Beat the Heat, Clear the Pile

m0nk3yboy wrote:
Hemidal wrote:

Forgotten Sands is finished. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Some of the later water puzzles got pretty tough on the timing, which can be annoying. I know exactly what I need to do, but I'm a quarter of a second off pulling the trigger, so I fall. Grrr...

I'm at exactly this point now...

Spoiler:

Jumping through those three 'sheets' of water in the final ascent to the top is killing me... I really need to lay off the Gentleman Jack.

Yup, that was what was really pissing me off too.

I finished Bloodstone today. You'd think Bizarre Creations would know a thing or two about driving games, but the driving sections in this game were rage inducing. Nothing like the "they got away" one collision auto-fail back to checkpoint, or the disappearing road, fall off ledge/into water insta-fail. I dug the stroy, it was totally a James Bond movie, but the game was meh to crap...

I think I'm done for August on the pile. Time for some El Shaddai or Deus Ex.

Add me to the ever growing list of people who saw the credits roll on PoP: TFS.

After mastering the water curtains I was very impressed with the approach to the final Boss encounter. Think Wizard of Oz tornado, but with sand and massive sections of crumbling palace. One of the highlights of a very solid and entertaining game.

If anyone sees it 'for the right price', grab it. You could do a lot worse for 8-10 hours gameplay. (more, if you missed a sarcophagus like yours truly and need a replay). I think I'll do that one in the Ezio skin I unlocked in u play

Deathspank is down. Going to go for a quick one before the month is through and add Limbo. Taking it easy before I pledge myself to killing off my main playthrough of Mass Effect 2 for next month; I really must finish that before plunging into Nier full-on!

AUs_TBirD wrote:

Entered Point Prometheus in Bioshock and think I'm pretty near the end. Will this finally be the magical month?

Through some miracle, I've managed to avoid the spoilers well enough throughout the years to know that a bit reveal takes place somewhat late in the game, but I didn't know exactly WHAT it would be and was therefore still somewhat floored. Well played, Bioshock!

I am so looking forward to Bioshock Infinite for this very reason...

Entered Point Prometheus in Bioshock and think I'm pretty near the end. Will this finally be the magical month?

Through some miracle, I've managed to avoid the spoilers well enough throughout the years to know that a big reveal takes place somewhat late in the game, but I didn't know exactly WHAT it would be and was therefore still somewhat floored. Well played, Bioshock!

EDIT: biG reveal, not biT reveal

Another hour and I should be done!

Sam & Max Season 1 Ep. 2 is done. Decent enough, I guess. 101 and 102 were well written, so I assume that continues, but they suffer from Adventure Game Logic, which I assume continues as well. After a while I got lost so I ended up using a guide for the end of both of them. They would be better with something like a quest log of sorts, or a hint system. Maybe, since they are relatively short, they just assume you'll play the whole thing in one sitting and be able to keep everything in your head at once. Does the gameplay get better in later episodes?

I did it. 1k in Batman GOTY. Seriously considered breaking the disc in frustration on the last challenge room - but I persevered. Hooray for me!

SallyNasty wrote:

I did it. 1k in Batman GOTY. Seriously considered breaking the disc in frustration on the last challenge room - but I persevered. Hooray for me!

Gratz. Done that a couple times, on PC and PS3. Still have one more hard run of the story mode to make it 3 for 3. Awesome game.

Bioshock is finally down! Awesome, awesome game! My only real regret is that it ran very choppily on my 2 year old laptop which was pretty good for the time. As accurate aiming was nigh impossible at 10-15 fps, I relied mostly on plasmids, hacking, and melee combat with the wrench. Surprisingly, the game accomodated me very well and it was very difficult to do any serious damage to me when I the right gene tonic and plasmid loadout. I was also constantly maxed out on ammo and every item.
The environment and ambiance are truly stunning. From the awesome opening sequence, to the art deco underwater city, to the period specific music and the generous backstory via audio diaries, Bioshock really transported me to an alternate reality. The surprise was mostly not ruined for me even after all of these years and the gameplay change-ups near the end switched things up nicely. As I couldn't bring myself to harm the creepy little wenches, I got the good ending, which was sweet and wrapped things up nicely.
I'm very glad I finally got to play this and hope I'll get let into the cool kids club now.

Garden Ninja wrote:

Sam & Max Season 1 Ep. 2 is done. Decent enough, I guess. 101 and 102 were well written, so I assume that continues, but they suffer from Adventure Game Logic, which I assume continues as well. After a while I got lost so I ended up using a guide for the end of both of them. They would be better with something like a quest log of sorts, or a hint system. Maybe, since they are relatively short, they just assume you'll play the whole thing in one sitting and be able to keep everything in your head at once. Does the gameplay get better in later episodes?

102 and 103 are the lowest points. Starting with Abe Lincoln Must Die, it really takes off. Telltale does eventually add a hint system, but I'm not sure that that happens before season 2.

Well, after a couple of chapters of El Shaddai, I'm proud to proclaim it a future pile game. It plays OK, but the visuals really look like a PS2 game on acid.

Please roll Mass Effect 2 into the September list. I don't think I'll be finishing it in August.

No guarantees I'll remember to add this one to the September thread, so don't hold it against me if I forget.

That's my way of encouraging a visit to the next thread.

I'll be there to post on Thursday!

So would a game I got through goozex a week and half ago, but it's nearly 2 years after release count as a pile game? I'm within striking distance of finishing Uncharted 2.

ilomilo might get finished this month, if I push through. I don't know about Tinker, though...

Will probably carry Still Life over into next month - still focused on Xenoblade and DX:HR at the moment. Hopefully I'll get the chance to finish it before some other super cool game is released

mrtomaytohead wrote:

So would a game I got through goozex a week and half ago, but it's nearly 2 years after release count as a pile game? I'm within striking distance of finishing Uncharted 2.

I asked this at the beginning of the year actually. The 3 month rule refers only to the release date, not the date of purchase, so, yes, it applies.

Garden Ninja wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

So would a game I got through goozex a week and half ago, but it's nearly 2 years after release count as a pile game? I'm within striking distance of finishing Uncharted 2.

I asked this at the beginning of the year actually. The 3 month rule refers only to the release date, not the date of purchase, so, yes, it applies.

That is correct. It can still be pile of shame if it's awesome and you waited for it to get cheap.

Just finished up Machinarium. The puzzles are frustrating and obtuse, and the game lacks a lot of the conveniences of modern point & click adventures, but the atmosphere and art style made up for those flaws and kept me coming back.

Time Gentlemen, Please is done. I enjoyed Ben There, Dan That, but this one fell flat for me. There were way too many rooms and I spent way too much time moving to a room, doing one thing, moving to another room, doing another thing, and so on. Eventually I lost track of where to go, so I used a walkthrough. I only finished it because I wanted to see it through to the end, but I can't say that I'd recommend the game. Sure, it was funny, but otherwise I thought it was a mess.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Good, but with some issues. Unintentionally amusing moment during late-game important scene where two NPCs end up scissoring on the floor.

DAO: Awakenings is down. Didn't really declare it as I just got back into it this weekend, after DA2 went on sale. But burned through it the last couple of days, so now I can maybe move on to DA2 for next month.

Hemidal wrote:
Garden Ninja wrote:
mrtomaytohead wrote:

So would a game I got through goozex a week and half ago, but it's nearly 2 years after release count as a pile game? I'm within striking distance of finishing Uncharted 2.

I asked this at the beginning of the year actually. The 3 month rule refers only to the release date, not the date of purchase, so, yes, it applies.

That is correct. It can still be pile of shame if it's awesome and you waited for it to get cheap. :P

YEah, but my hidden point is it never really reached the pile. Regardless, I finished Uncharted 2 last night, despite the spike in difficulty with the enemies towards the end. I had a measly 28 treasures collected. I know of about 3 that I saw, but couldn't get to for one reason or another and am amazed at how they could have hidden a further 70 treasures throughout that game.

I've resumed whittling down a really ancient pile list from 6 years ago. The first to fall in my renewed attempt was Genma Onimusha earlier this month.

The next one to go down was I-Ninja (PS2/multi) two nights ago.
I managed to get 61 of the 67 tokens - each one being awarded for completing a stage or challenge. When I considered getting some of the remaining six I realized that the game just isn't good enough to justify the effort. There are plenty of reasons not to like this action-platformer including a very limited selection of enemies, being asked (but not required) to replay the same stages up to three times under different conditions, being graphically underpowered, having some irritating camera jumps, and a nonsensical, albeit funny, script. Despite these gripes, I had a good amount of fun with it, because when the action heats up and Ninja is running courses and anchoring chains to make tight turns, none of the rest really matters that much.

Next one from my prehistoric list to fall should be Faxanadu (NES), but I won't declare that until next month unless I happen to finish it in the next two days.

Looking at all of the crossed off names in the OP, it appears that we've been doing very well this month. Good job everybody! Now, unfortunately, I have to admit that Dragon Quest IX will have to carry over to September in spite of all of the progress I made. It's a hefty game.

Poppinfresh wrote:

Time Gentlemen, Please is done. I enjoyed Ben There, Dan That, but this one fell flat for me.

Wow - my experience was the exact opposite. I thought BT,DT was only ok and too wordy, but that TG,P really connected with me. Diff'rent strokes, I guess.

AUs_TBirD wrote:
Poppinfresh wrote:

Time Gentlemen, Please is done. I enjoyed Ben There, Dan That, but this one fell flat for me.

Wow - my experience was the exact opposite. I thought BT,DT was only ok and too wordy, but that TG,P really connected with me. Diff'rent strokes, I guess.

It may have been the conditions I played under-- my daughter had been going through a spell of not going to bed easily, so there was a fair amount of play a bit, deal with daughter, etc. There was a fair amount of time between my playing the two, but they seemed reasonably similar to me, I just spent more time getting stuck and hopping from location to location with TG, P. Definitely some more interesting game mechanics, though.

Portal = Done =Happy Happy Joy Joy. I just finished portal and I am amazed I did not play it sooner. I loved the premise and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of playing the game; to the extent that my wife noticed my absence…

Red Dead Redemption 360 is down. I enjoy western movies and games, but I had a hard time playing this game at first. I decided right off the bat to play a bad and did not even finish the intro quests, but went right to hi-jacking carriages, and attacking towns. By the time I actually finished learning how to lasso I already owned all the homes in the first region.

Two more down for me. YAY!

Eleven years in the making, I can say I've finished Deus Ex. Thankfully, the New Vision mod was available for most of my playthrough; but regardless, the experience really held up well for me. I loved it (still).

You know you can't resist:

And Limbo is done just in time for the end of the month.

Finished up Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 just before the end of the month. I think this was the shortest of the Strong Bad games for me thus far, but I enjoyed it as much as all the rest (aside from Episode 1). I enjoyed spending time inside the fictional Dangeresque world after the previous 3 games all took place in the same locations. And I have to say that I especially got a kick out of the homage to the Carmen Sandiego games towards the end.

As predicted, most of my gaming time this month was taken up by EU3 and Crusader Kings, but I'm happy that I was also able to knock a few games off of the pile.

With one hour left to go in the month of August, I finished up ilomilo. It's a decent enough puzzle game, but the cute aesthetics quickly become cloying, and there are some weird design decisions that make the game less fun than it could be. If you're able, I recommend getting the Windows Phone 7 version of the game over the XBLA one.