Games Beaten 2015

[Ack]

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)

Yes, I beat this last year. This is me making a point of marking that I just managed to get the last achievement and 100% the game last night. It took forever, mainly because the last thing I had to do was kill Jimmy Jenkins, and he has a random chance of spawning. I abused one place where he has a slightly higher chance to come across him, though it still took multiple runs before I was finally able to put a bullet in his robot face.

Jimmy, burn in Hell. I've already uninstalled Borderlands 2. I'm done. Maybe it's time to start playing the Pre-Sequel.

[s1mplehumar]

I have this somewhat annoying compulsion to play games in order. Or to visit/revisit the "roots" of any given game before I play it.

That's so me. I went through this ordeal with Ogre Battle years ago. 64 can be played outside of canon, though, I guess. I still need to finish Knights of Lodis!

[Sarge]

Sometimes I feel that urge, but I'm hit or miss on actually acting on going back to earlier entries. If they're not linked, I have a lot less of an urge to do so. Especially if the quality level is massively better in the sequel.

Now, I pretty much beat every Zelda game, so... no issues there in the first place. But a good example is Shadow Hearts. I never finished the first, but I played through Covenant even though the games are linked. The third kinda stands alone.

[Exhuminator]

The third kinda stands alone.

Indeed.

The real Shadow Hearts trilogy starts with Koudelka and ends with Covenant.

[prfsnl_gmr]

1. Cut the Rope (3DS)
2. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
3. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX)
4. Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS)

Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS) is the second game I played based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, and AFAIK, it and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX) are the only two console/handheld games based on H.P. Lovecraft's work.

Whereas Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an outstanding first-person adventure game, Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness superimposes hidden-object and match-three "puzzles" over the basic narrative from H.P. Lovecraft's most famout novella. Each of the game's numerous level consists of two hidden-object puzzles and one match-three puzzle, but the monotonous levels are offset by wild-swings in difficulty. (The hidden-object "puzzles" are consistently dull, but the match-three "puzzles" range from incredibly easy to console-destroyingly difficult.)

In short, the game is dull, poorly-designed, and serves only to sully the material on which it is ostensibly based. I do not recommend it to anyone.

[Ack]

Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS) is the second game I played based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, and AFAIK, it and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX) are the only two console/handheld games based on H.P. Lovecraft's work.

Yes and no. While a lot of games feature inspiration from Lovecraft, there are a few other console games that pull directly from his work. Unfortunately the console ports for Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness and Prisoner of Ice did not make it to the US. KaZe also made a Japan-only Lovecraft-themed pinball game called Digital Pinball: Necromonicon.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS) is the second game I played based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, and AFAIK, it and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX) are the only two console/handheld games based on H.P. Lovecraft's work.

Yes and no. While a lot of games feature inspiration from Lovecraft, there are a few other console games that pull directly from his work. Unfortunately the console ports for Necronomicon: The Dawning of Darkness and Prisoner of Ice did not make it to the US. KaZe also made a Japan-only Lovecraft-themed pinball game called Digital Pinball: Necromonicon.

You are correct, and I should have clarified my post. There are certainly many games that draw some inspiration from Lovecraft's work. (One of them is being obnoxiously advertised in Gamestops right now!) There are remarkably few console/handheld games that are actually based on his writings, however, and Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS) and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (XBOX) are the only ones, AFAIK, to receive a North American release.

One point I do not need to clarify, however, is that Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness (NDS) totally sucks.

[J T]

Alone in the Dark (1992) was the game that first introduced me to H.P. Lovecraft, the Necronomicon, and the Cthulu Mythos. I don't know if it's fair to say that was based on Lovecraft's writings or not, since it is also based on Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher".

[Exhuminator]

Alone in the Dark (1992) was the game that first introduced me to H.P. Lovecraft, the Necronomicon, and the Cthulu Mythos.

That's true for me as well. Although I would throw in this and that too.

[Ack]

Alone in the Dark (1992) was the game that first introduced me to H.P. Lovecraft, the Necronomicon, and the Cthulu Mythos. I don't know if it's fair to say that was based on Lovecraft's writings or not, since it is also based on Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher".

What gets entertaining here is just how much Lovecraft was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe:

“When I write stories, Edgar Allan Poe is my model.” (to Rheinhart Kleiner, 20 January 1916)

“But Poe was my God of Fiction.” (to Rheinhart Kleiner, 2 February 1916)

“Since Poe affected me most of all horror-writers, I can never feel that a tale starts out right unless it has something of his manner. I could never plunge into a thing abruptly, as the popular writers do. To my mind it is necessary to establish a setting & avenue of approach before the main show can adequately begin.” (to Clark Ashton Smith, 18 November 1930)

“Poe has probably influenced me more than any other one person. If I have ever been able to approximate his kind of thrill, it is only because he himself paved the way by creating a whole atmosphere & method which lesser men can follow with relative ease.” (to J. Vernon Shea, 19 June 1931)

“Next to Blackwood, Poe stands first in basic seriousness and convincingness—though his themes tend to centre in limited manifestations of the terrestrially gruesome, and in sinister twists of morbid human psychology. In total effect he probably transcends Blackwood, and indeed all rivals; that is, what he does tell is told with a potent art and daemonic force which no one else can even approach.” (to Fritz Leiber, 9 November 1936)