Completed Games (2019)

[MT 917]

1. AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

 

Can't believe this is the first game this year that i've beaten, unless you count me replaying through older Metroid games. Finally got back around to playing this, after rage quitting at a boss and never looking back. The boss must've been made easier in further revisions, as it didn't give me any issues at all this time around.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

 

Personal 100%ed it (Got all the items, heart pieces and did all the Treasure charts, there was still a few other things I could've done but they only rewarded Rupees so I didn't bother). Fixed a lot of the problems I had with the original. Most of the things that made the game drag (paying for Tingle Charts, changing Wind Direction, Triforce Shards, sailing in general) were sped up or had options to speed it up. Dungeons and bosses were fun, but I think the game is still really barren compared to the games that came before it, or Breath of the Wild, or even Assassin's Creed Black Flag.

 

I found Hero Mode didn't add much of anything. I died a few times in the first little while but once you start collecting items and especially bottles, the lack of recovery hearts in the game just became a minor annoyance more than anything. I think that mode is maybe more designed for people who heavily restrict themselves for things like not collecting heart pieces. I'm gonna play Twilight Princess a little later on in the year, I think I'll just leave Hero Mode off with that one.

[MT 917]

Gonna count this one because I can.

 

1.  AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

1.5.  Spelunky (Daily Adventure)

 

Got back into this and have been recording my runs through the daily adventure. Today was the first time i've beaten the game in the daily adventure.

[MT 917]

1.  AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

1.5.  Spelunky (Daily Adventure)

2.  Mortal Kombat 11

 

Decent story, kinda interested to see where it goes from here. Definitely feels like the end of an era.

[Galeigh 308]

I don't own it, but I watched the story mode. I agree, it wraps everything up in a nice little bow. 

 

That said, scorpions victory cinematic hints at more threats on the horizon. 

[MT 917]

If you mean the arcade mode endings, I don't believe any of them are canon.

[Galeigh 308]

They aren't, but that doesn't mean there isn't a kernal of truth in em. 

 

Also, Erron Black's arcade ending is chill AF

[Mera'din 307]

Reposting other ones from other forum so I can keep up with my numbers.

 

  1.)  My Name is Mayo

  2.)  Burly Men At Sea

  3.)  Blackwood Crossing

  4.)  The Bunker

  5.)  Tales from the Borderlands

  6.)  Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter

  7.)  The Town of Light

  8.)  Oxenfree

  9.)  Kingdom Hearts 3

10.)  Anthem

11.)  The Council
Episodic story game in the vein of Telltale's games only it's what they SHOULD have become. Made by a relatively new, small French developer called Big Bad Wolf Studios. Had actually played the first episode back when it came out on PC but then kind of forgot about it because other things had come out. Bought it on the PS4 for $20 to finally go through the rest. The voice acting is kind of shit, and the graphics are both good and bad at the same time (environments are really cool and characters are detailed, but they nose dive so violently into the uncanny valley that they managed to make said valley deeper. >_> ).

The big thing with this game to separate it from something like Telltale's games is that it actually has some solid RPG elements to it. You pick a "class" at the beginning (Politician, Occultist or Detective) and each has skills based around it. You get skill points as you level and can put into any of the different skills from any class, but the ones for the thing you picked cost less points to level up. These skills are used in the environment and in conversations to increase your chances of success and some conversations (called 'Confrontations') are like battles where certain skills will come in handy. Each character also has Vulnerabilities and Immunities to certain skills that you discover through various means as you play the game.

 

There is also some pretty solid puzzles in it akin to classic adventure games and certain skills can help you solve them via providing hints through analysis of puzzle elements and the like. Other skills pertain to more physical pursuits (forcing doors open, picking locks, reaching high shelves where items are hidden or dodging traps and things of that nature) so you have to really choose what you want to invest in. Certain dialogue options or even full conversations can be missed if you don't possess certain skills. Use of skills depending on the difficulty of the check vs. your level in that skill costs a certain number of "effort points" so you have to use them carefully. Items can be found that can restore points, make a use free, reveal immunities and weaknesses during a conversation for a short time or remove status effects. It all plays together very well, and the systems honestly remind me a bit of what I've seen of Vampire: The Masquerade (and probably other table top RPGs) social encounters.

Story is relatively interesting. Starts as historical fiction/murder mystery dealing with powerful historic figures and secret societies (game features such characters as George Washigton, Napoleon Bonepart, Manuel Godoy and others) and slowly kind of shifts into a crazy almost supernatural thing that I was not expecting. Was pretty entertaining overall. Many things that happen seem fully avoidable or can turn out drastically different during the game too so I'm hoping a 2nd play through will pay off unlike most other games of this type. Not holding my breath because I've never been overly impressed but if it manages at least as well as Detroit: Become Human, it will be refreshing considering this is the first game made by this developer.

Overall I've been pretty impressed with the game. It has short comings, but it stands out impressively for the genre and I look forward to seeing more from the studio.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

 

Really liked the graphical style and how you can play it in ORIGINAL JAPANESE. I liked how this game lets you play it mostly the way you want to, multiple ways to make it easier or harder. I mostly beat the 8 Robot Masters without looking up a boss order (pretty sure I beat Bounce Man first) but totally made use of the upgrades to make the game less aggravating. I lost patience with weapon experimentation with the last few bosses though

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

 

Items made this easier than I thought it would be

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

 

I did both Letho endings in Dark Mode. 41 of 50 achievements on Iorveth's Story, going to do an easy-mode playthrough for Roche's and the final 9 achievements.

 

Gameplay-wise it flowed better than 1 but I think the idea of the game setting may have suffered for it, I rarely ever used Potions and those felt more necessary in the first a game. Also was kinda disappointed that you could nail so few wenches when the first game let you have sex with basically everyone

 

I think the story of this didn't end up being good, just okay at best. The first game had a much more interesting story, much more interesting application of lore, much more interesting politics and a much more interesting meta-story with who the Grandmaster was hinted to be. It flowed and built better, you started in a small village and monster-hunted and then moved up to political intrigue in a large kingdom whereas it felt like in this game that you started small and mostly stayed small, and the political intrigue was just happening in the background and would've happened regardless if Geralt was part of it or not. It got a bit hard to follow who was what with all the fantasy-babble names of all the Northern Kingdoms (I'm gonna try to pay more attention to this and get things straight on the second playthrough)

 

The epilogue ending especially

 

 

 

just had Letho optionally tell you all of the plans and politics. Instead of showing and not telling, they just dropped an exposition dump on what happened and you can literally just be like "Well, okay then, see you later." You can walk away from the final boss battle because "well, ya know, shit happens."
 

 

 

I'm not sure I totally liked them filling in the blanks of what the Wild Hunt is because that's by far the coolest thing in Witcher lore, but I guess the third game will play that out.

[Mera'din 307]

I feel like you'll enjoy the 3rd game a lot more. Potions are more meaningful (maybe not up to par with 1 still but I know I used them a fair amount vs. never using them in 2 basically), and the plot is a LOT more interesting between the Wild Hunt, the search for Ciri, and the crazy antics of Dandelion and co. There's a lot more interesting side stuff too and the monster hunting is more prominent and has more of that feeling that being a Witcher MEANS something and you actually have a job to do instead of being some pawn in weird political machinations the entire time. Even the DLC is really good (Blood and Wine especially).

 

12.)  Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

This was... a lot better than I was expecting if I'm going to be completely honest. To a point. I finally bit the bullet and got it because I found a new copy for like $7, and I really enjoyed XIII-2, though I heard horrible things about this one so just stayed away from it until I could get a price I was comfortable with. The core mechanics of the game are garbage. You're basically on a time limit (world ends in 13 days, time counts down as you play. every 5 sec. or so is a "minute" in game) and I swear every single quest in the game is designed to waste as much time as possible. Would have been the most frustrating thing in the fucking world going into it blind. However, I had a fucking phenomenal guide I found and it turned it from a garbage heap into a halfway enjoyable experience from a gameplay side. Combat is reminiscent of X-2, with an outfit swapping mechanic that alters you stats and abilities, but is fully customizable which makes for a semi-decent experience for what it is. 

 

Story is where I was honestly surprised. Heard terrible things, and though it's rough around the edges, they wrapped up all the story threads from the first two games decently and I didn't hate it. Game starts out feeling like it should be called "The Book of Mormon: Final Fantasy XIII" since the basics of the story are you're literally doing peoples chores to save their souls before the world ends.   Part way through though, the story shifts into some sort of acid trip Atheist wet dream about murder god and setting everyone's souls free to live their own lives and shit like that. They even kind of explain why Lightning is so deadpan monotonous all the time (I know it's not because of the VA, she's the same one that does Liara in Mass Effect). Side quests were fucking awful both in terms of writing and voice acting, but the main stuff was decent outside of the words "chaos", "hope" and "light" being uttered so many times it was starting to feel like someone was copying Kingdom Hearts' homework and just swapping out key words. This is especially awkward sometimes considering there is a character named Hope, and everyone calls Lightning "Light". >_>

 

Overall I didn't hate it, and didn't feel like I wasted my time with it. Between XIII-2 and this, I feel like I hate XIII itself SLIGHTLY less now, so that's something I guess. XD

[Mera'din 307]

13.)  What Remains of Edith Finch

Interesting quick little walking simulator style game. Took maybe an hour and a half to get through. Pretty sad, but had some interesting mechanics to it at times and kept me engaged. Solid experience for something I got for free. Might have been annoyed if I had paid more than like $5 for this though. Not much else to say. This style of game is pretty straight forward and kind of hard to fuck up if you have a decent story.  

 

Side note: Feel like I missed an opportunity with the order I played these last couple in. Could have had the FFXIII game be my 13th entry if I had done this one sooner. Oh well. XD 

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

 

Ahaaaaa, most of the political situation was locked away in the other part of the game. That was definitely more interesting with the full story and me paying attention to learn the names and kingdoms

 

Got the rest of the achievements too, 1000/1000.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

 

I've caught about 90% of the Pokemon in the game and still have a bunch of post-game things available to do (legendaries/Ultra-Beasts etc), but SOS battles are time-wasting bullshit and not being able to trade with earlier generations without Poke Bank is nickle-and-diming bullshit and I'm kinda just done with it because of stuff like that. I think a number of the changes they made didn't pan out for the better but it was still Pokemon so it's still fun to collect things and play through the story (though this story was really hand-holdy, I remember X/Y feeling that way too).

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

 

Didn't play Hero Mode because it doesn't add anything imo, just gets in the way. 100%ed the collectibles (all hearts, items, upgrades, Poes, insects, Stamps).

 

Most of my opinions from playing it on Gamecube stayed the same.

 

- Epona and swordplay was clunkier than before

- Overworld was big but too empty

- Dungeons and items were fun as fuck (Double Clawshot and the Metal Boots being used with Magnetic surfaces to walk on walls and ceilings)

- Wolf Link didn't add much.

 

Two opinions that did change

 

- I liked the aesthetic more. At the time everything was in a sheen of gold and grey and it looked really drab in an era where every game was going for that grey and drab look. Nowadays everything looks like an '80s crossdresser party, so I appreciated the look a lot more. It kind of reminded of Nier from the 360 too.

- Story-wise

 

My expectations kind of hampered my enjoyment of Zant and the Midna storyline the first time I played, I was expecting him to be another opening antagonist like Agahnim and then we'd move on to Ganondorf but instead you're hanging with Zant the entire game until it switches in the last dungeon with Ganondorf. I liked the Zant stuff more after I knew what to expect.

[MT 917]

I never cared for the Ganondorf switch in that game. Zant was far more interesting to me at the time.

[MT 917]

1.  AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

1.5.  Spelunky (Daily Adventure)

2.  Mortal Kombat 11

3.  Cadence of Hyrule

 

Really fun homage to the Zelda series with amazing remixes of classic songs. I sure hope there's a soundtrack release somewhere down the line. I had to turn the rhythm stuff off as I couldn't seem to get it calibrated correctly and it was making the game way harder than it should've been. I'll probably go back to it at some point with the rhythm stuff turned back on.

[dr. b 492]

re: the soundtrack: maybe keep an eye on Danny B's bandcamp page?

https://dbsoundworks.bandcamp.com/

 

---

 

1. Final Fantasy V (replay)

Four Job Fiesta, you know the story by now Still the best Final Fantasy game. 

 

I still play games but this is the first thing I've finished this year.

[Mera'din 307]

14.)  The Turing Test

Have always been semi-interested in this game but never quite enough to buy it. Seemed like it might just be a straight Portal knockoff. Was in the collection on the Game Pass for PC thing that Microsoft has which I decided to try out for the $1 for a month promo they did and tried this out first. Definitely has a bit of a Portal feel to it, but without the funny. Super serious but really interesting. Puzzles were phenomenal and could be thought through logically without any guess work. Story was interesting and was a really good with a heavy emphasis on AI as an 'individual' philosophy type stuff. Was a pleasant experience all around.

[Mera'din 307]

15.)  Borderlands 2

Finally got around to finishing this now that the game has been out for like 7 years and I've owned it for around 6. XD

Still have a bunch of shit to do in it though with all the DLC and if I go for all the trophies. 

[Galeigh 308]

The new, free, dlc that leads into BL3 was fun as fuck. 

 

The tribute yo Scooter was heart felt and crazy. Perfect send off. "Catch-a-Riiiiiiiiiiiide!"

[webhead 519]

Me and @h2ojunkie played through it.  Was fun.  Seemed relatively short but we were OP as fuck so that's why.

 

I think I'm kinda burned out on Borderlands actually.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

 

Got 34 of 42 cheevos but had no interest in grinding and exploring the rest of them (and I think there was a few online ones that I'm not doing anyways). First Lego game I've ever played. Super chill and easy to play but no big feeling of urgency to it either. Some of the controls were clunky, vehicle controls especially were terrible. It kinda made me kind of wish for an adaptation of the original and prequel trilogies in the style of Jedi Fallen Order instead of actual Jedi Fallen Order.

 

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

 

70% trophies. My first Musou game. It was pretty perfect for the source material, Berserk fits the style really well. It was extremely satisfying slicing of hordes of enemies with Guts, especially as his story upgrades came along. They told the story (or what I know of it, haven't read the manga) really well, included a lot more cutscenes and dialogue than I thought they would. I don't think I'd want to play more Musou games without a familiar property/the fanservice of that property involved. I do have One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 sitting around to play at some point, I'm hoping the trophies are a bit easier to finish off in that one.

 

I completed the main story on Hard mode (which is fairly easy), beat the Endless Eclipse with Guts, did about 50% of "Desires" (mission packs) in Endless Eclipse with a few other characters and the "only" trophies I had left to do in the game involve grinding out Endless Eclipse with the other 7 characters. It's a 100 floor dungeon, if you die, back to the start or your most recent restart point (you earn one every 20 floors). Each floor has a mission, they're split up into packs of 5 missions (some of which come with three Stray War Demons, tough enemies, hanging around the map to pick up a collectible). You only get a single set of healing items (every 5 or 10 floors there's a chance at earning full health) and the enemies get progressively more active and have more HP (harder to grind down) and especially the bosses do too. It was relatively fun as Guts because his final upgrades let you transform and wreck shop, but most of the characters don't have a transformation so it significantly slows down the game and makes it harder to beat bosses especially in the later levels. It feels like something I could grind out eventually and maybe get lucky with the weaker characters, but it's just not as fun to play anyone who isn't Guts.

[Mera'din 307]

16.)  Darksiders 3

I'm not entirely sure I liked this game. Story was solid, but something about the game didn't feel right. I know a lot of people were complaining when it first came out because they seemed to take it in a sort of "Dark Souls" direction apparently and ended up patching in a "classic" mode later on but even playing on that it felt like enemies hit 2-3x harder than they should and you pretty much had to figure out how to dodge everything or go fuck yourself. I enjoyed the story though I'm getting really sick of these games re-treading more or less the same time period for 3 games now. It's like they're in a perpetual holding pattern because they didn't actually know WHAT they were doing with the story so this one is another half-assed prequel to the original (as was 2) that only fills in 1 or 2 more pieces of the puzzle without actually making things all that much clearer. 

 

Probably not going to bother getting the platinum for this one. Seems like a huge hassle when I have other stuff I really want to play right now.

 

And of course the side game that's coming out next is ALSO a prequel. Not only that, it's a top down Diablo-style game, but it only features 2 of the 4 Horsemen and as such, only supports up to 2 players. Talk about missing a fucking opportunity.  

[MT 917]

1.  AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

1.5.  Spelunky (Daily Adventure)

2.  Mortal Kombat 11

3.  Cadence of Hyrule

4a. Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night (Bad Ending)

4b. Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night (Good Ending)

 

Really enjoyed this game. Got near 100% map completion, but I doubt i'll go back and get everything.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

8a. Berserk Platinum Trophy

 

YOSHHHH

 

That was grindy as fuck. Probably not worth it from a gameplay perspective but I like having the Berserk platinum attached to my PSN. I have a One Piece Pirate Warriors game that's also a Musou game, I hope it's easier to platinum/less grinding than this because I don't necessarily love the Musou gameplay but I do like how well they're done as fan-games

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

 

Was looking over my trophy list and all of my God of War lists are two or three off of a Platinum. 1 actually seemed pretty do-able, all I was missing was Challenge of the Gods (the original reason I didn't bother trying to platinum these games is that I specifically hate "don't get hit once" challenges), which I powered through while listening to a gaming podcast, and beating the game in under 5 hours, which was apparently quite easily do-able with a special costume after beating challenge (I kept figuring I was fucking up a lot, but I was only about 10-15 minutes off the 3:30:00 time). So I went a did it and popped another platty. I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of combo-based action games, but it does feel kinda good to have a platinum in one. I'm gonna dick around with a few of the others maybe, but most of them seem to have "Beat Hard Mode" attached to them and I dunno about that one.

 

(Also my Last of Us and Shadow of the Colossus Trophy lists are continuing to aggravate me. LoU because it shows up as 44% overall because of the multiplayer DLC even though I have 76% of the base game and Left Behind's Trophies. SotC is just hurting feelings at this point, I have 22 of 31 trophies but only 39% because none of them are Gold and a lot of them are based on time attacks/hard mode/collecting dinky little fruits or lizard tails)

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

10. DuckTales Remastered

 

Got every trophy except Extreme Mode (have to beat the game with 3 lives, only a handful of health upgrades, barely any health refills and extra lives), including the one where you have to bounce across the underground of the Amazon with the Pogo Stick.

 

Never played the original. I found the game a little annoying because the hit detection and the things that would cancel out movement were too touchy (especially when spikes can damage you just from walking close to them while on safe on a platform). I did love all the gems and stuff that would pop up out of nowhere and how the score was just collecting vast amounts of money (even if it's just to buy gallery art). Decent little platformer.

[Mera'din 307]

Last of Us and SotC are two sore spots for me too. Even before DLC, the Last of US multiplayer shit was fucking grindy and obnoxious as fuck and I noped the fuck out of it without even doing anything other than what I got in one time through the main game so I'm basically sitting at like 14% or some shit. SotC I literally ONLY have the Hard Time Attack one to do but they fucked the controls on the port (PS3 at least. Not sure if it was better for PS4) and the gripping is buggy as hell so doing the one with the giant sword/pillar/stick thing that you have to run up at the start is complete bullshit and I finally gave up after multiple hours of fuck ups that weren't entirely my fault that kept me from getting it.  

 

Did the same as you on DuckTales. Made a couple attempts at it but it was WAY too frustrating and didn't feel worthwhile in the end.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

10. DuckTales Remastered

11. God of War II (Platinum Trophy)

 

Just had to beat the Challenge Mode to pop it. Apparently I'm better at things like this when I'm just listening to podcasts with the sound down.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

10. DuckTales Remastered

11. God of War II (Platinum Trophy)

12. God of War: Chains of Olympus (Platinum Trophy)

 

Trials and then beating the game on hard mode, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

10. DuckTales Remastered

11. God of War II (Platinum Trophy)

12. God of War: Chains of Olympus (Platinum Trophy)

13. Shadow of the Colossus (Trophy Clean-up)

 

Much more respectable 87% trophy haul. I beat normal time attack, maxed out Wander, climbed to the top of the shrine and collected all lizards and fruits to get those trophies. I started playing hard mode and I'm positive I could beat it eventually, but it was such a slog to get through the first two Colossi and I was so used to my third and fourth playthroughs high-stamina stabs and I know I don't care enough to beat time attack and get the Platinum, so I just left it.

[Mera'din 307]

17.)  The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker

Interesting FMV based adventure game. It's clunky, and the execution falls flat at times, but I enjoyed it overall. 

You're a psychiatrist who is just starting a new job, your predecessor having been murdered, and the patients being the prime suspects of said murder. Each "day", you question the patients, trying to help them as well as get hints as to who may have killed Dr. Dekker. Everything is done in live action FMV scenes, and you have an assortment of questions to ask, as well as being able to type in questions yourself (it uses a text parser so it can be a bit frustrating if you don't use the right keywords).

 

The killer is random each time (out of 6 people), so there is SOME replay value to it, but the game is a bit bulky overall and could have probably used some slimming down in the long run. There are hundreds of questions between the multiple "sessions" and about half way through I just wanted to get on with it. Maybe half the patients were truly interesting and I looked forward to hearing more from them, but some of them felt like they dragged on for way too long. It was a pretty ambitious game, and I feel like they ultimately succeeded in what they were going for. Has a very strong "Lovecraft" feel to it which is wholly intentional (and genuine Lovecraft at that. Very slow burning, existential horror type stuff for the most part) and by the end you start questioning the sanity, motives and even identity of the character you are playing.

 

The acting was surprisingly solid for what I was expecting, and downright GOOD at times. The particular company that made this apparently focuses on FMV games and this is definitely one of the better examples of the genre out of the few that I've played. Overall it was a really solid game for what I was expecting for the price I got it so I was pleasantly surprised. It stumbles in a lot of places, but it has a lot of charm that carries it through despite outstaying its welcome just a tad in the long run.

[MT 917]

Give Contradiction: Spot The Liar a look sometime. It has some of the same actors in it and is another FMV game along the same lines.

[Mera'din 307]

Oof. That name couldn't have done it any favors. Sounds like a cheap party game or something. XD

Will look into it sometime though. Apparently the main character of that one is in the newer game made by the people who did the one I just played. It's an interesting genre honestly. Not nearly as cringey as I was expecting based on older examples from the 90s.  

[Mera'din 307]

18.)  Hatoful Boyfriend

Well that was... something. Have had this one sitting in my backlog for quite a while and I've heard good things about it overall. At face value, for those who haven't already heard of it, it's a pretty basic Otome game where the male love interests for the main character are replaced by various birds, while the main character is human. There's a whole subplot you learn as you go through the game about humanity being nearly wiped out by a mutated strain of the avian flu, and a countermeasure causing birds to become sentient and what not to explain this, but the "real" game doesn't actually start until you've gone through it a few times (there are something like 8 or 9 potential love interests, some with 2 endings) and trigger an alternate dialogue near the beginning of the game that turns it from a satirical dating sim into some crazy ass, conspiracy fueled sci-fi/horror murder mystery visual novel thing that feeds of of little hints and clues about the world that you glean from the other playthroughs. I found the whole thing a tad bloated, and a little obtuse at times, and it probably could have used something a little more solid to make it more of a GAME than mostly visual novel, but it held my attention for the most part. Probably an acquired taste, but worth a play if you're looking for something truly bizarre and unique to kill 5 to 10 hours on.

[Mera'din 307]

19.)  Day of the Tentacle Remastered

Another old Lucas Arts adventure game I had never played. This one did NOT age well though. It was fine. Some interesting ideas in it, but I didn't find it terribly humorous overall. Later entries like Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island games were FAR better imo both in terms of story and humor (and of course gameplay). Didn't know going into it that this was actually a sequel to their first game, Maniac Mansion, but a short ways into it you can actually play a full version of Maniac Mansion so that was cool. Didn't actually go all the way through it though because it was awkward and clunky as fuck to play with a controller. These games set a lot of standards for what adventure games would be come so I appreciate the historic value of them, but I didn't much care for them otherwise.

 

Before this and Hatoful Boyfriend I actually tried to finally play MGS: Ground Zeroes, but rage quite it after like 20 minutes. Maybe I'm just getting old, but playing it felt like shit compared to the older MGS games. Not having a radar or anything was mostly just obnoxious and I got bored with it really quickly. Does 5 feel like that too? Wondering if I should just delete it now and save myself the trouble. Also, Kiefer Sutherland was a fucking terrible choice for voice actor. Kept forgetting it was supposed to be Snake talking and couldn't get used to it at all even after listening to all the mission tapes.

[Vic Boss 612]

As I understand it, they just chopped out the first mission or so and released it as a retail demo. I bought MGSV Definitive and both Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain weren't installed separately.

[Mera'din 307]

I refused to buy either and got them both free on PS+ so I'm not out anything if I don't actually play it. Don't think I could stand a full game of it being like that though considering I couldn't even make it through the glorified demo. Time to youtube the cutscenes I guess.  

[Galeigh 308]

Spider-Man : Man, that was a roller coaster of emotions. That ending was a gut punch to feels even though I saw it coming. 

 

The back and forth during that final fight was heartbreaking.

[Mera'din 307]

20.)  Destroy All Humans!

 

Not a terrible game. Definitely feels like something from the PS2 era. Light weight GTA clone that loses some of its charm once the story is over and all there is to do is kill the same 10 character models over and over again and what not. Got this and the 2nd one along with a bunch of other stuff in a Humble Bundle deal a while back. Might wait on the 2nd one for a bit though. Trophies were pretty straight forward at least. XD

[Eizan 126]

1.  Fire Emblem Three Houses (Golden Deer Route) 

 

I enjoyed everything about the game, except the exploring and teaching system. It was fine at the beginning, but it really just drags the game out much longer than it needed it to be. 

 

Blue Lions is next followed by Black Eagles. 

[Vic Boss 612]

1. Lost Odyssey

2. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Hero Mode)

3. Mega Man 11 (Normal Mode)

3a. Mega Man 11 (Superhero Mode)

4. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings [Dark Mode]

4a Easy Mode/Roche Path

5 Pokemon Sun

6. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

7. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

8. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk

9. God of War 1 (Platinum Trophy)

10. DuckTales Remastered

11. God of War II (Platinum Trophy)

12. God of War: Chains of Olympus (Platinum Trophy)

13. Shadow of the Colossus (Trophy Clean-up)

14. Final Fantasy XIII (Platinum Trophy)

 

I think third time beating the game (I had two other profiles that I played it on on Xbox 360), first time 100%ing/Platinum'ing it.

 

I still think story and gameplay were okay, and still think if this game released under a name that wasn't "Final Fantasy" it'd be held in a higher regard than it is (though without the name "Final Fantasy", it doesn't get the production values). There's parts around Chapter 8 that's obnoxious because you've experienced all the roles by then and it's just obnoxiously making you hate playing with two players on purpose just so it feels momentous when you finally get three... only to pull back to two again. Fuck offffffff. I also originally thought that the drama built up between the characters was pretty well done (for anime-inspired storylines, anyways) and that they got over their various gripes too easily, and that still holds true. Barthandelus remains one of the weakest FF villains that I've experienced so far

 

I still really like the concept of the main characters being molded into weapons of mass destruction by the forces of nature that control this world, but it also makes your various accomplishments and battle victories feel meaningless story-wise because your characters weren't meant to fail, and also rather than being evil for a good reason, Bart was just trying to kill himself to get his Mom's attention and humans were just theorized to be the glass-shattering that could make it happen.

 

I actually spent a good chunk of the time wondering how they had enough material to create sequels because I remembered the storyline more or less being wrapped up, but then the analects/little text pieces that you get for monster-killing later (which I mostly didn't do the two other times I played this) dropped a few interesting tidbits and hints.

 

Thinking of playing XIII-2 and Lightning Returns after this to finish off a sub-series from my backlog.

[Mera'din 307]

XIII-2 is actually pretty good, and makes the series worthy of the FF name IMO. Lightning Returns isn't terrible. Enjoyed it more than the original, but not as much as 2. Definitely use a guide for it though otherwise it would be relatively rage inducing and probably require more play throughs than what it's worth. The flow of the overall story gets more interesting in 2 as well. Some of the plot threads in Lightning Returns feel like a bit of a stretch and it seems like they tried WAY too hard to fit every character they could into it, but ends up being an interesting cap to a storyline that was all over the place between the 3 games.

[MT 917]

1.  AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)

1.5.  Spelunky (Daily Adventure)

2.  Mortal Kombat 11

3.  Cadence of Hyrule

4a. Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night (Bad Ending)

4b. Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night (Good Ending)

5. (NES) The Legend Of Zelda

 

First time beating it on an actual NES. First time beating it without save states. Gonna give the second quest a real shot, too.

[dr. b 492]

You never had Zelda back in the day? Or just never beat it back then? I had a pretty decent collection of NES games when I was little but for some reason or another never got Zelda. I must have rented it at some point...

[MT 917]

I had it, just never finished it.

[Mera'din 307]

21.)  Erica

Saw this came out when I was watching some Gamescom 2019 stuff and remembered being interested in it when I originally saw something about it and saw it was only $10 so decided to grab it. Basically an FMV "interactive story" game, but MUCH higher production quality than you typically see with the genre.

 

First play through took me a couple hours roughly which I was expecting. Ending I got was a bad one I'm pretty sure, but it did leave me wanting to play again to see if I could get to the root of the mystery so that's a plus. Only awkward part was the controls. You have the option to download a phone app and use your phone to control it, otherwise it uses the PS4 touchpad exclusively and feels a little clunky. May try the phone app for the next play through since I feel like that might function more smoothly. 

 

Interested to see if the mystery pans out with a better ending, but the experience was pretty solid either way. As long as it doesn't wear itself out before I see everything there is to see I'll be happy.