Games Beaten 2017

[TSTR]

For those at home keeping score, Bone made it a little over 2 days into 2017 before a Ys mention.

Never change, dood. <3

[Exhuminator]

Bone made it a little over 2 days into 2017 before a Ys mention.

Oh, that reminds me...

[TSTR]

#NeverForget

Ancient City continues to tempt me...

[Juan Aguacate]

This is quite literally one of the best games ever made. Seriously, holy shit! I couldn't put this game down until I finished it. It's brilliant! I'll even go so far as to call it a masterpiece. The story, the graphics, the sound, the gameplay, everything about this game is pretty much perfect.

Your review got me intrigued, and I found out the game's available on Android, so I just bought it for my phone. At $14.99, that's the most expensive smartphone game I've ever purchased. And I bought it on your word alone! This will make or break my opinion of your taste.

I'm feeling the pressure now

I really don't get why people don't like DKCR for the difficulty when compared to the originals. Not being able to gel with the physics is one thing, that can be an issue with any platformer, but the original DKC's are hard! Especially the first one, with the super limited save points and even more limited lives, that game just wanted you to suffer! 2 and 3 progressively get less merciless, but can be at times, especially if you're trying to fight the real final boss and trying to find all of those bonus coins (or those awful pirate ship levels as the snake in 2 ;A;).

I guess I'm part of the dissenting opinion that thinks DKCR 1 and 2 are both fantastic games. I should really pick up the 3DS port of 1, come to think of it. I have to imagine that that game plays so much better when something as awkward as Wiimote waggling isn't controlling the rolling AND the blowing air. 2 gets rid of the air blowing, which makes that game soooo much better.

I guess every gamer had a difference experience with them, I never considered DKC 1 and 2 to be hard games. I never played the third one, so I don't know about that one. The only problem I had with the first DKC is that I remembered there was like one hidden secret I couldn't find and I didn't want to use a guide. I found every secret in the second one though

DKCR was a tough game though, and while I was able to finish it, I can't say that I enjoyed myself. It felt like a game pretending to be a DKC game. I think the devs put too much of what they wanted into the game rather than trying to mimic the spirit of the originals. It's a tricky thing with spiritual follow ups and remakes, you don't want to take away what people liked about the originals and I think that's exactly what they did

1. Day of the Tentacle Remastered - PC

DOTT - Another great remastering of a SCUMM title for the modern era. Probably the best title to do it to due to its art style. My wife wanted to play something together on New Years Eve Day so we started at around 1000 and went until the final part. So we finished it New Years Day. I have no reason to load up the original ever again.

I need to try that.

[Sarge]

DKC 1 & 2 definitely had tricky spots, places where it felt a little Battletoads was slipping in. But then again, they're pretty generous with extra lives, so it's not so bad in the long run.

I honestly think the barrel rocket sections were my absolute least favorite part of DKCR. But honestly, I think if they'd not made things so weighty with the physics, reduced the momentum so that it was like DKC, I'd probably be in love with the game.

The momentum is a gripe I have with the NSMB series as well. It feels like it's too unresponsive. World is too twitchy, and SMB3 is my absolute ideal Mario physics.

[MrPopo]

NSMB probably went back to the SMB1 physics, which have a shockingly high amount of momentum to them.

[Ack]

1. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (PC)(Action)

Technically this is both an action game(with RPG elements) and a first person shooter, as it contains elements of both. As Fastbilly mentioned previously, I beat this with both him and our friend Xen, with each of us filling in roles that we seem to favor: Xen being the strategist, Fastbilly the rapid-fire glass cannon, and me the meat shield who has no problems with facing down a horde.

The game is set in the town and surrounding areas of Ubersreik, a city in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, which is now being overrun by the rat-people Skaven as part of the end of the world. To face off against the Skaven and drive them from the town, the band of heroes must complete set missions in a style extremely reminiscent of Left 4 Dead, only the format has some changes: whereas L4D had campaigns with break points, Vermintide has longer levels which allow for return to a central hub between missions. There's also a somewhat extensive trinket and gear system which lets players find or construct better equipment over time, though it can be slow going from the beginning. Still, having found a character I like, it doesn't seem so bad.

As for the Skaven, they're very reminiscent of the L4D zombies, including special ratlings that are in some cases almost directly modeled off their Left 4 Dead counterparts. For instance, the Gutter Runner behaves like a slipperier Hunter who can teleport about, the Packmaster captures and pulls away heroes like the Smoker did, and the Rat Ogre is almost exactly the same as the tank. A special called the Sack Rat is very reminiscent of the zombie survivor. The Rattling Gunner and Poison Wind Globadier have some resemblances to the Spitter and Boomer, though only some. If anything, it's the relentless Stormvermin that really add a new element to the game, because their suits of armor and militaristic use of marching squads can be a force to be reckoned with wholly unlike anything L4D has to offer. If you hear a squad coming, it is usually best to simply avoid them all together if you can.

The weapons and armor loadouts are also highly important, because they dictate how your characters fight but also how they will best deal with threats like the armored Stormvermin. For instance, the Imperial Soldier has as one of his weapons a maul, which pierces armor and bashes in skulls even on basic hits but lacks effective crowd control unless attacks are charged. This is great against Stormvermin but fairs poorly against the hordes of skavenslaves so often called up against you. Conversely you could use a sword and shield, but while it makes wading through the never-ceasing streams of ratmen much easier, your weak blade will practically bounce off the armored plates of the Stormvermin's armor, much to your AI partners' chagrin. You can also bring along ranged weapons, which can have very different effects and uses depending on what you bring, such as the soldier's up-close blunderbuss versus his far-reaching rifle. Over time your weapons and equipment will get magically pumped up, though don't expect it to be massively game changing until you're willing to face the top tiers of difficulties for them.

It's also worth noting that not all characters play like this, it's just my impression of the game from the Imperial Soldier's meat-and-potatoes style. The five selectable characters in Vermintide are all unique and bring different elements to the table. I find transitioning to the dwarf from the soldier probably the easiest, but the Bright Wizard is almost entirely different from anything the other characters offer due to her use of pyromancy and its potential to backfire and devastate her body if unchecked.

While the base game offers some replayability, most of the levels feel a bit samey. Thankfully a couple of expansions have been released which add new locales, and one of them, Drachenfels, is absolutely masterfully crafted. There is also a survival mode called Last Stand, where the Skaven have effectively won, and all you can do is try to fend off never ceasing waves of enemies for as long as you can. I tried it once and managed to make it through a handful of waves before a group of Stormvermin decided to show me the error of my ways. I look forward to more time spent in the game though; the setting is fun, the banter between characters well-written in a way that gives them all a unique personality, and I love how the world looks and feels. I just hope future plans continue to build on the unique grimness that is Warhammer Fantasy.

[PartridgeSenpai]

DKC 1 & 2 definitely had tricky spots, places where it felt a little Battletoads was slipping in. But then again, they're pretty generous with extra lives, so it's not so bad in the long run.

I honestly think the barrel rocket sections were my absolute least favorite part of DKCR. But honestly, I think if they'd not made things so weighty with the physics, reduced the momentum so that it was like DKC, I'd probably be in love with the game.

I definitely don't remember DKC 1 being terribly generous with lives, although perhaps it's a SMB 1 situation where if you know how to optimize it, you can get a bunch if you need them. Every game has a learning curve to how its physics handle. I tried speed-running World at the local games shop (the owner gave me the controller to test if the buttons worked and I just kept playing ;p) while I was playing through NSMBU, and I was doing terribly at first because I was so used to NSMBU's physics.

The rocket barrel levels are some of my favorite parts! I enjoy them way more than the minecart levels, which I've always felt they love making a little bit too sadistic in how it's one mistake that leads to instant pit-death. I like minecart levels too though, just not the crazy hard ones.

[Sarge]

NSMB probably went back to the SMB1 physics, which have a shockingly high amount of momentum to them.

It's kinda like SMB1, except the acceleration curve is very different. The original is certainly pretty weird, and has a lot of momentum, but it feels like a "smoother" momentum in NSMB. Either way, I don't particularly like SMB1 physics, either.

Anyway, a couple of games beaten...

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)

A couple of Game Boy platformers. So I was goofing around watching My Life in Gaming the other night, and was reminded that there is a homebrew Game Boy Player app called Game Boy Interface. The version I ended up using is no-frills, but has low input lag and is scaled nicely. It's a huge step up from the official software. There's also a ultra low-latency version, but it didn't really play very nice with my cheapy TV Box 1440 that I currently have the GC hooked up to. You don't even have to get an Action Replay or SD Adapter if you've got the right game to hack with. I happen to have Twilight Princess, so transferring the save and the software via GCMM on the Wii worked swimmingly.

Oh, right. The games. They're passable, nothing amazing. Bonk's Revenge is a little more creative, but it's also got some really weird physics. In the space levels in particular, it's just a bit goofy. Still, not a bad play. You get a few different suits that you can power up with. The spaceman-type one lets you jump really high, there's another that I never kept long enough to find out about, and the thief suit lets you open up the doors on the map. They may hold life, a bank (that you're robbing of smileys!), or even a jail that takes away half your smileys. 100 give an extra life.

I had to continue once early on, but once you learn how to play the minigame, you can rack up extra lives very quickly, and should be in no danger of dying for good, and you can respawn right where you died to boot.

The other, Babs' Big Break, is a pretty bog-standard hop-and-bop from Konami. Jumping is pretty floaty, but I suspect the game felt a little faster on the smaller screen and with motion blur all over the place. See, it's not actually a blurry screen at all, it's speed lines!

You can select between Hampton, Buster, and Plucky, each of which handle the same. They have a different projectile, though, which brings a tiny bit of strategy. But mostly, you'll just be hopping and bopping. My advice is to abuse the racing minigame. Winning against Sweetie Pie (the middle one) nets you an extra life. It should give all the buffer you need to finish the game.

I have to say, GBI handled admirably the entire time. It's not absolutely perfect, but dang if it isn't better than Nintendo's software. Well done, Extrems. Well done.

[hashiriya1]

January 3rd: Vigilante - PC Engine

I've had this game for a long time but never played it until now. I remember playing it in the arcade when I was a kid and never getting very far. This game is has bad hit detection, is poorly designed, and the last boss is a cheap bastard. But for some reason I beat it 2 more times in the same sitting.