Games Beaten 2016
Re: Games Beaten 2016
I wish Konami had done an arcade port of TMNT to the TurboGrafx-16. Seeing what they did with the NES version, can you imagine what a little TLC could have produced on the Turbo?
Dope Pope on a Rope
B/S/T thread
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B/S/T thread
My Classic Games Collection
My Steam Profile
The PC Engine Software Bible Forum, with Shoutbox chat - the new Internet home for PC Engine fandom.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
I imagine it would have ended up about like Hyperstone Heist, which would have been just fine. I'm still floored that the NES one ended up being the best home port.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Is MAME still the recommended arcade emulator?
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Generally, yeah. If you have speed issues with stuff that Final Burn Alpha runs, use that instead.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
First 50:
51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC
72. Rise of the Triad - PC
73. Batman Arkham Knight - PC
74. Rise of the Triad (2013) - PC
75. Dishonored 2 - PC
76. TIS-100 - PC
77. Tyranny - PC
78. StarCraft II - Nova Covert Ops - PC
79. Raiden Fighters 2 - Xbox 360
80. Pokémon Omega Ruby - 3DS
81. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - PC
82. 7th Dragon III Code VFD - 3DS
83. World of Final Fantasy - PS4
84. Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - TG-CD
So I've got bad news for Bone; this game isn't very good. It has some very deep fundamental flaws. But apparently it helped keep the lights on at Falcom, so it can't be all bad. And it does have a very awesome soundtrack.
Ys I is the start of Adol's journey into the world of bump combat. Everything moves fairly fast, so this actually keeps the action moving pretty well. And here's where the first fundamental flaw rears its head; it seems to be extremely arbitrary what happens when you and an enemy both run into each other while lined up. Generally you get in a hit, and you might get hit back, but other times the enemy just gets knocked back and does no damage to you. Now, you can avoid this by coming slightly off center (movement is grid based, where a character takes up four grid squares), but you can't always pull that off due to how fast enemies can reposition to attack you. And inside the dungeons things narrow so much that you frequently have no choice but to head to head. Oh, and one other thing that sucks; certain enemies on their first load will ALWAYS hit you back the first time you touch them, regardless of how you approach them. This is usually for initially stationary chest guardians, but there was at least one instance of mobile enemies also having this property. This is not kept when enemies respawn, but if you force a reload of the area (leave and come back, restore a save) and this property is reset.
This bump combat is also used for boss battles, which leads to some more frustration. The bosses all have extremely high attack power, so the fights generally come down to your ability to dodge their attacks until you can land hits of your own. In one instance dodging is most of the fight (fuck you vampire, fuck you and your mother). Also, during boss fights your magic rings and heal potions don't work, which sort of makes the heal potions worthless (you only need them in the beginning before you get the heal ring). And the really terrible thing is how swingy the fights are, due to the combat math.
Which brings me to the other thing that drove me crazy about the game. As far as I can tell the game uses extremely simple combat math of power - defense = damage. However, this means that a couple levels or one new piece of gear is a major power shift. At one point I was trying the mantis boss and was barely scratching him. I went back and ground up two or three levels and then I was taking out large chunks of life per hit. This ends up making for some really awful power curves that never feel truly satisfying. The only thing that really stops you from overgrinding is the fact that enemies have their experience halved if you get above a certain level (depending on the enemy), the continuing to halve as your level rises. But then they balanced this out by having bumps where the previous enemy was giving me 8 experience because I was a level too high, but the next floor gave me 33 experience (with 1000ish needed to level). They could have just as easily put a big sign that said "please grind here".
The game is extremely short. It consists of three dungeons and a couple of screens of overworld. The third dungeon is larger than the first two combined, but it's still something you can knock out in a few hours if you know what you're doing.
51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC
72. Rise of the Triad - PC
73. Batman Arkham Knight - PC
74. Rise of the Triad (2013) - PC
75. Dishonored 2 - PC
76. TIS-100 - PC
77. Tyranny - PC
78. StarCraft II - Nova Covert Ops - PC
79. Raiden Fighters 2 - Xbox 360
80. Pokémon Omega Ruby - 3DS
81. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - PC
82. 7th Dragon III Code VFD - 3DS
83. World of Final Fantasy - PS4
84. Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - TG-CD
So I've got bad news for Bone; this game isn't very good. It has some very deep fundamental flaws. But apparently it helped keep the lights on at Falcom, so it can't be all bad. And it does have a very awesome soundtrack.
Ys I is the start of Adol's journey into the world of bump combat. Everything moves fairly fast, so this actually keeps the action moving pretty well. And here's where the first fundamental flaw rears its head; it seems to be extremely arbitrary what happens when you and an enemy both run into each other while lined up. Generally you get in a hit, and you might get hit back, but other times the enemy just gets knocked back and does no damage to you. Now, you can avoid this by coming slightly off center (movement is grid based, where a character takes up four grid squares), but you can't always pull that off due to how fast enemies can reposition to attack you. And inside the dungeons things narrow so much that you frequently have no choice but to head to head. Oh, and one other thing that sucks; certain enemies on their first load will ALWAYS hit you back the first time you touch them, regardless of how you approach them. This is usually for initially stationary chest guardians, but there was at least one instance of mobile enemies also having this property. This is not kept when enemies respawn, but if you force a reload of the area (leave and come back, restore a save) and this property is reset.
This bump combat is also used for boss battles, which leads to some more frustration. The bosses all have extremely high attack power, so the fights generally come down to your ability to dodge their attacks until you can land hits of your own. In one instance dodging is most of the fight (fuck you vampire, fuck you and your mother). Also, during boss fights your magic rings and heal potions don't work, which sort of makes the heal potions worthless (you only need them in the beginning before you get the heal ring). And the really terrible thing is how swingy the fights are, due to the combat math.
Which brings me to the other thing that drove me crazy about the game. As far as I can tell the game uses extremely simple combat math of power - defense = damage. However, this means that a couple levels or one new piece of gear is a major power shift. At one point I was trying the mantis boss and was barely scratching him. I went back and ground up two or three levels and then I was taking out large chunks of life per hit. This ends up making for some really awful power curves that never feel truly satisfying. The only thing that really stops you from overgrinding is the fact that enemies have their experience halved if you get above a certain level (depending on the enemy), the continuing to halve as your level rises. But then they balanced this out by having bumps where the previous enemy was giving me 8 experience because I was a level too high, but the next floor gave me 33 experience (with 1000ish needed to level). They could have just as easily put a big sign that said "please grind here".
The game is extremely short. It consists of three dungeons and a couple of screens of overworld. The third dungeon is larger than the first two combined, but it's still something you can knock out in a few hours if you know what you're doing.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
-
Exhuminator
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- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2016
I loved Ys 1, but I beat the 1998 Windows PC "Ys Eternal" version. I've tried a few other versions of Ys 1, but I didn't care for them. My point is I think certain versions are better than others, so even if you didn't care for one you might like another.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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ElkinFencer10
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- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
- Location: Henderson, North Carolina
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
Games Beaten in 2016 So Far - 123
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
October (10 Games Beaten)
November (6 Games Beaten)
December (9 Games Beaten)
123. Shantae: Risky's Revenge - PlayStation 4 - December 21
With the release of Shantae: ½ Genie Hero on PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC this month, I'm finally getting around to playing some of the series. Since I have one of the sexy and rare Limited Run physical copies of Risky's Revenge on PS4, that's the version I decided to play through (I also have the DSiWare release downloaded on my 3DS). Having wrapped up the original a few days ago, I can say that this game improves on its predecessor in just about every way imaginable.
Risky's Revenge takes place after the events of the original game (although there's not really a grand narrative or lore one must know). Risky Boots, the nefarious pirate queen, is butthurt after Shantae beat her in the last game, so she steals some mysterious oil lamp as part of her plot for revenge, hence the game's title. The game is an action platformer like the original, and you're tasked with finding and collecting three magic seals before Risky can get her hands on them. These magic seals unlock the power of the oil lamp; obviously, getting these before Risky can will put a pretty big dent in her plans.
Even when playing on Playstation 4, it's important to keep in mind that this is just a port of a DSiWare game. It's got certain enhancements, and the dialogue scenes obviously look quite good, but you're still in for a relatively pixelated game. That is by no means a bad thing - the game looks fantastic for the DSi - but don't expect a full HD rework beyond upscaling. The one gripe I do have with the visuals, however, is the aspect ratio. While it's not technically locked into 4:3 - you have the option of 4:3 with borders (seen above), 4:3 with just black borders, or 16:9, the 16:9 option just stretches the 4:3 screen, making it look warped and awkward. You get used to it in 4:3 after a while, but when you've become accustomed to playing games on a 16:9 screen, 4:3 can get irksome for some.
Like the original game, you've got different forms you can take based on your magic belly dances. The monkey and elephant return from the original game plus a new mermaid form (no spider or harpy, though, I'm afraid). In addition to the forms themselves, there is a power-up for each form - the Monkey Bullet, allowing you to shoot through the air as a monkey when hanging on the wall; the Elephant Stomp, doing exactly what it sounds like; and the Mermaid Bubble, letting you fire a bizarrely distructive bubble through the water in front of you as a mermaid. All three forms as well as all three power-ups are needed to get through the game's various challenges, and if you want to acquire all 34 collectibles throughout the game, you'll need to go back and re-explore most of your previously visited areas once finding all three power-ups.
One of the things I said about the original game is how damn technically impressive it was for the Gameboy Color. The sound design was phenomenal, the colors just popped off the screen, and the animations looked like they really shouldn't have been possible on such primitive hardware. While Risky's Revenge doesn't quite "wow" for the DSi the way that Shantae did for the Gameboy Color, it did improve in every single area. Colors remain exceptionally vibrant, the music is still just as charming, and the animation is still smooth and fluid. The humor in the writing still gets a good smile and chuckle out of me. Where the game most improves over its predecessor, however, is in the are of controls. The first game, while charming and technically impressive, had very hit-or-miss feeling controls. That's not the case with Risky's Revenge. The combat hit detection still isn't flawless in my opinion, and there are several platforming sections where the inability to see very far below you led to several irritating deaths, but the improvement in overall controls is still night and day. I had to force myself to finish the original despite my love of the character and visuals; while a little frustrating in a couple places, at no point did Risky's Revenge ever begin to feel like a chore.
Risky's Revenge is exactly what a sequel should be - it improves on the original in every way while retaining the core gameplay that made fans appreciate the previous game. The character of Shantae is delightfully charming, and the gameplay finally feels polished enough to be more fun than frustrating. Couple that with the pleasant music, the clever level design, and the cute dialogue, and you've got a winning combination here regardless of whether you're playing on DSi, Playstation 4, or Wii U.
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (8 Games Beaten)
March (8 Games Beaten)
April (13 Games Beaten)
May (6 Games Beaten)
June (13 Games Beaten)
July (7 Games Beaten)
August (15 Games Beaten)
September (8 Games Beaten)
October (10 Games Beaten)
November (6 Games Beaten)
December (9 Games Beaten)
123. Shantae: Risky's Revenge - PlayStation 4 - December 21
With the release of Shantae: ½ Genie Hero on PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC this month, I'm finally getting around to playing some of the series. Since I have one of the sexy and rare Limited Run physical copies of Risky's Revenge on PS4, that's the version I decided to play through (I also have the DSiWare release downloaded on my 3DS). Having wrapped up the original a few days ago, I can say that this game improves on its predecessor in just about every way imaginable.
Risky's Revenge takes place after the events of the original game (although there's not really a grand narrative or lore one must know). Risky Boots, the nefarious pirate queen, is butthurt after Shantae beat her in the last game, so she steals some mysterious oil lamp as part of her plot for revenge, hence the game's title. The game is an action platformer like the original, and you're tasked with finding and collecting three magic seals before Risky can get her hands on them. These magic seals unlock the power of the oil lamp; obviously, getting these before Risky can will put a pretty big dent in her plans.
Even when playing on Playstation 4, it's important to keep in mind that this is just a port of a DSiWare game. It's got certain enhancements, and the dialogue scenes obviously look quite good, but you're still in for a relatively pixelated game. That is by no means a bad thing - the game looks fantastic for the DSi - but don't expect a full HD rework beyond upscaling. The one gripe I do have with the visuals, however, is the aspect ratio. While it's not technically locked into 4:3 - you have the option of 4:3 with borders (seen above), 4:3 with just black borders, or 16:9, the 16:9 option just stretches the 4:3 screen, making it look warped and awkward. You get used to it in 4:3 after a while, but when you've become accustomed to playing games on a 16:9 screen, 4:3 can get irksome for some.
Like the original game, you've got different forms you can take based on your magic belly dances. The monkey and elephant return from the original game plus a new mermaid form (no spider or harpy, though, I'm afraid). In addition to the forms themselves, there is a power-up for each form - the Monkey Bullet, allowing you to shoot through the air as a monkey when hanging on the wall; the Elephant Stomp, doing exactly what it sounds like; and the Mermaid Bubble, letting you fire a bizarrely distructive bubble through the water in front of you as a mermaid. All three forms as well as all three power-ups are needed to get through the game's various challenges, and if you want to acquire all 34 collectibles throughout the game, you'll need to go back and re-explore most of your previously visited areas once finding all three power-ups.
One of the things I said about the original game is how damn technically impressive it was for the Gameboy Color. The sound design was phenomenal, the colors just popped off the screen, and the animations looked like they really shouldn't have been possible on such primitive hardware. While Risky's Revenge doesn't quite "wow" for the DSi the way that Shantae did for the Gameboy Color, it did improve in every single area. Colors remain exceptionally vibrant, the music is still just as charming, and the animation is still smooth and fluid. The humor in the writing still gets a good smile and chuckle out of me. Where the game most improves over its predecessor, however, is in the are of controls. The first game, while charming and technically impressive, had very hit-or-miss feeling controls. That's not the case with Risky's Revenge. The combat hit detection still isn't flawless in my opinion, and there are several platforming sections where the inability to see very far below you led to several irritating deaths, but the improvement in overall controls is still night and day. I had to force myself to finish the original despite my love of the character and visuals; while a little frustrating in a couple places, at no point did Risky's Revenge ever begin to feel like a chore.
Risky's Revenge is exactly what a sequel should be - it improves on the original in every way while retaining the core gameplay that made fans appreciate the previous game. The character of Shantae is delightfully charming, and the gameplay finally feels polished enough to be more fun than frustrating. Couple that with the pleasant music, the clever level design, and the cute dialogue, and you've got a winning combination here regardless of whether you're playing on DSi, Playstation 4, or Wii U.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
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prfsnl_gmr
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- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Risky's Revenge is good, but Pirate's Curse is going to make your head explode.
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ElkinFencer10
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- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
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Re: Games Beaten 2016
prfsnl_gmr wrote:Risky's Revenge is good, but Pirate's Curse is going to make your head explode.
I'm excited. I'm debating whether I should play the 3DS copy I have or play the PS4 Limited Run copy I have.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.
Re: Games Beaten 2016
Risky's Revenge is a lot like the Monster World games, whereas Pirate's Curse goes more full-on Metroidvania. It's good stuff for sure.