Finished Any Games Lately?

PaladinTom wrote:

Waaaaay late to the party, but I finally got around to Titanfall 2. I played it in small doses to savor, and it still seemed too short. (Always leave them wanting more I guess.)

Enough has been said about this but this is easily one of the best shooters I've played. Makes me a little bummed there may not be a sequel.

God I hope there's a sequel, they left it so open for one. Truly my favorite all-time FPS campaign ever. BT is the best.

Veloxi wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

Waaaaay late to the party, but I finally got around to Titanfall 2. I played it in small doses to savor, and it still seemed too short. (Always leave them wanting more I guess.)

Enough has been said about this but this is easily one of the best shooters I've played. Makes me a little bummed there may not be a sequel.

God I hope there's a sequel, they left it so open for one. Truly my favorite all-time FPS campaign ever. BT is the best.

I have a couple more missions, but then I will be polishing this one off as well. It seems about the standard length that FPS with multiplayer components are these days (that multiplayer is crazy fun, by the way). That is to say, not too long, but not too short. I am a weirdo who prefers games that are short instead of extending their shelf life. But the nice part is having multiplayer to extend things if you want.

I beat the Demon's Souls remake! It's great, but it's also that PS3 game in a new engine. The story and lore are the same though.

Step 1: King goes away to get some power for his kingdom.
Step 2: King comes back. "Power" was actually a lot of demons.
Step 3: Kingdom falls apart due to said demons.
Step 4: Heroes try to come and save the kingdom. One of them (you) successfully gets through.
Step 5: Kill all the things.
Step 6: Kingdom saved! Bad guy goes to sleep for awhile until the next monarchy f*cks it up again.

Recently I have finished Mafia new edition

I dont wanna spoil anything, so I will just say that you can`t play it without a tears T_T

Mafia was the first GTA3+ style game I really got into and I loved all of it - especially just existing in that time period (I really liked taking the elevated rail and watching the city pass by). The main thing I longed for was a more alive world and more ability to explore it (few pedestrians and almost no building that could be entered outside of a mission).

I purchased the definitive edition the moment I heard about it and look forward to next year when I'll have time to deep dive. I'm hoping the above complaint was addressed at least a bit.

I have now finished Watch Dogs: Legion, which, if you liked Watch Dogs, it's more of that, with more abilities and a neat "recruit anyone" feature that hampered by the fact that you don't really care about anyone since they are all replaceable. If only they added a bit of RPG to them (level up skills/stats) then i'd actually care if they died or whatever. Also, the story...well, you can figure out who the secret big bad is going to be within the first hour or so (the entirety of the game is figuring out who framed you). Anyway, it was fun to hack around and sometimes shoot stuff with all the fancy tech.

I also finished Spiderman: Miles Morales which officially has the best videogame end credits since it was basically like watching a Marvel movie complete with post-credits cutscenes. Sad to say, but I wish the next "full" game in the series is this length, or maybe a BIT longer. Or at the very least, more story, less repetitive sidequests. This game had the right amount and the story is still great stuff. I kinda wish Miles didn't sound like a 7 year old pretending to be spiderman though. I'm ok with the lack of confidence and the uncertainty, but his voice doesn't sound like a teen as much as it sounds like a little kid.

I hear the "remasters" of Mafia 2 and 3 are cluster f*cks, though. Literally just slapped on some new textures and tried to sell them for way too much money.

Vrikk wrote:

I hear the "remasters" of Mafia 2 and 3 are cluster f*cks, though. Literally just slapped on some new textures and tried to sell them for way too much money.

Mafia 3 wasn't released that long ago. Did it really need a remaster? Or couldn't a patch and solved the problems they wanted to? I guess that is a silly question if they knew people were willing to pay money for the thing, but still.

I really liked Mafia 2 and first played through it 3 years ago. Still have the (supposedly sub-par) DLC to go through. Got the graphical upgrade for 2 and 3 (which I still haven't gotten to) for a small surcharge on Steam since I already owned the "un-remastered" versions, so I can't complain.

The "definitive" editions also contain all the dlc. I didn't yet have any for 3.

Well.. I finally managed to finish Trails of Cold Steel II on my vita!
A very good game, good story and will definitely try the 3rd in the series!

I watched credits roll on TitanFall 2. Man, what a satisfying game. If I had to play it again, I'd probably bump down the difficulty. Some of the Titan levels felt like I was slamming my head against a wall as I tried to get past some of the other Titans. But other than that, fantastic stuff.

Thanks to Thanksgiving break I was able to finally finish Assassin's Creed: Origins. I had a great time with it, but boy is it long. Incredibly beautiful, but really, really long. I won't be playing another open world game for a while.

I'm not sure if this is considered finishing it...but I saw credits roll on Hades...still keep playing though...someone help me....

A couple of nice games I finished recently:

Necrobarista: A really cool visual novel with a little word minigame thrown in for good measure. The art direction is incredible, the game looks stunning and the soundtrack is a blast. The story is very powerful but it will make you think about death a lot, so make sure you have the headspace for that if you're playing it. This will likely make my top 10 list for this year.

Depanneur Nocturne: A cool short experience about browsing a shop at night looking for a present for your partner. It's all about exploring a small store and chatting with the clerk. Nice and funny. It took me a little less than an hour to finish a run and get all the achievements, but it's currently on sale for $1.24!

I finished Maneater last night with 100% completion, a ridiculous amount of fun and it didn't outstay its welcome. Some very noticeable flaws but it left me with a massive grin.

WoW: Shadowlands is released. I can play dozens of hours of Baldur's Gate 3 and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla if I wanted to. Cyberpunk looms.

And yet I think there was no game more important to my life than Spiritfarer this year.

Before diving into this game, some backstory:

In September, I lost my mom to an infection (not COVID). We always thought my father would be the first to go but no, it was mom. I've dealt with death and loss before but never so closely, suddenly, and intimately as this. I won't go into the details if you don't mind, but suffice to say I knew I would never be the same after the funeral, and that I should cherish the time I still have with my father for as many years as he has ahead of him.

In October, I lost my father to an infection (not COVID). Officially it was a back injury that never healed, followed by septicemia, but I'm convinced it was a broken heart. I never saw him cry once when his wife of 57 years died, but inside...you knew. In a matter of 45 days my parents were gone. Just like that.

The last month has been cleaning out their home with my brothers. It feels less like a home and more like a house now. A strange, bittersweet place. But we need to clean it out and that's what we're doing. Naturally this has turned into a deep dive into our childhoods - finding old photographs. A forgotten toy. A Valentine's day card to my mother from my father signed "Yours forever." A college essay from my mother about "The Nature of Eternal Life.

I've been devastated for weeks. Not a day goes by where I don't enter bouts of sadness and oftentimes tears. I'm actually doing ok but...just ok.

Spiritfarer has helped me cope. Essentially it's a cute Stardew Valley-like game where you run errands and take over the role of Charon guiding souls who are living in a sort of archipelago-like limbo ocean community until they're ready to pass on. In the meantime, several of these folks live on your ship as guests while they come to terms with their former lives. Once they're ready, you guide them to the Everdoor, the final portal to whatever lies beyond.

The way your boat guests discuss their lives and the prospect of moving on, how each of them has a different yet equally valid perspective of death and their looming eternity, was deeply touching. Some folks were curious, others were lighthearted, some scared, some nonchalant, innocent, regretful, sad, joyous...nearly every time one of these passengers moved on I broke into tears, because each one reminded me of someone recent or previous that has passed in my life. It was revelatory. Respectful. Therapeutic. And very, very necessary. The game in effect teaches your guests to learn how it's ok to let go and move on. Apparently it has a similar lesson for some folks playing the game.

From a game perspective, Spiritfarer was simple and lighthearted but always respectful of the subject matter, and at times the mini tasks could get tedious as the game progressed. But always the game was just a vehicle to let the stories of these individuals breathe. The graphics, artwork and music were understated but beautiful and matched the theme wonderfully.

There are better games out there, and this will not be my game of the year. Still, I'd be lying if I didn't say this game was exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. It provided a hopeful way to approach death and the loss of my parents in a way that wasn't inherently devastating. It was the gentlest of hugs, a soothing breath, that friend who says "if you need anything I'm here to help" (and actually means it). It gave a mix of bittersweet solace, optimism, and closure but not finality.

Thank you Spiritfarer. Just...thank you.

Budo, thank you so much for that post. I am sorry for your losses. That was an incredibly well-written explanation for a game that I can't wait to get to.

I had a couple of people reach out to me about the above post. Thanks all.

I beat Miles Morales!

It's real good. Those load times on PS5 sure are nice.

I also like how he isn't as nuanced when he's web-swinging. There's definitely a lot of flailing about.

My heart goes out to you Budo, thank you for that post. Spiritfarer & those Everdoor moments after getting to know the characters, they resonate so much. Emotionally they had a strong impact on me, I can only imagine that experience amplified with the loss of your parents & other loved ones.

I finished SteamWorld Heist Ultimate Edition on Switch recently, and I was pretty impressed with how much entertainment I got out of it. A lot of light-hearted fun/comedy mixed with fairly nerve-wracking turn-based strategy and "will this shot hit?" precision skill wrapped together in a perfect-for-switch package. I played on Veteran difficulty and the risk of losing half your money if you die kept the pressure up in a good way such that every move and shot counted. The variety in gear and squad member skills made for a lot of creative potential in putting together 1, 2, 3, and 4 person squads.

Yeah pretty much all the Steamworld games have been good. But that one was especially fun. And I could see replaying it at some point and using different characters. There's enough variety in skills to mix it up.

I've just finished Wasteland 3, which was an enjoyable RPG, with some very memorable characters NPCs and story elements, slightly - slightly - let down by some mildly mediocre and generic combat mechanics, and a rushed ending / finale that didn't really do the game justice.

Definitely hit more than it missed, but it does pale a little when you see what others are doing with the genre. It felt more than a little bit like a missed opportunity.

Stele wrote:

Yeah pretty much all the Steamworld games have been good. But that one was especially fun. And I could see replaying it at some point and using different characters. There's enough variety in skills to mix it up.

Yep I played it twice, maybe a couple of years apart. Definitely holds up on a second playthrough because all the characters are unlocked from the start, so you have more room for experimentation.

Also, I finished a couple of games this week!

Manifold Garden was one of my favourite experiences of the year, so I'm planning to write all about that in my GOTY list.

The Last Campfire probably won't make the GOTY list, but it wasn't bad. A mixture of small self contained puzzles and a few adventure game elements, talking to folks and ferrying items from one place to another. The puzzles were the best part. Bite size sokoban style block pushing and lasers with mirrors, that sort of thing. What brought it down for me was the overall tone. I think they were aiming for gentle and tender, but ended up with melancholy and "forlorn" (this is literally what the NPCs are called). It made the whole enterprise a bit drab and miserable, in service of a message that didn't really pay off in the end.

Blight wrote:

I finished SteamWorld Heist Ultimate Edition on Switch recently, and I was pretty impressed with how much entertainment I got out of it. A lot of light-hearted fun/comedy mixed with fairly nerve-wracking turn-based strategy and "will this shot hit?" precision skill wrapped together in a perfect-for-switch package. I played on Veteran difficulty and the risk of losing half your money if you die kept the pressure up in a good way such that every move and shot counted. The variety in gear and squad member skills made for a lot of creative potential in putting together 1, 2, 3, and 4 person squads.

Yes I loved this, its a really good take on turn based strategy. Plus you get the added bonus that if you just miss a shot you probably get a a new hat which should frankly be in all games.

ComfortZone wrote:

The Last Campfire probably won't make the GOTY list, but it wasn't bad. A mixture of small self contained puzzles and a few adventure game elements, talking to folks and ferrying items from one place to another. The puzzles were the best part. Bite size sokoban style block pushing and lasers with mirrors, that sort of thing. What brought it down for me was the overall tone. I think they were aiming for gentle and tender, but ended up with melancholy and "forlorn" (this is literally what the NPCs are called). It made the whole enterprise a bit drab and miserable, in service of a message that didn't really pay off in the end.

I didn't realize this was out already. I've curious about it. It sounds... not bad.

Finished Miles Morales this weekend and really enjoyed my time with it. It being short actually felt like a good length for this particular game, though I'll be curious how they can stretch that out if they return to Miles in future games. The stealth in particular felt much more satisfying.

May go back and start a New Game Plus of the original, and then finally finish off the DLC.

Yeah I just did Spidey DLC recently, and pushed through the last one with my PS5 last week, so I could transfer a 100% save to the remastered. The story bits are fun. The new combat rooms are grueling. They are so full of extra hard enemies, you really have to work the gadgets and takedown moves. Someone in the Spider-Man thread suggested turning the combat difficulty down, and I did to just get through it quickly. It was not as fun as the main game, which was mostly a joy to 100%.

I 'finished' A Short Hike in one evening, which I picked up for free during one of Epic's giveaways. It's this charming little DS-style graphics exploration game, which keeps surprising me with how much there is to do in such a small game. And it's a joy just to move around in the world. There was more to do in the game, but I was content with just rolling credits. Easy to recommend to anyone.

A Short Hike was just wonderful, definitely make a point of trying it out if you got it from Epic this year.