Finished Any Games Lately?

Earthbound (Nintendo Switch via NSO)

What an incredibly witty, well-written, clever game. Filled with laughs, good vibes, and some neat mechanical ideas for a JRPG of its time.

Despite its charm, I found it a bit of a chore to finish. It's about 35 hours of fairly old JRPG design, where not much changes in terms of combat during the latter half. The final 2-3 dungeons were filled with constant battles that I mostly just auto-attacked through. Playing on Switch, it was nice to rewind battles and avoid tedious game-over screens, but I think I'd have preferred to play on an emulator that also allowed fast-forwarding.

And that's all a bit of a shame because there's really nothing else like Earthbound out there. I loved my moments between dungeons/exploration where I could just speak to every NPC and have a good laugh. I particularly loved finding the sesame seeds in the desert! I'm a bit so-so on it right now, but I think I'll look back at my time with Earthbound very fondly.

I beat Tunic, but I turned on No Fail mode about 2/3rds of the way through since the game became annoyingly unfair. I understand the game is supposed to be hard, but the combat and controls were not precise enough for them to get away with a boss rush, forced one-hit kill sections, and a section where all of your abilities are halved.

Good idea, great concept, nice soundtrack - bad execution that buffed the shine off of this game faster than I would have liked.

A shame. It has some really nice moments, like when you constantly find hidden paths that were just sitting there in plain sight.

I finally finished Horizon: Forbidden West. My experience echos what others have said on here in that it went on a little too long. Mostly my fault because I kept doing every little side quest imaginable. My biggest beef was with the battle system. Why even bother giving me the option to dodge when it seems rather useless? Some of the monster and boss attacks you can't seem to out run or out dodge, so I was constantly eating healing berries or, if there was actually down time in a battle, quaffing a potion.

What really blew me away is the diversity of facial animations in the game. It seems like no two characters had the same mouth movement. And I loved how diverse they kept the cast of NPCs; not just from a racial perspective but from a "not everyone in this post apocalyptic world looks like they could be a supermodel" perspective. Some characters just looked like... average people!

Trachalio wrote:

...I loved how diverse they kept the cast of NPCs; not just from a racial perspective but from a "not everyone in this post apocalyptic world looks like they could be a supermodel" perspective. Some characters just looked like... average people!

Yeah, that's a big plus on the game, one of the reasons I really liked the first one. I did think the body animations suffered from the same "more, more, more" problem; during cut scenes people moved just a little too much just to show that they could, but the movements seemed kind of random and often didn't make sense for what was being said.

Evan E wrote:
Trachalio wrote:

...I loved how diverse they kept the cast of NPCs; not just from a racial perspective but from a "not everyone in this post apocalyptic world looks like they could be a supermodel" perspective. Some characters just looked like... average people!

Yeah, that's a big plus on the game, one of the reasons I really liked the first one. I did think the body animations suffered from the same "more, more, more" problem; during cut scenes people moved just a little too much just to show that they could, but the movements seemed kind of random and often didn't make sense for what was being said.

The one that got me most was the NPCs snapping from a happy emotion to a neutral face at the end of a conversation, with almost no transition. It was so abrupt!

Finished Elden Ring, feels weird what do i do now?

bbk1980 wrote:

Finished Elden Ring, feels weird what do i do now?

If you're me, you play through og Demon's Souls, and start a Dark Souls playthrough when you're done with that...

I finished Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, meaning I beat the main story plus the short epilogue segment. I’m nowhere close to 100%ing the game, and I don’t know if I will or not because there’s a whole lot of game left (rather than catch em all, you would need to meet em all). I found it to be a charming game, with more polish and quality of life features than Explorers of the Sky, which I finished last year. I know people who know the series prefer EotS (and it did have a better story, although it swung wildly between Saturday Morning Cartoon and existential dread enough times to give me whiplash), but this one felt a bit friendlier to play, and way less random run killing random garbage. Or maybe I just had a better idea what I was doing.

Either way, it was light and enjoyable, but it actually makes me want to put Explorers of the Sky on the pile again to give it another go to see if I enjoy it more a second time around.

Finished up Hedon which was included in the recent Humble "Boomer Shooter" bundle, just goint to copy/paste my Steam review here

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRWQN-YagAAB4ex?format=png&name=900x900)

No hyperbole, it is going to be tough to choose between this and Elden Ring when it comes to my GOTY list in December. Probably more a case of this game just being VERY "me" in a lot of ways, but still, I loved it more than I've loved a game in a long time.

Can't wait to play the sequel (which was added to the base game for free). Just going to have a bit of a break first

Etrian Odyssey V

I'm on a roll! I promise I'm not no-lifeing videogames right now, I'm just really bad at sticking to one thing so I have multiple games going at any given time

Always wanted to finish one of these games, but usually end up dabbling up to the second or third stratum and losing interest. Picked this one up after a long break and it all just "clicked". Really complicated party customization with so many ways to play, beautifully diverse classes unlike anything I've seen, and devious dungeon layouts. I found out about 45 hours deep into the game that there was an auto-map toggle, and I ended up enjoying the game a LOT more when I didn't have to manually draw in every wall. I understand that's appealing to some, but it was just busywork for me.

60 hours in total, and that's *with* the optional experience DLC. I feel like I was still learning things up until the very end. I still feel like a novice in this series, but I'm really keen to dive into more!

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRpZHWAaMAAVyUY?format=jpg&name=large)

A_Unicycle wrote:

Etrian Odyssey V

I found out about 45 hours deep into the game that there was an auto-map toggle, and I ended up enjoying the game a LOT more when I didn't have to manually draw in every wall. I understand that's appealing to some, but it was just busywork for me.

Congrats!

I'm just the opposite, ha. I usually look up party builds so I can focus more on sweet exploration and manually mapping everything. I was even a bit bummed to discover that SMT: Strange Journey didn't let me do my own mapping.

I did enjoy the mapping when I started, but eventually I just wanted to focus more on the cool party builds and exploration. I totally understand the appeal of mapping everything yourself, but I just got to a point where it didn't interest me, so it's very nice that the option is there to have it done automatically.

I still made use of all the markers! Near the end, there are some devious teleport puzzles which I actually enjoyed. I think that's a first for me, because I usually get so frustrated with them! In EOV, I could mark them all manually so I'd never get lost, and that was super cool.

So I do like the mapping, but more when it's the creative note-taking type instead of the mandatory wall-drawing type

Rolled credits on Patrick's Parabox yesterday. Easily one of the best puzzle games of the last few years and I do think it's more approachable that what it initially looks like, although I would not call it easy. The way the different levels walk you through learning the mechanics without any explicit tutorials is brilliant. I'll take a stab at the challenge levels that unlocked but I am not going to be upset if this is as far as I get.

After many months and several false starts, I finally finished Days Gone. Oddly enough it was Horizon Forbidden West that prompted me to return to this comparatively subdued open world adventure.

It starts awfully with obnoxious characters all round, but the world and the bite sized missions were enough to keep me going, especially as it runs so smoothly on PS5. The characters do improve as the game progresses and the story takes some interesting turns in the later half, but overall it just takes too long to get there. After a while I was determined to see it through, and I did because it's an easy game to chip away at, but I'm still not sure it was a great use of my time.

I finished Actraiser: Renaissance a few days ago. It was a fun nostalgia trip. The remastered music is very well done and the side-scrolling stages are great. The devs decided to throw multiple tower-defense segments into the game, which were a fun diversion at first. But by the end, they just felt like padding.

Well, after my 15 hour CK3 run ended in ignominious defeat, it's time to change things up a bit. I've been sitting on Triangle Strategy for about a month without playing it, so I think it's time to fire it up and start reading.

…and I finally finished Fire Emblem Three Houses (Blue Lions route). I binged it two years ago, when I got my switch, then burned out partway through Act 2. This month I decided it was time, and pushed on through the final two maps.

More than six years after I started it, I finally finished The Witness last night. At some point in my first playthrough I got distracted by something shiny and when I came back to it a month later I found I'd forgotten some of the puzzle-solving rules, and my last save was inside an elevator that required me to solve a puzzle to move from floor to floor, so I was trapped. So this time I started the whole thing over from scratch.

It turns out to be a game I admire, but don't actually like. It's a remarkable accomplishment, a dissertation-level dissection and enumeration of one particular game mechanic, exhaustively wringing out every nuance and variation possible on its version of line puzzles, but every time I solved yet another of the 500+ puzzles in it what should have been a sense of accomplishment was largely drowned out by the realization that there were hundreds more to go. There are milestones along the way, markers that fill up and areas with events that let you know they've been completed, but all along I just felt the weight of everything I still had to do. As the game went on it went from exploration to chore.

About 95%, I'd estimate, of the puzzles I solved I did on my own, but eventually I wound up consulting a YouTube walkthrough for some of the ones that were necessary and a number of the optional environmental puzzles, the latter of which can be nigh-impossible to even find, much less solve. I certainly don't regret "cheating"; unfortunately, for me this became more about getting the game done rather than about enjoying the process. I'm glad I've finally crossed it off the Pile O Shame, and that I can have an informed opinion about it.

Evan E wrote:

More than six years after I started it, I finally finished The Witness last night. At some point in my first playthrough I got distracted by something shiny and when I came back to it a month later I found I'd forgotten some of the puzzle-solving rules, and my last save was inside an elevator that required me to solve a puzzle to move from floor to floor, so I was trapped. So this time I started the whole thing over from scratch.

It turns out to be a game I admire, but don't actually like. It's a remarkable accomplishment, a dissertation-level dissection and enumeration of one particular game mechanic, exhaustively wringing out every nuance and variation possible on its version of line puzzles, but every time I solved yet another of the 500+ puzzles in it what should have been a sense of accomplishment was largely drowned out by the realization that there were hundreds more to go. There are milestones along the way, markers that fill up and areas with events that let you know they've been completed, but all along I just felt the weight of everything I still had to do. As the game went on it went from exploration to chore.

About 95%, I'd estimate, of the puzzles I solved I did on my own, but eventually I wound up consulting a YouTube walkthrough for some of the ones that were necessary and a number of the optional environmental puzzles, the latter of which can be nigh-impossible to even find, much less solve. I certainly don't regret "cheating"; unfortunately, for me this became more about getting the game done rather than about enjoying the process. I'm glad I've finally crossed it off the Pile O Shame, and that I can have an informed opinion about it.

Congrats! It's a very interesting game.

"Interesting" is one way of putting it. It was a little disappointing that for six years, having not completed it, I held a higher opinion of it than I now do having slogged my way through it.

It was a really edifying contrast to The Outer Wilds, whose DLC I had recently completed. They're both puzzle games, and both the main game and the DLC of Outer Wilds have at least one section that I thought was objectively awful and almost made me quit the game never to come back, but by and large the wealth of wonders that The Outer Wilds unfolded for me not only made me love it but has now pretty emphatically pushed it into Fave Gaming Experience Ever. The Witness, on the other hand, just gradually wore me down, even as I intellectually admired its purity of vision.

Evan E wrote:

The Witness, on the other hand, just gradually wore me down, even as I intellectually admired its purity of vision.

I reached the same conclusion. It's brilliant, but a chore. On top of that, I reached this point on a Christmas Eve in which I was all alone thanks to a snow storm that wrecked my travel plans.

I know it's not fair, but for me The Witness is synonymous with feeling defeated.

(IIRC, I then started playing Puzzle Agent and felt much better.)

Worst Box Art Blurb! "Synonymous with feeling defeated!" - Ted

Also, "brilliant, but a chore" aptly describes a number of people I've met.

Wrath of the righteous. Angel mythic path. It was fun.

Completed Jill run of Resident Evil HD Remaster. Had fun playing but it could use some work. They should add the ability to drop items and to have those items show on your map like in resident evil 0. Kind of silly not being able to pickup a grenade launcher because I can't put down a key or a herb.

Loved the updated look and I think the added content. I played the original at least twice but the only thing I recall from it was "you almost became a Jill sandwich".

LastSurprise wrote:

I finished Actraiser: Renaissance a few days ago. It was a fun nostalgia trip. The remastered music is very well done and the side-scrolling stages are great. The devs decided to throw multiple tower-defense segments into the game, which were a fun diversion at first. But by the end, they just felt like padding.

I forgot this game existed and I have a Switch now so I could play it... but there is no physical release and I don't trust Nintendo when it comes to digital purchases

Watched credits roll on Amnesia Rebirth. Out of the three releases, I think I've enjoyed A Machine for Pigs the best because of the story. But Rebirth was certainly the prettiest.

Just wrapped up yet another campaign, but this time the Legendary Edition, of Mass Effect 2.

Such a great game, just such a great experience on all fronts, but most especially how lean and efficient it is. The game gives you just enough gameplay, character development with complete efficient character arcs for each teammate, a tight clean story story and just enough lore to set the stage but without overstaying its welcome. But the most important piece for me is the pace and clear direction of the overall mission progress combined with individual mission choices. This is especially important since the urgency of the main mission would contrast directly with a casual exploration of the galaxy, but on the other hand you still want some authorship in how your story chapters align.

What makes this game the classic that it is really comes down to the unparalleled character development. Each character in the game is so distinct, from their voices, graphics, story, motivations, and abilities that you feel as if these are truly unique individuals (especially when considering how much Bioware likes to copy NPC faces in their games). This uniqueness also deepens the level the investment you have in your individual team members leading to the endgame, where the consequences of your decisions could lead to their loss. You feel like you really are leading a dirty dozen into what still remains the best final mission in any PC game.

Even now, though the game continues to surprise me . Even though I made the exact choices I remember working perfectly to save my entire crew in many prior runs, this time I lost Mordin. As much as I love the guy, I'm not going to restart. I'll miss his Mass Effect 3 experience but I've been there before. The whole point of the ME series was to empower you with tough choices and force you live with the consequences down the line in your current game and beyond. What an achievement for the trilogy considering the multiple story branches and continuity potholes that had to be addressed simultaneously.

Speaking of ME3, the trilogy finale remains my overall favorite of the series, but I make no argument on which one was more impactful. Mass Effect 2 made the series the success and built its legend.

There are a couple of parts that did remind me how much I appreciated improvements in the sequels to ME2. The combat is definitely a great improvement over ME1 for sure, and again it was very lean and efficient combined with that ME2 urgency, but sometimes it could get repetitive, especially if you selected squadmates for a mission with similar weaponry and powers. ME2 more than any other game had a minor issue with characters sticking (or not) to cover, and...nothing...nothing...will ever make me forgive planet scanning.

Overall, though, Mass Effect 2 is the best middle season of your favorite sci-fi series, including the big season finale episode that you can't stop talking about years later.

Up next, NOT Mass Effect 3. Got to give the story some breathing room. I failed with Grand Cathay, but maybe Kislev will be able to free Ursun in Total War: Warhammer III. This assumes I don't get sidetracked by the other 40 games on the hard drive. There's also this little title called Assassin's Creed Odyssey that I heard is a quick 2 hour trip through Greece. Stab a guy with a spear or something, climb a temple...I'll give it a couple of afternoons and wrap it up quickly.

Life is Strange 3. Another fantastic entry in the series. Great writing and great characters. My only complaint is that, just like the last couple of dontnod games, it could have been longer. With ten episodes it could have felt more like a season of a TV show, and given us more time to really get to know the town and it's residents.

Citizen Sleeper Gamepass

This hit me at the perfect time. With elections next week and a lot of personal frustrations with corporations/capitalism, it was just lovely to sink into a story that shared a lot of my views. I loved how everyone in this game is struggling in their own way, but will cautiously open up to help their community. The commentary on who has power and who gets to live a worthwhile life was particularly moving for me.

I encountered a fair few bugs and needed to restart the game more than I'd have liked. I also felt like the dice-based decision making was ridiculously easy once you got a +1 or +2 in a stat. I ended up having infinite money and not needing to worry about feeding myself or buying medicine. Both of these things felt central to what the game was trying to convey, so it was a bit of a miss.

Still a lovely experience. It's on Gamepass and is less than 10 hours long. Highly recommended.

So I rarely ever finish games. Today, however, I saw the credits roll on the Prophecy campaign for Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor for the first time. It was quite a fun ride, and it left it totally open for more at the end. Thanks to the season and various events I've also leveled a character farther than ever before. Such a great ARPG.