break everything around you and watch the money float down. Environmental physics especially shines in circular saw and super suction sequences -- it is just exciting to destroy things at that scale.

Graphics-wise, Luigi's Mansion 3 is the best looking game on Switch. It's probably a single first party Nintendo game that uses anti-aliasing. Image quality, camera and cutscene direction is fantastic and animation is top-notch as always.

Overall, a good game but it felt like it's just Dark Moon but bigger and longer instead of a return to somewhat metroidvania structure of 1. Collecting boos and gems for 100% also kinda annoyed and soured me on the whole, but it was fun 40 hours nevertheless.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on February 15, 2023, 01:46:38 PM
A small update:
AM2R (PC, version 1.5.3):

Today, i got recommended a video about the current state AM2R which i think very detailed and largely reflects my thoughts on remake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu37NDqxtH4

It's rare for video about AM2R not just go deeper than "DMCAd AM2R vs Samus Returns" debacle but also describe major updates game has been receiving over the years.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on March 06, 2023, 01:51:16 PM
Pokemon Scarlet

I completed the Pokedex yesterday.  I don't have online but my brother does and he has Violet so I was able to get the version specific Pokemon by linking with him locally.  The one tricky one was the third starter, but he got it from a co-worker and bred a new one for me.

This is the only Pokemon game I have ever filled the Pokedex in.  Now I don't play every game.  When I get a new Nintendo handheld I tend to get the first Pokemon that comes out since then and then generally lose interest and never get others until a new system.  So I've had Blue, Ruby, X and now Scarlet.

Lots of focus has been on Scarlet's bugs and general jank.  It's a shame because there's a reason this is by first complete Pokedex and it's because this feels like the Pokemon game I imagined as the logical progression of the series, when I assumed it would get a console release back on the Gamecube.  You explore the world and can see Pokemon out in the field doing their thing in their natural habitat.  This is what I always wanted.  It's what I hoped X would be as a proper 3D Pokemon and was disappointed to find that it wasn't.

Now regardless of that and the bugs, it still has some clear design issues:

Still it's a great game but one that seems half-baked and unfinished.  In that sense it shows how strong the Pokemon concept is that if you make a halfway decent open world game out of it, it's a lot of fun.  I can't help but think that a later game building off of this will be really amazing.  So if you're interested but don't intend on jumping in right this minute, it probably makes sense to see what the next Pokemon game has to see how it improves.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Mop it up on March 07, 2023, 03:11:22 PM
Tera Raid Battles do not provide experience so they're not that useful.  They do give you items and you can catch Pokemon using them but since you can't level up your Pokemon with them,
The raids are mainly something to do in multiplayer, but they can still be used to catch quite a few Monz instead of doing trades, which is nice. They are used for weekly events to offer extra challenges and sometimes catch a new Mon not available elsewhere. Also, one of the rewards for completing them is XP candies, so the raids can be used to level up your Monz and is generally a faster method than fighting Monz out in the wild.

I barely used the sandwich system which seems like something they focused on that isn't that useful.
I hear it's mainly useful for shiny hunting but I never tried to figure out the effects meself. This is another thing that's fun to do in multiplayer, as having four players attempt to build up a big sandwich without any of the ingredients falling off is quite the challenge!
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Evan_B on March 09, 2023, 08:23:13 AM
Inscryption is not the last game I beat, but it is the best game I last beat.

It’s difficult to discuss as a full experience, but the roguelike loop is one where you can trick yourself into hyper-fixating on “progression” without actually learning anything. I stumbled into a broken mechanic that made me realize how fully-fleshed out each segment of this game really is, and that’s a welcome surprise. I’d argue Inscryption, much like Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, features the best kind of surprise that a game can implement: gameplay twists. The knowledge that a game won’t just fall into a predictable loop from a gameplay standpoint can be fertile grounds for engagement, but to know that the formula will be given a twist multiple times during an entire playthrough is a triumph for any developer, let alone an independent one. It is a beautiful thing, and while it might not maintain its momentum throughout its s three-act structure, it still manages to triumph.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 13, 2023, 08:17:03 AM
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Wii U, as part of Prime Trilogy):

This game is weird. Different artstyle hits immediately with Samus's new-ish suit and ship with unnecessary weird ridges and other details. Starting environments, also, looked like B-tier sci-fi post-apocalyptic movie with dusty tents in the desert. Dark suit that you spend most of the game in, looks even more gaudy

Majority of rooms in MP1 were glorified corridors (Magmoor Caverns for one is literally just a line) sequel's level design is more condensed and grouped together. Now all 4 hub-like locations are connected with each other in a Mercedes-Benz star logo pattern. Unlocks' progression is mostly localised to one level until you're done with it and go to the next one. Because of a more compact layout walking distances are reduced greatly.

More complex level design, doubled again with light/dark worlds makes the map UI even more important. But sometimes map shows a door or a portal but doesn't show it is behind a fence or pile of denzium, so you can go all the way there only to get disappointed once you see you can't get in there.

You have to plan out your expeditions into Dark world and because 3d map can't show both variants at once you will need to memorize your path in and out before your set out. Because of this i spend way more time staring at the map than with the first game.

Both times i got stuck, were kinda map's faults too:

1. Finding seeker missiles in Hall of Honoured Dead. Hint showed me i have to go back from back to Temple grounds and insisted i must go to the room directly under Great Temple but no matter how i looked at the map i couldn't figure out the way how to get in there -- all i could see were 3 elevators up to Great Temple but not to the room under it.

2. Getting Power Bomb from Torvus Bog. The stupidest thing was -- hint was showing the place where i could get it -- but the room was behind Power Bomb-locked door! So i had to have the item to get the item?!.. Eventually i figured out there must be another way to get in there and arrived there from the Dark side but it took me a while to realize that this is correct and there is a trick to it.

Apparently i wasn't the only one who had problems with these 2 unlocks (https://youtu.be/GBAQTd2MJFQ?t=150).

First trips into Dark world felt scary at first, but as you get more energy tanks life loss gets increasingly mitigated. Dark and Light concept is also represented in ammo system which simultaneously feels too restrictive but also pointless -- why even demand to open door with light/dark ammo if you can still open them with charged shots even if empty? Similarly why make player fight enemies in closed rooms if they eventually disappear and doors unlock by themselves? The implementation is so half heartedly done it's like developers weren't sure in their ideas themselves.

Guardian bosses are frustrating at first, but i got to appreciate their design afterwards. Some really inventive uses for Metroid abilities. By comparison, Dark Samus boss encounters feel dumb -- you just shoot it with regular beam occasionally switching visor.

UI styles designed as solar system is annoying to use. I constantly kept messing up the direction i need to spin menu items.

Screenshot tool costing a bunch of achievement badges is so stupid. Judging at how many badges it costs, i would have to complete all three games and potentially even play multiplayer and do the whole friend codes thing just for the privilege of being able to take screenshots.

If Nintendo/Retro ever get around to remastering Prime 2 the biggest improvement would be removing cutscene of going into the portal. I presume Switch must be able to load and keep both worlds of 20 year old Gamecube game in it's memory. That alone would cut ~20 minutes off playthrough time because you have to go back and forth hundreds of time. One room in Sanctuary Fortress alone has four portals inside it.

Once again, game blocks the last story bosses behind key hunt. I liked artifact hunt in MP1 because it was all about exploration -- best part of these games. Sky temple key hunt feels better in MP2 because the map is more interconnected and the puzzles are a bit more involved. Game no longer spells out name of the room, so i had to actually roam a bit based on A-Kul's hints to find last 2 keys.

I finished the game with 80% completion at 22:21.

MP1 was a trailblazer, they had to invent so much stuff with controls, lock-on, visors, morphball, boostball and all kinds of camera modes. MP2 has good guardian bosses but artstyle and ammo felt like misses to me. I liked Retro trying to incorporate space jump into 3d levels but it felt janky and unfinished -- hitting a corner or a ceiling trying to get into some room was annoying. Same with Dark/Light worlds concept and most of the combat. I wasn't keen on combat in MP1 either but i enjoyed the atmosphere and levels of the first game way more.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 20, 2023, 03:42:36 AM
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (as part of Trilogy):

It took me months to finish Prime 2 and years on and off to complete Metroid Prime 1. I enjoyed 3 so much i finished it with 100% in a week. Time on "mission complete" screen was 18:54.

I never finished previous Prime games with 100% before because until this game they didn't show items on a map. UI in general, is improved across the board -- no more weird planetoid menu items, scanning is more smooth, you can also select and deselect individual rooms on a map as bookmarking of sorts.

Level design feels like it took all the best elements from previous games. Skytown is like a better version of Sanctuary Fortress from 2, Valhalla is a great spin on Metroid/Alien staple "spooky crashed ship". Bryyo is a very good Metroid Prime 1-style dungeon with fantastic lore to tell, and Skytown's lore about Elysians was pretty interesting too.

The art-design is a strong comeback after moody and weird Echoes' style that just didn't gel with me. None of the suits look as ugly as Dark Suit and environments are more varied. I remember saying "wow" when entering Skytown and Valhalla for the first time.

Game has many great memorable moments: initial exploration on Valhalla felt like something straight from "Event Horizon" or similar horror sci-fi flick, when you see soldiers' bodies turning to dust for the first time. Skytown is a beautiful level by itself but also has funny old 50s movie robots clumsily walking around. Destroying them is somehow comedic too whether you're just exploding them or melting them. Warping to Ice part of Bryyo for the first time and music adding a hint of Phendrana Drift was a magical moment.

I am playing this as a part of Trilogy so change in controls went smooth because i only played these games with Wii pointer controls. Occasional motion controls to extract batteries and open doors are slightly cumbersome but not that bad and relatively unobtrusive. The only motion you have to do in combat is pulling motion with grapple hook and it works fine.

More important change in controls is removal of beam selection -- now all beams stack, upgrading beam weapon as you progress through the game. + button on wiimote now controls hypermode and you have to hold it to activate. Because - and + buttons are operated differently i no longer confused visor and beam button. Hypermode is a combat enhancer like Devil Trigger and it is just fun to activate it and go ham on enemies.

Beginning of the game is heavy on Galactic Federation game. When starting the game i got the impression Metroid "went mainstream" imitating more popular military shooters like Halo and Call of Duty where you are part of a big army effort, but that is over pretty quickly and after that game becomes usual Metroid style exploring abandoned worlds alone. I am guessing Retro didn't want to "reduce" Samus in her own game so Galactic federation are kinda useless -- half of the campaign is you saving and babysitting them and in the final battle cutscene there is zero point of them even being there because you still do everything. There is only one part where you actually work as part of a squad with them and that does feel like a small Call of Duty campaign but it only takes 10 minutes.

The more proactive characters are other bounty hunters. Their introduction feels like beginning of Metal Gear Solid game where new characters and their abilities are established so you know who you will later be facing as bosses. Bounty hunters were okay, they could have done even more with their characterisation but what is there is pretty good -- ending cutscene where Samus reminisces about them is nice.

In the beginning, unlocks are paced in a linear, rigid formula: you land in an area A and then go as deep as you can until you're blocked. Then you're told to go to another area B, get the unlock there and come back to area A. It all feels like you're constantly walking back and forth the same rooms. Game makes sure to compensate this adding slightly different combat and story scenarios on returning trips but it doesn't mask backtracking in the beginning.

Sometime after i reached Skytown game structure opens up and i was more free to expore and collect items on several different planets at the same time. Valhalla also opens around the same time and it is this game version of final artifact hunt. You need to collect 12 batteries that will be used as keys to go deeper into Valhalla until you reach final room that unlocks end game. Batteries are spread out more evenly and you get most of them just by playing the game. I only had to get out of my way to find 2 of them -- 1 was just lying there in docking bay of Valhalla and i just never noticed it until i actively started looking for them. The other was in Bryyo and it probably the only tricky battery. It required my ship to place some part in top of a structure. I had no idea what part exactly game was asking me to get -- so i just went over all rooms in that part of Bryyo with Command Visor turn on look for the part. Only took me 5 minutes -- i actually spent more time trying to think about it logically and failing.

Each planet is divided into smaller parts accessed by ship. Ship acts as fast travel system and gains other upgrades throughout the game. Apparently you could even use it to bomb enemies on open areas -- but i only discovered this function at the last hour of the game so i only use twice if that. Ship also works as kinda toy to mess around in between levels like you can check your in-game stats and your Corruption status.

The game is supposed to conclude Phazon trilogy so theme of Phazon corruption dominates everything, hence the title. Everyone gets Phazoned -- Galactic Federation, bounty hunters, space pirates. Reading lore entries how Dark Samus creates splinter cult of Space Pirates that are worhsiping her and calling her "our glorious leader" was amusing. Samus herself also gets Phazon abilities and hypermode adds a fun risk reward system because it consumes your life when activated.

Bosses were pretty fun if not as inventive as guardians from Prime 2 Echoes (but also not as annoying). Risking dying in this game is even more fun because -- game checkpoints before every big combat encounter and boss battle so even if you die you go back to it almost immediately.

All these badges (basically achievements) is was getting in 1 and 2 were apparently introduced in this game. But in Corruption you have achievements for more than just beating bosses and getting items -- there are all kinds of achievements (http://metroid.retropixel.net/games/mprime3/credits.php) for doing specific feats, getting scans -- very similar to achievements system on Steam and Xbox.

Music is a bit generic but still competent enough. Overall i think this is my favourite Metroid Prime game -- quality of life features (map, UI) go a long way for me but also nice art-style and atmosphere, great all around levels and satisfying combat. Now i am really looking forward how Metroid Prime 4 will look like.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Khushrenada on March 20, 2023, 10:59:59 AM
I remember saying "wow" when entering Skytown and Valhalla for the first time.

Mission Accomplished! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg_p04gSMPg)
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on March 22, 2023, 07:25:51 AM
I will be returning my friend's PS Vita, so might as well write down impressions about games i finished on it.

Flower:

Nice artsy-fartsy experience. Tilting Vita to control petals' movement didn't felt precise enough but the game doesn't really require it. Night rain level was so dark i could barely see what is around me, i wonder if it was because Vita model i had wasn't OLED...

Tearaway:

It's alright, though i never really liked tone in Sony's games in genres that are close to Nintendo games (like this one and Little Big Planet) -- it comes off as insincere and saccharine to me. Gameplay-wise it's a decent 3d platformer -- even if you can't jump for the first hour or so. Utilizing all of Vita's features works okay and gimmicks don't have the time to get old until the game ends. Though the one where you need to cut out hats, crowns and other character's features out of coloured paper -- i never really bothered with it and the characters were happy no matter how half assedly i made their thing.

Gravity Rush:

This game's movement is fun. Pressing shoulder button to change direction of gravity and "fall" in any chosen direction is exhilarating. You can also press another shoulder button to turn artificial gravity off and fall down naturally to reorient yourself or get a quick breather on solid ground when you need to refill your gravity gauge. Flying is pretty fun though it can get disorienting -- i was even getting dizzy at times. I guess this explains Japanese name "Gravity Daze".

The city you're in floats in the air and has many levels with lots of skyscrapers and towers. I always liked complex vertical architecture like this in videogames, Gotham in Batman: Arkham Knight comes to mind. There are crystals floating on top of every roof and under every bridge so you can just collect them for a while and upgrading your abilities without even touching any story missions. Just traversing this city is fun by itself.

Story missions also unlock challenge missions these are probably the part where game's movement mechanics really shine. I spent many hours optimizing's my routes in race challenges. Gravity slide challenges were harder to do because sliding controls are kinda broken -- you need to touch bottom corners of your touchscreen to start sliding and direction is motion controlled. It kinda works but making tight corners during sliding is almost impossible.

Combat challenges i stopped bothering with because unlike movement combat is pretty boring. All the more shame that story is filled with combat especially later in the game.

Story itself is kinda baffling. It doesn't really explain anything, things just happen, story arcs keep piling up and not get resolved at all, even the ending is more of a cliffhanger than a proper wrap-up.

Overall, very fun game with great movement and cute main character but the story and the combat are kinda meh.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: jarodea on April 03, 2023, 05:53:23 PM
Paper Mario Origami King.  A game I liked a lot more than I thought I would.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on April 20, 2023, 01:46:13 AM
Pikmin 2 (New Play Control, Wii):

Last time i touched this game was in 2014, with 4th game coming out and third game still largely unplayed i decided to finish it.

First Pikmin game felt like a short but nicely designed puzzle game. Jankyness of mechanics didn't to get old and meta-game of speedrunning the game to collect all items in 30 days provided just enough incentive to play (and replay) the game efficiently.

Second Pikmin game feels like such a big swerve, moment to moment gameplay is largely the same but meta-game is completely changed from speedrunning to survival game. Instead of striving for more efficient time management on the surface you are now playing roguelite dungeon crawler with constantly dwindling squad as you go deeper and deeper. Not losing your pikmin is technically possible but it is extremely tedious (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGkAmMuAFhk) because mechanics are still janky and randomly generated layouts can sometimes can spawn you right near the enemy or hazards.

For me, surviving in the caves feels more stressful and less compelling than working around time limit in 1. Despite that game Pikmin 2 doesn't have "game over" (you can't "die" technically) a misplay can rob the player of a good 20-30 minutes run unless you're constantly resetting which i ultimately was forced to do. Resorting to press Reset button on the actual console when some random mistake costs you half of your pikmin feels so bad. It also doesn't feel like an actual solution to bad game design at all, they just made it relatively easy to restart a floor rather than prevent cave generator do unfair layouts.

Because bosses at the very last floor are so hard you will often have to make several expeditions -- one to scout the place out and collect easier items, 2nd to get to the boss and check his patterns, 3rd (and maybe 4th) to actually kill the boss, and yet another one to collect all the remaining treasure. This is way too much time spent replaying the same level. And designers definitely knew about -- that's why deep caves have geysers mid way that instantly transport you to the surface.

It's not a coincidence that game's best cave is the only one with fixed layout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r3-fgMp84). It's also really short unlike some other end-game caves that can be as deep as 15 floors. Submerged castle is short, has an actual level design and a fun gimmick -- everything all other castles are not.

Challenge mode is the closest sequel has to Pikmin 1 gameplay with timed missions. But even that is executed badly because there are so many of them and they require perfect play for final reward.

In general Pikmin 2 feels like a sequel that subverts structure of original game making it too long and tedious for no reason. New Piklopedia describing items is nice and has wholesome writing and there are new mechanics, enemies and bosses but it all drowns in tedium of caves and having to constantly replay unfair floors over and over again.

Unfortunately, Pikmin 4 looks like it brings back caves again -- hopefully they're no longer randomly generated.

Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch):

I wasn't in a hurry to replay the game after finishing Prime Trilogy, but i felt like getting physical version anyway. Nintendo probably didn't make enough carts, so Amazon delayed my physical version till middle of April.

I just put the cart into the Switch to test it and check new shiny graphics but once i started i just couldn't stop and spent most of the weekend playing it again.

New controls make a bigger difference than i expected. It took me a while to get used to standard dual stick controls after playing entire Trilogy with pointer controls. Gyro also doesn't improve the game as much as i hoped, so i eventually turned it off.

However i did turn off all on-screen helmet ridges and UI and the picture looks really nice now. Not being able to tell how much stuff i have doesn't harm the gameplay, except for when you have to save power bombs.

This was my first time when i was going for 100% item and scan completion in Metroid Prime and i got 88%. I tried to listen for humming sound but most of the ones i missed where tucked so far away you can't hear them, like the the ones in underwater caverns or the one in a hole behind bushes. "Gotcha" secrets like that make me glad both 2d and 3d series evolved to explicitly mark items on the map.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Luigi Dude on April 20, 2023, 10:29:36 PM
"Gotcha" secrets like that make me glad both 2d and 3d series evolved to explicitly mark items on the map.

This is something that drives me crazy about a lot of these indie Metroid/Metroidvania titles.  They love to copy the map system of Super Metroid, but refuse to mark items or tell you if you've found all the items in a certain area, something all the 2D Metroids after Super did.

It's like seriously, this was such a great QOL improvement that actually makes it fun to get 100% completion in later Metroid games because it removes much of the tedium in trying to find everything.  If I beat the game with 91% completion, it's nice to know what parts of the game I found everything in so you don't waste time looking in those again.  This is something that should be standard in every Metroid style game and yet it seems to be the opposite from most of the ones I've played.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on May 01, 2023, 03:38:41 PM
So here's a funny one:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Wii U.

With Tears of the Kingdom out in less than two weeks I figured I should go back and wrap up the earlier game so I would know exactly what's going on story wise.  I had played the game when it was new and did something that I've had a tendency to do where I finish the entire game except the last boss.  I don't really find that kind of thing that fun so I tend to leave games hanging like that.  Zelda in particular has the problem where the story is not usually very interesting and the gameplay I like the most is exploring the world.  So when I've explored the world, I've essentially gotten everything I want out of it.

Turns out I was really close to the end because I wrapped things up in one afternoon.  Prior to storming the castle I did the Xenoblade 2 mission (which I guess downloaded at some point?  Didn't remember anything about) and found a shrine as a warm up.

This game is really hard when you haven't played it for five years and don't remember the mechanics.  Somehow the button mapping seems completely different than anything else I've recently played.  As I expected I was getting destroyed by routine enemies.  As a result my approach to get into the castle was stealth.  Still had to beat Ganon though and I'm rather surprised I did so since I was so inept at the combat.  I barely beat his first form and took three or four tries to his second.  I had to look up how to use updrafts which are required as I just don't remember how the game plays at all.  The horse in the final battle also kept running in the wrong direction.  Is this a random horse or one the ones from my stable?  If so I was training a new one up so maybe it picked one I hadn't tamed yet?

But I'm happy to have wrapped it up.  Ending is not much beyond "hooray you saved the world!" which is precisely why I so often don't have the drive to beat Zelda games.  Though now I'm a little more hyped up for the sequel, having gotten that little taste of the gameplay again.  It will probably be really fun when I'm learning the system again and not throwing myself into the final boss battle without remembering how to play.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: azeke on May 14, 2023, 07:10:34 AM
Pikmin 3 (Wii U):

Pikmin (and the rest of Nintendo games) finally went HD, and it's probably the most beautiful game on the console. Natural miniature landscapes really pop and whimsy pikmin and weird monster designs really benefit from increased resolution.

3 lost swarming functionality from 1-2, so there is less control over the shape of your pikmin crowd, pikmin following you are more of a mob retreading your tracks, and it's hard to bunch them in a compact formation. Pikmin are a bit "smarter", but their AI can still lead them falling off bridges or just walk into the water. 3 games in and that's still an issue. Another aspect of "smarter" pikmin AI is that for jobs that are continuous like building a bridge or collecting spice berries they go back the mining place instead of staying near spaceship landing zone. It's good if you just want to assign 2-3 guys to farm berries at the start of the day, provided you don't forget to pick them up at dawn.

Bigger problem than pikmin just walking into water are boss battles which require quick and precise positioning. To somewhat fix this, Pikmin 3 introduces dodging so you can command your entire platoon to jump away from boss attack. Coincidentally, Pikmin 3 also introduces lock-on for easier targeting. With both lock-on and dodging Pikmin is now officially more of an action game than real time strategy. Now that i think about it, "Charge!" command is also yet another replacement for swarming mechanic they took out.

Though i suspect lock-on was introduced because Pikmin 3 was after New Play Control version on Wii and going back to previous analog control scheme feels super bad after precise targeting with a wiimote. I played with wiimote, but the game annoyingly forces to use gamepad for map. Having to switch controllers and screens isn't as bad as how the map is displayed as bird's eye view making parsing environment harder than actual proper abstract map where you can clearly tell if there is a lost pikmin or a treasure or whatnot. At the start of the campaign i was losing a lot of pikmin in the field because i couldn't understand the map and couldn't see where strayed pikmin are. "Go here!" UI also took me a while to get the hang of.

Game structure went back to Pikmin 1 levels, thank god no more 15 floor deep caves. Each Pikmin game so far (and even upcoming Pikmin 4) adds new types of pikmin so switching between different kinds of pikmin and captains becomes more and more cumbersome.

Final level took me a long time and many retries. Just getting to final arena is hard enough let alone also fighting the boss itself. Thankfully final level is designed to replayable as you open more and more shortcuts to get to final arena faster. I really liked the concept and design of the boss and other enemy for that matter -- signature Pikmin monster creepiness is at the height in this game.

Levels have hidden cards with digits on them, i wondered if that these are some kind of collectible for 100% but apparently these are secret codes. Player was supposed to use Wii U internal browser to go to the game's official site and enter codes manually to get a short video (https://youtu.be/wsKVHPmRaYY?t=378). Really, Nintendo? I kinda wanted to collect them all but after looking it up and realizing it's just a video (not even in-game) i gave up on it.

Just like 2, 3 has some of challenge levels (including DLC levels i got from gold coins on My Nintendo) and bonus modes, but i guess i am good for now.

Overall Pikmin 3 is probably my favourite game in the series, looks great, great bosses, weird enemy designs, i just wish map wasn't on the gamepad. I looked up videos about Switch Deluxe port and some of the features there look really nice, but i really don't want to throw pikmin with analog stick.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Adrock on May 31, 2023, 10:31:04 PM
This ended up being longer than expected. 🤷‍♀️ Also, unmarked spoilers.

Metroid Prime Remastered

This was a rare full price game for me. I read conflicting reports on whether this was intended to be a limited physical release so I picked this up ASAP just in case.

I can't find the interview, but I vaguely remember reading the developers didn't want to change too much because they considered Metroid Prime to be perfect already. To that: Ehh, the game is still good though it definitely shows its age in certain aspects. Game development and design have advanced to much in 21 years so what was fine in 2002 feels kind of janky in 2023 like the platforming.

Some thoughts:

1. The texture work here is amazing. I probably wouldn't have fully appreciated it had I not seen it side-by-side with the original. The remaster looks the way I remember the original.

2. The original controls are... fine. I opted for the default dual stick though switching between beams and shooting missiles felt less natural. Overall, movement felt better while combat felt worse.

3. Morph Ball jump was added though I would have preferred it be mapped to the B button like in first person mode, or for an option to swap jump and boost in Morph Ball mode.

4. Beams no longer cast dynamic lighting that illuminate the environment. Digital Foundry speculated that this may not play well with the new lighting system or it could be a performance issue. I didn't think I'd noticed when I watched their video, but I definitely did because...

5. While the lighting system is collectively much better in Metroid Prime Remastered, some halls and rooms are really dark now making navigation more difficult since you can't see as well (not the rooms that are pitch black on purpose). Adding new/more light sources and/or being able to shoot beams into those areas for depth perception and overall placement of self and other objects/enemies would have gone a long way.

6. In my old age, I simply cannot stand any area in games where it's pitch black. I get the effect the developers are going for, but you know......... don't. It isn't fun. In this game, this is usually accompanied by enemies you can only see with a different visor. Collectively, all of that is a bad time.

7. I forgot how Chozo Ghosts just start popping up in other rooms at a certain point. They're just as awful in 2023. Sometimes you can simply walk by them to the next room while others you actually have to fend them off because you have to do a thing in that room. And fellas, y'all didn't have to go so hard on the Chozo Ghost music.

8. The world is not as connected as it should have been. Going back to Phendrana Drifts and especially the Phazon Mines often felt like a chore. There's an elevator to the Phazon Mines that leads to the Frigate Crash Site but the door isn't accessible from the ground. I understand gatekeeping during the first pass, maybe even the second. After that, it's just a pain in the ass to navigate. Adding some floating platforms later on would have been a game changer.

9. I'm a little disappointed Nintendo didn't throw in Jennifer Hale's narration that leaked like 15 years ago as a bonus.

10. The Spider Ball sound effect is 🤌.

11. Semi-hot take: There should have been a third person mode added in Metroid Prime Remastered (similar to Capcom with Resident Evil Village). Granted, that would have been a ton of work. While Metroid Prime doesn't need a third person mode, it would have been nice to see the game in a new way after all these years.

Anyway, I probably won't play Metroid Prime again. I really should stop replaying games I loved as a much younger person. I'll always remember how I felt playing certain games for the first time. And while those memories remain, there's no way to recapture that feeling so there's at least a tinge of resentment when a game isn't as good as my memories of it. For that reason, I probably won't replay Super Metroid ever again either (will likely play a remake though). Still, I try to be mindful of this when assessing a game years down the line.

That said, while Metroid Prime may not be as good as it was 21 years ago, it still mostly holds up, and this is a great remaster. A lot of care went into sprucing up the visuals without negatively affecting the original's absolutely wonderful art design. While it was nice to revisit the game, I need to start crossing games off my backlog. Speaking of...

Metroid: Samus Returns

I started a new save file since I hadn't played the game in nearly six years. I wanted to officially finish Samus Returns before returning to Metroid Dread which I also didn't finish. I'm also stalling on returning to Breath of the Wild because I haven't found the motivation to practice Trial of the Sword until I'm good enough to beat it.

I previously dropped Samus Returns in 2017 because I couldn't beat Diggernaut. This is especially hilarious because if you forgo 100% item collection after this boss, there's maybe like an hour of game left. The Diggernaut boss has one move that sucks you in and causes an egregious amount of damage. If only there was a way to remain planted on the ground to prevent this. Straight up bush league game design. Not really. You're supposed to use Spider Ball. My dumb ass straight up stopped playing a game because I forgot that one of the game's most used mechanics existed. 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, this remake is fine, good even. Some thoughts:

1. The gameplay is on point. It has the requisite exploration and hidden upgrades the series in known for. The Melee Counter feels like a natural evolution for the series, like a better implemented SenseMove/Counter Attack from Other M.

2. The level design is not as refined as I'd like it to be, making SR388 feel disjointed. The various areas flow sequentially and are not interconnected in any way. Warp points feel out of place in Metroid. However, they're kind of functionally needed in Samus Returns due to how self-contained and isolated each Area is. Super Metroid had intentional shortcuts between sections, allowing you to consider the best return path. Without those, backtracking can be kind of a slog.

3. There were some places where you have to go through a few rooms to get a power up. The developers could have added a crumble block in the last room to drop you off at the first room. Instead, you just have to backtrack through all those rooms. The strangest thing is they only do this sometimes; other times they don't. It's such a weird design choice.

4. The Metroid fights were not particularly fun which is a bummer in particular due to how many there are. It's a lot of waiting, usually for a Melee Counter white flash. Also, some Zeta Metroids flee to different rooms. Why? Overall, just a bad time.

5. MercurySteam did its best with the controls. Not being able to run and aim hurt the combat particularly in some boss fights. There are too many functions for the limited inputs of a regular 3DS. Mapping beam and missile switching to the touchscreen is less than ideal. Mapping instant morph ball to the touchscreen felt intentionally offensive (especially given how some of the collectable upgrades are obtained).

6. A New Nintendo 3DS control option would have been greatly appreciated.

7. Samus Returns looks good for a 3DS game though it could definitely use a Switch/Switch 2 remaster. The textures are pretty muddy, and some areas are just Purple, The Room®.

8. There are too many lights on Samus' suits, ultimately bogging down the design. Every upgrade just adds more lights. Generally, these kinds of design cues are intended to make a character stand out. That isn't really the case here. I never had trouble seeing Samus. Silver lining: nothing is worse than the last suit in Metroid Dread (which got spoiled for me). Yikes.

9. Adding Ridley was a mistake. I like the surprise of a new final boss; I just wish it wasn't Ridley again.

10. The extended Last Metroid sequence felt tacked on. From a gameplay perspective, it functionally acts as the final power up but only for collecting optional upgrades. This only drags out the end game similar to Other M's epilogue. And while it may add depth and context to other games in the series, it's an unnecessary change. That one particular scene in Super Metroid doesn't require further contextualization. It accomplishes the same thing on its own more effectively and in far less time.

11. Yo, that part in Area 8 where the Metroid counter increases was 🤌.

12. Feature locking Fusion Mode behind Amiibo was pretty crummy. Mind you, I won't even touch regular Hard Mode. I don't support the practice of locking this kind of content behind Amiibo out of principle. The Samus Returns 2-Pack Amiibo was really hard to get at the time and is hella expensive now. Granted, you can get unofficial NFC cards on eBay for like $15. You shouldn't have to do that though.

I realize these are mostly criticisms. However, I actually liked Samus Returns. Collectively, it's a good game, and I don't regret spending time on it. I won't play it again, not on 3DS anyway. From what I played of Metroid Dread, some of these issues have already been addressed such as the controls though admittedly, that's more a criticism of the hardware.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on November 15, 2023, 12:12:10 PM
So over the weekend I beat Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.  So it took me about six months and this was pretty much the only thing I played on Switch, aside from the odd demo here and there and little bit of Addams Family pinball.  I didn't 100% the game but unlike Breath of the Wild I actually did complete every shrine.  I wasn't originally thinking of doing so but realized as I got close to the end game that I was only a few shrines away so I gave it a go.  Had to resort to a map to find the last one though as it was in a cave I had visited at some point but gone past it and forgotten about it.  It was a Shrine quest that some person gives you but for whatever reason I never talked to that person so it wasn't in my Adventure Log.

Ending wise, it's Zelda so it's pretty much just saved the day, everything's great, etc.  The experience of playing the game is where the enjoyment comes from in Zelda, less the story.  My brother had beat the game months before and had warned me about the last boss battle and then he sat dumbfounded on the couch as I almost effortlessly beat it.  He noticed I used a defensive approach while he's more offensive and it seems that my approach was the better one.

This is one of the best games I've ever played but I will say I was getting bored by the end of it and ready to play other things.  The game is maybe a little too big or would benefit from taking breaks in playing it so everything freshens up each time.  Or just don't go for every shrine I suppose.  I was worried that the re-used map from Breath of the Wild would be a problem, but it isn't really and having played both games it is fun to see how things have changed.  But a third game using this map would be overkill.  They had their one chance to recycle things and have it not seem like a cop-out.  Though it does result in a strange situation where I feel like this is the better game but it works best if you're familiar with first game.  So you have the play the weaker first title and if you were to play them both back-to-back it would probably be a slog.  You need a few years between them.

My favourite part of this game that made it better?  Weapon Fusion.  The constant breaking of weapons was such a pain in the first game and while the feature is still here, the ability to fuse weapons with other items makes it fun.  The fused weapons tend to have a longer lifespan and the customizations gives it more of a strategic element.  I think it "fixed" the breaking weapons concept.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on November 16, 2023, 10:51:28 AM
Thirsty Suitors is the latest on my beat list.  The story follows Jala, a first generation daughter of immigrants returning to her hometown and confronted with a gaggle of jilted exes, an icy relationship with her mother, and a sister whose getting married that won't speak to you.  On top of that, you find the youths being indoctrinated by a cult led by a person in a big bear costume.

The gameplay is split between several different game types.  The world is segmented out on an overworld map with points of interest like your home, a wilderness area where the cult resides, and the town center with lots of different shops and a diner.  Jala explores these areas on a skateboard, and the spaces are littered with different platforms where you engage with the skateboarding mechanic.  Skateboarding is a chore - the general movement is sluggish, so to get across spaces efficiently you'll need to grind across the map.  But grinding doesn't feel good good either.  You'll zip through the map but the game has trouble figuring out which rail you're jumping from next, and I ended up getting bogged down in endless grinding loops rather than getting to master the system.

The combat is the most mature system in the game.  It plays out as a lite RPG with lots of quick time events.  Other than the basic attack, all moves require a set of inputs (pressing A at the right time, pushing a left stick direction at the right time, tapping the X button repeatedly, Holding the B button until a meter fills), and the quicker you complete the task, the more attack power you gain.  The same rules apply for defense, with better inputs blunting damage.  The real meat is the weakness system.  You can choose taunts ranging from rage, heartbreak, thirst, and shock.  If your opponent has a weakness to that type, it'll stun them and allow you to use more potent skills that deal greater damage.  There are battles you can engage in via map icons, but I didn't find leveing up necessary, as I jumped from Ex to Ex boss battles.  Those boss battles were diverse enough to be interesting if uncomplicated, and through them Jala reconciles her past with them. 

There's also a cooking mechanic.  It's a process which involves completing a set number of quick time events in the premise of following step-by-step instructions that are then played out in exaggerated, fantastical actions like leaps, spins, and mandalas when you execute well.  There's a heat system as well, where basic actions build up a pepper meter that can then be consumed by powering up one of your actions or buttering up your mom for a better score.  What you cook can then be used as a consumable in battle that'll do things like heal, increase your MP, and offer other buffs to your character.  The problem is it's just as tedious to do constant QTEs here as it is in battle.

The story and characters flatness is probably what disappoints the most.  The intent is clearly meant to be a story about a woman coming back to her old haunt and make amends with those left in her wake, as well as reconciling her modernity against the traditionalism of her mother.  But Jala is unlikeable to a fault, and makes it hard to root for her cause.  She has an internal second personality that looks like her sister and acts like a Tyler Durden trying to prod more "hard truths" to people.  It makes conversations a little messy, because you'll choose a dialogue option (that often doesn't feel like the prompt properly translates to the kind of comment you want to make), she'll intervene with a snappy comment either deriding you for being a coward or egging-on more aggression, and then it'll have an exterior conversation with a character that feels like no one's true voice.  The broader characters feel like a cardboard cut-out archetype of different personalities, races, and sexuality.  In a game with better writing i'd say I wish they'd take some time fleshing out the people, but I don't know that they have it in them to do so with any care.


For a game like this, it's almost like they started with a story they wanted to tell and then backed-up to build a game around it.  I've seen a lot of glowing comments in reviews writ large, but it's a underdeveloped story with underdeveloped characters and underdeveloped gameplay.  If they take another crack at this type of game, I hope at least they work on streamlining the gameplay down to a few mechanics fleshed out deeply, step away from the quick-time-event Kool-aid, and work on building a more fleshed out world & characters.

I'd give it a 5 or 6 out of 10. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on November 30, 2023, 09:53:46 AM
Jusant is a lovely game about mountain climbing.  It's quiet with environmental storytelling and a charming artstyle.  Also fairly brief & on Gamepass.  Highly recommend.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Ian Sane on November 30, 2023, 11:22:45 AM
Strider 2

Picked this up a while back when the PS3 store was closing as I grabbed a couple PS1 games that are expensive in the retro market.  I beat it in about an hour and not because I'm so talented but because the game has unlimited continues that plop you back into the action as if nothing happened.  The game still has a ranking for how you did in each level (I got a nice 'E' on every one) so there is some objective for avoiding dying.

I still had a lot of fun though.  I have the original Strider on the Genesis and the arcade version in Capcom Classics Collection but I'm not very good at it.  I play the arcade one more because I have unlimited continues as I struggle to get to level 2 in the Genesis version.  Strider is very much a set-piece game with all sorts of cool bosses and action sequences and there is a lot of fun to be had in just experiencing it.  I'm not going to take the time to get good at it so the unlimited continues is almost a feature for me, to just experience the game.  Ideally they should have let you restrict it though and set the amount of continues you want.

Something I couldn't help but notice is how the whole presentation is a great representation of what was cool during the PS1 era.  Teenage me would have been all over this.  As a result it created a sense of nostalgia, not for the specific game because I didn't play it at the time, but for the time period.  The graphics also add to that as it uses 2D sprites on a 3D background.  This doesn't really look that good and it looks old and dated, but again I find it has a certain charm to it.  Blocky 8-bit sprites eventually became an intentional aesthetic and I feel like 32-bit polygons have that potential as well.  PS2/Gamecube era polygons look too similar to present day games so they seem just like a lower res version but 32/64 bit polygons look distinct.

Now in terms of the ending, well aside from defeating the bad guy I really couldn't tell you what happened.  The bosses have a few lines of dialog when they appear but it's in Japanese with no sub-titles so I have no clue what they said.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on December 24, 2023, 01:31:28 AM
I beat and 100% completed Mario 64 on the 3D collection earlier this year. It was much tougher either because my muscle memory was atrophied, or I was too used to the N64 with its octagonal edge for the stick to be guided by when controlling. Well I'm replaying again with my daughter and I have the N64 Switch controller...its not the controller. Either its too loosey goosey, or I got used to it back in the day and the more tight modern controls of games have spoiled me. I still really enjoyed Mario 64 when I beat it, but I'm almost through the main quest this run and I am just going to clear Bowser and be done. I may also avoid playing some other old games for a bit from that era until my daughter is older. I've moved over to Mario World, Yoshi's Island, and Donkey Kong Country. I like playing them with her, but she's not even 2. I don't want to burn myself out from them until she is older and able to actually play with me. This is just some dabbling to show her some old games and spend some time with her when she isn't absorbed in Paw Patrol or something.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: ejamer on January 01, 2024, 12:08:24 PM
Woohoo. Just finished Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii).

Getting past that last checkpoint in the final mission sucked... twice I was about to jump to freedom, only to be shot down from behind and have to restart. Other than that, it was pretty satisfying. Game shows some age in both graphics and level design, but does a pretty good job of showcasing the better features of Wii controllers (good use of pointer; novel use of built-in speaker and rumble; keeping use of motion controls limited).

I'd play it again in Arcade mode sometime, because you can never have too much light gun-style gaming!



Now to select another Wii backlog title to clear out... maybe The Last Story? Still haven't played that game, and really should.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on January 03, 2024, 09:04:16 AM
My youngest & I rolled credits on Untitled Goose Game over the past weekend.  It shines as a co-op game.  We were able to have a lot of fun causing chaos together, and having an extra goose also helped get through some later areas that would have been tougher solo. 
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: lolmonade on January 25, 2024, 10:30:18 AM
Goodbye Volcano High is a lovely visual novel with a coming of age tale juxtaposed against a giant meteor coming for you.  Characters are well developed and feel genuine.  The personal struggles shown are relatable, if maybe a bit squeaky clean. 

Gameplay is threadbare - dialogue options that give the impression of agency/affecting the outcome.  A music rhythm minigame that has button inputs that feel unique.  There's three separate tracks (left, right, vertical) that I had to point in that direction as notes fly through.  There's also button inputs with a radial that closes in on it before timing it perfectly to the beat.  It's not complex but mixes up the rhythm just enough to avoid boredom.

If you like "one of those" games, it's worth a look.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: Stratos on February 14, 2024, 12:19:39 AM
So my daughter is turning three this month and being more aware we've started playing a lot of classic games for fun. I've been playing a lot of the Mario games from Mario 3, World, Yoshi's Island, Mario 64, Galaxy, Odyssey, and 3D World. Also the OG Donkey Kong Country.

Of these I have beat Mario 64 and 3D World. Boy what a difference of opinion I've had about these games over previous plays.

Mario 64 I am now dreading returning to in the future. I thought the N64 controller would make things play better, but it just doesn't play well for me. I struggled with finer gameplay, with some of the platforming, and after the first 1/3rd of the game I was just powering through to get to the end for her. I could NOT hit the bombs with Bowser for the life of me in the last battle.

I don't know what is wrong, the controller, the port, my age, all of the above? I still dearly love the game, but something feels off. Even versus the play I did a year or so ago when 3D All Stars came out. I started playing on the Switch Online app because I was just going through the games on the apps, then remembered I have 3D All Stars. Both feel clunky and cumbersome to me. Maybe I need to bust out the N64 and try there? Like the game runs TOO good with higher framerates? Or there could be some sort of controller latency at play?

I'd love to hear what others think or have experiences with older games. For me this seems to be relegated to the N64 3D games. 2D games on NES and SNES seem to more clearly be me losing my gamer edge at these precision games.


On the other hand, Mario 3D World surprised me in a pleasant way. I have tried to play this game so many times, but always with friends and family. Because of scheduling none of these runs got farther than the beginning of world 3. But since I was the only one actively playing with a tiny cheerleader and spectator, we ran with it all the way through. And the game ramped up into some delightfully fun and devilishly challenging levels. I went from 50+ lives to my last life in the final main world. I had never done the infinite 1-up trick in any Mario game and I actually went back and did it to get more lives! And the unique powerups were all a delight along with the classics. The way it channeled older Mario games like 3 also gave it a wonderful feel.

I've yet to try Wonder, but I may not get to it until I finish 3D world and it just seems to keep on going. I'm on the second bonus world post-Bowser and I am half wondering if this game actually does run out of levels.
Title: Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
Post by: GreenLillie on March 22, 2024, 04:11:19 PM
So my daughter is turning three this month and being more aware we've started playing a lot of classic games for fun. I've been playing a lot of the Mario games from Mario 3, World, Yoshi's Island, Mario 64, Galaxy, Odyssey, and 3D World. Also the OG Donkey Kong Country.

Of these I have beat Mario 64 and 3D World. Boy what a difference of opinion I've had about these games over previous plays.

Mario 64 I am now dreading returning to in the future. I thought the N64 controller would make things play better, but it just doesn't play well for me. I struggled with finer gameplay, with some of the platforming, and after the first 1/3rd of the game I was just powering through to get to the end for her. I could NOT hit the bombs with Bowser for the life of me in the last battle.

I don't know what is wrong, the controller, the port, my age, all of the above? I still dearly love the game, but something feels off. Even versus the play I did a year or so ago when 3D All Stars came out. I started playing on the Switch Online app because I was just going through the games on the apps, then remembered I have 3D All Stars. Both feel clunky and cumbersome to me. Maybe I need to bust out the N64 and try there? Like the game runs TOO good with higher framerates? Or there could be some sort of controller latency at play?

I'd love to hear what others think or have experiences with older games. For me this seems to be relegated to the N64 3D games. 2D games on NES and SNES seem to more clearly be me losing my gamer edge at these precision games.


On the other hand, Mario 3D World surprised me in a pleasant way. I have tried to play this game so many times, but always with friends and family. Because of scheduling none of these runs got farther than the beginning of world 3. But since I was the only one actively playing with a tiny cheerleader and spectator, we ran with it all the way through. And the game ramped up into some delightfully fun and devilishly challenging levels. I went from 50+ lives to my last life in the final main world. I had never done the infinite 1-up trick in any Mario game and I actually went back and did it to get more lives! And the unique powerups were all a delight along with the classics. The way it channeled older Mario games like 3 also gave it a wonderful feel.

I've yet to try Wonder, but I may not get to it until I finish 3D world and it just seems to keep on going. I'm on the second bonus world post-Bowser and I am half wondering if this game actually does run out of levels.

Mario 3D worl is one of the best games I have ever played.