11. F.E.A.R. [PC] ~8 hrs (completed 4/20/2015)


I had already beaten this game, but I couldn't remember the plot at ALL, so I decided to replay it to refresh myself. A lot of people praise this game endlessly, and my verdict is....that it's incredibly overrated. I can totally see it being amazing back when it first came out, but since I came back to it after every part of it had been reused endlessly in other games, it just seems generic. The plot was pretty good though, in spite of the generally mediocre/awful voice acting, enough to get me to replay Extraction Point immediately after finishing this. Beat the game on Hard, and grabbed every voicemail/laptop/booster.
6/10 - While revolutionary at the time, the overabundance of all its traits in other games have not let the game age well. Still worth a play-through for the intriguing plot.


12. F.E.A.R. Extraction Point [PC] ~4 hrs (completed 5/7/2015)


With no real improvements over the original game, the expansion was even more dull in terms of gameplay, and the plot didn't build on the original game's to any real extent, as almost none of the consequences were shown to you, rather exposition-ed at you with dialogue. Thankfully, it was short. It's going to be a while before I replay Perseus Mandate. Beat the game on Hard and grabbed every voicemail/laptop/booster.
5/10 - Without the interesting plot to hold it up, the expansion just falls into mediocre shooter territory.


13. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [PC] ~296 hrs


The OP says I can count multiplayer games, so that's what I'm gonna do. I am by no means finished with this game (a new Operation just started after all), but I've put enough time in it that I feel I can put it on this list. I've never played any CS before, but a friend of mine got me into CS:GO earlier this year, and I've steadily been getting better at it. I'm currently a Nova 4 in competitive rankings, though I play with a group of friends who range from good to awful, so I don't know how accurate that is. I really enjoy the game despite the massive amounts of hackers and smurfs throughout and plan to consistently play for the foreseeable future.
10/10 - A well-balanced multiplayer shooter that's lots of fun with friends and very rewarding solo.

Original Post

All of these are arcade games I played while I was on vacation. It was a cheap Chinese emulator. It was nice to replay these, I've played almost all of them before, and it was a great time killer. I think they each took about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

Game 13: Metal Slug
I love me some Metal Slug. Such great art style. I plan to play through the rest of them this year as well. It might be one of the few game series' that had consistent quality throughout. Except for that one that ran slow and needed to be fixed with Metal Slug X (I think it was 3?? I'll find out)

Game 14: Progear
I'm not the biggest fan of bullet hell shoot em ups. In fact, I hate them and it's probably why I avoid the shoot em up genre in general. This one started out all right but I hate it when a game is cheap and just fills the screen with shots that are unavoidable. Yeah, I know you can probably find a kid on YouTube doing a one credit run of this game but seriously, for 99% of the population, it's impossible and getting into that 1% just isn't fun. This game had a pretty good art style but the levels and boss attacks were too similar.

Game 15: The Punisher
This is a great arcade beat em up and it really got me interested in The Punisher back in the day. It's still as good as I remember it.

Game 16: Warriors of Fate
This game is okay. It was enjoyable and the sprites look great. I couldn't get into the story though and the stages were too similar. It was also really long, probably the longest game here. It's okay but I wouldn't play it again.

Game 17: Mega Man The Power Battles
I had always heard that this game sucked and should be avoided. I've only played it here and there and I thought it was okay. Now I tried a play through and yeah, it sucks. It's too easy and it has very little of the boss power rock-paper-scissors mechanic that's the trademark of the Mega Man series. You can really make it through the whole game with just the mega buster. The stages and bosses look alright but the menus make it look like a flash game, it really makes it look like they didn't give a shit about this game.. Such a missed opportunity.

Game 18: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
I LOVE this game. I've seen a thread about "what game do you play every year" or something. I'm not the type that gives myself a schedule or a goal to replay a certain game every year. But looking back on it, I actually do play Cadillacs and Dinosaurs every year without even planning it. I love this game so much, it is the perfect beat em up for me. I need to look up the comic and see if it's worth it to get into that universe.

Game 19: Final Fight
This is a classic and while it's good, I think it's overrated compared to everything else out there. It's okay but the bosses can be annoying.

Game 20: Captain Commando
This game sucks. The characters look ridiculous and not in a funny way, with the exception of Baby Commando. He's awesome. The worst part though is that the final boss is the most aggravating quarter munching boss I've ever seen. He's so cheap and it really made me want to turn off the game. The whole game feels uninspired. C'mon "Captain Commando"? Who the hell thought of that stupid name?! It sounds like a knock off G.I. Joe action figure.



Game 21: Fallout 3: GOTY (PS3) not sure, 50 hours approx.
I have been addicted to this game for the past week. It's all I've played and it was getting kinda scary because I was spending so much time with the game, which isn't like me. It wasn't due to the Fallout 4 announcement, it was just a game I wanted to get off the backlog. I loved everything about it though. I though the story was incredible. I always heard that people were disappointed with the ending. I didn't spoil it for myself, but I was very happy with the way it ended and I caught myself with a smile from ear to ear. The last ability I got was the explorer perk so I can see that I've only explored like half the game. But really I don't mind that. I'll probably explore some more but I'm not going to be the type of person who 100% completes the game. I'll probably run through the extra GOTY content but that'll probably be the extent of it. Overall, it's an amazing game and I'd recommend it to anyone. It did freeze on me a few times and every now and then it would freeze for like 3 seconds but it didn't happen frequently enough to be a huge issue for me.

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31. FRACT OSC (PC)
Unlocked the whole synthesizer.

FRACT OSC is frustrating at first, especially if you're used to being told what to do in games. There's no off-screen voice in your ear, there's no map, there's no sign of what your goal is supposed to be. It's not even as descriptive about its aims as Antichamber, another first-person puzzler that at least has the decency to tell you it's a puzzle game. Instead, FRACT OSC dumps you in an abstract, neon world and expects you to figure out what to do. What this means, at first, is a whole lot of walking around wondering what to do.

The creators intended for you to get lost. Discovery is half the game here, as you learn what the world is and how its constituent parts work. Along the way, you'll run into some curious puzzles, many flitters of synthesizer burbles, and a lot of breathtaking sights. To say much more would be to ruin the experience a little bit. Suffice it to say that once you get past the disorientation of the cold open, FRACT OSC becomes an entrancing place where it's easy to lose track of time.

About the only thing I would criticize the game for is that certain aspects seem a little too obscure. Believe me when I say the game does absolutely no handholding, and you may find yourself at certain stages understanding that you're supposed to do something with a mechanism right in front of you, but no earthly clue what that something is. You must be obsessive in your examination of the environment, and the game doesn't always make this easy.

If you are undaunted by the prospect of having to work out the particulars of the world from first principles (or if you're not fazed by having to look up a few hints from a guide), FRACT OSC is a lovely way to spend a few hours of your time.

17:04h. Completed main story and got most things I came across, but didn't play a completionist run. Expect some more Zelda entries this year.

Minish Cap is a very good Zelda game. I wouldn't say it's one of the best, as I found several things I didn't like (namely: the game is really easy except for the final boss, which is quite hard until you figure what you have to do, sometimes it's very unclear where you have to go next and Ezero is not exactly helpful, control is awkward and limited...). But the story is charming, the special items are original and cleverly used on the dungeons, and it's refreshing to leave the usual "Rawr I'm Ganon" story for a minute.


Updated OP

Next finished game and next rpg from Obsidian.

Game #20 : Alpha Protocol

Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: X360 | Beaten: 07/06/2015 | Time: 18:45 h

After beat South Park I decided to take next Obsidian rpg, Alpha Protocol. I know this title had low scores, but I tried and...not regret. Of course this title has many defects, like: glitches, disappeared objects, frame rate which sometimes oscillate near 2-3 (imo) per second in bigger "actions" on the screen, but...this brillant story, moral choices, twists in plot and heroes. Damn, that incredible huge potential. I don't know why Obsidian/SEGA didn't released any patch to this title. Long time I had a dilemma what scores I should give AP. Decided on 4/5 and I enjoyed much more, than South Park.

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#36 - Steamworld Dig



Fun game. I thought I would get bored of the concept quickly, but I managed to put almost 7 hours on it. The final boss was a bit easy but still interesting.

5h-ish. All Heart Tanks, Sub-tanks, and body pieces. Was this game always so easy and short? I could swear Launch Octopus was hell in the original SNES version. Regardless, it's very good fun and very worth the 3€ I paid. The animated sequences are awesomely 90s, the voice acting is wonderfully campy... and I'm left wanting more!


Updated OP

OP - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=145580377&postcount=295

24. Grow Home
[Finished 13/06/15]
Ubisoft made another good game, hurrah! Anyway, been wanting to play this one for a while and finally picked it up in the Steam sale. It has to be said that the aesthetic is gorgeous and the draw distance amazing, the game is absolutely brimming with life and colour. The platforming challenges require much concentration, and can at times be frustrating. This comes partly owing to finicky controls and partly owing to an awkward camera. B.U.D. is a clumsy character from a design perspective, so it makes sense in the context, but can get annoying at points. The game is very short, but doesn't overstay its welcome, and I may goof about with it some more to see if I can find all the missing seeds.

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32. Fortix 2 (PC)
Finished all Artalom levels.

A neat little encircle-the-territory game where you capture land by drawing a path around it with your avatar. By the end of the game, there's a lot going on--especially when you jump into the final levels of the game two years after you last played it--and after a while you resort to the same strategy of capturing tiny bits of land at a time to ensure your safety from all the monsters and fireballs around. But even with the slow-but-steady pace the game takes on at time, it's a fun timewaster.

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Game # 21 Bionic Commando for Game Boy. Completed story and each area.

I find myself quite impressed at how well Minakuchi Engineering (Game Boy title) managed to not just fit, but properly keep the feel and flow of it's NES predecessor with just a few changes done. Swinging through the world on the bionic arm and firing three tiny bullets as I quickly went through the stages hunting down keys and communication towers felt just fine, more than I ever imagined on the small screen.
While guided in each area, each of the semi-open stages gave me a sense of freedom not typical of most Game Boy games at the time outside of the impressive Metroid 2 and while it would have been perfectly acceptable had they not emulated the NES title, they managed to shrink it down with very little loss to the game play experience.

A few things were altered, making this sequel set in the future rather than modern day, and we lost the top-down sections which paid tribute to the original game in the series Commando. A few things were at a loss; Areas looking too similar at points and I confusing myself as to which door to enter/seek when I went back to areas, boss fights which were either too simple or annoying bullet memorisation made worse by limited hardware, and a lack of variety kept me from liking it as much as it's predecessors or sequels.

Taken purely on it's own merit as a Game Boy title, as though only it and perhaps just Commando existed for the franchise, this was an impressive title for the system and still very much a fun and challenging game.


Game #22 Bionic Commando: Elite Forces for Game Boy Color. Completed story and each area.

A different Bionic Commando this one. Made by Nintendo Software Technology out of Redmon, Washington, USA it was not a sequel, but rather a remake of the NES title with an altered story, location, and new characters with several alterations or straight up new abilities in the game.

There are aspects of this game that make it stand out quite well on it's own. Being able to drop down from platforms, charging weapons for increased power, greater versatility in swinging for attacks, being able to pan around the screen (more an allowance of the viewing area than a full new ability), an increased variety of enemies (such as killer armadillos) and a new mode with a sniper rifle to attack enemies from afar. Even playing as the male or the female gave some variation in terms of what was seen in certain areas.

Some of these aspects and more unsaid I almost wish had made a returned in Rearmed.

The sniper section in particular I found rather nice to break up the action in the game and give a good excuse for an item drop to occur. Right away after the first communication tower in the first stage you will hear the game say "SNIPER" or something to that effect (impressive to hear voice recordings back then) and by pressing up you are given a very nice, almost Metal Gear or Golgo 13 picture in the corner for you to line up and fire. Due to the number of pixels by the illusion of aiming far away as well as kill shots still stand out quite well to the rest of the game. While not enough to be it's own game, a nice diversion to be sure.

While the Game Boy title I found it impressive they manage to capture the feel and smoothness of the NES title, here I'm impressed by the improvements and additions this U.S. team came up with. Simply good fun and and outside of a personal annoyance of feel a bit too zoomed in, perhaps my favourite of the franchise.

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Game 24: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (87 Hours)(PS4) – 6/5/2015

My first game with the series and i was worried i would feel lost or unimpressed with a series that often gets forgotten. Instead i found a world that just sucked me in and consumed my free time for a few weeks. The world was beautiful, fun to explore, and felt alive. It was a blast roaming around and getting lost in. The combat took a bit getting use to but once i learned it i was having a blast hunting contracts and taking on whatever monsters came my way. The main story was a bit underwhelming for me (likely because it is built off the previous games) but i was wowed by the side quest story arcs and truly impressed by the characters and outcomes my actions had in this world. I didn't run into any of the problems some other players ran into and i truly enjoyed this game.

Game 25: Never Alone (4 Hours)(PS4) – 6/5/2015

I was interested in this game when it was first announced and was excited to give it a try through PS+. The story behind its development, sharing and teaching its culture and heritage through this game seemed really cool. Sadly that's about all that it did for me. The cultural videos were interesting to watch, and was fun to see how they incorporated their culture in events in the game. But the controls were awful (perhaps better if played as coop with another individual) and aside from frustrating controls the game really didn't do much in way of introducing many mechanics as it went along causing the game to grow a bit stale towards the end.

Game 26: Ether One (9 Hours)(PS4) – 6/12/2015

Looked interesting in its preview video but between some game breaking glitches, need for constant patches i found it difficult to catch a rhythm for this game and after finishing it i'm really not sure what exactly was going on. The projector puzzles added some insight, but without using a guide many of them are very vague and don't offer much clues in what is needed.

Game 27: Hohokum (4 Hours)(PS4) – 6/14/2015

I was skeptical of this game from videos i watched of the past year but it was free so why not. I surprisingly enjoyed this. Zipping around interacting with things in each level, slowly figuring out things as you explored, it was a nice relaxing journey. I used a few hints for some levels but still enjoyed my time with this game.

06-03-15 - Haunting Ground - 8 hours
I played this for a bunch of hours back in 2007 or 2008 but gave up when showed up. I feel I made the better choice that time. Almost everything before that point is pretty cool and definitely something I felt was worth playing. After the above spoiler I mostly just got annoyed and wanted it to end.


06-08-15 - Dark Cloud - 40-ish hours
Went in completely blind and got very surprised by this game. I had no idea that it had the rebuild villages thing and that was pretty cute. I regret trying to do everything so perfectly because when it ended I wasn't exactly happy, more relieved it was over


06-10-15 - Antichamber - 5 hours
I bought this game quite some time ago due to the praise it got basically everywhere. I hated it. I really didn't get the praise at all. I played it for two hours and then decided to let it die in the Hidden tab in my Steam Library. But then it popped up in the latest HB and I saw people praise it again. I decided to give it a second chance since it stills sounded like a game that would suit me very well... and it clicked! I completed all the puzzles and had a blast. This is a very special game.


06-14-15 - Conker's Bad Fur Day - 11 hours
I really don't know what to say. The only thing I had seen before playing this was the The Great Mighty Poo. It's an insane game. It really is. And very fun, except for some extremely annoying parts. Very glad to finally have experienced this.

Game 27 - A Bird Story - Started and finished 6/5/15 - 1 hour

After very much enjoying To the Moon, I was expecting something similar from the same developer. I wasn't prepared to be bored to tears. Telling a story without words is a commendable goal but it wasn't really pulled off here. There were just too many scenes that made little sense and the ending was lacking emotional power. Ah well, on to the next game!

Game 28 - Growing Pains - Started 6/11/15, finished 6/15/15 - 3.3 hours

I've been in a bit of a gaming malaise this month. I've barely played a thing and the games I have played haven't been terribly significant. I'm hoping that Growing Pains is the game that has jump started my motivation. It's a platformer in the Super Meat Boy mold, but not quite as difficult and much, much shorter. I ended up getting every medal in the scant nine levels there are and still barely got three hours out of it. Still, it was the perfect game for what I needed at the time.

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Game #42: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die: 4.4 hours

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Swery's style is really interesting to me. D4 is in many regards a better game than Deadly Premonition, however I think that's to its detriment. It's still a very quirky, surreal and enjoyable experience. But I feel like Deadly Premonition's odd jankiness contributed a lot to that atmosphere, so having a more mechanically basic game that actually functions correctly means that D4 loses that. Swery incorporates another element of Twin Peaks (the giant) into this game in an amazingly creepy way, and sprinkles in a bit of Wild Card virus for good measure. Keep up the good work you crazy bastard, David Cage should really be taking notes.

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Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Criteria: Standard completion.
Time played: 12 hours.

I'm actually kinda surprised how much I enjoyed this. I had been avoiding playing it for quite a while as I really didn't like what I'd played of Uncharted (only played the first game). This however suffered far less from getting bogged down fighting wave after wave of enemies, and actual felt like I was making progress in general. The island setting kinda reminded me of the Lian Yu flashbacks in Arrow (back when it wasn't shit) which only added to the enjoyment. Plus, unlike Drake, Lara had a somewhat valid reason for killing a load of people. It always helps to not feel like you're murdering everyone purely because of your character's greed.

Looking forward to Rise of the Tomb Raider now, and may even give the Uncharted series another look when the collection releases.

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Game 19: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PS4) - 14h19m31s [5/17/15] ★★★½


Late update on Wolfenstein. I really enjoyed it, overall, as a continuation of the gameplay that I found fantastic last year in The New Order. The campaign is shorter here, but still as long as some $60 FPS campaigns. Furthermore, I got a lot out of the classic Wolfenstein 3D levels -- I played the game a little bit as a kid, but never played the whole game, making this both nostalgic and fresh. At just $20, the amount of quality content makes this one of the best values you'll find all year.


Game 20: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4) - 200h2m35s [6/18/15] ★★★★★


Beat the game on "Blood & Broken Bones", 35/52 trophies. Completed the main story, finished all contracts, side missions and scavenger hunts. Fully explored all territories except Skellige (a lot of "?" icons still on the map). My total playtime seems a bit high, but that's what the game has recorded...I did play it for a whole fucking month, though!

While my time spent with this game has hurt my chances of finishing 52 games this year, it was worth every second. It's a terrific game, right up there with Bloodborne as my favorites of the year so far. It's got some of the design trappings of open-world video games that has turned me off in recent years, but it's all worth seeing because the quality of the content is at a very high level throughout. There's the occasional mission that turns out to be a dud, but I'm very impressed by how many missions there are and how many of those are well-done. It's one of the few games where I was driven to complete as much as I could, because I didn't want to miss anything. It has some jank to it, for sure, but the great time I had with the game overall trumps any technical issues I encountered. The bar for open-world action RPGs has been raised considerably.

12h-ish. Completed all episodes + 400 days DLC.

Damn.


Updated OP

Index

31. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4, 2015/05/24, 1.5 hours)

Overpriced demo, ehm, I mean impressive prologue appetizer. Brief affair, if you go straight for the objectives, but there's definitely more playtime, if one wants to lean in. It pains me,
that Phantom Pain is going to be the last Konami game of this caliber. Story bits, mo-cap, film like visuals, voice acting, maturity of the content, all up there with the best the industr
y got to offer right now.

32. Bridge Constructor (Steam, 2015/05/26, 22 hours)

Who knew statics would also be good for great puzzle games, like this one. Every bridge build a puzzle with different challenges, budget restrains, material limitations or especially unrul
y terrain to overcome. The building process not harder than stacking Legos, followed by the rigidity test by cars (light), trucks (heavier) and tank trucks (explosive load and heaviest). Surely things exploded into million pieces many times, but that was more funny than frustrating. The physics in this game are practically physical comedy, because when things go wrong, things go REALLY wrong.

33. Borderlands 2 - True Vault Hunter Run (Steam, 2015/05/26, ~10 hours)

True Vault Hunter mode aka NG+, slightly more challenging and busy, but my co-op buddy Prime and myself went pretty effortlessly through the story missions. I've clocked 180 hours in this game so far and it's still super fun.

34. Transistor (Steam, 2015/06/01, 8.6 hours)

Loved the art and music more than anything, the rest was such a mixed bag. The narrator in Bastion was great to deliver the story, the only chatty bit in Transistor is more like a character that annoyingly speaks to himself to fill awkward silence or outplay uneasiness. The combat, while interesting, often felt clunky and riddled with chaos induced misses. The mix and match of abilities, again while neat, made it really hard to keep track of killer combinations after losing them due to damage in battle. I'm pretty disappointed overall.

35. Astebreed (Steam, 2015/06/01, 3.4 hours)

Doujin mech/mecha based SHMUP, insanely cinematic, lots of seamless camera switch ups and stellar art direction. The gameplay is very lenient, at least in the first four chapters, the last two crank up the difficulty to 11. The game isn't so much a bullet hell game, well not even a pure SHMUP, because certain bullet types can even be slashed away with your mobile suite's blade and melee is definitely more than optional. Great game, although it crashed two times back to desktop, I can't remember the last time a game did this to me. Luckily I was able to resume via chapter select and lost little progress, still pretty annoying for 1CC attempts.

36. Proteus (PSV, 2015/06/04, 1 hours)

Pretty impressively minimalistic, yet so massive ... explore, wander, wonder and realize. Art and sound design right up my alley, such a neat little experience. It might single-handedly inspired me to get back into wandering photography.

37. BasketBelle (Steam, 2015/06/07, 1 hours)

The joy of finding things you weren't even looking for: checked my indie bundle emails, found another set of retroactively added keys, this game was one of them. Its synopsis and trailer piqued my interest. I ended up finishing the game in two very brief sessions. BasketBelle is the story of a boy rescuing his missing sister through the power of basketball. Puzzle platformer, that requires shooting hoops to win, but of course with all kinds of twists. Nice urban art style and music, everything kinda looks like graffiti and is topped off with a bouncing hip-hop soundtrack. Gameplay is alright, but nothing stellar: animation priority is very high and the cam a bit herky jerky.

38. Freedom Planet (Steam, 2015/06/11, 9 hours)

I love the fact that this kind of game is still be made, as if the 2D pixel pushers like Sega Saturn never went away. Rock solid 32bit sprite based platformer, proper spiritual successor of classic Sonic in terms of gameplay and level design. I liked the first seven stages best since their flow wasn't constantly bogged down with door puzzles, road blocky enemies and over-designed level structure. They also went a bit too far with the bosses and the frequency of encounters in the last two stages. The final entourage of bosses were very unbalanced, either borderline cheap or pushover weak. Still a lovely game overall, stellar gameplay, top of the class sprite work, excellent animation including neat scaling wizardry, great little story and extra nice voice acting. I'll definitely revisit this gem for another play through with the second main character ... some day

39. Mirror's Edge (Steam, 2015/06/13, 2.5 hours)

Effortless traversal the video game. Still amazing and up there, GOAT.

40. Savant - Ascent (Steam, 2015/06/19, 3.2 hours)

Wild twinstick action platformer, that makes you evade with the left stick and shoot with the right one. Savant, your character, needs to ascent a tower to reach the boss. The title says it all, Savant - Ascent. The story mode is very brief and got recently extended with a free content update of two additional levels. The replay value is driven by skill mastering, difficulty and general badassery. This one isn't really easy to pick up and hard to master, but more like: easy when mastered. Super polished gameplay, amazing sprite/art-work and awesome soundtrack!

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Game #20. Kirby Super Star (SNES VC)
- Time played: 10:00 hours.
- Completion reached: 100%, that is, beaten every mini game and main game mode while collecting everything.

Kirby Super Star is a very particular platformer. While it keeps the base gameplay from other Kirby games (see my impressions of Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland here), the presentation of this game is very unique. Like the boxart says, Super Star has 8 games in 1, which essentially means that there are 8 game modes to play, each one having slight (or not so slight) differences to how the game plays.

When you first play the game, there are 6 modes to choose from. 4 of them are small platforming adventures (Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, Gourmet Race and The Great Cave Offensive) and 2 of them are timing based mini games (Samurai Kirby and Megaton Punch). Each of the platforming adventures has different levels, bosses and presentation style, which is pretty cool. For example, in Spring Breeze you go through levels linearly until you beat King Dedede. Dyna Blade, on the other hand, has a small overworld map with a few hidden secrets. The Great Cave Offensive has no levels and is a huge interconnected map. After beating the first 4 modes you'll unlock the awesome Revenge of Meta Knight and after beating that one you'll unlock Milky Way Wishes. There is yet another mode unlocked after beating Milky Way Wishes! In true Sakurai fashion, this game has a lot of content.

Regarding gameplay, my impressions are very similar from Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland since the mechanics are almost the same. One of the innovations in Super Star is that you can summon helpers to aid you in battle, which is pretty cool. It also feels like Kirby abilities were greatly expanded since every transformation has a lot of moves, which is cool. Finally, they added a guard button which can really help against the tougher bosses.

Overall, I think this game is awesome. People always say Kirby games are too easy but I feel this one has a perfect level of challenge. Presentation is fun, gameplay is fun, music is awesome. Recommended!

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Game #30: Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix (PS3) - 27 Hours
For the longest tme, this was the only game from the Kingdom Hearts series I haven't played yet. I have to say this is game has my 2nd favorite KH combat system behind KH II. I had a lot of fun combining commands together to see what new attack and passive abilities I would get. The game gets pretty challenging in the later half, even on normal difficulty as the boss fights require remembering patterns a lot.

Story isnt all that special, especially if you follow the series. You basically know whats going to happen in the end (opening sequence even spoils a lot of it) and you are basically wondering how long it will take to get there. Being able to play and see the game through 3 different perspectives is a neat idea. Each character plays a little different when you start out but by the end of the game they all start to play the same as each character doesn't have much moves that are exclusive to them.

Birth By Sleep is a great addition to the series. Although its not the most polished port, as frame rate drops in some cases, it still pretty solid.

Right Now:Getting pretty close to finishing up Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker. Just need to finish up the Triangulum arc ( I have no clue which ending I want to go for first).

EDIT:
Game #31: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker (3DS) - 55 Hours

I had a blast playing the original game, and im glad that that this enhanced finally came out. A lot of neat features are added to the game which includes voice acting (which I think is a lot better than the first game), a choice of difficulty (easy or normal), free DLC via Spotpass (includes new fusions and fusion add-ons to enhance your fusions), the entire script has been re-done (it has its ups and downs), and new skills being added.

The main new feature of the port is that it adds a new arc which takes place after the events of the original story. Its kind of a shame that the new arc doesn't take the route you chosen in the original arc into account like Overclocked does, but its still enjoyable. Players who choose to go through the new arc first will find it just as challenging as the original, and those who play the first arc first will spend a decent amount of time for the new arc (it took around 12 hours to finish it using my New Game+ save file). I'd say the new arc justifies buying the game if you already have played the original.

Wow, I'm back from the dead (i.e. ban)! Here's my last game of April and first of May:

Game 20: Super Mario Sunshine [replay with gf] - 2,5/5 - around 25 hours (25/04/15)

Beaten Bowser with about 80 shines. I've returned to the game after many many years and the first impression I had was that the game was much better than I remembered. That didn't last long. In fact I soon re-discovered what it is that plagues the game: worst camera in any 3D game I've ever played, weird control scheme that sacrifices some series staples in favour of FLUDD, and a convincing first part of the game, overshadowed by an incredibly boring and monotonous second part. Half of the missions of every "world" are copy-paste jobs with very little fun to be had: get red coins, get blue coins, catch shadow Mario, race the masked guy, do a no-FLUDD mission. The level design itself is very limited and messy, paling when compared to Super Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. The story and voiced bits are frankly cringe-worthy, the setting full of wasted potential. Yoshi is ass in this game and totally breaks one of the hotel missions. It's clear Sunshine was rushed out of the door: for every new interesting feature, it does two wrong things and in the end the content leaves too much to be desired.

This game is:

+

Click to expand...

Game 21: BOXBOY! - 2,5/5 - 11:52 hours (12/05/15)

Perfected every stage and beat all the challenges. Nice and clever timewaster that proposes something genuinely new, but lacks real challenge until later on in the game, and even then it never really gets seriously hard. I wish the various elements/hazards slowly introduced through the worlds were mixed up more and earlier in the campaign; as it is now every world but the last few, is a unique take on one element alone. I also think they should have experimented more with the multiple rows of blocks, maybe introducin that particular mechanic earlier in the game.

this game is:

+

Click to expand...

Original Post

Game 22: Sub-Terrania (Genesis) 40 minutes or so for a playthrough
I never thought I would be able to beat this game. I love it, there's nothing else like it. It's like a mix between Lunar Lander and Choplifter. It is ball cracking hard. You basically have to go through every level as perfectly as possible so you can reach the final boss with enough health/lives/missiles/power-ups, otherwise you won't beat him. When I got to the final boss I didn't realize he had three different forms, the first time I destroyed his second form I was celebrating and got my ass killed. I did it on normal difficulty even though easy mode was tempting. After beating the game I tried out easy mode and I think it's even more aggravating, the only major difference is that your ship falls a lot slower which I think is a disadvantage because sometimes you need to fall quickly to reach things under you. The graphics and music are incredible in this game. It's even ranked like #13 or something in the top Genesis games of all time, I can't believe it never got a sequel. The only thing close to it that I can think of is Solar Jetman for NES, I was never able to beat that one either so maybe I'll give it another chance.

Games 1 - 20
Games 21+

Game 32: Batman: Arkham Origins

In preparation for Arkham Knight, I set my other games I had on the go to one side and worked my way through this. I had a lot of fun with it, and the combat was as great as ever. The collectible stuff, I largely ignored. I got all the stuff in the first area at the start of the game, but after that I just couldn't be bothered. I'm glad, though, because I didn't want to burn out on it before AK. The story was garbage and Bruce Wayne is an asshole. I actually wanted Batman to get the shit kicked out of him in the final acts, so good job on that, Splash Damage. I'm someone who preferred Asylum to City, and this wasn't as good as the latter, so it's the worst of last gen's Batman games, as most people would tell you. However, being the worst Batman game doesn't make it a bad game. It was actually very good, it's just in unflattering company.
If you like Darksiders, you'll like this

Looking like I won't make it but here's a little progress anyway!

Sendou said:

My Backloggery

Game 11: Roundabout - April 23rd
# Really lovely game. Use of FMV's really made this game's wacky story. Gameplay wasn't a home run but it was still something unique and had its moments.

Game 12: Westerado: Double Barreled - April 27th
# Ostrich Bandito's game travels in genres not often explored by other indies. Uses pixel graphics and music to create exactly the right kind of mood for the game. A little lacking in content.

Game 13: Broken Age - May 3rd
# Beautiful but still very underwhelming game. Splitting it into two acts didn't help its case at all. So frustrating puzzles that it left me wondering if there's any place for adventure games in today's world.

Game 14: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
# Best multiplayer shooter I've played in a long time. Delightful artistic style is not overshadowing the honed gameplay in the slightest. A game I rarely get excited about but this is a clear exception.

Game 15: Splatoon
# Game of the Year contender. EAD at their best providing masterfully crafted take on the multiplayer shooter genre. Clear shortcomings also like lack of multiplayer options and weak singleplayer (except the final boss, holy shit) but at its best it's such a joy to play.

Graveyard (or games I shelved for now after playing them some): Child of Light, Hexcells Plus, Sonic Generations, There Came an Echo, Crimsonland, (It came from space, and ate our brains), Wizorb, Far Cry 4, Goat Simulator

Click to expand...

OT - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=145580377&postcount=295

25. Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush
[Finished 20/06/15]
Kirby is normally delightful, but make a clay version out of him and the cute factor raises ten fold. Yes this game is a joy to look at, the sound design is fantastic and the music is charming as all hell, but that doesn't mean I loved it. Some of the bosses in this game are down right frustrating, verging on unfair in cases although with a bit of patience and precision you usually won't have the worst time. See Kirby is dichotomous in the sense that it is a really easy game, yet also frustratingly tough in parts. The level design leaves a lot to be desired when there are no powerups in the standard Kirby tradition and the main objective is collecting stars, that have no reason for existence other than make Kirby giant for a brief period of time. It is also ridiculously short, at only 4 and a half hours, I'm certainly happy I bought this in a sale rather than at launch.

POST #3: Games 45-69 (June 20 to August 15, 2015)

Link to Post #1 (Games 1-34):
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=145272880&postcount=225

Link to Post #2 (Games 35-44):
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=158688913

Link to Post #4 (Games 70-???):
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=175551333

My personal ground rules (copied from my OP):

1. If I own all episodes of an episodic game when I start playing, then beating them all counts as just one game.

If I own just the one episode (ex. Game of Thrones, Republique) then that counts as one game by itself... But subsequently buying and finishing more episodes (if I liked the first) will not add to my completed game count.

2. Games finished in 2015 all count, regardless of when I started them. This is supposed to be backloggery!

3. No "re-finishing" any short games I've already beaten for purposes of padding my stats, unless i'm revisiting the game for Platinum run.

Note: the entries listed below without a "finished" date listed are stubs, representing half-finished games; I'm using this as a work-in-progress checklist. I'll be editing the post to reflect completion as I progress.



Game 45: Steins;Gate (PSV) - Exactly 24 hours, 24 minutes (Plat)
Finished 6/21/15
This was absolutely fucking amazing!!!;
SG is one of the best visual novels I've ever played in terms of plot and characterization. It does have its faults though - for one, it was an incredibly slow starter, and wastes a ridiculous amount of time laying down the scientific basis for the plot. Hearing about technical theories about the underpinnings of time travel just isn't as fascinating as say, philosophical ideas such as Schrodinger's Cat from VLR.

But when Steins;Gate does get rolling though...

It's a testament to how much I enjoyed those latter 20 hours that a glorified four hour info dump didn't lower my opinion of this game in the slightest. Instant classic.

Game 46: Metal Slug X(PC) - 1 hour, 6 minutes as per Steam
Finished 6/21/15
I picked up a ton of crap for cheap in the 2015 Steam Summer Sale, and decided to blow through MSX for old time's sake.

Daaaamn, they used to make games hard!

I've never owned a home version of Metal Slug ever, and I cringe at the fact that I used to play this at the arcade - all that loose change, down the drain! The amount of stuff they throw at you is comical at times... Still, I got my money's worth, that was a blast!

Game 47: The Stanley Parable (PC) - 1 hour, 30 minutes as per Steam
Finished 6/21/15
This is a game that I've heard a lot of good things about, but have been leery of picking up for full price as it didn't seem to have much gameplay. Turns out I was half-right - there's not really much to do in the game once you've already seen a lot of the main paths... but while it lasted, The Stanley Parable was massively enjoyable - like Portal 2 with all the puzzles neatly excised, but all the crazy stuffed back in. Getting this for a little over a dollar was a great decision.

Game 48: Persona 4: Dancing All Night (PSV Japan import) - 6 hours, 15 minutes
Finished 6/27/15
Progress in all other games ground to a halt as the new Persona music game just came in - I'm a total mark for P4 in general, I love the series'soundtrack, and I greatly enjoy EDM, so this game basically catered to all my interests.

After having finished it, while I greatly enjoyed the game overall (i need the OST on my phone ASAP!) I do have some nitpicks:

1) It seems that characters are "locked" to certain songs - you cant have Naoto doing a Chie dance routine etc. So you're stuck with the prebaked character model when playing a song, which is troublesome if you like certain characters more than others.

2) A bunch of songs are simply remixes of the same song. While they sound different enough, it can get a little repetitious given that most people interested in this game have already heard the "base themes" of these tracks in Persona 4 proper ad nauseam.

Game 49: Gone Home (PC) - 53 minutes as per Steam
Finished 6/28/15
Just like Stanley Parable, this seemed like another narrative non-game that was thematically interesting but didn't seem worth plumping full price for. Got it from the summer sale for a dollar and...

... I have to say, this was really deflating. I guess part of me was just waiting for the game to go full psycho on me and build on those tantalizing horror hints that the developers kept leaving around, but it just never amounted to anything. That aside, the plot was sweet enough, and the way they tell the story is very unique. Just didn't blow me away as I had hoped.

Game 50: Bastion (PC) - 5 1/2 hours (Steam says 10 hours, but I fell asleep with the laptop on)
Finished 7/5/15
I'm in the unique position of having played Bastion after finishing Transistor - got that free off PS+ and liked it, which convinced me to buy this in a Steam sale. Felt it was great, but overall didn't live up to my self-induced hype. Controls were very smooth (the roll in particular is very enjoyable) and the visuals were nice and bright. The combat was tight, and the devs did a good job of introducing new toys for you to play with so you don't get too attached to a single weapon combo.

I guess my issue with Bastion was that it all got very samey towards the end - the plot was fairly predictable, and while everything was tied together nicely with a satisfying endgame, it was really dragging there for a bit.

Game 51: Shadow Warrior (PS4) - 15 hours 37 minutes
Finished 7/5/15
Enjoyable revival of the 90s' most politically incorrect FPS, but with less racism this time. I'm still miffed that they still havent corrected the goddamn A bug included in shipping copies... The game crashes to PS4 OS if you boot it while signed in to PSN. It's been half a year since launch, still no patch.

Finally cleared it, and I gotta say, this game was a lot of fun! Its a 90's shooter through and through, with all the good (huge enemy mob volume, the ability to carry all weapons on you at once) and bad (ludicrous keycard scavenger hunts cock blocking your enjoyment) that entails. I sort of wish they kept more of the bad jokes in though, this "new" Lo Wang is a little strait-laced for my taste. C'mon guys, he's supposed to be a caricature!

Game 52: Sakura Spirit (PC) - 2 hours
Finished 7/5/15
Another Steam sale purchase, picked this up as part of my ongoing quest to understand more about the various sub-genres of visual novels. I can't say I'm enjoying this very much, as this is apparently a "kinetic novel": no choices, just advance the plot by clicking away.

Aaaand pop, the game ended just when I thought it was revving up. Considering this game is perv-tastic as all hell, I thought there would at least be a little more story content... But it just sort of ends on an anticlimax, and there's absolutely zero gameplay. I'm not going to rip it any further, as I'm sure a lot of people appreciate this for what it is, but I need more substance for the money.

Game 53: Geometry Wars 3: Galaxies (PSV) - around 6 hours
Finished 7/11/15
I actually own this on PS4 but am not feeling that version all that much - my TV might actually be too big to play GW, if that makes any sense. Playing this game requires you to be able to see things coming on the periphery of your vision, and the big screen gives you too much space to keep track of without physically moving your head, which gets old fast.

To test my hypothesis, i downloaded the PSV version of GW3 off PS+ and found it infinitely more palatable - the controls just feel right despite going from a Dual Shock 4 to the Vita mini-analogs. Breezed through most of this in an afternoon, but spent around two fucking hours (!) on the last boss. Seriously, I almost chucked my Vita into the wall that one time. Finally beat Stage 50, screamed cathartically, and moved on to another game before I break the poor thing.

Game 54: Entwined (PSV) - 2 hours
Finished 7/11/15
I hate to say it, but PS+ really has been going downhill lately. I'm solidly in the "more indie games" camp, as it gives me a chance to play titles i otherwise would have ignored (I'm big into collecting physical games, so PSN exclusives usually get skipped). But they should cut down on releasing cack like this!

Entwined was boring as shit, and its main conceit (controlling a fish and a bird at the same time) gets old in around two or three levels. The best thing I can say about it is the art direction is very nice... Shades of ThatGameCompany (whose style they seem to be aping) but without the solid mechanics. Beat all the stages, got my credits roll, permadeleted. I suggest you don't waste your time.

Game 55: Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (PS4) - 6 hours 25 minutes
Finished 7/17/15
Man, I just love that title.

This is technically my second run through Guacamelee, as I already beat it on Vita last year, but the new areas they added on (and the ability to use a DS4) made for a really fun, fresh experience.

I reallly can't say enough about what a great game this is - its just so tightly tuned, one of the best feeling Metroidvanias I've ever had the pleasure of playing, and the degree of difficulty on some of those platforming challenges is beautifully uncompromising. I may no longer have the patience (or the time, or as much as I hate to admit it, the skill) to 100% this game, but I can still lavish praise on it till the cows come home.

Game 56: 999:Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (NDS) - 15 hours, 45 minutes
Finished 7/17/15
Found a brand new copy of 999 in a pile of old DS clearance games. I never played Zero Escape 1, went straight to Virtue's Last Reward on PSV (yes, I know, spoilers galore).

After having finally cleared the game through the True End, I can finally say I'm ready for Zero Escape 3. I was pleasantly surprised at how much of this story threw me for a loop, despite having finished VLR beforehand... There were definitely enough Uchikoshi gut-punch plot twists to keep me happy. Dat epilogue!!! ()

I really wish that this game had VLR's option to skip between easily though - I could only be bothered to get 3 endings because the forced repetition was driving me nuts. If I had to play through that prologue puzzle one more time...

Game 57: I've Got To Run: Complete Edition (3DS) - 17 hard earned fucking minutes
Finished 7/17/15
I bought this for 10 cents, pretty much because it was 10 cents.

I played the first mode (classic). Endless runner... But no pickups or objectives? Just survive? I eventually get bored and let myself die.

New mode unlocked! Play that mode. Now I can double jump, different backdrop.

I keep unlocking a new mode every couple runs (they seem to unlock after reaching certain score threshholds).

I finish the 6th mode, flight, with a score of 20k. The final, hidden option on the title menu unlocks...

"Upload your final score TO MIIVERSE!!!"

What in the actual fuck. 10 cents for this???

Fuck you, game! FUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUU!!!

Game 58: Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown (PS3) - Around 4-5 hours
Finished 7/17/15
Another refugee from that infamous PSN dollar sale, FF2 was a delight! It took me back to the days when I was just starting out as a cretinous office drone, playing PopCap games (the first Feeding Frenzy, Diner Dash, and Zuma, to be exact) on my office desktop to kill time.

This was a hell of a lot harder than I remember though, as my input device was no longer a trusty clicker, but a Dual Shock 3. Fair warning: if you have an old controller (you know, with "gummy" handling) this game will make you tear your hair out. I was forced to pull out the shiny new OEM DualShock 3 that came with the Vita TV to finish off the story mode, as my shitty old red pad couldn't manage the fine input required to win.

Game 59: Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax (PSV Japan import) - Around 11-12 hours
Finished 7/19/15
This game was a freaking revelation. I really never got into fighting games by developer French Bread (a lot of these "doujins" are really not for me - I hated Aquapazza, Arcana Heart, etc.). But this game is one of the few 2D fighters to really do it for me since the release of (still) my favorite fighting game of all time, Capcom VS SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001.

I mean, I don't know most of these guys - basically, just Kirito and Asuna from Sword Art Online, plus the Valkyria Chronicles and Virtua Fighter characters. So I wasn't exactly fanboying out. But as I worked my way through all of the fighters, I was amazed to find plenty of things to love about each one in terms of gameplay - they've got weird/interesting fighting styles and mechanics, but without the obtuse technical requirements of something like Blazblue. This made the game more about strategy than pure execution, which is a beautiful thing. Flashy as hell, but with substance to back it up.

Game 60: Rain (PS3) - 3 to 4 hours
Finished 7/20/15
I figured my favorite title out of the July 2015 Plus offering just had to be Geometry Wars Galaxies for Vita - a technically excellent game that, as it turns out, didn't have the "soul" i was looking for. Given my general disdain for "indie games with deeper meaning", Rain never promised to be anything more than blathering cack like the Unfinished Swan.

After having finished both GWG and Rain, I'm happily eating a double order of crow... Rain was absolutely fantastic, a beautiful game in every way. On the surface a minimalistic stealth platformer in the vein of Ico, this game delivered the fucking goods... It made me feel terror, suspense, and glorious, glorious feels in the very best sense of the term. Play this, if you haven't already - its 3-4 hours, its on PS+, no excuses. God DAMN that was a good game!

Game 61: The Legend of Korra (PC) - Around 6 hours
Finished 7/24/15
Note: Steam for some reason reset my time played and achievements for this game when I was most of the way through... I only have the cheevos for Ch5 onwards. Smh, frigging technology.
I got this for the equivalent of USD 2 in the summer sale (thank you, Steam regional pricing) and just about got my money's worth. It IS a Platinum game so its not all bad, the control is tight and that last minute sidestep has shades of Bayonetta all over it. Nice cel shading, too. It's a pity that everything else about the game (stage design, enemy variants, gameplay variety) is so budget that it drags everything down.

Note: Having never watched the show, this did make me want to go buy a season DVD, so there's that. Very interesting, visually.

Game 62: Tennis In The Face (PS4) - Around 6 hours (100%)
Finished 7/24/15
This was surprisingly fun - I'm not usually a big fan of Angry Birds derivatives, but TITF (man, that acronym...) reminded me in a good way of The Incredible Machine, from way back in the Windows 3.1 days... The later puzzles are essentially large Rube Goldberg machines. And it made for a surprisingly effective party game, as you pass the controller around trying to figure out how to best McEnroe fools in the face with a tennis ball. Good stuff!

Game 63: Journey (PS4) - 2 hours
Finished 7/25/15
I got it free because I own the digital PS3 version, gave it another spin.

...and its just as glorious as I remember it. A beautiful metaphor for life.

Anecdote:

I love this game.

Game 64: DmC: Devil May Cry (PS3) - 9 hours, 8 minutes
Finished 7/26/15
I was actually on the fence about picking up the PS4 version instead of finishing this Plus copy (I'm a sucker for 60FPS), but talked myself out of it and saw the PS3 version through.

Anyway... I really, really enjoyed this game! I feel it got a bad rap from the DMC diehards who just couldnt get over the whole redesign - some of the set pieces in this game go way beyond what Capcom ever did with the series. Yes, the game doesn't get off to the best start, with a lot of dubstep and douchiness and a weird, "edgy" aesthetic. But stick with it, and this gets good. Reeeeal good.

I began a second playthrough just to see what white hair Dante looked like, and facing the first level enemies with my accumulated skills and experience resulted in an effortless bloodbath, dancing between enemies and mixing weapon combos together. It was amazing how much it clicked... DmC is effin awesome.

Game 65: Sacred Citadel (PS3) - Around 5 hours
Finished 7/26/15
Got this for cheap off a PSN flash sale, and my god those initial impressions were brutal. The art style is a little "funky", and combined with the cartoonish low-fi aesthetic makes for a sidescrolling beat em up that wouldn't look out of place on the PS1. I'm not exagerrating, Google that shit.

But against all odds, the game actually got pretty fun! Its sort of like a poor man's... OK, a homeless, toothless man's Guardian Heroes, with some nice, if ultimately shallow, RPG elements. Great buy for a dollar! Pity it kept hanging on me near the end, forcing me to download the title update just to get my game clear. I thought my PS3 was finally giving out! Nope, just shit programming, crisis averted.

Game 66: Dead Nation (PS3) - Around 6 hours
Finished 8/1/15
I got this game free in The Great Sony Giveaway of 2011 (aka the "Welcome Back" program) after they got hacked... Since then, I've downloaded two other disparate versions, also for free (PS4, PSV) but never managed to finish any of them, for one reason or another.

Four years later, I finally fucking beat (a version of) Dead Nation! Found the game largely meh... I'm psychologically incapable of spamming "consumable" ammo for weapons if there's an "unlimited" gun available for use, so I found myself fighting zombies with just the basic pop gun over and over again. It's telling that the last few levels (especially the final one) were the ones I found most enjoyable, as the enemy swarms are so big they basically force you to wail away with your nastier firearms...

Game 67: Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds (PC) - 1 hour, 38 minutes
Finished 8/1/15
I really don't get what the appeal of this game is... It's ostensibly a Guardian Heroes-esque sidescroller with more fighting game elements, but it's so repetitive and button-mashy that it took some real effort to make myself push through a single playthrough. There's a lot of "replay value" in the sense that you have a lot of characters to play through the game as, but I just can't see myself ever playing this again. Deleted!

Game 68: You Must Build A Boat (Android & Steam) - 7 hours 58 minutes
Finished 8/9/15
I have a deep and abiding love for EightyEight Games' 10000000. That game is my all time favorite mobile game, and when I saw the sequel YMBAB on a Steam sale I jumped on it!

And.. I just couldn't get into it.

Whyyyy??? Its everything the first game was, but with more of All The Things! I should be loving this shit!

Dejected, I looked around the net looking to see if other people shared my sentiment. And in the process, I learned that...

...THERE'S AN ANDROID VERSION. ()
(runs to the Play store, buys another copy for full price)

And all was right with the world. For whatever reason, this game just clicks with me on my cell - the perfect way to kill those short 5 minute breaks that the Vita is ill-suited for. Buy it! On your phone.

Game 69: Limbo (PS4) - Around 4 hours
Finished 8/15/15
Another backlogged platformer bites the dust! I never got around to installing my Steam copy, so when the PS4 version went free on Plus I figured i'd just beat that instead for the trophies.

I enjoyed this dark puzzle platformer quite a bit, a lot of gotcha deaths that you can't avoid but nothing too bad... That final secret level, though. Thats one of the hardest platforming sequences I ever had to work through. Tense as all hell!

Impressions Part 1
Impressions Part 2

The List:

01. Super Mario 3D World - 30+ Hours
02. Mario Kart 8 - 25+ Hours
03. Hyrule Warriors - 22 Hours
04. Bayonetta 2 - 17 Hours
05. Kairo - 3 Hours
06. Defense Grid 2 - 12 Hours
07. Hotline Miami 2 - 21 Hours
08. Stanley Parable - 1.5 Hours
09. Divinity: Original Sin - 140+ Hours
10. Super Smash Bros. WiiU - 30+ Hours
11. Half-Life 2: Lost Coast - 30 Minutes
12. Half-Life: Opposing Force - 4 Hours
13. Grand Theft Auto V - 88+ Hours
14. Raincat - 30 Minutes
15. Agar.io - 3 Hours
16. South Park: The Stick of Truth - 13 Hours
17. Wolfenstein: The New Order - 12 Hours
18. FRACT OSC - 9.5 Hours
19. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - 9.5 Hours
20. Shelter - 1.5 Hours
21. Polarity - 1.5 Hours
22. Pixeljunk Shooter - 5 Hours
23. Chain Chronicle - 20+ Hours
24. The Evil Within - 18 Hours
25. Grow Home - 6.5 Hours
26. Tropico 4 - 40 Hours
27. Corporate Lifestyle Simulator - 1.6 Hours
28. Nidhogg - 1.5 Hours
29. Binding of Isaac Rebirth - 7.5 Hours
30. Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle - 10+ Hours
31. Goldeneye 64 - 5ish Hours
32. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - 12ish Hours
33. Star Fox 64 - 1.75 Hours
34. Super Mario 64 - 7.25 Hours
35. Torchlight II - 27 Hours
36. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs - 3.75 Hours
37. Rogue Legacy - 21.5 Hours
38. Killer is Dead - 6.5 Hours
39. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved - 11 Hours
40. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux - 4 Hours
41. Driver San Francisco - 7.75 Hours
42. Star Wars: Dark Forces - 10 Hours
43. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II - 12 Hours
44. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - 10 Hours
45. Resident Evil Revelations - 9 Hours
46. Lucius - 6.75 Hours
47. DmC Devil May Cry - 8.5 Hours
48. Morphopolis - 1.75 Hours
49. Jazzpunk - 2 Hours
50. Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines - 30 Hours
51. Titan Souls - 5.5 Hours
52. Rocket League - 85 Hours

Total time: Over 842.5 Hours

Platforms:
PC: 40
WiiU: 6
N64: 4
Android/Mobile: 2

14. Super Back to the Future Part II

Click to expand...

Update:

#5 - Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All (3DS) (17:44:00) - Second in the original AA trilogy which I just finished replaying.

#6 - Super Smash Bros. For 3DS (Total Time: 99:20:00 Time in 2015: 12:18:00) - Finished Classic, Smash Run and All Star with every character, as well as most Stadium modes with pretty much everyone, including the DLC characters. Only a couple of challenges that involve grinding are missing. I'll still pick this up on occasion when I'm in the mood, but I'm essentially done with it as I consider it beaten.

Original Post.

Original Post

Game 23: Stranglehold (PS3) about 7 hours
This is pretty much John Woo Movies: The Game! I had a lot of fun. I will argue till I'm blue in the face that Hard Boiled is one of the best action movies of the 90's so it was awesome to find out that it has a bona fide sequel in the form of a PS3 game. It has everything you would expect- doves, dual-wielding pistols, jumping, strafing, slow-mo kills, and more doves! I was hoping the plot line wouldn't be the typical campy video game cheesiness since John Woo collaborated on this, but it's the same shit you'd find in any other shooter. But then I realized that most John Woo films aren't much better than campy video game plot lines, so I don't have much of a problem with it. Sometimes the jumping/shooting/cover mechanics can be frustrating and the last boss battle is a little aggravating but overall I thought it was money well spent. A bonus is that the collector's edition I have includes the entire Hard Boiled movie, but it's not an HD remaster so that's kinda dumb.


Game 24: Hard Drivin' (Genesis) about 30 minutes
I'm not embarrassed of my game collection, but Hard Drivin' makes me do a little explaining. I was mesmerized by this game back when I was kid. I played it at a friend's house. I know 3D games existed long before it, but nobody really had a computer that could run stuff like that back then. So this was probably my first 3D game ever. Seriously, when I started collecting for Genesis I knew I wanted to get this game immediately. I don't recommend it to anyone, only freaks like me would find something enjoyable in it. The frame rate is seriously like 5 fps and actually gets worse if there's more things on the screen. It also has early 3D polygons and I mean EARLY 3D shit, it's like everything was made out of Duplo blocks. According to the cover, you're supposed to be driving a Ferrari Testarossa, but in the game it looks like a Chrysler K-Car. There's also no sound, which feels odd for a Genesis game.

I've always just played around with the game and had fun because I never understood the objectives. The open world feeling really reminds me of playing GTA games, with a little Gran Tourismo mixed in. But just puttering around the world really helped me become good at it. One friend who remembers the game was actually amazed that I do so well in it. So this time I decided to try to complete the game. It's actually really short, all you do is complete two laps without running out of time. Then when you eventually do run out of time the game will tell you that Phantom Photon challenges you to a race. If you can beat him you won. Then you input your name into the high scores and go back to the title screen. After that you can complete another two laps in the regular game and when you do that it'll tell you that the name you entered into the high score is now challenging you to a race. You beat him [yourself??] and the process repeats itself.

It doesn't sound difficult but the gameplay is very challenging. The hit detection sucks so sometimes it feels unfair when you crash and because of the low frame rate it feels like the game has lag. But it's just such a fun game for me to play and I'm glad I finally figured out how it works. I found out the Saturn got the last game in this series but it was only released in Japan. I want to get my hands on it because it doesn't seem to have the low frame rate problem.

OT - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=145580377&postcount=295

26. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
[Finished 23/06/15]
The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece. Never before have I been so engrossed and enveloped in an open world. In most open world games I mainline the story, always feeling that any side objectives are unnecessary, and for the most part they are. The Witcher 3 however, makes you care about everything. The main cast of characters are some of my favourite in any video game, especially the story's main focus, Ciri, who's development and growth throughout the narrative is a joy to watch unfold. But everyone has a story in this world, from the lowliest of peasants to the highest of noblemen and I wanted to find out about all of them. Every sidequest has its own little story, and many have consequences on the main story itself, and for that reason I wanted to do them all and just explore this gorgeous open world. That itself is an understatement, as the world of the Witcher is among the most beautiful in any game ever made. The feeling of riding around Skellige with the wind at your back and the somber soundtrack playing in the background is like no other. The RPG progression was a help in pushing me towards these quests, but even when I was overleveled and stood to gain no experience from a quest I would still take it on for the pure curiosity at what had befallen these people. I spent over 70 hours as Geralt and I didn't want it to end, but alas all good things must finish eventually. CD Projekt Red have made a game that I will remember for years to come, and that is something rather special indeed.

I reached the limit for my previous post so I'm claiming my second one. Yay for progress and also UPDATE.

Original Post


Game 20: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSOne Classics / PS Vita) - Hours Played: 5:46 - Finished June 23rd

Finally got around to playing the game. Right off the bat, Klonoa is the most charming character I've played in 2015. The game is a bit on the too cute side (harkens back to Yoshi's Story), but for a kids game it's understandable. Platforming-wise it's rather simplistic. The only thing that sets it apart is that Klonoa can grab onto enemies and use them to double jump or fire them at other enemies (much like egg throwing in Yoshi's Island, but with a more limited range). The art direction is beautiful and the levels look amazingly colorful (on par with Rayman PSX I'd say). Some of the OST is also cool like Untamed Heart. The game also has a story developing as you go, but it just boils down to "evil guy does evil things, stop him." I didn't really care for it. The game is only 12 levels long, but it makes up for it by having a unique theme for each level. They're all pretty easy though, as are the bosses (and ALL of the bosses are variants of 'pick up enemy and throw at boss when you have the chance'). It only got a tiny bit more challenging towards the end, but my frustration came from having low health rather than having to deal with difficult level design. Lastly, the ending; I heard people saying that it was a tearjerker and broke people's hearts. When I saw it I was only like 'wut.' What the hell was that. It was never explained and nothing led up to it. I now want this to be the ending to every game I play. 7/10


Game 21: Final Fantasy I (PSP / PS Vita) - Hours Played: 14:33 - Finished June 28th

Finally got to finish the game. It's a landmark in videogame history for sure but there's not really much to talk about the first installment of the FF series; you control the four warriors of light and you collect the four elemental crystals to save the world. That's it. At some point you get to upgrade your classes but otherwise this jrpg is as straightforward as they come. The PSP version has very nice art and great music, but they made the game stupidly easy too. In the beginning I decided to grind a little before taking on Garland and as a result I remained overpowered for the rest of the game. It basically became "hold X to win". The dungeon bosses weren't very different in that regard; just buff Knight / Ninja, cast Curaga and other helpful spells every so often. I think only Chaos (the final boss) gave me some trouble, mostly because he cast Curaga on himself halfway through the battle. I wanted to take on the bonus dungeons like Hellfire Chasm but the stupid saving system won't let me start with my old stats. Anyway, as a RPG it's pretty bare bones but it's fun if you're looking for something old school, without all the fluff that subsequent jrpgs have been adding to the genre. 7/10

Game 22: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - Hours Played: 36:28 - Completed 100% July 17th

I took my sweet time playing the game. Collected all the Heart Pieces / Masks and completed the Bomber's Notebook on the way too. It is as good as I remembered it. I don't want to talk much about the original game (I think it's the best Nintendo game), so I'll briefly talk about the 3ds version additions. Stuff like the extra save points and the streamlined time-skipping system make the game better and greatly improve some of the more sluggish parts of the original. The Kafei & Anju quest now takes twenty minutes or so (instead of an hour) if you know what you're doing. The new boss battles are very cool, especially the battle with Twinmold which feels like Zelda x WWE. I didn't have any problems with needing magic to swim faster; drinking Chateau Romani gets rid of that issue anyway. I didn't have the moon crash down on me but I did fail the Romani and Anju & Kafei sidequests when I first attempted them, to my surprise. Either I got rusty or they made them harder this time. This is the definitive version of Majora's Mask, to the surprise of no one. The game itself is a must play, although I would have liked a Master Quest and / or boss rush like its' OOT 3D sibling. Oh well. Time to sink my teeth into the real meat of the game: fishing! The actual title of this game is Termina Pro Bass Fishing. 10/10


---

Currently Playing

I've been focusing on MM3D so nothing. I had started Final Fantasy II a while ago, and while it looks interesting (and there's a story this time too lol), I have to get used to its weird 'leveling' system so for the moment I will probably drop it for something more traditional like Final Fantasy III or Suikoden.

Also grabbed the Ace Attorney Trilogy game on the e-shop on last week's sales, so there's that.

Up Next

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Final Fantasy III
Suikoden

No update in a while, so here goes.

DETAILED POST TWO | SUMMARY

Game 22: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - Around 8 hours - May 19th, 2015

It's not really an upgrade on TNO. In many ways, it might even be a downgrade. But at the end of the day, TOB was just an excuse for me to return to Wolfenstein and BJ, and that's all I really wanted. There were some truly frustrating moments in this game. In fact I was so irritated at one point that I just dropped the difficulty so I could finish it quicker. But by and large, I enjoyed myself and I hope more developers consider giving us meaty expansions like TOB. The characters and story aren't quite as strong as that of TNO, but I still found myself engrossed by the Nazi setting and the supporting cast of characters.
- 8/10

Game 23: Home - Around 3 hours - June 12th, 2015

I'm just going to come out and say it. I played this game to hunt for trophies. I bought it in a PSN flash sale for around $0.99 and was intrigued by the concept. The concept didn't actually turn out to be that amazing in execution. So because I'm lame, I finished this game to get trophy score. I wish this game had been a little bit more.
- 5/10

Game 24: Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - 77 minutes - June 20th, 2015

Alright, I get the complaints about dissonance in the MGS series. I'm currently playing through the first MGS game, and it has incredibly goofy moments, jokes and even mechanics. Then I come into MGS:GZ and it's grounded and "real" with scenes of torture, mutilation, sexual assault and more. And then, I watch MGS: TPP demos from E3 and I see more "grounded" missions trying to tackle hard topics, mixed with goofy humor. I'm not totally sure that I'm sold on the execution of this combination. But regardless, I don't really care all that much. The gameplay in MGS: GZ is a helluva lot fun. Probably some of the most fun I've had with a stealth style game in a long time.
- 8/10

Game 25: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 140+ hours - June 23rd, 2015

10 out of 10 for a game with so many glitches, technical issues and other problems? Yes. Yes indeed. Even with all its warts, TW3 is a masterpiece. I think the last WRPG to have a world that drew me in so thoroughly was probably Mass Effect 2. TW3 puts even that game to shame. There's not a whole lot I can say about the game that hasn't been said by others already. But from the heart, I can say that I fell in love with this world, with the characters and even with the story itself. That's quite a feat considering that I had never played any of the other games or read any of the books. Even so, the game just oozed so much substance and style that I couldn't help but be drawn in. Every quest seemed meaningful and worth my time. My choices generally seemed to matter and not to just be some facade for the game actually making choices for me. I would do something in game, forget about it and then ten hours latter, the game would throw that decision back in my face. More than all of that though, I think the interactions between . I get distracted playing long games, and this game held my attention for over 140 overs. That says it all. I know we have DLC coming and the Cyberpunk, but I hope that someday CDPR can return to doing TW4!
- 10/10

Part 1

Part 2

10) The Swapper - (Start Date: 6/22/15 End Date: 6/23/15)



This game is an interesting and fun puzzle/platformer that deals with questions about the "soul" and what it really is and if it even exists. The writing is super cool and interesting. The Puzzles are simple at first then get more difficult as you go on. There is a touch of Metroid in this game since you can visit the entire area once you have gone through most of the map but there isn't much reason to go back to places unless you missed something hidden or just missed a puzzle room. The atmosphere is great and the voice acting is very well done. Over all I think this is a really cool game to discuss and a fun way to spend an afternoon/evening.

Original post

#37 - Okami



One of the best PS2 games, without a doubt, but which sadly I only got to finish yesterday. I don't know why, but something bad happened the three times I tried to finish Okami. The PS2 died, I had to sell my Wii and my 360 controller broke. Fortunately, I bought a new 360 controller and finally finished this gem.

Anyways, Okami is a classic and those who haven't played it yet, should play it as soon as possible, assuming they like great games (but who doesn't?). The game only really have one issue, which is its length. For an action adventure, it is huge. It is not Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword levels of huge, but in a first playthrough, it will take roughly 30 hours to finish it, at least. But aside from that, the game is marvelous. Great visuals, fantastic soundtrack and the gameplay while not the most innovative, serves its purpose very well. The game also have some of the best boss battles in the genre (much better than the huge majority of the bland boss battles in Zelda games, for a starter). Lastly, when "The Sun Rises" started playing during the final boss battle, it was... so good. Such a satisfying final showdown.

I forgot when I last did an update that wasn't editing a previous post, so I may as well just do one (while it's said earlier I'll note I only list mods that take me four hours or more):

Game 40: Dying Light - Finished

Given I'm getting sick of the typical open-world AAA formula this was a pleasant surprise for me; I was already intrigued when it was obvious Mirror's Edge was an inspiration for the navigation mechanics, but it worked better than I expected. Dead Island was heavily flawed and fell apart towards the end, but a few parts of it really resonated with me; namely the second chapter in the town which felt like a true survival experience of working through overwhelming odds with what little you had. Dying Light feels like an attempt to transpose that over a whole game, and it generally works, even if your improved capabilities make it easier (but also much less janky) than that section of DI. It kind of reminds me of Red Dead Redemption (one of the only other open-world games to transcend the formula for me), in that the standard cliches of the genre are mostly leveraged as part of the game rather than just being added because that's what open-world games do. For instance, with the movement mechanics, the "run to the icon on the other side of the map" design actually feels like a innate part of playing the game rather than open-world dumbing down/filler, as there's always the drive to do it as efficiently as possible, and plenty of ways to screw that up (or optimise further). I also like how all the side-quests have actual narratives to them and frequently visible effects on the world when they're done, even if they're mostly subtle, like seeing people you've helped in safe places. Even the grindy challenge missions have some sort of resolution when you finish them. It's also one of the few modern AAA games to get an upgrade system right rather than just tacking it on; you start off a bit weak but the vast majority of upgrades have a very noticeable effect, and right up until I was almost maxed (which requires some effort to do) I had to keep choosing between multiple abilities that sounded very enticing, and wasn't just picking options because there was nothing better.

I was also surprised how much I liked the main character as things went on; in the end I found Crane to have enough personality to transcend how generic he seemed at first, though I felt the initial concept of multiple conflicting loyalties got dropped a bit too fast. I also have no idea if the villain was supposed to be taken seriously or not, because half the interactions with him seem to involve the main character telling him he's full of shit, but then the other half seems to try and make him a legitimate threat, and the implementation feels a bit confused. On that note the main story is surprisingly brisk by open-world standards, and the amount of missions is relatively low but most involve substantial content, rather than endless filler missions that most open-worlds go with. It also stays away from instanced content (one of the biggest things I dislike in current open-worlds, as it removes the whole point of having one in the first place) when it can, and when it does it's confined to buildings and other places where it's somewhat logical; outside of that the world functions the same during missions as it does elsewhere. The day-night mechanic is nice too, although removing the XP penalty for death at night is weird, and actually sort of makes it safer when you know what you're doing (especially when you realise that the Volatiles are pretty blind). I'm still not sure what to think of the multiplayer invasions; I think they're a bit disruptive rather than being smooth Souls-esque ones, but as the game went on I started to learn more tactics and gained a certain appreciation for them; I mostly won easily, but in the endgame I came across one or two invaders who kicked my ass, so I guess more knowledgeable players are capable of keeping up with late-game Human players.

It felt like there were too many attacks that had a "shit on the screen" effect which got obnoxious at times, and also a few too many random instant kills and similar (to that point that towards the end most of my deaths came from random explosions and similar, some of which I still have no idea of the origin of), and fuck the suicide bomber things. The weapon damage scaling also felt a bit extreme; at the start I could slice a Zombie in the head ten times and have it still get back up, then at the end I could one-shot everything short of a miniboss. I did play on hard which may have affected some of this, but from what I've heard most of it applies normally too. Also a QTE final boss fight when there are no others in the game, and actual boss fights earlier? FFS. Those were the only major issues I had though, outside the weird respawn system that's obviously balanced for co-op. Finally the free developer support is nice, and just as I finished an upgrade came out with content and multiplayer changes and a new weapon tier, and that's on top of it having mod support, which is all motivation for me to revisit it later (which I normally never do with open-world games).

Game 41: Valiant - Finished

Doom MegaWAD

Game 42: Ancient Artifact 1 - Finished

Tomb Raider mod, my review is here under "Mman": http://www.trle.net/sc/reviews.php?lid=1702

Game 43: Anodyne - Finished (main story)

This was a pleasant surprise. It takes the Zelda concept but changes it just enough to feel fresh, and I like the weird dream logic style of the world structure, which provides just enough structure with it's main hub area and then goes off the rails later (with that early grounding providing the context for the weirdness to stick out). The Zelda-type gameplay is decent enough to hold it together too, and the surreal themes allow for some interesting twists on the style at times. I also like how the upgrades are kept minimal and the world is mostly open with only minor gating elements. It's also got some great music.

Game 44: Asura's Wrath - Finished (+ending DLC)

An interesting experiment. While I normally dislike QTE's the game is consistent about them from the start and establishes what it is quickly so it works, it also does a good job merging the interface and the action (like the burst meter showing up during cutscenes). The non-QTE parts are actually more challenging than I expected on hard, but they are also pretty exploitable (it's really easy to just build up the gauge that makes you invincible for a bit with ranged attacks). For a character action type game the framerate is really bad at times (and the biggest challenge to hitting some QTEs), although the visual design is strong. At full price I'm not sure it would work so well for me (and the paid DLC ending is a big dick-move), but at sale price it does what it's trying to do well.

Game 45: 3D Dot Game Heros - Finished

It took a little for me to get into this, but after it started opening up I started to appreciate a lot of things it does; as a top-down Zelda inspired game it's got a few interface improvements over them (although they have mostly been implemented in the newer Zelda's). The world is very open and there's tons of secrets (such that I've apparently missed a massive amount of weapons along with some other stuff), and it's occasionally slightly obscure, even if I never needed a walkthrough for the normal progression. It doesn't do anything especially ground-breaking with the formula (beyond the unique aesthetic), but it's a well-executed take on it. The amount I missed also makes me curious to go back and see what sort of secrets I overlooked.

Game 27: Canabalt (PC) - 1 hour
Old Flash infinite runner that is still good after all these years, but also really short. Once I finished all the challenges, I was done. Beating my scores over and over again isn't really my cup of tea. The PC version is a good effort, with a 3D mode and a 2-player mode (that I will eventually play).



Game 28: Unepic (PC) - 10.5 hours
Decided to play this because the reviews were great and I was in a good mood for a Metrovoidvania. Unepic is indeed pretty good, well-done and quite funny in a vulgar kind of way, but for some reason I couldn't finish it. I lost interest. I just think it overstays it's welcome. When it starts to become repetitive, the game also becomes really hard, which made stop playing and I never really came back. I also think my character wasn't build to survive the latter part of the game, which is a serious balance problem. Still, the game has a lot of content, sidequests, puzzles, combat, platforming.



Game 29: Instant Dungeon! (PC) - 4.7 hours
This one took me by suprise. It's kinda really fun, although not really deep. It's a mix of dungeon crawler and Pac-Man where every level is randomly created. In fact, your character is also random. The goal is simply to get deeper and deeper while collecting treasures and improving your score. Without dying. It gets tougher and darker (so you don't see the enemies coming), but you also have stronger weapons and defensive tools at your disposal. The game also has several modes that are just different enough to be interesting. Technically, it's a pretty basic pixel stuff. Still, well worth the low price of admission.



Game 30: Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey (PC) - 11.0 hours
Scrabble disguised as an RPG. Works really well. Time passed quickly when you play. It has that 'one more' mission quality. And there is a ton of missions. English isn't my mother tongue, so it was probably harder for me to play and especially create longer words, but I made it. No real story, colorful but basic visuals. There are a lot of upgrades, but a lot of them are quite useless while other one are really important. So not quite balanced.

Game 17: Kirby's Dream Land - hour or two - GB/eShop - Replay

Completed both the main game and the extra mode (which was really difficult). Short and fun.

Game 18: Kirby's Dream Land 3 - 15 hours - SNES/Wii U (eShop)

Completed this for 100% for the first time. Really cool Kirby game. Love the hidden stage secrets and the emphasis on the animal buddies. The last 3 percentage points being tied to the mini-games and the boss rush was a literal nightmare (fuck that frying pan sound game). Probably the hardest "100% completion" I've attempted all year.

Game 19: Super Mario World - 8 1/2 hours - SNES/Wii U (eShop) - Replay

Been so long since I've played this game and I was in the mood for it recently. Cleared the game with all 96 exits, too. I only had to look-up 2 or 3 exits as well because some of those secret exits were hidden extremely well.

Game 20: Adventures of Pip - 9 Hours - Wii U/eShop

Completed the game at 100% with no deaths recorded. Cool little platformer with some neat mechanics/ideas. Great Virt OST, too.

Game 17: Pokémon Shuffle



Duration- 14:08

Played for a total of 14 hours and 8 minutes and completed all originally included puzzles and also quite a few special event puzzles.

Original post.

Games 1 - 20
Games 21+

Game 33: Her Story

Honestly, I'm not sure how to even talk about it without spoiling it all. I'll say it was a novel experience. And thoroughly unenjoyable. I guess I did kind of enjoy it on a meta level where it was interested in seeing how a story could be told like this, but I gave up when the credits rolled. I don't care about this story, nor do I care for the purposeful obfuscations along the way, so I just couldn't be bothered to hunt down the missing clips. It's hard to recommend it as an enjoyable way to spend an evening, but you should probably try it for yourself.
If you like Gone Home, you might like this

Click to expand...

#22. Danmaku Unlimited 2 (PC) -- June 26 -- 1:07:00 -- ★★★☆☆
Pretty standard bullet hell shmup. There aren't any unique mechanics as far as I can tell, so it's just dodging, shooting, and grazing bullets for a bonus. Shooting things isn't very satisfying because the sound effects and sound design are pretty bad. There's a simple progression system, which softens the blow of getting a game over on the final boss. I never get hardcore into these types of games, but I'm always down for a playthrough or two. I had fun.

Caramello said:

Game 17: Pokémon Shuffle

Played for a total of 14 hours and 8 minutes and completed all originally included puzzles and also quite a few special event puzzles.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you managed to keep your sanity. I'm already 116 hours in...

My other two games of May:


Game 22: de Blob - 2,5/5 - 30:05 hours (13/05/15)

Completed the campaign, got all the unlockables and got a gold on every secondary mission. The game's fun but overwhelming and tiring if played in long sessions: I found it's best to play no more than one stage of the campaign a day (trying to 100% it), that way you can immerse in it thanks to the nice dynamic soundtrack and big stages, without ending up bored. Getting everything in a stage may end up taking you a very very long time, and as if that weren't enough there's plenty of glitches involving Blob getting stuck in between buildings and forcing the player to restart a stage, while robbing him of all its progress. The game's a little monotonous after a while, not offering anything new to play with; controls are another big problem, especially due to the waggle-jump you can't do without: sometimes one feels as if he's losing lives and time unjustly.

This game is:

+

Click to expand...

Game 23: Broken Age [with gf] - 3/5 - 11:34 hours (27/05/15)

Replayed entirely the first act before getting my hands on the second one and completing it. The game's great, just not what they originally pitched: it's more of a Double Fine game (well duh) than a classic adventure game. I can't possibly hate on the devs after watching the documentary, however I think Tim kinda got his priorities wrong: too much attention to the production values at the expense of scope, length, variety and choices. Stuff like the (awesome) artwork of Bagel, the (stunning) orchestral score and the (amazing) voice over, take precious time and resources away; it was good to have them in, and Broken Age wouldn't be Broken Age without them, however they go to show where the project failed: that's stuff that's as far removed from old style adventure games as possible, yet they were consciously prioritized over better item management, a proper SCUMM-like exploration menu for the backgrounds (talk, move, hear, use, etc.), more intricate dialogues and additional scenes and places to visit. Tim's writing is top notch, but the plot and the resolution of act two leave something to be desired: the ending is abrupt, many things are left unresolved, Loruna isn't explored at all, the whole matter about genetics feels weirdly out of place and unnecesarily convoluted (so, the Trush sent out young lorunians and their families in part-fake-monster/part-fake-spaceship airships to instinctively search for maidens bearing the impurities they need to add to their DNA? Ok...), and there's a bunch of bad plot holes (Shay didn't remember he had parents? Really? Also where did the Merryloft maidens end up in the end?). The puzzles are much better implemented and actually require thinking things through this time around, also making great use of the alternation between the two main characters. In the end the game's great for what it is, and I appreciate it, however it's quite far from what it should've been at first.

This game is:

+

Click to expand...

Game # 21
Criminal Girls: Invite Only
Vita 41:59
When my wife got this for me, I thought it was just an anime boobie game. It was actually a really charming jrpg that didnt need its fanservicey elements to be really compelling. Not enough for me to go back for all the girls' endings, but a great little timesink all the same.

Original post

#38 - Ikachan



Fun little game. "Little" because it is really short, but enjoyable still. The conclusion of the game was rather cute. And the two or three songs that play during the game are also prety good.

FF7 - 2015 edition has been beaten! Made it to the halfway point of this challenge just slightly before the year is half up, so hurrah!


Games Beaten: 26 / 52
Total Playtime: 170 hours, 46 minutes

01 - 26

Edit: My post is messed up. Alot more is bolded than should be. I can't find the problem and am too tired so sorry lol.
Edit2: Wow I actually fixed it.

2015 52 Games
06/27/15 - Halfway through the year and onlyhalf done. I had a good start, and a fantastic March but I've slowed down too much!
PS: This list is becoming too long. Its such a mess lol.

Updated my post: http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=144699142


Backlogged Games
PT = Playthrough. So If something says  1PT it means its my first time ever playing it, 2PT then that means its my second time playing and beating the game. So on and so forth.
(lol) Means I am atleast 95% sure I'll never beat that game.
BOLDED STUFF IS NEW ADDITIONS SINCE LAST UPDATE. I MAY NOT UNBOLD ARE OLD STUFF DUE TO MISSING IT...

Games Beaten:
1: Ikachan (3DS) (1PT)
Started playing Thursday January 1st 2015 12:38 AM
Finished playing Thursday January 1st 2015 2:57 PM
Play Time: 1:21
A short but very fun game. It ma be short, but its full on gameplay and its worth it if you can get it on sale for $2-$3 like I did.

2: Yoshi's Island (3DS/GBA) (3PT) (100%)
Started playing Friday December 16th 2011
Finished playing Sunday January 4th 2015 1:38 AM
Total Play Time: 22:49
Play Time in 2015: 6:04
Play Time in 2014: 10:26
Play Time in 2013: 2:07
Play Time in 2012 & 2011: Not in Top 30 so unavailable.
Yoshi's Island was my favorite game when  was young and ts still one of my favorites. Going back to its charming world with the best graphics style a2D platformer can have was great. I always 100% this game but never the secret/extra levels. Those levels and a few of the base levels pushed at my insanity and lessened the fun haha. When I replay it I gotta cut those extra levels out. I also guess that I died 285 times if thats what itmeant at the end. O_O *ahem* Now I must 100% Yoshi's New Island and Yoshi's Wooly World this year...oh noes.

3: Xeodrifter (3DS) (1PT)
Started playing Thursday December 18th 2014 8:34 PM
Finished playing Saturday December 20th 2014 5:37 PM
Started 100% playthough on Tuesday January 13th 2015 7:01 PM
Finished collecing all but one thing on Wednesday January 14th 2015 5:03 PM
Playtime: 2:31 - 100% Playtime: 3:41
Playtime for 100%/Playtime for 2015:1:10
Really great Metroidvania. A bit too short for its price, but I loved the fact that it was so short since it prevented me from getting lost unlike most Metroidvanias...

4: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (WiiU) (2PT)
Started Friday October 4th 2013 12:08 PM
Finished playing Thursday January 15th 2015 8:33 PM
Play Time: 24:58
Play Time in 2015: 11:31
Loved this when I first played it in 2003. Dunno why it took me so long on the replay, lots of little parts that just made me want to quit but overall I enjoyed it alot!

5: Castlevania (NES) (1PT) (Second Attempt. First was on Wii VC)
Started playing Friday January 30th 2015 9:07 PM
Finished playing Monday February 9th 2015 5:00 PM
Play Time: 1:15
Like the music and style but way to hard for me. Thank you based restore points.

6: Gunman Clive (3DS) (2PT)
Gunman Clive - Easy
Started playing Friday February 13th 2015 11:58 PM
Finished playing Saturday Friday February 14th 2015 5:23 PM
Play Time: 0:40
Retries: 9

7: Gunman Clive 2 (3DS) (1PT)
Gunman Clive - Easy
Started playing Saturday Friday February 14th 2015 5:23 PM
Finished playing Sunday February 15th 2015 10:22 PM
Play Time: 1:03
Retries: 29
Both Gunman Clive 1 & 2 are very short, but it never gets boring, it never stops being fun. highly recommended on both and play them in order.

8: Donkey Kong Country (WiiU/SNES) (1PT, but played through many times as a kid. Furthest ever gotten was Ice World.) (8/52)
Started playing Friday February 27th 2015 12:37 AM
Finished playing Sunday March 1st 2015 5:06 PM
Play Time: 3:06
Times Played 8
Never beat it, but played almost to the end so much as a kid. (Ice World) Great nostalgia trip right here. Great game still holds up as always.

9: Persona 4: Golden (PSV) (1PT)
Started playing Friday January 9th 2015 2:17 PM
Finished playing Wednesday March 4th 2015 8:25 PM
Play Time: 89:23
What can I say? My first Persona game and its now one of my favorite games of all time, the dungeons got a bit too grindy at the end (played on normal) so I will be choosing easy for future Persona games since the story is the main part and not gameplay. The story was absolutely fantastic.

10: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (PSV/PSP) (1PT)
Started playing Wednesday March 4th 2015 9:38 PM
Chapter 1 Wrong End #2 on March 6th 2015 2:27 PM
Chapter 1 Defeated on Friday March 6th 2015 2:43 PM
Chapter 2 Wrong End #3 on Sunday March 8th 2015 2:33 PM
Chapter 2 Defeated on Sunday March 8th 2015 8:10 PM
Chapter 3 Wrong End #2 on Monday March 9th 2015 5:48 PM
Chapter 3 Wrong End #1* on Monday March 9th 2015 5:52 PM
Chapter 3 Wrong End #3 on Monday March 9th 2015 7:01 PM
Chapter 3 Defeated on Monday March 9th 2015 7:40 PM
Chapter 4 Wrong End #1 on Tuesday March 10th 2015 6:44 PM
Chaoter 4 Defeated on Tuesday March 10th 2015 6:53 PM
Chapter 5 Wrong End #1* on Wednesday March 11th 2015 4:23 PM
Chapter 5 Wrong End #2 on Wednesday March 11th 2015 4:33 PM
Chapter 5 Wrong End #3 on Wednesday March 11th 2015 6:10 PM
Chapter 5 Wrong End #8** on Thursday March 12th 2015 4:01 PM
Chapter 5 Defeated on Thursday March 12th 2015 4:08 PM
Chapter 6 Defeated on Thursday March 12th 2015 9:38 PM
Chapter 7 Wrong End 1* on Friday March 13th 2015 2:02 PM
Chapter 7 Defeated on Friday March 13th 2015 2:29 PM
Chapter 8 Defeated on Friday March 13th 2015 7:10 PM
Play Time: 14:38[/b]
*Did just to see what happened.
**Was using gamefaqs for some parts and spoiled the true choice, so I did the wrong one just to see.
Sequel to the last game I beat last year. As with the first, This stands as one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time. Can't wait for the end of the original story later this year.

11: Invisible Apartment (Steam) (1PT)
Started playing Wednesday March 18th 2015 9:53 PM
Finished playing Wednesday March 18th 2015 11:09 PM
Play Time: 0:36
I basically was playing a few free games to see if I could game on Steam with my very poor pc. Let's just say while this ran alright, its not really looking good. RIP in peace To The Moon, The Witch's House, all the other RPG Maker horror games, and all the other pc exclusive visual novels. :/
As for this game...eh...its fairly bad, but kinda funny with how bad it is. Its free short visual novel so why not?

HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (12/52)
Started playing Saturday March 7th 2015 10:28 PM
Finished playing Tuesday March 24th 2015 2:48 AM
Play Time: 41:05:07
On eof my favorite new franchises now. Top tier game and I plan to buy all Neptunia games available.

Infamous: Second Son (PS4/Vita) (1PT) (Easy) (Good End) (13/52)
Started playing Tuesday December 16th 2014 12:02 PM
Finished playing Thursday March 26th 2015 3:33 PM
Another great Infamous game. Not top tier or anything but I always enjoy them.

10 Second Run (3DS/DSi) (1PT) (100%) (14/52)
Continuing a playthrough. Quit around 2011 or 2012. Level 38-50 + 1 Second Run Level 1-10
Restarted playing Friday March 27th 2015 1:28 AM
Finished playing Friday March 27th 2015 4:21 PM
Play Time in 2015: 1:04
Total Play Time: 2:06
After a huge break because it became too hard, I decided to pick this pack up, and 100%ed it. Neat!

Fairune (3DS) (1PT) (15/52)
Started playing Saturday March 28th 2015 3:12 AM
Finished playing Saturday March 28th 2015 6:03 PM
Play Time: 3:13
Times Played: 1
Amazing game! I blazed through it and its highly recommended. Fairune 2 will be a day one purchase!

Shovel Knight (3DS) (3PT) (16/52)
3PT Started on Saturday March 21st 2015 2:28 AM
3PT Finished on Saturday March 28th 2015 9:27 PM
Play Time: 5:03
One of the best games ever. Its my third playthrough. I wanted to do it before the next expansion comes out. Tho at this rate, maybe another playthrough is in order since it like many indie games has gone missing.

SteamWorld Dig (3DS) (1PT) (17/52)
Started playing Saturday March 28th 2015 10:34 PM
Finished playing Monday March 30th 2015 4:10 PM
Play Time: 5:03
Another great game I blazed through! i had a good run in March of games I beat. March for Month of the Year!

Kerploosh (3DS) (1PT) (18/52)
Started playing Sunday April 5th 2015 3:43 AM
Finished playing Sunday April 5th 2015 4:18 AM
Kinda neat but dreadfully boring. Meh.

Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale (3DS) (1PT) (19/52)
Started playing Monday April 20th 2015 1:39 AM
Finished playing Monday April 20th 2015 8:10 PM
Play Time: 3:51 - All Episodes except 4, 5, and 6 completed.
Times Played: 1
Average Play Time: 3:51
Fantastic experience and is highly recommended.

Donkey Kong Land (3DS/GB) (1PT) (20/52)
Started playing Tuesday March 3rd 2015 10:10 PM
Finished playing Monday April 27th 2015 9:47 PM
Play Time: 2:25
Not as good as Country series but still allright. I do plan to tackle the other Land and Country games soon.

Might Gunvolt + DLC (3DS) (1PT) - Beck (21/52)
Started playng Friday May 1st 2015 11:21 PM
Finished playing Saturday May 2nd 11:42 PM
Play Time: 1:28
*Didn't finish DLC Stages Bio Lab and Highway. Couldn't defeat bosses. Insane difficulty there. Maybe with a different character later. Jeez.
Fairly fun short experience. I liked it except for the mentioned bosses.

HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation (Started ASAP) (22/52)
Started playing Thursday May 7th 2015 1:13 PM
Normal End Finished on Friday May 15th 2015 7:29 PM (Forgot CPUs)
Play Time: 24:40:13
True Ending Finished playing Saturday May 16th 2015 2:52 PM
Play Time: 30:27:01
The second Netunia game. Blazedthrough I am in love with this series! Re;Birth 3 is next on my list.

Super Mario Land (3DS/GB) (2PT) (23/52)
Started playing Sunday May 17th 2015 3:34 PM
Finished playing Sunday May 17th 2015 4:16 PM
Play Time: 0:39
Replay. Fairly short but enjoyable game.

Home (PS4) (1PT) (24/52)
Started playing Sunday May 24th 2015 4:33 PM
Finished playing Sundy May 24th 2015 5:41 PM
Play Time: 1:08
Fairly short but enjoyable game. Will likeley go back once I get access to my Vita to 100% the game if I can.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (3DS/GB) (3PT) (25/52)
Started playing Friday May 29th 2015 4:40 PM
Finished playing Saturday May 30th 2015 8:18 PM
Play Time: 1:25
Another replay. One of my favorite games. While short, its very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Splatoon (WiiU) (1PT) (26/52)
Started playing Monday June 1st 2015 2:15 PM
Finished playing Tuesday June 16th 2015 6:28 PM
Play Time Estimation: 4:32
*Play Time is estimation since most time was played online. Its impossible to be accurate.
While multiplayer is the main thing, the single player was amazin. Highly recommended.

List of ALL games per system. The bottom of each list as as follows:
Currently Playing is most recently started. (Without a date is not in order.)
Games I Want To Replay is most recently added.
Games I Own is most recently bought. (Without a date is not in order.)
Games I want to buy is most recently thought about buying. Will probably miss out on alot of those.

PS: Not all games listed in my currently playing list is all games I started this year. If I beat a game really quickly I may not list it since theres a bunch of small games to keep track of.

3DS:
Currently Playing:
1: Shin Megami Tensei IV - (30 Hours) Trying to get Jirae thing to start.
2: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA) - Chapter 11
3: Mario & Luigi 4 - (17 Hours) Halfway through.
4: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked (45 Hours) Day 4
5: Fire Emblem: Awakening Normal/Classic/No Grinding (lol)
7: Metroid Fusion (GBA)
8: 100% Yoshi's Island (GBA) (3PT) - 100% as of 01/04/15!
9: 100% Xeodrifter Beaten last year. Tried to 100% this year and got all but one collectable. Consider it complete.
10: Mario Golf: World Tour All Coins (lol)
11: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (lol) (Did all 2 Star Quests)
12: Super Smash Bros. 4 - Will count if I complete all challenges.
13: Gunman Clive (3PT) - Beaten on 02/13/15
14: Gunman Clive 2 - Beaten on 02/14/15
15: Pokemon Shuffle - May count as beaten multiple times due to updates. First will be if I capture all 150 Pokemon in base campaign to Mewtwo plus the Extra stages. DLC stages won't cont since they are constantly changing. 99/150 Stages beaten.
16: Woah Dave - Highscore game but has achievements so will count as beaten if I do them all.
17: Donkey Kong Land (3DS/GB) (1PT) - Beaten on 04/27/15
18: Code Name S.T.E.A.M. (3DS) (1PT) - On Mission 6-1
19: Shovel Knight (3DS) (3PT) - Third Playthrough Beaten!
20: Mario VS Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move - Got hyped after the new game but can't afford it, so went back to this. I was mainly using it to create levels but now I'm going through the hardcore man levels. 54/230 Stars gotten. Or I assume its 230 since thats the last unlockable.
21: 10 Second Run (3DS/DSi) (1PT) - Beat levels 42-50 after giving up a few years ago. Felt good.
22: Fairune (3DS) (1PT) - One of my favorite new games. Simple but amazing. Really enjoyed it and eagerly await its sequel.
23: Steam World Dig (3DS) (1PT) - Got hooked into this aswell. Amazing game.
24: Kerploosh (3DS) (1PT) - Played it. Its a very meh game. Didn't really enjoy it.
25: Attack of the Friday Monsters (3DS) (1PT) - This is something really magical. Glad I finally played it!
26: Escape Vektor (3DS) (1PT) - On Zone 2. Its hard. Will likely never beat it but I enjoy it.
27: Pokemon Rumble World (3DS) (1PT) - ???/719 Pokemon caught. Will probably give up on this. Not fun.
28: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (3DS/DS) (1PT) - Around 3 Hours in. First MD game. Takes some getting used to but like it so far.
29: 1,001 Spikes (3DS) (1PT) - Its hard. Who knows if I can beat it. Its really hard.
30: Etrian Mystery Dungeon IV: Legend f the Titan (3DS) (1PT) - My first EO game. At the second dungeon. Started on 05/18/15 and already over 27 hours in, wow! Its amazing.
31: Witch & Hero (3DS) (1PT) - Started on 06/18/15. On Stage 12. Hard and kinda grindy but very fun game.
32: Ecco The Dolphin (3DS) (1PT) - Bought and started on 06/25/15 in sale. Confusing but fun so far. At the beginning.
Want to replay this year:
1: Super Mario 3D Land (5PT)
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2PT) (1PT Hero Mode)
3: Super Mario Land (GB) (2PT) - Replay started and finished on ?
4: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB) (3PT) - Replay started 05/29/15 and finished 05/30/15
5: 999 (DS) (2PT)
6: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA) (2PT)
7: 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure (3DS) (5PT)
8: Shovel Knight (3DS) (3PT) - Finished third playthrough on 03/28/15
9: Mutant Mudds (3DS) (3PT)
10: Super Mario Bros. 3 (3DS/NES) (5PT)
Own. Not Started:
1: Steamworld Dig Started on 03/28/1 and beaten on 03/30/155
2: 1,001 Spikes - Started on 05/17/15
3: Starship Damrey
4: Attack of the Friday Monsters - Started and finished on 04/20/15
5: 100% Skylanders Swap Force
6: escape Vektor Started on 04/04/15
7: Burger Time Deluxe
8: Mario Golf GBC
9: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
10: Bomb Monkey (Can't Be Beaten?)
11: Ikachan - Started and Beaten on 01/01/15
12: Kerploosh
13: Bike Rider DX (Can't Be Beaten?)
14: Mario Kart GBA (Meh)
15: Woah Dave Started on 01/31/15
16: Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters - Found out it was on at like 2AM on 01/18/15 on CN then registered a ton of games and finally had enough before the deadline. So now I own this.
17: Donkey Kong Land (3DS/GB)
18: Metroid II: Return of Samus - Gotten on 03/03/15 as my last Club Nintendo Reward before the final Platinum...
19: Fairune (3DS) (1PT) - Beaten on 02/28/15
20: Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows - Will have and start when released.
21: Pokemon Ranger (3DS/DS) (1PT)
22: Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (3DS/GBA) (1PT)
23: Witch & Hero (3DS) (1PT) - Started!
24: Ecco The Dolphin (3DS) (1PT) - Started!
Want to buy this year:
1: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
2: Code Name S.T.E.A.M. BOUGHT DAY ONE VIA AMAZON!
3: Xenoblade (Who knows when I'll get a new 3DS tho)
4: Etrian Odyssey IV: Legend of The Titan (3DS) - Bought and started on  ? As part of eShop sale. Digital discounts finally made me buy digutally instead of physical. Damn being poor!
5: Fantasy Life
6: Wario Land III (GBC)
7: Kirby's Dream Land 2 (GB)
8: Resident Evil Revelations (After I get new 3DS)
9: Box Boy (3DS)
10: Mega Man 4 (3DS/NES) (1PT)
11: Mega Man 5 (3DS/NES) (1PT)
12: Mega Man 6 (3DS/NES) (1PT)
13: Azure Striker Gunvolt (3DS)
14: Witch & Hero (3DS) - BOUGHT!
15: The Legend of Dark Witch (3DS)
16: Fairune 2 (3DS)
17: Persona Q (3DS)
18: Etrian Mystery Dungeon (3DS)
19: Shantae (GBC)
20: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (3DS)
21: The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS)
22: Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge (3DS)
23: Adventure Bar Story (3DS)

PSV:
Currently Playing:
1: 100% Dangan Ronpa 2
2: 100% Dangan Ronpa
3: 100% Tearaway
4: 100% Gravity Rush
5: Rayman Origins (Like, only at world 3. Not far after a couple years.)
6: Corpse Party (PSP) - Beaten on 12/31/14, so doesn't count. :/. (Started 12/27/14. I was really into it!)
7: Persona 4: Golden - Started on 01/09/15 - BEATEN ON 03/04/15 AFTER EIGHTY NINE HOURS AND TWENTY THREE MINUTES!!!!
8: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (PSV/PSP) (1PT) - Started on 03/04/15
9: Neptinua Re;Birth1 - BEATEN! Slowly trying to Platinum it. Will likely Platinum after beating Re;Birth2.
10: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSV/PS1) (1PT) - At Vision 4-1
11: Persona 3 Portable (PSV/PSP) (1PT) - 12 Hours in. On second block. Not really into it compared to 4 but still enjoying it. I think I'll restart it on easy.
12: HyperDimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 (PSV) (1PT) - Started 05/07/15 And finished 05/16/15 At 30:27. Yeah, I'm so hooked on this series. Will try to 100% later in the year after 100%ing Re;Birth1.
Want to replay this year:
1: Virtue's Last Reward (2PT) (1PT Was on 3DS. Will go for Platinum.)
Own. Not Started:
1: Persona 4 Golden - BEATEN ON 03/04/15!!!!
2: Sweet Fuse (PSP)
3: Need for Speed
4: Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (PSP)
5: The Walking Dead: 400 Days
6: Patapon (PSP) - Just realized Patapon thru FFIV I own and wasn't thru PS+! :O
7: Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
8: Patchwork Heroes (PSP)
9: Final Fantasy IV/The After Years (IV would be a replay, TAY new.)
10: Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 - Got from amazon on 01/22/15
11: Medieval - Bought on 01/16/15 during the PS Anniversary sale. Had enough money for a $3 game and choose this!
12: Home (PSV) (1PT) - Played on PS4 instead
13: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSV/PS1) (1PT) Started on ?
14: Mega Man X4 (PSV/PS1) (1PT)
15: Mega Man X5 (PSV/PS1) (1PT)
16: Fat Princess: Piece of Cake (PSV) - Forgot that I had this F2P game. May check it out sometime soon just to see.
Want to buy this year:
1: PS+ FFS (Seriously never getting it again at this rate lol.)
2: Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
3: The Walking Dead: Season Two
4: The Wolf Among Us
5: Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 - Got from amazon on 01/22/15
6: Hyperdimension Neptunita Re;Birth 2 - Got from amazon and started as soon as gettng it on 05/07/15
7: Bastion
8: Severed
9: Shovel Knight 100% (Already have on 3DS, wouldget it for trophies.)
10: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
11: Neptunia: Noire Game
12: The Firefly Diaries
13: Persona 4: Dancing All Night
14: Steins Gate
15: Flame Over (PSV) (1PT)
16: Octodad: Dadliest Catch (PSV) (1PT)
17: Neptunia U
18: Neptunia Re;Birth3
19: Neptunia: Producing Perfection
20: Corpse Party: Blood Drive (PSV) - Buying physical version day one. My most wanted game!

WiiU:
Currently Playing:
1: The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD - BEATEN ON 01/15/15
2: Earthbound (SNES) (Most likely not 2015) - Three Melodies In.
3: Edge (lol)
4: Bit.trip Runner 2 (lol)
5: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) (1PT) - At Third Dark Dungeon. Really just don't think I like this game. Despite being a huge Zelda fan. Oh well. Think I'll just give up.
6: Castlevania (NES) - Beaten on 02/09/15
7: Donkey Kong Country (WiiU/SNES) (2PT) -[/b] Beaten![/b]
8: Mega Man X (WiiU/SNES) (1PT) - Its hard. At the final arears but its on hood fow now.
9: Super Mario 64 (WiiU/N64) (3PT/1PT 100%) - 47 Stars in. Going for all 120 Stars for the first time. On hold until probably July due poisonous air conditioner.
10: Splatoon (WiiU) (1PT) (100%) - Started 06/01/15 and finished 6/17/15. Mostly played online or would've finished sooner. All Story Scrolls collected.
Own. Not Started:
1: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Started on 01/16/15
2: Castlevania (NES) - Beaten on 02/09/15
3: Kirby's Dream Land 3 (SNES) (100%) (2PT, 1PT 100%)
4: Mega Man X (SNES) - Started on ?
5: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (WiiU/SNES) (1PT)
6: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie's Double Trouble (WiiU/SNES) (2PT)
Want to buy this year:
1: Zelda U
2: Yoshi's Wooly World
3: Splatoon - BOUGHT ON 06/01/15
4: Hyrule Warriors - Getting 3DS version instead
5: A Castlevania GBA Game
6: Mega Man: Battle Network (GBA)
7: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
8: Mario Maker (WiiU)

PS4:
Currently Playing
1: Watch Dogs - On hold. May go back later.
2: Infamous: Second Son - Beaten on 03/26/15 And now trying to 100% it!
3: Skylanders Swap Force - 3/? Levels 100%ed Will probably just give up on this too. The console games are so much worse than handheld ones.
4: Home (PS4) (1PT) - Started and finished on 05/24/15 in one sitting. Amazing experience and I must see all the paths later on.
Own. Not Started:
1: Home (PS4/PSV) - Got into a weird position to hook my PS4 but give up most of my Vita playtime outside of Persona 3 Portable until July so I may start this on PS4 instead soon.
Want to buy this year:
1: No Man's Sky
2: Metal Gear Solid V - Will wait awhile to make sure from impressions that Konami didn't fuck it up.
3: Until Dawn
4: Persona 5
5: Neptunia Re;Birth 4 (PS4) (Yes I know its not called Rebirth4) - May not release in NA this year but putting it on the list anywayz.
6: Omega Quintet (PS4) - After getting hooked on the Neptunia series I really want it. Likely getting it next month lol.
7: Bloodborne (PS4) - Wanna try and really get into this seriessometime or another.
9: Never Alone (PS4)

Games I Plan To Beat Next:
July 2015:
1: Witch & Hero (3DS) (1PT)
2: Ecco the Dolphin (3DS) (1PT)
3: Mutant Mudds (3DS) (3PT)
4: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSV) (1PT)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Game #43: Age of Empires III: Complete Collection: 39.9 hours

I initially had to try hard to not keep comparing it to AoE II, it's a very different game and that's okay. But boy did not having resource drop-offs throw me for quite a while. It's definitely it's own thing (and closer to Age of Mythology if comparisons have to be drawn) but it has a lot of interesting mechanics going for it.

So what's new? Well instead of the history spanning empires of the previous 3 games AoE III is more focused, with you taking control of a colony in the new world. To this end you gain experience and each level you can chose a bonus to be sent to you from your home empire, from resources, to extra troops or permanent bonuses. This means that if you get into a big enough fight you can play all of your trump cards and spawn a new army very quickly. The binary choice system when aging up from Age of Mythology reappears in a reduced form, with each age change giving you a choice between two one-time bonuses (usually resources or units) that are granted to you when the research completes.

In addition to this the game features native incampments, where you can build a trading post to gain access to new units, and trade routes where a trading post will bring you periodic resource or experience bonuses. The trade routes are especially interesting because if you invest in upgrading them the enemy can benefit if they have a trading post elsewhere on the trade route.

One thing that didn't really work for me is the story. The campaign spans 3 generations of the fictional Black family as they try to defend the fountain of youth from an ancient cult. It touches on some American history but it's mostly a fictional story instead of the fictionalised versions of real events found in the previous games. Luckily this is corrected in the expansions, with the campaign from The War Chiefs focusing on the character in Act III of the base campaign's father and son as they get involved in the Revolutionary and Sioux Wars respectively. Then Asian Dynasties has three short campaigns with two focusing on the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Indian Revolution, the Chinese campaign is weaker as it's a fictional story about a Chinese treasure ship sailing to the New World.

Civilisations are much more diverse than AoE II (though that's not hard), the Asian civilisations from the second expansion in particular have a lot of quirks. The Japanese can't hunt, the Chinese can only build preset groups of units and the Indian villagers are made of wood. They also build special buildings that grant them permanent buffs in order to age up.

So yeah overall I had a lot of fun exploring this unfairly maligned entry in the franchise, even if it has its downsides and there are better RTS from its era.

Original post


33. Sunset (PC)
Success.

Sunset has the unfortunate problem of being (potentially) the final game of a developer/art collective that has decided to abandon video games in a particularly caustic manner, which means most discussion about Sunset gets lost in arguments about whether Tale of Tales made the right choice and whether they're too pretentious or ever believed in video games at all or whether public funding is a viable method of creating non-commercial artwork or a whole host of other concerns that don't really have much to do with Sunset as an individual piece.

Okay, so how is Sunset? Taken on its own terms, the game is a mixed bag. It clearly has a story to tell, and its concept is intriguing, but occasionally the structure gets in the way. You play Angela Barnes, an ex-pat black American woman who has moved to the fictional Republic of Anchuria (a name whose origins trace back to the first recorded use of the phrase "banana republic") during the 1970s. Apparently unable to find better work (which Angela remarks on in her first of many narrative voiceovers), she becomes the housekeeper for an Anchurian official, Gabriel Ortega. She takes care of his lavish two-storey loft for an hour each day before sunset, following instructions left for her by her boss. The two never meet; all their interactions are mediated through the apartment itself, sometimes overtly through notes but usually just by virtue of recording the habits and personal touches of the duo as they pass through the space.

The actual gameplay consists of you performing household chores. You have an hour in which to do them, but usually your task lists are short, giving you the freedom to examine the apartment in more detail. This is where Sunset starts to resemble Gone Home a bit, as you learn about Ortega as well as the simmering civil war that becomes the background of your interactions with him. But where Gone Home asks you to piece together events in the past based on artifacts of the present, Sunset is a game where the passage of time unfolds before you, as you repeatedly visit the same place over a period of several months and respond to all the things that have changed. Additionally, as you perform your chores and explore the apartment, you are presented with small choices. The game's instructions map these choices to "romantic" or "neutral," though it's not always clear why one is labelled as romantic versus neutral, or what "romantic" really means sometimes.

The big problem with Sunset is that it's hard to determine what impact your choices have on the story, or indeed whether the story pays much attention to your actions at all. Others have already noted that the game will proceed just fine if you simply remain in the elevator leading up to Ortega's loft and never perform a single chore. That's fine, since arguably there's a lot of colour you miss out on if you do so and the game clearly wants to give you the freedom to explore and inquire without forcing you to do so. But too often, your choices seem to directly contradict Angela's narrative and vice-versa. Your relationship with Ortega will evolve in ways that don't feel like a reflection of your choices. Events in the civil war that touch you directly leave relatively little impact when it comes to gameplay. Angela will even discuss the possibility of certain things happening in the elevator ride up to the apartment, only to then act like the matter is settled even though you've neither read anything to that effect nor heard anything from the radio or television in the apartment.

As a result, Sunset--a game that's pretty much entirely narrative, remember--has a story that becomes somewhat hard to follow and becomes less and less an obvious product of your actions. So while I did enjoy parts of my time with Sunset, it's hard to feel like the game truly achieved its aims.

I haven't updated my post since I first made it and I haven't had that many games to add to the list but now that summer break has arrived I'm been playing and beating some games. I hope I can complete about 25ish more games by the end of summer.

Game 2: The Order: 1886 (PS4) ~13 hours

Platinum'd. I was a big downer on this gaming leading up to the release but after I played and beat the game, I actually really enjoyed it. The graphics are amazing and it really makes the story/characters more believable. The gameplay is also competent and enjoyable with a nice variety of weapons. My only gripe with the game is the pacing is kinda slow and the boss fights are very lackluster. Regardless, I really liked this game and hope it gets a sequel.

Game 3: Dragon Ball Xenoverse (PS4) - 100+ hours

Platinum'd. I actually bought this game half-hardheartedly thinking it was going to be a bad game but I wanted to play a DBZ game on PS4. I was surprised how much fun I had with my create-a-character (CaC) and giving them different skills. The story mode is meh (expected) and the Parallel Quests are just grinding venues. The game's random number generator (RNG) for dropping skills/equipment is by far the worst I've ever since in a game and made getting the platinum difficult. But what has unexpectedly kept me playing this game is the PvP. Some moves are still borderline broken but most skills in the game have been patched fairly. I play rank PVP regularly so if you've seen iKillerBee online know that it was me.

Game 4: Contrast (PS4) ~5 hours

Surprisingly short game. I got this at launch for my PS4 with PS+ but never got around to completing it until now. The gameplay is okay but I find a lot of the shadow/real world shifting to be inconsistent making the platforming segments in the game difficult. The story is sufficient, nowhere near good but enough to continue playing the game. The puzzles are by far the highlights in this game with some of them being fairly tricky. I enjoyed my time with the game, but I feel that was mostly because of how short the game was.

Game 5: Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4) ~20 hours

My second most disliked AC game, surpassed only by the horror that is AC3. I tried giving the game a chance but I felt bored playing through most of the game so I just rushed through the story missions. The story/characters wasn't interesting either so I had to take a few months break to get away from the boredom and now I've finally beat. I probably won't play another AC game for a long time, if ever again.

Axass said:

I'm glad you managed to keep your sanity. I'm already 116 hours in...

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Oh wow!