Games Beaten 2017

[ElkinFencer10]

For the most part, I try to judge games on their own merit, especially if it's the first in a series or, like this one, the first of the series on a handheld. I also just really enjoyed it. I probably scored it higher than it deserved - I gave it a 4/5 - but I really had a lot of fun with it minus level 3.

[Sarge]

That's always tough. I've been playing games so long that I try to judge them as they are, but sometimes I don't have the most objective stance if it's a game that I played many years ago and have already accustomed myself to its idiosyncrasies. The first game that always comes to mind is Dragon Warrior. Undoubtedly important, but astoundingly simple compared to pretty much everything else now.

(It's still really quaint and put together well, so I don't know what I'd give it now. Certainly closer to average than on release.)

[prfsnl_gmr]

The Goonies II is like that. It is a very early non-linear exploratory platforming game (i.e., a metroidvania), but it is too archaic to be enjoyable. Moreover, some of the design decisions are baffling - you can only get a critical item by punching a random old woman five times?! - and the game would be nearly impossible without a guide. In short, I respect what it tried to do, but I did not enjoy it at all (unlike DQ, which I love for its simplicity).

[REPO Man]

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 for PS4, though I'm gonna wait until I get to 100% before I move onto Years 5-7.

[Flake]

January:
Super Mario Bros Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 (GBA/WiiU)
Super Mario Bros Advance 2: Yoshi's Island (GBA/WiiU)
Wario Land 4 (GBA/WiiU)

March:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)

April:
Front Mission 3 (PS1/PSTV)
Mega Man 2 (PS4)

May:
Megaman 3 (PS4)
Megaman 4 (PS4)
Megaman 5 (PS4)
Megaman (PS4)
Megaman 6 (PS4)

June:
Megaman Legends (PSX)
Final Fantasy X HD (PS4)

July:
Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes (PS3)
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (PS4)
Adventures of Mana (PSTV)
Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Castlevania (NES/WiiU)

12 year old Flake would be proud of me! This last weekend, Elkinfencer and I went on a Castlevania rampage. He was largely more successful than I was but I did manage to finally beat the original Castlevania. Not going to lie - save states were used.

The game has aged really, really well. The graphics and music are still a lot of fun to experience and do a great job of conveying the Gothic horror theme. A great example of the art > technology argument.

There are parts that I don't like. I think that the game is needlessly hard in some points - especially when pinpoint precision on jumping portions is required and they throw another wave of medusa heads or gargoyles that don't appear on screen until you've already committed to the jump.

Still working on some of the other classic Castlevania games but I am really glad that I finally saw the ending credits on this classic.

[ElkinFencer10]

No shame in save states. Unless some of these elitist pricks want to start paying for my games, I'm going to play however I want to, and to hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.

[MrPopo]

No shame in save states. Unless some of these elitist pricks want to start paying for my games, I'm going to play however I want to, and to hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.

Is this your latest attempt to get me to be your sugar daddy?

[ElkinFencer10]

It's not my latest attempt to get you not to be my sugar daddy.

[Sarge]

No shame in save states. Unless some of these elitist pricks want to start paying for my games, I'm going to play however I want to, and to hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.

Shame. SHAAAAAAAAAME.

(I totally use save-states until I'm motivated by whatever reason to play through a game legit.)

[MrPopo]

1. Pokémon Moon - 3DS
2. Tony Hawk's Underground - GCN
3. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising - PC
4. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Retribution - PC
5. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - PSP
6. X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit - PC
7. Star Wars Republic Commando - PC
8. X-Wing: B-Wing - PC
9. Blazing Lazers - TG-16
10. Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3
11. Shining Force CD: Shining Force Gaiden - Sega CD
12. MUSHA - Genesis
13. Sonic CD - Sega CD
14. Final Fantasy Legend III - GB
15. Tales of Zestiria - PS3
16. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch
17. Horizon Zero Dawn - PS4
18. Tales of Berseria - PS4
19. Battlefield 1 - PC
20. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - PC
21. Mass Effect Andromeda - PC
22. Starflight 2 - PC
23. Armored Hunter Gunhound EX - PC
24. Space Megaforce - SNES
25. Persona 5 - PS4
26. Torment: Tides of Numenera - PC
27. Cosmic Star Heroine - PC
28. Prey - PC
29. Strafe - PC
30. Mystic Origins - NES
31. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - 3DS
32. Ultra Street Fighter II - Switch
33. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - PC
34. Ultima IV - PC
35. Environmental Station Alpha - PC
36. Dust: An Elysian Tail - PC
37. Hollow Knight - PC
38. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter - PC
39. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - PC

Finished up the Trails in the Sky trilogy. The 3rd is both completely unnecessary and utterly vital, all depending on your point of view. A good descriptor I saw for it is that it is the Appendices to the Lord of the Rings. The main plot was wrapped up prior to it, but there's still a whole ton of world and character information contained within. And personally I think it is very worth playing for those parts.

The 3rd starts six months after SC and is focused on Kevin, the priest who joined the party midway through SC. It's mostly delving into his backstory, as well as fleshing out the Church that has an omnipresent and rather powerful presence in the world. Shortly into the game you end up getting sucked into a world that is made up of equal parts recollections of past areas and new featureless dungeon. So you don't really have NPCs to deal with; it's pretty much straight dungeon crawl with story bits at the climax of each area. You will soon be joined by the rest of the gang from the first two games, and a few of them end up having a bit of character building themselves in certain key areas.

However, if you only do the main plot you are missing out on a ton of what makes this game valuable. Equally important are a series of doors that will transport you to events of the past. Most of these have you as a passive observer, but a few are fully controlled by the player. Every character gets their spot in the limelight, and these end up being a mixture of filling in backstory, adding in general world story, or looking at what happened to characters after the events of SC. In the process, several threads for the larger plot of the universe that will be picked up in Zero no Kiseki and Trails of Cold Steel. You might think of it like Trails in the Sky encompassing Rogue One and A New Hope; one major threat is dealt with but there is far more going on in the overall universe. I definitely wonder just how much Falcom has plotted out at a high level.

The major gameplay addition is that Time, Space, and Mirage have been added as weakness/resistances for enemies. This gets shown off in the early areas by a bunch of enemies weak to one of those three. The spell lists for Space and Mirage were filled out a bit better in order to take advantage of this. But since you're starting at such a high level (you start at 95ish, end around 130ish) you'll find yourself sticking with the rank 1 magic due to how the damage formulas work out. Like before, you really don't need to engage in too many fights. The end game is a four part dungeon where the party splits up into four teams, so you will want to have them all kitted out in quartz, and that's going to be the majority of your ginding. But even that's not too bad; I did it over the course of two nights (a couple hours each night).

So if you've gotten to the end of SC and are wondering why you should play The 3rd, the answer is "how much do you care about the characters and the world?"