Where Does the Time Go? - Pile of Shame Oct.-Dec. 2023

Thanks for the carryover, boss!

In an effort to be honest with myself, as is the pile's way, I'm dropping Knights of the Old Republic. I can't imagine going back to it with any enthusiasm a week out from last thinking about it. AMCA's coverage should be more than enough to sate my curiosity.

Add on top that my partner lent me their copy of TOTK and JRPG Club gearing up for Q4, and I think I have a meaty slate for the outset. May add on Paper Mario should time permit towards year's end, but for now, mark me down for:

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Multi)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

With 13 Sentinels on PS4 & TOTK on Switch, this gives me a go-to game for each of my main systems. Should be a good fall for gaming!

I have quite a few that are about 75% finished... but it's difficult to go back to them with all the new games dropping. In no particular order:

Bloodborne (playing now, 95% complete)
Sekiro
Cuphead (DLC)
Last of Us II
Witcher 3
Dying Light 2

Only one game for me at the moment: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (multi) for the GWJ JRPG club.

Not even sure I'm going to finish it, for some reason I just don't feel like playing games these days and want to focus more on my art instead.

I'm going to declare:

Invisible, Inc. (multi)
Old World (PC)

And actually finish them this time! More to come too, probably.

Diablo 4 is down - well at least the campaign. I got a new Switch Lite where I'm plugging away at Skyrim and am on to Invisible Inc on the PC.

October update:

Finished:
Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 (NGPC - Neo Geo Pocket Color) - undeclared
So this turned out to be my "scary game" for October. It's not actually scary, but it's a pretty ok diversion. You've entered into a pact with a grim reaper looking character to destroy monsters ("beasts") in a sort of underworld using your soul catcher gun and other weapons. Turns out there is more going on than Mr. Skull told you (whodathunkit?), and you're off to decide the fate of the underworld as well as the living one.
So off you go, fighting monsters from a Zelda-like 3/4 top-down perspective, either destroying them straight up with regular weapons or capturing their souls using a special gun. During downtime, you create new weapons from discovered "oums", and then....feed the captured souls to those weapons to power them up and evolve them into more powerful weapons.
I guess it is a bit of a horror game after all.
This mechanic is fairly interesting, and it's fun to experiment with the various weapons, but the rest of the gameplay is nothing to write home about. Perhaps I'm not being realistic about the limits of the hardware, but I feel like the action could be a bit more dynamic. The optional 50ish screen post-credits dungeon - while a nice extra - really highlights how repetetive the gameplay is, though amusingly, it's possible to skip several screens in a row two or three times.
Overall, it's a decent way to pass a few hours without too much mental investment, and it likely was pretty good for its time (I feel like it was one of the better non-fighting-game titles for the system), but I don't see myself returning to it.

Sam & Max Hit the Road (PC)
I just realized that I finally beat this just in time for the game's 30th anniversary, and have now completed every S&M game released except for This Time It's Virtual (which I had forgotten existed). In previous attempts a quarter century ago, I'd only ever dabbled in the opening areas, though the memory of a fishing Woody Allen and the world's largest ball of twine have never left me.
Plowing through from start to finish took less time than I expected (3 sessions), though I did have a walkthrough handy that I used about 5 times without shame. I really appreciated how well many of the jokes still landed, though others would probably leave Gen Z'ers (and beyond) puzzled. Speaking of puzzled, most of the actual puzzles were logical enough to not stump me, and a few of those I didn't get made some kind of sense in retrospect (Hint: if stuck, use Max on object).
Glad to finally mark this one off of my pile, and definitely enjoyed my time with it. It's a shame the IP has gone dormant save for various remasters of the Telltale titles.

Also completed, but not eligible:
Quake II: Call of the Machine
Think of it as the Master Levels for Quake II. This free episode for QII's 25th aniversary features six good mini-campaigns and a final boss fight. Level architecture is very impressive, stage design often inspired, the stages often feature 3-digit enemy counts and sometimes you end up with overwhelming odds reminiscent of a Serious Sam encounter. Each campaign also has a hidden secret level in which the designers really go crazy. At least I assume each campaign does - I only found 4 of 6 of them.
A great free bonus for Quake II.

Made progress in:
Final Fantasy IX - about 30 (gameplay) minutes away from disc 4, so that should go down in the next 1-2 weeks.
Guacameelee - beginning Desierte Caliente. Gameplay is just SO smooth and music fantastic. Funny af as well.
God of War 2018 - got a bit farther (used a chisel), but not much.
Dead Space 2 - have yet to start.

Finished The Quarry last night. Well, at least got a semi-happy ending even if I didn’t get the best one.

Want to add a new game to my pile:

Warhammer 40k: Gladius

Finished all the episodes for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. I don't know if it's because I'm not as big of a fan of Star Wars or if it is of lesser quality but I enjoyed this less than the other Legos game I played years ago, Harry Potter Lego trilogy. It was oddly a comfort playing it with my sister this past month though so I'm glad for that.

I've made next to no progress on Yakuza 5 and Tears of the Kingdom so things are looking down for finishing those before the end of the year. I put Plague Tale: Requiem on pause for a bit since it was a bit too heavy for what was going on in my personal life. I will scratch off Say No! More which was just the levity I need right now.

I started Shadow of the Colossus (PS4/Multi) which I think I'll finish in time but not sure for the other game that I started, Metroid Dread (Switch). I am the world's slowest Metroid player..

Managed to wrap up both 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (multi) and Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) before Thanksgiving vacation got into full swing, so that's those two picks off the list! That leaves Monster Hunter Stories 2 as the next big game to tackle, and since it is on Switch it can go with me on vacation!

I really loved 13 Sentinels, but there's not much I can say about it without spoiling the game. If you are into sci-fi mystery plots, or just well written stories, I would say pick it up and give it a try. Took me around 40 hours on my save file, but some of that is AFK time, probably closer to 35.

For Fire Emblem Engage I enjoyed the gameplay, but I can see why people are put off by the story. It starts out fairly okay, but the tail end goes into hardcore Saturday morning cartoon territory. The emblems work as a better combat wrinkle than the Gambits from Three Houses did in my opinion.

Yeah I forgot to declare 13 Sentinels here but I already finished it for the club about a month ago. I rushed through to get ready for Spider-Man 2 which will never be in my pile here since it's done too.

Guess I should get back to Zelda heh.

DOOM 2016 is down. I think I've generally outgrown FPS games of this style, or maybe I'm just not going in with the right expectations. For a game that's supposed to be an action-packed-tour-de-force, I had way too many sessions where there were no more enemies to kill and some un-achieved goal with very vague guidance and a map that wasn't all that helpful. I am definitely not playing a DOOM game to get delayed by a switch or some silly action that takes me away from the action. I seriously doubt I'll ever get the sequel, as it is. It was fun when firing on all cylinders, but those spots where things got bogged down for me really tarnished the experience.