Games Beaten 2016

[ElkinFencer10]

Just finished Muramasa: The Demon Blade on Wii. That was a fantastic game. I might have to pick up the Vita remaster when it gets cheaper.

[Xeogred]

I actually think Devil May Cry is harder than Devil May Cry 3. Got the platinum for 3, hehe.

[ElkinFencer10]

I actually think Devil May Cry is harder than Devil May Cry 3. Got the platinum for 3, hehe.

The original DMC or Teen Angst Simulator 2013 (the remake)? I haven't played the remake, but I thought the original game was - while not easy, per se - not particularly difficult aside from one or two challenging bosses.

[Sarge]

1) Bonk's Adventure (NES)
2) Little Samson
3) Holy Diver
4) Holy Diver (legit!)
5) Mitsume Ga Tooru
6) TMNT II: The Arcade Game (NES) (repeat)
7) Mighty Final Fight (repeat)
8] Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (repeat)
9) Monster In My Pocket (repeat)
10) Battle of Olympus
11) Gunstar Heroes (repeat)
12) Dragon Age: Inquisition
13) Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser
14) Captain America and the Avengers (NES)

Well, I finished DA:I. Fun game, ended up sinking 76 hours (plus a bit more, that's just the last save time) into it. Rolled with a mage for the first time. It was a bit different experience, since I've been happy to run up and stab things mercilessly. First game I was a dual-wield Warrior. Second game I was a dual-wield rogue (yes, dual-wielding is awesome). This time, I went with the Knight-Enchanter specialization, which has actually been nerfed since release. It forces you to actually mix up your attacks instead of spamming your spirit sword. The rest of my build was an ice mage. Most of my technique revolved around Snowstorm + Winter's Grasp with the damage modifier against frozen enemies. Worked pretty well. Made sure I had the barrier deal going, so I was effectively invincible as long as I kept dealing damage. Tanky mages are nice!

The Trespasser expansion was a'ight. It was good in that a lot of questions were answered that the main game left unresolved, and it also sets up for the sequel. Of course it's not done! It didn't last terribly long (around eight hours), so I don't think it would justify the $15 price tag, but as part of the package, I was happy enough with it.

Lastly, since someone else brought it up, Captain America and the Avengers. I can't believe I'd never beaten the game. It's... very uneven. I went about halfway in, and just hit a brick wall. Started over, and just farmed the first stage until I had Cap and Hawkeye at their full power level. That helped, but by the end, you're still getting crushed. The last boss is pretty rough until you get the pattern. I'm pretty sure I could do it without save states now, but I definitely used them until I got that fight down. It's definitely an above-average game, but the repetitiveness and difficulty drag it down. Probably 6/10 or 7/10 territory. But for some reason I still love how it plays.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Just finished Muramasa: The Demon Blade on Wii. That was a fantastic game. I might have to pick up the Vita remaster when it gets cheaper.

I just finished it on Vita myself!

I kind of soured on the game by the final act. It's not bad certainly but I thought it was a bit too repetitive and the blades didn't have the variety of cool effects I would have hoped. That said I ended up taking a ton of screenshots and really enjoyed both the music and art tremendously. I don't know how the Wii version looks but the Vita version really is tremendous - and has a bunch of DLC too if that interests you.

[BoringSupreez]

Fallout: New Vegas (+ Old World Blues)
I've played Fallout 1, 2, and a bit of 3, and I didn't have as much fun with any of them as I did with New Vegas. The game world is excellently constructed, there's so much to do besides the main quest (that nonetheless ties into the main quest), and everything contributes towards the overall setting of the game. I'll definitely be replaying this one, probably with some mods. I sided with NCR for the end game, so I've got some other factions to play around with.

The DLC, or at least the one I played, seemed garbage. Looking at reviews online for New Vegas DLC, it would seem OWB was the best-received of the bunch. Given that I didn't enjoy OWB I stayed away from the others. Not too big a loss, the base game is pretty long. I sunk about 60 hours into my initial playthrough, 8-10 of which were from OWB.

[MrPopo]

Well, I finished DA:I. Fun game, ended up sinking 76 hours (plus a bit more, that's just the last save time) into it. Rolled with a mage for the first time. It was a bit different experience, since I've been happy to run up and stab things mercilessly. First game I was a dual-wield Warrior. Second game I was a dual-wield rogue (yes, dual-wielding is awesome). This time, I went with the Knight-Enchanter specialization, which has actually been nerfed since release. It forces you to actually mix up your attacks instead of spamming your spirit sword. The rest of my build was an ice mage. Most of my technique revolved around Snowstorm + Winter's Grasp with the damage modifier against frozen enemies. Worked pretty well. Made sure I had the barrier deal going, so I was effectively invincible as long as I kept dealing damage. Tanky mages are nice!

I actually took the same route as you; 2H warrior in DA:O, 2H rogue in DA2, Knight-Enchanter in DA:I. But since I played it on release I got to enjoy that hilariously OP spirit sword. My first dragon my party got wiped when the dragon only lost 1/4 health and I thought "well, I'm screwed, let's see how far I can take this solo" and then some time later the dragon was dead and I couldn't believe it.

Did you ever play the Witch Hunt DLC or the Legacy DLC from the previous games? If you did, how would you say Trespasser compares to them?

[ExedExes]

1. Flag to Flag - Dreamcast (January 12)
2. *NEW* The Battle of Olympus - NES (January 18)

I said it was coming and now it's here. But, not before another RB'er beat it before me. This game doesn't get a lot of discussion, and I thought I'd be able to bring it to you. So let me take what they said and expound upon it.

So, I've wanted to finish Battle of Olympus for years. And now I finally have. It's good, but it's not really anywhere near as good as Zelda II. For my money, of the Zelda II-styled triumvirate of it, Battle of Olympus, and Faxanadu, it's probably close to Faxanadu, but I think I prefer it as well. Although it's been years since I actually finished Faxanadu, so it could just be nostalgia talking.

Anyway, it's clear that BoO was heavily inspired by Zelda II, right down to the physics. And taking from that DNA makes it a pretty solid game, even if the maps get a bit confusing, and some of the dungeons (hello, Crete) are ridiculously complicated. It's pretty obtuse overall, and as someone else mentioned before, it's prone to huge difficulty spikes and also has several spots where you have to grind for money.

I'm glad I played it, but it will still be Zelda II that's first on the docket when I replay these games.

Oh, right, there is a great interview/article that Jeremy Parish did on the game, I highly recommend it.

I too had a strange fascination with this game. There was actually a commercial for it, and Nintendo Power gave it a fair amount of coverage in the day.

Many people will write it off as Zelda II in ancient Greece, and some claim it to be a Metroidvania. Not too far off!

Heck, even the final boss battle, I was saying, "OK ZELDA II!"

It's difficult, it's got confusing levels (fire the guy who designed Peloponnesus, Crete, and Phrygia!), it makes you grind for exorbitant amounts of money for no good reason (what does a god need with olives anyway?), there's cheap hits and deaths abound, but for some odd reason, I can say I enjoyed every minute of it. This is a true highlight in my NES gaming.

I will also recommend the interview linked above. Infinity was a developer that nobody probably ever heard of except for this game.

[Exhuminator]

Infinity was a developer that nobody probably ever heard of except for this game.

Their most successful game in the west was probably their SNES port of Bullfrog's Populous which they did for Acclaim.

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Concerning this thread, I think it would be interesting if people would post an idea of how long it took them to beat games they submit here. Approximations are fine. It's just good to have an idea of how long a game takes to finish, if you are trying to decide to invest in playing it. I will start adding my HLTB times to my submissions here. I know a few of you already do this; I'm talking broadly and in general here.

[dsheinem]

Concerning this thread, I think it would be interesting if people would post an idea of how long it took them to beat games they submit here. Approximations are fine. It's just good to have an idea of how long a game takes to finish, if you are trying to decide to invest in playing it. I will start adding my HLTB times to my submissions here. I know a few of you already do this; I'm talking broadly and in general here.

Are you familiar with http://howlongtobeat.com/ ?

It is far and away the most useful website for planning my gaming time...