Completed Games 2023

[Eizan 126]

1.  Death End Re;Quest

 

It's not bad, I enjoyed the story. Although the endings aren't great. I enjoyed the combat system at first, but the more the game went on the more annoying it got to fight. 

 

Compile Hearts games are usually really bad, so I'm surprised I actually finished this one. Going to start the 2nd game now and hopefully I finish it before Fire Emblem Engage comes out. 

[MT 917]

Here's my list from last year:

 

Quote

1)  Uncharted: Lost Legacy
2)  Spelunky 2
3)  Portal 2
4)  Death's Door
5)  Tunic
6)  Rogue Legacy 2
6a)  Rogue Legacy 2 (New Game+1)
6b) Rogue Legacy 2 (New Game+2)
6c) Rogue Legacy 2 (New Game+3)
7)  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
8 -   Aperture Desk Job
9) God Of War (2018)
10)  The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
11) God of War: Ragnarok
12) (Game Boy) Super Mario Land
13) (Game Boy) Super Mario Land 2

 

Here's to 2023!

 

1)  Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

 

Was trying to think of what to play while stuck in the apartment with Covid, so I replayed this. I'm hoping to start Ghosts of Tsushima after this, but I honestly have no clue where the hell my copy is.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

Quote

1.? Shadow Hearts

2. :snes: Earthbound
3.  Paper Mario: The Origami King

 

Kinda sad this ended up being my full list for the year, but college kicked my ass

 

1.  Pokemon Violet

2. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

 

I still technically need to make trades t complete my Pokedex, but I finished all of the story and the post-game stuff for Pokemon Violet.  I honestly don't have the patience or the motivation to do EV training, so I probably won't participate in the raids.  That said, I had a blast with this game.  I kept finding every chance to play, even if it was just for 10 minutes.  The game kind of had hills and valleys, where I was enamored for like the first 10-20 hours, then I saw through the matrix after getting all Miraidon upgrades, then I fell in love with exploring again.

 

Overall, I think this game has the same problem Final Fantasy XV does: the open world is a great concept with less cool stuff filling it out.  For XV, it was the lack of actual towns.  Here, I wish there were more sidequests and random locations that gave more incentive for exploring.  I was also annoyed that the Team Star boss monsters were essentially the same after being so impressed with the first one.  I think you should be able to ride Pokemon other than the legendary.  I also wish the wild Pokemon actually like...did stuff.  That said, it was still so joyous to be flying around and seeing some Pokemon I had never seen in the distance and rushing to go grab it.  Or getting excited whenever I come across one of my classic faves and feeling the deep need to catch it.  A lot to improve upon, but I think they have a winning formula here.

 

 

As for A Link to the Past, this was actually my first time completing it.  Or really playing it at all when it comes down to it.  I played it in retrospect during the PS1 era, and I never stick with it past the first dungeon.  But even all these years later, it holds up and was impressive.  Love the aesthetic of everything, and it's truly a graphical accomplishment on many fronts.  The dungeons were really creative with some tough(at times frustrating) bosses, though a decent deal of them were manageable with some fairies in bottles.  I also love how natural it felt discovering things and solving problems on the overworld, with the fortune teller hints helping fill the gaps when I was otherwise a bit lost.  I definitely see why people love this game, and it's definitely one of my favorite Zelda experiences.

[Mera'din 307]

23 games total for me last year. Same as the year before, so I'm staying consistent I guess. XD

 

1.)  Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Reunion

This was a fantastic remaster. The work they did on the character models was really well done, and it was still a really enjoyable story to play through. You can really tell this game was meant for a handheld system with the way the extra missions in the game worked though. Felt like a bit too much busy work for a console title, but could have been worse. The pre-rendered cutscenes could have looked better. The upscaling or whatever they did to them left them looking a bit low quality compared to the rest of the game, but it was a minor thing overall. Probably the only real fault the game had was the fact that they redid the voice acting for some reason and changed VAs. The new VA for Zack was really grating and I switched it over to the Japanese audio about 5 minutes into the game. X_x

 

Overall this game was really well put together when it originally came out and hits some really hard nostalgia buttons for FFVII, but has enough going for it to easily stand on its own. This version let me revisit that 100% so it definitely did it's job. I wonder if they'll end up doing one of these for Dirge of Cerberus now. That wasn't nearly as good of a game, but I honestly want to play it again anyway after how much I enjoyed playing this one again.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

I saw a video recently where someone absolutely loved Dirge of Cerberus, and it made me want to give it another shot.  Wish I still had my copy from years back.

 

I'm sad to hear about Zack's voice actor.  I've been watching these FF retrospective videos and someone was talking about how the new Zack voice actor in the VII Remake wasn't as strong, and hearing he did the same thing here...god, I hope they pull it together for Rebirth.

[Mera'din 307]

Yeah, it didn't stand out in Remake because you didn't hear him alot, but I just couldn't with a whole game of him. The old VA was so much better. Maybe some stuff later in the game wasn't as bad, but I wasn't willing to take the chance since the Japanese VAs have always been decent. As for Dirge of Cerberus, I wouldn't mind playing it again. I remember enjoying the story (as weird and sometimes contrived as it was), I just remember the gameplay being a bit of a chore to put up with. I'd definitely give it another go now though without a doubt.

[MT 917]

1)  Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

2) Spelunky (Olmec Run)

 

Been watching a streamer play some Spelunky 2 got me back into that game, but at some point I wanted to give the first game a try again and see how different it was. Had a real shitty run to start off with, but was able to turn it around in the end. Playing the game again for the first time in a while was tough, I could usually get pretty far, have a decent run, and then some stupid thing would happen and kill me (as is this genre's prerogative). Guess the way to go is to start off bad and get lucky instead of start off great.

[Eizan 126]

2.  Fire Emblem Engage - Story is like past FE's it's okay, but the game play is really good. Goldmary and Ike pairing carried me throughout most of the late game. The real winner of this game though is the soundtrack. 

[Vic Boss 612]

1) Goldeneye 007 :xsx: (100% Achievements)

 

Game's still pretty fun tbh, though the Switch version without a modern control scheme was pretty rough to play even with the tricks to mimic a more modern control scheme. Series X controls fix it about as well as it can, very playable by modern retro standards. Some of those cheat unlocks are still absolute bullshit (despite the reputation, Facility wasn't the hardest one) . Train, Facility and Silo are probably my favourite levels still.

 

I think the thing I still enjoy the most about the game is a) all the gadget related mission objectives and b) how you could continue playing the mission even after it's failed.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1. Pokemon Violet

2. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler

 

I FINALLY DID IT!  I 100%'d the whole game.  Beat all the side stories, beat all the main stories, and went to the Gate of Finis and whooped Galdera's ass.  Not after he fucked me up two times prior.

 

I loved this game so damn much.  It has just about everything I would ever ask for in a JRPG.  Multiple characters, can start as any of them, they're not necessarily mandatory, and all the secret optional stuff to find.  Optional dungeons and bosses, hidden equipment, engaging stories and characters, a real difficulty curve that is only easy if you learn how to break the game - which is kind of the reward.  By the time I was strong enough to beat the first Chapter 4, the rest of the final bosses were relatively easy (Simeon sucked, though), but that also gave me more incentive to swap up my team a bit.  I also loved the job system.  It's a bit annoying not being able to double up with the secret jobs, and I would love if you could add one command from the other jobs(ala FFV), but it forces you to think more carefully about your setup, and keeps the 8 characters more unique.  Only Alfyn can concoct, and while that was annoying to me because I really wanted Tressa to be my Alfyn, it made me develop them into their own personalities that could even work in conjunction with each other.

 

I started with Therion because I love thieves and wanted to be able to steal and open up all the chests from the get-go.  If I ever do a replay, I feel I'd struggle to pick a different character, but it would probably be Ophilia, because she's a monster.  My primary party was basically Therion, Olberic, Ophilia, and Alfyn, though I also liked swapping Olberic with H'aanit and liked the cut of Tressa's jib.  Part of me wishes I gave more attention to Primrose early, but after a bit of grinding, she was pretty essential in the final boss.

 

An ultimately minor, but should-be-addressed complaint is the formulaic structure of the stories and the fact that the stories aren't really interwoven.  There are small connections that have huge implications in the final boss story, but the lack of important interactions between the characters hindered the immersion for me a bit.  The Travel Banter and especially the Tavern Banter was a novel way to include, but the lack of voice-acting and actual scenes makes it feel more tacked on than profound, which is a shame since most of these characters have interesting backstories and personalities that deserve more of a highlight.  Some of the dialogue during the banters only confirms this.

 

The formulaic feel can also be said for the dungeons, which very few felt notable or significant from the others.  The ones in the forest or inside a building were always the most engaging, but the myriad caves all blurred together.  And the shape of them all gives little but "find the boss fight and get the loot, maybe a cutscene."  I think something like that could be at least masked by putting some of the dungeons in your way.  There is no actual dungeon you have to go through to reach a town or settlement, and I think having some areas like that - where the area has a transient, but significant plot connection - would help in making the chapter-locked dungeons feel less repetitive.  I don't know if this specific idea has been implemented, but from what I've heard, the sequel does a lot to fix the formulaic feel and the lack of real party interaction.

 

The last complaint I have is the final dungeon, which I guess I'll put in spoilers just in case.  I also ramble a lot here about my specific strategy, so you know, if ya wanna skip:

 

I'm glad you don't have to deal with random battles, but the boss gauntlet sucks.  The final boss has two phases, and if you're trying to go in relatively blind, it's an ordeal to go through the boss gauntlet every single time just to test out different party setups on the final boss that might not work and have to try again.  My first go through, I thought I was in good shape.  Primary party at Level 74+, the stragglers in the 50-60 range(except poor Primrose at like 41 or maybe even high 30s).  I got stomped by The Omniscent Eye.  And I failed to beat Galdera on the second try.  And each time the idea of carving out a chunk of time to try it again to

maybe have a good party setup against Galdera was just annoying.  The gauntlet bosses aren't even hard, they were just tedious.  Being able to save before Galdera would have been really nice.

 

That said, the positive effect of this is it really forced me to min/max more than I ever have before.  After the first try, I finished all the sidequests, grinded the stragglers a bit while farming items, and had everyone at 71+ with Primrose at 68.  I spent some time researching skills and equipment and trying to make the optimal party to correct where I fucked up with Omniscent Eye.  I setup Olberic as a Warmaster, and had Alfyn as Merchant and Tressa as Thief, while Primrose played cleric. The party was made to boost Olberic with BP and stat effects and spam Winnehild's Battlecry to kill the souls quickly and deal massive damage to the Eye.  It worked like a charm.  I got through it with nary a scratch and beat it with relative ease.  I felt great, and with looking at the second form's HP, I thought my Therion/Runelord, Cyrus/Starseer, H'aanit/Warrior, Ophilia/Sorceror would be a bang-up team.  Good healing, two of my most powerful and leveled people in Therion and Ophilia, and versatile ways to dish out breaks and damage between all four.  But once I beat the three puppets covering the main body, Galdera started unleashing powerful attacks that were chopping my HP in half with one strike.  Multi-strikes were even worse, Encore and Divine Aura be damned.  To be fair, there was one crucial moment where my party was beat up and not setup to unleash hell, and as Ophilia, I could have used a spell that would break Galdera, or try to heal my party and survive the two turns he had before I had another turn.  I thought breaking Galdera would be too greedy, and part of this was because I wanted to rely on Ophilia for damage as much as healing and didn't want to waste a break opportunity having to heal.  I chose to heal and proceeded to kill me in those two turns.

 

Determined to not have to do this again, I went deeper.  Now, I was actually looking at damage calculations.  I was realizing how important all the multipliers were, and that using a same strategy as my Olberic party could be more optimal.  Rather than trying to have a party that could equally support and damage for the second fight, I would ultimately focus on finding another ultimate attack comparable to Winnehild's Battlecry to boost and spam for the win.  I tried to think of some strategies that would involve just bringing Olberic over to the second party and replacing his damage output, and honestly I probably could have swapped the two and it would have worked fine, but I was concerned that switching out Olberic would kill the successful dynamic I had for the Eye, plus Winnehild's works well for getting easier breaks, and I thought that was more vital.

 

But Therion was my first character to break the 9999 damage cap with Aeber's Reckoning, and sure enough, I found a way to boost his damage all the way to 85k with that move if I got all multipliers in there(including BP Eater).  And though the fight was still harrowing, the strategy(plus taking the opportunity to break Galdera whenever it was there) paid off.  I swapped Tressa and H'aanit to have Armor Corrosive and Donate BP in the second party, and had Ophilia focus on support except when she could break or didn't need to support, and while I couldn't fully maximize Therion's damage output due to not having a strength boost, I was still hitting for 68,000, and I got through it with relative ease in comparison to the first try.

 

So yes, the final dungeon is annoying, but I kind of liked that it forced me to really take my setups more seriously.  I know there are ways I could have cheesed even more damage, but it involved strategies I didn't want to take the risk on or do the research to figure out how to safeguard them.  I do think it's a big ask for people who don't want to get into math and hyper analyzing your setup, and I'm sure some would be upset that the one unifying element of the stories is locked into a boss like that, but then again, those who are looking for the optional dungeons are probably willing to put in that work anyway.

 

Fantastic game.  I can't wait to buy the second one.  It only took me 4 years to beat it, but it happened.

[dr. b 492]

Octopath Traveler is on the ol’ to-do list… some day… if I can ever finish all my goals in Diablo 2  

 

I need a good JRPG back in my life though. It’s either going to be Octopath or Bravely Default 2 next up. (I effing loved Bravely Default and Bravely Second!)

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

I want to get Bravely Default II also.  I wanted to wait until I finished the first one, but I can't find my 3DS cartridge anymore -_-

[dr. b 492]

I was all digital on my 3DS, so no worries about losing game carts  I put so many hours into Bravely Default…

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

It was a birthday gift in 2021 which is part of why I had a physical cartridge.  And also why I feel even worse about losing it.

 

I'm hoping at some point I at least find it whenever we move from here or something.  The last I remember is putting it inside a pouch in my backpack.  I fear that it accidentally fell out when I was reaching for something else or something like that.

Holy shit, I found it!  It was in a duffle bag that was in my girlfriend's closet.  I literally checked every other bag and coat I owned and finally asked her about any time she remembered me using one of her bags.

 

All is good 

[Mera'din 307]

2.)  Forspoken

This one was kind of rough around the edges. I didn't hate it, and the traversal was super fun, but the story was kind of simplistic, cliché and not very subtle. The main character was only likely through the lens of her companion somehow being even less likable, and the map was about double the size it should have been and strewn about with so much random busy work that it probably made Ubisoft jealous. The story had potential, but the dialogue and a lot of the core story writing was just plain not great. I really solid writer probably could have done something far more interesting with it even hitting the same story beats. The world building was pretty decent though overall. Felt like the world had a pretty rich history that was fun to read about.

 

I don't regret buying it, and I did have fun with it, but I honestly wish it was shorter overall. I ended up only doing enough to get the Platinum, and thank god that didn't require 100% completion because I was more than ready to be done by that point.

[dr. b 492]

10 hours ago, Psycho666Soldier said:

It was a birthday gift in 2021 which is part of why I had a physical cartridge.  And also why I feel even worse about losing it.

 

I'm hoping at some point I at least find it whenever we move from here or something.  The last I remember is putting it inside a pouch in my backpack.  I fear that it accidentally fell out when I was reaching for something else or something like that.

Holy shit, I found it!  It was in a duffle bag that was in my girlfriend's closet.  I literally checked every other bag and coat I owned and finally asked her about any time she remembered me using one of her bags.

 

All is good 

 

[Vic Boss 612]

1) Goldeneye 007 :xsx: (100% Achievements)

2) NASCAR Heat 4 (Platinum)

 

Late-platty glitches aside (had to win an extra race to activate the 200 wins trophy and had to delete my career and jumpstart a Cup series career to buy 6 truck series trucks and pop the 6 cars platinum), I think this was mostly a good game. It veers a bit too much towards simulation where you need to have good set-ups to be able to realistically compete but since it's an old game there's mostly good setups already on the internet. I love the career mode, NASCAR games where you can race up from dirt to trucks to late models to cup always hits the right way. I did avoid racing multiple series at the same time because the trophies apparently glitch if you do, but I figure I'll buy the Switch NASCAR Heat Ultimate and use that as my prime NASCAR multi-series NASCAR game

[Mera'din 307]

3.)  High on Life

This game started out pretty fun, but it wore out it's welcome pretty damn quick. The jokes got to be a bit too much after not long, or in a lot of cases felt like they were trying to hard. It had it's moments, but overall it was just fine. I have to say the fact that they paid for the rights to put 3 full length campy, B-list horror movies into the game was pretty damn funny though. I actually stood there watching them for more time than I care to admit.  

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1. Pokemon Violet

2. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler

5. Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

 

Beat these in the last couple weeks.  I started dabbling with Metroid II when the Gameboy games were released for Switch Online, and since I had some days where the TV was being used, I started digging deeper into that.  First time actually playing it, and it's a really fun adventure.  The "gameboy-ness" fades after you get into it a bit more.  A little less exploration than normal, but introducing a lot of series staples(including the Spider Ball which I always thought was a Prime innovation) and just making a generally enjoyable adventure with better control and not as punishing health respawning and such makes this a really fun playthrough.  Could see myself wanting to speedrun it at some point. 

 

And finally beat Oddworld for the first time ever.  100% completion, very minimal walkthrough help(some of the early ones are tricky  and I used it as a double check to see how many mudokons were in each area).  I definitely still love this game, even if the controls aren't the best.  I get the feeling emulating on the PS3 meant the where was an input delay that probably made it worse, but having started Abe's Exoddus, I can tell they actively made it control a bit tighter.  Also, the save/checkpoint system is brutal, especially with some of the challenges/puzzles you're expected to gruel your way through.  But for me personally, the satisfaction of getting it done right always overrode any frustration in my attempts.  Overall, I think puzzle and level design is fantastic, and it's no surprise to me that this game has stood in ny conscious for so long even if I never beat it as a child.  Also, the ending is hella satisfying.  Another moment where all the annoying struggling that came before felt justified.  Most people would probably recommend New 'n Tasty, but I think if you can get over aging, the original PS1 release is still an amazing game that tried something different than what a lot of the competition was doing.

 

Abe's Exoddus has already been started and it's basically improved everything that needed to be improved, the quiksave function in particular is crucial.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1. Pokemon Violet

2. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler

5. Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

7.   God of War (2018) 

 

Finally 100%'d this and got the platinum trophy. I was originally gonna try and take on the Valkyries on Give Me God of War mode, but I opted not to for the sake of time and sanity. Glad I did because Sigrun, the final Valkyrie, fucked my day so many times. Then I just had to polish off the second set of Muspelheim trials and find a missing jotnar shrine, and now I can finally move on.

 

It was an awesome game. Really carried the spirit of the original, and though Niflheim felt pretty tedious and annoying, most of the other challenges were enjoyable, and felt like an accomplishment when you finished. Beating Sigrun was such a cathartic moment.

 

Probably gonna focus on FF7 Remaster and whatever other small things that sound fun when not playing Spyro/Oddworld. Then I'm either gonna move on to Ragnarok or Tears of the Kingdom.

[Vic Boss 612]

1) Goldeneye 007 :xsx: (100% Achievements)

2) NASCAR Heat 4 (Platinum)

3) Pokemon Scarlet (80ish hours)

 

I caught every Pokemon possible in the normal game without involving trading. Beat all the storylines and tournaments. I picked Quaxly but it eventually hit the PC and Pawmot became my go-to Pokemon. Was a fan of the open-world exploration and most of the storyline. Minor complaint was that the chugging graphics were way too noticeable, a semi-major complaint was that I miss when gyms and the Team bases revolved around battling a gauntlet of trainers instead of mini-games. Not gonna bother with the 5-star and further Tera Raid battles, I don't enjoy that aspect of Pokemon.

 

Craziest moment I've ever experienced in Pokemon was when I went to the entrance of Area Zero and bumped into two Shiny Pokemon within the same half hour or so (Raichu and Venomoth). Was assuming there was a higher percentage chance of bumping into them there but nope, just got crazy lucky.

[MT 917]

1)  Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

2) Spelunky (Olmec Run)

3) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

4) (NES) The Legend of Zelda

 

Been playing through some Zelda games in preparation for Tears of the Kingdom next week. I started playing Twilight Princess again, but I don't know if i'm invested enough to go through that entire game in a little over a week. Started Oracle of Ages on the GBC, and Minish Cap on the GBA (don't think i'll finish those, either). Might play through Link to the Past, but who knows.

[Mera'din 307]

4.)  Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line

Man, this was fun as hell. I love me a good rhythm game to begin with, and being Final Fantasy themed was just a huge bonus. I have the original 2 games on my 3DS and always enjoyed them, so it was nice to see one finally get released on console, and they did not skimp on it. I think there was well over 300 songs, and my only complaint with how it was set up is that some of the songs I really wanted were only part of the "Deluxe" version, which was a little annoying. At least they had an upgrade for it. This thing seriously covered pretty much every FF game out there too, including newer stuff like Stranger in Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins. The DLC they're putting out branches into some of Square's other games too like the Saga series, Nier, and The World Ends with You which is pretty cool, though I would have preferred they do some of the really good alternate arrangement stuff they have for other FF music, like the piano pieces or more Black Mages stuff (they had 1 or 2 of theirs in the deluxe version at least).

 

Overall, I really enjoyed myself with this. Was a hell of a nostalgia trip too. After playing it, it was really difficult not to commit to playing through at least every main line FF game again. XD

[Mera'din 307]

5.)  Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

 

I've always enjoyed these Frogware Sherlock Holmes games off and on over the years. They're always slightly janky but never prohibitively so, and they're a fun relaxing play. This is one I actually backed this one on Kickstarter since a Sherlock meets Lovecraftian horror type story seemed interesting. Actually had no idea it was a remake of an older game. This one carries off of their "reboot" series though that started with Sherlock: Year One (which I haven't played yet). Based on things I've read, this one is a bit of a let down compared to the original, but as I have no played it, I rather enjoyed it. Some interesting puzzles, and story even if some of it felt rushed and a little disjointed. I enjoyed myself. May have to grab the original at some point to see how if the claims hold true.

[MT 917]

1)  Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

2) Spelunky (Olmec Run)

3) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

4) (NES) The Legend of Zelda

5)  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

 

What a fantastic game. It knocks Breath of the Wild down a peg on my top Zelda games list (Link to the Past is still my favorite), and improves on the first game in just about every way. It feels like there's so much to do, even outside of the main quest. Lots of side quests, lots of people to meet. It was so wonderful going back to the same version of Hyrule (which I don't think has really been done outside of LttP/Link Between Worlds), seeing how things have changed, and reconnecting with a ton of characters from the last game. You actually get to see the aftermath of helping out each of the regions instead of things just somewhat changing. The sky is a bit sparse from what I was expecting, but they more than make up for it by practically having the inverse of the entire overworld hiding just below the surface: mountain ranges become valleys, and vice versa. There's a moment in the story about 2/3 of the way through that blew my mind. My only real complaint is (and this is 100% a me thing) I thought I was getting close to the end way before I actually was, so I got a bit impatient near the end. Even with that tiny complaint, the game is well worth it if you enjoyed Breath of the Wild. 

 

 

 

One of the major things they corrected was giving the game a truly epic final boss battle. BotW's last battle just felt like more of the same of the other battles, and the final form, while not all that difficult, was truly epic. The last time I was that wowed by a Zelda game's final battle was Wind Waker.

 

I could keep going but it's late and my partner is sleeping not far behind me. If you liked the last game, you should love this one.

[Mera'din 307]

6.)  The Last Case of Benedict Fox

Was a fun little Metroidvania style game. A little lighter on combat and heavier on puzzles than your typical faire here, but that suits me fine. Story was interesting enough, and had a bit of a Lovecraftian vibe to it. Puzzles were pretty solid and decently challenging and worked well with the Metroidvania back-and-forthing through the maps. Decent game length and progressing felt pretty smooth. Some of the platforming was a bit spotty, but nothing so frustrating that it became a burden. Made for a nice distraction. 

[MT 917]

1)  Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

2) Spelunky (Olmec Run)

3) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

4) (NES) The Legend of Zelda

5)  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (152 Shrines/120 Lightroots)

 

Been slowly chipping away at the remaining shrines for the past week or so. I still don't have all of the costumes yet, so I may keep playing now and again to get the ones i'm missing. Got somewhere over 115 hours of gameplay from it, so I definitely got my money's worth.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1.???? Pokemon Violet

?2?. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro? 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler

5. Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

7. God of War (2018) 

8. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot

9.  Spider-Man Remastered

 

Crash Bandicoot is another game I started playing with my partner. We just went through and beat it as is. I think I'll slowly work on getting all the gems, but surviving some of those stages by getting all the boxes and not dying sounds like torture, so happy to count this as completion.

 

 

Just finished Spider-Man yesterday. 100% the main game and got the platinum trophy. Really fun game that feels like a natural evolution of Spider-Man 2 way back in the 2000s. Webslinging was superb, and I had a lot of fun finding different ways to travel by trying to reach the benchmarks. I liked the greater crime varieties, and the combat was pretty fluid. The story was really well done, perfect blending comic book canon with an altered history where not ALL major events have happened yet. I liked the unique turns they took, and unlike the previous games, they did a great job of making you feel like Peter Parker as well as Spider-Man. I think the boss battles could have been a bit harder and/or more dynamic, because as is they were just glorified versions of the usual beat-em-up brawls with grunts, but there were still some cool moments. The MJ missions were mostly annoying until the very last one, though. Could have done without.

 

Story Spoilers

I teared up pretty hard when Aunt May died. Was not expecting that, and to frame it as Peter's choice to save her or save many was just heart-wrenching. Also the reveal that Norman is using a symbiote to try and heal Harry was a wild twist that had me hollering at the screen. Definitely has me hyped for the sequel.

 

At some point I'll play the DLC and go for the Remastered specific trophies, but not sure I'll ever get around to a New Game+. At this point I'm ready to give Miles Morales a spin and get hyped for Spider-Man 2.

[Mera'din 307]

7.)  Ori and the Blind Forest

 

Fun platformer game. Or would be if the controls on the Xbox app version weren't completely fucked. Had to play it in windowed mode in order for the cursor to appear to direct one of the attacks that it makes you use constantly during the game for the super intense platforming sections, and there was no option to keep the mouse pointer from leaving the game window, so I was constantly veering off and clicking outside of the game which messed me up a lot. The game just flat out wouldn't recognize a controller for some reason either.

 

Other than the frustrations, it was a pretty fun game. Some challenging parts that took some repetition to get used to. Definitely not interested in trying to 100% it, but was fun enough I'll play the 2nd one at some point.

[Mera'din 307]

8.)  Bramble: The Mountain King

 

Nice little atmospheric horror game based on Nordic folklore and fairy tales. Gets pretty gruesome at times, and has this nice unsettling vibe through most of the game. Story was interesting enough. Had a lot of fun with it. Wasn't terribly long, maybe 5-6 hours, but I like games like that when I don't have a lot of time, or as a palate cleanser between all these stupidly long games. XD

[dr. b 492]

So, I guess nobody beat Diablo IV yet..?

[Eizan 126]

I'm surprised that FF16 wasn't one of the games Mera'din beat. 

 

3.  Final Fantasy 16 

 

I loved this game, easily one of my top 5 Final Fantasy games.

 

[webhead 519]

I've barely done shit with gaming this year but technically just recently beat 2 games!

 

1. Diablo 4

Story was...there I guess.  Game was fun though not amazing.  Still needs some work.  Endgame...seems like they forgot a lot of shit they had hammered out fixing Diablo 3.  New patch is garbage for S1 as we discussed in the other topic but they're going to fix it.  Overall it was cool, I miss having the areas of the game be separated instead of it just being a huge map now.  Something just off about that.

 

2. Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Extremely fun.  Miles is pretty fucking OP tbh.  I thoroughly enjoyed using his electric powers and they put a LOT of emphasis on it.  They're gonna have to give Pete some serious leveling up to keep up.  Since he'll have the symbiote suit though we'll probs be ok.  Ending nearly had me in fucking tears.  Fantastic story, awesome gameplay, also the subway shit loaded basically INSTANTLY THANK FUCK.  Sometimes, though the web slinging IS fun, I don't want to do it for several minutes to get across the city!  

[dr. b 492]

On 7/21/2023 at 1:50 PM, Eizan said:

easily one of my top 5 Final Fantasy games

You can't casually say that and then not give us your list!

 

Also, be prepared to explain yourself if FFV is not near the top of the list   

[Mera'din 307]

On 7/21/2023 at 12:50 PM, Eizan said:

I'm surprised that FF16 wasn't one of the games Mera'din beat. 

 

3.  Final Fantasy 16 

 

I loved this game, easily one of my top 5 Final Fantasy games.

 

I assure you I am actively playing it at the moment. Not sure how far am I in at this point but probably not terribly far. Having 4 kids means I have limited time to use my TV/Playstation. X_x

Even got the fancy collectors edition for this one. XD
It's been pretty fun so far. Story is interesting if very Game of Thrones feeling. Not sure I'm a huge fan of the combat at the moment, but the Eikon battles are a hell of a spectacle at least. 

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1 hour ago, Mera'din said:

I assure you I am actively playing it at the moment. Not sure how far am I in at this point but probably not terribly far. Having 4 kids means I have limited time to use my TV/Playstation. X_x

Even got the fancy collectors edition for this one. XD
It's been pretty fun so far. Story is interesting if very Game of Thrones feeling. Not sure I'm a huge fan of the combat at the moment, but the Eikon battles are a hell of a spectacle at least. 

Yeah, I'm like...I dunno, halfway through it?  I got to the point where the game opens up and have done like 3 main missions since then?  Not sure how much is left for me but I've probably put in about 35-40 hours.

 

Storywise it's easily in the top 3-5 so far from where I'm at.  I agree that the combat is kinda lacking a bit.  Like it's good, but I feel like they nailed it better with the FF7 Remake.  The lack of a true party dynamic/switching between characters takes away some of the magic for me.

 

Even beyond that, I've been loving it so far.

[Mera'din 307]

Yeah, after FFVII Remake, and even FFXV (thought I wasn't fond of the magic system in that one) it felt a bit meh. I do like the switching between elemental powered ability things, that feels nice but everything feels so spongey. Probably one of the pitfalls of it being made by people who are used to working on an MMO. There are definitely a lot of MMO vibes to it in places that aren't necessarily always a detriment, but don't often seem to do it any particular favors other.

[Mera'din 307]

9.)  (PSVR2) Beat Saber

I had only messed with VR stuff a little via a friend letting me borrow the original PSVR for a month or two and playing Beat Saber on that was really fun (helped that it was just about the ONLY thing the shitty Move controllers lent themselves well to). Decided to splurge for my birthday and get the PSVR2 and when they finally released the upgrade to PSVR2 for it, I was super excited. Have been playing it quite a bit  and actually managed to beat the campaign, something I didn't think I'd ever pull off when I first started playing it. Don't think I'll ever quite muster the skill to get the Platinum for it, but I'm honestly surprised at how much better I've got with it over time. Only downside is the music selection is pretty limited on the console side, but there's enough good stuff that I'm enjoying myself. Have actually managed to start playing consistently on Expert mode. It's a hell of a workout too. XD

 

10.)  (PSVR2) Horizon: Call of the Mountain

Got the version of the PSVR2 that came with this. It's the first "real" VR game I've managed to play all the way through. Not because it wasn't fun, but because I have limited time to play on it, and it took me a little while before I could play for more than 30 min. or so at a time. I've finally started acclimating to the VR stuff and have even been able to reduce the vignette settings when moving. Game was pretty interesting overall.
The majority of it is basically climbing puzzles, but they were really fun honestly. There's set points where you fight machines and I thought those parts would end up being awful purely because I was expecting the shooting controls to be extra janky (insert flashbacks to Wii FPS games here), but it was actually set up pretty well. You have a quick dodge to avoid attacks, and the system has a pretty solid eye movement tracker that ties into the aim assist settings, so you generally hit what you are looking at which made it kind of fun to do. The graphical detail in the game was really great too. Made it a pretty solid experience compared to other VR stuff I've tried. 

 

11.)  Oxenfree 2

I have been waiting for this game for quite a while. Absolutely loved the first one and was excited to finally play this. I worried it would feel really samey, and wouldn't be as interesting since the "mystery" that made the first game so great is kind of already apparent, but they managed to do something unique with it still that kept it interesting despite having an idea of what was up. The way it tied to the first game was really cool too. It feels a bit more "shallow" than the original at the moment, but I've only played through it once and if it's anything like the first in that regard, it will take more than one play through to fully grasp the depth of the story and the effect your choices have. I'm looking forward to seeing if it holds up in that regard.

[Mera'din 307]

12.)  Stray Gods

What a fantastic game. It's a narrative RPG (leaning Telltale style game but more of an animatic/animated style), that is also a full on musical. Really interesting concept overall. Great voice acting, solid songs, though the audio mixing is a bit all over the place. Story was pretty fun to. Basically it works off the premise that gods (primarily of the Greek variety in this case) are real and have been living among us for thousands of years, though some of the "big" ones (Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon for example) are dead and gone, and the others are fading. The main character is a normal human who ends up with one of the muses dying in her arms and her power is passed to her and she gets dragged into their world and has to find out what happened to the former muse or she'll be executed for her murder.

 

The choices seem pretty varied and many even occur mid-song and change what is being sung. Based on the achievements in the game, there are even whole songs you don't see depending on the choices you make. I'm curious to see how much the story could change as it seems to be better off than these sorts of games usually are. It was written by David Gaider who was lead writer on things like Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and all the Dragon Age games, so I'm expecting to see some interesting differences with some of the choices available.

[MT 917]

I saw a little bit of it played and was like "I need this". With Starfield around the corner I may hold off on it though. 

[Mera'din 307]

It's not a super long game, so if you have the money I'd say go for it. I got through it in about 8.5hr. but I play stuff super slow and idle a lot, so I'd say an average playthrough is probably around 6 hours. Unless you got a lot you're playing right now, you get definitely get through it at least once before Starfield drops. I'm much more worried about getting through Baldur's Gate before Starfield shows up. I'm at least 25 hours in and still not even as far as I was in the Early Access.  

 

Speaking of Starfield though, it looks like the preload is up (at least on the XBox app).

[MT 917]

I got tired of the singing way earlier than I thought I would. I played maybe an hour.

[Rulkster 47]

 triangle strategy: I did really enjoy the game. Only issue i had was on my own end, when I was expecting it to be a new FFT and set myself up for a slight let down.

[MT 917]

1) Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

2)  Spelunky (Olmec Run)

3)   The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

4) (NES) The Legend of Zelda

5)  The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (152 Shrines/120 Lightroots)

6) Viewfinder 

 

Neat little puzzle game, but I was ready for it to end a bit earlier than it did. Basically you're in this simulation and are able to pick up photographs, hold them in front of you, and any walls/ground/etc in that picture (once you place it) becomes a physical object. Like if you had a photo of a long walkway that curves off to the left, and in front of you there's a platform out in front and to the left of you, you can place that picture there and then you're able to walk to the platform. There's other similar mechanics I won't spoil, but it was a neat idea that (to me anyway) wore out it's welcome a little earlier than I would've liked.

[dr. b 492]

On 8/21/2023 at 10:05 PM, Rulkster said:

 triangle strategy: I did really enjoy the game. Only issue i had was on my own end, when I was expecting it to be a new FFT and set myself up for a slight let down.

I've been meaning to try Triangle Strategy one of these days... but then I remind myself that I generally don't enjoy SRPGs. I buy them thinking, "This time it will click with me," and then I never finish the game  I'll wait for a good sale, I guess... then I won't feel as bad when I stop playing part way through  

[Rulkster 47]

23 hours ago, dr. b said:

I've been meaning to try Triangle Strategy one of these days... but then I remind myself that I generally don't enjoy SRPGs. I buy them thinking, "This time it will click with me," and then I never finish the game  I'll wait for a good sale, I guess... then I won't feel as bad when I stop playing part way through  

I did enjoy the choose your own adventure aspect of it, as it changes the story slightly. I suppose another gripe about the game though is to get the "golden" ending you need to do at least one new game plus. Personally I feel like it's kind of a 1 and done so I'm not sure ill ever get that ending. 

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1.????  Pokemon Violet

?2?. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3.  Spyro? 2: Ripto's Rage

4.  Octopath Traveler

5.  Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

7.  God of War (2018) 

8. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot

9.  Spider-Man Remastered

10. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot 2 (100%)

11.  Final Fantasy XVI

 

I actually beat Crash 2 a couple months ago and just forgot to post it:

 

Finally played through and beat this bad boy after all these years. I always spent more time with Warped, but I've played the first two worlds tons of times and never got farther. I loved this game. It polishes everything that worked with the first game, and fixes everything that didn't. The improved movement and jump options add a lot more depth and flexibility, and thank god for both the ability to save whenever and game over not erasing your progress. It makes trying to go for 100% or playing levels over and over less stressful. Level design was great, enjoy the variety and challenge. How to get gems could be a bit more obvious or better telegraphed(I had to look up a couple), but completing each task was incredibly satisfying. Great game, holds up in my opinion even without the remakes. I'm excited for Warped. Though we'll probably go back to finishing Year of the Dragon first.

 

 

Finally finished XVI.  Did all the sidequests and got all but one of the achievements I can reasonably get without grinding(which this game is not designed for) or playing New Game+, and while I mostly enjoyed the game, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to play it again.  Overall, it's a really good game that's held back from being great because of some design issues.  I think other than scope, it tends to feel like FF7R ran so FF16 could jog brisquely.

 

Biggest flaw for me, as I already mentioned, is the lack of a true party dynamic.  It just feels like the structure is right there and they don't bite on it.  While I like getting different characters to join your adventures, they feel useless in battle and just there for dressing.  And as much as I enjoy the Torgal mechanics, I feel it never expands, and the fact he gets a power up later that gives him special moves that you have no control over(and that to my knowledge I've never ever seen?) is dull.  This is made worse by combat getting a bit repetitive by the latter half.

 

And yeah, the gear is disappointing.  I like working for the final weapon, but I never had any incentive to experiment with accessories.  Definitely feels like the crafting mechanic is useless in the vanilla game which makes the equipment feel a little more useless by proxy.  I think a lot of this would be relieved by having a party that you maintain and gear up, where you'd have more characters to play around with and actually have a use for all the gear you can upgrade, since half the time you have two or three weapons/armor to craft at a single moment and there's no incentive to craft the lower quality ones.  Especially since resources are easy to come by.

 

While I generally enjoyed doing all the end-game quests and the closing out NPC storylines, it feels like there aren't a lot of tangible rewards for doing so.  With no customizable magic and the gear being a bit useless, maybe something like some quest/hunt-specific special attacks would have been cool, but as is the best you get is the final weapon quest lines.  Which is enjoyable.  But it would be nice to have more tangible incentive to actually explore such a gorgeous world.

 

Also, the soundtrack is mostly incredible.  Which is why it's a shame the game does an awful job of showcasing it outside of cutscenes and boss battles.  A lot of the field and town music is wonderful, which is why it's infinitely annoying that during any conversations, the game turns the music volume down.  There are some tracks you don't get to fully enjoy because of this, since otherwise you're just blazing through an area and barely get to hear 30 seconds of it unless you decide to linger purposefully.  This is probably a nitpick, but being that the music is usually one of the best parts of a Final Fantasy, not being able to soak a lot of it in naturally is a shame.

 

There's also the issue of a lot of the less important NPCs looking the same(the men have like 2 stock faces that are barely changed from each other), and a bit more variety in quests could have been nice(maybe a mini-game or two), but the latter part is definitely a nitpick.

All that said, I still really enjoyed this game.  Presentation and storywise it's pretty much a 10 out of 10.  Well, ok, the story might not be a 10/10 but I was into it the whole way.  It helps that the characters were really lovable with some excellent voice acting.  The best and pretty enjoyable rewards from the sidequests was getting more characterization and intimate moments with the side characters.  The graphics, lazy NPC modeling aside, are nothing short of stunning.  Like the environments just had me pausing at times to just look at it all and appreciate it.  The water in the Velkroy is pure beauty.  And my god, the cutscenes.  Yes, there's maybe too many or at least are broken up in an annoying way for some portions, but they were almost always a treat.  Especially the ones involving Eikons.  Some of the set pieces during boss fights just had my jaw agape as I took it all in.

 

And I already said it, but I loved the soundtrack.  It has some "epic movie/video game" tropes that made some moments less memorable where a notable melody or rhythm could have served well.  And like I said, the general mixing and implementation of the soundtrack makes it so some of the more memorable tracks don't get to shine.  But this doesn't stop some of the best pieces from truly shining, especially during cutscenes and battles.  I loved the re-imaginings of the FF Theme and the Prologue, making them feel more integral to the themes rather than just traditional pieces that need to be fit in somewhere.  Masayoshi Soken does amazing work and when Square let him shine, he's fucking blinding.  Overall, while I don't think he's topped Nobuo Uematsu as far as pure memorability, I think if Soken is the main composer going forward, then the series is in good hands.

 

And then the combat.  Well, like I said, it gets a bit repetitive and I think if they weren't gonna commit to a couple more RPG elements than they should have leaned a bit harder into the action.  But for the first half of the game, the combo system is really fun and refreshing.  And while I never felt I needed to get Eikon abilities outside Phoenix/Ifrit and Garuda, once I started unlocking the super powerful moves and played around with the techniques a bit, I found myself getting a setup that was really fun to play and also hella engaging to rack up damage and stagger.  I feel you take what's here, add more versatility to Torgal and give some semblance of control and management of party members, and you have an excellent ARPG combat system.  As is, if you put the effort in, you can have a lot of fun with this system, but again, you're not really incentivized to do so.  Particularly with the enemies being such damage sponges.

The boss battles could be better in some senses, as the big ones half the time feel more like glorified cutscenes since death is kind of meaningless and rare.  But considering the shortcomings of the battle system, I found myself enjoying the change of pace for these battles.  Though fights as Ifrit that weren't purely focused on set piece like moments felt less freeing than most fighting as Clive.

 

This is already way bigger than I planned for it to be, but I also want to give a special shout to the hunts.  Not all of them were amazing, but they added some incentive to explore, and some of the S Rank hunts were the most thrilling and memorable fights of the whole thing(looking at you, Svarog).

 

So, yeah.  There are a lot of flaws.  Especially with FF7R staring it right in the face doing mostly everything 16 did but better.  And I see myself wanting to replay XV before this one to be honest.    But as a brand new story and experience in an engrossing world that constantly drew me in, this was still a really good Final Fantasy.

 

8/10

God I hate copy/pasting from modern forums on mobile

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1??.???? Pokemon Violet

?2?. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro? 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler?

5. Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

7. God of War (2018) 

8. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot?

9. Spider-Man Remastered?

10. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot 2 (100%)?

11. Final Fantasy XVI

12. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (100%)

 

And I finally polished off the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.  This one has a ton more content, and I think the various styles of gameplay were a great change to the formula.  The final boss is less satisfying than Ripto though.  All 100%.

Now I just need to polish off Crash Warped, which is at like 89% but the golden relics are a fucking pain.

[Vic Boss 612]

1) Goldeneye 007 :xsx: (100% Achievements)

2) NASCAR Heat 4 (Platinum)

3) Pokemon Scarlet (80ish hours)

4) Wolfenstein 3D :xsx: (100% Achievements)

 

I know I've tried to 100% this game before but I think I got discouraged after finding out the Aardwolf maze in Episode 2 was incomplete and it makes it impossible to 100% everything because a few secrets automatically get blocked off and a few treasures are stuck in inaccessible areas.

 

But yeah, the achievements demanded beating the game on Bring It On mode, 100%ing kills and treasure on one level, finding one secret and beating one floor on I Am Death Incarnate mode. Episodes 1 flows the best and feels the best to play, Episode 2 is fun because it's satisfying to kill mutants and Episode 5 is a good time because there's a lot of open areas filled  Nazis to mow down. The others were not so fun, too constricted or too maze-like. Episode 6 in particular suuucked to play, not fun at all. I did use maps for a few areas, mostly the Aardwolf maze and any other area where secrets get blocked off if you don't push them the right way, and an area or two in Episode 6 that were awful mazes.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

1??.???? Pokemon Violet

?2?. :snes: Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

3. Spyro? 2: Ripto's Rage

4. Octopath Traveler?

5. Metroid II: Return of Samus

6. :ps1: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee

7. God of War (2018) 

8. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot?

9. Spider-Man Remastered?

10. :ps1: Crash Bandicoot 2 (100%)?

11. Final Fantasy XVI

12. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (100%)

13. Jet Set Radio

 

This has been a long time coming.  Always loved this game, but never completed it all the way.  I'd usually get to the point where the Golden Rhinos got involved, get frustrated with the increase in enemies combined with the awkward controls and would eventually just get bored/throw in the towel.  Same thing sort of happened last time I started the game about a year or two ago, but I picked it back up to night to polish it off.  Didn't really bother with getting every Graffiti Soul, but maybe I'll come back and do that piece by piece over time.  Still a great game, even if the movement could be more responsive.  The entire aesthetic of the game is just too cool that it's worth getting through any of the awkward bits.