Games Beaten 2016

[PartridgeSenpai]

So, was I the only one that felt like Yoshi was stuck in quicksand for that game? The physics are just off, at least when starting and stopping.

I felt like the jumping was a bit off, like there was just the tiniest delay between when I push the button and when Yoshi actually jumped. Either that or I very suddenly got much worse at platformers.

I made an effort to do the quickest possible win in Super Mario World (11 stages or whatever) to help the resale store test a controller, but I did it in the midst of playing New SMB U at home. I gotta say, I was pretty depressingly lousy going between engines, so it could just be you're more used to Wooly World's physics.

[ElkinFencer10]

So, was I the only one that felt like Yoshi was stuck in quicksand for that game? The physics are just off, at least when starting and stopping.

I felt like the jumping was a bit off, like there was just the tiniest delay between when I push the button and when Yoshi actually jumped. Either that or I very suddenly got much worse at platformers.

I made an effort to do the quickest possible win in Super Mario World (11 stages or whatever) to help the resale store test a controller, but I did it in the midst of playing New SMB U at home. I gotta say, I was pretty depressingly lousy going between engines, so it could just be you're more used to Wooly World's physics.

That's entirely possible if not likely. The Wii U does have a lot more horsepower under the hood than the 3DS. Also, Good-Feel (Woolly World's developer) proved its abilities with Kirby's Epic Yarn whereas Arzest (New Island's developer) seems to have done little more than minigame and mobile phone development, so it seems likely that there was less talent and experience on New Island's team.

[MrPopo]

1. Oni - PC
2. Donkey Kong 64 - N64
3. Yoshi's Story - N64
4. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide - PC
5. Forsaken 64 - N64
6. Bloodrayne: Betrayal - PSN
7. Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu - SNES
8. Fire Emblem Shin Monshō no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyū - Nintendo DS
9. Valkyria Chronicles 3 - PSP
10. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - DC
11. Rise of the Tomb Raider - PC
12. XCOM 2 - PC
13. Shadowrun Hong Kong Bonus Campaign - PC
14. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3DS
15. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 3DS
16. Lagrange Point - NES
17. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelations - 3DS
18. Cybernator - SNES
19. Outwars - PC
20. Resident Evil - GC
21. Resident Evil 2 - GC
22. Resident Evil 3 - GC
23. Resident Evil Code Veronica X - GC

And that's the last of the classic RE games I own. Too bad I ended on the weakest entry.

In several ways CVX feels like a step back compared to RE3. While you retain the faster move/turn speed and the 180 degree turn from RE3 you're back to having to confirm to move up and down stairs and you have to confirm when you combine herbs. They also nerfed the shotgun extremely hard; several times it took me 4-5 shots to kill a single zombie. The only saving grace there is it does good AOE damage and the point blank damage ramps up fast enough that it's still good against hunters. Unless the hunters feel like slightly crouching to destroy your shins and dodge any shots not aimed down. At least they added in the feature that healing items will prompt you to use them if you try to pick them up when your inventory is full.

The most major change in the game is the move to full 3D environments. This ends up being mixed. Since it's full 3D they can have a floating camera and sometimes they use it really well, like when you're moving down a long corridor (smooth pan vs. jump cuts) or through a U-shaped room. But then other times they still stuck with fixed camera angles with jump cuts, which was jarring. And many rooms had these spots where if you walked into them the camera would slew around like crazy. It definitely feels like they haven't really figured out how to work the camera or tailor the maps around it. It's telling that they just go for over the shoulder with future RE games.

But the thing that really drags the game down is the terrible flow to the map design. While all RE games have backtracking this game takes it to a gratuitous degree. Many times I'd go to one corner of the explorable area to get a progression item that I use in the complete opposite corner to unlock a second progression item that I use back at the first spot. Previous games had a much better sense of how much backtracking to do at a time. Additionally, the game reuses the environments a bunch when Chris arrives. They get remixed due to events that happen when Claire first goes through so it isn't just copy and paste, but it still feels very lazy.

Oh, and fuck Steve Burnside. Alfred drove me crazy but he's a villain and is supposed to. I think Steve is supposed to be a sympathetic character but I kept wanting to punch him in the throat. This is the most story heavy of the classic RE games (in terms of cutscenes) and it is NOT for the better. They also dialed back the flavor documents in favor of the cutscenes and it lessens the overall experience. Most of the documents are now explicitly used for puzzles.

Oh, final thing that was a terrible design decision; the two boss fights that rely on first person perspective weapons with a slow analog speed against an erratically moving boss. The first is the final boss that Claire fights and the second is the final boss of the game (when you get your instant kill weapon, now you have to aim the thing in first person mode). It's just all kinds of terrible and frustrating. I had to redo Claire's boss four times before I could consistently hit the weak spot and the final boss took me many shot attempts. Fortunately the final boss doesn't really do damage at that point, but it does break you out of first person and just makes it an exercise in frustration. Especially since the boss moves fast and your shots move slow and have a delay between hitting the trigger and them coming out.

[alienjesus]

[quote="alienjesus"]More updates for all to enjoy!

1. Ys Book II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter PSN Vita
2. 3D Streets of Rage 2 3DS eShop
3. 3D Gunstar Heroes 3DS eShop
4. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 3DS eShop
5. 3D OutRun 3DS eShop
6. Mugen Senshi Valis II: The Fantasm Soldier PCE CD
7. Mugen Senshi Valis III: The Fantasm Soldier PCE CD
8. Bomberman PCE CD
9. Rocket Knight Adventures Mega Drive
10. Trax Game Boy
11. Panic Bomber Virtual Boy
12. Arcana Heart 3: Love MAX!!!!! Vita
13. Super Monkey Ball Gamecube
14. Lost Kingdoms Gamecube
15. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Gamecube
16. 1080° Avalanche Gamecube
17. Bubble Ghost Game Boy
18. Catrap Game Boy
19. 3D Thunder Blade 3DS eShop
20. 3D AfterBurner II 3DS eShop
21. 3D Fantasy Zone II W: The Tears of Opa-Opa 3DS eShop
22. Ikaruga Gamecube
23. Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library & The Monster Seal Vita
24. New Adventure Island PCE *NEW*
25. WarioWare Twisted! GBA
26. Dragon Warrior NES *NEW*
27. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D 3DS eShop *NEW*

Dragon Warrior


Dragon Warrior is quite an experience. Whether I would say it is a positive one is up for debate.

Dragon Warrior is an old-school JRPG of a particularly grindy variety. It built the foundation for many of the JRPGs to follow, such as Final Fantasy and Mother, and from my understanding pretty much started a national obsession with the genre in Japan.

Clearly the Japanese populous are much more patient than I am

There is plenty to like about Dragon Warrior. The art is simple but charming, I love the localisation (But thou must!) and the open ended nature of the game could even be said to be a predecessor to the likes of Zelda. In fact, compared to most later JRPGs, Dragon Warrior gives little direction, doesn't railroad you in a certain direction and in fact gives you very little information on what you should actually be doing.

What you should be doing is grinding. A lot.

Dragon Warrior's opening act involves grinding for about 1-2 hours until you hit level 4 and can move 20-30 squares north and grind on slightly tougher enemies for an hour. Then you move west and grind on even tougher enemies (buy new equipment as you go) before going south and fighting even tougher enemies. The whole process before you can start making a meaningful impact on the world takes about 4 hours. But you know what? I didn't find myself minding too much. I had similar experiences with Ys and Phantasy Star. You grind for ages early on, but then the game pacing speeds up and you have fun. This happened with Dragon Warrior too, at least for a while.

After a slow start, the middle of Dragon Warrior is a blast. You explore caves, get great equipment, find magic keys, explore graves, rescue a princess and more. Basically everything there is to do in the game can be done at this point. Towards the mid-late game you can find the best armour, and if you're brave, get the best sword and visit the final town too. I did this all between levels 8-13.

And then the end game happens. This is where I lost the love I had for Dragon Warrior. The only thing left to do was head south to the final town, buy a shield and then take on the final boss. At level 13 I had about 8000 exp. To take on the final boss I needed to be level 20, requiring about 28000. The final 3rd of the game is literally just grinding for TRIPLE the experience points of the game up tp that point. And bear in mind that this is an extra 20000 exp, 30 exp at a time. It takes forever. It's unbearable. Frankly, by the time it was done it was with a sense of relief rather than joy with which I watch the credits roll.

If Dragon Warrior ended 5 hours earlier than it did, I would have called it a good game. As it is though, the fun of playing the game was sucked away completely in the final few sessions I had playing it. Dragon Warrior is an interesting curio, but as a fun experience it would only satisfy those with the most boring of existences. Tax inspectors or something. I'd recommend people avoid it.


The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D


The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for the N64 is a game I adore, but which I've actually only finished once before. Whilst I'm super familiar with a lot of the sidequests, I'm not so intimate with the dungeon layouts. So even though I've played through before, it managed to still feel fairly new to me when I played through this 3D remake.

I absolutely love the atmosphere of Majora's Mask. The off kilter camera angles and animations, brooding soundtrack and sinister area designs give it a feel that no other Zelda game before or after has been able to match. It's a truly magnificent experience.

The world building of Majora is just made even better by it's focus on the lives of the people who live in it - seeing people go about their lives, solving the issues they're having and finding all manner of hidden things makes it a joy to experience. For example, there is a conversation between Anju and her mother in the inn that you can hear only if you've completed the Kafei and Anju sidequest up to the point where you deliver the pendant, managed to claim the room at the inn on the first day, and happened to be in your room at 11pm at night after both of those events have been done. This extra bit of characterization was probably seen by the tiniest fraction of people who played the game, but they bothered to put it in, and that is wonderful.

On this forum, 2D Zelda seemed to be preferred, but I am a 3D Zelda guy, and Majora is one of the best in the series in my eyes. The dungeon designs take the player seriously - there's not a lot of handholding here, with some of the tougher dungeons in the series, and on a time limit to boot. In the 3D version of the game though, you can get hints if you need them, although youll need to fly all the way back to clock town to get them.

Other than this feature and the obvious improved graphics, Majoras Mask 3D offers only a few minor changes from the original - there's an extra sidequest to get an additional bottle, some heart locations moved a little, a few rooms in dungeons changed ever so slightly, and the boss fights were redesigned. At least a little. In practice, Odolwa is entirely new (and I like the new fight better), Goht is almost identical (which is good), Gyrog has 2 stages, one of which mirrors the original and one of which is new, and Twinmold is different, but has a similar concept. It's a nice experience to mix things up, but the boss fights are generally 'different-ish' as opposed to better or worse than before.

Majora's Mask is one of my all-time favourite games, and like Ocarina before it, the 3DS version is probably the best way to play the game. Everyone should too, because it's fantastic.

[Exhuminator]

I give you mad respect for finishing Dragon Quest 1 on NES in this day and age, alienjesus. I think if you'd played the GBC version of DQ1, you would have had a much better time. But still, that's pretty damn rad man.

[alienjesus]

I give you mad respect for finishing Dragon Quest 1 on NES in this day and age, alienjesus. I think if you'd played the GBC version of DQ1, you would have had a much better time. But still, that's pretty damn rad man.

If you think Dragon Warrior is rough, you should see what else is on the cards for me later this year:

[Exhuminator]

Hmm. You're in for an interesting time. I enjoy that game myself, but I've never beaten it yet after all these years.

[laurenhiya21]

1/16: Diablo III (PC)
1/19: Picross E (3DS DL)
1/23: Baroque (Wii)
2/5: LocoRoco (PSP)
3/31: Picross e2 (3DS DL)

Total: 5 games

I was staying at my mom's place for a week and since I didn't really want to start another RPG... I pretty much just played Picross ha.

It's good, but it's not that much different from Picross e. Only new additions is a medal on a catagory when you've solved all the puzzles (which actually is helpful) and a new mode called Micross. Micross has a few bigger puzzles which are then divided up into smaller puzzles. When you complete all of the small puzzles, it reveals a classic painting. It was fine solving little bits at a time like this, but most of them were very easy. I guess it's partially because I've played a lot of Picross puzzles, but many times the puzzles will also be dead simple. It's not a huge complaint or anything (they were especially good to space out some of the more difficult EXTRA puzzles), but it would of been nice if at least a few of them were challenging.

And now that I'm back, I can finally get back to some more meatier games Just too bad I don't have too much longer until school starts back up again

[ExedExes]

I give you mad respect for finishing Dragon Quest 1 on NES in this day and age, alienjesus. I think if you'd played the GBC version of DQ1, you would have had a much better time. But still, that's pretty damn rad man.

I'm proud of my DQ clear. It took me 6 months to do in 1990 (at level 21), but if I can do it, so can you!

[Stark]

1/22 Emily Is Away (PC)
1/29 Dishonored Definitive Edition (XB1)
1/31 Rise of the Tomb Raider - Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch (XB1)
2/2 Dishonored - The Knife of Dunwall (XB1)
2/8 Dishonored - The Brigmore Witches (XB1)
2/16 MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT (PC)
3/7 Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSV)
3/10 The Witness (PS4)

Games Beaten = 6
DLC = 4

3/22 Far Cry 3 (PC)

Far Cry 3 is definitely a marriage of what Far Cry 1 and 2 were in terms of "emergent gameplay" and the Ubisoft-ification craze that was really just starting when this game came out. Just like Assassin's Creed, this is an open world with tons of things to do on the map, a map that is revealed by scaling a tower and doing "something" before using a zipline to come down (eagle jump if you're playing AC.) I find I enjoy these games where I just pick and choose what I want to do, open the map and only do the side missions that hold my interest and casually work my way through the storyline. In Far Cry 3 the cast of characters is excellent, from Vaas the very intense native with his intense presence and unpredictability to the exuberant Buck, an Australian with quite the vicious streak. All the characters are very memorable and make the main story very interesting, even when it falters with the way it plays out.

I came away from the game quite smitten with it and highly recommend it.



3/22 Far Cry 3 - Monkey Business (PC)
This stars the hilarious Hurk, who is on the island for some unknown reason and going on "missions" with monkeys that have C4 strapped to them. He names them things like Snowflake or Snowflake II if the previous monkey didn't make it for reasons that are most likely, the poor thing was blown up. This DLC is 4 missions with this guy that escalate in scale until a final one in an underground Sub base. Very fun and a nice addition to the main story.