Advanced Pile Removal Activated - Pile of Shame July 2024

If I make an aspirational thread title, maybe it will motivate me to put more hours into the game I select.

Had some travel for the 4th thanks to a teenage basketball tournament. Sorry for the late start this month.

Some housekeeping notes.

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.

If you're interested, trueheart78, has the 12 month 2024 pile plan thread over here.

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.

This month's Pick of the Pile is

Rollerdrome


IMAGE(https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.yYZqRU7JTGnSzHnaZBKi6QAAAA?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain)
"Take on a unique challenge throughout the Rollerdrome tournament. Establish your dominance in the field and push yourself to the limit, while uncovering a mysterious, sinister plot in this distinct retrofuture universe." (Official Site)

Multi-Platform
Alan Wake's American Nightmare - AUs_TBirD
Age of Wonders 4 - jdzappa
Blaster Master Zero 2 - brokenclavicle
Chained Echoes - Stele
Dragon Age Inquisition - jdzappa
Elden Ring - mrtomaytohead
LostWinds - AUs_TBirD
Pilgrims - AUs_TBirD
Rollerdrome - AUs_TBirD
Yakuza 6 - Forlorn Hope

PC
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - jdzappa

Switch
Pikmin 4 - mrtomaytohead

Whew... Chained Echoes carryover I guess.

Haven't played in 2 weeks but maybe.

Carrying over Yakuza 6 (Multi) (Steam) again. Should fare better this month since my PC is in working order again.

So, playing three hefty games for the various quarterly clubs. It means I won't have much time to dedicate to any other games, but as a sweet little palate cleanser in between, I will declare Blaster Master Zero 2 (multi).

brokenclavicle wrote:

So, playing three hefty games for the various quarterly clubs. It means I won't have much time to dedicate to any other games.....

Same situation for me, except my sweet little palate cleanser is:
LostWinds (PC/multi)

Also, I'll declare Rollerdrome (PC/multi), which has been beating my rear for over two months now. I'm at the first stage of the semifinals and finally at the point of feeling no more shame when enabling assists.

EDIT: Also declaring the short Pilgrims (PC/multi) - my youngest started playing this with me a few months ago. We need to get back to it.

Here are my pics:

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
Age of Wonders 4
Dragon Age Inquisition

I picked up Elden Ring (PC/Multi) during the Steam Summer Sale and I'm not sure I'll be finishing it this month, but it, and Pikmin 4 (Switch) are what I'm playing. I guess put both on the list?

Three for three as of a week ago! Still have some time left in the month, so might get some bonus completions in too.

Finished:

Pilgrims - A charming, slightly funny, and very short adventure game with that distinctive Amanita Design feel to it. Without any intelligible dialog, your main character traverses the small world, picks up three traveling companions, and fulfils their - and your - goals. As you accomplish their goals, they leave you one by one, just as they joined. Gameplay is trial- and error combine things with other things/people and see what happens. Some puzzles have multiple solutions, and can lead to humorous outcomes. There is no (intelligible) dialog yet it's very expressive, and there are no fail states, making this a great little game for kids - just like many of Amanita's other offerings.
A highlight:

Spoiler:

Making the devil happy by letting him drag a corrupt priest down into the underworld.

Rollerdrome - An absolutely video-game-ass video game; it's rollerderby meets Tony Hawk. With guns.
And rocket launchers.
And walking tanks.
And it's great!
Except it becomes punishingly, crushingly hard no later than the semifinals.
You play Kara Hassan, a new competitor this Rollerdrome 2030 season, playing through the qualifying, quarter- and semifinal, as well as final rounds, doing tricks to refill your ammo, taking out all sorts of house players, and split-second dodging batons, rockets, sniper shots, flame throwers, mines, and lots of other deadly things. There is, of course, a story about an evil corporation going on in the background - it's fairly easy to ignore if you so choose.
Rollerdrome also features the splendid art style I first saw in Sable not two years ago, and it's gorgeous. The audio is spot on too. The game feels silky smooth and great controls (mostly - doing some tricks in specific spots can be frustrating) can make for a wonderful time.
Problem is, later on, you spend almost all of your time dodging and going into bullet time, because there are so many enemies in the map gunning for you, that there is ALWAYS something about to hit you.
After banging my head against the brick wall of the first semifinal map off and on for about two weeks, I gave in and used the reduced damage assist (and still almost died a few times).
Looking at the global steam achievements, only 18% of players even got to the semis, and less than 1 out of every 9 even finish the campaign.

There is a DLC campaign which ramps up the difficulty even more. No thanks.

The developer has unfortunately since been shuttered. A real shame, because Rollerdrome is pretty awesome except for the difficulty, and I would have loved to see what they do next.

LostWinds - This was not what I expected, when I tried it out to prepare to show my kids. I thought we were going to be playing a mostly standard, easy and cute platformer in which I push a button to jump. Instead, I control wind, and have to blow my partner all over the map, help him pull things out of the ground with a big gust, direct fire, levitate objects and launch them, and solve the mystery of what happened to the ancients and why Deo can't remember anything anymore.
It's charming, clearly made for the Wiimote (it was a Wiiware title originalls) but works with the mouse, short, and pretty unique.
It also has some control issues, which make it a slightly frustrating experience. No clue if the game worked better on Wii, but executing some of the moves with the mouse was often hit-or-miss. I'm pretty sure if I had tried to get my kids to try this out on their own, they would have given up quickly, solely because of the controls.

As it is, it was a decent way for me to spend just under 3 hours to get all achievements. I hear the sequel is much improved and meatier, so I'll likely give that a whirl sometime in the future.

And finally done with my only pick for the month of July. Blaster Master Zero 2 is in the books, now. I beat the first one earlier this year and found that this second game is a bit more challenging. In the first, I was able to keep my weapon powered up for most of the game - it requires either not getting hit or being able to recover via power ups dropped by enemies or the destructible parts of the environment. Contrast that with this second game and I was barely able to keep my weapon powered up maybe 10%-20% of the time.

The formula Inti Creates managed with this series is quite refined and it plays so damn well. It perfectly emulates the original NES game but makes it modern so deftly that one feel like it's a truly old school experience.

Well, my month is over as I've only got tonight, then I'm flying out of town at 5AM on Tuesday. I have finished nothing, but some progress in both Elden Ring and Pikmin 4.

So far, Elden Ring has managed to tick me off with the boss of the Academy of Raya Lucaria so that I'm way less interested in playing it. Pikmin 4, on the other hand continues to charm, even more so than previous entries.

Last minute bonus completion (unannounced):

Alan Wake's American Nightmare (PC/multi)
Not what I expected - I knew that it was very action oriented compared to the first game, but the way the story developed was a surprise, and I enjoyed seeing the altered takes on familiar locations. The weapons were fun, the musical interludes great, and the fact that it was quite easy is actually not a knock against it.
Love Mr. Scratch, the videos, and the radio bits. Got nearly every collectible too

Played this as a warmup for getting into Alan Wake 2 in a bit, and I'm glad I did.