Games Beaten 2018

Anything that is gaming related that doesn't fit well anywhere else
MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by MrPopo »

1. Ultima V - PC
2. Ultima VI - PC
3. Might and Magic VI - PC
4. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny - PC
5. Pool of Radiance - PC
6. Curse of the Azure Bonds - PC
7. Secret of the Silver Blades - PC
8. Pools of Darkness - PC
9. Gateway to the Savage Frontier - PC
10. Treasures of the Savage Frontier - PC
11. Champions of Krynn - PC
12. Death Knights of Krynn - PC
13. Dark Queen of Krynn - PC
14. Into the Breach - PC
15. Lords of the Realm - PC
16. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands - PC
17. Lords of the Realm II - PC
18. The Alliance Alive - 3DS
19. Shattered Steel - PC
20. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition - PC
21. Battletech - PC
22. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part I - PC
23. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part II - PC
24. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - Switch
25. Pillars of Eternity II - PC
26. Dragon Ball FighterZ - PS4
27. Detroit: Become Human - PC4

This is my first experience with a David Cage game. In terms of gameplay, it lives up to the reputation. But I found that to be ok, because I came into it for a very specific story that was promised in the trailers and the game definitely delivered on it. I probably wouldn't go back and play it again because, aside from a couple of missed QTEs, I was satisfied with the path I took; I would be seeking out "worse" paths if I did it again.

The basic premise is that androids are now common in society. They have intelligence but lack free will and function as servants for people. This has caused some economic tension, as the floor has dropped out from most of the labor jobs in favor of androids (much cheaper and don't bitch). This aspect only gets touched on a little, as the focus is instead on the androids themselves. There is a phenomena hat is spreading where androids are achieving free will, usually hurting a human in the process. As you'll see through the game, it tends to happen when the android is under deep stress, most frequently because they are facing down their own demise. This shatters through the programming and they fully awaken, and since usually someone is trying to end them they fight back. At the point the game starts it is reaching a level of epidemic, and is starting to raise concerns at the higher echelons.

You follow three protagonists, whose stories criss cross a bit, as they all revolve around this awakening. The first is Conner, an android sent by the company to assist the police in investigating these issues. The company rightly fears what this turning into a full movement will mean for them. The second is Kara, a housekeeping android owned by an unemployed, drug abusing asshole and his daughter. Kara awakens to save Alice (the daughter) from the abuse and the two go on the run. The third follows Markus, an android who has ideas of freedom taught to him by his owner (an old painter) before some shit goes down and he gets junked. He makes it out and links up with an underground of escaped androids that he eventually turns into a resistance movement.

So elephant in the room, the game definitely takes cues from the Civil Rights movement. I personally thing it was well handled, as those tactics were seen in other places besides the US. You are given the option of going violent or peaceful in your protests, with the associated consequences. The idea of personhood is thrown around a lot, as the major conflict is just how many people see these ambulatory machines as things, rather than distinct intelligences. It reminds me, a bit, of some of the dynamics in the show Almost Human (another victim of Fox killing good sci fi shows early).

The actual gameplay is mostly moving from trigger to trigger, learning things and engaging in dialog . The story is initially very linear, but there are points as things go on where there can be some pretty major forks, according to the plot outline. Which is something interesting they put in; after a mission you can see the choices you took, as well as the existence of choices you didn't take. You can also get a breakdown to see what percentage of people took the route you've done. Some of those were really interesting; some stuff would be a fairly even choice, while others would be very lopsided. The game is big on multi button prompts, which was one of the things that got annoying over time. It was very arbitrary which tasks were very involved, button wise, and which ones were simple. The problem is when you then encounter QTEs; these are timed and failure is expected, and a few times I failed because the game was asking me to do stuff that didn't make sense. There's just enough consistency on the button inputs that a divergence sticks out. That said, the QTEs aren't all or nothing; if you're in a fight you can fail a handful and still win the fight. So I have to give them credit for having animated and calculated out all the permutations to make it all flow pretty well during the action sequences.

I'd say this game is for two people. One is people who like David Cage stuff, and the other is people who like stories about the eventual machine uprising.
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Ack
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Ack »

1. Jungle Book (SNES)(Platformer)
2. Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge (SNES)(Light Gun Shooter)
3. Might and Magic VI (PC)(RPG)
4. Revenant (PC)(RPG)
5. Neo Turf Masters (NGPC)(Sports)
6. Fatal Fury: First Contact (NGPC)(Fighter)
7. Pac-Man (NGPC)(Action)

8. Golden Axe (Genesis)(Hack and Slash)
9. Blood and Bacon (PC)(FPS)
10. Gain Ground (Genesis)(Strategy)

11. Flicky (Genesis)(Platformer)
12. Zombie Shooter 2 (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
13. Phantasmagoria (PC)(Point and Click)
14. SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter's Clash - Capcom Version (NGPC)(Card Game)
15. Toonstruck (PC)(Point and Click)
16. Riven (PC)(Point and Click)
17. Dragon Wars (PC)(RPG)
18. Dungeon Hack (PC)(RPG)
19. SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium (NGPC)(Fighter)
20. Portal 2 (PC)(Puzzle FPS)
21. Goat Simulator: Waste of Space (PC)(Action)
22. Goat Simulator: Payday (PC)(Action)
23. Goat Simulator: MMO Simulator (PC)(Action)

24. Goat Simulator: GoatZ (PC)(Action)
25. Goat Simulator (PC)(Action)
26. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)(Beat 'Em Up)
27. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC)(Action Platformer)


Yeah, I wrapped up another batch of stuff over the weekend. I'll break each one down separately.

Goat Simulator: GoatZ

This is a DayZ parody for Goat Simulator, and it completely changes the game. You have the option of starting the game before the zombie outbreak or after it, though if you start before, changes you make such as items you move will end up moved after the outbreak. This is supremely useful for doing many of the activities in the level, understanding your way around, and setting yourself up for many of the achievements. You also have the ability to turn people into zombies, which is necessary to start the outbreak.

Once the zombie outbreak begins, the game transitions into a survival mode, where you have to manage your health and food levels while completing various tasks, crafting equipment, and fighting or avoiding the enemies that are steadily getting tougher. Some of the tasks are as simple as killing a certain number of zombies, while others require knowledge of specific areas of the map or doing specific activities. There are a lot of weapons to create too, with each one providing a new way to handle killing the undead elephants, spitting zombies, and bulky undead bodyguards that you'll encounter. Perhaps the worst enemy in this mode are the naked Russians, who steal your weapons and then use them against you. I believe the only way to kill them is to knock them into water.

GoatZ was the hardest to wrap up of the various DLCs for Goat Simulator, but completing the other DLCs gives you access to key mutators which make this one infinitely easier to complete. I'd suggest playing this one last if you can.

Goat Simulator

Yes, I finished the base game after finishing all of the DLCs all due to one achievement: Flappy Goat. I'll get to that in a second though. The base Goat Simulator gives you two different sandbox areas to run around, complete tasks, and earn achievements. They're rife with parody and set the tone for the rest of the series, including incorporating a home office for the developers (who later appear in GoatZ if you know where to look). Despite the relatively small size of the sandboxes, there is a surprising amount of stuff to do, ranging from using a boulder to crush a redneck doing doughnuts in a corn field to taking over a deadmou5 concert or beating up on Ninja Turtles in a sewer.

Once again, there are mutators that you will find across the course of the game which will help in the other modes, and vice versa here. One of my favorites is called Angel Goat, which lets you slowly float to the ground from any height. The way you get it? Don't do anything for five minutes, and it'll unlock because you were nice enough not to hurt anyone or commit property damage.

However, the base game also contains what is considered the hardest task of the entire Goat Simulator line: Flappy Goat. Inside the game devs' studio, there is a television that you can access which has games on it, one of which is a parody of Flappy Bird. You have to get through 10 gates to wrap things up. Unfortunately, your hit box is actually larger than your sprite, so it takes time to figure out exactly how much room you actually have. Expect it to take hours as you learn the intricacies.

Streets of Rage 2

Now this is how a beat 'em up should be. SoR2 provides a cast of characters with an array of abilities, so everyone has someone who caters to their taste. Character sprites are huge and colorful. The world is gorgeously rendered, and the stages offer a variety of interactive elements along with enemy designs which vary from the tried and true of the original game to the bizarre and grandiose, like a guy with a jetpack. I loved it. SoR2 takes everything that was good about the first game and improves upon it dramatically.

Are there downsides? Well, yes, one small change I was not a fan of is that special attacks now use health instead of an acquired item, so I felt myself hesitating to ever consider using them, even when I'm sure the situation warranted it. But beyond this one rough edge, SoR2 took the problems of the first and largely fixed them; some of the worst enemies of the first game are dramatically improved, such as the fire-spitting fat guy. There can also be a ton of enemies coming at you at once, so even if they don't display the teamwork that they do in a game like Golden Axe, you're still likely to be getting hit from all sides if you aren't careful.

Most importantly though, combat feels good. Beating the crap out of some knife-wielding punk is satisfying to do. Streets of Rage 2 is definitely up there with some of the best looking and best playing beat 'em ups of its era.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Yes, I also Kickstarted Bloodstained, and so I have access to Curse of the Moon, which I've been playing on Steam. CotM takes what I like about the original Castlevanias and bolsters the experience to 11. Character abilities are varied and balanced, depending on how much time to take to learn the intricacies of all your swappable allies as well as the unlockable and hidden abilities of your primary character, Zangetsu. Bosses are massive, gorgeous, and devilishly well designed. The introductions of some border on 8-bit masterpieces which rival some of the work done even in the 16-bit Castlevania era. There are also branching paths, designed to keep the same eight levels varied and interesting while you race through them again and again to try out all the various modes.

You will play through Curse of the Moon multiple times; the game demands it. As you play, you're unlocking new modes to try and experiment with, and these new modes present their own unique challenges and styles, such as getting by without having access to your allies or changing up the boss patterns to much more difficult manners. Shoot, I want to get home and play through more of Nightmare Mode right now. I keep wanting to go back to it. It's just that good.

I admit, I backed Bloodstained at the $60 tier to get the base game. I still want that game, and while I'm not saying I'd pay $60 for Curse of the Moon...well, I am very happy and very impressed with what I've gotten so far. The purchase feels warranted, even without the main game being released yet. This has certainly whet my appetite and given me a great experience in the meantime.
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by prfsnl_gmr »

1. Bastion (iOS)
2. LaserCat (360)
3. Zombie Incident (3DS)
4. Bye-Bye BoxBoy! (3DS)
5. Monument Valley 2 (iOS)
6. Zenge (iOS)
7. Master of Darkness (Game Gear/3DS)
8. Wonder Boy (SMS)
9. Full Throttle Remastered (iOS)
10. Adventure Island (NES)
11. Adventure Island II (NES)
12. Adventure Island (GB)
13. Super Adventure Island (SNES)
14. New Adventure Island (TG16)
15. Adventure Island III (NES)
16. The Legend of the Ghost Lion (NES)
17. Part Time UFO (iOS)
18. Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise (GB)
19. Adventure Island IV (NES)
20. Super Adventure Island II (SNES)
21. Adventure Island: The Beginning (WII)
22. Quell Memento (3DS)
23. Wonder Boy in Monster Land (ARCADE)
24. Saiyuuki World (FAMICOM)
25. Whomp ‘Em (NES)
26. Bikkuriman World (TG16)
27. Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (TG16)
28. Go Series: Picdun (DS)
29. The Keep (3DS)
30. Dooors ((3DS)


The Keep is a solid FPDC. I wrote more about it in the May TR thread. (In short, it is good, and some questionable art direction aside, you should play it if you like games like Orcs & Elves.)

Dooors is basically a series of 80 “puzzles”. It is occasionally clever, but mostly bad. You can beat it in about an hour, but there really isn’t any reason you should do so. Apparently, it is part of a pretty popular mobile game series, but it just did not appeal to me.
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by PartridgeSenpai »

Partridge Senpai's 2018 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017
* indicates a repeat

1-20

21. Deadbolt (Steam)
22. Legend of Grimrock 2 (Steam)
23. The Witness (PS4)
24. Uurnog (PC)
25. Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch)
26. Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)

27. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)

I pre-ordered the special edition of this game back when it came out some seven or so years, and I really couldn't get into it. I thought the pacing was really slow, the tons of tutorializing and controls were frustrating, and the dungeons and story weren't really grabbing me. I really liked playing as Ghirahim in Hyrule Warriors last week, so I decided to finally give this game another shot. I still had a lot of the same problems with it, truth be told, but I clearly managed to actually finish it this time. As far as my overall feelings about the game go, I think Flake put it best in the Slack chat best when he said, "Skyward Sword would have benefited from being a 20 hour game." I did damn near everything (although apparently missed 5 heart pieces), and it took me about 36 hours, but there honestly isn't really that much side content to do compared to the proper game content. At the most, six hours of that was side-quests, and that's a liberal estimate.

The issue that most people immediately notice in Skyward Sword is the glacial pacing, and it is a problem the whole game. Outside of the perhaps the Triforce piece hunt in Wind Waker (which I didn't mind too much), this is probably the only Zelda game I can think of where the game feels actively padded with a ton of uninteresting, frustrating, and/or repetitive content.
The second and third imprisoned fights, getting the water dragon's healing water, and escorting Scrapper up the volcano were just all miserable and I did not enjoy them at all. Then you have stuff like the entire Hero's Song section, which the Thunder Dragon part was fairly fun of, that still feels really unnecessary and only added to pad out the game's clock.

That's just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head, and that stuff takes up at least a third of the game's run-time. All that on top of the flying, which is the boring sailing parts of Wind Waker but now the game forces you to pay full attention to it all the time to actually get where you're going, just makes the game feel like such a slog so frequently. Twilight Princess was a game I thought outstayed its welcome with its length, but Skyward Sword commits that sin on top of not actually doing it with new areas more often than not :?

For all the relentless tutorializing this game does, where it feels the need to remind you that your Wiimote's batteries are running low, what a boss door looks like, telling you what you're doing yet again when you walk to a new location, reminding you what all 36 materials and bugs are every time you pick them up between play sessions, this game just does not give you a good enough explanation of how to actually play it. From rolling bombs being unclear, to constantly having to realign your cursor to aim any ranged weapon, even the main selling point of the game, the sword combat, I found to be strangely temperamental and not explained very well.

Ghirahim, the first boss fight, is so incredibly unintuitive with the way he uses his hand to block your attacks where every enemy up until that point has used a sword or had some obvious dividing line down where you're supposed to slash them. It makes for an incredibly difficult and frustrating boss fight when it's just the first boss of the game, and yet this is trying to teach you not to telegraph your attacks. Ghirahim is the only enemy who uses such a small defensive point to block attacks with, so presenting him in this way is only unintuitive but needlessly confusing. You don't even need to not telegraph your attacks. If you lazily drag your hand from one side to the other, he just doesn't block from that angle you've now moved to, meaning not telegraphing your attacks isn't what you need to do to beat him at all, you just need to know how to beat him. Stacked on top of how I could only get Link to do the slashes I wanted him to do around 60% of the time, and the sword combat was just pushing me away from the game the entire time I was playing it.

On a more positive note, the game looks and sounds beautiful. It's a bit pixely, sure, but the art style makes the world, the enemies, the bosses, the NPC's all look charming and beautiful in their own ways. The music as well is some of the best the series had had until Breath of the Wild (or so I've heard, having not played it yet). As annoying as the Bokoblins are to fight, they and the other enemies have such charming, well-animated designs that I can't help but like them. The dungeon designs are also quite good, if still fairly typical and fairly linear Zelda dungeons. The one inspired by Buddhism (the 4th one, I think) was definitely my favorite on a design level, even though I think it was my least favorite to play through :lol:

The story is also one of the best in the series up to that point. Groose, Zelda, Impa, and (all the problems I have with how his "fop" character archetype is portrayed aside) Ghirahim are some of the best characters the series has ever had, and the twists the story takes with them are nearly all ones I genuinely didn't see coming. Groose has at least 4 or 5 different versions of his theme for different points in the story and his character arc, and that attention to detail is something I couldn't help but love.

I have fairly mixed feelings about the crafting and items in the game. I thought the pouch-system was fairly clever, and the way you had to choose between more shields, medals, and bottles made for some really good opportunity cost when it came to preparing for missions, even if shield destruction was never a problem I encountered. I really didn't like how you could never get perminant upgrades for your bomb-bag and arrow quiver and such, mostly because it made Batreaux's side-quest (even if I liked the concept of how it was presented, with more side-quests tangentially contributing towards one instead of one long trading sequence) feel totally pointless because the bigger wallets he gives you (instead of say, a bigger bomb bag or quiver) are totally useless because you absolutely never need that much money for anything. I overall liked the equipment upgrading for better arrows and bug net and such.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. This is probably the closest a game I've played has come as close to being Not Recommended in quite a while. I mean, if I did damn near everything like I did, it must've been doing something right, but this game has some big caveats to enjoying it. Unless you really like motion controls or are willing to look past them, you really won't enjoy this game. This game deserves the controversial place it holds in the fandom because it genuinely has a lot of serious problems in its design as well as a heap of brilliant innovations. If you can find it for cheap, it's worth checking out at the very least.
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ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by ElkinFencer10 »

Games Beaten in 2018 So Far - 57
* denotes a replay

January (16 Games Beaten)
1. Phantasy Star Portable - PlayStation Portable - January 1
2. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - Xbox One - January 9
3. Duck Tales - NES - January 10
4. Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4 - January 14
5. Xuan-Yuan Sword: The Gate of Firmament - PlayStation 4 - January 20
6. Doki Doki Literature Club - Steam - January 20
7. Deep Space Waifu - Steam - January 21
8. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Steam - January 21
9. Duck Tales 2 - NES - January 22
10. TaleSpin - NES - January 22
11. Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - NES - January 23
12. Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 - NES - January 24
13. Global Defence Force - PlayStation 2 - January 24
14. Darkwing Duck - NES - January 25
15. Tiny Toon Adventures - NES - January 26
16. Poi - Steam - January 28


February (18 Games Beaten)
17. Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD - Steam - February 3
18. Final Fantasy Legend - Game Boy - February 5
19. Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni - Vita - February 5
20. Super Little Acorns 3D Turbo - 3DS - February 8
21. Adventures in Equica: Unicorn Training - Android - February 8
22. Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest - SNES - February 10
23. X-COM: UFO Defense - Steam - February 14
24. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys -TurboGrafx-CD - February 18
25. Army Men - Game Boy Color - February 19
26. Army Men 2 - Game Boy Color - February 19
27. Army Men: Air Combat - Game Boy Color - February 20
28. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd - PlayStation Portable - February 22
29. Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 - Game Boy Color - February 22
30. Army Men Advance - Game Boy Advance - February 24
31. Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn - PlayStation 3 - February 25
32. Army Men: Operation Green - Game Boy Advance - February 26
33. A Night Out - PC - February 27
34. Army Men: Turf Wars - Game Boy Advance - February 27


March (10 Games Beaten)
35. Phantasy Star - Master System - March 10*
36. Grand Kingdom - PlayStation 4 - March 17
37. Bit.Trip Beat - Wii - March 18
38. Bit.Trip Core - Wii - March 18
39. Bit.Trip Void - Wii - March 18
40. Bit.Trip Runner - Wii - March 22
41. Bit.Trip Fate - Wii - March 22
42. Bit.Trip Flux - Wii - March 24
43. Bit.Trip Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien - Wii U - March 25
44. My Nintendo Picross: Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess - 3DS - March 28


April (7 Games Beaten)
45. Gundam Breaker 3 - PlayStation 4 - April 4
46. Night Trap - PlayStation 4 - April 5
47. Corpse Killer - Sega CD 32X - April 9
48. Corpse Killer - Saturn - April 11*
49. Area 51 - Saturn - April 16*
50. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Sega CD - April 17
51. SD Gundam G Generation Genesis - PlayStation 4 - April 28*


May (6 Games Beaten)
52. Detention - PlayStation 4 - May
53. Guacamelee - Wii U - May 6
54. EDGE - Wii U - May 7
55. RUSH - Wii U - May 9
56. Pokemon Snap - Nintendo 64 - May 27
57. Doom VFR - PS VR - May 27


57. Doom VFR - PS VR - May 27

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I love Doom. The 2016 reboot is an incredibly brutal, high adrenaline gore-fest. When I heard that Doom was getting a VR game, I was immediately hyped. There were definitely some aspects of the game that disappointed me, but throw that mess in VR, and the adrenaline is tripled. It's important to know what the game and what it isn't before you strap up and play it because that's where most of your disappointment from this game will originate - expecting it to be something that it's not.

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First and foremost - this is not the Doom version of Skyrim VR. This is not a VR version of Doom but rather a VR game in the same setting as Doom. You don't play at the Doom Slayer but rather as some random dead (but also not dead...sort of?) guy who takes control of a robot and uses it to move around and fight. A lot of the locations and enemies from the 2016 Doom show up in Doom VFR, but there's FAR more of the game missing than present; Doom VFR only took me about 8 hours to play through including deaths.

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Considering the low resolution of the PS VR headset, the game looks quite good. I was playing on a PS4 Pro, so I'm not sure how much of a boon that was to the game's visual fidelity, but I was impressed. As with the standard Doom, however, the real star of the show is the soundtrack. The music for Doom was KILLER, and it's every bit as dope in Doom VFR.

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The biggest disappointment for me was the movement controls. It uses the "teleport" movement that's become fairly common in VR games. I know why devs use that mechanic - it's generally the least likely to make people motion sick - but it would have been nice if it had given players the option of choosing between teleport movement and more traditional movement with an analogue stick like Skyrim VR did. That's a relatively minor gripe, and while it wasn't exactly the smoothest mechanic for a fast paced FPS, it wasn't too bad to get used to it.

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Doom VFR might just be the best FPS experience available on PS VR. Farpoint was fantastic and had the smooth control stick movement that I prefer, but it didn't have the intensity that Doom VFR brings to the table. The game looks fantastic for the headset resolution it has to work with, and that music never gets old. If you're looking for a high adrenaline high octane shooter in virtual reality, then this is what you need. It may not be perfect, but for a console virtual reality shooter, it's a damn fine product.
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Xeogred
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Xeogred »

PartridgeSenpai wrote:Partridge Senpai's 2018 Beaten Games:The story is also one of the best in the series up to that point. Groose, Zelda, Impa, and (all the problems I have with how his "fop" character archetype is portrayed aside) Ghirahim are some of the best characters the series has ever had, and the twists the story takes with them are nearly all ones I genuinely didn't see coming. Groose has at least 4 or 5 different versions of his theme for different points in the story and his character arc, and that attention to detail is something I couldn't help but love.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. This is probably the closest a game I've played has come as close to being Not Recommended in quite a while. I mean, if I did damn near everything like I did, it must've been doing something right, but this game has some big caveats to enjoying it. Unless you really like motion controls or are willing to look past them, you really won't enjoy this game. This game deserves the controversial place it holds in the fandom because it genuinely has a lot of serious problems in its design as well as a heap of brilliant innovations. If you can find it for cheap, it's worth checking out at the very least.

Yup! Going from one of the best stories (SS) to one of the worst (BoTW) was a bit odd for me, heh. Not to mention the SS's OST is incredible and Koji Kondo's absence from BoTW was unfortunate to me.

I love SS, but I can't argue against some of your biggest criticisms, it is a bit padded out and the Imprisonsed fights suck. I also found myself really missing a good chilly snowy environment. Kind of weird it just doesn't have one.

It has insane peaks of greatness like you said for sure though, which still makes it hard for how I'd order TP, SS, and BoTW. I think they all balance out with their strengths and weaknesses for how I'd rank them. Ultimately I still love OoT the most in the end.

Always nice to see someone give SS a fair shake though so I'm glad you played it!
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by marurun »

1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

It occurs to me that I never actually did a write up here for beating the game back in April. Or if I did, 15 minutes of forum searching and page-by-page browsing was performed wearing 2 eye patches, one over each eye.

I went a little obsessive on the game, including reading a few hints on-line, before beating it, so that I could have all the base armors, powers, and shrines, and it's been at least a month since I put it down, but I'll do my best to recount my impressions.

BotW is probably the most fun and most interesting open world game I've played to date. Sure, Bethesda and Obsidian have more complex story and better NPC interactions (except when they don't - see unkillable NPCs who taunt you even though you have nearly godlike weapons and abilities), but Zelda has much better combat and world interaction models. Between all the physics-based powers you wield and the various interactions of fire, electricity, and ice, this game constantly challenges you to figure out your preferred method of solving problems. Over a hundred shrines, most of which require you to use your various powers to either find or solve, reinforce this. Combine that with the ability to climb and glide, and even fast-travel between towers and shrines, and getting around in the world feels really good. Combats are very impactful early on where it's puny you against everything, and even when you begin to gain in power you discover new and more frightening opponents (who you will most likely avoid after they smash you flat). After you kill some enemies enough times some of them get upgraded to more powerful variants, so while you do finally get to exact your revenge on the weaklings, these stronger versions will continue to keep you on your toes.

The art style and overall aesthetic of the world is fantastic. The graphical stylings of the game are simple but effective. It strikes a nice balance, not being too cartoony and cute but also not trying to be photo realistic. Performance is mostly good, though there are some scenes where the frame rate will start to drag. The music is a delight, not overly complex but well-composed and well-performed, hitting the mood of the various moments of the game perfectly. The voice acting is pretty good, too.

I may not be willing to slog around the world of this game as much as I did, say, Borderlands or the Bethesda Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, but I also don't really have the time to do that any more, so that's a good thing. I was able to totally indulge in this game, suck the marrow from the bones, and now I can put it down and rest easy, knowing I had a fantastic time.

I rank Breath of the Wild tied with Link to the Past and the original Legend of Zelda as the best Zelda games I've played.
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by PartridgeSenpai »

Xeogred wrote:It has insane peaks of greatness like you said for sure though, which still makes it hard for how I'd order TP, SS, and BoTW. I think they all balance out with their strengths and weaknesses for how I'd rank them. Ultimately I still love OoT the most in the end.

Always nice to see someone give SS a fair shake though so I'm glad you played it!


It's definitely a game I enjoyed quite a bit to a point, and one I'm glad I gave back to give that fair shake, but definitely a game I don't really see myself ever replaying. Granted I could say the same thing about most other Zelda games. There's a lot of stuff I really like, but there's enough stuff I fucking despise in between those things that I don't really wanna play through it again XD

Twilight Princess definitely felt more to me like Ocarina of Time but given the mid-2000's gritty treatment, and it really wasn't terribly memorable to me in most ways. I think Skyward Sword was definitely a more memorable game for me, for better or worse :lol:

Honestly, if Nintendo did an HD remake of SS on Switch with faster flying and/or fast travel system, this would become a much easier game to recommend.
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Flake »

January:

Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)
Batman: The Telltale Series (PS4)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (DSi ware)

February:

Roundabout (PS4)
Pocket Fighter (PSX)
Double Dragon Neon (PS3)
Batman Arkham VR(PSVR)

March:

Gundam Versus (PS4)

April:

Megaman 9 (PS4)
Megaman 10 (PS4)

May:

The Legend of Zelda: BotW (Switch)
Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS4)
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA/WiiU)

June:

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams (Switch)
Megaman (Switch)
Megaman 2 (Switch)


Old school goodness for the beginning of Summer!

Metroid Zero Mission is an evergreen title for me. I'm still very happy with the game's execution on the WiiU. I managed to set a PB of 2:39 this time - I honestly don't think I've ever gone that fast through the title. Still only earned the 'No Helmet' ending, though.

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams was not in the arcade where I lived for very long before it was replaced by Street Fighter Alpha 2. Street Fighter Alpha I is a weird game. The artwork isn't bad but the back grounds are pretty dull and static. Everything seems kind of washed out in the audio department. I only did a single run through the arcade mode with Ryu and that's probably enough. Glad the Switch has this, though.

Megaman on Switch is a nice step up from Megaman on PS4. The same quality of life offerings are present (like the MM1 lightning pause) but having an optional rewind button made getting through the game much more fun. I really don't like the first Megaman game a whole hell of a lot, though. I'm rarely able to find anything redeeming about it other than some of the music.

Megaman 2 on the Switch isn't much different from the same title on all the other systems I have played it on. I do feel like the Switch did a much better job of handling some of the rapidly scrolling back ground elements like Bubble Man's level or the pistons in Metal Man's stage. I did just mess with some of the post processing on my TV to fix some screen latency though so I could be giving the switch too much credit. Still as fun a game as it was in the early 90's but not with a super comfy controller!
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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Re: Games Beaten 2018

Post by Flake »

A Flake double-post in Games Beaten?? This literally hasn't happened to me in years.

January:

Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)
Batman: The Telltale Series (PS4)
Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (DSi ware)

February:

Roundabout (PS4)
Pocket Fighter (PSX)
Double Dragon Neon (PS3)
Batman Arkham VR(PSVR)

March:

Gundam Versus (PS4)

April:

Batman: The Enemy Within (PS4)
Megaman 9 (PS4)
Megaman 10 (PS4)

May:

The Legend of Zelda: BotW (Switch)
Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS4)
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA/WiiU)

June:

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams (Switch)
Megaman (Switch)
Megaman 2 (Switch)
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS4)

I finally finally finally beat Skyrim! I managed to avoid the following:
- Getting burnt out on side quests
- having my save get corrupted
- hitting a game breaking but that killed hours of progress
- playing it on a PS3 with that really weird memory leak issue that caused the FPS to drop to like 12.
- Forgetting where I was

There's not a lot to be said about Skyrim. Vast and ambitious game, beautiful graphics (the Legendary Edition is pretty amazing), repetitive gameplay and an ending that is vastly underwhelming relative to the story you're promised at the beginning. I am just glad to have finally made it through the main quest. Going to take a break now but I do plan to tackle the DLC portions down the line.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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