Games Beaten 2017

[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)
112) Kaze Kiri: Ninja Action (DUO) (6.5) (12/9) (~1.5 hours)
113) Ys Book I & II (Book I) (TCD) (6.0) (12/16) (~5 hours)
114) Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue (8.5) (12/17) (~3 hours)
115) WeaponLord (GEN) (6.5) (12/18) (~40 minutes)
116) Alwa's Awakening (PC) (6.5) (12/20) (~6.5 hours)
117) Ys Book I & II (Book 2) (TCD) (6.5) (12/27) (~5 hours)
118) Cadash (TG16) (8.0) (12/30) (~2 hours)
119) Ninja Spirit (TG16) (7.0) (12/31) (~1 hour)

Ninja Spirit might be my last finished game this year. We'll see!

The game itself is a port of the titular arcade game. There's some downsampling of the graphics, as you'd guess, but overall it looks pretty nice. One of the neat components borrows from Ninja Gaiden II (or maybe it borrowed from this!), in that you can have two "shadow clones" that mimic your moves. Think of them a bit like the options in Gradius if you haven't played NGII. You also get a complement of four different ninja weapons: a sword, throwing stars, a sort of grappling hook, and some throwable bombs. I found all of them to have their uses except the hook. They all each have an upgrade level as well. The structure of the game is the usual single-plane "kill everything that moves" much like Revenge of the Shinobi, although the complexity is a bit simpler, in a sort of Kung Fu / Spartan X way (which is fitting, given its IREM heritage).

So, the game itself can be pretty tough at moments, but it's pretty easy overall. Or so I thought. The console version has been gimped a bit, as it defaults to "PC Engine" mode. This gives you actual life, where projectiles will take away one of your five health points. Sword attacks will still instantly kill you, however. Set the game to "Arcade Mode", and you'll feel the pain of one-hit deaths throughout the game. Fun times! At least the game gives some clemency in the form of unlimited continues. To be clear, I did not finish Arcade Mode, only curious about the differences after I'd blown through the game in the other mode.

Not a bad way to spend some time, but like most arcade ports, the experience is short-lived.

[Ack]

Well, I don't have time to post much, so I will save my full thoughts and a breakdown for a couple of days from now, but I have beaten Might and Magic 5 and finished off the bonus content to unify 4 and 5, meaning I am completely done with the World of Xeen series in the Might and Magic universe as well as the M&M3 engine that was used for 3, 4, 5, and Swords of Xeen. Time to move on in the series!

[MrPopo]

I'm looking forward to it Ack.

[ElkinFencer10]

Alright, my grand total for games beaten for each console in order from fewest games beaten to most games beaten:

Master System - 1
DS - 1
Neo Geo - 1
Gamecube - 1
Xbox - 1
Gameboy - 1
3DO - 1
Dreamcast - 1
N64 - 2
3DS - 2
Genesis - 2
PSP - 2
Xbox 360 - 2
Android - 2
Saturn - 3
Vita - 3
TurboGrafx CD - 3
SNES - 3
PS3 - 4
Wii U - 7
Xbox One - 7
Wii - 8
NES - 8
PC - 11
Switch - 21
PS4 - 40

[Blu]

1. Runbow - Wii U
2. Battlefield 1 - Xbox One
3. Until Dawn - PS4
4. Super Mario Sunshine - Gamecube
5. Titanfall 2 - Xbox One
6. Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ - Gamecube
7. Pikmin 2 - Gamecube
8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Wii U
9. Dawn of War 2 - PC
10. Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising - PC
11. Sonic Mania - PS4
12. Castlevania IV - SNES
13. Super Monkey Ball - GameCube
14. Yakuza 0 - PS4
15. Chu Chu Rocket - Game Boy Advance
16. Overcooked - PS4
17. Wolfenstein: The New Order - Xbox One
18. Steamworld Heist - Wii U
19. Steamworld Dig - Wii U
20. Cuphead - Xbox One
21. Ivy the Kiwi - Wii

I closed out 2017 by beating Ivy the Kiwi. I evidently only had a couple of stages left to play, and got frustrated with it a couple of years ago. With a steadier hand and clear mind, I finished this lovely little platformer, Lemming, puzzle game. It's charming, it's pretty novel, and cleverly uses the Wiimote. It's getting pricey, but I snagged it way back when for around $15.

[REPO Man]

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, for PS4. As Claptrap. I beat the main campaign after beating the DLC where you go inside Claptrap.

[pierrot]

Ivy the Kiwi - Wii

It's getting pricey, but I snagged it way back when for around $15.

Wow, you weren't kidding. I thought that one was going to stay $10 forever.


First 25:

1. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PCE-CD)
2. Mega Bomberman (GEN)
3. Lost in Shadow (Wii)
4. Kirby's Dream Land (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
5. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
6. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (via Wii Dream Collection) (SNES)
7. Saturn Bomberman (SAT)
8. Rent a Hero (GEN)
9. Tricolore Crise (DC)
10. Super Mario: Yoshi Island (SFC)
11. Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchou no Daibouken (Joukan) (SAT)
12. Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)
13. Kishin Douji Zenki: Battle Raiden (SFC)
14. Super Donkey Kong (SFC)
15. Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (SFC)
16. Anearth Fantasy Stories: First Volume (SAT)
17. Panzer Dragoon (SAT)
18. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (SAT)
19. Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX)
20. Cross Tantei Monogatari (SAT)
21. Dragon Quest V (PS2)
22. Ryu ga Gotoku (PS2)
23. Dragon Slayer: Eiyuu Densetsu II (GEN)
24. Rokudenashi Blues: Taiketsu! Tokyo Shitennou (SFC)
25. Ranma 1/2: Bakuretsu Rantou Hen (SFC)

Second 25:

26. Contra Spirits (SFC)
27. Dennou Senki: Virtual On (SAT)
28. Dead or Alive (SAT)
29. Fighting Vipers (SAT)
30. Last Bronx (SAT)
31. Steeldom (SAT)
32. Street Fighter Zero (SAT)
33. NinPen Manmaru (SAT)
34. Street Fighter Zero 2 (SAT)
35. Street Fighter Zero 2' (SAT)
36. Virtua Fighter Remix (SAT)
37. Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart (PC)
38. Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia (PC)
39. Final Fantasy XI: Rhapsodies of Vana'diel (PC)
40. Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin (PC)
41. ToeJam & Earl (GEN)
42. Magical Taruru~to-kun (GEN)
43. Metal Slug X (PS1)
44. Phantasy Star III: Toki no Keishousha (GEN)
45. Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni (GEN)
46. Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (PS2)
47. Shonen Ashibe: Goma-chan no Yuuenchi Daibouken (SFC)
48. Super Mario Kart (SFC)
49. Rockman Dash: Hagane no Boukenshin (PSP)
50. Umihara Kawase (SFC)

51. Tron ni Kobun (PS1)
52. Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Shinjuku Chuou Kouen Satsujin Jiken (via PS1 "Early Collection") (FDS)
53. Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Yokohama-kou Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (via PS1 "Early Collection) (NES)
54. Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special (Saturn)
55. Jumping Flash! Aloha Danshaku Funky Daisakusen no Maki (PS1)
56. Akumajou Chronicle: Akumajo Dracula (Arrange Mode) (PS1)
57. Koukaku Kidoutai (PS1)
58. Rockman Dash 2: Episode 2 - Ooi Naru Isan (PS1)


I finished up the last leg of the Legends series, within the calendar year, yesterday. I made it known in the "What are you playing?" thread that this is not a game I wish to revisit in the future, because of a particular dungeon that mostly takes place underwater, and slows Rock down to a crawl. I'm not even joking when I say that after getting out of water in this game, it feels like hitting a glitch where the game starts running twice as fast as it should be. In general, the framerate is a bit inconsistent, but this is especially true in particular areas like Yoshanka (the winter wonderland) and the field area of Manda-tou, once the Kobun are replaced by lesser pandas. Dash 2 has a few areas where full screen visual effects cloud the action (this includes the underwater segments), and also appear to affect the framerate. It's a little bit of a 'chicken or the egg' scenario, where I'm not sure if these parts are intentionally made to run slower, or if it's just exacerbated by the effects. Either way, I didn't appreciate it, even in the Forbidden Land, but especially not in the water dungeon, or when they brought the water mechanics back in the S Rank License dungeon.

Visually, Dash 2 is pretty nice for a PS1 game. It has a quality about it that reminds me of Skies of Arcadia, somehow, but for such a late release on the console, it would have been nice to see fewer instances of texture warping, clipping, and full screen dithering, which are all unfortunately common. The audio, like Dash 1, is almost not really worth the CD format. Generally speaking, I don't find either game to have a very memorable soundtrack, and while the voice acting is pretty good, the voice clarity is not that great. Sound effects are a bit of a mixed bag, but generally fairly appropriate, and maybe the best part of the audio.

So far, I haven't had a lot of good things to say about the game, but I do enjoy it. It's usually fun (when not under water) spelunking for treasure in dungeons, and upgrading Rock's arsenal, despite the exorbitant prices for everything in this one. The story in Dash 2 is a bit more 'anime' than the first game, and I honestly did not care much about what was going on. It all seemed a little trivial to me, and by the end of the game Roll seemed to have completely forgotten about her main goal in life. I just didn't really care about the Mothers, and their feud seemed like it only served to make things more convoluted than they needed to be. Story wise, I felt like the game was suffering a crisis of identity. It seemed to be trying convey several different themes without really effectively communicating any of them. I was able to forgive the end of Dash 1 going full on anime, since part of that was just blatantly ripping off paying homage to Char's Counterattack, but Dash 2 took it about three steps too far. To me, the series feels like it's more about characters, and in that respect, Dash 2 is still solid.

Mechanically, Dash 2 makes some changes, and not all of them are good. The control scheme is largely identical, by default, and the main addition to Rock's repertoire is the ability to move around while locking on to an enemy with the R2 button. Dash 2 also adds Dual Shock analog support, with camera control on the right stick, and the ability to walk or run with the left stick. Rock also starts Dash 2 with his fully upgraded jump from Dash 1. Also new are various status effects, which are really entirely unfun to deal with. Various enemies will deal status effects along with damage, and certain floor tiles can also afflict Rock with the effects. They can be removed by using a medicine bottle, or by running around, willy-nilly, until it wears off. These status floor tiles, along with Rock's 'improved' control, make for some really dodgy platforming at times. At first glance, it appears that Dash 2 is just a tremendous improvement, control wise, over Dash 1, but there are some subtleties to the changes made that make me feel that is not entirely the case. I won't even begin to try to say that Dash 1 had good controls, but for what they wanted to do, it worked fairly well. In Dash 2, for instance, there are some rooms in the fire dungeon with lava all around, and flying enemies, so locking on, and trying to jump and shoot around those rooms is almost a death sentence. The little raised platforms in the center of some of the floor tiles in those rooms make it necessary to make micro precision jumps, though, which do not at all work well in the game. The difficulty in the game is usually not very steep, but the final boss attacks in ways that make me think copious use of the dodge roll was intended for this fight, like the final boss in Dash 1. However, I found it tremendously more difficult to actually use the dodge roll in Dash 2, compared to Dash 1. I ended up beating the game largely through attrition, using the Shining Laser.

I still haven't said much good about the game, and I'd like to kind of pick out some good things about it to talk about, but in general it's just sort of a good game that does a number of things that irked me, throughout. I can't really put a finger on anything it does that's particularly exceptional, but I mostly enjoyed playing it, and it was mostly fun. That might not be good enough for real fans of the game, though.

In closing, I thought I would mention a few of the differences between Dash 2, and Legends 2 that I've gleaned so far: In Pokute Village, the quizes were originally officially sanctioned kanji test questions. I spent about 2-3 hours of my 20 hours clocked in the game just doing those kanji tests. (I spent another 2-3 hours getting first place in the first two race tracks for practically no reward, also--.) I still have the 100 question test left, but I've only been able to get about 15 correct before getting one wrong.

A very subtle difference in the SS Flutter is that the monograms on the characters' rooms are actually their first names in Dash 2 (ie "ROLL" instead of just "R").

Talking to the Junk Shop owner in Yoshonka, by going through the back door, doesn't give a the player a fossil, but an 'adult book.'

[laurenhiya21]

Previously beaten:

1/15: Aviary Attorney (Steam)
1/16: Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star (Steam)
1/27: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP)
1/31: Harmonia (Steam)
2/21: Yakuza 0 (PS4)
2/28: Cooking Mama: Cook Off (Wii)
3/17: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
3/22: Kirby Super Star (SNES)
4/6: Nier Automata (PS4)
5/11: Persona 3 Portable (PSP)
5/28: 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Vita)
6/2: DOOM (GOG)
6/10: Utawarerumono (PC)
7/16: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (Vita)
7/16: Gardens Inc: From Rakes to Riches (Steam)
7/20: Mystic Inn (BigFish Games)
8/3: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
8/19: Persona 5 (PS4)
8/24: Astebreed (PS4)
9/14: Yakuza: Kiwami (PS4)
10/10: Ar Tonelico 2 (PS2)
10/14: Littlewitch Romanesque (Steam)

*NEW*
10/31: Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
11/19: Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (Vita)
11/21: Kirby’s Anniversary Collection: Kirby’s Dream Land (Wii)*
12/10: Emily is Away (Steam)
12/14: Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland (PS3)
12/14: Crawl (PS4)
12/20: Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker (WiiU)
12/30: Heart’s Medicine: Season One (BigFish Games)

Total: 30 games

Whoops... Slacked off a bit on reviewing things Oh well I'll keep these short.

Super Mario Odyssey
I don’t think I liked Super Mario Odyssey as much as most people who played it, but I still enjoyed playing though it. I’m not going to go into depth about it (I’m sure everyone has done that well enough), but it was good looking, it controlled well, and I felt that it was very rarely frustrating. Plus there was a lot of variety in what you need to do to get moons, which helped to hold my attention the whole way through. There’s not a whole lot I can complain about, other than the people in New Donk City look a little odd and maybe some other minor things. There’s not a lot that is wrong with it, but there were quite a few other good games this year that just appealed to me more. Still, even though it’s definitely not my GoTY, I’m definitely glad I got a chance to play it.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is the conclusion to Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, and boy is it ever a good one! Not only does it have everything that I liked about Mask of Deception (good art, characters, and strategy RPG segments), but it also has made some improvements were made to the gameplay segments and a really good conclusion. Plus, if you wanted to do a lot more extra challenge levels, Mask of Truth has a TON of extra ones for you to do, something that Mask of Deception was lacking in (you could only replay levels you’ve already beaten). I can’t really talk much more about it, since it is a direct sequel to Mask of Deception, but I had a REALLY good time with this game. If you’re into visual novels, I highly suggest playing all three of the Utawarerumono games. They are all super good!

Kirby’s Anniversary Collection: Kirby’s Dream Land
I tried out all of the games on Kirby’s Anniversary Collection, and this was one of the only ones that I could beat (the other one being Kirby’s Super Star). I just didn’t have a fun time with any of them, but I think that’s just more my preference of being hyper picky with platformers, rather than the games themselves being bad. Only reason why I beat Kirby’s Dream Land was that is was super duper short (about an hour?). I’ll probably try some of the newer Kirby games, since I remember enjoying Kirby Mass Attack and Kirby Air Ride, but I think I can now say that I’m just not much of a Kirby fan :/

Emily is Away
A very short, free game that emulates some sort of old chat room and has a lot of boring teen drama. I don’t think I was the right audience for this, since I thought the characters were kind of dumb and I wasn’t interested in their troubles at all. I thought it was interesting how the game mimicked a chat room, but I’ve never used that sort of thing before so it was just kind of neat. Thankfully it was free and very very short.

Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland
Continuing on my quest to play as many Atelier games as I possibly can (because man I love that alchemy system!), Atelier Meruru was the next game on my list. I was a little worried with this one, since I got my butt kicked after playing Atelier Totori and I thought it might be the same sort of thing with Meruru. Thankfully, it did not kick my butt, and instead I had a good time and got one of the good endings!

Meruru has a nice balance of giving you specific tasks to accomplish, while also giving you a nice amount of freedom to do them in almost any order that you want. It’s also not super duper punishing if you just want to get a normal ending, but can still be a little more difficult if you want to try for a better ending. Some of the bosses, for example, can be pretty difficult if you don’t create good equipment or items, but I didn’t ever feel like the game didn’t give me enough time to prepare for them (like in Totori).

To sum it up simply, I really liked Meruru. Ayesha still is my favourite Atelier game so far, but Meruru definitely is number 2. I can’t wait to play the other games!

Crawl
This was a Limited Run game that I thought I would take a chance on, and it turned out to be not bad. It’s hard for me to judge well since it was neat, but it was definitely made to be played with multiple people.

In this, players are either this guy trying to get through a dungeon, or a spirit who tries to kill the guy by possessing various monsters or traps. When a spirit kills off the guy, they switch places. I think whoever kills the final boss (as the guy) wins, but I’m not super sure. I just played with the AI and I won haha.

It probably would be more fun with real people. With AI I find that it’s just alright.

Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker
A puzzle game that I actually really enjoyed! I think I enjoyed Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker since it’s easy enough for me to understand what I can do, but it’s also just difficult enough that I have to think a bit on what needs to be done (at least in some levels). There were a few levels that I did not like at all, like ones that require a lot of running (Toad is not very good at running around) and ones that heavily used the WiiU’s gamepad as an aiming device (it’s so jerky and didn’t work most of the time), but luckily those didn’t come up very often.

If you have a WiiU, you should probably pick it up!

Heart’s Medicine: Season One
Heart’s Medicine is a series of time management type games (think similar to Diner Dash), set around a woman who wants to be a doctor. Season One is the first game in the series. For the most part it’s pretty standard for a time management game, but what’s different with this one is that it has mini-games from time to time, and it has a plot that’s a little more fleshed out. The plot isn’t anything too spectacular (with parts where the main character gets down over a patient’s death and later falls for two different guys), but it’s surprising that it’s in there. Most of the time it’s just the barest possible story ever, so it was interesting to see something more original for once. Only real negative I have with this is that it’s very short. It only has around 20 levels, and since each one only takes up a few minutes, the game can be beaten in a sitting. Still, I enjoyed it and it wasn’t terribly pricey, so it was fine for me. And yeah it’s not exactly an exciting game to end 2017 with, but I needed a relaxing game to play haha.

I didn't beat as many games in 2017 as I have in other years, but it was a particularly rough year for me and I also did beat some longer VNs and RPGs. I might do a year end tally later, but I'm not sure haha.

[Sarge]

Definitely off of last year's pace, but still cleared 100. Of course, I think like 44 of them were NES games, so there's that.

Tallying up my beaten games time, it took me 630 hours or so to get through the 119 games. I spent more time with a few after I beat them, though, like Mario Odyssey and BotW, so that number is probably around 700 for the games listed. That puts me at an average of about two hours per day playing video games, which isn't quite as bad as I expected. If we assume that I played other stuff (which I did!), perhaps that number jumps to 1000 hours? So three hours per day. Seems relatively sustainable considering I don't watch a ton of TV.

[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)
15. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC)(FPS)
16. Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory (PC)(Platformer)
17. Zombie Shooter (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
18. Torchlight (PC)(Action RPG)
19. Descent II (PC)(FPS)
20. Might and Magic: Swords of Xeen (PC)(RPG)
21. Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft (PS1)(Fighting)
22. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (PC)(RPG)
23. True Lies (SNES)(Top-Down Shooter)
24. Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC)(FPS)
25. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (PC)(RPG)

Why am I still posting in the 2017 thread? Because I beat this game on December 31 and didn't get a chance to post about it until today.

Might and Magic 4 and 5 are so deeply intertwined that it can be tough to separate them, but as I already talked about 4 on its own, I'm gonna take some time to talk about 5, which continues to improve on 4. It feels like there is a lot more content in 5, since there is a whole new system of walkways in the clouds over the world, alternate elemental planes, and a bunch of new dungeons. There are even some dungeons with replenishable resources, so you can go back through them for new ore to make equipment, thus giving you an edge in the early game. 5 definitely feels like it was meant to be finished after 4 with the same party though, so if you want to try it, beat 4 first and port folks over. Trust me, you'll need it.

All of this said, 5 also feels like it meanders a bit at times, particularly once you accept the quest to find special magical orbs necessary to restore a particular castle. As this quest pretty much lets you go in any order you want, I found things a bit aimless at times. There is also a lot of side stuff which is fun but unnecessary for advancement, ranging from forts run by giants and ogres, a quest to restore the fountain of youth, the ore mines, and a couple of towns that really only exist as fodder farms for building up levels.

Yet the world feels vast, larger in size than the world of 4 despite being the same size. I attribute this both to the inclusion of extra stuff to do but also the layout, with very large forests, mountain ranges, snowy fields, and a desert that feels better put together than 4's. 5 feels like a world while 4 felt cramped.

Frankly, 4 ultimately feels like an appetizer to 5, and while the hardest dungeons in the game are actually in 4 once you reach 5's post-game content, it comes at a time that makes it feel more like 5 instead. If this is hard to keep straight...yeah, it kind of is. Once you defeat the main storyline of 5, the wrap up involves a lot of world hopping between the two, and it can get a little confusing. It is also confusing on what to do, and the elemental planes formed a stumbling block for me for a while because I didn't realize I had to do specific actions there. Once I figured that out though, it was a rush to the end.

Like I said earlier, it's hard to divorce the two games. 4 and 5 really do need to be played together, because they would feel incomplete without the other. Judge them as a whole and appreciate them that way. I certainly appreciated them.

Also, 4 and 5 are way better than Swords of Xeen. Seriously, don't ruin Swords by trying to do it after the 4/5 combo. That's just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Accept that Swords is gonna have problems and tackle it after 3 instead.