You Love the Pile, Does the Pile Love You? - Pile of Shame February 2019

One month down, many more to go. I saw some folks make good progress and others appeared to bite off more than they could chew.

Pro tip: Go small and add more during the month. Go big or go home is overrated.

If you're interested, m0nk3yboy, has the 12 month 2019 pile plan thread over here.

A quick reminder, in order to be considered "Pile of Shame" the game needs to be at least three months old. Otherwise, it's just a new game you haven't gotten to playing yet.

Also, if you are curious about some of the previous threads, Picks of the Pile, etc... Please go here and check out the spreadsheet I setup.

Let's get on to the games!

This month's Pick of the Pile is

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom


IMAGE(http://www.console-toi.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ni-no-kuni-2-1.jpg)
"Re-enter the animated world of Ni no Kuni in the latest role-playing masterpiece developed by LEVEL-5. Explore a beautifully crafted world and experience the gripping story in an all-new RPG adventure. LEVEL-5 reunites with Yoshiyuki Momose on character design and music composed by Joe Hisaishi in the production of the next Ni no Kuni tale." (Official Site)

Multi-Platform
Dead Island - brokenclavicle
Dead Space - Hemi
Dragon Age: Origins - Eleima
fl0w - LastSurprise
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - ClockworkHouse, Stele, Eleima
Iconoclasts - brokenclavicle
INSIDE - AUs_TBirD
Ken Follett’s Pullars of the Earth - Eleima
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - ClockworkHouse
Prey - Eleima
Red Dead Redemption 2 - TheThomp
Pyre - Eleima
Rime - Bubblefuzz
Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken - LastSurprise
Saints Row the Third - AUs_TBirD
Soma - brokenclavicle
Super Metroid - bobbywatson
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales - TheThomp
Timespinner - brokenclavicle
VVVVVVV - LastSurprise

PC
Yorkshire Gubbins - Eleima

PS4

Nintendo 3DS
Hey! Pikmin - ClockworkHouse

Nintendo DS
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story - LastSurprise

I'm declaring Pyre (Multi) - yes again - Yorkshire Gubbins (PC), Dragon Age: Origins (Multi) and Prey (Multi). Am I biting off more than I can chew? Maaaaaybe.

Please, put me down for:

  • Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Multi)
  • Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Multi)
  • Hey! Pikmin (3DS)

Thank you!

Starting small with only Super Metroid (multi).

Once that's done, I will start working on the two original Xbox games that I still have in the backlog so that I can get rid of that big thing that's taking way too much space.

Oh crud. I forgot to declare Ken Follett’s Pullars of the Earth (Multi) for the adventure game club!!!

Just Rime (multi) for now please.

Gonna carry over: INSIDE (pc/multi) and add Saints Row the Third (360/multi).

About 25% through INSIDE. Technically, it's a one-sitting game, so I'm bummed I still didn't manage it in January.

Saints Row was by far my most played game in January. After over 20 hours, I'm close to level 30 with lots of upgrades, and I own all properties in the city (AFAIK). Still quite a few gaps of uncontrolled territory though.

Bubblefuzz wrote:

Just Rime (multi) for now please.

Not Ken Follett’s Pullars of the Earth (Multi) ?
#AskingForAFriend

Eleima wrote:
Bubblefuzz wrote:

Just Rime (multi) for now please.

Not Ken Follett’s Pullars of the Earth (Multi) ?
#AskingForAFriend

Bubblefuzz wrote:

...for now...

Rime first, tell your friend

bobbywatson wrote:

Starting small with only Super Metroid (multi).

Hope you come back and post thoughts.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Please, put me down for:

  • Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Multi)

Same. Game club for Feb, gotta try it.

Stele wrote:
bobbywatson wrote:

Starting small with only Super Metroid (multi).

Hope you come back and post thoughts.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Please, put me down for:

  • Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Multi)

Same. Game club for Feb, gotta try it.

I almost wish I hadn't played it when it first came out so I could join in. I think it's a great game.

I'm limping through Dead Space on easy. I will finish these some day.

Ah, what the heck! Count me in for Hellblade!

Hello!

I'm trying my hand at chipping some of this pile down again... Been a while, but I'm excited to be back on the wagon

I believe these both qualify now, I'm going to try to knock them out, finally:

Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (PC/GoG)

So many shiny new releases coming out this month! Going to try to only limit myself to 1 and not grow the pile... we'll see how that goes, heh.

Please put me down for:

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken (Multi)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS)

Although January was good for my game clearing efforts, I'll be carrying over the three games I failed to complete in that period. Not sure I'll add anything else as I'll be sticking with that and the JRPG club game which certainly won't get finished before March. Anything else will depend on my efficiency clearing the leftovers.

Soma (multi)
Timespinner (multi)
Dead Island (multi)

I am going to declare fl0w (PS4), which I finished today! Nothing like a sick day to wrap up something short.

I'm declaring Timespinner beaten. I've just one ending left (have all I need to pull the trigger on that in a few minutes) and a handful of trophies, but this one's done.

Fun game, full of interesting little quirks yet not quite unique enough to set it apart from any other metroidvania save for its portrayal of LGBTQ characters (which, perhaps not shockingly given the internet and its abundance of trolls and hate, got some flack in various forums from people who couldn't stand there being so many queer characters in their games). The LGBTQ bits are few and not heavy-handed - there really isn't much room explore anything to any depth, given the game's scope - but seemed pretty inclusive and natural (to me, at least). I'm happy I backed this one on Kickstarter.

Down goes Dead Island, a very flawed game with what feels like a terribly unbalanced system. I think I never did quite get the way it worked to the point that I could exploit it or harness it to my advantage, so it was all uphill the great majority of the time. That's over and I can see why people criticized it, but also enjoyed a good bit of it.

That said, not going to give Riptide or any eventual sequel - ha! - the time of day.

Now that I've gotten through two of my three original picks for the month, I figure I could put Iconoclasts to bed soon. I'm declaring it as a new pick.

Stele wrote:
bobbywatson wrote:

Starting small with only Super Metroid (multi).

Hope you come back and post thoughts.

Thanks to having to take a sick day from work, Super Metroid is now over! My collection rating was... 87%.

Overall, I had a good time, but... There were quite a few points where I had to go to YouTube to figure out where to go next. Or where some things were. I used a map, and never regretted it. I guess shooting every single block (or using X-Rays, once I got them) is not really my idea of fun. Finding a new upgrade that unlocks an area I could not go to before was pretty satisfying though.

I've been listening to people lavish this game with praise for years. I can see why. It looks great, has a great atmosphere, each area is really distinct from each other. The map is useful, but would be even more useful if it indicated one-ways, or if it allowed me to put markers on it. Being able to teleport from savepoint to savepoint would have been useful in a few occasions. (To be fair, it might be possible and I just never figured out how to do it.) Some of the controls were pretty annoying, like the wall jumping and the grappling shot.

So, yay, another game off of the backlog! Now, time to get back to Persona 5 (which I'm hoping I can finish by April).

Had written something but when I posted, the site, my browser, or my crappy lappy decided to log me off and not save what I'd intended to post.

Soma is down. Good, tense, wonderful. Playing on Normal not hard at all in any frustrating way. Loved the ending.

I finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2 last night.

Amazing story, characters, writing, VO, music, and a gorgeous open world. And there are a handful of missions where these elements really shine.

But man, it's just not a fun game, in my opinion. It's extremely slow, the animation is nice but it comes at a cost of having very slow movement of your character/horse/etc, making it kludgy to control. The controls are inconsistent, you accidentally hit the wrong buttons all the time which often will make you kill or rob people when you didn't mean to, starting a chain of events that will rack up your bounty price and mess with your good/evil bar. The combat is the same in essentially every single mission - super basic cover based shooting with weapons that don't change throughout the entire game. Just trying to take basic cover on an object is a hassle, most of the time getting stuck on the wrong side of an object and exposing yourself unintentionally. Navigation around the world is novel for the first, maybe, 1/8 of the game - but then it turns into: set waypoint, start horse run, hit middle button to auto-run in cinematic mode, look at phone for 10 minutes while waiting. Again, turns into a slog. There's also very little/basically no progression on weapons or abilities. You don't feel like your character changes (ability wise) throughout the entire game, every encounter feels almost exactly the same, and it's a long ass game.

It's weird, I started out really liking this game and then it just turned into this painful slog. In the end, I'm glad I finished it and saw how the story played out, but I will never touch it again, and am actually disappointed in it overall.

Oh well, let the pile shrink!

I finished Hellblade. I'm not confident in my other two picks.

I’m finished with Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken.

Going to declare VVVVVV.

I finished a game!!!!! I finished Pyre! It was phenomenal!!!

Just put Iconoclasts to soil. Great little game with a bit of that metroid vibe but not quite. With this, I have completed every game I picked for February. Looking good.

Saints Row the Third is proving far longer than I expected. I've gone from 14 hours in when I declared it, to 40 hours in now, and only 41% through the game (supposedly). I am, however, nearly max level, which means I am borderline invincible and that story missions are mostly pretty easy. I've also taken over everything in town and done most side missions, so I've got more cash than I know what to do with, with more coming in every 15 minutes or so.
I thought I had finished all the side activities except for Insurance Fraud on hard. Then I started chapter 2 and suddenly there is a whole new slew of them.

Tl:dr, I'm perfectly set up for total failure this month.

And VVVVVV is down! I finished with a mere (?) 551 deaths.

Well, wasn't expecting to, but I just beat the main story in Lego Marvel Superheroes. Will likely go for unlocking all characters and, since I'm at it, the Platinum trophy.

LastSurprise wrote:

And VVVVVV is down! I finished with a mere (?) 551 deaths.

If I recall correctly, my number was closer to a thousand.

I can totally see that. I think I added a good 50 deaths in the last sequence alone. And if I had tried to go for more of the Shiny Trinkets? Forget about it!

I think it’ll be good practice for when I attempt to climb Mt. Celeste, later this year.