Games Beaten 2016

[Exhuminator]

Wait, what thread is this?

Debts Beaten 2016

[ExedExes]

I just payed off my credit card debt with tha tax return (I spent a shitload in home improvements last summer).

Now I can mooch money off the wife without feeling guilty.

Wait, what thread is this?

(Life) Games Beaten 2016

[flash1987]

1. Grim Dawn (PC)
2. Dragon Ball GT: Transformation. (GBA)
3. Sunset Riders (MAME)
4. Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Fightcade)
5. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows over Mystara (MAME)
6. Mystic Warriors (MAME)
7. Hero Siege (PC)
8. One Way Heroics (PC)

NEW

9. Golden Axe (MAME)
10. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (MAME)
11. Strikers 1945-3 (Android)
12. Strikers 1945-2 (Android)
13. X-COM 2 (PC)

I was waiting until I could log into the website and not just tapatalk to write up thought on these last few games but I still can't get it to work and I never receive an email when I ask to change password. So sod it, its short phone typing sentences:

I did do sum games

[ConsoleHandheldGamer]

I've only beat one game this year (and bought three)

1. Xenoblade Chronicles X

[ElkinFencer10]

Given the debt-theme of the last page or so, I feel like I should probably play Wall Street Kid on my NES. Unfortunately, that game sucks, so it's probably a violation of the Geneva Conventions to put myself through that.

[noiseredux]

I was waiting until I could log into the website and not just tapatalk to write up thought on these last few games but I still can't get it to work and I never receive an email when I ask to change password. So sod it, its short phone typing sentences:

what's going on? Maybe one of the admins can help you out. (I'm not one).

Bummed though - would like to hear your more thorough thoughts on XCOM 2.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
(I didn't realize it had a subtitle either: It's only on the title screen)

Riviera is really like no other game I can think of, which makes it very hard to recommend, or even describe to people. You progress through very linear dungeons trying to get to the end, but you don't really walk around. You can only shift from room to room, and in each room, toggle between a "move" and "look" mode. In Look-mode, you can observe your surroundings, and usually find cool stuff (either weapons, quest items, power-ups, and/or points).But, looking comes at a cost. You only have so many action points, and looking once (at a new thing) takes away an action point. However, by fighting monsters well, you can earn more action points (I almost never had a problem having enough of them). This consists of beating them as quickly, and with as flashy a finisher as possible in turn based battles.

To level up you don't really gain experience through battles, but by using items a certain number of times with each character, they'll get a permanent stat boost. As items can only be used so many times in story-battles, you'll be doing most of your stat boosting in practice battles, which can be done anywhere outside the main "town" area, but DAMN is there a lot of it. Out of the 18 hours I spent on this game, I easily spent at least 6+ hours just grinding out levels. You get progress quickly enough, and you can only do it for as many items you have to grind that you can hold in your tiny inventory, so by design it's fairly spread out, but just know what you're getting into: If you dont' grind, you gon' die.

Riviera is one of my favorite genres in terms of setting: Norse mythology written by Japanese devs. The world of Rivera that they make is so engaging and diverse, you just always want to see more of it! The setting totally won my heart, as well as all of the beautiful hand-drawn backgrounds (even if the same ones are reused a lot). The narrative is also fairly neat, although it is an Atlus game, so it's fairly anime-tastic, for better for worse, and it's also kiiiinda harem-anime-esque (1 main guy character travelling with 4 girl charactes), except without any love story, if that makes sense. Like I said before, it's not an easy game to describe Xp

Lastly I do have to mention the voice acting. There's a surprising amount of it for a GBA game, even if it is mostly just beginning and end of battle voice clips, but all 5 characters have quite a few of them, but they're REALLY grating and awful. It reminds me a lot of voice clips from Star Ocean: Second Story, if I had anything to compare it to, though frankly if there were more of it, it'd be more like the original YS 1 & 2 English translations on Turbografx. Damn I'm actually glad there's not more voice acting in this game XP

Despite all of my griping though, I really enjoyed this game. I'm really looking forward to when I go through Yggrda Union, and will also keep a firm lookout for the other games by these devs. The style of the game is just so unique, that it really surpassed feeling like a GBA game, unhindered by its medium, instead feeling more like a game that could've been of most any era, but happened to be on GBA. A full recommendation for anyone who wants an interesting spin on a JRPG-style.

[Sarge]

Riviera is aces. One of my favorite GBA RPGs, and the game that really made me pay attention to Sting.

[MrPopo]

Riviera is aces. One of my favorite GBA RPGs, and the game that really made me pay attention to Sting.

I'm looking forward to seeing Sting this summer.

[Flake]

3/19: Sonic Generations (3DS)

Kind of a sad statement but this is the first game I've beaten in 2016. I've spent a lot of the year playing Skyrim which has left me with a lot of time gaming but nothing that I could count as 'beaten'.

I originally played this game back when it first released and even reviewed it for Sega Addicts. My words in the review were more harsh than the letter grade I gave it - and I meant every criticism. Maybe I am getting soft in my old age but I enjoyed this run through considerably more. I saw a lot more charm in the art direction and more to love in the level design. Sonic Generations 3DS is still left in the dust by its console big brother but it's not a terrible game to have when you want to spin dash on the go.