Games Beaten 2017

[Segata]

Only played 2 and loved it.

[dsheinem]

Cotton owns! I'm shocked by how you guys can just slay these games. I need to "practice" a shmup or platformer for at least a week or so before I can get even remotely close to finishing it.

I don’t think he 1cc’d it...

[Exhuminator]

I'm shocked by how you guys can just slay these games.

This particular cute 'em up is not hard, that's why I beat it quickly. Trust me, I'm merely "decent" at shmups, it's a genre I quite enjoy, but am not terribly great at. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have any trouble beating this version of Cotton.

I don’t think he 1cc’d it...

Nope. I lost a few lives at the final boss.

The only shmup I've ever 1cc'd would be Astro Warrior on Master System. And that was a result of having lots of free time as a kid with limited games to play.

[Exhuminator]

81. Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue | 8/10

I have four words for you: Shin Megami Tensei Metroidvania.



If those four words didn't stir anything in your gamer heart, then move along (and seek help). If however you are a fan of metroidvanias, and you are a fan of Shin Megami Tensei, you need to play Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue. This is a FREE Windows PC game that Atlus paid Ladybug to produce, as a promotional tool for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux, and it's fantastic. This is a classically styled 2D metroidvania like Koji Igarashi used to make (he's listed as a play tester in the credits). You play as Atlus mascot Jack Frost, who together with his friend Pyro Jack must stop a bad demon from doing bad things. I'd love to tell you more of the plot, but at this point I can't, because all of the character dialogue is in Japanese. Since I don't read Japanese, I don't know what was going on. Surely it's only a matter of time before some nice hackers whip up an English fan translation though.



So the gameplay is your typical metroidvania, but with some twists. For one thing you gain new magical powers by finding them, and you can buy restorative items as well. You can select these powers/items form a rotating menu. You can also switch between playing as Frost or Pyro at any moment. This Ice/Fire combo is used to great effect (think Ikaruga), as you must be tactical since some enemies are weak or strong against either element. Plus, if you get hit by ice and you're Frost (or fire and your Pyro), you get a BLOCK effect which partially refills your magic meter. When you use your powers, it does drain said meter, so this is important. As you kill enemies you gain experience, which raises your level, affecting your offensive and defensive strength. Enemies also drop money, which you can use at various vending machines to buy stuff. As you explore the game's world, you'll come across puzzles and traps, some more devious than others. I got stuck for a little while on one puzzle, simply because the solution was probably told to me in Japanese. But I figured it out, and so will you. You don't need to understand Japanese to be able to beat this game.



Unfortunately Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue is a short game. I finished in about two hours at 89% map completion, at level 15. But those two hours were spent having nothing but fun. The crisp clean graphics evoke a Cave Story vibe, albeit more polished. The OST is wonderful, full of high energy electronica. Controls are super tight and responsive (I used a Buffalo SFC pad personally). There's quite a few boss fights, and all of them are fun and unique. I have very little to complain about concerning Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue. It was a joy seeing so many various demons from the SMT world brought forth as baddies to blast away. If anything I just wish this game were four times as long, with even more complexity and playable characters (like playing as Pixie or Jack Skelton). But what's here is absolutely awesome and strongly recommended to genre fans. This is the best piece of promotional material I've ever come across. Bravo Atlus, you sold a copy of Strange Journey Redux today.



If you want to download this game: https://www.atlus.co.jp/news/5854/

[alienjesus]

Cotton owns! I'm shocked by how you guys can just slay these games. I need to "practice" a shmup or platformer for at least a week or so before I can get even remotely close to finishing it.

I don’t think he 1cc’d it...

For what it's worth, Cotton 100% is a pretty easy 1CC. The only part that caused me to game over was the final boss battle. If you get that down it's not so hard.

I'm saying that as someone who is pretty mediocre at shmups, so those of you who play them more should have no major issues. Just spam the barrier magic whenever it runs out.

[yaktaur]

I beat Terranigma last night.

What a really odd game, the first hour or two of unlocking continents is so unlike the rest of the game. Honestly one of the weirdest games I've ever played. You can talk to animals, and go on Lion King adventures, and then you're finding girls who are in the sewers in the remnents of a town that was destroyed with biological weapons.

And the map being the real Earth Map with fantasy towns and dungeons on top of it. But oh wait there's Neo Tokyo and you can unlock Quintet headquarters where they talk about Illusion of Gaia 2....

Really affecting story, I was legit moved by the ending. The game is probably a few dungeons too long and there were times I absolutely had to look up what to do next, but really loved it.

[dsheinem]

Games Beaten 2017
Inside - PS4
Street Fighter V - PS4
TIMEframe - PC
Rituals - PC
Mother Russia Bleeds - PC
Horizon: Zero Dawn - PS4
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch
Here They Lie - PSVR
Dexed - PSVR
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - PSVR
Last Voyage - iOS
Ghost Blade HD - PS4
What Happened to Edith Finch - PS4
Fast RMX - Switch
Puyo Puyo Tetris - Switch
Garou: Mark of the Wolf - Vita
Star Wars: Republic Commando - PC
Battlefield 1 - PS4
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch
Shock Troopers - PC (Arcade)
Shock Troopers 2nd Squad - PC (Arcade)
Gravity Bone -PC
A Thousand Flights of Loving - PC
Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels - PC/X1
Eve: Valkyrie- PSVR
Farpoint - PSVR
Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell - PC
Ghost Squad - Wii
Monument Valley 2 - iOS
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - PS4
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - 360
Tekken Advance - GBA
100ft Robot Golf - PSVR
Final Fantasy XV: A King's Tale - X1
Star Wars Racer Revenge - PS2
Just Cause 3 - PS4
Toadled - PC
Gulity Gear Xrd -Revelator- PS4
Mortal Kombat XL - PC
Destiny 2 - PS4
Dishonored - PS4
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition - PS4
Nex Machina - PS4
Dying Light - PS4
Arizona Sunshine- PSVR
Dead Rising 3 - X1 *new*
Soul Dimension - PSVR *new*

Total: 47

Previously: 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Dead Rising 3 is my first foray into the series other than a few minutes I spent years ago with the first game (in which I didn't like the save system, iirc). I liked it enough to now want to try out Dead Rising 4 (and perhaps 2) at some point, and I think I'd dig the horror/Christmas theme of its most recent iteration. I skipped 90% or more of the cutscenes and found all the characters/plot elements to be grating...so just focused on wearing a Blanka mask and electrocuting zombies or driving my flaming steamroller bike over them. Any big fans of the series here? What do you recommend?

Soul Dimension is (I guess?) an introductory episode for something more substantive that will be released in episodic format in the future. It controls horribly and the audio mixing is atrocious, but it looks good and shows some promise in its approach to atmospheric horror. I'd give this a pass if you have PSVR...there are far better FPS horror experiences to be had on the platform.

[Ack]

1. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide (PC)(Action)
2. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)(Fighting)
3. DRAGON: The Bruce Lee Story (SNES)(Fighting)
4. Eradicator (PC)(FPS)
5. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PC)(FPS)
6. D-Force (SNES)(SHMUP)
7. Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon (PC)(RPG)
8. Dying Light (PC)(FPS/RPG)
9. Dying Light: The Following (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition (PC)(Hack and Slash)
11. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (PC)(Walking Simulator)
12. Dead Pixels (PC)(Run and Gun)
13. Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. (PC)(FPS)
14. Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit (PC)(Action Platformer)

It has been a while since I updated this thread, so I'm going to do a mass run through of what I've beaten over the last few months. Not what all I've been playing, just stuff that I got through to the end credits. Yes, all of it is on Steam. I've been really focused on Steam games for a while, and I've been flitting between multiple multiplayer games all year that don't really have an end point as well as a variety of games I am trying to finally wrap up. This has included the likes of Hotline Miami 2, Torchlight, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, and more(including a couple of NGPC games, Puzzle Link 2 and Shanghai Mini). Basically, I'm trying to knock out some of the horde of stuff I've acquired over the years on Steam before getting back to more classic stuff, which I'll probably get more focused on around Thanksgiving. Also while I have beaten this stuff, I'm not entirely done with all of it; there are a few titles that I intend to return to so I can really polish them off and put them aside.

So here begins the rundown:

Dying Light/Dying Light: The Following

Dying Light is everything I wanted Dead Island to be: a fun and fast paced game with ridiculous parkour, where I can run around bashing in zombies or running for my life and hopping around like a monkey on steroids. Instead of feeling the sluggish combat of DI, I feel like I can movie, like all combat options are viable, and like I can choose to fight or flee when necessary...with some caveats. You do have to gain levels to really become effective, but thankfully those get easier and easier, and you gain experience separately for combat and parkour abilities depending on what you use and how you play. As a result, I tend to max out combat much earlier than other abilities...but I'm cool with that.

The Following takes this and then throws in a massive open area with a car that I can roam around in. This feels like Dying Light as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and I absolutely loved it. Enemies I could easily best in the cramped slums and streets of the base game suddenly became new threats in open air, and having a raging horde of volatiles suddenly jumping on your hood is as awesome as it is terrifying. These two go well together and are a blast to play.

I'm not done yet with Dying Light, as I have another, shorter DLC called Bozak Horde to play through. But I look forward to going back to it.

Gauntlet: Slayer Edition

This game has just about nothing to do with Gauntlet, and as a result, most of my friends loathed it. I saw it as a poor man's western action RPG, a Diablo-light that really just left me with a hankering to go play other RPGs. I've beaten it before, and now I'm trying to wrap it up so I can uninstall it for good. I just can't recommend this one to anyone. It plays well enough, but it doesn't live up to the games that it claims to come from.

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition

I played through Dear Esther years ago and had no intention of coming back, but this popped into my inventory for free. I debated it and then decided to give the developer commentary a shot. That made my return to the original walking simulator well worth the experience, as the three principal devs(covering art, design, the game engine, plot, and music) explained their design choices, gave explanation of the randomization of events, talked about the voice work, pointed out little things I hadn't noticed in my original playthrough, and fleshed out the game's little world in ways that were a treat to explore. It made the game a new kind of experience, and I was quite happy with going back as a result. If you played Dear Esther some time ago and have access to the Landmark Edition, go give it a shot. It's a great look into an interesting and unwitting trend-setter with a delightful crew.

Dead Pixels

I originally gave this a series of playthroughs back around 2013, so it was time to get back to it. Dead Pixels is a simple looking game, but with randomized bosses, varying difficulties, and several alternate campaigns and game modes, as well as a tongue-in-cheek love of zombie-related content, I was happy to return after years away. Unfortunately, the base of the original campaign is still the same, regardless of the difficulty: immediately use the first street to grind for money for upgrades and starting equipment, and then go from there. This does cut down on a lot of the challenge, but the game can still be tough on the player if the RNG turns against you. I did have fun though, so...worth it.

Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D.

Former Valve employee Cayle George took the original Half-Life and developed a short campaign for it featuring the music of Lazerhawk. It's free and available on Steam for anyone who already owns the original Half-Life, which has to be installed for C.A.G.E.D. to work. So..how is it? Well, it's definitely Half-Life, which unfortunately by now is showing its age: enemies don't really react that much to getting shot and ladders are sometimes tough to grab. Hey, it was the '90s, it was revolutionary at the time and still felt good the last time I played it. And truth is, the gunplay is still solid, the use of Lazerhawk's music is great, and I still had a blast running through this game even if it did feel like the bad guys were bullet sponges at times. If you want to go relive some glory days, this isn't a bad way to do it.

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

You're the cartoon rabbit lord of Hell, and a paparazzi somehow got a photo of you playing with a rubber ducky, so now you have to go kill everyone in Hell who saw the article. To do this, you get a variety of guns as well as a jetpack/giant sawblade with which to mow things down. Hell Yeah! keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek for this entire experience, so you're ripping through monsters and managing to survive he environment while also trading insults and finding creative ways to kill those weird critters who ended up in the underworld. Also, you can unlock an Indiana Jones hat to wear or a bunch of other cosmetic items to cruise around if you like.

I'm not generally a big fan of platformers, but Hell Yeah! focuses more on the action side of things, and it never felt too difficult. Yes, I had to redo some sections a few times to get a feel for them, and there are some interesting challenges offered up at places by a time traveling future version of you who wants to test your mettle, but even these just take some practice and getting to understand what you're doing.

About the only thing the game needed was a volume option(it's loud), but outside of that, I had a good time. Plus it starts with an updated version of the classic SEGA logo, so who am I to say no?

[yaktaur]

I beat Terranigma last night.

What a really odd game, the first hour or two of unlocking continents is so unlike the rest of the game. Honestly one of the weirdest games I've ever played. You can talk to animals, and go on Lion King adventures, and then you're finding girls who are in the sewers in the remnents of a town that was destroyed with biological weapons.

And the map being the real Earth Map with fantasy towns and dungeons on top of it. But oh wait there's Neo Tokyo and you can unlock Quintet headquarters where they talk about Illusion of Gaia 2....

Really affecting story, I was legit moved by the ending. The game is probably a few dungeons too long and there were times I absolutely had to look up what to do next, but really loved it.

I'm on a streak, I think it's because I had a couple games near finished. I just beat Dreamhold an IF game by Andrew Plotkin. Its billed as a "tutorial" IF game but Im' glad I didn't realize how big the map was going to be because otherwise I would have been intimidated! Still it was great fun. The only other IF I've played is Lost Pig by Admiral Jota which was a lot of fun but was good to start with because the map was so small.

Anyway Dreamhold iswas a lot of fun! The goal is to get 7 masks and I only used the "Hint Help" for one of the masks so I'm feeing pretty proud of myself.

I used this program called Trizbort that really takes the pain out of making maps. I'd have the IF game in one half of my screen and Trizbort in the other and you can make rooms, move them around, put little notes i about the rooms and tweak it as you go so you're not having to write and erase a map irl. Here's the map I made for Dreamhold:

I'm really getting into IF and I'm thinking about which to play next... Do I go to THE classic Zork? Or something more arty classic like A Mind Forever Voyaging? I also want to play The King of Shreds and Patches sometime.

[BogusMeatFactory]

A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would also, highly recommend a modern interactive fiction called Blue Lacuna... it is very very good!

I am out and about and saw this post so I had to quickly respond. I will write more in response to your play through later!!!