Topic: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

[ejamer]

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.

[ShyGuy]

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.

[Stratos]

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.

[MagicCow64]

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?

[Stratos]

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.

[ShyGuy]

There is more variety in the second game, more exploration. There is still plenty of digging for treasures, so you may not like it.

[MagicCow64]

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.

[MagicCow64]

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. 

[ejamer]

...
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.

[MagicCow64]

...
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.

[azeke]

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!

[ShyGuy]

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!

[Fatty The Hutt]

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.

[ClexYoshi]

MAKE A GOOD MEGA MAN LEVEL CONTEST 2

http://magmmlcom.ipage.com/



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!

[broodwars]

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.

[ejamer]

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.

[Order.RSS]

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.

[ejamer]

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.

[Phil]

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.

[azeke]

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 (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.

[ClexYoshi]

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.

[azeke]

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.

[ejamer]

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?)

[that Baby guy]

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.

[Stratos]

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.