Celebrate May Day by Working on the Pile - Pile of Shame May 2021

Two months in a row, this may affect my performance review.

I've decided to be a little more mercenary in my approach to my Pile of Shame. Difficulty gets dumped quick rather than banging my head against a wall. It only took me 14 years to come to this realization. Some old gamer traditions are hard to let go.

Let's see what we're playing this month.

Some housekeeping notes.

If you're interested, trueheart78, has the 12 month 2021 pile plan thread over here.

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.

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.

Let's get on to the games!

This month's Pick of the Pile is

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots


IMAGE(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QM2bPt_naBQ/W_6DftAZc9I/AAAAAAAABl8/2sdHIgkjvcsMON4c62psHIW8G7pXHpEbwCLcBGAs/s1600/MGS4.jpg)
"Guns of the Patriots is set in 2014, nine years after the events of the original Metal Gear Solid and five years after Sons of Liberty. The world's economy relies on continuous civil wars fought by PMCs, which outnumber government military forces. Soldiers are equipped with nanomachines that monitor and enhance their performance on the battlefield, controlled by a vast network known as the Sons of the Patriots (SOP) system. Revolver Ocelot, missing since the events of Sons of Liberty, is possessed by the will of Liquid Snake and re-emerges from hiding to launch an insurrection against the Patriots, a secret cabal which manipulates global affairs from the shadows.

Solid Snake, meanwhile, is experiencing accelerated aging and has about a year left to live. He is living on board the airplane Nomad with Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich and Olga Gurlukovich's daughter Sunny, a child prodigy in computer programming. Since the aftermath of the Big Shell Incident, Raiden has drifted away from Rose, who had apparently suffered a miscarriage with their child and gone to live with his former commander Colonel Roy Campbell, and has become a cyborg ninja fighting against the Patriots. Meryl Silverburgh commands a PMC inspection unit in the U.S. military, which includes Johnny Sasaki." (Wikipedia)

Multi-Platform
198X - AUs_TBirD
The Alliance Alive - Malkroth
Batman: Arkham Asylum - AUs_TBirD
Disco Elysium - benign1
Double Dragon - Stele
Eastshade - benign1, Eleima
Final Fantasy X HD - Stele
Gears of War 4 - Hemi
Halo 2 - Hemi
Halo 3 - Hemi
Halo 3: ODST - Hemi
Halo 4 - Hemi
Halo 5: Guardians - Hemi
Halo: Reach - Hemi
Lair of the Clockwork God - iaintgotnopants
The Last of Us Remastered: Left Behind - Stele
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - bobbywatson
Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta - AUs_TBirD
Mafia II: Joe's Adventures - AUs_TBirD
Maquette - benign1
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - brokenclavicle
Sayonara Wild Hearts - Eleima
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm - LastSuprise
Star Wars Squadrons - Stele
Subnautica - iaintgotnopants
Super Mario 3D World - iaintgotnopants
Whispers of a Machine - benign1
Wolfenstein 2: I Still Don't Remember The Subtitle - iaintgotnopants

PC
Tyranny - brokenclavicle

PS3
Heavy Rain - AUs_TBirD

Nintendo Switch
Murder by Numbers - charlemagne
Pikmin 3 Deluxe - LastSuprise

Nintendo 3DS
Radiant Historia - Stele

Well, carrying over dem games, I guess:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS4)
Tyranny (PC)

Mostly a carry-over month for me too. I've been in a very one-game-at-a-time mode for months now, but I'm going to try and break out of that to get to Eastshade earlier in the month, despite being utterly engrossed in Disco Elysium.

Multi-Platform
Disco Elysium
Eastshade
Maquette
Whispers of a Machine

Only one game to declare at the moment, and it's a carry over from April:

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (multi)

I should be able to finish it some time this week. Not sure what I will play after that. Probably something from my priority list.

Formatted shortlist:

Spoiler:

Multi-Platform
Batman: Arkham Asylum - AUs_TBirD
Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta - AUs_TBirD
Mafia II: Joe's Adventures - AUs_TBirD

Playstation 3
Heavy Rain - AUs_TBirD

Taking it a bit easier last month worked out pretty well, so let's do it again!

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC/multi) - my Batman adventures continue! This Mark Hamill Joker already sounds "wrong" to me after the Telltale Games' version.

Mafia II: Jimmy's Vendetta (PC/multi) - Already celebrated May Day by completing this on the 1st. Pretty much just copy-past my comments on The Betrayal of Jimmy from the last thread. The main difference is that the collection of side missions just felt a bit "snappier" with a bit less endless driving to and fro for no real reason except to prolong missions. There was also at least one unique set piece at a new location which was a welcome change.

Mafia II: Joe's Adventures (PC/multi) - Will wrap up the Mafia 2 DLC shortly. Then on to Mafia III eventually.

Heavy Rain (PS3) - started this about 7 years ago and got a fair ways in, only to get distracted by other shinies. I wish my architectural job was as crazy laid-back as the main character's.

Finished:
The Last of Us Remastered: Left Behind (PS4)

I actually just started that on Wednesday or so but finished it up this weekend. Not long but worth playing. I had meant to do it on PS4 ages ago but finally got to it with the PS5 plus collection. Game looked better and loaded even quicker than I remembered since I never had a PS4 pro. I considered adding the whole remastered game for a replay since it's been years but the pile is still too big for that, so I freed up the hard drive space for something else.

Added:
Radiant Historia (3DS).

Carry over:
Final Fantasy X HD (Switch, multi)
Star Wars Squadrons (PS4, multi)

I didn't touch either of the carry overs the last two weeks of the month. But I'm really close to the end on both. Going to try again and not abandon them.

With Mass Effect around the corner, I'm not going to be too greedy, so I'll just declare Eastshade (Multi).

I'll try to finish up Murder by Numbers (switch). As with Eleima, also waiting for Mass Effect!

Carrying over Wolfenstein 2: I Still Don't Remember The Subtitle and Super Mario 3D World. I'd get further in Mario if I remembered I had a Switch more than a couple days a month.

If the Dota battle pass comes out some time soon, I may not get much done this month.

I'm going to continue down the MCC path and work on Halo 2

Going to try and complete The Alliance Alive (multi) this month.

Halo 2 is finished. Pretty big leap from the first, kind of surprising since they were both OG Xbox games.

I'm going back to my March declarations. Going to try to finish Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Switch) and one actual game of Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (multi).

I'm going to tentatively pencil in Sayonara Wild Hearts (multi), because it's only four hours and Mass Effect is coming out on Friday.

I finished Eastshade tonight! Missing a few cheevos, but got through the bulk of it. And what a delightful game it is!

Finished Sayonara Wild Hearts this evening. And it's reeeeeeeeeeeally good, y'all.

Finished Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (I finally remembered the subtitle). It was decently fun. About on par with the first. I still had a bunch of post-game stuff to do but I fine with just being done with it. I wish stealth was a little more viable. I think I just want every first person game to be Dishonored at this point.

Next, I think I'm going to play Lair of the Clockwork God. I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands so hopefully I can knock a couple more out in May.

While I'm glad you finished and remembered the subtitle, I want to leave it because I still chuckle every time I read it.

Wolfenstein 2: I Still Don't Remember The Subtitle

Finished Halo: Reach and Halo 3. Burning through the MCC. I think I'll play ODST next.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Next, I think I'm going to play Lair of the Clockwork God. I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands so hopefully I can knock a couple more out in May.

It's really, really good, I recommend it! It went on the podium for my GOTY list last year.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracles of Ages is done!

I liked it for about 75% of the time it took for me to beat it (around 16 hours in total, I think), but I eventually reached the 'f*ck it' point and grabbed a guide. Navigating the world screen by screen and having to switch between two time lines was annoying.

I will still play Oracle of Seasons, but not right now. Not sure what I'm going to play next. I don't expect to play anything until the weekend, so I've got a few days to figure that out. I might plug in my Xbox 360 and boot up Jet Set Radio Future, or start playing the fan translation of Tales of Phantasia.

I think I still have shrink wrapped copies of both Oracle games. They were on clearance like way later when DS was out and I grabbed them. But then I got them on 3DS digital before I ever got around to playing. I should see if those originals are worth anything...

Edit: holy sh*t some completed listings on eBay of $500+

Stele wrote:

I think I still have shrink wrapped copies of both Oracle games. They were on clearance like way later when DS was out and I grabbed them. But then I got them on 3DS digital before I ever got around to playing. I should see if those originals are worth anything...

Edit: holy sh*t some completed listings on eBay of $500+

You know what to do

bobbywatson wrote:
Stele wrote:

I think I still have shrink wrapped copies of both Oracle games. They were on clearance like way later when DS was out and I grabbed them. But then I got them on 3DS digital before I ever got around to playing. I should see if those originals are worth anything...

Edit: holy sh*t some completed listings on eBay of $500+

You know what to do :)

Put them in a safe spot and forget about them for another 20 years?

Put a fork in the MCC. I did not like Halo 4 much. I may move on to Halo 5 to keep the theme going.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is done! I've finished the main story, all of the side story missions (both sets), and most of the optional challenge missions. I might pick it up again later, to finish the balance, but for now it's in the books and off the pile!

Finished Lair of the Clockwork God. Thought it was pretty fun overall. I wish either the platforming was smoother or the adventure game side was more prominent. The clunky platforming would be fine if the balance was like it was at the start of the game but toward the end it felt like 90% platforming.

I have an idea of what I want to play next but I'll hold off on declaring it to make sure I'm actually going to start it this week.

I actually made some progress on Super Mario 3D World this weekend but I'm still just in world 5 out of (I think?) 12. Insisting on 100%-ing a level isn't helping.

Can I put down Double Dragon (NES, multi) as done?

I played this a million times but pretty sure I never beat it. And the 2nd is a better game, and I even beat that one legit before emulators. So never went back to this one much.

I remember getting to Machine Gun Willy before but don't think I ever beat him, or the boss after. Didn't even know there was a boss after because he was so hard. But I got that awesome Switch collection on sale recently and decided to start with that one. Once I got into it I decided I was going to beat it finally. Thanks to save states, and a YouTube video (NSFW, language), I finally got over the wall. Last boss was pretty easy after that.

I started Subnautica. We'll see how long I can stick with it. I've watched quite a bit of people streaming it so I know what it becomes but that first hour was a great example of why I usually don't play survival games.

Busiest month I've had in about forever. Halo 5 is down. That one was better than 4. Story almost made sense.

Been playing my picks here and there, but I've been too disperse in general to complete any freakin' thing I blame 80's nostalgia, which seems to get me bad when nearing mid-year for the last couple of years... Call it my midlife crisis, I guess, but I revert to playing crap I could find at my local arcade or at home on my uncle's 2600 and my NES... Yeah. It's fun, though! Recommend it 100%

brokenclavicle wrote:

I blame 80's nostalgia, which seems to get me bad when nearing mid-year for the last couple of years... Call it my midlife crisis, I guess, but I revert to playing crap I could find at my local arcade or at home on my uncle's 2600 and my NES... Yeah. It's fun, though! Recommend it 100%

It sounds like you need to play:
198X (PC/multi) - (finished/undeclared). 198X is a really fun and nostalgic, but far too brief exploration of the various genres of late 80's/early 90's arcade games, with an pretty good, and occasionally cracking soundtrack. Overlaid on top of it all is a story about navigating one's teenage years. The outtakes of games are, for the most part, really well done, and feel absolutely authentic to the time. It throws you right into a Final Fight clone (that feels a lot like Streets of Rage 2) and just takes off from there. Highly recommended for anyone with that kind of nostalgia, but only at a discount as it really is short. I played for 98 minutes, and that includes having a tough time in "Shadowplay" and replaying "The Runaway" after finishing the game, just because it was so awesome.

Also finished:
Mafia II: Joe's Adventures (PC/multi) - The final DLC for Mafia II reminds me of how great the base game felt. Compared to the other two DLCs, there are far more story missions complete with cut scenes, the myriad of side missions - while still timed, unfortunately (though playing on easy, the timer almost never mattered) - seemed much more imaginative and fit better into the rest of the gameplay, and an entirely new section of the city was added. Joe's story, unlike Jimmy's exploits, is supplemental to that of the main game and is entertaining in its own right. Joe is certainly a likeable character - numerous flaws and all - but just don't get on his bad side.
I'm a little sad that my stay in Empire Bay is now over, but I'm happy that it ended on a high note. It was really impressive how the game spanned decades and seasons. At the end of the three DLCs, played in the Definitive Edition, I took 361 screenshots in 29 hours. I think that says all you need to know about how much I wanted to remember my time with Mafia II.

Saw credits roll, but it's not quite eligible for this thread yet:
Super Mario 3D World (Switch/multi) - Played with my oldest. There's at least one post-credits world left, but I'm considering it beaten. Very well done and fun, but it gets progressively harder the more players are in the game, as sometimes the camera becomes too jittery at crucial times.
Very pretty, imaginative and fun. It's a good game for a beginner to be shepherded through by a more experienced player. Kiddo could do his own thing at times, and stay in his bubble other times. There weren't too many frustrating levels, and we certainly had a good time.
It's the second 3D Mario I've ever played any notable amount of (and seen the credits on), both thanks to having kids.

Progress report:
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC/multi) - game says I'm 24% through it. It seems to take me about 90 minutes for each 5%, so no way I'm finishing this month.

Heavy Rain (PS3) - almost 1/5 of the way through if a youtube longplay is an accurate way to measure that. Unlikely I'll finish this month.