It's that time again. We've got the end of year, 3 month post. While a lot of titles have been pushed into 2025 (February looks rough), we still try to make some space for the newest, latest, best.
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.
Multi-Platform
Age of Wonders 4 - jdzappa
Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - Forlorn Hope
Buddy Simulator - brokenclavicle
Castlevania: Symphony of the Nigh - bobbywatson, Forlorn Hope
CrossCode - mrtomaytohead, brokenclavicle
Crow Country - brokenclavicle
Cyberpunk 2077 - AUs_TBirD, brokenclavicle
Dragon Age Inquisition - jdzappa
Granblue Fantasy: Relink - mrtomaytohead
Harvestella - Malkroth
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - Forlorn Hope
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - brokenclavicle
Moss 2 - AUs_TBirD
My Time At Portia - Malkroth
Octopath Traveler 2 - Malkroth, AUs_TBirD
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - mrtomaytohead
Recettear - Malkroth
Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition - AUs_TBirD
Stray - AUs_TBirD
Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel without a Pulse" - AUs_TBirD
System Shock - AUs_TBirD
Tetris Effect: Connected - Forlorn Hope
Trials of Mana - brokenclavicle
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - mrtomaytohead
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - Forlorn Hope
Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim - bobbywatson
PC
Terra Invicta - jdzappa
Switch
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake - Forlorn Hope
Wii
Pandora's Tower - AUs_TBirD
NDS
Pokemon Platinum - Malkroth
Gamecube
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike - AUs_TBirD
Two games for me for now:
I think I'm close to the end of Ys VI, and should start Castlevania shortly after that.
Currently playing: Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen (PC), Terranigma (SNES)
That time already?!
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Multi) (PSN)
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Multi) (3DS)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door remake (Switch)
Alan Wake 2: Night Springs (Multi) (Epic)
Tetris Effect: Connected (Multi) (Meta)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Multi)(Steam)
It might be delusional to think that I can beat all these but I will give it my best shot!
"May those who accept their fate be granted happiness. May those who defy their fate be granted glory."
Backloggery|MAL| Switch 7924-5010-1433
In the spirit of Halloween, I will be picking a couple of spookers.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Multi) - though I am playing on the 3DS.
Crow Country (Multi)
Buddy Simulator 1984 (Multi)
Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Cross Code, Lost Odyssey, Sea of Stars.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
A couple days late, but I did manage to complete all the stories and the post-game stories for Octopath Traveler 2 (multi) today, so that was a carry-over and now complete. For the rest of the month, I think I will focus on Harvestella (multi) as I started that back in January and quite liked it. Not sure how long it is, so if I complete it early, I will throw something else out there.
My Backloggery
Switch: SW-147474861313
Ys VI The Ark of Naphistim is done! I made a few attempts at the final boss on Wednesday, and got it this morning on first try.
Currently playing: Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen (PC), Terranigma (SNES)
Declaring:
Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition (PC/multi) - carried over, and might roll credits tonight.
Octopath Traveler II (Switch/multi) - JRPG club. 16 hours in and have 5 of 8 "travelers"
Cyberpunk 2077 (PC/multi) - CRPG club. Have not started yet.
System Shock (2023 remake) (PC/multi) - Action game club. Played an hour a year ago, but will start over.
Stray (PC/multi) - never played.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (Gamecube) - My cube is having problems, but luckily the Wii works fine.
Moss 2 (PCVR/multi) - really looking forward to this.
Pandora's Tower (Wii) - Got 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through this earlier this year before all the club games hit.
Rough timeline:
October goals: Finish Spiritfarer, Rebel Strike, and Stray, make good progress in Octopath and System Shock, start Cyberpunk.
November goals: Finish Octopath and System Shock. Continue Cyberpunk.
December goals: Finish Cyberpunk, Moss 2 and Pandora's Tower.
Let's see how well I stick to this plan
Might try to get through Cryostasis on PC as well, but it seems pretty buggy (on modern systems). Took me a while to even get it running a year or two ago.
Steam | Backloggery
Put me down for CrossCode (PC/Multi). A true pile game. I started it over 2 years ago and returned to it last month and am pushing to the end.
Backloggery
Oh right, three months at once, guess I should add some more to the list!
Pokemon Platinum (DS)
Recettear (multi)
My Time At Portia (multi)
My Backloggery
Switch: SW-147474861313
Guess I'm adding a new game due to the Strategy club:
Age of Wonders 4
Terra Invicta
Dragon Age Inquisition
My backloggery
GWJ Strategy Club
GWJ CRPG Club
Spiritfarer is done! 48 hours. 37 of 39 achievements (the final two would require me to replay about half the game), and did practically everything you can do.
Tears were shed when Astrid, Beverly, and Stanley left. Jackie's story was unexpectedly touching as well, and what a reveal at the end!
Needless to say, this will almost certainly be in my top 5 at the end of the year.
Played an hour of Stray last night. Pretty neat so far.
Steam | Backloggery
Buddy Simulator is done. Fun, weird, meta enough but there seems to be an issue with completing it on the Switch during the final bits of the game. Devs need to figure out if this design style is good or lazy, Leaving it up to them.
In any case, I have finished one of my picks. Two to go in about 20ish days.
Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Cross Code, Lost Odyssey, Sea of Stars.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
Friendly reminder, this is the 3-month end of year thread.
ClockworkHouse: He means the comic The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman and Superman get in a fistfight over Gotham. Not The Dark Knight Rises, where Batman and a loudly farting orchestra get in a fistfight over your attention.
Stray is done. All the great things you've heard about this 7 hour experience are true. So glad I finally played it!
Also took an unusually large number of screenshots. The inspiration taken from Kowloon Walled City in a far-future post-apocalyptic setting was utterly fascinating to experience.
So many great questions are posed:
Controlling the cat is a real treat, and it feels so natural to do all the cat things. Favorite quote: "Do what you do best - destroy things." It's also amazing how there are so many different things you can do, and no one game mechanic ever overstays its welcome.
Steam | Backloggery
Finished CrossCode last night. I'll post my thoughts in the game club thread.
Backloggery
Ah, yes! Totally spaced out on that. In that case, I will add my "long distance" games, as well.
Trials of Mana (Multi)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Multi)
Cross Code (Multi)
These are all from different clubs, two of which I have entered "overtime" on for club pick completion purposes.
If I feel myself making steady progress, I may even through in another pick before long.
Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Cross Code, Lost Odyssey, Sea of Stars.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
In honor of the season, I started and finished a game I've had installed on three different computers over the last 16 years, but never got past the title screen.
Well now I did, and Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel without a Pulse" (PC/multi), undeclared, is marked off of my pile!
Right from the beginning, its humor shines through, the futuristic 1950's setting is fantastic, and there are numerous fun gameplay mechanics introduced over the course of its 7-8 hour run. There is a real joy in creating your own zombie horde and watching it run through the opposition. Early on at least, as later enemies are pretty effective at taking out simple zombies.
Then there is a Simon-Says style danceoff that starts with the Thriller chime, and continues through various famous 50's hits. This will go down as one of the most incredible gaming moments of my life!
Surprisingly, the rest of the game is very quiet when it comes to music. A bold choice, which brings out the screams and gunfire all the more, but a bit more musical accompaniement would have sometimes been nice.
Stubbs is a very unique and fun game that doesn't overstay its welcome. It's not deep, but the style and humor do much of the heavy lifting here. While playing it, I found myself thinking of the old PC game Freedom Fighters - and that's not a bad thing at all.
It's a shame this undead IP never continued, as there is potential here.
Steam | Backloggery
I rolled credits on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. It was a good ride all the way. Only 1 bullet sponge enemy, but they were covered in armor. I really enjoyed the epilogue, too.
I'll be working on Granblue Fantasy: Relink (PC/Multi) and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Switch/Multi). I don't know if I'll be able to make it through Granblue, though.
Backloggery
Trials of Mana has been beaten. First playthrough, that it. I will continue on to sweep up the trophies and endings I'm missing, but it's down for the count as for 100% I am not hurrying through.
Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Cross Code, Lost Odyssey, Sea of Stars.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
Rolled credits on Granblue Fantasy Relink. I'm going to stick around to find out what's up with the post-game at least a little bit. I enjoy that it's tuned just enough that you need to engage with the mechanics but do not need to execute all the time or have great proficiency to finish the game, but imagine the post-game will ramp that requirement up at least a bit.
I'm also playing NG+ on Trials of Mana with the game club, so Prince of Persia might be a bit slow going.
Backloggery
Crow Country is done. Lovely little horror romp with old school charm. 3 of 6 down.
Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077, Blood of Bahamut, SMT IV, RDR, SBCG4AP, Cross Code, Lost Odyssey, Sea of Stars.
Switch Friend Code: SW-7025-5637-0902
Wrapped up Harvestella tonight and I quite enjoyed it. The best way I can describe it is a JRPG with Harvest Moon DNA grafted into it. I really enjoyed the loop of waking up, doing farm chores, then taking bites out of the story. The two sides of the game do feed into each other really well, making them feel like an integrated whole rather than two games stapled together. Sadly, because of the breadth of their design and ideas, you can tell this was a budget game and you only get surface level on most of the mechanics. Still a lot of fun and I would recommend to anyone who likes JRPGs or Harvest Moons.
My Backloggery
Switch: SW-147474861313
Finished Castlevania Symphony of the Night! It was great! My thoughts in the finished game thread!
Currently playing: Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen (PC), Terranigma (SNES)
I will add two more games for this quarter:
Utawarerumono is really the perfect Steam Deck game so far...
Currently playing: Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen (PC), Terranigma (SNES)
Although it took over 30 hours more to finish than my "worst case" scenario of 90, Octopath Traveler II is done.
Absolutely fantastic in almost every way and an almost guaranteed lock for my year-end top 3. Thoughts here in the JRPG club thread.
Next game I'm focusing on is another, hopefully somewhat shorter monster: Cyberpunk2077. I've basically already written off finishing Star Wars: Rebel Strike, and maybe Pandora's Tower as well. Still hopeful on System Shock and Moss 2.
Steam | Backloggery
Saved uncle Marcus and found his wanna-be killer in: Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? (PC, undeclared).
It's a murder-mystery game set within the context of a highly dysfunctional family's online quiz night by who I consider to be the current kings of FMV games, Wales Interactive (you might know them for Five Dates). It was a pretty good time for the just-over 3 hours I played it, but it does have a few issues, the most egregious of which is, that I'm not sure it's possible to solve the game on the first run without incredible luck and at least one instance of blind guessing. All in all I think I played through to an ending at least five times before solving the case. One run takes about 30 minutes and you remember clues from one run to the next. You can skip sections you've already seen as well, and it will warn you if there will be new information in a section you are attempting to skip. At least in theory. Problem is, it kept telling me this on sections that contained nothing new, but rather just featured a choice at the end which I hadn't exhausted all options of yet; a choice you would get to make, even if you skipped.
You will almost certainly make several false - and extremely embarassing - accusations before you implicate the correct perpetrator, but most of the endings triggered by the false accusations are somewhat humorous and only further show how f'd up your family is.
All in all it was a nice way to spend an evening, and it was a treat to see two people returning from previous games - Georgia Small from Five Dates, and Al Weaver from The Complex.
Steam | Backloggery