Anything that is gaming related that doesn't fit well anywhere else
User avatar
Sarge
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 7276
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:08 pm

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Sarge Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:33 pm

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)

GunForce 2 is indeed a much better game. A lot of the sound effects and whatnot would get reused for Metal Slug, which is fitting. This is basically like a prototype Metal Slug, with a lot of the jank you'd expect. Aiming feels like a bit of a bother at times, and your dude is way too clingy for a run-and-gun. It also feels a bit more unfair than Metal Slug. I've chewed through quarters before in those games, but not quite like this. The lack of grenades is missed for sure. And for reference, many years ago I managed to no-death run through the first three missions of Metal Slug X before I had to run to class! (Yes, a little luck there, but that wasn't happening here.)

Anyway, if you want some MS-like action, you can do a lot worse, and it's really interesting just to see the previous evolutionary step for the MS series.

EDIT: Check out that subtitle for GunForce. As for the arcade version, it's a'ight. At least aiming works better than in the Contra games.
Last edited by Sarge on Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
PartridgeSenpai
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 2989
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
Location: Northern Japan

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by PartridgeSenpai Sun Apr 23, 2017 8:51 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)
10. htol#NiQ: The Firefly Diary (Vita)
11. Blood Bowl (360)
12. Dead to Rights: Retribution (360)
13. Bioshock Infinite (360)
14. Bioshock Infinite: Burial At Sea Part 1 (360)
15. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Part 2 (360)
16. Singularity (360)
17. Seifuku Densetsu Pretty Fighter X (Saturn)
18. Ultraman: Hikari No Kyojin Densetsu (Saturn)
19. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) (repeat)
20. Song of the Deep (PS4)
21. Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 3 (GCN)
22. Banjo-Tooie (N64) (repeat)
23. Wario Land (VB)
24. Yakuza HD Edition (PS3)

25. Yakuza 2 HD Edition (PS3)

The other half of Ryuu Ga Gotoku 1&2 HD Edition, and holy shit was it ever worth it. Yakuza 2 is everything a sequel should strive to be. It makes everything better without making the formula unrecognizable: Bigger world, more sidequests, bigger story with tighter plotting and better pacing, music is more kick-ass, presentation is much more intuitive, and the combat is way more fluid. Also, found out that the Japanese title for Yakuza translates to "Like a Dragon," or "As Does a Dragon," which is very appropriately badass 8) . For reference, I played through on hard mode, did 66% of the sidequests, and beat it in 36.5 hours.

The combat as been made much more fluid. Yakuza 1 compared to this game has a much heavier, weighty feel to it. Kiryuu moves much more quickly and snaps around to new enemies much more quickly than in the first game, allowing for a much greater nuance than in the first game. You keep a decent portion of the moves from the first game, but not all of them (and sadly not the recovery move from being knocked down, which is now a level 10 skill assigned to a different button ;_;). Finishers have also been improved immensely. Where the finishers you had to grab people for were very unclear where you could do them in the first game, now everywhere you can do them is highlighted on your radar, and holy shit is it worth it. They're crazy brutal looking, and the feedback on the controller vibrations really makes it even better. From back-dropping people onto the top of a park bench to launching them off of a bridge, finishers have never been so much fun. Combat is even better than the first one (somehow).

Storytelling is also very much improved. The first Yakuza felt very much like it had a bunch of good ideas pushed into a kind of short story. It was very unfocused, and while I liked the main rival/villain, I never felt very committed to him. Yakuza 2 solves that problem with a solid A and B plotline structure. I had doubts about it at some points, but it handles it all very well by the end. The story also focuses on characters who the player really cares about. Haruka isn't in this too much, which I'm okay with because she was in the whole damn first game, but we even get a stronger female lead in the role of Sayama, which is a very nice change from the first game. We also get a lot more of Majima, whom is one of my favorites, and adds some much needed comic relief and zaniness to the otherwise quite serious story. I really don't wanna spoil much, but I will say that the plot this time around feels much more like a crime drama serial, where major plot twists and revelations are happening all the way up until the very end. The last few chapters are freaking crazy, but nothing was ever totally ripping through obvious plotholes.

The presentation is much improved from the first game as well. You have a much larger pause menu from which you can check just about every collectible and markable thing you could possibly come across so far. You can't get super in-detail info about present quests you're on, but it gives you far better information in the blurb you get. There are no longer permanently missable locker keys anymore as well (mostly)! My only complaint is that one of the two very large cabaret club-related sidequests can be permanently fucked up if you don't know what you're doing, which can make you lose the last locker key, which is a bit of a ball-ache XP. Also, inventory management via item boxes is still awful and needs to be made more convenient.

Rambling about Localization and Other Misc Themes:
There are a few strange localization issues I've come accross, in reading up about the games a little. For one, the orphanage Haruka (and for that matter Kazuma) grew up at is "Morning Glory" in the West, but it's Himawari (Sunflower) in the East. Another strange thing is that all of the big cat enemies have names in the Japanese version, but not in the West.

Speaking of the big cats, holy shit are they crazy to fight. Not just from a perspective of it being silly, but how inhumanly strong it canonically makes Kiryuu. Assuming these tigers are adult Siberian tiger males, they're probably around 700 pounds. An adult tiger can run at speeds of up to 30 to 40 miles an hour. Kiryuu can not just stop one, but make it fly backwards with a punch when it leaps at him. That basically means that Kiryuu's punches can be the equivalent of being hit by a small car on the freeway :lol: . This game upped the silliness factor to almost Bond-movie-esque at times, and I loved every minute of it.

Also, it's annoying as fuck that a lot of key locations have their names changed between regions. I read about these things like "Shangri La" or "The River Styx" and there are for certain nothing of those names in the Japanese games. Nevermind ridiculous name changes like how Sai the Hanaya is just totally renamed Kage until the 4th game.


Verdict: Very Recommended. Even if Yakuza 1 wasn't really doing it for you, Yakuza 2 is a fantastic update which just might. It makes absolutely everything bigger and better designed, and is everything a sequel should strive to be. Yakuza 2 gave me a lot of vibes of "this is an entry that no sequel will be able to top," so we'll see if that holds up I suppose :lol:
Last edited by PartridgeSenpai on Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:25 pm, edited 3 times in total.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
User avatar
Xeogred
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 14383
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:49 pm
Location: KC

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Xeogred Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:02 pm

You're on a roll. Are you going into 3 sometime soon? I'll be curious on your thoughts and progress on that one.
User avatar
PartridgeSenpai
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 2989
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:27 am
Location: Northern Japan

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by PartridgeSenpai Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:13 pm

Xeogred wrote:You're on a roll. Are you going into 3 sometime soon? I'll be curious on your thoughts and progress on that one.


I am! As soon as it arrives though. I had to order it from Japan less than a week ago, so it'll be 3 to 4 weeks until it arrives (providing it doesn't get lost Xp). I think I may be getting a smidge burned out of Kamurocho at the moment, and a month of break will be a good breather :) . Also, I'm not really sure if I'm terrified or super excited for the tiny bits of content that were cut from the English release of 3 from the Japanese one. I wanna try my hand at the Japanese history quiz and fail horribly, dangit! :lol:

Also, I've edited the above review to include some musings on localization changes and other miscellaneous things that are too inconsistent and rambly to fit in with the main one.
I identify everyone via avatar, so if you change your avatar, I genuinely might completely forget who you are. -- Me
User avatar
Stark
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 9585
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:43 pm
Location: Wylie, TX

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Stark Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:13 pm

@Elikin, Re: Danganronpa

Glad you liked it dude. I loved that game and just like you it took awhile for me to get hooked, but when I did, I really did. What a fantastically weird series. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on 2. I'm charging up my Vita so I can finish it up too.
Let strength be granted, so the world might be mended...so the world might be mended.
User avatar
Xeogred
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 14383
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:49 pm
Location: KC

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Xeogred Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:22 pm

1. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (PC)
2. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter* (PC)
3. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (PC)
4. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (PC)
5. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PC)
6. Deadcore (PC)
7. Yakuza 4 (PS3)
8. Hyper Light Drifter (PC)
9. Doom 2: Valiant (PC)
10. Resident Evil 7 (PS4)
10. Doom 2: Ancient Aliens (PC)
11. Doom 2: Vanguard (PC)
12. Doom 2: Doom 2 The Way id Did (PC)
13. Doom 2: Community Chest Pack 4 (PC)
14. Doom: Doom The Way id Did (PC)
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (PC)
16. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (PC)
17. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)
18. Dishonored 2 (PC)
19. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
20. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
21. Super Mario Land (GB)
22. Super Mario Land 2 (GB)

* replay

Yeah, this was so-so. I think I liked the first Land more (easily had way better music). It's also easy to see how Wario stole the show from here on since they are so radically different than the Mario norm, which was totally expected, but I didn't predict it was going to be this weird with all the unique worlds and enemies. Which was definitely an issue at times, it was often hard to tell if you could jump on a new enemy or not. You just never knew. The Wario castle was brutal.
User avatar
ElkinFencer10
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 8582
Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
Location: Henderson, North Carolina

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by ElkinFencer10 Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:27 pm

Stark wrote:@Elikin, Re: Danganronpa

Glad you liked it dude. I loved that game and just like you it took awhile for me to get hooked, but when I did, I really did. What a fantastically weird series. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on 2. I'm charging up my Vita so I can finish it up too.

I started 2 yesterday after I posted this review; I got to the end of the first class trial and chapter 1 before I called it a night.
Exhuminator wrote:Ecchi lords must unite for great justice.

Image
User avatar
BoneSnapDeez
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 20116
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 1:08 pm
Location: Maine

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by BoneSnapDeez Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:03 pm

I recently played the first two Super Mario Land games on a television for the first time and it was a great experience. They're both really really fantastic. Given their age and the limitations of the hardware, the gameplay of each is super impressive. Two is way more polished but I prefer the weird setting and music of the first.
User avatar
MrPopo
Moderator
 
Posts: 23908
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:01 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by MrPopo Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:01 pm

I vastly prefer 2 to 1 in the same way I prefer World to Bros. 1. Land 1 was them figuring out the hardware and then they vastly expanded things with Land 2. But Land 3 is definitely the best (albeit a Wario game rather than a Mario game).
Image
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
User avatar
Sarge
Next-Gen
 
Posts: 7276
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 12:08 pm

Re: Games Beaten 2017

by Sarge Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:36 pm

Both of them have some really funky physics. I love how crazy the levels are in those games, though.
Return to General Gaming

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 36 guests