Gaming Forums > General Gaming

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

<< < (210/216) > >>

azeke:
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!

pokepal148:
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.

NWR_insanolord:
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.

azeke:
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, Zero Mission added ballspark, and in Dread Samus can keep shinepark while sliding and bouncing off walls. 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. 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.

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.

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 and Dread isn't, but it's a very sold #2 and a great game in it's own right.

lolmonade:
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.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page