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MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by MrPopo Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:58 pm

ArmA: Cold War Assault is now wishlisted.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Exhuminator Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:28 pm

I don't know if there were any gameplay changes from Operation Flashpoint when it became ArmA: Cold War Assault. But one of the things that made the original game so challenging was you could only save once per mission. And these missions were often humongous and immensely challenging, so you constantly second guessed yourself about when to use that one save. (Also the helicopter controls were just a nightmare all on their own.)
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by ExedExes Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:24 am

Yeah, I beat GRAW on PC, and it doesn't mean I had to like it. In fact, I had quite the (frustrating) time with it. Ack has been added to the legendary pantheon.

Check out pages 133-145 in the "What FPS Are You Playing" thread for my month long GRAW experience (and yes, I even called it GWAR in a post). Another thing that wasn't mentioned by either of us 3, a problem I encountered from time to time during my GRAW playthrough was that when I reloaded checkpoints, in many places that seemed empty and clear at first, enemies would just magically appear, at times even just pop up, catching me totally off guard. That sucked.

Coming up in the near future: GRAW 2. This time it's personal. (and also developed by GRIN, but it should come as no surprise I really enjoy the Tom Clancy games.)
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Exhuminator Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:01 am

ExedExes wrote:Coming up in the near future: GRAW 2.

I plan to play it someday. One big change though is that GRAW 2 lets you save and reload any time you want. That should make it significantly easier than the first.
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MrPopo
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by MrPopo Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:13 am

Exhuminator wrote:I don't know if there were any gameplay changes from Operation Flashpoint when it became ArmA: Cold War Assault. But one of the things that made the original game so challenging was you could only save once per mission. And these missions were often humongous and immensely challenging, so you constantly second guessed yourself about when to use that one save. (Also the helicopter controls were just a nightmare all on their own.)

From what I've read it's entirely just a rebranding because Codemasters owns the Operation Flashpoint trademark. It's the rerelease of the original with another patch or two.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by MrPopo Wed Nov 25, 2015 1:15 am

First 50:

51. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - PC
52. Starflight - PC
53. Skies of Arcadia - Dreamcast
54. Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000 - PC
55. Super Star Wars - SNES
56. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - PC
57. Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel - PC
58. The Catacomb - PC
59. Azure Striker Gunvolt - 3DS
60. Mighty Gunvolt - 3DS
61. Catacomb Abyss - PC
62. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - PC
63. Strike Suit Zero - Director's Cut - PC
64. Wolfenstein 3D Spear of Destiny - PC
65. StarCraft - PC
66. Metal Storm - NES
67. Septerra Core - PC
68. Metal Warriors - SNES
69. Zelda II - The Adventure of Link - NES
70. Anachronox - PC
71. Faxanadu - NES
72. Adventures of Lolo - NES
73. Ninja Gaiden 2 - NES
74. Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming - PC
75. Mega Man 5 - NES
76. MechWarrior 3 - PC
77. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - NES
78. Faria - NES
79. Rebel Galaxy - PC
80. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game - NES
81. Grim Fandango - PC
82. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - PC
83. Fallout 4 - PC
84. Bloodrayne - PC
85. Bloodrayne 2 - PC
86. Catacomb Armageddon - PC

Not a whole lot to say about this one that wasn't already covered in Catacomb Abyss. It's still impressive just how many different textures they use to give you a sense of moving around various locales, coupled with strong level design. It almost makes Wolfenstein 3D feel like a step backwards in that regard (yay, I'm still in a Nazi base). I probably could have knocked out Apocalypse tonight but I don't want a repetitive stress injury.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by ExedExes Thu Nov 26, 2015 12:32 am

1. Call of Duty United Offensive Expansion Pack - PC (January 16)
2. Dead To Rights - Gamecube (January 24)
3. River City Ransom EX - GBA (February 21)
4. Call of Duty 2 - PC (February 28) (link missing due to this game's post being wiped during the great RB server move)
5. Quake - PC (March 31)
6. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - PC (April 5)
7. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - PC (April 18)
8. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - PC (May 19)
9. Super Puzzle Fighter II - GBA (May 23)
10. Saints Row The Third - PC (June 24)
11. Konami Krazy Racers - GBA (June 27)
12. Medal of Honor: Airborne - PC (August 13)
13. Code Name: Viper (NES) (November 15)
14. *NEW* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon-Desert Siege Expansion Pack (November 25)

So, I was looking through the games I have installed on this computer that didn't come from GOG, this game in fact came from Goodwill (GR Gold Edition), and it has 2 expansion packs, this was the first one.

In Desert Siege, the GR team heads to the Horn of Africa to take out a military coup d'etat attempt. The game plays exactly the same as the original GR, but in the desert. The missions vary widely and all that great action from the first game is still there. The tactical map makes it very easy to move units around, and unlike GRAW, squadmates do well here! I still have the other expansion pack (Island Thunder) to play, but that will be for another time.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by flash1987 Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:06 am

Love this thread. Gives me ideas on what to play and has started me making a list of things I should have finished as I'm notorious for not finishing games.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by alienjesus Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:30 am

prfsnl_gmr wrote:
alienjesus wrote:LittleBigPlanet PSVita


I thought that LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 were charming games, but I agree that the platforming mechanics are not very tight. With regard to those games, some of the user content is much, much better than that found in the single player campaign, and I expect that the same holds true for the Vita version. Accordingly, if you have the chance, you should check it out. (The Metal Gear Solid levels in LittleBigPlanet were also a lot of fun.)

My children also love those games, and they have been imploring me to buy and play through LittleBigPlanet 3 at some point.


I do intend to give some user generated stuff a go, but it's ust a case of trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. I want to play fun inventive levels, not extra tricky ones or stupidly puzzling ones or the likes.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:I think I'm gonna grab a Cotton game. The Super Famicom looks like the best place to start.


I'd say it probably is. It's no pushover, but it's certainly not really hard, it plays well and looks great and most importantly, it's like 50% or less of the price of the other games in the series if you get it cart only.
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Re: Games Beaten 2015

by Ack Thu Nov 26, 2015 12:23 pm

First 50:
1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
13. A Story About My Uncle (PC)(Platformer)
14. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)(FPS)
15. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (PC)(FPS)
16. Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
17. Catacomb Abyss (PC)(FPS)

18. Catacomb Armageddon (PC)(FPS)
19. Catacomb Apocalypse (PC)(FPS)
20. The Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
21. Catacomb 3-D (PC)(FPS)
22. EarthBound (SNES)(RPG)
23. Quake II: Ground Zero (PC)(FPS)
24. Quake II: The Reckoning (PC)(FPS)
25. Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (PC)(RPG)
26. The 7th Guest (PC)(Puzzle)
27. Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (PC)(RPG)
28. Loom (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
29. Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)(Action Platformer)
30. System Shock 2 (PC)(Survival Horror FPS)
31. Final Fantasy V (SNES)(RPG)
32. Descent (PC)(FPS)
33. Mortal Kombat 2 (SNES)(Fighting)
34. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (PC)(Point and Click Adventure)
35. Alien Shooter (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
36. Alien Shooter: Fight for Life (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
37. Alien Shooter: The Experiment (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)

38. F.E.A.R. Extraction Point (PC)(FPS)
39. F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (PC)(FPS)

40. Among the Sleep (PC)(Survival Horror)
41. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (PC)(FPS/RPG)
42. Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
43. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (SNES via Super Mario All-Stars/Super Mario World)(Platformer)
44. Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast (PC)(FPS)
45. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: Claptastic Voyage (PC)(FPS/RPG)
46. Risen (PC)(RPG)
47. Shadowgrounds (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
48. Shadowrun Returns (PC)(RPG)
49. Mobile Forces (PC)(FPS)

50. Tower of Guns (PC)(FPS)

51. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC)(FPS)
52. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PC)(FPS)

53. 9:05 (PC)(Text Adventure)
54. Mercenary Kings (PC)(Run and Gun)
55. Super Pinball: Behind the Mask (SNES)(Pinball)
56. Pinocchio (SNES)(Platformer)
57. Iron Brigade (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)
58. Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear (PC)(Tower Defense/TPS)

59. Anachronox (PC)(RPG)
60. Banished (PC)(Strategy)
61. Rune (PC)(Action)
62. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (PC)(FPS)
63. Quake (PC)(FPS)
64. Quake Mission Pack No. 1: Scourge of Armagon (PC)(FPS)
65. Quake Mission Pack No. 2: Dissolution of Eternity (PC)(FPS)


Ah, Quake, last of the series for me to finally get around to beating despite being the first. It's a historical marvel, providing the basic building blocks for what would become fast-paced FPS gameplay in a true 3D space. The building blocks were all here, and while there were a few standards that hadn't yet arrived on the scene(such as crouching), this game pretty much built the blueprint for what we have today.

Unfortunately for Quake, that also means that the skills required to beat it have become the baseline skills for most FPS games. What I mean is that the methods of play that had to be invented to get through Quake are now the basics. As a result, on Normal setting Quake is easy for someone who has spent years with the genre. Really, really easy. It's tough to be completely fair to it, since at the time of its release ideas like bunny hopping, circle strafing, and rocket jumping were all still fresh, a twinkle in the eye of the gamers who would go on to invent much of modern gaming culture.

But Quake does what it does, and it still does it pretty damn well, making for an entertaining ride. The level and enemy designs are stellar, unique, and entertaining(with one exception, the exploding slime thing. I hate that thing), and while even at the time many of the weapons had become the bread and butter of the genre, they handle damn well. Nearly all of them get used, though I never could figure out a reason to keep the basic nailgun after getting the upgraded version, and the axe is effectively worthless. The Quake series is also one of the few series where I can go in and use a grenade launcher effectively without some horrendously inefficient time delay or bizarre physics ruining it. If I have any real criticism, it's that splash damage is huge, so I probably hurt myself more often than some of the enemies. Oh, and Quake's color palette is bland and brown, making for an early example of a complaint that has now been banded about for modern FPS for nearly a decade.

And then we have the mission packs, both developed outside of Id Software, both designed by teams that went on to continue working on FPS games. I suppose I should give each its separate section:

Scourge of Armagon

Developed by Hipnotic Interactive, which would later become Ritual Entertainment and create the SiN series, Scourge of Armagon serves as one long campaign against Armagon, the general of Quake's forces. While it is broken up into distinct subsets of levels, there is no framing level to select episodes like in Quake or Dissolution of Eternity. Instead it makes for a single campaign that is to be played in relative order, terminating in one boss fight after seventeen levels of pure mayhem.

Scourge is much harder than Quake, because the fellas at Hipnotic apparently believed in quantity over quality. The nastiest enemies of the Quake series are packed tightly into levels and appear even early on when the player has exceedingly limited means of combating them. There are new enemies as well, with varying results: scorpions, gremlins, and these spike ball things that explode. The spike balls are a rare occurrence, and while the gremlins are plentiful, they go down easy enough and make for a nuisance that helps add more threat to some tough situations. The scorpions are my least favorite of the new enemies, as they take a lot of punishment and eat armor for breakfast. Those little buggers are tougher to kill than I would have liked.

To combat this, there are a few new weapons, one of which I like: the laser cannon is a hoss. It lays waste to most things I encountered. But the Mjolnir, a hammer that shoots lightning....it never seemed relevant or particularly useful. And the proximity launcher felt like a step in the wrong direction. In a game where I'm meant to be rushing forward, proxy bombs means doing defensive setup. It just didn't fit the tone. Also, level design was usually setup in such a way that grabbing a new gun will probably hinder you. Auto-equipping weapons was used as a way to hurt the player, because the devs liked to put the least-useful weapon for the situation right before the situation. More than once I grabbed a gun and then turned the corner to find that the gun I just pulled out was the last thing I wanted to be using to fight whatever horror lurked beyond.

And then there is the final boss, Armagon, who loses to circle strafing. Keep an eye on the columns in his stage so you don't bump into one, and he'll likely never manage to keep up. I put him down with almost no problem at all.

Overall, I found Scourge to be lackluster. It definitely brought the challenge, but its additions were weak, and its methods uninspired.

Dissolution of Eternity

This was much better in my opinion. Dissolution of Eternity was developed by Rogue Entertainment, developer of Strife. When Rogue shut down, many members went on to form Nerve Software, which has worked on a variety of games, ranging from Return to Castle Wolfenstein to some work on Aliens: Colonial Marines. They even did the Xbox Live conversions for Wolfenstein 3D and Doom 2. Obviously, these guys worked a lot with Id Software and even had an office in the same building. As a result, Dissolution of Eternity feels more like a proper continuation, incorporating a new framing system to pick between the two episodes, offering new upgrades to old weapons, and adding in new enemies that feel right at home in the Quake universe...mostly anyway.

Dissolution of Eternity offers 15 new levels split into two campaigns. The first feels more like traditional Quake-style levels, with dark castles, graveyards, and a sudden focus on the end on the new Wraith enemy. The Wraith is a nasty bastard, a flying spirit that can launch homing explosives and is highly mobile. I loved the design, and they were used effectively to provide a definite challenge. Electric eels roamed the waterways, statues of enemies would come to life at certain points to provide a new hindrance in previously cleaned out arenas, and even the most basic soldier and dog enemies were brought back to prominence throughout, something I feel like Quake neglected a bit. The first episode even ends with an uber-Wraith boss, who is one tough customer and must be taken on with a very mobile hit-and-run style.

The second is where things get a little weird, as the game takes on an Egyptian undertone. Enemies now include Pharaoh-looking guardians and durable mummies. Levels are now pyramids, temples, tombs, and puzzle-filled nightmares. Even the previous bosses return in a form or fashion, and the lead up to the final boss has you battling the previous uber-Wraith boss in a level, only to then put you up against a dragon. Yeah, the final boss of Dissolution of Eternity is a dragon, fought in a cavern full of lava, while you wear an anti-grav belt and unload on it with everything you have.

There are also new items, including the anti-grav belt I just mentioned which will allow you to jump around and slow fall and a shield that lowers how much damage enemies do to you. I loved this gear, it worked so well. And many of the weapons now get alternate ammunition to create a new kind of versatility. The nail guns now have burning lava nails, the grenade launcher gets a cluster bomb, the rocket launcher now fires clusters of rockets, and sudden the Thunderbolt gun fires a shotgun-style blast. Most of these were supremely useful, and my absolute favorite was the new variant rocket launcher which would absolutely cream the bigger threats...so the devs made it so you had to use them. Many of the areas in Dissolution require you kill all enemies in a particular room to advance. This isn't a cakewalk, you now have to fight, often with a horde.

If I have any complaint, it's that the new ammo sources are all treated as separate weapons, which clutters up the weapon selection if you use your mousewheel to scroll through it. This is a minor complaint, but it's one that I lamented repeatedly because that is my preferred means of switching guns. Other than that, I really liked Dissolution of Eternity and had a blast playing through it. It was exactly what I wanted out of an expansion.
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