Snickerd00dle's Summer Game Challenge 2011

[YoshiEgg25]

Played a lot of Backyard Baseball over my vacation, and am currently in the Super Entire Nation Tournament, leading one game to zero over the Tasty Cheeses.

Some stats from the season:

• My team finished 14-0, with the biggest blowout coming by a score of 60-0.
• The total runs scored vs. runs allowed came out to 315 to 1.
• None of my players had a batting average worse than .500.
• The team had more home runs than strikeouts (84 to 64).
• One of my players led the league in every single batting and pitching category.
• Pablo Sanchez was clearly the team MVP, ranking first in the league in homers (21), hits (64), triples (6), RBIs (61), runs (51), average (.735), and slugging percentage (1.701), and second in the league in steals (16).
• Stephanie Morgan led the league with 14 doubles.
• Pete Wheeler led the league with 29 steals.
• Kenny Kawaguchi pitched every single one of the 119 innings for my team, going 14-0. He allowed one run and 24 hits over the season, coming out to an ERA of an astounding 0.07. He also led the league in strikeouts with 138.

[Crabmaster2000]

Played a lot more Chrono Cross. Things seem to be heating up towards the finale, but I'm still on the first disc so I could be quite wrong. I am currently searching for 6 different Dragons and have already found 5/6 of them (I have to save one of them till last though). I've got a hunch where the last one is, but not quite sure how to get there. I'll have to probably time travel again to figure it out. Got a butt-load of new characters (6 within a 10 minute period recently). Currently using Lynx, Karsh, Zoah.

[Crabmaster2000]

More Chrono Cross tonight. Got my original character restored started disc 2 and have around 24 characters now. Switched my team to Serge, Karsh, Steena.

[Xeogred]

It's kind of sad and scary that probably 75% of my backlog of games I haven't touched or beaten are probably JRPG's. haha... uh, maybe I can beat one or two over the summer?

Quoting myself from the FIRST page here of this thread...

I just beat THREE Final Fantasy's back to back! I feel amazing, level 9,999! Heck yeah. I never made a list for this thread, but I think I went above and beyond what I expected out of my gaming for the summer.

Heh. *goes to update Games Beaten thread*

[Crabmaster2000]

Anyone else still playing games?? I was close to posting 3 times in a row.

Anyway, got a bit further in Chrono Cross. I always thought this game was a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger not a direct sequel. They made a few passing mentions of Lavos and friends throughout the game that I assumed at the time were just fanfare, but now they are explaining how the effects of Chrono Trigger are still rippling through the world. Very interesting all the sudden.

I currently have no clue what I'm supposed to do though so I'm just wandering around talking to everybody until I get an idea on where to go. Fortunately I found a really sweet character that joined my team, Starky (I think).

[dsheinem]

Anyone else still playing games?? I was close to posting 3 times in a row.

Anyway, got a bit further in Chrono Cross. I always thought this game was a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger not a direct sequel. They made a few passing mentions of Lavos and friends throughout the game that I assumed at the time were just fanfare, but now they are explaining how the effects of Chrono Trigger are still rippling through the world. Very interesting all the sudden.

I currently have no clue what I'm supposed to do though so I'm just wandering around talking to everybody until I get an idea on where to go. Fortunately I found a really sweet character that joined my team, Starky (I think).

I have slowed down on playing a bit these last few weeks, mostly to build my MAME cabinet and start getting ready for the fall semester. I plan to play up until the actual end of summer in late September, so I am hoping to make progress on what I have left:


-Super Metroid (SNES)
-No One Lives Forever (PC) - PLAYING
-Diablo (PC)
-A Boy and his Blob (NES)

can anyone give me an estimate on how long each of these might take for an initial run through to the end credits?

[noiseredux]

I've come to a halt as well. Was busy with the magazine, got obsessed with Catherine for a stretch, etc.

Beat:

Dead or Alive
Mr. Driller
Ridge Racer
Mega Man X4

and then:

Chrono Trigger - spent 13+ hours and grew to love it. Got all the way up to the twin golem fight but seems I'm just not leveled up enough or have enough MP left to win the fight. I'd love to actually beat this game, but I so don't feel like grinding for hours now. Is there some way I can just kill Lavos at this point?

Duke Nukem 3D - really enjoyed it. But didn't even beat the entire first scenario. I think I kept meaning to come back, but at this point I've got half of this scenario left then three others since the PS1 version had an extra one.

Metal Gear Solid - actually blew me away to finally get into this series. It's brillaint. But I'm not very far. I think I'm three hours in or something puny like that. Have a long way to go still.

R-Type Delta - I was warned not to pick this game because of its challenge. The first stage was a breeze. By the middle of level two I was regretting what I had done. Oh well. At least now I know for myself. But yeah. Brutal.

Myst - I played this for around 10 mins. I think I hate it.

Silent Hill - sadly, never even started this. I really wanted to. I was saving it for last being the one game I had played before.

[dsheinem]

I've come to a halt as well. Was busy with the magazine, got obsessed with Catherine for a stretch, etc.

Beat:

Dead or Alive
Mr. Driller
Ridge Racer
Mega Man X4

and then:

Chrono Trigger - spent 13+ hours and grew to love it. Got all the way up to the twin golem fight but seems I'm just not leveled up enough or have enough MP left to win the fight. I'd love to actually beat this game, but I so don't feel like grinding for hours now. Is there some way I can just kill Lavos at this point?

Duke Nukem 3D - really enjoyed it. But didn't even beat the entire first scenario. I think I kept meaning to come back, but at this point I've got half of this scenario left then three others since the PS1 version had an extra one.

Metal Gear Solid - actually blew me away to finally get into this series. It's brillaint. But I'm not very far. I think I'm three hours in or something puny like that. Have a long way to go still.

R-Type Delta - I was warned not to pick this game because of its challenge. The first stage was a breeze. By the middle of level two I was regretting what I had done. Oh well. At least now I know for myself. But yeah. Brutal.

Myst - I played this for around 10 mins. I think I hate it.

Silent Hill - sadly, never even started this. I really wanted to. I was saving it for last being the one game I had played before.

Save Silent Hill for October.

In Chrono Trigger there are a ton of "sidequests" you can do which really advance the story and do not at all feel like typical grinding. You will also want to pick up some of the more powerful weapons/rings/armor in order to have any shot against Lavos' final form. Don't hesitate to consult GameFAQs or something if you start getting stuck or feel like you are grinding. See it through to the end - it is well worth it. Have you gotten to the point where something that's a major spoiler-ific plot point happens that changes how you organize your party and characters? That is a very cool part of the game, and sets up a lot of the last 1/3 or so...

You also owe it to yourself to play MGS. Based on time, you might be at least 1/4 of the way through that one. How far are you?

As for R-Type Delta and Duke Nukem, well I don't think you are missing too much by not seeing them through. I haven't beat R-Type Delta and DN on PS1 makes my head hurt.

I think you have a worse habit than most about starting a game and not finishing it. I remember a few others from earlier this year that you were excited about and then seemingly abandoned as well

[noiseredux]

In Chrono Trigger there are a ton of "sidequests" you can do which really advance the story and do not at all feel like typical grinding. You will also want to pick up some of the more powerful weapons/rings/armor in order to have any shot against Lavos' final form. Don't hesitate to consult GameFAQs or something if you start getting stuck or feel like you are grinding. See it through to the end - it is well worth it. Have you gotten to the point where something that's a major spoiler-ific plot point happens that changes how you organize your party and characters? That is a very cool part of the game, and sets up a lot of the last 1/3 or so...

I don't think I've gotten to the part you reference. I'm quite sure I'll beat CT, just not within my original timeframe most likely.

You also owe it to yourself to play MGS. Based on time, you might be at least 1/4 of the way through that one. How far are you?

Same thing. I'll definitely beat this, just probably not in the next week or so. Let's see. I'm in one of the Basement levels. The one where you need to find a seeking missile to take out the box that stops the floor from being electrified. I haven't found that missile launcher though.

I think you have a worse habit than most about starting a game and not finishing it. I remember a few others from earlier this year that you were excited about and then seemingly abandoned as well

I admit it's a bad habit. "Worse than most" is probably extreme. I've beaten way more games this year than last. My problem is I'll start something and get excited, but I'll probably buy a handful more games too and get distracted.

HOWEVER one thing I think I'm big on is coming back to games. Like 3D Dot Game Heroes was one of my first PS3 games. I played a couple hours and adored it, but also got excited to play other games since the console was new to me. Last weekend I decided to pick it back up. I played several more hours and conquered several more dungeons. Then put it away and will surely come back to it again soon as I love it. I don't always play a game from beginning to end at once, but rather spread out in chunks.

[dsheinem]

I don't think I've gotten to the part you reference. I'm quite sure I'll beat CT, just not within my original timeframe most likely.

Good good, the game really does get better and better, but it also ramps up in difficulty towards the end (much worse than where you are). Don't let that discourage you though. It also gives you the right tools to overcome challenges.

Same thing. I'll definitely beat this, just probably not in the next week or so. Let's see. I'm in one of the Basement levels. The one where you need to find a seeking missile to take out the box that stops the floor from being electrified. I haven't found that missile launcher though.

Someone else can probably help you with the specifics of that part (my memory is hazy)...why did you set the end of August as your deadline when summer ends in September? For some people I assume it was for school related reasons, but surely people other than me are giving it until the end of actual summer, right?

"Worse than most" is probably extreme.

I probably just hear about what you are playing more than I do from most so notice it more . FWIW I can easily think of about four-five games I have started this summer that I played a level or two and abandoned. Some of them i even enjoyed and plan to go back to at some point!