Games Beaten 2015

Anything that is gaming related that doesn't fit well anywhere else
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Ack
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by Ack »

MrPopo wrote:Glad to see you enjoyed it. I agree that Dark Forces is much better from a gunplay perspective, and if that's what you're looking for then go for Dark Forces. The whole point of Jedi Outcast is to run around like a badass Jedi and sword motherfuckers. Jedi Outcast does a lot better job of things than Jedi Knight does, especially by removing all those enemies that explode when they die and all the damn landmines. And I agree that Jedi Outcast's gunplay is particularly bad; I almost feel like it might have been intentional because they saw people stick to guns a lot in Jedi Knight and wanted to encourage you to use the lightsaber and powers.

I know you've got Jedi Academy lined up in the future; that game skips the opening gunplay parts and has you start off with your lightsaber. I consider it the better game than Outcast because of the gameplay focus shown. I'll be interested to see how you feel about the changes (and which saber upgrade you go with).


Actually, Jedi Outcast had several enemies that explode upon dying, such as the Grans(who occasionally drop thermal detonators at their feet upon death) and the mini-mechs. I noticed about midway through that these explosions caused damage, though not at such a rate as to make it worth using guns over the lightsaber.

Now in terms of the force powers and lightsaber combat, Jedi Outcast is in my opinion better than Dark Forces II in ever way. But I would agree that the gunplay is far worse and like your theory that it was made intentionally so to highlight the Jedi aspect. Which is a shame to me, as I always enjoyed the bounty hunters and blasters approach to Star Wars. But Oucast excels at making the Jedi experience fun to play, so I won't knock it too much.

I will give Jedi Academy a spin soon, though I may go play something else for a bit to keep things from growing stale.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by MrPopo »

First 50:

51. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - PC
52. Starflight - PC
53. Skies of Arcadia - Dreamcast

Finished the current Together RPG game. Took me approximately 35 hours, which is under what most people were saying it'd take. I didn't do most of the discoveries, though, and those could have certainly added a lot of time.

Skies is a throwback RPG to the good old days before FF VIII angsted all over the place and one of the few RPGs on the Dreamcast (and later Gamecube, though the GC did have a larger RPG library). Overall I'd say it's a good but flawed game (though I hear some of those flaws are corrected in the GC release).

The setting is phenomenal, and they really do a good job of sticking to it and fleshing it out. It makes for a different feel from pretty much every other RPG, as the dynamic of people living in a world where everything is floating islands affects how people see life, and you can see that in everything. It's definitely a breath of fresh air compared to most RPGs. It also gives us the ship battles, which are the first mixed thing in the game.

Now, conceptually I love the ship battles. It's a different battle system that rewards planning and taking opportunities when they come. The problem is that until the final two ship battles, for the most part things are stacked in such a way as to make them more puzzle fights. You do the right combination of avoiding damage and plinking away until you get to use your doom cannon and win. The final two battles, however, have a more consistent level of threat and a general lack of safe time, so now you have to really work at exploiting all the things the game gives you. If only the rest of the battles were more like that.

The general battle system is only ok. There's so neat touches like the characters not acting swinging swords at each other (as might happen in an actual fight as opposed to a video game representation), but then there's a bunch of things that drag it down. The first is that magic is for the most part worthless due to the SP system. SP is a resource that generates at the start of your turn (and there's a maximum amount you can have in case of carry over) and is used to power Super Moves and Magic. Magic also costs 1 MP per cast, which is incredibly nominal once you're past the opening of the game. The problem is that Super Moves are highly damaging or have really great defensive effects, while Magic is about the same power level as regular attacks. Healing magic is useful at the start, but there are items that can duplicate the effects of every healing spell and the two useful buffs (at low low prices), so around midgame you start using Magic only for out of battle healing. Another thing that's quite annoying is that enemies CAN use Magic effectively, and many of them can spam some nasty status effects like Stone or Death on you. There's also a bunch of enemies that have just way too much health, leading fights to drag on. The game just doesn't do enough that's interesting to make up for the stuff that's annoying in its battle system.

Still, I had fun with the game. I think Grandia II beats it in terms of DC RPGs but it's a pretty close race.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

1. Cut the Rope (3DS)
2. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
3. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX)
4. Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS)
5. Super Mario 3D World (WIIU)
6. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
7. Kirby Triple Deluxe (3DS)
8. Gunman Clive (3DS)
9. Child of Light (WIIU)
10. Gunman Clive 2 (3DS)
11. Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition (WIIU)
12. Shifting World (3DS)
13. VVVVVV (3DS)
14. Mega Man 9 (PS3)
15. Mighty Switch Force 2 (WIIU)
16. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (PS3)
17. Castle Crashers (PS3)
18. Pushmo (3DS)
19. Steamworld Dig (3DS)
20. The Unfinished Swan (PS3)
21. Blaster Master (NES)
22. Samurai Shodown II (NEOGEO/PS2)
23. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (2600)
24. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
25. Shining Force II (GEN)
26. Rayman Legends (WIIU)
27. Gorf (ARCADE)
28. Fairune (3DS)
29. Mighty Gunvolt (3DS)
30. Ikachan (3DS)
31. Block Boy! (3DS)
32. Legend of the Dark Witch (3DS)
33. R-Type Delta (PS1)
34. Half-Life (PS2)
35. Soul of Darkness (3DS)

Soul of Darkess is an interesting game. It is a shameless Castlevania knock-off, developed by Gameloft - a developer with a less-than-stellar reputation - for cell-phones (not smart-phones...cell phones...). It was later ported to the Nintendo DS as a DSiWare title. The game's short length (and its "stock" sound effects) reveal its origins as a cellphone game, but, amazingly,the game's graphics rival those of Konami's Castlveania games. Moreover, the game controls very well; it has a catchy soundtrack; it has some interesting puzzles; and it has three very fun boss fights (one of which involves well-implemented QTEs(!) and another of which is harder than anything in any of Konami's recent 2D Castlevania games). Accordingly, I actually enjoyed playing the game quite a bit, and, at least temporarily, it satisfied my desire for another 2D Castlevania game (something Konami has made clear that it will not be doing anytime soon).

Anyone interested in the game should be warned, however, that it is incredibly short, and since there is almost no penalty for death, it can be beaten very, very quickly. Accordingly, I am not sure the game justifies its $4.99 price tag, but it is fun for anyone who really wants to play a "new" Castlevania game. (I also like to think of it as a spiritual successor to notorious Game Gear Castlevania knock-off Master of Darkness, and I may have to play through that game soon just to say that I have been through all of the games in the series.)
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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

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Final Fantasy II(NA) on the SNES

Okay, I have beaten it several times before, but I tried something differently.

I started up the game at 1:30PM and beat the game a little before 7:00AM.

I never turned the game off. I never stopped playing except for little breaks. And my party never wiped.

Beat the game in one sitting in about 15:50.
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BoneSnapDeez
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by BoneSnapDeez »

Whoa. That's impressive. I have yet to beat the NA version of the game.
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laurenhiya21
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by laurenhiya21 »

1/10: Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP (Steam)
1/10: Rusty's Real Deal Baseball: Bat & Switch (3DS DL)
1/11: Time Fcuk (Steam)
1/11: Coil (Steam)
1/17: Portal 2 (Steam)
1/31: Tales of Xillia (PS3) (re-beat 3/31)
2/12: Tokyo Jungle (PSN)
2/22: LoZ: Four Swords Anniversary Edition (3DS DL)
4/25: Stanley Parable (Steam)
4/28: BattleBlock Theatre (Steam)
5/3: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
5/9: Excite Truck (Wii)
5/14: Elebits (Wii)
5/26: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS)
6/9: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSN)
6/11: Tappingo (3DS DL)
6/15: Galaga Legions DX (PSN)
6/22: Eversion (Steam)
6/25: Hatoful Boyfriend (GOG)
6/30: Silent Hill (PS1)
7/1: SteamWorld Dig (Steam)
7/12: Cook, Serve, Delicious! (Steam)
7/13: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni - Ch.1 Onikakushi (Steam)
7/14: Retro/Grade (Steam)
8/12: Onechanbara Z2: Chaos (PS4)
8/15: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Steam)

Total: 26 games

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos
It's fairly repetitive, short, bit buggy, and the graphics aren't really that great but I really enjoyed this hack n slash. It just makes slashing super satisfying while not really taking it self seriously with the bit silly story & characters. There's also a lot more depth to the combat than I thought there would be, as the four playable ladies combat styles are very different from each other and there's a lot of different moves you can do.

Honestly I'm really glad paying full price despite the short length because of how much fun I had with this :)

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with this game... On one hand, it's gorgeous to look at, it's story is simple but still manages to be a bit of a tear jerker, and I like how the developers did something different with the controls. On the other hand, the controls tended to really cramp up my hands at times.

You control the older brother with the left stick, the younger brother with the right, and their actions with the left and right triggers respectively. This is fine for me until you have to hold both triggers and control both brothers at the same time, which really hurts my wrists. I nearly stopped playing because of this, but then something a little more interesting happened so I put up with it until the end.

I haven't heard a lot of complaints about that, so it could be just me, but it really did hurt my opinion of the game unfortunately.
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Erik_Twice
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by Erik_Twice »

I really can't remember what other games I've beaten this year and searching this thread is impossible but I have a new addition to the list: Theme Hospital!

1) Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (SNES, 1996)
2) Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword (GBA, 2003)
3) F-Zero (SNES, 1990)
4) Magical Drop II (Arcade, 1996)
5) Theme Hospital (PC, 1997)

Theme Hospital is simple yet challenging. I really did not expect it to be very good, I expected it to be yet another economic snowball game and I was very surprised to see it isn't.

The hospital must constantly change in shape to accomodate ever-increasing numbers of patients and failure to do so leads to either epidemics or death spiral of ever-reducing income as fewer and fewer of the incoming patients can actually be treated. It's a very well-made game, it only has two or three aspects (Layout, Research, Staff) to it but every one of them is inherently hard to judge so it's very fun. And the satire of for-profit healthcare never gets old :lol:

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Markies
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

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BoneSnapDeez wrote:Whoa. That's impressive. I have yet to beat the NA version of the game.


While I was playing it, I came to the realization that Final Fantasy IV(JPN) and Final Fantasy II(NA) are almost too separate games.

The way they simplified the item system, curved the difficulty/grind and made enemies so much easier. In IV, you need to be close to Level 80 to beat Zeromus. In II, you could do it in your 40s or 50s.

It's so much easier and I really enjoyed the experience once again. The game is basically 'Cecil and his Mages' as you are using Magic all game long. But, for a simple game that is great for beginners, it's not bad. Should have spent a bit longer in the translation department, but that brought out some of its charm.
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Damm64
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

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1- Heavenly Sword (Ps3)
2- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3)
3- Sonic Generations (Ps3)
4- Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
5- Legend of Zelda: Link between worlds (3DS)
6- Castlevania: Mirror of Fate (3DS)
7- Pokemón Crystal (GBC)
8- Pokemón Fire Red (GBA)
9- Pokémon Y (3DS)*
10- Duke Nukem Forever (PS3)
11- New Super Mario Bros (DS)
12- Dishonored (PS3)
13- Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
14- House of the dead overkill (Ps3)
15- The Evil Within (PS3)
16- Portal 2 (PS3)
17- Ratchet & Clank (PS3)
18- Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS3)
19- Adventure Time: Hey Ice king why did you steal our garbage? (3DS)
20- Ratchet & Clank: Up your Arsenal (PS3)

I been playing each game for the last week in sitting of 5 hours at least... this games are cool. Each title improves from the other, by the third game they give you new control choices, a new reticle and automatic strafing for third person shooting, the first person is already avaible from the start and the "normal" classic press R2/L2 to strafe (i played this way since it felt more natural to me). The new improves also includes more "level ups" for your weapons (they get stronger the more you use them) they have 5 levels and in NG+ you get the MEGA version of the weapons.

I really like how they reward you for playing the early game, if you played the firts they give you the classic skin to play and a 10% discount on some weapons, if you played the second game you get free weapons (you had to buy those weapons on the second for them to be free) so its great to use my favorite weapons on each game.

The only issue i could consider is that all games suffer from bullet sponge enemies at the late part of the game, so you end up using two or three super power weapons with limited ammo since the rest of your arsenal barely does any damage. Besides that and just a few camera issues i like these games, it a fresh change from the current games where they stop every two minutes to tell you that you can jump with X and they wont allow to continue until you jump.

I need to get a component cable for the PS2 to play the rest of the games on the HDTV now.
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Luke
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

Post by Luke »

MrPopo wrote:I know you've got Jedi Academy lined up in the future; that game skips the opening gunplay parts and has you start off with your lightsaber. I consider it the better game than Outcast because of the gameplay focus shown. I'll be interested to see how you feel about the changes (and which saber upgrade you go with).



Jedi Academy (PC) is one of my favorite Star Wars themed games and I'm also looking forward to reading thoughts on it. Like Outcast, you start off fairly weak but turn into a super-Jedi that can leap across tall buildings and wipe out dozens of stormtroopers with one force lightning blast. So fun.


Beat LOTR Two Towers (GC) last night, and it holds up very well. It should have been obvious from the first time I played it, but it reminds me a lot of the original Gauntlet in that you're a warrior against countless waves of enemies.

The transition from film footage to game isn't as well done as it currently has been, but it's still neat to feel like you're "playing" the movie. And since Two Towers is my favorite of the LOTR trilogy, seeing clips from the film adds some extra fun to the game.
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