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noiseredux
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by noiseredux Fri Feb 03, 2017 7:56 pm

Xeogred wrote:I've heard Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing might beat the series to its own game. I've been wanting to check that one out sometime.


I love the first one more than any MK.
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by prfsnl_gmr Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:47 pm

I thought Double a Dash was pretty great, but it was also the height of "rubber band" AI. The track design was excellent, though, and I like the two drivers mechanic.

Also, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is spectacular. I am not sure it is as great as the very best Mario Kart games, but it is very, very close. (The low difficulty level holds it back a bit. The ability to race as Alex Kidd and Opa Opa elevates it.)
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by ElkinFencer10 Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:31 pm

Games Beaten in 2017 So Far - 11

January (10 Games Beaten)
1. Persona 4 Arena - Playstation 3 - January 1
2. Chrono Trigger - SNES - January 7
3. Ys: The Vanished Omens - Master System - January 8
4. MUSHA - Genesis - January 10
5. Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below - PlayStation 4 - January 11
6. Ys I - TurboGrafx-CD - January 13
7. Ys II - TurboGrafx-CD - January 14
8. Dragon Quest Builders - PlayStation 4 - January 23
9. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - PlayStation 4 - January 26
10. School Girl/Zombie Hunter - PlayStation 4 - January 29


February (1 Game Beaten)
11. Fire Emblem Heroes - Android - February 3


11. Fire Emblem Heroes - Android - February 3

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I never thought I'd see the day that I actually had something positive to say about a mobile game, let alone take the time to write about one. Someone might want to record what I'm about to say because I'll probably never say it again - I played a game on my cell phone, and it was freaking incredible. There, I said it. I still stand by my general rule of "Mobile phone games are for trash plebs," but there's an exception to every rule, and this is the exception to that one.

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When I first heard Nintendo announce a Fire Emblem game for iOS and Android, I was more than a little skeptical. Fire Emblem is my all time favorite video game franchise; how could they sully its glory with mobile filth? However, I've learned to trust Nintendo; they're not infallible, but even when the market votes against them, I'm VERY rarely disappointed with their products. I downloaded Fire Emblem Heroes as soon as it hit the Google Play store, and I was immediately impressed. Honestly, stunned is a better word. I know I'm going to get a lot of "I told you so!" from the folks who've spent year(s) telling me that mobile games aren't all the trash I make them out to be, and while I still refuse to acknowledge the mere possibility that there's any merit to such a heretical statement, I will admit that in this ONE particular instance, I stand corrected.

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As you can see from my screenshots, the game plays largely like your standard Fire Emblem game just scaled down. You can only deploy four units at a time, the entire battlefield is what you see on screen, and the size of the enemy force will range from three units to five or six units, but the core combat is Fire Emblem through and through. Your units gain experience and level up, and while you can't outfit them with equipment per se, you can upgrade their weapons as if they were skills, from an Iron Sword to a Steel Sword, for example. The game looks fantastic for being on such a filthy peasant platform, and while I'm not a fan of the frankly awkward vocals added to the main Fire Emblem theme, the music and general sound design are really impressive. If you had asked me a year ago if it would be possible to size Fire Emblem down to a freaking cell phone game and keep what makes it "Fire Emblem" intact, I'd have laughed at you and called you an idiot. I'd have been dead wrong.

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"But what about the in-app purchases??? Don't microtransactions kill it??" Surprisingly, no, they don't. Unless you're impatient (admittedly, I did have about $6 worth of impatience in me), you'll never need to make a single in-app purchase to get the full experience. Your stamina - what you need to take on quests - refills over time, the training missions will reward you with crystals and shards needed to level up and enhance your units (as well as providing a battle in which to grind), and you can get orbs as a reward for finishing each story mission for the first time. If you want to buy orbs, you may for a small fee; I think it ranges from $2 for 3 orbs all the way up to $75 for 140 orbs. Orbs are what you use to summon new heroes or upgrade your castle (which provides a permanent EXP boost up to 100%) as well as continue if you lose all of your units in a battle. When you summon a hero, it will have a star rating between one and five. You start off with a few two star units, but you really want four and five star. I, unfortunately, was not as lucky as my pal Yukii you see up there (screw you) and never did get a five star unit; I was stuck with all two and three stars for the first half of the game until I broke down, spent $6 on orbs, and got more three stars a few four star units.

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Given the microtransaction-y nature of freemium mobile games, I'm very glad that they excluded weapon durability and permadeath from Heroes. I know they're staples of Fire Emblem, but since you have to use orbs to summon units, and it's random how good your units will be or where they fall on the weapon triangle, I'm glad they omitted it. Fans of strategy games need to give this game a download, and fans of Fire Emblem...have probably already been playing it, to be honest, but if you haven't, you DEFINITELY need to download it. I really can't express how impressed I am with this game and how thrilled I am to have been wrong about how this mobile game was going to turn out. Leave it to Nintendo to show me that games can be made for mobile and not suck ass.
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Exhuminator Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:39 pm

Xeogred wrote:I've heard Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing might beat the series to its own game. I've been wanting to check that one out sometime.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is very good, but Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed is absolutely fantastic. I played it around the same time as Mario Kart 8, and I thought Transformed blew MK8 right out of the water. I played Transformed on 360, but it's available on many other platforms.

As for Double Dash, I don't hate it. It's decent. The rubberband AI is real and sucks a lot of fun out of the game, and the double driver mechanic didn't add that much to the formula really. But Double Dash does have a lot of tracks, and some are really good.
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by BoneSnapDeez Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:51 am

Holy shit. Leave it to Elkin to actually beat that game... and that quickly!
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by BogusMeatFactory Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:49 pm

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Holy shit. Leave it to Elkin to actually beat that game... and that quickly!


I also, "beat," The game like Elkin, but the game is far from over. It looks like the story will definitely continue in episodic content that will be released later as a lot was set up and very little was wrapped up.

Also I would like to add a correction to elkin's review and that is, when you lose, you can use orbs to revive your team, but a cheaper and better alternative is to use these necklaces which are more common to find as rewards.
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PartridgeSenpai
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by PartridgeSenpai Sat Feb 04, 2017 6:35 pm

Partridge Senpai's 2017 Beaten Games:

1. Tales of Hearts R (Vita)
2. UPPERS (Vita)
3. Volume (Vita)
4. Overlord: Minions (DS)
5. Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)
6. Overlord II (PS3)
7. Overlord: Dark Legend (Wii)
8. La-Mulana (Remake) (PC)

9. Infamous: Second Son (PS4)

I really loved Infamous 1 and 2, and I was pleasently surprised when I heard that another one was being made back before the PS4 came out. When it eventually came out, I'd heard that it wasn't amazing and it was kinda short, and that led to me not regarding it as very important in terms of a "must own" title (or console). Fast forward to the other day, where someone on some other thread complained about it, which reminded me that I actually finally have it and hadn't played it. Ultimately, I gotta agree with the popular opinion here: This is definitely the least good Infamous game. For those who might care, I played through on Normal, and it took me 10 or 11 hours to 100% the game. (I didn't do the Paper Hunt DLC because it seemed immensely tedious with all the running back and forth between your PC and your console).

Some of the biggest problems this game has are pacing in both the story and gameplay. Story-wise, it's just really kind of a hot mess (perhaps because they originally wanted to make it longer?). There are so few characters at the start that the game feels baron, and it's a bit tiring on how much time they spend treading over the same relationship-building points between the 2 main characters (they're total opposites. We get it). This ultimately feels like time wasted because it's a ton of time that could've been used to get us to care about these characters more instead of just doing silly quips. Then later there are SO many characters who all need their own little redemption arcs that none of the effect they're going for sticks, and the whole second act feels really rushed.

Compared to the other two games, it feels like this game is missing like 4 or 5 hours of another island area (there are two actually in the game) and all the character development that went with it. Infamous 2 was how to write and pace a story around a fairly crowded cast of conduit characters. Infamous Second Son is how not to do that. Ultimately, I didn't hate the main character (I know a lot of people found him really annoying), and I actually occasionally found him quite funny, but the reason the story makes me mad is because it just reeks of wasted potential of a rush-job.

On top of that, you've got the way they kinda ret-con the lore of the first two games, and the ending of the second game, but those are hardly the biggest problems this game has. Also, I didn't at any point know the real answer to this during the game (it was only after in online lore shit), but this follows the hero-ending to Infamous 2 (it really could plausibly follow either the hero or evil ending tbh). This also continues the trend of REALLY heavy handedly binary morality in Infamous games (You're either a saint or a heartless monster with nothing in between), so that wonderful quirk hasn't gone away :/

Gameplay-wise, we got similar-ish problems. To start off with, there are some very nice quality-of-life improvements from the first two games. First off, the shard things that you constantly would mash R3 to scan for are gone, and now they're quad-drones that are parked at or flying around certain locations, and you can see them on the mini-map all the time. However, the "control the city district" mini-games are really lacking in variety compared to other city-sandbox games. There are really just two other than the base assaults, and they're not amazing. The base assaults are some of the most fun parts of the game though, combat wise. The way you need to plan your approach to most efficiently take out everyone and then the core were the most satisfying moments of combat for me.

Speaking of the combat, I'm of two minds about it being some of the best and some of the worst. For good points, you have fairly good enemies. There aren't that many enemy types compared to the other games (only like 5 or 6), but there are 2 light guys and 3 heavy guys, and after all of the fuckers you had to QTE to death near the end of 2, I was very happy to see them gone. However, compared to Infamous 1, this game is really seriously lacking in enemy varieties both mechanically and cosmetically, although that's mostly down to the pacing of when you get certain powers. WHICH brings me to the bad points.

The pacing of the power is terrible. You get several different trees of powers through the game, and because of that, you're like constantly getting new powers. Compared to the other games, where you quite slowly and methodically built up new repertoires of power, slowly mastering them, you're like constantly getting new ones for different trees. As a result, where you basically built up from human thugs to other conduits in the other games, you go straight to fighting conduits in this game as you start the game out with just about your entire base power set (hence the small enemy variety, as it's only the end of that spectrum of enemy progression). On top of that, you get 4 different power trees, but the second one is clearly the best, and there's really just never any reason to use the others as they're all just differing levels of "meh."

Verdict: Not Recommended. If you really, REALLY want a super-powers game specifically on your PS4, then go right ahead and give this a go. Otherwise, I'd probably just play through Infamous 1 or 2 again and just call it a day. This game is very much like Overlord II in that it really does nothing to surpass previous games in any way meaningful enough to justify its existence, which is a very sad thing for me to say about a series I like so much :?
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by MrPopo Sat Feb 04, 2017 7:26 pm

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

So when I noticed on my calendar that Tales of Berseria was coming out I realized I was multiple Tales games behind, and decided to rectify that. So first on the list was Xillia 2. This game takes a lot of cues from Symphonia Dawn of the New World but also learns from that game's mistakes to make a satisfying experience and a great follow-up to the original Xillia.

Like DotNW, Xillia 2 follows around a new protagonist in a world that now has to come to grips with the sudden merging of two previously separated worlds and forge a new path forward. Now, this joining was far less traumatic in the Xillia world; just a barrier separating them rather than an overlay. But you still see a lot of themes of prejudice against the less technologically advanced society. Now, I didn't get far enough in DotNW before my Wii bricked to see how much more of the story parallels, but the main theme here is that Xillia 1 was more of an anecdote in the larger storyline that gets resolved in Xillia 2.

Now, the biggest weakness of DotNW is that the old cast is very much sidelined. You have your two new characters and then monsters to fill out the rest of the party. Every once in a while you get an old member as a guest, but they have no character growth. Xillia 2 rectifies that entirely. The two new characters are one battle character; the other is a key support character crucial to the story. The rest of your team is filled out by the old cast plus two reformed antagonists from Xillia 1. And all of these characters get continuing character arcs where they work through the consequences of their actions during and after Xillia 1 and overall grow as people. All of these story bits are optional, as well. If you just want to focus on the main story then you're free to do so.

Which does bring me to the main weakness in the game. The gameplay is padded out in an incredibly obvious way unnecessarily. Near the beginning of the game you get saddled with a 20,000,000 gald debt. To put that in perspective, at the end of the game I had paid off 1.5 million, and the game routinely hits you up for money. In fact, in between each chapter is a downtime segment where you need to make a loan payment. Now, the good part of these breaks is the aforementioned character arc side stories. But the debt payment generally requires you to engage in MMO-style quests; kill X dudes, collect X items, etc. Things get a bit better by midgame as at this point they start laying on the elite monsters (optional bosses) that give out tons of gald and the character arc side stories also pay out well. This let me avoid most of the random MMO jobs (I'd do the quick "give me X items" if I already had the items because free money). But honestly I feel it was a completely unnecessary prod to the game. There's a reason for it plot-wise, but at the same time it was unnecessary plot-wise because of the disposition of the main character.

The other thing I feel I should point out is you have a nearly mute protagonist. Now, there's a very good reason for this, but it ends up being very awkward because everyone else is very voiced and your character still gets engaged with a lot. By contrast I think Persona 3 and 4 did a better job at a silent protagonist. I think it's just mostly a case of the writing.

On to Zesteria.
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Xeogred
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Xeogred Sat Feb 04, 2017 7:46 pm

Hmm, and I was just hearing how the Xillia games are shorter (20-30 hours?) thinking maybe one of them could be the first Tales game I beat! Your review doesn't make it sound all that fun.

I hear nothing but mixed results on Zesteria. On the flipside, Berseria is actually sounding pretty legit and maybe the first Tales ever with a solid story. I'm cautiously curious as always with this series. I love that they exist, but I hope to beat one someday.

PartridgeSenpai - Sad to hear all that. I'm a big fan of the first two, but most of your complaints about Second Son I've heard several times over... so yeah I've been skeptical. Though looks like a bargain bin price thesedays. Were you going to play the expansion First Light or whatever it was? I wonder if that improved things.
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Re: Games Beaten 2017

by PartridgeSenpai Sat Feb 04, 2017 8:11 pm

Xeogred wrote:PartridgeSenpai - Sad to hear all that. I'm a big fan of the first two, but most of your complaints about Second Son I've heard several times over... so yeah I've been skeptical. Though looks like a bargain bin price thesedays. Were you going to play the expansion First Light or whatever it was? I wonder if that improved things.


Yeah. At 20 bucks, it's certainly more than the originals (I think the double pack with all the DLC is like 10 bucks), but it's certainly very cheap for an action adventure/sandbox game on the PS4. I'm not gonna try the DLC though. Though I did enjoy Festival of Blood for how campy and silly it was, that game had a lot of Cole and Zeke silliness to amplify that. ISS really doesn't have a single character nearly as good as any from 1 or 2, so I'm not too interested :/

Another thing I forgot to mention, actually, is that ISS is LITTERED with Infamous and Sly Cooper references. Fairly early in the game, if you zoom in on the title of a book on a table, it's a Thevius Racoonus volume, which made me giggle because it's just a tutorial area (like the basketball easteregg in System Shock 2, kinda). But then you get to the main game and there are tags of Sly's logo all over the damn place, Mcgrath and Cooper Bank, Cole McG's Electronics, and a few others. All of that nonsense really just added to the campy, silly quality that the game seemed to really want, but at the same time really hurt the serious moments it went for because it wasn't breeding any kind of serious tone.

Cool to hear you enjoyed Tales of Xillia 2, Popo! I still gotta get through the 4 most recent games, so Xillia 1 is near the top of the list of console RPGs I plan to hit up soon. I've just been hesitant because it kinda has an RE2-thing where you gotta beat it twice to really get the full story goin' on :?
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