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52 games. 1 Year. 2016.

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Falchion

Member
Original Post

46) Assassin's Creed Chronicles China - 6 hours - 9/23
I decided to give this game a shot since it was free on gold this month and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty fun stealth game with some fun parkour although it started dragging towards the end.
 

Oreoleo

Member
The List!
Detailed Impressions 01-12
Detailed Impressions 13-26
Detailed Impressions 27-xx

35. Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition - 15 Hours
WilnyL0.jpg


Always bet on Duke! Wow, twenty years after release and this game still impresses. The graphics are of course dated, but the game play is best-in-class. This immediately rivals Quake 1 for 'best classic FPS' in my mind, and I wouldn't bat an eye if someone told me they thought it was the best FPS of all time. The variety of levels and locales is unparalleled with anything I've ever played save for maybe Perfect Dark, and nearly matches that games' breadth of unique weapons and gadgets at your disposal as well. Duke Nukem himself is a perfect amalgamation of Schwarzenegger-esque machismo and campy Americanism (Kurt Russell in Big Trouble in Little China comes to mind) that has elevated the character to the gaming pop culture icon we know him as today. Without The Duke and the flavor he imparts on the game, this could easily be relegated as just another game where you're blowing up aliens and demons (albeit an above average one). Instead, it's a humorous and entertaining classic that will forever be a part of video game culture and history.
 

septicore

Member
OP

Game 44: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice (3DS) 09/09/16 - 23/09/16 29 Hours
I really enjoyed Spirit of Justice, a really fitting conclusion for a certain character in the game. It is definitely better than Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies. I've finished the main game and now I'm just waiting for the rest of the DLC to come out before I can totally shelve this game away, kinda makes me wish they released all the DLC at once instead of releasing one per a week.
 
52_Games_53_to_59_2016.png


Knocked out a good number of games this month, I'm trying to clear out as many Steam games as I can before October starts, as I'm going to be away from my PC for a while (hitting Tokyo for a couple weeks). At least it's an opportunity to work on my portable backlog!

Game 53: Caladrius Blaze (PS4)
Finished 8/29/16 (Beat the game with all characters several times, beat Boss Rush Mode)
Time to complete: Around 10 hours

I really didn't expect much from Caladrius Blaze - aside from the collectability aspect (I enjoy purchasing limited prints of digital titles), it looked like a fairly standard animu shooter with "clothing destructibility" (I like shmups, but I'm not deep into the scene or whatever). I stand corrected - this game was freaking bad-ass! The story was total dreck, but I really enjoyed how the many characters played so differently from each other because of their differing "special moves" - added a layer of strategy to the already very strong gameplay.

Game 54: Mushihimesama (PC)
Finished 9/3/16 (Beat the game several times on original and arrange)
Time to complete: 2.3 hours as per Steam

I've played a lot of bullet hell shooters before, but this is the first time I have ever played a proper Cave game.

....

Jesus Christ, I've been missing a lot. This is my new favorite shmup of all time!

I'm waiting for a sale on Deathsmiles as I can't quite pull the trigger on it's present Steam pricing, but I will eventually buy all of Cave's Steam output. Simply amazing.

Game 55: Max Payne 3 (PC)
Finished 9/12/16 (1pt, single player only)
Time to complete: 9.3 hours as per Steam

Keeping with my trend this year of replaying old favorites on Steam to see what I missed out on the first time (graphically), I capped off the Max Payne trilogy with this glorious third entry. I really don't get why people slag off MP3 at all - the unskippable cutscenes are annoying, yes, but the moment to moment gameplay is incredibly solid. So many set pieces still resonate to me to this day, especially the part where
you slide sideways through a hallway on a cart, capping a roof full of snipers as you go
... the dialogue is also pure cringe, which I actually appreciate in a B-movie sort of way.

Game 56: Detective Grimoire (PC)
Finished 9/12/16 (1pt)
Time to complete: 2.1 hours as per Steam

A cute little detective adventure game - shades of Professor Layton, with a dash of Phoenix Wright. It's way too short - I think this used to be a mobile game - and the puzzles are piss easy, but its very enjoyable for what it is. Buy it on sale!

Game 57: Shoot1UP (PC)
Finished 9/12/16 (2pt, normal and chilled)
Time to complete: 0.7 hours as per Steam

OK, this was a weird one - a shmup where the central conceit is all of your additional lives being represented on screen in the form of additional ships, like Galaga's "extra guy" mode taken to its logical extreme. The hook is you're able to expand and contract your ships at will, with certain formations providing additional firepower... you have to shrink the formation to wade through bullets though, so...

Had a lot of fun, graphics are shite but it's enjoyable overall.

Game 58: Gone Home: Console Edition (PS4)
Finished 9/18/16 (1+pt, all journals found, +extra trophies)
Time to complete: Around 2 hours

I didn't much care for Gone Home when I beat the PC version last year - the games creepy atmosphere set me up with some unrealistic expectations, and I think how it ended may have soured my perspective a bit.

I came back to the console version (free from PSPlus) with full knowledge of what the game was, and I feel much better about the game now - I still wouldn't speedrun it (like the trophies suggest) or play it any more, but I now feel that Gone Home is a worthwhile experience.

Game 59: Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY (PC)
Finished 9/26/16 (1pt, 79% collectibles)
Time to complete: 13 hours as per Steam

Man, this was a trip! Playing Arkham Asylum again reminded me of what I loved so much about the first game - its limited scope and fairly linear structure made the game feel much more like a Metroidvania (unlike the sequels, whose city-like structure lent itself more of an Assassin's Creed feeling). The graphics are still very attractive, and the game runs like a dream... this was super worth the cash.

Now I can move on to Arkham City, and finally play it. I've owned the PS3 GOTY for years and never managed to play more than 15 minutes (just didn't grab me, for whatever reason)... this gon' be good!
 

Oreoleo

Member
The List!

36. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith - 8.5 Hours
0N85veU.jpg


..I should not have played this immediately after Duke Nukem 3D. A solid and enjoyable game in its own right, but it really pales in comparison to Duke (as most shooters of that era would, I think). Lightsabers, force powers, and a variety of blasters and explosives round out your arsenal, and none of them feel particularly excellent to use. Jack of all trades, master of none as they say. But its a commendable effort all the same, considering the state of FPS games at the time; there wasn't really anything else trying to do as much with gameplay in full 3D as this and Dark Forces 2 were aside from Goldeneye 64. At the end of the day though the fact of the matter is that this game is dated. Movement is clunky, level design is occasionally labyrinthine and esoteric; the way forward is often easy to miss and frequently obscured by a metal grate tucked into a corner that, bafflingly, can only be destroyed by your lightsaber in spite of having a rocket launcher and grenades at your disposal. The presentation and plot is undeniably Star Wars though. At its best, Mysteries of the Sith hearkens back to the "good old days" of the Star Wars franchise, before the prequels and before the expanded universe got wiped out. Still, the aforementioned qualms with the gameplay keep this from being a soaring success in modern times and is best left in the past for all but the most devoted Star Wars fans or those truly interested in the history of PC first-person shooters.
 

chrixter

Member
Main post

33. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
★★★☆☆ - 32 hours - Completed 9/17/2016
Ace Attorney 6 ranks on the lower end of the series for me, but I still quite enjoyed it. The new Insights mechanic adds a really cool dimension to the gameplay, perhaps my favorite in the whole series. I'd like to see it return in future cases. The characters and soundtrack somewhat disappointed, though. Edit: A couple months later and I realize the cases haven't stuck with me at all, unlike previous games in the series. Disappointingly forgettable.

34. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - System Rift
★★★★☆ - 5.5 hours - Completed 9/23/2016
Essentially an expanded version of one of the main campaign's levels, with a couple new design gimmicks thrown in. It's more Deus Ex, and that's perfectly fine with me considering it's my frontrunner for GOTY. 80+ hours with the game and I still can't get enough.
 
And that's that! All done once again.

#1 - Vita - Run Like Hell! (100% Trophies)
#2 - Vita - Senran Kagura Shinobi Versus (Platinum)
#3 - PS4 - [Prototype 2] (Platinum)
#4 - Vita - Steins;Gate (Platinum)
#5 - PS4 - Need For Speed (Platinum)
#6 - PS4 - Battlefront (Finished all the missions)
#7 - PS4 - Amplitude
#8 - Vita - Whispering Willows (100% Trophies)
#9 - PS4 - Back To The Future (Platinum)
#10 - PS3 - Captain America Super Soldier (Platinum)
#11 - PS4 - Until Dawn (Platinum)
#12 - GBA - Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
#13 - PS3 - Mirror's Edge (Finished the story)
#14 - Vita - LEGO Ninjago Nindroids (Platinum)
#15 - Vita - Lego Ninjago Shadow Of Ronin (Platinum)
#16 - Vita - Playstation Pets (Platinum)
#17 - PS4 - Telltale's Game Of Thrones (Platinum)
#18 - Vita - Lego Harry Potter (Platinum)
#19 - Vita - Lego Lord Of The Rings (Platinum)
#20 - PS3 - Naruto Storm Revolution (Platinum)
#21 - Vita - Lego Marvel Avengers (platinum)
#22 - PS3 - Steins Gate (Platinum)
#23 - PS4 - Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (Platinum)
#24 - PS4 - Far Cry Primal (Platinum)
#25 - PS4 - Hitman GO (Platinum)
#26 - PS4 - Gravity Rush Remastered (Platinum)
#27 - PS4 - Gemini: Heroes Reborn (Platinum)
#28 - PS4 - Tom Clancy's The Division
#29 - PS4 - Catlateral Damage (Platinum)
#30 - PS4 - Canis Canem Edit (Platinum)
#31 - PS4 - Ratchet & Clank (Platinum)
#32 - Vita - Severed (Platinum)
#33 - PS4 - Uncharted 4
#34 - PS4 - Riptide GP2 (Platinum)
#35 - DS - Feel The Magic
#36 - Vita - Downwell
#37 - PS4 - Uncharted 2
#38 - PS4 - Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Platinum)
#39 - Vita - MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies (Platinum)
#40 - PS4 - Gone Home (100% Trophies)
#41 - PS4 - Super Dodgeball (100% Trophies)
#42 - Vita - Adventures Of Mana (Platinum)
#43 - PS4 - Pac-Man (P:latinum)
#44 - PS4 - Ms.Pac-Man (Platinum)
#45 - PS3 - Dragonball Z Budokai
#46 - PS4 - ABZU
#47 - PS4 - The Park (100% Stories)
#48 - PS4 - No Man's Sky (Platinum)
#49 - PS4 - Grow Up (100% Trophies)
#50 - PS4 - Absolute Drift Zen Edition (Platinum)
#51 - PS4 - Oceanhorn (Platinum)
#52 - PS4 - Attack On Titan Wings Of Freedom
 

Dryk

Member
Original Post - Part 1
Original Post - Part 2
Original Post - Part 3

#37: Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows: 8.6 hours
Loved it loved it loved it. This is a great example of how to do post-launch content. Giving people a new way to play through the game with an interesting twist and a new story.

Plague Knight plays soooo differently to Shovel Knight. His main weapon is a highly customisable projectile instead of a melee attack and throwing out one of the projectiles kills his momentum enabling him to hover briefly. He can also rocket jump by holding down the attack button.

This gives Plague Knight a lot of mobility and power, but his inability to pogo like Shovel Knight means that a lot of jumps that were trivial before become fiendishly difficult now. Conversely combat is a breeze for Plague Knight due to his immense versatility. The arc, explosion and fuse of the bombs can be modified individually on the fly to great effect as can the effect of the bomb jump. A lot of these are inspired by Mega Man weapons, like the Danger Wrap, Shadow Blade and the spinning shields. One of the bomb jumps is even a Screw Attack! Experimenting with your powers to handle different situations is a ton of fun.

I'm definitely not going to make the same mistake I did here with Spectre Knight and wait a year to play it.

Preview: Coming up to the end of Warbits, there's a lot to talk about in it too
 

Skikkiks

Member
Master Post

Jimmy_and_Gary.png


Game 59: Bully: Scholarship Edition (PC) | 17 Hours | 09/14/16 | 4/5

Bully is a game I've been meaning to play for a while, and having finally gotten around to it, it's pretty good! It's a GTA game, through and through, but the school twist makes it unique, and is well done. Judging your time to attend classes and do missions before needing to sleep feels like a fun time management system without feeling restrictive. With a fast run speed, a skateboard which has the option to cling onto cars while riding it, and a selection of speedy bikes, you have options to get to places quicky to maximize your time each day. Missions design in general is good, with lots of variety between daily classes and normal missions.

Where the game falls flat is its story. It's a basic enough premise, you take over the school through its cliques one by one. The problem is the utilization of its main antagonist. Gary is great, every scene he's in he comes off as a complete self absorbed piece of shit and it's fun. The problem is he basically ejects from the main story after the end of part 1 only to show up in the final mission as the final boss, which is significantly easier than the preppy, jock and greaser fights to the point of being a joke. My only other complaint is that the game crashed on me over and over and over again and I it really made my playthrough less enjoyable. Still a good game though besides these issues.

Game 60: TurnOn (PC) | 3 Hours | 09/16/16 | 2.5/5

TurnOn is a basic 2D platformer. The main gimmick is that you are a little electrical entity and you travel through electrical lines like phone wires and the like. The game likes to play with depth of field, if something is in range the background relative to you and you jump, you'll transfer to the background. You'll do that to reach other areas to progress through the levels and it works. The game has a score system, where you're graded for how much electrical devices you've turned on, earning points toward an angry birds like 3 lightbulb rating. Not much else to say, besides there being forced movement levels that blow. It's ok, I guess.

Game 61: Cook, Serve, Delicious! (PC) | 29 Hours | 09/27/16 | 4.5/5

I fucking love this shit. I love the idea of a make food game like this having hotkeys for ingredients instead of drag and drop. It fits perfectly with a controller, and being able to customize the UI to show what controller you're using is a godsend.

Gameplay is basic, people come in, you cook their food, they leave happy; but there are so many things to take into account the deeper you get. Upgrading food nets you more money, but for most foods adds complexity to orders, needing you to adapt your muscle memory. Adding to your food making, there are chores that come in to keep your place clean, robberies to stop and social media posts to like. Strong time management and muscle memory skills are key to success in this game.

To stave off repetition, as the game progresses you gain access to more options that changes up each day. You have the option to date people, who have their own preferences on food they want to be served and want to text you mid day. As your restaurant gains notoriety you'll be invited to cooking competitions to earn extra cash and other rewards. For me, the game was addicting as hell and was the perfect game to listen for something like a podcast. I recommend this one heavily.
 
And that's that! All done once again.

#1 - Vita - Run Like Hell! (100% Trophies)
#2 - Vita - Senran Kagura Shinobi Versus (Platinum)
#3 - PS4 - [Prototype 2] (Platinum)
#4 - Vita - Steins;Gate (Platinum)
#5 - PS4 - Need For Speed (Platinum)
#6 - PS4 - Battlefront (Finished all the missions)
#7 - PS4 - Amplitude
#8 - Vita - Whispering Willows (100% Trophies)
#9 - PS4 - Back To The Future (Platinum)
#10 - PS3 - Captain America Super Soldier (Platinum)
#11 - PS4 - Until Dawn (Platinum)
#12 - GBA - Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
#13 - PS3 - Mirror's Edge (Finished the story)
#14 - Vita - LEGO Ninjago Nindroids (Platinum)
#15 - Vita - Lego Ninjago Shadow Of Ronin (Platinum)
#16 - Vita - Playstation Pets (Platinum)
#17 - PS4 - Telltale's Game Of Thrones (Platinum)
#18 - Vita - Lego Harry Potter (Platinum)
#19 - Vita - Lego Lord Of The Rings (Platinum)
#20 - PS3 - Naruto Storm Revolution (Platinum)
#21 - Vita - Lego Marvel Avengers (platinum)
#22 - PS3 - Steins Gate (Platinum)
#23 - PS4 - Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (Platinum)
#24 - PS4 - Far Cry Primal (Platinum)
#25 - PS4 - Hitman GO (Platinum)
#26 - PS4 - Gravity Rush Remastered (Platinum)
#27 - PS4 - Gemini: Heroes Reborn (Platinum)
#28 - PS4 - Tom Clancy's The Division
#29 - PS4 - Catlateral Damage (Platinum)
#30 - PS4 - Canis Canem Edit (Platinum)
#31 - PS4 - Ratchet & Clank (Platinum)
#32 - Vita - Severed (Platinum)
#33 - PS4 - Uncharted 4
#34 - PS4 - Riptide GP2 (Platinum)
#35 - DS - Feel The Magic
#36 - Vita - Downwell
#37 - PS4 - Uncharted 2
#38 - PS4 - Mirror's Edge Catalyst (Platinum)
#39 - Vita - MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies (Platinum)
#40 - PS4 - Gone Home (100% Trophies)
#41 - PS4 - Super Dodgeball (100% Trophies)
#42 - Vita - Adventures Of Mana (Platinum)
#43 - PS4 - Pac-Man (P:latinum)
#44 - PS4 - Ms.Pac-Man (Platinum)
#45 - PS3 - Dragonball Z Budokai
#46 - PS4 - ABZU
#47 - PS4 - The Park (100% Stories)
#48 - PS4 - No Man's Sky (Platinum)
#49 - PS4 - Grow Up (100% Trophies)
#50 - PS4 - Absolute Drift Zen Edition (Platinum)
#51 - PS4 - Oceanhorn (Platinum)
#52 - PS4 - Attack On Titan Wings Of Freedom

highfive05.gif
 

dougalism

Neo Member
Dougalism - Progress 43/52

Game 35: Nidhogg (PS4) - 10/9
Great couch Co-Op game

Game 36: Thomas Was Alone: Benjamin's Flight (PS4) - 10/9
Really short but still as charming as the main game, plus jetpacks!

Game 37: Metal Slug 3 (PS4) - 11/9
Or how to get RSI.

Game 38: Guilty Gear (PsOne Classics) - 12/9
Fighting games really are wasted on me, beat arcade mode with Sol.

Game 39: Mr Driller (PsOne Classics) - 12/9
Beat arcade mode to 2500ft. This one will be staying on my PSP go for a long time.

Game 40: The Saboteur (PS3) - 28/9
Another one that has been stuck in the backlog for too long. I really liked it.

Game 41: Street Fighter Alpha (PsOne Classics) - 28/9
Beat the arcade mode with Ryu. still awful at fighters

Game 42: Sumioni: Demon Arts (VITA) - 29/9
Short, wonderful art style. It's still such a pity that the VITA never really took off.

Game 43: Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PsOne Classics) - 29/9
Beat the arcade mode with Dan. A scrub is as a scrub does.

Short games mean that I should actually beat the challenge.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Updated Main Post

47. Super Meat Boy - Vita
Completed Main Story (The End): 9/7/16
Time spent: ? 5 hours maybe?
Rating: 4.5/5

Super tough platformer, but is a lot of fun and great mechanics. This game is a great fit for the Vita/handhelds with the ability to play in bursts and the short levels. While I understand there is a "true ending" there is no way I'm good enough to beat the Dark World so I'm fine calling it quits after beating the initial ending.

48. Forza 6 - Porsche DLC - XBox 1
Completed career mode: 9/16/16
Time Spent: ~7 hours
Rating: 4/5

More Forza 6 which is both good and bad. The gameplay itself is great, but my main complaint about Forza 6 is still here - in that all progression is finishing in the top 3 of the next race. Since there is a lot of content to this DLC, I'm going to count it as a game as it's more of an old-school expansion than what is now called "DLC" these days

49. Madden 16 - XB1 (Replay)
Completed Season: 9/17/16

This is a replay. Played through another season in Career mode to get ready for the new (American) football season. Madden 16 is still a great game and probably my favorite Madden game of all time - only surpassed by the old NCAA football games.

50. Street Fighter Alpha - Vita
Completed Arcade Mode mutliple times: 9/19/16
Time Spent: 2 hours
Rating: 4/5

Bought this for the super-cheap on a PSN sale (as well as 2 and 3). Classic Street fighter. not much else to be said.

Down to my last two games for the challenge. Almost at the end of ReCore and then will finish the challenge by finally completing Super Mario RPG or finishing my current replay of Final Fantasy IV.
 

Krafter

Member
Completed games list

SEPTEMBER END (5 games completed, 55 games total)
Sub-par month with 5 titles finished, but I did meet the challenge in September for the 3rd straight year, so there's that. Creeping up on the end of Styx, FF Tactics Advance 2, Home and Boiling Point, so October should be a good month. I actually finished Alice: Madness Returns last night, but have decided to make a Platinum run before I consider the book closed, so will count it then.

Game 51: Painkiller (PC) - September 1 - 13 hours
Old school PC shooter, plays like a combination of Serious Sam and Blood, and I mean that in the best possible way. Weapons and some levels were hit-and-miss, but the simplicity of the plot and gameplay was absolutely dead on. The game ended well, as the last 2 levels in particular were really cool and memorable. Not necessarily a classic, but safely in the next rung below.

Game 52: Tales From Space: About a Blob (PS3) - September 4 - 9 hours
Alien Blob platformer with stellar art and a touch of Katamari, with a 50's Sci-Fi theme. I was not very good at this, but the "Orange monster" (according to my 3 year old) jumping about and eating stuff makes it worth it. I prefer the more streamlined sequel, which I played a few years back, but the original is a good game as well.

Game 53: Resistance: Burning Skies (Vita) - September 11 - 8 hours
Took me by surprise, I loved this game. Six meaty levels, beaten in one session each, then some trophy mop up for the Platinum. The Alien enemies were cool, the weapons were variations on classics, and the controls easy. Pretty much an old school FPS campaign with modern graphics.

Game 54: The Fall (PS4) - September 21 - 5 hours
So similar to Swapper in looks and setting it feels like a parallel story in the same universe, with a pistol in place of the Swapper device. The Fall is an Adventure game at it's heart, with inventory solutions that aren't very obvious, and a few combat sections. Nails the mood aspect, and the characters' voices convey a lot. The end is terrific, and I will be totally on board for the next iteration from Over the Moon.

Game 55: Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy (Vita) - September 25 - 22 hours
Platformer in the vein of the Spyro or Ratchet & Clank games, jumping around on stuff collecting orbs. Jak is kinda there, but Daxter is the life of the party and made the game a lot more fun. Some great levels (Snow, Beach and Lava), but the Spider Cave made me pull my hair out on many a moment. Objectively, a well-done title, just not my thing.
 

Blindy

Member
(I apologize for the foul language in some of these posts but some portions of these games frustrated me so much that it got my true feelings out)

31) The Order: 1886- 6/23-6/28

Just finished The Order: 1886. Not as awful of a game as many would lead you to believe, I totally understand the disgust and anger one would have for spending 60 bucks on this but for the price I paid, which was 6 dollars.....it was more than worth it. If you can snag this game in the 10 or 15 dollar range, for the 7 or so hours you will play this game, it is worthwhile. Clearly there are some flaws like the stealth sections were a chore, the gunplay was mediocre at given points, there was one ridiculous type of enemy that are practically bullet sponges and can 2 shot you. The story was rough at first but by about the midway point, it began to pick up and became somewhat of a decent enough story. I really digged the characters with the exception of maybe 1-2(One of the most important characters I absolutely loathed, like if we had a countdown of most unintentionally hated characters, this person would be on here. Absolutely ungrateful, blind and oblivious, which given what this character saw and nearly died from is mind numbing. Is it bad that I actually wanted this character to die late game?) that might be the best point of this game is the voice acting and character build. There are a shit ton of QTEs and cinematic scenes and an awful checkpoint system so take that in mind if you play this game. 1 or 2 gunplay scenes made me want to pull my hair out as well.

It was an okay game altogether. Not something you must play but also not something god awful beyond belief. Shame Ready at Dawn isn't with Sony anymore because a 2nd installment of the game if they can work the kinks of this could be very good. I must have really, really tempered my expectations because I did enjoy this more than I really should and I totally understand if you feel like you should never temper expectations for any video game.

32) Rise of the Tomb Raider- 6/28-7/6

Beat Rise of The Tomb Raider, a very good game and something I hope the PS4 owners give it a shot this Fall, yeah the game is over the top and the story really got wacky at times but I enjoyed it. I wish this game had more action scenes as those were BY FAR the best part of the original reboot game, felt like the game lacked those sort of moments outside of running from a platform/bridge collapsing.

The villains were kinda meh and again the game doesn't have any stand out character not named Lara Croft, something this game and CD may very well never master. I've just come to accept that fact, like a character is brought back after hours of being a non factor and is taken away legit 10 minutes afterwords away The platforming on the ice were wonky at times where I command the character to do one thing and they'd randomly jump off somewhere else, got kinda annoying at times. The amount of variety with the weapons and crafting/abilities was neat though the arrows were still superior IMO.

A very good experience altogether, did all the tombs but didn't go for all the documents and collectables just because I am just so burnt out on doing that. A very good game, not sure if its some GOTY candidate but I think it was very good.

33) Furi- 7/6-7/8

Game is a straight up couple of hour boss rush, nothing in between besides 1-2 minute cutscenes leading up to a boss. No buildup with regular enemies, no nothing. Its you, a crazy companion who leads you with a background of who you are facing and the person responsible for you being locked up in purgatory.

Positives:
- OUTSTANDING music! Straight out of Tron: Legacy, this might be the soundtrack of the year quite honestly but I am a sucker for this type of music. Its so good, even if you aren't good at the game, you can definitely play this soundtrack and really enjoy it.
- Beautiful graphics, well done cel shaded. Artist of Afro Samurai is responsible for the character designs so the character designs are very well done and unique. The PS4 is working its fan into overtime to put it into perspective how graphically demanding this game is.
- Very rewarding gameplay, when it works and you hit the second parry or dash, you feel great as you get to wipe away at the boss. Its trial and error for sure but as you progress, you quickly pickup on what it takes to succeed in the game
- Game is very challenging but once you pass through a phase of this enemy, you get your health back and get a life back had it been lost. You get 3 cracks throughout a boss fight, you lose one life, you fight that phase again with both you and the boss getting full health back, you lose all lives...you start back in Phase 1 of the boss. Pretty fair rules.

Negatives:
- Dash button is flawed, feels a second off with the command, often times I press it and see my character not dash through the obstacle properly and resulting in damage. Big problem for a game so dependent upon movement.
- Your eyes will get a work out because often time enemies WILL shower the playing field with a multiude of beams and lasers that you must keep your eyes on point all battle long. This isn't appeasing to some so take note of this.
- Story is simple, game is more about gameplay over story.

I didn't beat or touch the secret boss though, way too much bullet hell on the screen, like you can't possibly see everything upcoming at you and actually survive. I got to the 2nd to last phase for that thing before it got too overwhelming. I might give it a shot one of these days just for the sake of it I mean but I am satisfied with how much I did in basically 2 sitdowns with the game.

There's a boss you need to strictly parry to win so be warned if you are like me and are absolute donkeyballs at parrying in games such as the Souls games, you may experience some rage. There were maybe like 3 bosses throughout the game I would say made me lose multiple times but besides that, I did really well with the game altogether.

34) Gears of War 2- 7/9-7/14

Playing Glitches Of War 2, far more bad than good. I still don't get the hype of this game nor of Cliffy B as some amazing game designer, what am I missing? Someone tell me please?

Good:
- They improved over the average at best Gears Of War 1 in plenty of departments, they tried to incorporate some new concepts and features gameplay wise, some work, some are awful. But they at least tried to incorporate something.

- AI is FAR FAR FAR better in this game, holy shit. Its like night and day. Gears Of War 1 had the worst AI I have ever played yet Gears of War 2 your team actually helps out and can save your ass.

- Voice acting and cut scenes have been terrific, I have no qualms with the story or direction of it. That's not my problem, the gameplay on the other hand......

Bad:

- Holy glitchfest, I don't think I have played a more glitch littered series than this game right here. Do they not even care about some of the awful glitches these 1st 2 games have? Granted Gears Of War 2 thus far has had nowhere near as silly of glitches but some glitches like my game crashing for no reason in one part, me being stuck at some parts and essentially getting me killed in one of the worst boss encounters ever(Will get to that in a second), there have been about 10 glitches and I am past the halfway point.

- The kraken boss is one of the WORST bosses I have played in the past decade, no lies. Who the fuck thinks giving a boss with multiple ways to 1 Hit KO you is a good idea? Awful fucking boss, absolutely based off luck. Have to hope the tentacle isn't too far away from your TANK of a character to arrive, the awful game design choice of having cover boxes when they are not needed which got me killed for 2-3 times since my TANK decides to cover over run since you have 4 seconds to chainsaw the kraken or instant game over. You need luck to hit the frag grenade in the right spot, no rhyme or reason. Such an awful boss, took me 45 minutes to beat this boss. I actually got stuck a few times too to the floor and it cost me with an instant game over. Did they not run this boss with Q&A? Compare this to God of War's Kraken boss and its night and day.

- Mediocre checkpoint system that makes you replay segments all over again, fucking awful once again. Especially with a game so glitched like this, ugh. I am actually begging and pleading like a bitch for checkpoints to not have to play some segments over again.

- Turrets run like shit, its 2008 come the fuck on man. I get it if this was PS1 days but its last gen, get with the fucking times already. This makes the Batmobile look like Gran Turismo as far as smooth driving goes.

- Cover system is so so so so so bad. So bad. Yeah Uncharted has some hiccups with its cover system where it autolocks you into covering to a spot you don't want to but this game is death if you don't get the cover spot you wanted. Especially when you try and incorporate some little platform puzzles in this too, don't do that with such a shit cover system. There's been about 3 times I have said out loud "I DIDNT WANT THAT? WTF!".

Just a frustrating game all around. They do so many things right, the Brumak scene towards the end was great I mean despite it being so slow. Took till the final 15 minutes to even get something like that. What they do right, they do really well.....but its what they do wrong that it goes really, really wrong. Much of what I mentioned occurs but it felt like this game really had hoard of enemy after enemy after enemy.

It’s weird because with Uncharted, I didn't ever feel truly overwhelmed by hoards of enemies. Sure in UC1, UC3 and UC4 they came in ridiculous paces and the portions they overcrowded the battlefield it made for an annoying, not challenging sequence but this just felt like nonstop blast through a couple of guys and its just so tough to play this game in huge spurts, I had to put the game down yesterday when I was an hour away from completing it because I just felt too overwhelmed with the nonstop onslaught of enemies. It took till the final half hour to introduce the hammer of dawn, cmon.

What sucks is so many damn things in these games can 1 shot you(Maybe I am playing this on the 2nd hardest difficulty and toughest difficulty you can play under?) while they take so many damn shots to down them, just frustrating and with a checkpoint system that if you fail will make you go through the hoards of enemies again, it is so tough to sit down for 3+ hours a sitting and play something like this without feeling tired.

The ending caught me off guard, felt somewhat rushed even...Like I was legit shocked that the game ended on that note, all of the bullshit you go through and you endure that final boss which can be done in 2 minutes at most. I like was "REALLY?! REALLY?!?! THATS IT, I SEE THE ACHIEVEMENTS. WHAT?"

Sounds like a negative wrapup of this game but I think I allowed myself to bite into the hype of this being a truly great game, which it was not for me.

35) Steins;Gate- 7/2-7/27

Just got one ending for Steins;Gate. 2/3 of the game was somewhat of a bore if I am being honest but the final 1/3 really got good, especially the final chapter as a whole. Sucks it took about 20 hours or so to finally get into the thick of everything. The main character single handedly saved this game from getting really bad throughout the entire game, his voice acting was hilarious! When the game got to the scientific parts, it kind of lost me altogether, the pacing felt off at some portions but the final 10 hours or so were rather good, its a visual novel that will reward you if you can just hang on in. A lot of Otaku references and what not so you gotta know what your getting yourself into with this title. Just wish this game picked up sooner than what it ended up doing because the final chapter was fantastic.

It was alright altogether, don't know if its a classic visual novel like a lot of people claim it to be. Just wasn't enough eyepopping scenes throughout the duration, portions of the game, especially early on really dragged on for me. Like with 999, too much of a chore to really want to go through and get all of the endings. The journey just would not be enough for the climatic finish as 999 for my ending got very good at the very end, same with Steins;Gate. I wish we could just get a complete package of a game from start to finish for these visual novels.

36) Gears of War 3- 8/9-8/14

I must say this game is the best of the 3 by far. Seldom was there a glitch at all in this game, I felt the action scenes and pacing were well done and unlike in GOW 2 where the game took chances in trying to differentiate the gameplay besides killing stand pieces but it was pretty lackluster, this game more or less actually does very well in getting the differentiation done. I like the consistent big battles the team had to face throughout, the game was a really solid rollercoaster ride and the series really has evolved from the mediocre GOW 1 to the average GOW 2. The AI still is pretty lackluster and the final boss was pretty silly as the slowdown was immense and there was just too much shit on the screen to be honest but there's not too much gripes I can have on the game. I do wish you could take weapons into checkpoints/cutscenes though as often times I wanted to go back and get another grenade and I am stuck from doing that since the game closes you off from trying to get something else. I hope for GOW4 this does not happen.

37) Dino Crisis- 8/17-8/21

It's a good Survival ACTION game, thought I would be more scared though but I didn't at any point jump so I think I might have had misguided expectations heading into this game. I wish the inventory system held more items but I know that's a Mikami specialty and I wish there were more Dino types but for a 6-7 hour game, you can't complain too much. Got the game for like 2 bucks on a PSN Flash Sale, as well as Dino Crisis 2 which I think I will play next month. Story is simple enough that it was easy to follow and easy to not be overwhelmed, game didn't get too pretentious but I was expecting a bit more of a plot twist. That arcaic moving system stings in this game given how narrow the hallways can get and how many Raptors there can get in certain portions that make it very difficult to maneuver around. I wish there was more variety of enemies, I think there were only like 4 or 5 different enemies in the game and given the game left off so many different kinds of dinosaurs, it was kind of disappointing.

I also think Regina does not get enough credit as a lead female survival character, Jill and Claire hog up way too much of the spotlight. She's good looking, pretty smart character and a pretty fearless badass too.

38) Mega Man Legends 2- 8/25-8/31

Beat Mega Man Legends 2 on Weds to complete my 1st playthrough(Not totally blind though) of MML1, MML2 and Misadventures of Tron Bonne in 2016. MML2 had better controls but heck if that story didn't get confusing, like holy shit the game went all over the place in such an unnecessary way. They should have kept the main villains as the pirates, any time you do not use Tron Bonne, Teisel Bonne and Baby Bonne to their fullest, something went wrong. They are Capcom's Team Rocket goddamnit!

More of the flamboyant Glyde would have been stellar too. I could have sworn you fight the guy 1vs1 in MML2. Without the stupid other race storyline, the game's story would have faired much better IMHO.

The underwater dungeon fucking sucked as anticipated, the hype was confirmed. Felt like less than 10 FPS of movement, the knockdown took 10 seconds alone for you to land, awful game design. Ugh. It wasn't even fun to play with, it just sucked and was a brutal 30 minutes of gameplay.

I did like the game though, I altogether really enjoyed this series and count me in as to people being gutted for this series never getting another chance by Capcom.

(I did this on A rank BTW, which is the hard difficulty. S Rank is brutal, B rank is normal I suppose.)

39) Dino Crisis 2- 9/4-9/5

Took portions of Sunday and Monday via Labor Day Weekend but Dino Crisis 2 on Normal Mode has been defeated. I very much enjoyed it and felt it was an improvement over the 1st one but yes this is Survival ACTION at its finest. The 1st game had you run away from enemies and conserve ammo, this one encouraged you to go on combo streaks on dinos to get more weapons and items, crazy. On one hand, its great to buy as much health items as need be and continuously buy ammo. But on the other hand, two things that I didn't care about this approach:

1) If you do this type of a system, YOU CANNOT have weapons you have to buy to progress in the game, especially if they cost as much as they do. 1-2 times I HAD to grind and take time away to get enough money to buy a weapon that the game doesn't tell you ahead of time so if you spend your money on another weapon or ammo or health, you won't potentially have the funds to buy that necessary weapon. Its fair game to have these said weapons get picked up along the way, but this wasn't the case.

2) The element of fear of these dinosaurs go away after you destroy 200 or so raptors along the way. In Dino Crisis 1, you feared these said raptors and when you were in a narrow hall with 2 of them, you knew it was trouble. This you right from the get go just go toe to toe with the creatures like they are nothing special. Its like getting thrown into water by someone when facing your fear of swimming, there's no real suspense to it, it just happens right away and it did take away the element of how dangerous these creatures are when you are so stockpiled on gear and items.


The story got a bit crazy by the end and a bit silly but I did enjoy the changes made in this game, I like the more action approached....the extra amount of dinosaurs in this one was well appreciated(The lack of variety in DC1 was one of my negatives for the game), I liked the incorporation of having both Regina and Dylan having to explore the other person's boundaries and help open up new places that the other could not which makes up for the lack of level variety and the game had quite a ton of awesome action scenes, in particular the arcade shooter portions of the game were fantastic and by far the best feature of the game. I wish we had more of those to be quite frank.

Very solid game, glad I got through the series and I can see why it is a very highly regarded series in its genre.
 
Original post

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47. The Tomorrow Children (PS4, 2016) - 17:54, plus 12:40 in beta
Five towns revived. Sixth one in progress. 1200 loyalty points and counting.

Once upon a time, I played a small MMO called A Tale in the Desert. It was a quirky experience, to say the least. It looked dated even back in its heyday almost a decade ago, and though it's still running, its graphics haven't been updated at all. It had a small audience that shrinks with every passing day, and its appeal is obscure. But to the people who played it, including me, A Tale in the Desert was special: an MMO that felt not like a theme park (like most MMOs) or the wild west (Eve Online), but a real place full of people working together towards a common goal: the restoration of Egypt.

The game's history is split into a number of Tales, which define specific eras of the game. Unlike most MMOs, A Tale in the Desert has a beginning, middle and end; each Tale is self-contained, and at the end of each one, the world resets. This has significant consequences; when ancient Egypt returns at the beginning of each Tale, everyone starts with no possessions and no homes. Civilization starts with barely any technology. This leads to my favourite part of each tale, the beginning.

In order to restore Egypt, the universities begin researching long-forgotten technologies: chariots allow fast travel, advanced brickmaking allows for automating the basics of architecture, and so on and so forth. It's everyone's job to help the universities by donating resources towards each technology. Everything becomes a giant collaborative effort, mostly because no one has a choice; if you want to be able to build a home or get to another region of Egypt without spending hours walking to it, you have to pitch in. And since there's not much else to do at that point, pitching in is all everyone does. Egypt's citizens come together in a way you only see during those first few days, before every region's reached a technological plateau and everyone splits off to pursue their own goals.

The Tomorrow Children is essentially the beginning phase of A Tale in the Desert, replayed over and over again. As a projection clone, your job is to restore the world using whatever resources and tools you can get your hands on. You go from town to town, collecting resources, constructing buildings, and restoring matroska dolls that turn into the town's citizenry. There are striking similarities to A Tale in the Desert, even though in practice they're very different. Both games require a great deal of cooperation to succeed; trying to maintain a town on your own is as foolhardy as trying to rebuild Egypt by yourself. Both games share the same social-experiment vibe as well. The Tomorrow Children purposely puts few restrictions on its players, meaning people have already found ways to blacklist and grief each other. And yet, with a few town management tools, players are also able to exercise a modicum of control over rogue players without the intervention of the developers.

Where The Tomorrow Children falters a little is in the endgame, which is to say that so far there is none. In A Tale in the Desert, once ancient Egypt was back on its feet, everyone split up to do their own things: working on passing the game's various Tests, starting their own business ventures in game, getting married to one another, starting fierce rivalries over limited resources, and so on and so forth. The Tomorrow Children, on the other hand, has nothing for you upon restoring a town; you just get some loyalty points before getting kicked back to a town selection screen to start the process anew. No one knows what the loyalty points are for yet, and Q-Games has hinted at big content updates, including uses for those points. But right now, there's no metagame; you simply work on a town until it's complete, then rinse and repeat.

That makes The Tomorrow Children an intriguing place to visit, but not necessarily a place you'd want to live. Yet.
 

Falchion

Member
Original Post

47) Pokemon Y - 28 hours - 10/1
I bought this at release back in 2013 but since I don't play my 3DS much, I just now got around to finishing it. I really loved many of the advancements in this generation like the 3D world, roller skates, the xp share, and the mega evolutions. I had a blast and will probably get Alpha Sapphire next since I probably won't buy Sun and Moon in hopes it comes out on NX later.
 

Ladekabel

Member
September:

Game 38: Axiom Verge (PS4): Since I prefer playing on handhelds, my initial plan was to play Axiom Verge on the Vita. But my plans shifted and I was happy. On the first look Axiom Verge is a metroidlike. On the second look it still is. And when you're playing it that impression doesn't change since it is a metroidlike. But the further you progress and the more abilities you acquire you need more buttons on the controller. The Vita is short of the two shoulder buttons that would make Axiom Verge comfortable to play on it. It came to a point where I wished the DS4 had an additional button for the teleport mechanic since the double tap on the d-pad didn't always work good for me. Otherwise the controls are good. The pixelart is nice and especially after you beat a boss has some nice effects. The world design is solid. You have a few different worlds which are all connected through a hub world. Additional every world is connected to two others. But I didn't thought that there was anything surprising about the world design like in Super Metroid or Dark Souls which is forgiveable since the whole game is a one-man-job. All in all, if you have an Metroid-itch, Axiom Verge will likely scratch it.

Game 39: Ico HD (PS3): Millions Dozens of people are excited for The Last Guardian finally getting released. I don't plan to pick it up Day-1 but later down the line. In preperation for The Last Guardian I decided it is time to finally play the beloved classics since I missed them on the PS2. I feared that the game wasn't for me which is sad since I liked a lot of things in Ico. The level design is great. The puzzle are well thought out. Yorda, the girl Ico escorts, isn't much of a hinderance. Except in combat where shadowy creatures try to capture her and take her away. The combat is sadly not so great. It doesn't feel good and lacks precision. It basically is hitting square and hope you hit. Honestly, the game would be better of without the combat. And Ico himself doesn't control very well either. For the first few hours I jammed in to every corner and edge. As someone who likes well playing games the most, it is sad that this really drags down Ico for me. I like its charme. For example, saving is done when Ico and Yorda sit on a bench. But thanks to the controls I got frustrated in a few occasions and won't remeber Ico fondly.

Game 40: Hitman Go! (iPad): There isn't much to say about Hitman Go!. Solid turn-based puzzle game with a nice boardgame look. Even if this game started the Go! series I gotta say that I prefer Lara Croft Go!.

Game 41: Shadow of the Colossus (HD): Just like with Ico, I wanted to play Shadow of the Colossus in order to prepare myself for playing The Last Guardian. But just like with Ico, Shadow of the Colossus is a game which I wanted to love but couldn't. Which is sad since there is a good game hidden somewhere. I know there are narrative reasons for the empty world but even knowing that didn't make it enjoyable riding through it. In my opinion it could've been smaller. And I would've liked to climb more stuff since that was something I was enjoying in this game. At least for constructions. Climbing on Colossi was hit or miss for me. It worked most of the time but too often the camera went crazy for me and Wander crawled into another direction than I wanted to. Otherwise there wasn't much for me in Shadow of the Colossus. Maybe I don#t understand art or maybe I'm dead inside. Even if both Team Ico games weren't for me I'm interested in The Last Guardian but after Ico and Shadow of the Colossus I'm not really eager to play it.

Game 42: Ace Attorney: Spirits of Justice (3DS): The Ace Attorney series is one of my favorite series so I was eager to play the new installment. And the Ace Attorney games have yet to let me down. After Dual Destinies introduced the 3D models in Spirit of Justice Capcom went a little further and played with the camera angle showing. Except for Apollo which was a little bit off-looking, every character looked good. Old beloved characters are back and I really like the new one with the revolution leader Dhurke being my favorite (even one of my favorite characters in the series). The only part that felt a little bit short was the new proscecutor Shadmadhi who felt kinda narrowminded most of the time. The cases where all pretty solid. Though the placement of case 4 is kinda questionable on its own it is still pretty good. And case 5 is some good stuff.

Currently playing: Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of Forgotten Past (3DS), YS VI: Ark of Naphitismfrbfjhebfj (PC)

September Update.
 

Dryk

Member
Original Post - Part 1
Original Post - Part 2
Original Post - Part 3

#38: Warbits 9.2 hours
Warbits is an unashamed clone of Advance Wars for iOS so it's a bit hard to talk about it by itself. Taken as a standalone game it's a good strategy game with a nice feature set, catchy soundtrack and cute/cringey dialogue. It has a ton of multiplayer maps and 20 campaign levels that start out very easy but ramp up nicely by about the halfway mark. But taken as an Advance Wars clone it is at times disappointing, so lets break it down.

The units are almost identical to Advance Wars in price and function, but there are a lot of small tweaks that keep you on your toes. Recon units can fly, there are clouds which can hide air units in fog of war like forests, there's no docks so the Lander equivalent is an aircraft and units can move when unloaded from transports if they haven't moved that turn. In addition to that APC supply and unloading is available multiple times a turn if relevant.

A lot of core unit balance is also very different. There is no deliniation between copters and planes, and most units have lower armour than in Advance Wars. This means that while a Bomber can almost 1-shot a unit (seriously they do over 100% to Anti-Air its nuts) they can be whittled down by ground units, and are unable to return fire. The damage tables also feel kind of off, with weak units being able to hold their own in a fight as long as they get the first shot off.

There is one new unit, a sniper infantry that uses indirect fire and gets +1 range on mountains, but it didn't see a whole of use in my playthrough because an Artillery with usually suffice.

The power system is probably where Warbits deviates from Advance Wars the most, and where I think it missteps the hardest. In Advance Wars your power meter is filled when dealing or taking damage in proportion to the unit's cost, which is a system that works great. But in Warbits only kills net power points, and they're only doled out to the killer. Each unit gives up 2-5 points when it dies, and some units are easier to farm for points than others. Then once per turn at your HQ you can spend these points to access a list of like 20 powers. The fact that on any given turn you could boost indirect range, air movement and damge, ground movement or damage, infantry capture speed, etc with no way to predict what you're going to do is ridiculous. One of the powers gives your ground units +75% damage when attacking from roads, and another gives a +150% boost when attacking units on structures. If you can't predict an assault like that its hard to defend against it, and I think that's a major flaw.

Despite spending 4 paragraphs bitching about why Warbits isn't Advance Wars I did enjoy it. It was a nice distraction, but I'd love to see a refined version that could actually go properly toe-to-toe with Intelligent System's greats. It's $5 and was developed by two guys though so what are you going to do?

Preview: I'm playing Puzzle Quest Galactrix on PC and I think I'm going to start Monument Valley on iOS
 

Linkyn

Member
Main Post

Game 35: World of Wacraft: Legion

Been a while since my last contribution, but my latest game was (and remains) a big one. Over the past 4 weeks, I have sunk countless hours into World of Warcraft: Legion. I wanted to wait a while before writing out some thoughts on it, just so I could get a decent impression of all its core systems.

In my initial rush, I pushed my paladin to 110 over the course of roughly 2 days, so the initial levelling experience was somewhat marred by my own pacing. Nevertheless, I've really come to appreciate the few zones that constitute the Broken Isles. I was rather worried that the Legion theme would be heavily reflected in the zone aesthetics, but luckily, all 5 current zones have quite distinct and non-demonic characters (with the exception of Faronaar in Azsuna and Felsoul Hold in Suramar).

Of the 4 levelling zones, my favourite is probably Highmountain. I've always preferred continental zones to coastal ones, and open zones to forested ones. However, my absolute favourite zone by a huge margin is Suramar. I like the lightly arboreal touch and colour schemes of the outer areas, and the way the entire zone is structured with a heavy focus on optional quests and exploration goals (such as the ley lines and teleporters). Above all, I absolutely adore Suramar City. The Waning Crescent and adjacent bazaar remind me a lot of Venice in AC2, with anchor points that allow you to grapple to the rooftops, patrolling guards that can see through your disguise, the channels separating the individual districts, and the fact that you can hide in baskets in order to escape pursuing enemies. At the same time, the eastern portion of the city feels appropriately threatening because of the higher density of enemies (especially those that can uncover you), generally tougher enemies, and a lack of escape routes.

The effect of Suramar's general layout is reinforced by the Nightfallen storyline, which is one of my favourite WoW campaigns to date. As a faction, the Nightfallen receive far more development than all the other Legion factions combined, and its lead NPCs are some of the most memorable in the expansion. The reputation-based progression (akin to the landfall campaigns in MoP) keep you invested over a reasonable amount of time, thus giving the impression of an actual slow struggle to first simply survive, and then later to retake the city piece by piece (but always covertly). I am highly anticipating the continuation of the Suramar campaign, culminating with the Nighthold early next year.

I appreciate what Blizzard has done with the World Quest system. First of all, I vastly prefer them to pure grinding as a means to gain reputation with the various factions. Furthermore, the rotation, diversity of objectives, and flexibility of reward types keep daily progression relatively fresh and enjoyable. That said, outside of the Nightfallen, none of the Legion factions have a sufficiently strong identity, and I wish they could have received smaller campaigns to lead you through their stories (the Dreamweavers could be more strongly tied to the Emerald Nightmare, for instance). Still, it is nice to know that you can keep up by simply doing the 4 quests required for the emissary on any given day, even though I probably would have preferred regular dailies on a rotation (I happen to think that the MoP system worked - the main issue was that there were simply too many active dailies on any given day).

Similarly, the way the class order halls are handled is a huge step up from the Draenor garrisons. For one, there is much less of a focus on completing missions (since you have fewer active champions and the rewards are not really required), but the facts that at least some other players are present and that most (if not all) order halls can be easily reached from Dalaran also make them feel much more lively. They also help reinforce your class identity, which is further aided in the form of your order hall campaign (all 3-4 I've experienced so far were very distinct and appropriate for the given class). On a related note, I like artefact weapons, if only because they eliminate a loot slot. The actual grind for artefact power seems excessive (there's only so much that artefact knowledge can do), and the progression system feels a lot like classic talent trees (which is not a good thing imo).

As far as the dungeons are concerned, I like the heavier focus on mythic dungeons. Dungeon achievements largely have to be earned on mythic difficulty, keystone runs give you an alternative progression route and challenges in a smaller group, and some fights actually differ a bit between heroic and mythic difficulties. I especially like that you can't use the dungeon finder for mythics (the group finder is a vastly superior tool, anyway), that you have to manually go to the dungeon entrance, that some dungeons (Arcway and Court of Stars) are only available on mythic difficulty, and that the same dungeons even require an attunement quest. All of this demonstrates a reverence for the 5-mans that reminds me a lot of TBC heroics. If the current line-up of mythics is any indication, revamped Karazhan should be an absolute blast to play through. More generally, I'd say my favourite 5-mans are probably Black Rook Hold and Vault of the Wardens (because of the real sens of progression you get as you make your way through them), as well as Court of Stars (because of the atypical trash mechanics).

Lastly, the raids. Since the Nighthold and Trial of Valor aren't due for another few months, I am forced to focus my attention on the Emerald Nightmare. Here again, I like the fact that the difficulties are more strongly separated. Artefact quests can't be completed on raidfinder difficulty, loot tables differ drastically, and bosses receive extra abilities between normal and heroic modes. Since I'm only raiding casually this expansion due to lack of time, my personal goal is to push through heroic with a group of people I know irl. The main reason I've waited until now to post is that I wanted to have seen every encounter in some form. Since we killed Xavius on Thursday, I figured now is a good time to pause and reflect on the past 4 weeks.

As a healer, my favourite encounters are probably Cenarius and Elerethe Renferal. On normal difficulty, Nythendra, Ursoc, and the Dragons of Nightmare are simply too straightforward to leave a stronger impression. With Xavius, I really haven't had enough time to form a proper opinion, although I do like how a clean start can make a huge difference towards the end of the fight. Probably my least favourite encounter is Il'gynoth, simply because of how hectic it is during progress, and how boring it becomes once you've figured out how to handle the adds properly. I expect heroic difficulty will take my group 1-2 more months, but with the current release schedule, I'd rather take my time, anyway.

Overall, I am very pleased with Legion. In the months and weeks leading up to its release, I found myself barely excited on more than one occasion. Now, I can say that it is definitely better than WoD and Cataclysm, and probably sits somewhere around the WotLK / MoP level for me (both of which I enjoyed tremendously). I've already spent an unreasonable amount of time playing on my paladin, and I'll be playing at least 1-2 hours a day for the coming weeks or months, so I'll update my time played accordingly.
 

Labadal

Member
Games completed in Q1 2016
Games completed in Q2 2016
Games completed in Q3 2016


Game 52: Amnesia: Memories - 12 hours

Game 53: Actual Sunlight - 1 hour

Game 54: God of War: Ghost of Sparta - 7 hours

Game 55: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - 90 hours

Game 56: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ - 14 hours

Game 57: Breach & Clear - 18.5 hours

Game 58: Salt and Sanctuary - 21 hours

Game 59: Oxenfree - 5 hours

Game 60: Tyranny - 40 hours

Game 61: I Am Setsuna - 20 hours

Game 62: Disgraced - 8 hours

Game 63: Letter Quest: Remastered - 10 hours
 
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=190926861&postcount=11

September cont.

29. Sunset Overdrive / 10 hrs

I had some fun with this, but I feel the restrictions they put on upgrading your weapons are a fatal flaw. I'd rather they upgraded straight with use like R&C.

30. DOOM / 12 hrs

Really fantastic single player campaign, like everyone said. Really gave me some deja vu to the old games in ways I wouldn't have expected.

31. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China / 8 hrs

All three of these games are so finicky and uneven. Some areas are fun but some areas are brutally precise for no apparent reason.

32. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse / 8 hrs

I thought this was a very solid little retro platformer.

33. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India / 8 hrs

Best of the three, not saying much.

34. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia / 6 hrs

Worst of the three due to the insane precision and repetition required in several areas.

35. Splinter Cell: Black List / 12 hrs

Really good stealth game but I really made a mistake playing all these stealth games at the same time, so I rushed through it. Just the fact that you even could rush through is a plus though.

35 games / 942 hrs
 

marcincz

Member
3 months ahead and I almost did it. 10 games remaining.

Game #40: Driveclub DLC - Apex (PS4) - 02:57 h - 15/09/2016
Another DLC to Driveclub completed. Once again solid thing.

Game #41: Shadow of the Beast (PS4) - 03:53 h - 26/09/2016
SotB was one of my favourite games on Amiga. I remember how impressive it was, back in those days. New SotB isn't 10/10 title, but a very good and solid game. I like it. There is even original SotB to play. Only time to complete is mediocre.

Game #42: Quantum Break (XBO) - 14:26 h - 29/09/2016
My last game of 3Q of 2016 was QB from the creators of Max and Alan. I had high expectations and ....love this game. Everything is fine. Story, heroes, opponents, time and powers of Jack. Only one thing get on my nerves in this brillant title. Tv shows. For what this thing Remedy!? Completely absurd idea. At this moment QB is one of my favourite new franchise of this generation and the best XBO game I've played. I wonder what will be Remedy next game.

Original Post
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
This list does not include any completed DLC or episodic content, with the exception of the Higurashi and Umineko titles. Whilst these are episodic, they are very lengthy titles (10-15 hours per episode) and no full season purchase option is available. As such they will be entered per purchase.

Game #1: Witcher 2 - A definite improvement (to me) over the first entry. A very solid fantasy RPG, but one that I admit, like the first, didn't grab me as expected given the hype.

Game #2: Cibelle - I just did not get this. The gameplay is extremely tedious, and is clearly just filler. As for the plot, I don't want to sound crass cos I know it was based on a true story, but it felt so obvious that the bf character was bad news from the off, I felt like shouting at the screen to the main character to get rid of him.

Game #3: Witcher 3 - Now this, I can understand all the hype for! I'm one of those in the camp against the combat, but the world building, characters, and writing is just exceptional, combined with an open world that for once in a long time really gave off a sense of actual place. Wonderful.

Game #4: Pony Island - A sort of subversive meta-game. Not so strong on gameplay but a very engaging short ride that keeps you guessing and wondering what it's going to do next.

Game #5: Hitman GO - A very solid puzzle title, and that it's a mobile title is pleasantly surprising!

Game #6: Lara Croft GO - similar to Hitman GO, but with levels that have a greater size to them, and more of a sense of adventure to it, which is fitting.

Game #7: Battlefield: Hardline - Ok, colour me shocked, but I quite enjoyed this campaign! Nothing exceptional to make it stand out, but the fact it's not utter dog shit like every other BF campaign ever made, is noteworthy in of itself!

Game #8: Westport Independent - A Papers Please-esque title that got a bit of an unfair kicking imo. It's definitely scaled down from PP in scope and it's certainly too expensive for how short it is, but if you can get it on sale, it's certainly worth a go.

Game #9: Resident Evil 0 HD - One of the worst of the "classic" resi titles. I'll never understand the choice to get rid of the item boxes. Still, I'd rather take this than most modern Resi titles...

Game #10: Resident Evil 5 Speaking of! It's just such a bland, boilerplate action shooter. It's just dull, but at least it has more reminiscence to Resi than 6 does, which I'll get on to...

Game #11: Rise of the Tomb Raider - I regret this one. I really did not like TR2013, it felt like the most uninspired "design by committee" game I've played in years, but I gave this one a shot after word of improvements, plus the more positive reception and GOTY awards. It's still the same shit. Except semi open world now. Cos we really needed more of that.

Game #12: XCOM 2 - A very worthy sequel to XCOM EU, more of the same, but not a bad thing, and with just a few little tweaks to keep it fresh.

Game #13: Firewatch - Count me in the disappointed camp for this one. Namely due to the bait and switch (imo) unsatisfying plot

Game #14: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - The first in what ended up being a surprising trend for me this year, visual novels. I loved this game! It's dark in a cartoony comical way, mysterious, full of impossible daft twists reminiscent of many Japanese anime tropes, charming characters, and quite funny. And Monokuma is just so interesting to watch!

Game #15: Superhot - The most innovative shooter I've played in years...

Game #16: Invisible Inc. - Stealth Roguelike XCOM. Nuff said really.

Game #17: Hand of Fate - Roguelike Dungeon Crawler, represented through a board game played with cards. It's a novel and engaging concept, and the dealer character is a charismatic presence. Only knock for me is that the last chapter gets stupid hard, the spike in difficulty is reminiscent of the end of Psychonauts. I had to drop to Easy and it still took me ages.

Game #18: The Division - Initially engaging, and certainly scratched that cover based military shooter itch for me, but it got old fast. Really fast. Each borough plays out exactly the same way. I trudged to the end of the campaign and never looked back.

Game #19: Republique - A massive disappointment. I won't get into it here, as I actually made a full thread on it here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1199750

Game #20: Day of the Tentacle - A neat little funny adventure game. But I admit I do find old school PnC games very difficult to play.

Game #21: Maniac Mansion - A bonus from the above title. It's older than me and it shows. How anyone is supposed to beat this without a walkthrough I have no idea.

Game #22: Valkyria Chronicles - Really liked this! First I've played a S-RPG I believe actually! Quite tough in places (strategy is not my forte) but very enjoyable.

Game #23: Dark Souls III - Simply more Souls but I can't complain too loudly about that. Whilst I really liked this a lot, and will surely be in my top 5 for the year, I do think the series needs a break now.

Game #24: The Walking Dead: Michonne - Let's just say this is in keeping with most of Telltale's recent output quality wise... Dull.

Game #25: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - Much of the same as the first, not as well done as some of the minigames are just an irritance frankly, but still very good.

Game #26: Uncharted 4: - I'm going to get lynched for this. I liked it. I didn't think it was anything astounding though. Uncharted as a series, to me, is now suffering the same problem Gears of War had a few years ago. Innovative and pushed the genre forward, but has been aped so much since that the original series is struggling to stand out now.
A fitting conclusion for the series, and a title that is very well written, but the gameplay is simply nothing new or exciting anymore.

Game #27: The Banner Saga 2 - An unfortunate step down from the first title. It plays just as well as its predecessor, but the story feels like pure setup for another game still to come.

Game #28: DOOM - Oh man, I love this game! :D
I don't think there is much I can say that hasn't already been said, but it's just such a smart "dumb" shooter, and one that is so gratifying

Game #29: Mirror's Edge Catalyst - I wasn't the greatest fan of the first, but I was curious enough from it to check this one out. Even most fans seem to see this as a disappointment. It has no real character or identity to it unlike the first game, and the open world feels so much like EA trend chasing.

Game #30: Dreamfall Chapters - Oh man, this one hurts :(
I loved The Longest Journey, and also very much enjoyed Dreamfall. But I just feel like something went wrong in the development of this, pretty much nothing happens in this for the first 3 episodes, before moving into a rather confusing tangent for the remainder and unsatisfactorily tying everything up at the end. It felt like they were setting up another title given how slowly everything was being paced out, before just rushing head on to a conclusion.

Game #31: Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter - Very much like the previous in the series, Crimes and Punishment, and not a bad thing. There are no other games I can think of that deliver a puzzle mystery in the way this series does.

Game #32: Higurashi Chapter 3: Tatarigoroshi - Probably my least favourite chapter so far, with the 2nd being my favourite so far. This series main problem for me though, is that the writing has an awful lot of padding. But the devs fixed this for it's other title Umineko.

Game #33: That Dragon, Cancer - Such a genuinely sad tale :(

Game #34: Oxenfree - I felt like I was missing something here =/
Seems there is a lot of praise for this one of late, and while I liked it, I didn't think it was anything noteworthy.

Game #35: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - I'm definitely missing something here against the reviewers that liked this. Zzzz.... Chinese Room has my respect for giving birth to a new genre, but they're not very good at making them.

Game #36: The Magic Circle - A very curious little title. Imagine Toy Story but for a game that wasn't ever finished.

Game #37: Umineko: Chapters 1-4 - Oh man, this is great! The writing is such a step up from Higurashi, and personally speaking I'm finding the central mystery more engaging and also more difficult to get my head around. Plus the music is genuinely amazing!

Game #38: Abzu - It's really pretty. I don't mean that as a slight against it. There's not much here but it's a good relaxing way to kill 90 minutes.

Game #39: Unravel - Cutesy, but you've played this kind of puzzle platformer a million times by now.

Game #40: Grow Up - To me this was a big step up (no pun intended) from the previous title, largely in thanks to the greater expanded roster of movement capabilities the main character now has, and it's really quite awesome to yourself fly across the planet and see it all beneath you.

Game #41: Deus Ex GO - Much like the other GO titles, but still a very good puzzle game for on the move.

Game #42: Reigns - A resource management game meets Tinder, it's a great concept, and it's neat trying to see which combination of choices lead to new and weird scenarios. One big criticism I have for it though, if you want to actually beat it, you only have a limited amount of time to make the correct choices necessary and even then you're at the mercy of RNG. I was very near to having a full playthrough ruined because a certain area I needed to visit didn't appear for literally hundreds of turns. I only beat the game with about 4 turns left.

Game #43: Replica - Another curious little experiment, where you are imprisoned by an authoritarian government (I like to think it's post Brexit UK personally) and forced to crack a suspected terrorist's phone by going through his emails, texts, social media etc.
And of course with any authoritarian government story the lines get blurred whether they are acting in the best way or if you genuinely believe this person who this phone belongs to is really a terrorist or not.

Game #44: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Probably my GOTY so far. More HR but with a more explorable and versatile hub to explore. I feel this will be looked back on in time as being too unfairly criticised by reviewers frankly.

Game #45: Minecraft: Story Mode - Oh god, this is awful. I don't know what I expected, I don't even play Minecraft but I was willing to take a chance as I liked Tales of the Borderlands when I don't like Borderlands. Just don't.

Game #46: Resident Evil 6 - It's like if RE5 went full Michael Bay. No semblance of horror, it's just another cover action shooter, and a really boring one at that. You mostly walk from area to area to be confronted with more enemies, it is relentless in the amount of encounters you face, and over it's long play time, is just suffocating.

Game #47: Virginia - Murder mystery with no dialogue, inspired by David Lynch and X Files. Really enjoyed this, and it's engaging to try and keep up with it, trying to discern and interpret what is happening in the moment. Also a great soundtrack.

Game #48: Steins Gate - Probably my favourite visual novel I've played this year. Just a great story. It's like a Japanese version of Weird Science but with the kids making a time machine made out of a microwave instead. Conspiracy, waifus and some genuinely heart redning moments then ensue.

Game #49: Clustertruck - Oh my god, this is so much fun!!! It's like "the floor is lava" but across a fleet of moving trucks. Nothing else needs said.

Game #50: Aragami - A solid but a little but janky stealth title. It would be much better without it's boss fights though, much like Deus Ex HR, the boss fights stand out as something really terrible.

Game #51: The Silver Case - Disappointment of the year. It's an incomprehensible mess, I'd struggle to tell you what this game was even about, honestly.

Game #52: Thumper - I admit I suck at this game, and it gets really hard, really quick. My hands felt numb by the end of some boss levels.
But it's something with a terrific style, and is a real rush to play.

Game #53: Higurashi Chapter 4: Himatsubushi - Shortest chapter so far, not a particularly interesting one though unfortunately, I'd struggle to tell you what happened in it now tbh. Think this is my least favourite chapter now

Game #54: Shadow Warrior 2 - It's a mechanically strong FPS but damn, I wish they didn't go down the Borderlands route >_<

Game #55: D - A really strange, odd title. Heck, it's almost like something that would come out now as an experimental indie game actually. It's a neat experiment and only lasts like an hour or so plus it's really cheap, worth a look, but mind the bad controls.

Game #56: Owlboy - Worth development time it took? No. Damn good platformer adventure regardless? Yes.
Gorgeous artstyle, boisterous soundtrack, and an empathetic cast.

Game #57: Dishonored 2 - Too similar to the first for my tastes to be perfectly frank.

Game #58: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Hasn't been a good CoD campaign since Blops 2, and this at least stands among some of the better ones. I'm impressed with the choices they make in the story particularly towards the end in fact, most sobering a CoD game has been in a long time.

Game #59: The Bunker - Another neat little experiment. FMV title about a quite literal manchild who is locked in a bunker away from a nuclear holocaust. Very short but worth a look.

Game #60: VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - A big favourite of mine this year. Love the aesthetic and the premise, plus the characters are easily likable, as well as presenting a very grounded "normal" look at a cyberpunk dystopia.

Game #61: Titanfall 2 - Only played the campaign, but it's indeed a good one. Best campaign this year bar DOOM. Don't quite think I'd go as far as others though calling it "best Valve game we never got" =/

Game #62: Batman: The Telltale Series - Best TT series for me since TWAU, and one that puts some very surprising and interesting spins on the Batman mythos that will leave you guessing even if you're a series veteran.

Game #63: Super Mario Run - It's decent enough for a mobile runner. Not really got the depth I'm looking for in the campaign but I do understand the limitations a touch screen affords. It is a commendable effort though.

Game #64: Divinity: Original Sin - Not really my kind of RPG tbh. Wasn't story heavy enough, and was more combat heavy, and I don't like playing these games for their combat.

Game #65: King's Quest - A very mixed and erratic response to every episode was seemingly felt by players. You can tell that the devs were under some strain finishing this as the quality per episode is simply all over the place. I did enjoy it, and it certainly was charming and rather funny in places, but it enver reaches the high of the first episode again.

Game #66: Inside - As someone who didn't particularly enjoy Limbo, this was a big step up for me. I found the haunting atmosphere much more affecting, and the puzzles were less laborious, and was overall paced better. At the same time however, I still don't feel there is enough to this game, that it leaves me rather baffled to see it be awarded with much GOTY acclaim.
 

wispsmoke

Neo Member
Original Post

Game 15 - Costume Quest 2 - 6 hours

'Tis the season! The gameplay is a good continuation of the original, as is the graphical style. Areas seem more open and interconnected, as well. That said, I am surprisingly disappointed in the game's writing and repetitive design. The small amount of dialog from houses where you trick or treat is recycled, which is even more noticeable given the amount of mileage the game gets out of knocking on doors. That's mitigated by the costume variety and some of the quests that switch things up, but even at 6 hours played (and about 90% completion) there was too little variety for the amount of battles in the game. An easy fix (which worked for the first one) would simply have been a wider variety of snappy dialog. Altogether, a sequel worth playing, especially for Halloween. But having played Broken Age and Grim Fandango this year, this is hardly Double Fine's strongest effort.
 
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Game #131: Star Realms (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;

This was a pretty effective adaptation of the physical game, all things considered. It's a bit finnicky in the controls, but at the same time, the nature of the game really helps to avoid the frustrating trappings of a card or board game where the opponent knows certain details about your hand, picks on the player disproportionately, or gets unfair dice rolls consistently. Star Realms is a game I would recommend someone try, regardless of whether they went with the Android or Steam version or if they chose to play the actual physical card game. It's a mixture of stuff like DC Deck-Building Game with a soupcon of Magic: the Gathering.


Game #132: Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble (PC) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;

A very good sequel to the original that seems to try to do what it can to differentiate it from the original without making the game feel too alien. It still has the super charming ZX Spectrum-like visual style that I loved about the original, and the gameplay is pretty darn good (with an dded level of depth to the gameplay thanks to the ability to date any NPC, with each one having one of about six or seven powers, maybe more). The only thing that prevents me from loving it as much as the original is that for all of its qualities, it is a little too similar. Despite being a paid sequel to a free game, it feels about as long as the original did, which disappointed slightly.


Game #133: Picross 3D: Round 2 (3DS) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;

Picross 3D: Round 2 is perhaps the sequel I would call one of the most improved from its predecessor, where the improvements were only minor quality of life tweaks as opposed to major overhauls (ie, Grand Theft Auto II to Grand Theft Auto III). They did a really fantastic job of fixing a LOT of problems that the original had, such as the tedium of breaking the '0' blocks and the fact that you had to beat the levels in order to progress, where you can instead put a tricky puzzle off for a while until you're ready to come back. The problem is, for all of these improvements, I think that Picross 3D just is not solid enough a concept to last. The game is VERY tedious, and as someone who can complete 2D Picross puzzles quite fast, I don't think I will ever be able to do the same for this, as there are too many possibilities for error, and because you have to meticulously go back and forth between layers to see the minor changes that were made as you progressed. By the time I was nearing the end, I was legitimately bored. It was a shame too, because I started off really liking this game. It's a great game early on because the fun gameplay is more contained - ie, not digging through layers for 20 minutes.

Of course, I have to also talk about the new mechanic, the orange blocks. Where the original Picross 3D was very cubic, this game does a much better job of representing things, thanks to orange curved blocks. is this a good addition? To some extent, yes. To others, no, and the problem is that it's a bad addition for reasons that could have been fixed. It's hard to read the numbers, harder than it used to be; originally I was able to quickly verify that a row was finished (or to at least count how many I have filled in) just by counting the blue ones, but the addition of the orange ones makes it a bit slower to count. The different color also makes it somewhat difficult to see whether the (for instance) orange number is greyed out (meaning that there are no more orange blocks in a row or column). It's just messy. Also, the soundtrack is not great, leaving only ambient noises as options for me.


Game #134: Dumb Ways to Die 2 (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;

This is a fun WarioWare clone, but unfortunately, it kind of peters out a little bit too quickly. The touch control interface means a lot more deaths than you would normally experience if you played it with traditional controls.


Game #135: Catan (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;

Ugh

I am a big fan of Catan, I play it every year with my relatives whenever they come down (will probably play more often if I move to where they live in the future). It's very fun - luck-based, but also skill-based.

This game unfortunately is chock full of flaws. Firstly, it is definitely the Catan experience. It is an accurate depiction of what Catan is in real life. And that's about it in terms of praise to give it. It's SUPER slow, super unwieldy, and super unfair. To some extent, I understand games like this, where the AI are given favorable treatment in some ways. Games like these need that, because without them, the inherent limitations of the AI design would make things too easy. I get that. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to get super mad when the AI is rolling 11 and 3 six times in a row collectively, and I haven't gotten a 6 or a 5 in LITERALLY A DOZEN TURNS. And it doesn't help that dice rolls blatantly are based on being less advantageous to the player. I wouldn't mind this so much if it could be ignored; ie, the higher the difficulty, the more human fucking-over occurs. Otherwise, it's just not fun because you're constantly at risk of losing if the game decides it's time for you to lose. Also, if you get even one point ahead, the AI WILL fuck you forever. And not even in such a way that benefits them. I've had games where I literally got stolen from by EVERY COMPUTER OPPONENT in a single round of turns, except I had NOTHING TO STEAL. They literally prioritized screwing me over instead of winning for themselves.

Oh, and the game has serious freezing and crashing bugs. Trash tier.
 
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43:35h (Wait, really?)

Spirit of Justice, also known as "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney 2" also known as "The Dark Age of the Law... in Khu'rain!" is, above all, a Phoenix Wright game. This means that you probably already know its strong points and its shortcomings. Strong characters, the worst americanization of a japanese setting this side of Pokémon's jelly donuts, crazy story twists, physically abusive prosecutors, olympic-level leaps of logic... more of the same and we love it.

Don't be fooled by the game title, though - this is an Apollo Justice game with Phoenix Wright as a mostly supporting deuteragonist and Athena as a bit more than a cameo. This is not bad per se and, without spoiling anything, events in the game point to Athena having a more important role in future titles, but if you don't like the Red Ranger, you might want to pass on this one. But if you're a PW fan, and you enjoyed Dual Destinies, I think this one is better.

Updated OP
 
Game 52: Amnesia: Memories - 12 hours
How did you consider this game finished for you? I have it on my list and I started playing through the Hearts storyline, though I am not quite finished with it. I am curious to see what the other three storylines bring.
 

Labadal

Member
How did you consider this game finished for you? I have it on my list and I started playing through the Hearts storyline, though I am not quite finished with it. I am curious to see what the other three storylines bring.
I think it's a bad game to be honest. And I got the Platinum for it but I think that if you didn't like Heart world, drop it. I only went through the game for the trophy, lol. One of the worlds made me go wtf the whole way through. They are all their own thing with the same characters. If you like Heart world, you should go through with the rest of them.
 
I think it's a bad game to be honest. And I got the Platinum for it but I think that if you didn't like Heart world, drop it. I only went through the game for the trophy, lol. One of the worlds made me go wtf the whole way through. They are all their own thing with the same characters. If you like Heart world, you should go through with the rest of them.
The Heart storyline has moments of greatness while the rest is filled to the brim with Japanese troupes. And, not being a fan of said troupes, I tend to fluctuate greatly between liking and hating the story.

I just got to the part where everyone goes back to the lodge. They're bickering right now, so nothing of importance has happened.
 

Labadal

Member
The Heart storyline has moments of greatness while the rest is filled to the brim with Japanese troupes. And, not being a fan of said troupes, I tend to fluctuate greatly between liking and hating the story.

I just got to the part where everyone goes back to the lodge. They're bickering right now, so nothing of importance has happened.
...Japanese tropes...

Hooo Boy... Just you wait.
 
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Game 40: Crash Team Racing (PS1) - n/a

Talk about a game being ahead of its time...



Game 41: Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) -
13 hours

This was my first Ys title. Generally, the simple yet challenging combat is fun, as is the occassional platforming. I sadly can't really stand the generic art direction, which was an annoyance throughout. On the other hand, the buttrock was somewhat decent and went well with the brutal difficulty. Speaking of which, the difficulty is absurd. Sometimes certain grinding or looking for upgrades is inevitable and the final boss was just frustrating, as it was a ludicrous mixture of bullet hell, trial & error, Kaizo Mario and not getting hit more than a handful of times. It was a fun game, but talk about overshooting.
 

Oreoleo

Member
The List!

37. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - 14 Hours
JeXr7C4.jpg


What an enormous improvement over the previous game this is. A textbook example of a "generational leap." Everything here is better: movement, lightsaber fights, force powers, level design. The most notable difference is clearly the improvements to lightsaber combat. In previous entries using your lightsaber felt clumsy and unwieldy, there was rarely an instance where you would choose melee combat over mowing someone down with rifles unless the game forced you to. Here, it's almost exactly the opposite: the lightsaber is actually too good and I spent the 2nd half of the game using it almost exclusively. Thankfully it's fun and dismembering storm troopers never gets tedious, however lightsaber fights with other lightsaber users felt like they usually came down to chance. There seems to be an element of waiting for an opening to strike your opponent, but as defending is completely automated it felt random as to when the game would actually let you get a hit in, ultimately leading lightsaber vs lightsaber combat to devolve into button mashing and quick-loading when things didn't go your way. Force powers are streamlined in a major way; about half the powers from Dark Forces 2 are gone and for good reason: they sucked. What's left are eight or so force powers that are upgraded automatically, all have utility and are frequently used in the level design as tools for puzzle solving, something the previous games couldn't really do as there was never a guarantee the player would have skilled the force power necessary to proceed. So between the improved lightsaber combat and force power utility what we have here is a game that frankly, made me feel more like an actual Jedi than any Star Wars game I've played to date (though I have yet to play the KOTOR games so maybe that will change), as opposed to something like Force Unleashed which feels more like you're playing as a super hero. I'm surprised this and (presumably) Jedi Academy aren't referenced more these days as what a good Star Wars game should be because to me, this is the gold standard.
 
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A lot of arcade/puzzle-style games this post


Game #136: Neko Atsume (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;

I listed this game because I basically no longer go to it multiple times a day. I still check in here and there mind you, but it was a lot more omnipresent when I first started playing it. I guess it is technically less of a game and more of a cat dollhouse, but it's still very cute and engaging. It's at least a great way to kill some time very quickly.


Game #137: Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (PS4) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;

To get this out of the way, I would say that yes, Championship Edition 2 is a weaker game than Championship Edition DX, and that ultimately, if given the opportunity, I would probably choose to play DX over 2 nine times out of 10. That being said, it's still an amazing game, and gets a lot of goodwill from me for being a respectable attempt at making a solid, tangible attempt at being innovative. It is at turns true to the Pac-Man formula and idea, while also being a game that you have never played before. It's really stunning just how much creative effort went into this, and how much it works.


Game #138: Doki-Doki Universe (PS4) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;&#9734;&#9734;

I kind of wish that this game was ironed out more - and didn't have micro-transactions - because it's really cute and the concept is kind of fun. For clarity, this is a game where you are periodically asked psychological surveys, and it determines the kind of person you are based on those surveys. I'll give it credit that it's more often than not right, but it's somewhat often not right at the same time, specifically because the determinations are a little too binary. For instance, you may choose 'horror' over 'romance' in response to a question about movie preference, and this may determine you to be more bold and daring - which doesn't describe me at all.

The game visually and thematically is also very cute, using a child-like art style and having interactions with characters be very cute (particularly your red balloon friend at the beginning). I just wish that there was a little more solid of structure to this game, though I'm not sure if that wouldn't hurt the free-spirited nature of the game.


Game #139: ChuChu Rocket! (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;

Ah, ChuChu Rocket!, a game I've loved since I played it way back in the day on the Game Boy Advance (and later the Dreamcast when I finally got one). I never did beat it, but today, I just hunkered down on my phone and powered through the levels. Damn, this game is gooood. The puzzles never seem unfair, and you usually get pretty ample opportunity to wrap your head around the complexities of the puzzle and work backwards to a solution. When you figure out the solution, it really makes you feel like you accomplished something. Easily my favorite puzzle game of all time. The game is very much a Lemmings-like excursion, where you have to direct aimless mice into rockets, while avoiding cats and pitfalls (as well as preventing cats from reaching the rockets themselves). You do this through clever arrow placement - of which some levels can have one arrow as seen above, while others can have nearly half a dozen.


Game #140: Cut the Rope (Android) - &#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9733;&#9734;

And to cap off this entry, Cut the Rope. It's SO GOOD. I kind of did not give it a fair shake due to it being a popular mobile game; not that I thought it bad - it seemed fairly decent from what little I played - but I never gave it the time of day until yesterday. The game is really deep, rarely frustrating, and super consistent with its rules and mechanics. It regularly adds new mechanics and concepts without making the game feel bogged down, and same with ChuChu Rocket!, every puzzle made you feel accomplished, as opposed to a lesser game that makes you feel exacerbated about how long it took. The image in particular stands out as a level that I had a lot of fun with - you must first get the candy to the bubble, and then using the air puffers, push the now bubbled candy towards your little pet to feed it - not going so fast as to hit the spikes, but also not going so slow as to allow the spider to climb down the rope to get your candy.
 
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Game 42: Lumines: Puzzle & Music - 4+ hours - September 14, 2016
I've made it no secret that Tetris is my favorite game of all time. That status of favoritism is one that no game has really ever come close to dethroning. Given that passion, it's more than a little odd that I never really cut my teeth on Lumines during the PSP era. I believe that I played the first one for about ten minutes before I dropped it and forgot about it. That isn't to say that I didn't like it, but I think it was too simple for my thrill-seeking adolescent mind (my gaming obsession at that time was Battlefield: Bad Company 1/2). I was very excited though to see an impending iOS version to finally give the franchise another try. And all things considered, I'm fairly impressed. The idea of "Tetris meets music" is elegantly simple and quite brilliant. Of the songs on offer in P&M, I enjoyed most of them. I think my biggest complaint actually is the small selection. I'm not quite into the current tracklist enough to just play the game over and over, and because of that, I think the longevity of the game could have been increased with more music packs. And considering that it's only $3, I would have gladly paid for more music (props by the way to the developers for not infesting this thing with microtransactions). All in all, a solid iOS pick and one that will probably remain on my phone for the occasional play for a while to come.
Should I played Lumines: Puzzle & Music? If you like Tetris or loved console Lumines, then yes your phone deserves it!
 

Skikkiks

Member
Master Post

This is the wright update I guess. I do themed updates because I am a child.

Game 62: Aviary Attorney (PC) | 3 Hours | 09/28/16 | 3/5

So it's ace attorney with birds, but it's weird as shit. The general gameplay is standard Phoenix Wright, featuring going to places and talking to people before participating in a trial where you show evidence to testimony. The main gimmick is that during investigation phases, old renaissance ass birds don't have quick means of transport, so going to a place takes a full day, ultimately ticking down to the day of the trial. So you need to plan days carefully and avoid taking needless trips to places if you can't obtain relevant information.

As it stands, the game itself is incredibly easy. Should you not use the feature of the game to return to previous days, it takes very little time to plan what place you need to go to at what time. Should you not and mess up during the investigation phase, you'll be happy to know there are all sorts of different contingencies you can explore, including three different endings.

I feel that going for the true end of cases makes the game's story stronger though. Looking over the different things that can happen is worth it for a laugh, but they don't sound very fulfilling. I thought the good ending I got was strong, and after reading over the other possible endings I'm incredibly happy with the ending I got. Overall, it's a nice little ace attorney experience and worth it if you want some ace attorney in your face.

Game 63: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice (3DS) | 41 Hours | 09/29/16 | 4.5/5

This is the newest Ace Attorney game and in my opinion it is one of the great ones. I generally judge these games from a case by case basis and all the cases here are pretty great. Sure, the first case is a general run-of-the-mill opening case and the fourth case comes off as 'fillery' but they still feature fun characters and are good. Music and characters are still top notch. Character animations are still fantastic, that transition to 3D still paying off so well.

The game features significant improvements over Dual Destinies. For one, there is an option to have the text to scroll quicker without having to have read it first. I feel like I was able to retain the information better reading it at my own pace rather than the general slow pace of normal AA dialogue. Investigations have gone back to how they're done in the early games versus DD's autopilot investigations, while keeping the note feature so getting lost during investigations is virtually impossible. Spirit of Justice also has a full game story arc like DD's "Dark Age of the Law" but it's done much better here.

Beyond that, shit is great. While the game really isn't Apollo Justice 2, the final case is firmly centered around him and gives him great development for his character. Phoenix is, for better or for worse, Phoenix and Athena is there. The only failing is the main prosecutor of the game, who is a vanilla nerd who repeats the same lines over and over and even his theme is meh. So yeah game is Good.

Game 64: Gyatuken Kenji 2 (DS) | ~26 Hours | 10/04/16 | 5/5

As an aside, before Dual Destinies came out nearly three years ago, I decided to watch the youtube translation video series and I thought the game came off super good. So while playing through the game now through the great fan translation, I had remembered most of the major plot points but forgot most of the specifics. Most of the time, I proved contradictions through looking over the evidence rather than by memory.

Having said that and now playing it, Gyatuken Kenji 2 (or Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutors Path) is truly a masterpiece. Despite the first game not being so good, I loved the gameplay more than standard AA gameplay. Having a less formulaic structure and having Edgeworth's smug ass animations every time you find a contradiction fills me with such joy. Couple that with the introduction of Logic Chess, which plays out like a logic based Psyche Lock, and the gameplay is super solid.

The story is ace the whole way through, having the best full game story arc of the franchise so far, and the game pulls no punches from the get go. Every case is great, with great characters, unique locations with fun callbacks and great twists. The soundtrack has so many great tunes, personally it might be my favourite ace attorney soundtrack. Honestly, I find it hard to find faults with the game. It might be my favourite AA game and one of my favourite games of all time.
 
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Game 43: Battlefield 4 - 6+ hours - September 16, 2016
With the recent giveaway of Battlefield 4's DLC, I caved and ended up buying the game so I could play the campaign and try some online matches. In regards to the campaign, I was pleasantly surprised by the China angle, which seemed like a refreshing angle over the usual Middle East/Russia status quo. From a gameplay standpoint, the setpiece levels aren't outright bad, but they're really just claustrophobically narrow and never seem to allow for enough options. Even when the level is clearly actually decently wide, the stealth and other options are so limited that it ends up still feeling like a claustrophobic hallway fight. The biggest problem though is the story and characters, both of which are just ridiculously bad. The story itself never seems to play itself out all the way, as if some of it was cut and left in the planning room. As an example, Pac's arc seems extremely half-baked and seems as though they were setting up for a betrayal twist that never came. The characters in general have terrible arcs, with Irish being particularly annoying. "I hate you Hannah and don't trust you...oh wait, it's five minutes later....Hannah I love you, you're a great Tombstone member!" Puhhlease. Irish's whole schtick is completely annoying, and I hate how DICE once again created a player character that is supposedly the "leader," but because you're silent, everyone just walks all over your ass. The characters also really just end up being this terrible, "loud" and "brash" military stereotype. Which I guess are not bad prima facie, but they lack anything more. They never rise above being stereotypes, there's no satire, no commentary, it's all played entirely too straight. It feels like the game is completely unaware of its own stupidity. As for the multiplayer, well the level design is amazing, the naval maps that I've played are really unique in the world of multiplayer. The only problem that I have is the game seems damn near impenetrable to me now after years of being away, and I'm not sure I have the time or interest to get back into it.
Should I play the BF4 Campaign? No. Should I play the BF4 multiplayer? Yes, but be prepared for a steep learning curve getting back into it.
 

GametimeUK

Member
Finally after years of trying I did it. A lot of cheating here playing short games to add games to the list. After finishing 30+ games each year for years it will be nice to have a year off next year or not focusing on small games to boost my count. I'm just going to play what I enjoy.


Jan

(1)7th - Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald (PC)
(2)12th - Wind Waker HD (WiiU)
(3)19th - The Stanley Parable (PC)
(4)19th - Undertale (PC)
(5)21st - Mirror's Edge (PC)
(6)23rd - Life is Strange (PC)

Feb

(7)3rd - Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC)
(8)3rd - Shatter (PC)
(9)3rd - MGS5, Ground Zeroes (PC)
(10)12th - Gone Home (PC)
(11)16th - Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4)
(12)16th - Street Fighter 5 (PC)
(13)21st - Firewatch (PC)
(14)26th - Dying Light (PC)
(15)29th - Journey (PS4)

March

(16)2nd - Yoshi's Island (Snes / Ouya)
(17)2nd - Super Mario World (Snes / Ouya)
(18)3rd - Dark Souls (PS3)
(19)15th - The Division (PS4)

April

(20)2nd - Dark Souls 3 (Xbox One)
(21)4th - Bloodborne (PS4)
(22)27th - Flower (Vita)

May

(23)11th - Uncharted 4 (PS4)
(24)16th - Helldivers (PS4)
(25)19th - Uncharted 2 (PS4)

June

(26)15th - Resident Evil 7 Teaser (PS4)
(27)21st - Pony Island (PC)

July

(28)23rd - Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
(29)28th - Diablo 3 ROS (PS4)
(30)30th - Bayonetta (WiiU)

August

(31)4th - Bayonetta 2 (WiiU)
(32)7th - Infamous 2 (PS3)
(33)9th - Vanquish (PS3)
(34)9th - Batman Arkham Knight (PC)
(35)10th - Brothers (PC)
(36)16th - Infamous Festival of Blood (PS/NOWPS4)
(37)16th - Loco Roco (PSNOW/PS4)
(38)16th - Linger in Shadows (PSNOW/PS4)
(39)16th - Kirby Adventure (Nes/Ouya)
(40)17th - Abzu (PC)
(41)18th - Inside (PC)
(42)18th - Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (PC)
(43)23rd - Final Fantasy 15 Duscae (PS4)
(44)23rd - Resogun (PS4)
(45)23rd - Unfinished Swan (PS4)
(46)23rd - Limbo (PS4)
(47)31st - Transformers Devastation (PS4)

Sept

(48)1st - Shovel Knight (Vita)
(49)5th - Rayman Origins (Vita)
(50)12th - Bastion (Vita)
(51)22nd - Destiny Rise of Iron (PS4)

Oct

(52)7th - Forza Horizon 3 (XB1)
 
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Game 44: Picross 3D Round 2 - 32 hours, 26 minutes - September 22, 2016
I was pretty skeptical heading into this game since following up a puzzle game can be a daunting task. How do you make the puzzles fresh enough that people enjoy another couple hundred of them? Well, for the most part, they succeeded here. The color system is a good addition and the help/clear buttons are great QoL additions. For the most part, the puzzles had a good mix of new objects to uncover, although there were a few puzzles like 110 that were total copouts. As in, it's not even a puzzle. The biggest problem with the game though is that as you add mechanics to the puzzles and try to make them larger, the limitations of the 3DS begin to get in the way. First of all, the D-pad has way too many functions on it, making it very easy to make a mistake. Second, the screen on the 3DS is garbage, so it makes it very hard to see what you're doing on the bigger puzzles (which zooms them out). Orange for example is very hard to tell when it's faded or active. The squares and circles can similarly be difficult to see on the big puzzles. The game is also missing the editor that the DS version had, limiting its longevity (although it does have plenty of base puzzles!). The final complaint is minor, but it annoyed me. In the first game, when you completed a puzzle, the object would be animated (e.g., a fish would move or a little girl might ride her bike across the screen). Here, they're static. Boringgggg.
Should I play Picross 3D Round 2? For all my whining? Yes, absolutely. It's a lovely puzzle game and one of my favorite games that I've played this year.
 
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48. Fractal: Make Blooms Not War (Android, 2013) - 5:12
Finished the campaign. 24 puzzle stages finished.

Fractal is an intriguing puzzle game with a sleek exterior. The pieces don't always come together the way I'd like, but I can't decide how much of that is my issue and how much of that is the game's. The basic concept is simple, though kind of hard to explain in words: your job is to create clusters, or "blooms," of seven hex pieces placed on a tile grid. You do this by pushing those pieces around the board and spawning new pieces, both of which occur when you tap or click on empty spaces adjacent to a game piece. The more tiles an empty space touches, the more new tiles spawn; those pieces then move other existing tiles in lines radiating from the empty space. Each bloom scores a certain number of points, and you also get awarded bonuses for additional feats like chain reactions or scoring blooms larger than seven tiles. You have a limited number of moves, or "pushes," to hit the score goal for each stage.

Like all decent puzzle games, Fractal has a simple but deep set of mechanics. Later in the game, it introduces the concept of multiple colours (blooms can only be formed by seven tiles of the same colour) and powerups that can change the makeup of a game board quite drastically. The mechanics shine most brightly in the Puzzle section, which offer individual challenges that ask you to perform specific feats (usually clearing the game board or achieving a certain number of blooms). Solutions are very specific and require a fair amount of spatial thinking and forethought to solve. The campaign, on the other hand, feels a bit more random, especially in the later stages when the game tosses all the mechanics at you at once. Because the boards are semi-randomized, and because in the later stages you need every advantage you can get from powerups, the end of the campaign can feel a lot like a lottery. There's less thinking ahead and more thinking on your feet, trying to make do with the pieces you know are coming and the tiles already on the board.

This combination makes Fractal a bit of a slog if the puzzle mechanics don't immediately click with you. The puzzle levels ramp up in difficulty very quickly, and by the time I hit the third of the six puzzle groups, it was clear I'd have to do a lot of mapping outcomes or just trial and error to get through the rest. The campaign is quite a lot easier, but it can be really frustrating at the end when it feels like you're running into the same wall over and over with little recourse. Exacerbating matters is the lack of clarity surrounding the number of moves you bring into each stage. I've read somewhere that you can actually carry over unused moves from previous stages, but if this is actually true, I'm not sure how the mechanic is supposed to work, because I never saw it happen.
 
Finally after years of trying I did it. A lot of cheating here playing short games to add games to the list. After finishing 30+ games each year for years it will be nice to have a year off next year or not focusing on small games to boost my count. I'm just going to play what I enjoy.
Congrats on finishing!
 

Blindy

Member
40) Recore- 9/13-9/25

And finished Recore.....some positives and more so negatives


Positives:

- The corebot companions were great and Joule was a pretty cool lead character, the fact that each one had their own power and ability was fun even if it was just 1 main power attributed to them. But for some reason, there was supposedly a 5th companion that I never got to stumble upon and I explored everywhere except for like 3 or 4 optional dungeons. Not sure what that is supposed to be, DLC or did I just miss it? Violet is awesome, don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s a he or a she but the little guy is so cool. Can&#8217;t understand a dang word the thing is saying but it is still so cute. A-OKAY! I liked crafting each of these bots and getting blueprints to get them stronger and fuse core powers into them to wreck shit and they proved to be absolutely vital in combat.

- The platform portions were usually well done and pretty good barring the annual glitches that really overshadowed each of them. Especially towards the end, I can say it was a surplus fill of platform challenges that any platform fan will cherish.

- The exploration portions are neat, you have a good amount of freedom and often cases you get rewarded for rock climbing and I have to say I spent quite a bit of time just jumping up on rocks trying to exploit anything as far as getting tough to find items goes. The only thing that sucks is the game does cut how far you can go with the stupid radiation element, AKA the game&#8217;s no go zone. You spend too much time in radiation and your health will go down instantly and it&#8217;s a KO though you get put back to the spot you were previously so not too bad.

Negatives:
- The glitches. There&#8217;s no way around em, they happened frequent and often. From having my map not work/being disabled to falling below the floor to my death a few times to my companion randomly being trapped or not being by my side when I call them when there are no enemies in sight to getting stuck in a locked area when trying to get a treasure, forcing me to go back to the crawler/hub to getting shitty respawn starting points because I fell a funny way where every time in a timed challenge I continuously keep falling to my death without me being able to do a thing about it to getting a stuck in animation when trying to extract an enemy, forcing me to restart the game&#8230;.this game has glitches and then some.

This might have actually topped Gears of War Ultimate Edition as the worst glitched mess on the system(I have not played Halo:MCC) but for all of the flack Sony &#8220;Delaystation&#8221; happens to get, at least they have more polish in their games Phil Spencer. Please Phil, have these 1st party studios get the freedom to push a game back if need be. I saw this shit with Quantum Break too earlier this year. I rather play a polished game even if it takes longer than a buggy mess.

- The map system is awful, there&#8217;s no way around it. Where do I start?
Unless I completely missed something, you cannot mark a spot on the map of where you want to go and that to me is the single worst thing about this game because in a game that you are required to go and grind around to move further into the story, you have to allow a player to put forth a checkspot to mark where they want to go. Instead this game does not have that and rather makes you consistently check every 10 seconds or so to see where you are positioned on the map, that way you know exactly where you are placed and where you have to go. Just unacceptable in 2016 for an open world game and it really got annoying at given points, it became to the point that I just had to randomly stumble upon locations out of sheer navigation and legit just have to jump around on rocks to hopefully find some loot crates or plugbots that are vital in opening optional dungeons(Get to that in a second) or some prismatic cores which are essentially in moving the story.

Another frustrating aspect that I experienced with this game is the inability to have items spotted on the map until you are literately right next to the area or item this is especially confusing in an area that you uncover around 2/3 of the way through where the detection of the nearby items is nonexistent and it is because of this that I simply had to abandon two optional dungeons due to&#8230;

- The grinding at times for this game gets very tedious and unnecessary where case in point I just stopped going for the optional dungeons, in large part because of the terrible decision to ask the player to randomly search for specific plugbots that act as keys to open up an optional dungeon. The problem is you have to get 45 prismatic cores throughout your journey to get to the final boss, the game will not allow you to move forward unless you satisfy that so you are required to do these optional dungeons which on paper is not too bad but given about half of these dungeons have this key gimmick, it just becomes frustrating wasting time around the wasteland just trying to find these damn bots. They give off a radiant that isn&#8217;t too visible but that&#8217;s pretty much the lone indication these things give to let you know where they are.

- With maybe the exception of Gravity Rush Remastered this year, I don&#8217;t know if I played a more frustrating time trial style of challenges than what Recore provides. Recore&#8217;s time challenges are brutal&#8230;.at least with Gravity Rush you get checkpoints. With these, I can safely say I finished 2 of these and I just said screw it and took my sweet time to make the precise jumps and going against enemies to try and clear the dungeon for necessary prismatic cores.

- Not enough enemy variety for my liking, I think there&#8217;s a good 6 or so enemies but it&#8217;s the boss battles that feel rehashed and have no importance in them. No real different gimmick, just has more armor and health pretty much. It would have done a great service to this game if they put more emphasis on creating some epic boss fights. The last boss is a real chore but it does have some challenge in it, in fact the final area has a gigantic difficulty spike jump that this game was lacking so best be prepared for running like a mad man and just shooting everything that moves.

- The loading times are everything that they are cracked up to be, 35 seconds per so be prepared for some very long loading times. Armiture, the developing team of this game released a patch on Tuesday 9/20 but it might have shed the loading time by like 5 seconds, it is still too long. For a game that runs under 30 FPS for good portions of the game, how or why are these loading times so bad?

- And please this goes to all games, if you do not have a 30 or better FPS game, do not fucking throw the kitchen sink as far as enemies and bullets go. MASSIVE slow time towards the end of the game, know your game guys cmon. If your game cannot handle this much activity, do not have constant enemies respawn and them shooting 5+ bullets.

Listen I know there are more negatives than positives but Recore is altogether just a frustrating entry because it was easily the one game besides Cuphead that I genuinely looked forward to as soon as it was announced. When the game is good, it feels something ala Mega Man Legends which is a very good thing but there are so many easy mistakes that should have and needed to be fixed that really make the experience not as good as it should be. Frustrating is the best word I can describe because there&#8217;s certainly potential but the bad just really outshines the good for much of the game so it isn&#8217;t something I can recommend for everybody. The game is 40 dollars so it is at least fairly priced for a game that lasted 13 hours for me, especially given I did not explore every single dungeon.

41) Shantae and the Pirates Curse- 9/25-9/27

I appreciate the simplicity of these games, they know what they are and you know what you are getting with this title&#8230;but the menu designs, eek god. They look like something done on photoshop. That being said, if the menu designs (Which look the same from Risky's Revenge) are the biggest gripe I have with your game, than you have done a nice job.

Game was a tadbit longer than Risky's Revenge, just under 6 hours for me. Did not 100% the game, think I had an 82% completion though so I did get quite alot done. I enjoyed the game, much of what I said about this game sums up my thoughts on it. The Shantae series are perfect as a complimentary game to a long game as it's super simple to get into and you can just jump into a game and have mindless fun.

Think I finished the game at around 80% or something of that nature, might be a game I look to revisit to complete all of the collectables in the future.

Do plan on playing the next installment of the series but will probably wait for a sale and try and mesh it in with a long playthrough to even that out.

42) Until Dawn 10/3-10/4

Just beat Until Dawn, here's a game I put down early September for god knows what reason and left with about almost half of the game left to go. This time around with both Monday and Tuesday off, I took advantage of these 2 days by completing Until Dawn from start to finish during this extended weekend...and I am so glad I did, because this game is FANTASTIC. It wasn't because I disliked the game that I randomly did not pick the game back up, it was maybe due to Mad Max taking so much of my time in September that I ended up not returning. It was a game that always lingered me since for over a year, I told myself "When will I play Until Dawn, its not a long game. I can do it." and October being the month of horror yadadada presented the ultimate opportunity in doing so.

Very few gripes can I say about this game such as the checkpoint system being somewhat blah if you wanted to do a do over and try and save someone because you might have second guessed yourself and the unavoidable cutscenes seem like a major hindsight on the development's part but honestly besides all of that, the game is fantastic. Game throws such a swerve at you that you never see it coming and while you think you know who the antagonist is, it honestly does not end up enfolding the way you thought it might until you put the pieces together by late game. There isn't a ridiculous amount of QTEs though the time you get to pull one off may be an annoyance to some and you have some decisions to make even if there isn't much ability to build or destroy friendships. The game doesn't fall down the clique hole that I initially was thinking it might have. Just a really pleasantly enjoyable game that didn't drag on at all IMHO.


Finally caught up to where I currently stand so no more 10+ games per post! Little less than 3 months and I have 10 games to knock down, I think I got it.
 

Falchion

Member
Original Post

48) Forza Horizon 3 - 23 hours - 10/8
This is an absolutely amazing game, spectacular in every way. Horizon 2 is one of my favorite games of this generation and this one is an improvement in every regard. Hurricane Matthew blew into town today so I stayed inside and put about 12 hours into this game but I never get tired of it because of all the variety. I beat the final showcase and the credits rolled, but I'll still be playing this game for a very long time because there's still so much to do.
 

Dryk

Member
Original Post - Part 1
Original Post - Part 2
Original Post - Part 3

#39: Monument Valley 1.6 hours
I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would but that's mostly down to incorrect expectations. I was expecting a puzzle game, I got something that's more of a point-and-click walking simulator with light puzzle elements. It's really, really good at doing that but it's not really what I wanted. If you want some gorgeous and trippy visuals with some nice sound design then play it but if you're looking for puzzles play something else.

#40: Puzzle Quest: Galactrix: 21.8 hours
Puzzle Quest 1 is still my favourite by far. Galactrix falls into the same category as Puzzle Quest 2 for me where it's too samey and grindy for me to enjoy it to the end. I didn't enjoy the game for different reasons at the start because the ships I was fighting had attack gem duplicators and I didn't. But once I got a ridiculous combo of upgrades it was more tolerable.

So it's Puzzle Quest in space, with a lot of frustrating mini-games. Moving from place to replace requires hacking open warp gates, which you will have to do hundreds of times. You have to match gems in a set order in a set time limit and you get barely any experience for doing it so have fun with that. Putting the gems on a hex grid and making it so that you can manipulate which direction the gems fall in is an interesting idea but I'm not totally sold on it. It can make cascades seem even more random at times.

If you haven't played Puzzle Quest 1 yet I'd still suggest starting there.

Preview: I'm playing a game called Balance on iOS
 

Hikami

Member
main post
--
overdue September update:

Game 31: Bloodborne The Old Hunters (DLC) | 8 hours | September

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Had got this on release but never finished it.
I was a bit lukewarm on the main game but damn, as usual with souls games, this DLC was amazing. Made me want a sequel.
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Game 32: Muramasa Rebirth | 12 hours | September

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My first Vanillaware title and it was amazing. Played through Momohime's story and got one of the endings. Will definitely give it a replay later.
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Game 33: A.W. Phoenix Festa | 16 hours | September

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This game is surprisingly good considering the anime it's based off. You can create your own character or play as Ayato from the show. Playing as Ayato isn't anything special really. He starts out with maxed stats and follows the anime's story mostly. The fun comes from creating your own character. You're given a few months to prepare for the tournament from scratch. You have to build your stats, upgrade and buy new weapons, increase your rank by dueling, and find a partner to fight in the festa with. You can't max your stats or get the best weapon your first playthrough so you're encouraged to NG+ as stuff carries over. The combat system is pretty neat. I was juggling enemies and finding my own combos as if it was a fighting game. The AI's a bit stupid though so that made some stuff really easy. Not worth full price as it suffers in a lot of other areas but worth a pick-up once it goes on sale if you're a fan of the anime. I hope Bandai Namco localizes more stuff like this.
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Game 34: Hatsune Miku Project Diva f | 20 hours | September

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One of my first Vita games ever, finally got around to finishing it since I was interested in getting another Project diva game. Not a huge fan of Vocaloid anymore though it's been a while since I've heard any new songs.
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Game 35: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 2 | 80 hours | September

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Falcom, you did it again. Huge fans of them after all their games I've played this year and the last. Everything I've played from them is great.

I want to thank XSEED for localizing this game as well. I had a ton of fun. Can't wait for the third game.
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Game 36: Taiko no Tatsujin: V-version | 22 hours | October

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The best rhythm game I've played on Vita. I've played the first two games on 3DS and still playing through the third one but this tops all of them. Can't believe I almost didn't get this because I was bummed about not being able to use the touchscreen as a control scheme.

I'm hoping the next game release is a console one. Have only played the handheld games so I really want to play a console one with the actual drum and sticks.
 
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