Games Beaten 2017

[noiseredux]

1. Fire Emblem Heroes (Android)
2. Sara Is Missing (Android)
3. Civilization V (PC)
4. Portal 2 (PC)
5. Halo Wars 2 (PC)
6. Mario Run (Android)
7. Super Blackjack Battle 2 Turbo Edition (Android)
8. Diablo III (PC)
9. Madden NFL 18: Longshot (Xbox One)
10. Ultra Street Fighter II (Switch)
11. Layers Of Fear (Xbox One)
12. XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen (Xbox One)
13. Guardians Of The Galaxy (Xbox One)

I realize I'm biased as a huge Guardians fan, but bravo. Might be my new favorite Telltale game. I fear it will be slept on and never see a sequel.

[Exhuminator]

True Lies

Always good to see SNES love up in here. Yeah I can see the similarities between 1993's Soldiers of Fortune and 1995's True Lies, glad you had some fun with it. Ack if you haven't played through this yet:

You really oughta.

[Ack]

True Lies

Always good to see SNES love up in here. Yeah I can see the similarities between 1993's Soldiers of Fortune and 1995's True Lies, glad you had some fun with it. Ack if you haven't played through this yet:

You really oughta.

I have not played Timecop. I was under the impression that game was more like Judge Dredd on the SNES than True Lies, or RoboCop vs Terminator.

[Sarge]

Previous games:

January:
1) The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (PC) (8.5) (1/1) (~5.5 hours)
2) ActRaiser (SNES) (8.0) (1/2) (~4 hours)
3) Bonk's Revenge (GB) (6.0) (1/3) (~1 hour)
4) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break (GB) (6.5) (1/3) (~1 hour)
5) Blackwell Legacy (PC) (7.0) (1/5) (2.6 hours)
6) Blackwell Unbound (PC) (7.5) (1/7) (2.2 hours)
7) Blackwell Convergence (PC) (8.0) (1/7) (2.4 hours)
8) Blackwell Deception (PC) (8.0) (1/8) (4.7 hours)
9) Blackwell Epiphany (PC) (9.0) (1/9) (6.5 hours)
10) Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4) (8.0) (1/22) (~55 hours)
11) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (360) (8.0) (1/28) (~.5 hours)
12) Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck (SMS) (6.5) (1/31) (~1 hour)
February:
13) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck (GEN) (7.5) (2/7) (~2 hours)
14) Fire Emblem Heroes (Android) (8.0) (2/9) (~10 hours)
15) Super C (NES) (9.5) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
16) Contra (NES) (10.0) (2/20) (~0.5 hours)
17) Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB) (6.5) (2/24) (~1 hour)
18) My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (3DS) (8.5) (2/25) (~19 hours)
19) Mega Man 2 (NES) (10.0) (2/28) (~0.8 hours)
March:
20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)
21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)
22) Espgaluda II Black Label (360) (8.0?) (3/17) (0.5 hours)
23) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (NS) (9.5) (3/28) (~70+ hours)
April:
24) Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) (8.5) (4/7) (~5.5 hours)
25) Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) (8.0) (4/9) (~8 hours)
26) Gekido Advance: Kintaro's Revenge (GBA) (7.5) (4/16) (~3 hours)
27) Vanquish (PS3) (8.5) (4/17) (~7 hours)
28) Journey (PS3) (6.0) (4/19) (~2 hours)
29) GunForce (SNES) (4.0) (4/22) (~20 minutes)
30) GunForce 2 (ARC) (7.0) (4/23) (~30 minutes)
31) GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island (ARC) (6.0) (4/23) (~20 minutes)
32) Mighty Final Fight (NES) (8.5) (4/29) (~30 minutes)
May:
33) Final Fantasy V (SFC) (6.0) (5/1) (~33 hours)
34) Super Adventure Island (SNES) (7.0) (5/2) (~1 hour)
35) Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES) (7.5) (5/3?) (~30 minutes)
36) Mighty No. 9 (PS4) (5.0) (5/6?) (~5 hours)
37) Contra III: The Alien Wars (Hard) (SNES) (8.5) (5/11) (~1 hour)
38) Operation C (GB) (7.5) (5/22) (~1 hour)
June:
39) Super Dodge Ball (NES) (9.5) (6/1) (~15 minutes)
40) Bare Knuckle III (GEN) (7.5) (6/3) (~1 hour)
41) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) (9.5) (6/5) (~30 minutes)
42) Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear (GB) (4.0) (6/8) (~1 hour)
43) Castlevania: The Adventure (GB) (3.5) (6/9) (~1 hour)
44) Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (PC) (8.0) (6/15) (~8.5 hours)
45) Streets of Rage (GEN) (9.0) (6/17) (~45 minutes)
46) Ghouls 'N Ghosts (GEN) (6.5) (6/17) (~4 hours)
47) Contra: Hard Corps (GEN) (8.5) (6/18) (~50 minutes)
48) Mighty Gunvolt Burst (NS) (7.5) (6/23) (~3 hours?)
49) Exile's End (PC) (8.0) (6/24) (~5 hours)
July:
50) Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4) (8.5) (7/1) (16h53m)
51) Pharaoh Rebirth+ (PC) (8.0) (7/3) (7 hours)
52) Jackal (NES) (9.0) (7/9) (45 minutes)
53) Golden Axe III (NES) (2.5) (7/9) (~45 minutes)
54) Rygar (NES) (7.0) (7/10) (~2 hours)
55) Faxanadu (NES) (8.0) (7/14) (~6 hours)
56) Tekken 3 (PSX) (6.0) (7/24) (~20 minutes)
57) Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) (8.5) (7/30) (38h16m)
August:
58) Contra: The Alien Wars (GB) (3.5) (8/1) (~30 minutes)
59) Super Smash Bros. (N64) (8.0) (8/6) (~20 minutes)
60) Battletoads (Japan) (NES) (7.5) (8/10) (~40 minutes)
61) Castle of Dragon (NES) (2.5) (8/10) (~1 hour)
62) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (NES) (3.0) (8/10) (~30 minutes)
63) Strider (NES) (6.5) (8/11) (~2 hours)
64) Commando (NES) (3.5) (8/11) (~1 hour)
65) Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (NES) (6.5) (8/12) (~1h30m)
66) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (GEN) (4.0) (8/12) (~1 hour)
67) Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (NES) (5.0) (8/13) (~4 hours)
68) Mega Man 8 (SAT) (7.0) (8/17) (~4 hours)
69) Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (PS4) (8.0) (8/19) (4h42m)
70) Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3) (6.5) (8/25) (~30 minutes)
71) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) (7.5) (8/27) (25 hours?)
72) Daikatana (GBC) (6.5) (8/28) (~3 hours)
73) Bionic Commando (NES) (9.5) (8/30) (~1.5 hours)
74) Adventure Island II (NES) (6.5) (8/31) (~3 hours)
September:
75) The Mafat Conspiracy (NES) (5.0) (9/1) (~1.5 hours)
76) Snake's Revenge (NES) (8.0) (9/4) (~4 hours)
77) Ys: Memories of Celceta (VITA) (7.5) (9/4) (~25 hours?)
78) Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble (NES) (5.0) (9/7) (~2 hours)
79) 1943: The Battle for Midway (NES) (7.0) (9/9) (~2.5 hours)
80) Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (ARC/360) (5.0) (9/9) (~1 hour)
81) Arkista's Ring (NES) (6.0) (9/9) (~1 hour)
82) Bad Dudes (NES) (4.0) (9/9) (~45 minutes)
83) G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor (NES) (7.0) (9/10) (~2 hours)
84) Target: Renegade (NES) (2.0) (9/10) (~1 hour)
85) Gyruss (NES) (8.5) (9/11) (~1 hour)
86) Renegade (NES) (3.5) (9/12) (~30 minutes)
87) Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS) (9.0) (9/18) (11h35m) (16h total time)
88) Rambo (NES) (4.5) (9/19) (~3 hours)
89) Return of Double Dragon (SFC) (8.0) (9/20) (~1 hour)
90) Wizards & Warriors (NES) (6.5) (9/21) (~1.5 hours)
91) Wizards & Warriors III - Kuros: Visions of Power (NES) (6.5) (9/23) (~4 hours)
92) Wolverine (NES) (3.0) (9/23) (~1 hour)
93) The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper (NES) (6.0) (9/23) (~1 hour)
94) Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (NES) (6.5) (9/24) (~2 hours)
95) The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy (NES) (6.0) (9/24) (~1 hour)
96) RodLand (NES) (7.0) (9/30) (~1 hour)
97) Gradius (NES) (7.0) (9/30) (~30 minutes)
98) Life Force (NES) (8.0) (9/30) (~1 hour)
99) Gradius II (NES) (8.0) (9/30) (~1 hour)
October:
100) Guerilla War (NES) (6.0) (10/1) (~1 hour)
101) Gun-Nac (NES) (7.5) (10/2) (~1.5 hours)
102) Mega Man 9 (PS4, via MMLC2) (9.5) (10/7) (~2.5 hours)
103) Star Wars (NES) (5.5) (10/7) (~1.5 hours)
104) Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS4) (9.0) (10/25) (49h20m)
105) Super Mario Odyssey (NS) (10.0) (10/31) (10 hours?)
November:
106) Super Castlevania IV (SNES) (8.5) (11/11) (4 hours)
107) Transformers: Devastation (PS4) (6.5) (11/18) (5h56m)
108) Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (DUO) (8.0) (11/26) (2 hours)
109) Castlevania Chronicles (PSX, X68K mode) (6.5) (11/29) (6 hours)

December:
110) Faussete Amour (DUO) (5.0) (12/4) (3 hours)
111) Ys III: The Wanderer from Ys (DUO) (5.5) (12/7) (~5 hours)

Yeah, this might not be a popular opinion. Ys III is... functional, sometimes fun, but not that great overall.

One of my bigger gripes is the framerate, which is wildly inconsistent in the Duo version. Sometimes it's smooth, other times it's a half-rate scroll which makes the game feel a bit cheap. Add to that some really strange physics, especially with jumping, and the whole thing just feels like it was a bit kludged together; it feels like it'd be more at home on a less capable PC platform or something. Huh, wonder why that would be?

The presentation outside of framerate is decent enough, but there's actually not a whole lot of big movie cutscenes in the game outside of the intro and ending. The only place it really shines is with the soundtrack, which is the usual kickin' Falcom stuff. Honestly, I gave it an extra half point just for that. I should probably deduct it back for the hideous voice acting, however; that mess serves to take you out of the game. I have to wonder if I'd have enjoyed the Genesis version more.

This is apparently the easiest version of the game as well, and it is terribly unbalanced. A few levels or a piece of equipment here or there and you go from getting owned to virtually untouchable. It's not smooth in the slightest, and honestly, Falcom occasionally has had problems with this in the past, so I'm not surprised that it pops up here, too.

Other than that, not much else to say. It feels a bit sloppy, and I also ran into issues with my burn at the very end, so it's back to the drawing board on that as well. Ah well, I'll get it all sorted eventually. Ys III is an okay game with serious problems. I really can't recommend it outside of historical purposes or huge series fans.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I disagree, as I think it completely slays. I have a hard time thinking of a better side-scrolling ARPG from that era, with the exception of Exile.

[ElkinFencer10]

Of the four Ys games I've played (1-3, Origins), 3 is definitely the weakest IMO, but I still had a lot of fun with it.

[Exhuminator]

Dat OST tho.

[Sarge]

No question the OST rocks. It just shows its PC-88/98 roots a bit much for my tastes as far as the gameplay.

For other games in that general time period, I'd say pretty much all the side-scrolling action-RPGs on NES beat it out. Even an entry from Falcom themselves! Faxanadu, Zelda II, Battle of Olympus, Simon's Quest... I'll take any of them, personally.

I do think Exile is a bit more fun overall.

I guess I'm just more of a modern Ys fan, starting with Ys VI, although I enjoyed Ys V as well.

[marurun]

A lot of what you're calling frame rate issues are probably not actual issues with the frame rate so much as a perceptual issue with the janky scrolling. They were desperate to get multi-plane scrolling in there, so they used a technique based on dynamic, animated background tiles, but due to CD memory issues they clearly didn't have enough different frames in the animation of those tiles. And that stuttering in the background creates the perception that everything is janky, but the actual enemies and main character are still moving at the same frame rate and controlling just as tightly. I think if they had delayed the game for the Super CD ROM card they probably could have dealt with that scrolling issue, but that was clearly not in the cards. The Genesis and SNES versions have smooth scrolling and so they don't seem as janky in that regard, but the character jumping and attacking animations are all largely the same. The game is definitely a port from a Japanese PC game and not console native. That said, I do still love the game a lot and appreciate what it accomplishes. But it ain't for everyone.

[Sarge]

Yeah, it's jerky scrolling, less "frame rate", as it were. Or, you could characterize it as differing frame rates between various elements. It still feels super-sketch to me.