LonestarZues

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,369
Master Post

My February update

10. Yakuza 5 - Ended up enjoying it despite not really liking the Shinada portion of the game. Also thought it had one of the weaker bad guys in the series as well, but loved Kiryu and Haruka's journey and the friends who helped along the way.... except Shinada lol.

11. Shadows of the Damned- Enjoyed the guns and killing demons, but this is one of the games where a silent protagonist would've been better.

12. Dragon Quest - I'd say it's about on par with the original Final Fantasy. Although Final Fantasy seemed bigger in scope. Still enjoyed hearing some of the same jingles that are in 11 like the leveling up noise. I could see how that would be very nostalgic for series veterans. Navigating the dungeons for the most part was relatively easy at least compared to the Phantasy Star games. Onto DQ2....eventually BB_Hades_Zaglol

13. Grand Theft Auto 5 - Absolutely love this game. My favorite in the series and was just as memorable as the first time I played it.

14. The Little Acre - Short Game Pass game took me about 2 hours. Loved the art style and it had some charming moments. There was so much back tracking for a 2 hour game that by the end I was glad it was over.

15. Fire Pro Wrestling World - Will still be playing it as it's a lot of fun, but finished the 3 campaigns so counting it as finished. Other then the campaigns have been playing a lot of Fire Promoter mode and currently on year 3 in that. It's essentially a GM mode in other sports games and typically the mode I spend a lot of time in.
 

Memory Pak

Member
Aug 29, 2018
232
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13. Crimzon Clover: World EXplosion (2020, Switch) ★★★★★
The third major Crimzon Clover revision is currently exclusive to Switch, and I wonder if that's to blame for the lack of buzz on this one. More fully-featured than ever, you effectively have 10 subtly different modes to tackle its perfectly paced 30 minute campaign. The new Arranged mode adds Gradius-esque upgrades into the mix, there are extensive leaderboards, a training mode, and a full replay system. All this content looks great with the new paintjob, and there's multiple soundtracks now too.
Unfortunately Crimzon Clover is not the easiest game to get into, despite giving you endless continues. An auto-bomb upon being hit could really go a long way in making the Novice mode actually accessible to novices. Another thing I would have liked to see improved is adding the sliver of a story here. At least make it clear if we're the aggressor or a lone defender, and against who. Danmaku Unlimited 3 is similarly sparse in story, but much more effective at providing player motivation thanks to three sentences throughout its campaign. Overall though, an incredible display of craft, easily the best shooter on Switch.

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14. Raiden V: Director's Cut (2019, Switch) ★★★★☆
First released on Xbox One in 2016, Raiden V correctly identifies a lot of problems shoot 'em ups face in the current market, but the effectiveness of its solutions varies. The genre struggles with a lack of content, low production values, and a lack of narrative to hook players. MOSS address this by producing a slick game with 3D models, 20+ stages locked behind various routes, and a story with constant voice acting while you play. The latter is a neat idea, and sometimes comments are made about your performance, but while you're trying to dodge ten gazillion bullets you tend to either zone out or be distracted by it. Unfortunately the story is cookie cutter shonen anime nonsense too, so your incentive to listen to it is low.
Similarly, the genre often eschews trends towards online play: lag would be disruptive, so these games usually restrict themselves to a leaderboard at most. Raiden V 's innovation is the 'Cheer' system: if players reach milestones (50 kills, find a collectable, beat a boss, etc.) others can Cheer for them at the press of a button. Receiving Cheers fills up your special, so there's incentive to play well and receive Cheers, as well as send them out to help out others. It's simple, but effective, and it's cool to see at the end how you and a few others were basically trading cheers for an hour.
Ultimately however, all these additions (story, Cheer system, and other sidebar gizmos) are a tad distracting from what is a very demanding shooter. You can opt out of them, but the sidebars remain there eating up screen real estate. This is a problem since the camera zooms out quite far sometimes, making some miniscule bullets hard to see on Switch Lite. It doesn't help how the most common pick-ups and incoming shots are both yellow, which feels like a rookie error despite MOSS' decades of experience. I definitely applaud the efforts here, and I'm glad Raiden is headed in this direction rather than the creepy waifu angle in MOSS' other series Caladrius Blaze, but it's not the home-run it could've been.

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15. G-MODE Archives29 Zanac (1986/2021, Switch) ★★★★☆
Having played about half the Aleste games earlier this year, seeing their predecessor Zanac arrive on Switch was a welcome surprise. All of the Aleste 1 DNA is already here: numbered power-ups which float away from you, segmented bosses, and shot levels separated from weapon types. It seems like an impressive game for the time.
However, I'm having trouble figuring out which version this one's based on. It looks like the G-MODE Archives are re-releases of Japanese Java phone games. The clunky menu translation claims they are faithful ports of classic games. However, the MSX, NES, and Famicom Disk System versions all look very different, with much more detailed backgrounds and a bright, garish colour palette. This version also has just a single song looping throughout. If anyone knows the missing link I'd love to hear it!
 

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
58,320
13: Streets of Rage 4. End: 2/27/2021. (3 out of 5)

SoR4 a perfectly fine beat-em-up. After beating the campaign one time, I don't have a strong urge to come back and replay it as the other characters.
 

watdaeff4

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,451
February Update - was a month of shmups, but that's ok. except for Psikyo games will be taking a break from that genre for awhile as I had my fill:

8) Wonder Boy - Dragons Trap
I have never playthrough through any of the Monster/Wonder Boy games before. This was the remake that game out a couple of years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. The artstyle was beautiful, the soundtrack was really good and the gameplay was aces. It was a nice mix of platforming and light Metroidvania aspects. Has me excited to play more of the games.

9) Darius
I have had my eye on the Darius Collections for quite some time waiting for them to go on sale. Over a year later it still hasn't so I broke down and bought it on the eshop. This really a really well made retro side-scrolling shmup. I love the branching paths. I played through and finished the game 4 times so will count it done for now. This was my first Darius game and can't wait to play more of the collection.

10) Final Fantasy XII
As mentioned below one of my goals this year was to complete a numbered Final Fantasy this year. I was able to complete my goal. I enjoyed the combat system and I know the gambit system was controversial but I liked it. The QOL improvements (4x speed for grinding ftw) introduced in the Zodiac Age were very very nice. I enjoyed leveling up my party through the job/license boards and giving them new abilities. I loved everything about the game except the story. The story was fine, but IMO a bit of a disappointed compared to other FF stories.

11) Habroxia
A retro-style shmup that was kinda short and relatively easy. If you are interested in the shmup genre, but afraid of the difficulties that some games offer (and some are wowza), this is a good starting point. Not only was a relatively easy game to beat but was also an easy platinum trophy if you are a trophy-hunter

12) Last Resort
I've amassed quite a few Arcade Archives games when they go on sale (or if I"m on eshop/PSN while drinking :) This is one I haven't played yet. It's a Neo Geo game where IMO the graphics still hold up well. The latter stages can get pretty difficult. It's a fine shmup but I have enjoyed others more.

13) Aero Fighters 2
As a Psikyo fan, this game scratched an itch for me as I haven't played their games for several months. Doesn't really offer anything that other Psikyo games don't do as this was a precursor. Still a solid vertical-scrolling shmup - esp if you are a Psikyo fan.

14) Tengai
Another Psikyo game (btw, if you are a shmup fan, have a Switch and haven't bought the Psikyo collections, then you need to) but this one is side scrolling.

15) Gears Tactics
Really fun tactics game. Loved the gameplay and storyline. One big criticism I have in the game is the amount of forced side missions they make you do in Chapter 3 of the campaign. It would have been more palatable if there were more variety to the missions, but alas it did take away from the experience.

16) Samurai Aces
Another Psikyo game, not much more to be said. You know what you are getting if you played the other games

17) Red Death
A shmup in the eastasiasofts line of project starship. The "story" mode was a bit short and easy so another good game for those who want to play shmups but are hesitant due to some having extreme difficulty. Also another game for the trophy/achievement hunters out there as it's an easy platinum


Games currently playing:
Hitman 2
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Cyber Shadow
Nioh
BLoodstained
 

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
58,320
14: Psycho Dream. End: 2/28/2021. (2 out of 5)

I thought this was a mediocre SNES Platformer with a story I did not understand, so I discovered this game's plot through its page on wikipedia, and now I'm disappointed its lore was wasted on a mediocre SNES Platformer.
 

dgamemaster

Detective Mode: On
Member
Jun 29, 2020
1,160
Feburary Update Time! Another good month with some really nice games.

Rayman Mini

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I tried this game shortly after playing Rayman Legends, as I still had the Rayman itch, and I wanted to give it a try since I do have the Apple Arcade subscription. The difference between Rayman Legends and Rayman Mini is astronomical, and a massive letdown after the greatness that was Rayman Legends. That sense of freedom and expression that made the moment-to-moment gameplay of Rayman Legends fun is stripped away via the decision to make it an auto-runner. There's no chance for improvisation, it's just all memorization on when to jump and punch and that's it. It's not all bad, there are moments where I was decently surprised at how clever the game tries to mix up the few gameplay elements, the game does have a very good, albeit repetitive, soundtrack, and I could see the argument that it looks better than Rayman Legends (seriously, UbiART is an amazing engine, it's a shame it isn't used more often) and it's nice to see old favorites like Mr. Dark come back (albeit in a reduced role), but it isn't able to save the mediocre gameplay for me, the one essential aspect that made Rayman Legends a masterpiece is gone, and while I understand it's because of the mobile audience, it still is very disappointing that at least they don't go anywhere with the limitations and instead made something that is so bland and basic.


PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2

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I already owned Pac-Man CE 2 on Nintendo Switch, but recently, I decided to revisit the game on PS4 after it was given away for free. This time, the game actually finally clicked with me. This game is to the original Pac-Man Championship Edition what Pac-Man Arrangement was to the original Pac-Man. Take the basic idea of the original CE (find and optimize your route through the maze for the highest score and make split-second adjustments) and remix it. Some of its ideas, like warp jumping and being able to touch the ghosts to make them angry then quickly grabbing a power pellet to make them jump to an edge and eat them up work flawlessly, and at its best, it has just as much tension and excitement as the original CE. This doesn't happen all the time, the Ghost AI is honestly terrible and I have seen it get stuck in infinite loops as well as disobey the game's own rules (I've lost high scores at times because a ghost went down a path during the power pellet phase where it shouldn't have been able to do so) and I do feel some of its mazes don't have a clear sense of direction, but in general, when you realize some of the tricks and optimizations, I think it honestly stands pretty close to the original Championship Edition.


Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island

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This was a relatively harmless short game that I liked! It wasn't anything amazing, but I didn't go into it expecting anything amazing, and it delivered more than what I expected. It really isn't a detective game, but rather, a simplistic puzzle fetch quest that allows for the writing to really take the spotlight. Its style of humor isn't for everyone, but it worked somewhat for me, and I really appreciated its charming, almost Saturday morning cartoon-esque tone. While I'm unlikely to replay it, it definitely is worth giving at least a small try if you find it on sale, for a relatively cheap but effective ride. Praise Lobster Cop.

Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard

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When the teaser for the next game played at the end of the previous one, I wondered what the differences would be. It turns out, there aren't many. This game shares a lot of its identity with its predecessor that the best way to experience it would probably be to do it back to back with the first one. I can tell even from the UI/general feel that this game had a larger budget and more polish put into it than the first game, and while one doesn't need to know the previous game's events, they do seem to be intertwined to a bit. The notebook bit was a tad bit disappointing, as they built it up as if it would allow us to actually pick out and accuse a subject (like say, A Case of Distrust) but instead, the notebook is only used for more gags. Writing-wise, the game still feels the same, so fans of the previous entry will be very pleased. I won't be revisiting it, since, at the end of the day, it's a fetch quest, and I doubt picking the different option will change much of the lore implications, so I'll only give it a mild recommendation if you liked the previous one and wanted more. Also featuring extorsion was nice.



Gravity Rush Remastered

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Oh boy, where to begin. After having spent ages listening to the soundtrack on Youtube, seeing fans from around the world fall in love with this game's world and characters, and seeing the heartbreak caused by the IP's abandonment by Sony (RIP Japan Studio), I was very much ready to finally take the plunge and try the game out for myself. And the end result was my first GOTY contender.

Gravity Rush nails something that very few games are able to fully master, which is the moment-to-moment game feel. Controlling gravity is very fun and being essentially able to fly definitely captures the feeling of being kind of like a superhero. At first, my gravity manipulation was not the best, but eventually, I was able to master the small nuances, and I love it when my flying seems to almost sync to the beautiful orchestra. Combat is also fun, albeit I understand why some wouldn't particularly like it or find it repetitive. The small micro-adjustment of tilting the controller and using the right stick to line up a gravity kick fully makes each successful kick impactful, and I haven't seen such a clever and controlled use for Gyro controls since Splatoon.

I also love the game's beautiful world and character designs. The open-world city of Hekseville is masterfully crafted and definitely allows the gravity mechanics to truly shine. Each of the game's areas is distinct, and you can really get a sense of the culture of each area. The game also plays around with more linear-based areas later on, and despite the linear nature of these areas, they still provide excellent twists on the idea of the gravity shifting mechanic and truly feel just as good and surprising as the open-world locations. Kat is a great protagonist, she isn't a perfect individual, but she's someone you eventually root for and support throughout her journey. Raven is a solid rival that truly creates an intimidating presence. The designs of the Nevi enemies are very peculiar, and one can tell the influence the dev team's past work on SIREN has via the designs of the Nevi. The other side characters you will meet throughout your journey are also each unique and provide for truly great story moments with their interactions. The soundtrack is a legit contender for Sony's best videogame soundtrack, with each track being memorable and reminding me of the sequence in which it plays. The artwork is also fantastic and truly sells on the comic book hero/anime aesthetic.

The game does have some minor flaws that do stick out. There are some rather minor yet unnecessary fan service sequences that seem out of place and took me out of it. The game also has partial voice acting, and while I understand that voicing the entire game with a made-up language would have been impossible, this game screams to be fully voice-acted (the few voice acting that exists isn't bad). Boss fights are also a mixed bag, with some either being too one-note and easy to beat or being confusing to the point where half the battle is figuring out where the boss is. Its story also seems to run out of steam near the ending (Spoilers below)

The story runs out of steam once you wrap up the tunnel/tower sequence and return to a yearlong time jump. The mayor of the town never fully feels as fully fleshed out as a villain, so seeing him become the main bad guy all of a sudden was jarring, and the final boss is disappointingly easy, especially when compared to the boss that immediately preceded it being one of the hardest ones for me.

The story builds up many mysterious aspects of the world and its protagonist, but never fully seems to resolve them. This leaves an ending where one is left feeling "that's it?", and while I know Gravity Rush 2 will likely contain the answers I need, I can tell this would have been frustrating for the first batch of players to discover. Still, that issue essentially boils down to a desire to have more of this game, which is ultimately a good thing.


All in all, I love this game, and it is an underappreciated gem within Sony's long and rich library of exclusives. The game's flaws do not ruin the game for me, and I do desire to eventually play its follow-up. And after seeing all the hype behind it, I'm glad I can finally fall in love with the franchise without feeling like a fake fan by not having played it. It is utterly fantastic, and I think it will stick with me for a long time to come.
 
Jan 10, 2019
403
Played and finished a few absolute gems in February. As usual I love reading everyone's impressions here, keep them coming!

Completed: 10/52

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Horace | Switch | 08/02/2021 | ★★★½☆
As I'm sure quite a few people did, I got this in a recent eShop sale for the price of a cheap cup of coffee. What a weird, special game this is. The tone is very British and there's a ton of pop culture references throughout. It has flaws, but its charm makes up for it and there's clearly a lot of love that went into making this. The story was oddly engaging in a way and I loved seeing it unfold, but some parts (I never skipped cutscenes) just went on for too long. Overall it was fun to play and nothing was overly difficult at all. When I started this I never thought it would take me around 17 hours to reach the credits.

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51 Worldwide Games | Switch | 13/02/2021 | ★★★★☆
Not an awful lot to say here, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing this non-stop with my girlfriend over the winter holidays. The handheld factor of the Switch is obviously a big plus here. I will occasionally return to this in the future, but I'm counting it as completed after 25 hours and getting at least a silver medal in every game (well, except Shogi).

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Paradise Killer | Switch | 18/02/2021 | ★★★★☆

Wow, this game just oozes style. The island is fantastically designed and the story was intriguing, but for some reason I feel like I didn't pay enough attention at times or I simply didn't take my time at certain parts. Bonus style points for the superb city pop / future funk soundtrack that works really well while traversing the island. I completed this after around 12 hours.

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Nier: Automata | PS4 | 22/02/2021 | ★★★★½

I held off playing this for way too long, but I'm glad I can finally click all those spoiler tags. What an experience this was! It's not without flaws, but it is an absolutely mad game at times and very memorable. The story was engaging, but some of the highlights were the side quests and the music that is absolutely fantastic throughout! I "reached" the final credits after 36 hours.

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Huntdown | Switch | 28/02/2021 | ★★★★★

The first game of a small Swedish dev and what an incredible gem of a game this is. The presentation is just unbelievably good with beautiful aesthetics, there's a fantastic sense of detail and tight controls. Most importantly it's truly fun to play. A fantastic synthwave soundtrack and energetic voice acting are the icing on the cake. I played the whole game as Anna Conda, but I will absolutely return to this game with the other characters and try the unlocked hardest difficulty. Hope they release some added content in the future! It took me about 6 hours to reach the credits.
 

Illusionary

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,623
Manchester, UK
A bit slower than January, but six games in February still takes me up to a total of 15 games now, which I'm pretty happy with.

Main post here

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10. Röki (Switch) | 6 February 2021
Completed with all loot collected and all badges earned. Röki is a puzzle-based adventure game set amidst Scandinavian folklore, telling a touching story that explores the bond between our protagonist, a young girl named Tove, and her brother who she must seek out after he goes missing as they escape from a monster attacking their home. The story here is really quite impactful, and especially in its final chapter, family bonds are developed in a touching way. Puzzle design is for the most part good, with solutions that are fairly logical with a little thought, though at times there's a little too great a distance between connected items across the game world - more of an issue in the game's earlier stages.

Technically, Röki does the job, but doesn't stand out - animations are perhaps the strongest achievement here - and there are occasional bugs that see the character's movement disrupted, though only once was this an issue for more than a couple of seconds (when getting stuck on scenery required reloading a - fortunately very frequent - autosave). These fairly minor issues aside, I'd give Röki a strong recommendation to any adventure/puzzle game fan, or anyone with any interest in the folklore themes that surround it.

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11. The Lion's Song (PC - Steam) | 7 February 2021
Completed all four episodes, with 100% of achievements unlocked. A narrative-based point-and-click adventure, The Lion's Song spans four episodes, each following a different character in pre-First World War Austria, united by their personal struggles for inspiration and acceptance - starting with a musician seeking inspiration for a concert, we move to an artist and a female mathematician (the focus of the final episode may be a slight spoiler so I'll avoid mention). Presented using well-drawn pixel art with a sepia colour scheme, there's an effective historical feel here.

With only very limited 'puzzles', the game is very much focused on its narrative, which fortunately is engrossing and I find myself drawn in by each of the character's stories, coming to know each of them across the 2-3 hours that each episode lasts. Especially well done are the various links between the stories, which take place concurrently - the best of these really are best experienced without spoilers, but as a gentle example, a person discussed briefly in episode 1's dialogue becomes a vital confidant of one of the later protagonists.

Broadly the story is is linear, but a few key choices in each episode *are* meaningful in shaping the nuances of events, both within and between chapters. Some longevity is afforded by the game's achievements, some of which can be puzzles in themselves to work out - but these go a little too far on occasions, requiring extensive episode replays. A 'connections gallery' accessible from the main menu expands nicely on the inter-episode call-backs that I mentioned earlier, awarding statues and paintings as you experience certain sets of events.

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12. Return of the Obra Dinn (Switch) | 11 February 2021
Completed with all fates solved. A impressive achievement by developer Lucas Pope, Return of the Obra Dinn is a detective/investigation game built out to a extensive level of detail. Playing as an insurance investigator, the game tasks players to discern the fates of each of the 60 crew of the abandoned East India Company ship Obra Dinn - after locating corpses around the ship, who were they, how did they die and who (or what!) was responsible. To achieve this, the player uses a magic compass that reveals the the scene of each body's last moments before death and a brief accompanying audio clip. The details of each of these scenes then need to be examined - at times down to quite fine details and in combination with other scenes (a distinctive tattoo, for example) - to establish the facts of the death.

There's a real sense of satisfaction in 'solving' each of these, and the game cleverly minimises the effectiveness of trial-and-error guesswork by only confirming that identity/cause of death/culprit combinations are correct in groups of three. You're also informed, by means of unblurring of faces in two sketches of the crew, when each should be soluble - though often, these can still be very challenging. It's here that I could crticise the game to an extent, as the level of nuance that seems to be expected in some cases feels arguably a little excessive - but equally, that could just be aimed at me for not being able to see it. Certainly, the succeeded at making me feel less clever than it demanded at times! However, the reward in satisfaction from successful detective-work mostly prevailed over such feelings of frustration.

Return of the Obra Dinn uses a surprisingly attractive monochromatic graphical style, which effectively captures the antique feel of the setting while still allowing sufficient clarity of detail for effective investigation, and catchy musical sequences accompany each death scene. A few additional quality of life features could certainly be added, most notably, an easier way to navigate between these scenes (replaying each requires you to locate the relevant body again), but on the whole this is a polished package.

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13. Wide Ocean Big Jacket (Switch) | 13 February 2021
Complete playthrough, plus bonus chapters. A short story following a group of two adults and two children on a camping trip, Wide Ocean Big Jacket certainly has a certain charm. Don't expect any big revelations or plot twists here, but for a relaxing experience over the course of an hour or so, there's some enjoyment to be had here. While the game uses a deliberately primitive polygonal graphical style, its strength comes in its writing, with dialog at times amusing and other times poignant. The game didn't hit for me as strongly as it seems to have done for many others, but I can see why it has its fans.

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14. Super Mario 3D World (Switch) | 22 February 2021
Completed with a four-starred save file (all green stars, stamps and flagpoles except for Champion's Road). While Super Mario 3D World may be a Wii U report, it's not lost any of its edge in the eight years since original release, retaining a real sense of joy pretty much throughout. There's a nice balance here between the linearity of Mario's 2D outings with some more explorative elements - a few of the green stars which are the game's main collectible are deviously hidden! The core platforming gameplay is as tight as ever, of course, though perhaps just a little too reliant on the new catsuit power-up, which can at times over-simplify some sections with its climbing ability.

I played entirely single-player, but I should note that there's clearly great multi-player potential here... though I do wish that overall completion didn't require playing through ever stage with every character!

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15. Bowser's Fury (Switch) | 27 February 2021
Completed with all 100 cat shines collected. Bowser's Fury offers an interesting development on the explorative approach of many of the 3D Mario platformers, taking place in an entirely open world, expanding in scope as you progress towards collecting all 100 shines. As an experiment it's largely successful, with an empowering sense of freedom, though the world being largely waterlogged, with inter-island travel aimed by Mario's swimming companion Plessie, feels like it limits the potential somewhat, with each individual island being a little smaller than I'd like, and I'd have liked to see some more variation in objectives. The late-game ability to warp between islands is certainly greatly appreciated! Similar to 3D World, the catsuit power-up again feels over-powered in many scenarios.

The use of Fury Bowser as a recurring boss encounter is again an interesting experiment, particularly with the way that each encounter transforms the world, with a handful of shines only available in this state. Again, though, the repetition feels a somewhat limiting to the game's overall potential, and these sequences come to feel more of an annoyance after playing through a few of them. Regardless, though, the core platforming is very solid and I enjoyed my time with Bowser's Fury - it'll be interesting to see what Nintendo takes from this experiment in future instalments.
 
Oct 27, 2017
1,828
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February
10. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Reignited Trilogy) (PC) | 3rd Feb - 7 hours | 3.5/5 : Really good remaster, felt easier than the other two somehow
11. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch) | 15th Feb - 15 hours | 3/5 : I'm not sure if I should split these up, so I'm counting them as one. Not my favorite Mario, but Bowser's Fury was really good. Makes me excited for the next full Mario game
12. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS5) | 20th Feb - 29 hours | 3/5 : First ever Ys game. Combat got stale after a bit, for sure not my favorite Falcom game, but it was still enjoyable. I don't know if I'll go back for any others
13. Persona 5 Strikers (PS5) | 28th Feb - 40 hours | 4/5 : Really good sequel. First musou style game I've played in ages, and it seems more like an action styled P5 instead. I still prefer the turn based combat, and this makes me want to play Royal again
 
Oct 27, 2017
3,485
No. 12 - Moose Life - 5/5

Arcade bliss. In Moose Life, Jeff Minter and Giles Zorzin delivered one of my favorite VR games and one of my favorite arcade games in recent years. No other recent game has put me so thoroughly into its zone for level on level.

I love the way that the game follows arcade logic - as you go, you see new enemies and obstacles. They aren't identified and it's up to the player to just... play and figure it out. But each is identifiable in its own pattern and interactions with the player's avatar. There's so much sensory overload that the trick is to reach for those recognizable hooks and respond quickly and improvisationally.

Moose Life even goes a little further than the previous arcade games that Minter so expertly remixes in its use of multiple, recursive planes. This would be a quality arcade VR shmup (of which there are far too few!) even without the mind warping geometry, but with it the game is exceptional. Players can flip from the floor to the ceiling with the touch of a button, which is necessary to avoid waves of enemies and their scattered, caltrop-like projectiles. But there's no simple negotiation of waves - players can move back and forth, but so can enemies. This leads to strange, broken patterns and hazards if the player doesn't act quickly. This adds a marvelous layer of complexity.

Altogether, this is my first 5/5 of new releases in 2021. I simply adore this game. It helps that, at the moment, I'm the world number 3 on the playstation leaderboards. But the game made it worth my effort to get there. I hope you do even better!

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Palomitero

Member
Jan 2, 2018
35
Barcelona
Main post here

Feb update


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04- Project Triangle Strategy demo-1h- N/A


Great first impressions, gameplay is pure tactics ogre with the much loved terrain advance mechanic and great art.

The combat feels a bit slow tho, and the animations looked a little off.


Still a long year to polish the game, for now looks like a solid game.



05- YS IX -40h- 5/5


First GOTY 2021 contender for me.


THE BEST exploration mechanics they added so far in the series, adds a ton of fun to exploring the city and dungeons. Along with fun gameplay as you can expect from YS series, with a great cast of new characters and interesting story & setting.


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HOWEVER, the shadow of YS VIII is long. Still feels like a big downgrade story wise. In addition, little to no big open areas to do some free exploration was a bummer, almost all areas are catacombs/caves.


Nonetheless, this game offers a great all-around-pack for the 30-40 hours it last.


OST amazing as usual from Falcom.




Now playing:

Bravely Default 2
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
36. Blood Omen 2
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OK so yeah this game IS as bad as it's made out to be. Ever since I've seen its cover and promo images back in the day, I was put off by how ugly it looked, little did I know that even the ingame models are reflective of the ugly uninspired promo art. I'd really like to know what happened during the game's development, not the story or plot but just how these character models were approved and thought that they'd be OK in 2002 when there were at least 2 years of better looking character models on PS2, Xbox and Gamecube.
The gameplay itself is underwhelming and basic, with enemies becoming tougher as you progress. If there is one positive I can give to the game it'd be its setting; the areas themselves have potential (shanty town, noblemen's district, wharf, etc.) but the game is just so bland gameplay wise that clearing it was a chore.
The game's plot is best seen as a 'what if' scenario and sadly doesn't add much to the mainline series' overall lore and far better overarching plot. To be fair though there are some interesting bits and the voice acting is good, but the overall game is just really bad and dull that it ruins whatever good will it could ever have had.

At any rate, that's it for the Legacy of Kain series, an overall wonderful accomplishment in narritive but the later games' suffer from annoying if not disappointing combat systems that can make going through them a chore.
 

Valkerion

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,800
Main Post!
March post starting! Tempted to slap in demos like others but, nah.

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13. Tail Concerto (7/10) 2/26/2021 - PS1
This is weird one, in concept and all. I played the demo of this action platformer back in the day but never the whole game. Its quite a jolly adventure and clearly aimed at children. The game itself is super easy outside a few awkward moments thanks to some strange jumps near the end. But the story is lite and fluffy just like the cute cat and dog characters in it. I enjoyed it honestly and is one of those rare games that is so clearly aimed at children without being associated with an existing IP but for some reason does not give off that vibe on appearance alone. I kept feeling like here was some meaning behind the enemies being kittens and catching them and what not, and the game was constantly like "nope, this is literally as simple as were saying it is." It's a jolly short ride at around 4 hours. It gave huge Mega Man Legends vibes with maybe better controls haha.

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14. Dino Crisis 2 (8/10) 3/2/2021 - PS1
One of my favorites from my childhood. The game is a hard left turn from the survival horror vibes of the first game. Where as the first was intrinsically linked to Resident Evil, 2 tries many new things while loosely relating to its originating inspiration. Instead of the methodical searching and puzzle solving with enemies in some areas, DC2 has dinos spawning infinitely as you proceed through areas. You earn points and more for new items and upgrades as well. this hard shift to action only is a bit jarring but its a well paced and put together adventure. Some hate it and some love it. I'm hard pressed to call it a great game because the plot is nonsense, but the general action the game does is done so well its hard to not get sucked in. It's a dumb action game, but its a great dumb action game.


15. Dead Space 2 (9.5/10) 3/7/2021 - PC
Holy heck this game is still amazing. I played it in a single day and loved every second of it. How did EA let this series go dormant.
 
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BPHusker

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,193
Nebraska
17. Dark Souls Remastered (PS4) | 3/2/2021 | 57 hrs | 4/5
After playing through Demon Souls on PS5, I decided to go back and play the other Souls games. Going from Demon Souls (PS5) to even the Remastered Dark Souls was a huge change. The gameplay felt more stiff and janky. It didn't bother me much except for when I needed some precision on some jumps or dodges. I really enjoyed the environments except for the Crystal Cave and Lost Izalith - those places were awful and dropped by score by a half point. Overall I enjoyed it and I'm glad I waited to play the Remastered version for the better framerate and other improvements.

18. Dark Souls Remastered: Artorias of the Abyss (PS4) | 3/2/2021 | 6 hrs | 4.5/5
I enjoyed the DLC a lot more overall than the base game. While the environments were good, this DLC has the best boss fight in the game.
Artorias
was such a great fight and was one that was balanced well and wasn't cheap like the damn dragon. The final boss of the DLC was also a fun fight. If you are playing Dark Souls, I highly recommend to play the DLC.

Main Post
 
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Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
25,295
So it has been a while since I updated my list. Right now my gaming has been on the lighter end as I am catching up on films during award season, but I am almost done so I think my backlog will start to cut down :)

5. Donkey Kong 64 (N64) | 31st Jan - 30hrs | 3.5/5
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I played a bunch of this game 20 years ago as a kid, but I never beat the game. So over the course of three weekends I started it back up. I was surprised how much I remember of the game (my memory is that good lol). I had an LTTP that had a whole 10 posts in it. For all of its fault, and it had quite a few, there was a lot of good in this game. I actually 101% finished the game. I will never do that again.

6. Picross (3DS) | 5th Feb - 5hrs | 3/5*
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So over the past couple of years I have become a huge fan of the picross 3DS games. I decided to go back to the first game and do the puzzles again. It amazes me how little content there was compared to later games.

7. Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) | 15th Feb - 71hrs | 4.5/5
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This was one of my white wales in my collection. A launch day purchase back in 2012, I never got super far in the game. Finally I decided to buckle down and beat the game. It was an ok experience until about half way through. Once I hit that story twist it was a roller coaster the rest of the way. I am so glad I finally experienced it.

8. Spyro the Dragon (Switch) | 19th Feb - 6hrs | 3.5/5
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I never played this franchise before so it was fun to finally try out the dragon. Outside of continuously dying at the last level for missing jumps it was a fun time. I can't wait to try the other two games.

9. Nier Automata (PS4) | 2nd Mar- 12hrs | 4.5/5
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Add this to the 2017 games that I missed out at launch. Now in fairness I have only beaten the first playthrough, but since I saw the credits I felt ok to add this to the list. I already started the second playthrough. This game is a masterpiece and I feel like I have only scratched the surface.
 

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,958
February update:

5. Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy (PS5, 2021) - 51:31 - February 21
6. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (Switch, 2020) - 26:27 (+14:58 in 2020) - February 25

Already behind but this year's been heavy on lengthy RPGs so far, so whatever. Atelier Ryza 2 is a welcome improvement over the first game, and I was happy to invest the extra time for the Platinum this time around. As a bonus, I've got a much better handle on how to break this trilogy's alchemy system now! I do wish the difficulty curve was smoothed out, though; it's exceedingly easy through to the end of the game, and then there's a large spike for the single post-game boss.

Sakuna was also lovely, and showed up on my GOTY ballot, though I will admit that the last boss of the game makes me want to take it down a spot. Sakuna is the kind of game that's unique enough that you forgive its issues, just because they pale in comparison, but it does have issues: the day/night cycle often feels constraining, and after a certain point trying to manage all your ingredients without too much spoilage becomes an exercise in tedium. But by and large, it pretty much nails the core components of farming and fighting.

So what's up for March? Maybe some train games? I bought some Densha de Go! games, whoops. More realistically, though, I still have Yakuza: Like a Dragon and WRC 9 to finish up, and Persona 5 Strikers is in the mix as well. Bravely Default II will probably go on a shelf for now, at least until I figure out how connected to the first game (and Bravely Second?) it is. Beyond that, I think I'd like to start The Talos Principle and Breath of the Wild (FINALLY), plus get back to Mirror's Edge Catalyst, but I'm not sure if I'll actually get to any of those.
 

AlanMoore

Member
Feb 22, 2018
3,366
Main Post

10. Metro Exodus - 4/5

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I really loved this one, and think it's the best in the series. I get why a lot of people didn't like the open areas, but I really enjoyed those compared to most open worlds with endless tasks and markers. The three open areas have unique characters, stories, and genuinely impactful items you can find for the crew. This is the first Metro game where the morality system was properly utilized as well, and it was a bit obvious where you were being tested. Your crewmates are full of vigor, and the Metro series always manages to really pull you in (literally) while you're talking with these people. Sure, the voice acting isn't always great, but I fell in love with everyone on the train. Some of the underground areas are best in the series, and I was terrified throughout. This game LOOKS unreal as well, and the weather effects are phenomenal.

Just look at this



I really wish Artoym wasn't a silent protagonist, and the game got really buggier near the end. I played it on PC, and I would randomly get stuck in terrain and objects.

It's a very solid game, and I highly recommend it.
 
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Griffin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
115
Osaka
Napple Tale rules. Like A Lot. I haven't played it in about 20 years and I had to use a really rough guide to get through about half of it, but the soundtrack was a treasure and I ended up importing a copy of that just for commutes. Now that there's a patch out there I'll have to take another run at it again.

Yeah, it's definitely worth a replay now that there's a nice fan translation out. There's a few meme lines that felt a bit out of place since it's originally from 2000, but it's a fantastic effort that should make this classic accessible to a lot more people.

I've been enjoying looking at what other people are playing and gathering a lot of shmup recommendations. Onto the February recap!

MAIN POST

4. Donut County (Xbox One) - ★★★☆☆

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A minimalist game about minimalism. The twee humour didn't click with me but there's something therapeutic about opening up a hole beneath a traffic jam and sending all the cars into the abyss. Lots of lo-fi beats to destroy things by.

5. de Blob (Xbox One) - ★★★★★

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At first I was just looking for an Aussie game to play on Australia Day, but I ended up really enjoying painting the streets as blob antifa. The funky soundtrack is a standout and the way the music works in improvisation with different instruments depending on what colour you're painting with is really innovative. De Blob is like a big colouring book. Despite the constant time limit, I found it relaxing to gradually fill in all the white space in the world. The only disappointment was getting a rare achievement from beating each level and seeing that only 1% of people actually finished the game. What's wrong with ya'll?

6. Nora and the Time Studio (Nintendo DS) - ★★★★☆

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This was a lovely little Japan-exclusive RPG by Atlus, featuring staff from the Atelier and Shepherd's Crossing series. You're a young girl living in the woods with a magical device that can speed up and eventually reverse time. In your three years of training, you need to solve requests for the local townspeople and make friends to ensure they don't start a witch hunt against you. Collecting and creating items is important and each ingredient can be used in many ways e.g breaking down fruits or baking them into sweets. You can also use your time powers to change items into different forms or simply leave them lying around and let nature run its course. Stale bread is a surprisingly useful weapon!

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There are a lot of endings depending on which character you befriend but each playthrough is pretty short (especially if you can read Japanese much faster than me!). Some of the endings have some obscure and challenging requirements, which is a bit annoying. I tried and failed to wind up with one character's ending and as a result I found myself locked out of the big city until I could beat an impossibly difficult battle. Some annoying events aside, Nora is a real charming title (just listen to that upbeat Michiko Naruke music!). It's a shame Atlus never revisited this one after porting all the DS Shin Megami Tensei games and Radiant Historia.

7. Shadows of the Damned (Xbox 360) - ★★★☆☆

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I figured I should finally check out this Suda51 (but not really) game it before it left Game Pass. The action sticks close to Resident Evil 4 (which is to be expected, given the Shinji Mikami connection) but even for a horror game wuss like myself, there weren't many scares. The whole "darkness" mechanic at least keeps things a bit tense, as you frequently need to scramble to shoot a goat's head (for whatever reason) before the darkness encroaches and you get swarmed by invincible enemies. The action was fun, but it felt like the developers ran out of ideas by the halfway point and just filled the rest with boring turret sections and out of place side-scrolling shooters. As a result, it's not nearly as good as Resident Evil 4 or similar shooters, although it's definitely a lot funnier. The jokes are incredibly juvenile, leaning hard on dick jokes and the inherent funniness of the f word, but I still laughed a lot because the lines were delivered so well

Coming up in March: Stress! And some janky PS4 action RPGs if there's time.
 
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Whimsicalish

Member
Dec 30, 2019
188
Midwest
07 | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Switch | Mar 01 | 41 hrs | 4.5/5
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Second run of Three Houses and I teamed with Claude. No one can stop me from counting the same game as multiple entries (lol). Pretty much the same positives from my last post. I like the interactions and relationship events. The tea party was a lovely addition. I like the gambit during fights; you can explore different units.

I was able to uncover more of the main story since I went with a different class. You get much more interaction with a certain character, I will not mention here because spoilers, that I did not get to see in Dimitri's ending. The one minor flaw from these branching stories is that you have to wait till near the end of the game to get a story dump. I wish it was written throughout your journey and more spread out.

For a game that encourages you to play the game multiple times, I was a bit surprised to see no option to turn off tutorials. I do not need directions on battle or moving after 100 hours of gameplay, Nintendo.

Plus not keeping your previous options menu saved. Both are an oversight. Thus why this score isn't a "perfect" 5. The route wasn't at fault. But the replay could use more options like skipping tutorials and an option to make the tiny text point size bigger.

Now to see what happens with Edelgard's route.

Main Post
 

Snowfruit

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Jun 8, 2018
1,810
United States
main post

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4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4, 35 hours) Mar 2

Kinda overrated, but still good.

Vanillaware's art hasn't looked better than this game and the story is somewhat engaging, but everything else felt lacking. I'm not exactly a stranger to VNs, I play them all the time and some don't even have any gameplay or action at all in them. 13 Sentinels starts out great and intriguing, but it has some of the most dull slice of life story moments that actually made me consider dropping it. Thankfully it all ramps up towards the end. Music is pretty forgettable, I can't recall more than a handful of tracks that stood out. The combat system has some good ideas but the presentation is pretty bland. There's some awesome mech designs in this game only for them to be made small blips on a map in the gameplay. I get that Vanillaware doesn't have unlimited budget but still disappointing to see.

I feel like I would've maybe enjoyed the dull story sections more had I done English voices the whole time. I started out with Japanese voices and they sounded good but as I started to lose interest I switched to English and had a better time. The English cast just sounded more energetic and lively to me, they're really great.

Still glad I played it for those good moments but I wish people wouldn't hype this up as some sort of masterpiece.

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djinn

Member
Nov 16, 2017
16,562
main post

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4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4, 35 hours) Mar 2

Kinda overrated, but still good.

Vanillaware's art hasn't looked better than this game and the story is somewhat engaging, but everything else felt lacking. I'm not exactly a stranger to VNs, I play them all the time and some don't even have any gameplay or action at all in them. 13 Sentinels starts out great and intriguing, but it has some of the most dull slice of life story moments that actually made me consider dropping it. Thankfully it all ramps up towards the end. Music is pretty forgettable, I can't recall more than a handful of tracks that stood out. The combat system has some good ideas but the presentation is pretty bland. There's some awesome mech designs in this game only for them to be made small blips on a map in the gameplay. I get that Vanillaware doesn't have unlimited budget but still disappointing to see.

I feel like I would've maybe enjoyed the dull story sections more had I done English voices the whole time. I started out with Japanese voices and they sounded good but as I started to lose interest I switched to English and had a better time. The English cast just sounded more energetic and lively to me, they're really great.

Still glad I played it for those good moments but I wish people wouldn't hype this up as some sort of masterpiece.

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Currently playing this one too.
 

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
58,320
15: Grandia. End: 3/3/2021. (4 out of 5)

A decidedly old-school turn-based JRPG clearly inspired by the SNES JRPGs that preceded it. It definitely feels like a part of that era in gaming, warts and all. If you like those kinds of games (and I do), then you should enjoy this one.
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
37. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
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Finally got around to playing a Legend of Heroes game, and this one was...lame.
There is some interesting stuff about the combat system with the positioning and all but the setting and characters were utterly underwhelming. Doesn't help that the game hardly has any worthwhile dungeons to speak of and I wasn't all too immersed with doing side quests either.

Will attempt Cold Steel 2 down the line just so I can get that over and done with too, then I can go back and play Trails in the Sky which I hope I'll enjoy a lot more.
 

Bosh

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,235
MAIN THREAD
COMPLETED 20


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Quick update

Nioh 2 Season Pass: Similar to the first game, a fantastic value. While part 1 of 3 was lacking, the final two DLC's more than made up for it with fantastic gameplay.

The Medium - I was really disapointed with this game and was bored. It does have fantastic atmosphere. I won't knock the 2 worlds idea, although I did feel on a widescreen computer monitor it did not fully work as both screens were then harder to make out and enjoy the detail.

Persona 5 Royal - I already though 5 was better than 4 Golden, even with its faults. Royal fine tunes the experience and smartly adds content to make it fantastic. Platnium Trophy earned as well.

Control Ultimate Edition: I played through Control last year, so replaying it on new systems and with DLC was really enjoyable. I will say the second DLC was more interesting on paper then playing, but its hard to knock this package at all.

Gradius - My first Shmup for this style. Big props to Memory Pak for getting me interested. I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to play more in this genre.
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
38. Heavy Barrel
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A twin-stick shooter style shooting game from the 80s that gets way too difficult for no reason other than devouring one's credit during its time in arcades. Seriously this game gets stupidly hard when enemies start swarming around you and you manage to avoid their shots for a few seconds before you are killed. Worse, when you revive you only have a scant few seconds of inviniciblity before you die. Being an 80s arcade game, this one in particular had recurring levels with different colour pallettes and its music was very repetitive too, although the main theme is quite catchy.
 

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
4. Banjo-Kazooie - 06/03/2021

Yes I am back on my bullshit but this time it's with the XBLA remaster.

Still Banjo-Kazooie, still the best 3D platformer of its time and possibly forevermore.
 

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
5. The Gardens Between - 06/03/2021

Game Pass is going to introduce me to so many indies and I am all for it. The Gardens Between is an interesting little puzzle game where time only moves as long as you do and will reverse if you backtrack, gradually adding more and more complex mechanics through the lovingly nostalgic experience as two kids delve into their memories. Really the only thing I don't like is that the game kind of breaks its own rules at the end; it's made clear that everything stops when you do, even the raindrops in the foreground, but eventually elements that continue moving like droplets of water get introduced, and there's even an annoying puzzle where you're supposed to stop at an aribitrary moment so a lightning bolt will cascade to hit other objects. It's really the only black mark for the game but as someone who's obsessed with The Rules in games it irked me.
 

Snowfruit

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Jun 8, 2018
1,810
United States
main post

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5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 3 hours) Mar 7

Jumped back in to Smash briefly to check out Pyra and Mythra. They're fun to play alright. Don't think I'd main them but I'll choose them over Fire Emblem characters when I'm in that mood.
Had a good time clearing the classic mode and spirits board here. Then I jumped online and remembered why I don't play this that much besides the singleplayer content. I already hated the stuttery mess this online is but after playing the Guilty Gear Strive beta with its excellent netcode, even the somewhat decent matches don't compare. Local matches only for me, thanks.

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6. Maquette (PS5, 3 hours) Mar 7

A rather mediocre puzzle game, glad I got it from PS+ and didn't pay for it at least. It has nice visuals sometimes and good music but everything else is disappointing. I can't remember the last time I actually skipped a cutscene in a game on purpose. About halfway through I got tired of listening to the cringy characters talk and interrupting the puzzles so I started skipping all of them. The puzzles had some good ideas but never elaborated on them and broke its own rules all the time. Also wish it used the dualsense features a bit more. There were a few moments where you could feel unique haptics or the trigger tightening but I would've liked more.

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7. Fortnite: Chapter 2 Season 5 (PC, 30 hours) Mar 15

I was away for almost the entire season on this one. Played a bit at the start and got bored quickly but came back recently. The game went crazy with crossovers and most didn't catch my attention until they started adding actual game characters instead of just movie and show stuff. Kratos, Master Chief, Ryu, Chun-li, and more just shooting it out in this game is crazy to see.

These crossovers are successful in the other direction as well I'd say. I didn't care for the Mandalorian until he was added here and was given a 2 month trial of Disney+ from Fortnite. Now I'm hooked on the service after watching The Mandalorian, Wandavision, and anticipating all the upcoming Marvel stuff.

The game itself still feels stale as ever unfortunately. No fun items allowed unless it's in specific limited time modes, the map has barely changed, and a bunch of other issues I could talk about in length. Here's hoping that next season turns out better.

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8. Genshin Impact: All That Glitters (v1.3) (PC/Mobile, 200 hours) Mar 15

This is probably the weakest Genshin Impact has been since launch. While the Tower defense mode was fun for a bit, it was over in a week or two. The rest of this Chinese New Year celebration was a bunch of fetch quests with boring story involving NPCs no one cares about instead of using the characters already in the game that people actually want content for.
Luckily they seemed to have gotten the memo and the next update has a variety of content involving actual gameplay and beloved characters.

The resin situation hasn't really improved either. I got Xiao like over 3 weeks ago but still haven't even used him because all my resources are tied up trying to level other characters I already had. I wonder what their solution to this will be since these bandaids aren't really helping.

Next patch looks promising from the previews at least. If it doesn't hold up I can see myself finally dropping this and not coming back until the new area actually shows up.
 
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iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,857
Just wondering - how much time do you all spend playing each day / week? I'd really love to pull this off one day, and it'd do wonders for cutting down my backlog, but 52 games in a year seems like such a high number - especially if you're going to be playing longer games in there too.

Are there any tips for completing a challenge like this, or just playing and beating more games in general?
 

LonestarZues

Member
Oct 27, 2017
18,369
Just wondering - how much time do you all spend playing each day / week? I'd really love to pull this off one day, and it'd do wonders for cutting down my backlog, but 52 games in a year seems like such a high number - especially if you're going to be playing longer games in there too.

Are there any tips for completing a challenge like this, or just playing and beating more games in general?

I work from home so that helps, but on average I play about 4 hours a day during the week and some weekends I play 8+ hours per day others I don't play at all, just depends if I have plans or not.
 

Blindy

Member
Nov 16, 2017
3,929
Just wondering - how much time do you all spend playing each day / week? I'd really love to pull this off one day, and it'd do wonders for cutting down my backlog, but 52 games in a year seems like such a high number - especially if you're going to be playing longer games in there too.

Are there any tips for completing a challenge like this, or just playing and beating more games in general?
I think to beat this challenge it's about the type of games you pick, I don't know how it's humanly possible to pull this off doing this with all RPGs from a time perspective. Picking some shorter games help for this. I game 3 hours a day usually and on weekends maybe 5-6 hours a day?
 

Whimsicalish

Member
Dec 30, 2019
188
Midwest
08 | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Switch | Mar 08 | 34 hrs | 3/5
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Third run of Three Houses and I stayed with the Church of Serios. This route was disappointing to play after Claude. It was too similar to his route with only a few minor differences. None of which changed the story or really added anything new. Basically they swapped Claude for Seteth to assist you. I don't believe I learned any new information either, so I'm confused on why this route even exists. Like the option to follow them instead of Edelgard is there but adds nothing.

Again, you don't really see anything *new* until the final fight. I'm not sure why you would keep the only new information till the very end of a route. It didn't feel rewarding or interesting the entire travel up to that point. Please sprinkle new info on the way instead of only at the end, RPGs. Please I beg you. It makes the journey extremely bland.

Still keeping this negative, because come on: For a game that encourages you to play the game multiple times, I was a bit surprised to see no option to turn off tutorials. I do not need directions on battle or moving after 100 hours of gameplay, Nintendo. Plus not keeping your previous options menu saved. Both are an oversight.

This route was a letdown. Honestly, I would say you could skip it if you got the info from Claude's route. Now to actually see what happens with Edelgard's route.

Main Post
 

Blindy

Member
Nov 16, 2017
3,929
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9) Super Mario 3D World+ Bowser's Fury(Nintendo Switch)
All collectibles and all 100 cat shrines excluding finishing all stages with 5 characters

And got all stamps, stars and flagpoles for Super Mario 3D World..............that includes the secret, secret 3 stage world of Captain Toad's Finale, the barbaric Champion's Road and the unforgiving borderline disrespectful Mystery House Marathon. Holy shit, I did it. Fuck doing 100% they want you to finish each level with Mario/Luigi/Toad/Peach/Rosalina. EACH. Including the 2 aforementioned timesinks I just mentioned. NOPE.

Champion's Road gives no checkpoints, no powerups, absolutely brutal 3 hour timesink for me. And the Mystery House Marathon, 30 ministages that are 10 seconds or less that you have to finish each one and if you mess up once, you restart the game again. Absolutely brutal, I am not going to lie, I did a side by side with a walkthrough on this one to get an idea of how to do each one and it still took me a long time. If they didn't make you start from the beginning, I would not even bother but expecting me to "figure it out" with a 10 second timelimit per new minigame is a joke in itself.

BUT I DID IT! PEACH carried me through the main stages with that OP float(That would not always come out which was infuriating in Champion's Road) and Rosalina unlocked sealed the endgame for me. The sisters did good for me. Rosalina's wand double jump is savior, only know her from Smash Brothers so I see the hype behind her 🙇

Onto Bowser's Fury......I am so happy I did everything in Super Mario 3D World, I was so angry off the final 2 levels. Almost didn't finish the Mystery House Marathon and the 30 stages of bullshit because they make you complete the objective AND get the star in 10 seconds or less. They don't just want to give you the star, you have to pick it up immediately after so you better have 1-2 seconds to kill at least to have enough time to get it or the minigame does not count.

I think for what it was, it was fine and I enjoyed it but yeah it's a pretty short entry and not something you buy a 60 dollar game over in itself so Nintendo did the right move to partner this game with Super Mario 3D World. Should have been an option as a standalone 15-20 dollar DLC IMHO though. Think the Godzilla theme was cool although it does wear out it's welcome late game where he comes out really quick and doesn't go away until you die(This happened a few times for me) and given certain cat shrines like retrieving the lost cats rely on you doing this when everything is normal, it got a tadbit frustrating.

I enjoyed the two in one package altogether, heck if I will go and do all 5 characters needing to finish the game though each and every time to get the final few stamps.

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10) Wonder Boy Returns Remix(Played on PS5)

A remake of a mid 1980's game, can this game be playable here in 2021 you may ask? The answer is yes! Game is insanely short, I finished it barely over 2 hours my 1st playthrough on the normal mode and the game practically requires you to go fast with a depleting health bar(For reasons not known) and a screen that scrolls off as you move, your reflexes will be put to the test with this remake. I actually had quite a bit of fun and was doing great up until the 6th out of 8th world! I can say the last few levels are somewhat challenging and it sort of forces you to stay in play and snipe from small distance what is ahead. A lot of the time, pressing the hammer attack consistently on the runs only helps as your shots often catch enemies that pop up and try and surprise you on these speedruns to the finish line. Throughout the game you pop up and pick up health in the form of fruit or desert and while the enemy variation is lacking(I can count with 2 hands how many enemies there are and they are near identical outside of sprite look and maybe one gimmick each has like the frog has a leap or the gremlis that try and hurt you from behind running quick from out of nowhere. Story is simple enough and the game's soundtrack while only having 5 tracks is cutesy enough where again in a 2 hour playthrough is harmless. There is a 1CC mode and a practice mode, neither I tried as I felt content with the original mode. The graphics are done in a very CHIBI/mobile phone like design way which was fine enough for me but the purists of the original game would go haywire over LOL.

They are crazy to charge 15 bucks full price for this game all things considered and even at 7-8 bucks I felt like I didn't really get my money's worth but honestly the game is fun and perfect for this sort of 52 game challenge. One thing I will say is the trophies listed are full of typos and errors. Don't believe me?
psnprofiles.com

Wonder Boy Returns Remix Trophies

1 Platinum • 7 Gold • 10 Silver • 4 Bronze


Tropical fruites
Get hidden fruit 1-3 stage[

He's body is hard than I thought
Killed by collsion with boss's body


Again this is a Korean company who brought this over so naturally there may be translation errors but I legit laughed when some of these trophies popped up and I had to check myself to find out these were typos.

Altogether I had a lot of fun with the game, might not be worth the price of admission but if you can get it for real, real cheap, it's a fun couple of hours. I got more than half the trophies! Think it doesn't matter which version you play(There are two!), I think the one I played has the original couple of bosses vs the original remake of Wonder Boy which has a different cast of bosses. The bosses are nearly identical outside of a different fireball that swirls around differently each time, for the most part it really isn't bad although the final boss shoots all of the previous incarnations fireball waves so you do need to be a bit on guard for that.

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11) Ratchet and Clank 2002(PS3)

Beat the 2002 Ratchet and Clank via R&C Collection as I embark on trying to get as many main R&C games in before Rift Apart drops in June. The 2002 Ratchet and Clank is very good still to this day in what was my 4th(?) playthrough of the game, it is surprisingly meaty content wise with me not even going for the 100,000 RYNO bolt grinding or getting all of the golden bolts for the golden weapons in the game. The drawback of this game right out of the bat is the checkpoint system is terrible, you die or fall to your death once in an area, your more likely than not starting at the beginning. I am used to retro games so not the 1st nor last culprit of this...............but the problem is you don't get your ammo back nor do you get the crates to refill it along the way because you already used them. This leads to you having to cave in and buying ammo from the merchant which makes your task of trying to get all of the weapons(Some are expensive like the aforementioned RYNO or the 30,000 Tesla Claw pre Hypnotizer which makes the sales better in your favor) all the more annoying. Had the checkpoint system either been a bit more kinder or they brought everything crates wise back like normal for a retry, I think it would have been better but this was the lone real sticking point here.

I also appreciate the sequel's weapon building that encourages/rewards weapon use for a stronger/evolved weapon so it's tough to go back and play this one in this sense. Add the lack of true strafing which is a core gameplay point of the R&C series and this game certainly plays every bit like the original entry of the series.

I still appreciate this game for what it is though, it's my 4th run after all! The story is simple yet fun, the different environments of all the planets are great, there was a lot of platforming in this entry which is always appreciated and again this game has a 10-12 hour campaign without doing all of the side content which is more than fair for a PS2 platformer. A lot of weapons, a lot of gadgets, the one thing I do appreciate in Going Commando which I jumped straight into after this is the quick buttons to use the gadgets that are necessary to move forward in a level yet aren't weapons. Feels so good to tap triangle on some of these puzzles rather than go to the menu if it isn't quick saved and press the button.

I also gotta say the PS3 port via the R&C Trilogy stinks, the slowdown and FPS dip so much when a lot of enemies are on the screen, I don't remember it being this bad on the original PS2 version. Talking about my Visibomb missiles which are remote controlled and damn strong, going in slow motion on a giant aerial vehicle which was such a slog to use(but necessary!). Again, it's been years since I played the original but I don't remember the PS2 version having this in there.
 
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Tiny Hawk

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
962
Canada
The first two completions of March yahoo

20. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | 4th Mar - 13hrs | 4/5
Don't have a lot to say about this one. I initially played it when the game came out without having experienced the original trilogy. After finishing the Nathan Drake collection last month, I knew I had to go in and replay this once more. It felt wrong if I didn't. A lot of my thoughts on this game haven't change too much from 2016 surprisingly. If anything, I think I appreciate the effort and feel the love Naughty Dog had for this title. As a whole though, this series is incredible and I'm glad I took the time to go through each entry.

21. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 8th Mar - 6hrs | 3/5
Never thought this would be a game I'd pick up in 2021. I played the trial during the free week and got really hooked into the MP, so here we are. The general note about the multiplayer I have is that I love the speed and how much fun the gunplay is. The maps are basic in setup, but get extremely chaotic in the different modes. On the other half of the game, we've got a pretty good single-player experience. The campaign is a short romp, but I had fun. Was mostly expecting going in guns blazing or linear stealth missions, but they give you a lot of room to work within the varied mission structures. I think the missions closer to the end of the game were easily highlights to me. The overall story is decent. Generic setup with the writing of an action blockbuster that I'll forget in a few weeks. Didn't expect anything less from a Call of Duty game. Really not a bad way to spend 7 hours. Looking forward to adding more hours into the multiplayer.

MAIN POST!
 
Oct 27, 2017
535
Main Post

7. The Ultimate Doom - PC - Score - 9/10
Game still holds up incredibly well. I never played Doom proper and went through every campaign. I loved my time with this and was able to get through the entire thing on Hurt Me Plenty with no cheating....until the final campaign. I had to lower the difficulty. Thy Flesh Consumed is no joke and I definitely wasn't ready for that. I'll probably give Sigil a try and then move on to Doom II as well!
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8. Mr. Success - iPad - Score - 7/10
Similar to My Mom Hid My Game!. Super basic but charming at the same time. A few of the levels had me stuck for a minute or two but overall it wasn't much trouble. Free on iOS!
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9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze - Xbox 360 - Score - 4/10
My 4 year old wanted us to get this from the library and he wanted me to beat it. I thought it would be a mediocre game that wouldn't give me much trouble. When we started it up, I was shocked that it was a metroidvania type game. I started to get a little excited until I realized the combat sucked, I never had any idea where to go and half the time you need to run around in circles to figure out where to go. The last boss was also a bit of a mess. I had no clue how to beat him and he was the only boss that required anything different than just slashing away. Also the artstyle sucks. Probably a game best forgotten.
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10. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - 3DS - Score - 9/10
I don't get why everyone is so down on this game. I loved my time with it. The beginning tutorials were a bit over the top but not as bad as I was lead to believe. My only complaint is how long some of the boss battles could take. The final boss definitely went on way longer than it needed to. Overall...I actually liked this a tad bit better than Super Star Saga.
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11. Ys Origin - PS4 - Score - 9/10
Finished my first playthrough of a Ys game and I had a really good time with it. I didn't realize this was going to be a dungeon crawler the entire time but the combat was so fun that I didn't really mind the lack of environment change. I know I need to beat this with the other two characters for the proper ending but I hit the credits and I need a break before I tackle the next playthough.
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12. Bendy and the Ink Machine - Switch - Score - 6/10
This game always intrigued me with the artstyle and I wanted to see how it all played out. In the end it's a mixed bag. The combat is awful and I wish they didn't bother with it. Most of the puzzles are standard fetch quests and seem to exist just to pad out some of the levels. There is a boss fight in chapter 4 that I found frustrating, not because of the difficulty but because of the controls and speed of character. The artstyle really bumps this game a bit on the interesting scale but it wasn't super fun and I don't really know if I understood any of the story.
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13. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Switch - Score - 8/10
It was fun to play through this game again. The only "New" Mario game I haven't played at this point is the normal Wii version so maybe I will cross that bridge this year. I have enjoyed all of the "New" games but none have ever really pushed the series forward in any meaningful way. They have all been 8/10s for me at this point. I would love to see them retire "New" and maybe go for a new artstyle for the 2D games.
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Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
39. Casltevania: Lords of Shadow
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Replaying this 11(!) year old action game, it has some good stuff mixed with bad stuff (fixed camera that is too zoomed out making reacting to some attacks difficult, QTEs). One thing that I enjoyed is how they included some puzzles into the game which I enjoy for the most part as an attempt to add more to the game beyond the combat and light platforming.
The Lords of Shadow series are quite middling far as Castlevania games go, and I find the very first game to be the best of the lot.
Going to play through the DLC next which I'll count as a separate entry as I recall never owning them on PS3 for a time and they act better as an Epilogue.
 

Memory Pak

Member
Aug 29, 2018
232
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16. Sapphire a.k.a. Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (1995, TG-16 Mini) ★★☆☆☆
This rare vertical shooter was long hidden behind a series of obstacles: it's a Japan-only release, arriving late in the life of the already uncommon PC-Engine Super CD-Rom², wouldn't function without an additional Arcade RAM expansion, and saw only a small print run. Now more widely available on the PSP and TurboGrafx-16 Mini, I have to draw the unfortunate conclusion its reputation is... largely derived from its rarity.
Sapphire is visually impressive, with art design from a Gundam veteran, and achieving way larger faux-polygonal sprites than Vectorman and Donkey Kong Country ever did, but on older hardware. It leverages CD audio by the Lords of Thunder team for a typical pre-grunge '90ies buttrock soundtrack, and everything runs fast without slowdown.
Unfortunately, the selectable ships did not receive that memo. While your firepower is substantial, with wide beams covering half the screen, all but one of the playable ships move glacially slow. This is obviously by design, as slow ships give access to more powerful shot types, but since enemies and their fire don't wait around, you'll even feel sluggish in the default ship. It's cool to use the more powerful, slower ships on replays, but some situations feel impossible without resorting to Bombs. Sapphire looks slick, but I wonder if the collectors forking over $1000+ for the original will be disappointed.

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17. Armed 7DX (2020, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Contains both 2009's Armed Seven, and the updated 2019 DreamCast homebrew version, Armed 7DX. This is a horizontally scrolling mech shooter, in which you zoom through a ravaged Earth and blast foes with weighty weapons. There's not much visual storytelling, but they do foreshadow some bosses in the background, and the space level flips some enemies upside down and has them hurling space shuttles at you. Otherwise it's standard genre fare, with minor wrinkles thrown in: your fire angle adjusts to your movement slightly, and you've got an auto-recharging Special beam to manage. Astro Port's obsession with encouraging replays is already noticeable here, with 4 difficulty modes and several weapon combinations you can't switch mid-run (unlike their later games Satazius and Wolflame).
The version differences are mostly cosmetic: Armed Seven has a drab, military camo look with crunchy pixels and rather cheap MIDI instrumentation (particularly the Stage 3 guitars, yuck). Armed 7DX smooths out the pixels, adds a lot more colour, and swaps out the OST for a bass-boosted Eurodance affair. It sounds less cheap, but not necessarily better. Similarly, the visual upgrade makes the HUD more instantly readable, but the garish colours mesh poorly with the original assets. On the whole I prefer the original slightly, so it's nice both versions are included.

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18. Wolflame (2020, Switch) ★★★☆☆
Re-release of Astro Port's 2016 vertical shooter, Wolflame is a solid traditional outing. Dodge shots, blow up tanks, collect extra turrets to increase firepower, and an upbeat OST. It lets you mix & match turrets on the fly to some degree which means repeat runs can differ dynamically, and for you FlipGrippers - yes it runs in vertical orientation too.
That said, I also feel this is a bit barebones. No online leaderboards, or alternate ships to unlock. Combined with the samey backdrops, and the relatively long 10-stage campaign, it gets dull after a few runs. It's not quite as entry-level as Armed 7, but for beginner-to-intermediate players of the genre this has a well-paced difficulty curve, and its simplicity might be a boon rather than a detriment. It rarely feels cheap, except for the super fast pink bullets tanks can spit out and which require lightning-fast reflexes.

At first I was just looking for an Aussie game to play on Australia Day, but I ended up really enjoying painting the streets as blob antifa.
😂
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
40. Castlevania Lords of Shadow Epilogue DLCs
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Would you believe each DLC was sold for around $7 on release? Combined these DLCs consist of actually 5 levels so $14 for a set of stages that take maybe 2 hours to complete can feel excessive, but hey sales ftw~
Speaking of the Epilogue itself, it takes place following the end of the main game, Gabriel returns to the castle in order to destroy an ancient evil long sealed by the powers of the Founders that is attempting to return to the world.
There seems to have been a focus on puzzles and platforming this time around which is mixed; the ideas behind them are fine but I felt their execution tends to leave much to be desired. Doesn't help that the 2nd half of the Epilogue has 1 hit kill situations that require reloading a checkpoint and that the primary boss is a pain to actually damage as the battle progresses.
Much like the main game this too is a curious mix of good and bad ideas but I commend the team for their effort at least.
Being a DLC, it lacks the cgi cutscenes that the base game had instead the cutscenes are presented in a form of motion comic style, as it shows the beginning of Gabriels descent (or is it ascension?).
 

Josh5890

I'm Your Favorite Poster's Favorite Poster
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
25,295
Just wondering - how much time do you all spend playing each day / week? I'd really love to pull this off one day, and it'd do wonders for cutting down my backlog, but 52 games in a year seems like such a high number - especially if you're going to be playing longer games in there too.

Are there any tips for completing a challenge like this, or just playing and beating more games in general?

It depends. I try to get at least a couple hours in every night. Right now I at that time of year where I am watching more films in the evening with Oscar season in full swing (huge movie buff), so my gaming a little smaller. It should pick up soon.

This is my first year doing the challenge. Personally I am trying to find that balance between shorter and longer games while at the same time remembering that this is for fun and that I shouldn't stress over it. I'm trying to average a game a week and for the most part I am achieving it. I'm looking forward to hooking up an Xbox I bought and trying Gamepass. That should open me up to a lot more games.
 
Oct 27, 2017
3,485
No. 14 - Astro's Playroom - 4/5

A very good 3D platformer that does an excellent job of showing off new features of the PS5. It also shows Team ASOBI adapting its outstanding Astro Bot: Rescue Mission from VR to flat, although some elements were lost along the way. This might be due to how much emphasis ASOBI had to place on PlayStation history and the PS5, itself. Secrets aren't quite as compelling and are easier to find than in Rescue Mission, and the creativity of Rescue Mission's bosses is largely absent.
The last boss is a little more like it, but borrows more than a few mechanics from the last bot of Rescue Mission!
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With that said, I enjoyed Astro's Playroom very much, from start to finish. The use of the Dualsense is wonderful and the near-absence of loading times is a declaration of possibility. The environments, platforming, and new mechanics all shine. Packed in as it is with every PS5, this is a must-play if you get your hands on one. And the music from Kenneth CM Young is bright, pitch-perfect pop. I can't wait for more Astro Bot - hopefully, the little fellow's next outing will be more focused on its adventure rather than Sony's.

Main Post
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
41. Legend of Legaia
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Legend of Legaia has a, far as I know, unique combat mechanic for a turn based jRPG. When you choose the attack command, you input attack directions and certain combinations of attacks will result in a special art move being performed that deals big damage. It is even possible to chain these arts as some inputs overlap. This is the cool element of the game that makes me like it.
It is still a PSOne era jRPG and thus can come off slow, and it doesn't help that leveling up just feels like incremental increase in stats especially with how much EXP is needed to go up between levels.
I've settled on being Lvl. 40 by the time I beat the final boss, and overall...well I still like it for its combat gimmick and the main plot having some good elements, but it is still a slow jRPG from the psone era. Doesn't help that it has a really middling soundtrack, so I just mute the game's audio and play something else in the background.
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
42. Megaman X4 (Zero Playthrough)
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Been a while since I played through this game as Zero, my last playthrough being with X. Either I'm rusty or I need to learn how to better position myself with Zero's attacks during boss fights.
Still a solid game 20+ years later.
 

Tizoc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,792
Oman
43. God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD

Started out OK but once I reached halfway through the game I felt it's shown me everything it had to offer at least gameplay wise. I maintain the same impression I had the first time I played it years ago sadly; it's an inconsequential entry in the series. While its praiseworthy for what it achieved on PSP hardware, it has really dull colours for its overall presentation, but it didn't stop it from having some nice imagery and vistas as is GOW tradition for the time.
So far these portable GOW games rank low in my personal GOW series ranking.
 

Whimsicalish

Member
Dec 30, 2019
188
Midwest
09 | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Switch | Mar 12 | 17 hrs | 4.5/5
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My final route in this fantastic game. I went with Edelgard and I was wary of her at the start; since I did all the other routes before siding with her. In the previous routes, she came off as a tyrant. But during her route, she was shown to have more humanity.

That's a huge eye opener in any route. You get a general chain of events in all of the routes. Some give you more backstory info than others. But depending on the leader you pick you see more of their trauma, hope, and humanity. You are their guiding light in their respective route.

Then there's the important discussions in the game: bigotry, war, nobility, humanity, and religion. (There could be more I am forgetting to include.) Each leader believes they are doing THE RIGHT THING. They're each headstrong and convicted.

I was able to branch off an old save to cut off 10-14 hours. However, this chapter did end at Chapter 18 and the other routes went to 21 or 22. It ended abruptly. There was talk of another fight but then the game just ends. Implying that they won the last fight in the game credits. It was very odd. I'm not sure why this important fight wasn't included in this route but it was previously. This last paragraph probably doesn't make sense but to avoid all spoilers, that's what I'll share. They could have included this final fight and added a bit more story from these characters.

________

10 | Haunt the House: Terrortown
PC | Mar 13 | 3 hrs | 3/5
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Adorably, simplistic game. You are a ghost haunting residents! The art style and animation is wonderfully whimsy. They had a strong art direction and 100% went with it. The bright colors, the fun animation, to even the music choice.

Unfortunately, the controls were lacking. There were countless times I would possess an object and immediately jump out without hitting any button. The menu would occasionally pop up too. You could be playing and suddenly the menu would open asking if you wanted to leave the game, all without touching your ESC key.

To beat the game, you're required to scare every resident off the map. You have a counter so you can keep track of them. Beating the game only took me a little over an hour. Incredibly short game.

I was trying to collect the achievements but between the controls and no counter for possessing every item, I lost interest. It's a cute fun game to haunt, but the achievements just made the game frustrating.

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Mar 4, 2021
1,587
Berlin, Germany
I think to beat this challenge it's about the type of games you pick, I don't know how it's humanly possible to pull this off doing this with all RPGs from a time perspective. Picking some shorter games help for this. I game 3 hours a day usually and on weekends maybe 5-6 hours a day?
Not trying to complete everything in a game should help, too. I enjoyed Hitman 3(with 1 and 2) so much that it became a time sunk. Only have beaten 7 game so far, with this pace I can't make it to 52. This includes one full playthrough of Automata. I spend some time with Slay the Spire, but never beat the Last Act, I don't think finished it.
 

Rhaknar

Member
Oct 26, 2017
46,186
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Game #15 - Loop Hero
Time: 30+ hours
Platform: PC
Rating: ★★★★

A little bittersweet on this one, as I absolutely loved it for 90% of my time with it, but the last chapter / endgame part really soured me and turned the game into something that wasn't what I had enjoyed for the previous 30 or so hours. Still, it's a fantastic roguelike, a sort of dungeons & dragons simulator mixed with idle clicker mixed with town management, it's alot but it all works in this super addictive mesh that is super strong on the "just one more go" factor. The art is a bit ugly but actually works for what it's doing and the soundtrack is fantastic. It's a bit repetitive as most roguelikes are, and it gets very grindy near the end, and like I said near the end the gameplay pivots to something I didn't enjoy (I don't want to spoil it) but in the end, it's cheap and I got a ton of value out of it, and loved most of it, so I would still easily recommend it.

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hersheyfan

Powered by Friendship™
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,828
Manila, Philippines
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Delayed February update, so I lumped it in with half of March. 52 games plowed through, did it in 2 1/2 months!

February 2021 (full month) to March 14, 2021

ACA Neogeo: Aero Fighters 2 (XSX), ACA Neogeo: Garou Mark of the Wolves (XSX), ACA Neogeo: Art of Fighting 3 (XSX), ACA Neogeo: Shock Troopers (XSX), ACA Neogeo: Waku Waku 7(XSX), ACA Neogeo: Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
(all 100% except for Top Hunter)
Been on an achievement hunting kick on Xbox, so I plowed through a bunch of these Neogeo games in February for 100% achievements. AF2 got really tedious because the game has no autofire, so it was a lot of mashing shoot (that really bothers me and my controller OCD). It was my first time playing Waku Waku 7, and good god that game should come with an epilepsy warning - the flashing whenever a super pops off is pretty gratuitous.

Shikhondo: Soul Eater (XSX), Sine Mora EX (XSX)
Replayed a bunch of older shmups on Xbox for kicks. Shikhondo still remains pretty tedious due to the bosses all being ridiculous bullet sponges, but Sine Mora remains an underappreciated classic in my book.

Resident Evil 2 Remake (XSX), Leon A Standard, Claire B Hardcore
Already beat this on Steam previously but decided to do an XSX achievement run, this game held up really well in comparison to Resident Evil 3 Remake. First time ever beating the game on Hardcore (halfway only, but whatever)!

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (XSX), around 15 hours
Did a second run of this on Xbox after beating it on PC. Fallen Order really does a good job of keeping those Respawn style "big moments" and applying them in a Star Wars context, but the game's more glaring flaws really stand out when you play the game again. There are way too many sections where they arbitrarily extended the plot to give you a reason to backtrack again to a planet you've already been to. Failing to enable fast travel to any discovered waypoint was also a big error - if they didn't want to cut off traversal, they could at least have enabled it at the end of the game!

We Should Talk (XSX) (100% achievements)
Inventive idea for a game (carry on a text message conversation with your significant other while hanging out in a bar, choosing exactly what is said), but the choices are far too random to make you feel like you have much agency.

Captain Commando, Knights of the Round, Battle Circuit, Warriors of Fate (XSX) - part of the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle
Blasted through another four games in my Xbox run of the Capcom BEUB. God, I love Battle Circuit so much! I played it for the first time on NSW last year (I think) and it's since become one of my personal favorites. Also, just a PSA: don't buy this on Steam, as it has launch issues for many users that can only be cured by cracking your legally purchased game. Yuck!

Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (XSX)
Finally forced myself to play all the way through this, as the PC version always struck me as a little pretentious. Still not a fan, several years later. Easy achievements though!

Stray Cat Doors (NSW)
Lazy port of an already bad mobile puzzle game, which I did not know when I bought it for a dollar. Damn eShop. Stay far away!

Colin Thiele's Storm Boy: The Game (XSX)
Beat this game for an easy 1000g, despite having played the NSW version (and knowing full well it's one of the worst games ever made). Do not play this if you want any sort of redeeming gameplay value.

The Little Acre (XSX)
Quick completion of a point and click adventure on Game Pass. I must say this wasn't very good - the characters were all annoying, and the puzzles were pretty basic and uninteresting.

Dead or Alive 6 (XSX), all offline achievements
Smashed through DOA6 again on Xbox after putting in many hours on the Steam version. This game really makes you hate the way downloads are handled on Xbox, sheesh - since it's technically F2P, each and every character is a separate "DLC" item you need to download... and unlike Steam, they're DLed as many separate packages instead of a single download.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Steam), Return ending
Finally put paid to one of my white whales - I've been meaning to make a serious run at beating Sekiro for months, but never got around to it. Played most of this with the 2B character model swap from NexusMods active - it was a trip seeing everyone's favorite neighborhood Android hamming it up in the cutscenes. That said, I'm probably never going to attempt another playthrough again - Souls and Bloodborne are more my speed. Sekiro is fucking intense!

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (XSX), beat campaign + all side missions
My first time beating the IW campaign on any platform (I've been away from COD for a long while now), and this is one of the most entertaining COD campaigns I've played since the old Infinity Ward heyday. It takes an interesting approach to the single player - the campaign has actual side quests and entertaining (if stupid) space combat missions, which I don't think I've ever seen before in Call of Duty. No, it's not on Titanfall 2's level, far from it, but what is? Worth it as long as you get it for cheap.

Oh, and the zombies mode apparently has David Hasselhoff in it.

A Way Out (XSX), 100% achievements
Had a load of fun blasting through this game with a friend over voice chat (presently on XGPU via EA Play). It's cheesy as hell, predictable in many places, and not all that great gameplay wise, but the game really takes on a life of its own when you're enjoying it with a friend who can appreciate the game for what it is. A must play for any fan of B-movies.

The Complex (XSX), 100% achievements
Another decent FMV game from Focus Home Interactive, The Complex has you play as a doctor getting to the bottom of a conspiracy involving a nano-machine like medical solution she helped develop. Not as good as Late Shift or Five Dates for my money, but a decent use of a couple of hours.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Episodes 1-5 (XSX), 100% achievements
Game number 52, in record time (for me, anyway)! I always meant to polish this game off on Steam but never got around to it. It being up on XGP console gave me the kick in the pants I needed to start. It's a doozy, this - I wasn't expecting great things because most of the original cast from Seasons 1 and 2 were absent, but I grew suprisingly attached to this gang of lunatics. Episode 3 in particular might have been one of my favorite Telltale episodes ever, that was good stuff! Hype to finally play the final season on Steam.
 
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Miamiwesker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Miami
I've been meaning to join these as I do this on other sites. This is a work in progress, my current completed game list is below. I will dress it up with reviews and such later. Last few years I have failed to reach 52, this year for sure I will do it.

I keep track of everything I play and my entire gaming history on backloggd. Here is my page if you want to see more.

1. Hypnospace Outlaw (PC) | 8th Jan - 12hrs | 2.5/5
2. Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 (Switch) | 12th Jan - 5hrs | 2.5/5
3. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) | 14th Jan - 20hrs | 5/5
4. Super Mario World (Switch) | 18th Jan - 15hrs | 5/5
5. Walking Dead Saints and Sinners (PC) | 23th Jan - 12hrs | 3/5
6. Celeste (Switch) | 24th Jan - 13hrs | 4.5/5
7. Cyberpunk (PC) | 26th Jan - 80hrs | 4/5
8. Touhou Luna Nights (PC) | 29th - 6hrs | 3.5/5
9. Pixel Ripped 1995 (PC) | 1st Feb - 6hrs | 3/5
10. The Medium (PC) | 3rd Feb - 7hrs | 2/5
11. The Room VR (PC) | 18th Feb - 6hrs | 2/5
12. Control (PS5) | 18th Feb - 20hrs | 4/5
13. Control: The Foundation (PS5) | 20th Feb 5hrs | 4/5
14. The Legend of Zelda (Switch) | 22nd Feb - 2hrs | 5/5
15. Ven VR Adventure (PC) | 22nd Feb - 3hrs | 1.5/5
16. A Fisherman's Tale (PC) | 22nd Feb - 2hrs | 2/5
17. Control: AWE (PS5) | 28th Feb - 4hrs | 4/5
18. Westworld Awakening (PC) | 7th March - 5hrs | 1.5/5
19. I expect you to die (PC) | 7th March - 3hrs | 2/5
20. Panzer Dragoon Remake (PC) | 8th March - 1hr | 2.5/5
21. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rescue Palooza (PC) | 12th March - 2hrs | 3/5
22. Space Channel 5 VR (PC) | 13th March - 1