Finished Any Games Lately?

EDIT: Wrong thread, wrong post. Nothing to see here D: hahahaha

Cleared a very old entry in my backlog: Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.

Fun, but hardly perfect. It's mostly very easy but there are some odd difficulty spikes. There's a precision platforming marathon near the end that I liked, but others might find out of place. I think I liked the transformation powers in Risky's Revenge over the equipment you get in this one, but it's been a long while so that might be nostalgia talking.

Now I might have to pick up the other entries when they're on sale to catch up.

Sundered: Eldritch Edition was a game I played a bit of last year & I started back at it a couple of weeks ago, just finished this second. Metroidvania's are one of my favourite genre's & this seemed a really unique looking one.

The art style is really different, you can have huge robots firing tracking lasers at you or fantastical black hound creatures with huge teeth darting for you, there are alien plant like enemies. The bosses are truly splendid, grotesque designs that make an impact as soon as you see them. Its hard to even describe the environments, one is more a hellscape of tunnels, another is more a modern robot facility, while the last is very much like a futuristic ruined cathedral.

The randomized caverns that change every time you die are for variation which is nice in a way but I'd much prefer preset handcrafted routes with more identifiable areas. There are only ever a few parts of any of the three sprawling areas that really feel memorable. In this sense it doesn't touch Hollow Knight & the two Ori games.

Movement of your character feels fluid, jumping good & the suite of ability upgrades are enjoyable, a couple of the later ones are very different, especially the corrupted abilities. I did go down the corrupted route, I couldn't tell you what the story was about but I wanted more powerful upgrades of the abilities I'd obtained & that was the way to achieve that. I ended up getting every ability corrupted but one, so I got the default ending, I probably should have just got the last elder shard to corrupt to go all in & get the bad ending.

The combat is very much you vs piles of enemies onscreen, it actually works fairly well. While the combat doesn't have a punch to it, there's still a very good sense visually of perishing enemies. You can build up a finisher by striking enemies which then enables you to unleash a whip like attack, or a spinning aerial attack (amongst a couple of other finishing moves based on what direction you press while doing it) that can wipe a bunch of enemies out in an instant. The game zooms out when the hordes come (you usually hear a gong when this is about to happen) & it can be easy to get lost in the utter madness onscreen.

One of my biggest complaints is that the hordes come too regularly, it gives you little breathing room to explore & it can feel cheap to just let enemies pile into an area one after the other so consistently.

There are enemies like the big robots who track you with their laser attacks from way off screen, their attacks ignoring the steel walls between you & them. This trait of bypassing solid structures is used by quite a few enemies throughout the game too, they'll just pass through walls or the like to get to you. It becomes a bit annoying, your bound to go around this environmental furniture, they aren't.

The biggest compliments I can pay Sundered are that there's nothing else like it art wise, fighting hordes of enemies is a thing I haven't really seen in other metroidvania's (at least to this extent). The feeling of getting more powerful is very satisfying & makes going back to areas that kicked your ass a blast. The bosses & mini bosses are a sight to behold, there are some very imaginative artists at Thunder Lotus. The combat flows really nicely & usually you can keep tabs on the chaos going on all over the screen.

It's a good, possibly very good game, it's just not at the very top tier of it's genre. I'm glad I went back to it though, it might sneak into my top 10 this year.

I told ya it was fun. It's very much the "warriors" version of a Metroidvania. Hordes of enemies.

It's one of the few that I've finished out of dozens I've tried the last few years.

Yeah it feels under appreciated in terms of Metroidvania's the last few years, you never really hear anyone talk about it. It has a good gameplay loop, I found myself consistently firing it up every night for a good while.

Cheers for the recommendation Stele!

Funnily enough, I just noticed last weekend that Sundered was included in the Itch Palestine bundle. Your post may just be enough to convince me to install it!

I watched credits roll on The Witcher 3. I still have the DLC to get through. But I figured I would wait for the PS5 upgrade that they are promising.

Garth wrote:

I watched credits roll on The Witcher 3. I still have the DLC to get through. But I figured I would wait for the PS5 upgrade that they are promising.

Ooooooh! Congrats! BOTH DLCs are incredible with Blood and Wine being the best and most cathartic epilogue you could imagine. Look forward to it and savor it when ya get to it.

Yeah you have another 60 hours ahead of you of great story and lore.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
Garth wrote:

I watched credits roll on The Witcher 3. I still have the DLC to get through. But I figured I would wait for the PS5 upgrade that they are promising.

Ooooooh! Congrats! BOTH DLCs are incredible with Blood and Wine being the best and most cathartic epilogue you could imagine. Look forward to it and savor it when ya get to it.

Vrikk wrote:

Yeah you have another 60 hours ahead of you of great story and lore.

Good god! I was almost scared to look it up, but I didn't think it was another 60 hours. I was really surprised how caught up I got in a character and world that I knew nothing about prior to this. I am glad I gave it another shot after bouncing off initially. I really think my favorite parts of the game were the contracts and all of the different little stories that they would tell to flesh the world out. I could have done without the hundreds of question marks littered around the island. I enjoyed doing lots of them to help get gear and skill points, but it felt like overkill. I spent so many hours doing them and probably only got to 20% or so.

The Witcher 3 DLC has better story and scope than some full RPGs.

I was kinda unimpressed by Heart of Stone - it felt like just a bigger-than-normal side quest from the main game. Good, but not spectacular.

Blood and Wine could easily stand on its own as a completely separate game and feel complete. And it has the added bonus of looking like a gorgeous resort vacation spot as compared to the rest of the world. Definitely save this one for last - you won't want to leave.

merphle wrote:

I was kinda unimpressed by Heart of Stone - it felt like just a bigger-than-normal side quest from the main game. Good, but not spectacular.

Blood and Wine could easily stand on its own as a completely separate game and feel complete. And it has the added bonus of looking like a gorgeous resort vacation spot as compared to the rest of the world. Definitely save this one for last - you won't want to leave.

Completely agree with this take.

Same here.

The Witcher 3 is one of those games I wish I could forget about so I could play it again fresh. It's one of the reasons I've only played it completely through once. Totally going to load it up again once the updated graphics remaster is released.

I definitely focused on my Combat attributes, but I am curious how the game plays using mostly Witcher's Sign. I still have really no clue about the Alchemy skill set and how that even compares to the other two. So I am probably still missing a huge fraction of the game.

Garth wrote:

I definitely focused on my Combat attributes, but I am curious how the game plays using mostly Witcher's Sign. I still have really no clue about the Alchemy skill set and how that even compares to the other two. So I am probably still missing a huge fraction of the game.

The problem with the Alchemy stuff is that you have to stop and prep the appropriate potions before every fight. It gets quite old in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Of course there are some potions that are really useful regardless - the one that lets you see in the dark for example, or the one for breathing underwater - so can be worth investing a little. The other issue is that some ingredients are incredible rare and can’t be bought - troll livers are the main culprit. I think you can only get them by choosing to kill trolls during quests where you are supposed to be helping them.

Wonderful 101 is done. The end was a slog.

Huff huff huff huff… I did it! Mafia III is in the can.

It’s a diamond in the rough. With a little more polish, maybe some balancing, it could be one of the greatest games ever created. As it is, there’s too much busy work and too much repetition.

I beat it and then I 100%ed it, but it doesn’t track your percentage progress so that’s based on my own expectations. I beat every mission and found every collectible. There are some cars and weapons and perks that I didn’t unlock, but I don’t think it’s possible to unlock them all.

RawkGWJ wrote:

Huff huff huff huff… I did it! Mafia III is in the can.

It’s a diamond in the rough. With a little more polish, maybe some balancing, it could be one of the greatest games ever created. As it is, there’s too much busy work and too much repetition.

I beat it and then I 100%ed it, but it doesn’t track your percentage progress so that’s based on my own expectations. I beat every mission and found every collectible. There are some cars and weapons and perks that I didn’t unlock, but I don’t think it’s possible to unlock them all.

That is next on my to-play list. I bought it years ago but never got around to it for whatever reason. I am glad to hear such amazing praise for it. I feel like it came out, people talked about it briefly, and then it was just gone. It's too bad.

Garth wrote:
RawkGWJ wrote:

Huff huff huff huff… I did it! Mafia III is in the can.

It’s a diamond in the rough. With a little more polish, maybe some balancing, it could be one of the greatest games ever created. As it is, there’s too much busy work and too much repetition.

I beat it and then I 100%ed it, but it doesn’t track your percentage progress so that’s based on my own expectations. I beat every mission and found every collectible. There are some cars and weapons and perks that I didn’t unlock, but I don’t think it’s possible to unlock them all.

That is next on my to-play list. I bought it years ago but never got around to it for whatever reason. I am glad to hear such amazing praise for it. I feel like it came out, people talked about it briefly, and then it was just gone. It's too bad.

I hope you enjoy it. There’s a lot to love. The soundtrack is great!! The social commentary is as relevant today as when the game was released and also as relevant as the time in which it takes place. I’m white. The protagonist is black. I feel that the game has given me just a tiny bit of perspective of what it’s like to be a black man in American society. Of course, I get to turn the game off and resume my place as a white straight cis middle class man. Also, I had the luxury of knocking out and robbing anyone in the game who said hateful bigoted sh*t to me and face zero consequences for it. Still though, the simulated bigotry had a significant effect on me. Empathy empathy empathy.

After around 3 hours, I have just finished the LEGO Builder's Journey. I expected to love this game. I did at first. And then I didn't.

The game starts simple enough, where all that is needed is to build some form of bridge to get the character from point A to point B. My 10 year old self was crying, looking at the fragile constructions I came up with. Eventually, though, the objectives become way more obtuse, and the game does not explain them at all (as there is no text anywhere, except the main menu and the credits). I wasted a lot of time just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.

The story is simple, but cute.

The game looks absolutely gorgeous with RTX enabled. I don't think virtual Lego bricks have never looked this good! The music is also excellent.

Overall, I would say it's an OK game. It doesn't overstay its welcome, it looks good, and it has some good puzzles, but could use some way to identify its objectives.

There isn't much in terms of replay value either. Once the puzzle is solved, there is no reason to do it again, since the game does not provide a rating on the solution. There also is no workshop mode or anything to allow the player to create their own levels.

Well, I beat Death's Door and spent the day getting the necessary secret things to trigger the secret post-game ending and... Well, that was pretty cool. Spoilery things to come...

Spoiler:

The secret ending seems to establish this game as being a sequel to Titan Souls. I did not see that one coming. I've played Titan Souls but haven't taken the time to get any good at it, thus not having beaten it. In any case, this was pretty cool.

Now, this might be a strong contender for my game of the year. I really couldn't put the game down from the moment I first started. It took me something like 5 or 6 sittings all together and about 18 hours.

Very highly recommended.

Finished the MQ on Assassin's Creed Syndicate. It's a game I never got into originally but decided to do a full play through and although I still have some DLC to do have done all the game stuff.
Although I loved the setting and the twins dynamic I thought the gameplay was off for an AC game. Clunky, too much hectic clicking, some odd design choices (like not making fast travel available on some MQ stuff - given you get those missions on the train it is completely random where you are and you often have to run a long way to get to the next point) and not enough gameplay in the more recognisable parts of London.
I also substantially completed the skills and gang trees quite early on, sequence 4 I think, and with the season pass I never had a need to swop gear much so that side seemed very flat for an AC game.

I really did like the investigations and scenarios and still have the Jack the Ripper to complete and there is another similar DLC which for some reason is not on the season pass, but for £4 it looks good value.

So lots to like but also some frustrating stuff. I think my time in the game would have been better without the latest 3 games though, they've massively changed the experience of an AC game for the better IMO.

Ape Escape 2 (PS2)

My hopes of an Ape Escape Trilogy remaster died with Sony Japan shutting down, so I went back and played the original. I've already beaten the first and third games, but the second was completely new to me. Nearly identical to the other two games, but extremely well made. The third is probably my favourite, but all three are awesome.

Well, now to go back to hoping for a fan translation of Ape Escape: Million Monkeys.

I just beat the first Monument Valley game including the two DLC. It’s super charming and a bit of a mind eff. I had a hard time solving the puzzles when I was tired so it was better to play after waking up rather than before sleep. As far as mobile games go, this is as good as it gets.

I finished 4 games in the past couple months:

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - Great game, platinumed in a weekend. GOTY Contender

Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny - The most broken SRPG and most SRPG games are made to be broken. It has new systems for the game to autogrind for you and insanely high speeds, the problem was - this was all available in the demo that transferred to the full game. I was never challenged even after using the cheat machine thing to max out the game difficulty

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin - another GOTY contender for me. Finally someone added something to the monster collection rps battle system to keep battles interesting. If it had a better story, it could give Persona games a run for their money in the monster collection area. It's a Monster Hunter game for people who find the action game too much.

Final Fantasy IX - I told myself that when this game went on sale on PS4 that I'd buy it, I did that. Then I told myself that, since I was ahead in my "finish one game a month" schedule I would replay an old game and since there isn't a console re-release of Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy IX won that spot and I did it. Using the speed boost and turning off random battles during certain areas, I was able to get the Excalibur 2 with 20min to spare(you have to get to basically the last boss in under 12 hours). Then, since I was so close, I just finished the game. The end still hits differently from the others. For a FF game that was so colorful with a seemingly happy-go-lucky protagonist, it was one of the darkest and saddest games in the series ...may have been king until FF15 came through with the most depressing storyline where pretty much no one is happy.

RawkGWJ wrote:

I just beat the first Monument Valley game including the two DLC. It’s super charming and a bit of a mind eff. I had a hard time solving the puzzles when I was tired so it was better to play after waking up rather than before sleep. As far as mobile games go, this is as good as it gets.

I’m so glad this game is still getting new players. We love this game in our house. My eldest has replayed it a dozen times and can basically speed run it. Both my sons and I think it’s a cakewalk and adore it but my neurotypical mother, bless her, can’t make heads or tails of it. It’s gorgeous and a gem.
Play the sequel too if you get the chance/ are inclined to!

Last night I finished Cloudpunk, a game that had been sitting in my backlog for a long time. It's really almost a visual novel because only a few missions are time sensitive or require any skill. As much as I feel a bit oversaturated with late capitalism corporate apocalypse stories at this point, I really enjoyed it. The writers did a great job of using humor to lighten up the story at the right times, although I feel like the game could have used a bit more dialogue choice. The voxel art style works really well too, and it's pretty cool to switch between exploring in your vehicle or on foot. The driving/flying required me to play around with control bindings a bit, but once I figured out a scheme that worked for me, it felt really good. While walking around to pick up collectibles might feel a bit dull at times, you get rewarded by discovering interactions with different characters in the city, as well as just looking at the different locations.

I

Pink Stripes wrote:

Last night I finished Cloudpunk, a game that had been sitting in my backlog for a long time...

I played and finished Cloudpunk soon after it came out last year and also really enjoyed it. It was the perfect game for me, during the initial social distancing rules. The voxel world they created was fun to escape to and the story/humour hit the right note. They have released a new DLC which adds a whole new chapter of the story and I intend to play at some point.