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[Phase]

It was really humid the other day, so I randomly played some PSP in the shade for the first time in almost 10 years (my oldest save files date back to 2012). Played some Dissidia 012 Duodecim, and Kenka Bancho. Both are among my favorite PSP titles.

I need to get myself a handheld again. I've been feeling very disappointed with gaming lately, and just laying down somewhere playing sounds nice; like a refresh to the mind.

 

[DelireMan7]

My challenge :
No 2021 games . I can buy older games as my backlog is limited to 1 genre and I might want to change genre during the year according to my mood.

Physical Backlog :

• Lunar Silver Star Harmony (PSP) Done !
• The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
• Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
• Odin Sphere (PS2)
• Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) Done !
• Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) Done !
• Zelda Ocarina of time (N64)
• Hollow Knight (PS4) Done !
• [Replay] Final Fantasy X and X-2 (PS2)
• [Replay] At least one SoulsBorne (PS3/4)
• [2021] Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• [2021] Project X Zone (3DS)
• [2021] Radiant Historia : Perfect Chronology (3DS)

Games completed :

1. Rayman Origins (PS3) (started in Spring 2020, main story finished 5th of January 2021, coop with my 4 years old daughter, her first video game)
2. Lunar : Silver Star Harmony (PSP) (Started 1st of January, finished 17th of January, 25h56m)
3. Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) (Started 19th of January, Finished the 13th of March, around 67h)
4. Hollow Knight (PS4) (Started 26th of February, Close to platinum the 23rd of April, around 83h)
5. Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) (Started the 25th of April, Finished the 29th of May, around 33h)

So I am now halfway in my discovery of the Assassin's Creed franchise. I started last year with AC1 and go upward following the release date.
Black Flag like other AC I have played is enjoyable, kind of relaxing game, not demanding and satisfying. It's no masterpiece, it has numerous flaws but overall everything works.

The combat is still the similar random mess from previous games but I like it. I just keep fighting till my character decide to make a kill move or my opponent decide to die. I like mixing up all my options and there is quite a bit here.

All the sailing part are quite good. It felt really good to sail across the sea with my crew singing shanties, whales randomly jumping around, storms triggering giant waves.... It also really nice to attack and board other ships. For the first 20h, I spend a lot of time on it and didn't use any fast travel. But at one point I got a bit burned out of it (because I had explore more or less everything).
It might be due to my way of playing but it led to the main story being quite segmented (since between main missions I could spent 6-8h on side content) but this is really players dependent I guess since like every others AC, it's filled with collectibles, side activities, location to visit...

In term of story, it's fine but nothing mindblowing for me. And I realized that I don't really care for the main character story. What really got me in the franchise is the "Assassin vs Templar" conflict, the first civilization, the animus experiment, the pieces of Eden... So far I have the feeling that the personal story of each main protagonist is a distraction from that (except for Altaïr since its story is tightly linked to the Assassins brotherhood). I mean in Black Flag, very early you heard about the "Observatory", which is a device from the first Civilization but then for the most majority of the game, you have no mention of it till the very last few chapters. In between you have Edward story going on. At many point, it felt like they were strechting the game length with it just for the sake of increase the playtime. But Edward is a character I really liked compare to Ezio or Connor.

Then the modern day... It's clearly a step down from the Desmond trilogy in term of gameplay BUT I really like the lore it gives and its direct connection with the previous games.
The modern day story/lore is usually what I prefer and it's still the case here. It's a weird setting (you basically work for Ubisoft/Abstergo and test the video game : AC Black flag) but I liked that.
The first person gameplay and minigame for hacking computers are really annoying but I enjoyed finding the lore scattered in Abstergo.

The ending catched me off guard, not in a good way. So far, the ending of AC games were filled with revelation or cliffhanger usually on the First Civilization or the Assassins/Templar conflict but there it's just a closure on Edward's story (which I didn't really care) and it came really suddenly (I was expecting a full chapter of gameplay still)

So in conclusion, typical Assassin's Creed games maybe not enough centered on the Assassins/Templar conflict and first Civilization. I enjoyed it and still want to play the rest of the franchise (Really waiting for Unity and Origins).

What to play next :

So it will not help my backlog, but I became really nostalgic and want to replay some of my beloved games from my Teenage.
I'll start with Metal Gear Solid and maybe redo the full saga till 4 and why not give another change to 5.
But I also want to replay the Half-Life franchise and Final Fantasy X and X-2.

Also we will started an online coop playthrough of Divinity : Original Sin with a friend. It's a "new" game I bought this were. It's a long time I wanted to try this series. Sounds like quite some hours of fun

 

[InfiniteCombo]

I need to get myself a handheld again. I've been feeling very disappointed with gaming lately, and just laying down somewhere playing sounds nice; like a refresh to the mind.

Don't mean to pry, but what's your disappointment with gaming? Sorry to hear that, man.

 

[Phase]

Don't mean to pry, but what's your disappointment with gaming? Sorry to hear that, man.

No worries about prying. I think I'm finally losing interest in the same formulas. I need something new mechanically, something to surprise me. I guess that's a normal feeling for lifetime gamers at different points, and I'm just feeling that at the moment. I can't find the enthusiasm for most of the new games releasing because I feel like I've seen it before (they just look nicer). For example. Far Cry 6 and Horizon Forbidden West. The past two years I've had fun playing old games but when I look to the present or future I'm not seeing much. I've been consistently disappointed in recent years (e.g. Control, Yakuza, Outriders, RE Village, Half-life: Alyx, BF 1 and 5) Biomutant the latest example. The last relatively new game I had a lot of fun with was Death Stranding.

My favorite genre of gaming has always been arena shooters, like Unreal Tournament, Tribes, etc. But they've been dead and buried for so many years now and the new ones just aren't very good, like Diabotical. The last decade trend of shooters has put me off and now I rarely even play online mp.

There are at least a couple of games I'm somewhat excited to play that just released, like Nier Replicant and Path of Exile 2, but I'm noticing games I want to play are few and far between nowadays. I guess that's fine. I'm getting older and have other hobbies. Maybe more time away from games will help me appreciate the ones I do play (this sounds like every /r/truegaming thread I've ever read lol).

 

[jufonuk]

Failed bought torchlight 2 and nine parchments on sale

pesky Eshop sales.

 

[Kazza]

I think I'm finally losing interest in the same formulas. I need something new mechanically, something to surprise me.

I would recommend getting an Oculus Quest 2 (or any other VR system). Mechanics, formulas, controls, game design etc are all a different world from regular gaming. It's been like going from 2D to 3D back in the mid 90s for me. A real paradigm shift.

 

[Kazza]

Timesplitters: Future Perfect (played on OG Xbox)

A lot of fun, this one. The 6/7 hour campaign is the perfect size imo, leaving me mostly satisfied yet still with a little hunger for a couple more levels. I've also had a good time playing the against the bots in the deathmatch modes. I'm not expert on FPS games (only ever played a handful of them) , but even I can tell that this is a pretty simplistic game. I don't think that's a criticism as such though, as it's nice to enjoy some simple, unpretentious gameplay, without a ton of mechanics and levelling up systems being thrown at you. The story, humour and characters are great. People often talk about the 80s and 90s, but even the early/mid 00s feel like a completely different world from today.

I always like to watch old Gamespot reviews of games of this era. Even back then the reviewer (the Jeff from Giant Bomb that a lot of people here like?) said that it felt a little dated. Still gave it a good score in the end though:

 

[Kazza]

A also finally "completed" FFVII. I put that in quotes, because I couldn't beat the final boss (2nd form). I'm pretty sure I had levelled up enough, as everything leading up to that final fight was pretty easy, but the last boss was just impossible for me. Maybe I missed some materia that I should have picked up, or maybe I just got unlucky with his attack algorithm. He repeatedly spammed that supernova attack, it was so annoying! It's funny, I just searched for a video of that attack and it's only just over two minutes long, but it felt much longer to me. One time, I literary got up and too a piss and he was still doing it when I got back! Then again, 4 or four of these is 6-8 minutes, which is a lot of time to be waiting for an enemy to attack in an RPG. I'll have another go at defeating him once the Remake is complete and released on PC 10 or so years from now.




I've never been a massive RPG fan (point and click games were largely where I went whenever I wanted a non-arcade style game when I was young). It's only in recent years that I've finally played the likes of Phantasy Star 4 and Chrono Trigger. With those still fresh in the memory, it's easy to see why people were so excited for the game back in 1997. It really was a big jump in tech and ambition. I like this video from Happy Console Gamer describing the hype (it's crazy how RPGs went from niche to mainstream due to one single marketing campaign):




I played it on a Vita, and the small screen helped the graphics hold up pretty well. I was never a huge fan of the character models (why the big club hands), but the indoor and urban environments still look great. The inside rooms have so much detail (stacks of books, TVs, knick-knacks strewn around the place) that you can really imagine people actually living there. The outdoor environments fare a lot worse. Sometimes I couldn't even tell what I was supposed to be looking at. The select button was a lifesaver when I couldn't find a path or exit.

For me playing it for the first time in 2021, just an ok game, but a classic that I'm glad I finally got to experience.

 

[Perrott]

Games beaten in both April and May (yeah, I forgot to do an update last month):

(PC) Watch Dogs - Apr. 6th
(PC) Highway Blossoms - Apr. 8th
(PS4) Fat Princess Adventures - Apr. 26th

(PC) Portal - May 6th
(PS4) Concrete Genie - May 9th
(PC) Donut County - May 16th
(PC) Detention - May 17th
(PS3) Syberia - May 19th
(PS3) Eat Them! - May 25th <---------- this is the GOAT

Currently Playing:

(PC) Final Fantasy 7
(PS3) Syberia 2
(PS4) Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince

Spoiler: PREVIOUS MONTHS

JANUARY
(PS3) Catherine - Jan. 10th
(PS3) Demon's Souls - Jan. 13th
(PS3) Max Payne 3 - Jan. 14th
(PS4) Wreckfest - Jan. 18th
(PS3) Silent Hill - Jan. 19th
(PC) Tangram Deluxe - Jan. 22nd
(PC) Into the Bridge - Jan. 23rd

FEBRUARY
(PC) A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build - Feb. 9th
(PC) Diablo 2 - Feb. 11th

MARCH
(PS3) Batman: Arkham Origins - Mar. 3rd
(PS4) SUPERHOT - Mar. 3rd
(PS4) Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown - Mar. 12th
(PS3) LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues - Mar. 14th
(PS3) God of War: Ascension - Mar. 20th
(PS4) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Mar. 22th

Spoiler: THE BACKLOG 💀

 

[Bakkus]

Finished Metroid Prime 2: Echoes earlier today. At it's best, it's a fantastic game with great level design, fun exploration and lots of creative ideas like it's predecessor. At it's worst it's a chore where you have to backtrack an insane amount and unike it's predecessor it has a dark world I for the most part did not like for many reasons, the biggest being the loooong fetch quest at the end for the temple keys which also adds to the backtracking tedium. But it does so much good that I can be able to look past it's shortcomings.

 

[Noncanon Ship]

I played the game on release and despite being a bit disappointed, I still enjoyed the game a lot. I love the bound between Noctis and his friends. Combat is satisfying even if too simple (it's almost impossible to have a Game Over).
It's one of this game I never use fast travel (even so I usually avoid it in most of the games) to my surprise. I am not a fan of car in general but I like it in FFXV especially with the small interaction between our party during the travels.

I did another playthrough last year, with DLCs this time, and again I loved it. Gladiolus and Ignis DLC are really good. Ardyn's one is filled with lore information and some important point for the story. Prompto's one was a pain to do for me (except for one point).

Concerning the hate toward it I think it's mainly to 2 words : "Final Fantasy". Many people don't see it as a "true FF" and the long development (and transformation from Versus XIII) probably didn't help.
I admit the story is a bit messy (but it's often over exaggerated by the haters), the world filled with basic fetch quests and the over abundance of healing items is highly detrimental to the combat (on this regard, I highly recommend the "Special combat" you can unlock in the DLC. They are showing how great the combat is with very few healing items). But in the end I loved the atmosphere, story and the relation between our 4 protagonists. Will come back to it in future for sure.

That makes a lot of sense. I have zero expectations going in for what "FF" is. My impression has always been that FF is very linear, and this game was refreshingly more open, but not a fatiguingly large 'open world game'. What 'special combat' do you mean? Is it only available in the dlc episodes?

It's true the combat is too easy, but it's not the lack of dying that's the problem. It's just too easy to overlevel, especially when you like doing side content. The game entices you with tons of tantalizing things to do, then gives you so much XP for it that you are vastly overleveled for the main quests. I do still get a good challenge from the hunts. The level of the hunt is misleading because the threat is almost entirely dependent on the enemy type. By far the hardest hunts I've had was against 3 necromancers at night and 5 coeurls. Jesus christ I hate coeurls. I only managed to eke out a win on that one by equipping the 'win' armor that protects you from damage for 30 minutes, sad to say :-S

Ultimately though, I enjoy the combat despite it being easy because (1) it's simply fun to play (2) it's very stylish (3) my goal in combat isn't a skilled challenge - it's to get prompto to take a great shot lol

I really don't care much about story. If I want a good story, I read a book. I find that games just aren't a great medium for telling story. Where they excel is character development and creating nostalgic attachment to characters from experience with them and memories of past quests. And FFXV does exactly that with its ingenious Prompto photo mechanic, allowing you to review pictures he took along your roadtrip every time you hit the sack.

FFXV just doesn't get stale for me. Contract hunts, fishing, imaginatively designed dungeons, decorating my car with decals I find and purchase, mining for shards to change my car color, finding new recipehs and collecting ingredients for them, getting surprised by 'tours' (hidden bro time mini-quest with one of your friends) when I camp somewhere new, racing chocobos, trying to unlock chocobo colors, riding chocobos to level them up, trying to catch every type of fish (dependent on lure type, time of day, etc.), trying to get record-breaking fish, trying to get better fishing gear, leveling up techniques, trying out new combo effects for magic potions...

It's made me appreciate the party dynamic of jrpgs. Western games tend to all focus on a lone stoic protagonist, and when they've introduced other people on comms or in person (like the Tomb Raider series did) it was just annoying. It's just... a refreshing change to see how a group of friends helps the main protagonist deal with his serious personal problems and the weight of 'saving the world'. And it's also nice for it to be straight-up friendship with no waifu wars bs.

 

[DelireMan7]

That makes a lot of sense. I have zero expectations going in for what "FF" is. My impression has always been that FF is very linear, and this game was refreshingly more open, but not a fatiguingly large 'open world game'. What 'special combat' do you mean? Is it only available in the dlc episodes?

It's true the combat is too easy, but it's not the lack of dying that's the problem. It's just too easy to overlevel, especially when you like doing side content. The game entices you with tons of tantalizing things to do, then gives you so much XP for it that you are vastly overleveled for the main quests. I do still get a good challenge from the hunts. The level of the hunt is misleading because the threat is almost entirely dependent on the enemy type. By far the hardest hunts I've had was against 3 necromancers at night and 5 coeurls. Jesus christ I hate coeurls. I only managed to eke out a win on that one by equipping the 'win' armor that protects you from damage for 30 minutes, sad to say :-S

Ultimately though, I enjoy the combat despite it being easy because (1) it's simply fun to play (2) it's very stylish (3) my goal in combat isn't a skilled challenge - it's to get prompto to take a great shot lol

I really don't care much about story. If I want a good story, I read a book. I find that games just aren't a great medium for telling story. Where they excel is character development and creating nostalgic attachment to characters from experience with them and memories of past quests. And FFXV does exactly that with its ingenious Prompto photo mechanic, allowing you to review pictures he took along your roadtrip every time you hit the sack.

FFXV just doesn't get stale for me. Contract hunts, fishing, imaginatively designed dungeons, decorating my car with decals I find and purchase, mining for shards to change my car color, finding new recipehs and collecting ingredients for them, getting surprised by 'tours' (hidden bro time mini-quest with one of your friends) when I camp somewhere new, racing chocobos, trying to unlock chocobo colors, riding chocobos to level them up, trying to catch every type of fish (dependent on lure type, time of day, etc.), trying to get record-breaking fish, trying to get better fishing gear, leveling up techniques, trying out new combo effects for magic potions...

It's made me appreciate the party dynamic of jrpgs. Western games tend to all focus on a lone stoic protagonist, and when they've introduced other people on comms or in person (like the Tomb Raider series did) it was just annoying. It's just... a refreshing change to see how a group of friends helps the main protagonist deal with his serious personal problems and the weight of 'saving the world'. And it's also nice for it to be straight-up friendship with no waifu wars bs.

The "Special combat" is an option in each DLC menu. You unlock it once you complete the DLC. It's basically a 1v1 fight with really limited healing item. It made the combat much more tense since you can easily die. It took me quite some time to beat the one from Gladiolus. One of them is a bit annoying (the one from Ardyn's DLC if I remember correctly) but the other are quite enjoyable. The overabundance of healing items in the game is my only complaint to the combat system (all the rest is so good for me) so these special combat were a nice surprise for me.

That's true that we are easily overleveled but it didn't disturbed me that much. Yes some enemies are extremely dangerous and yes the coeurls are a nightmare !

It's a good remark on how the game build attachment to the characters with the photos. At first I looked the pictures mechanics like something useless but quikcly I enjoyed reviewing my pictures and keep the good one of the bros.
I got really attached to the group and got really touched by the story due to that toward the end game. The friendship bounds they have really got me. So good to see them interact with each others.

There is quite a variety of activities that's true but I didn't dive to much into some of them. I am not into car customization and racing chocobos (but I liked riding them and level up them).
I liked the "bro quest" and the fishing is a wonder. I sink a lot of time into it, especially in my first playthrough. I loved chasing the legendary fish. One of the best Final Fantasy mini games I have played (actually THE best I would say).

 

[VidKid369]

Beat Star Ocean Till the End of Time (PS2) just now. Kind of meh-to-ok. I just wanted to move on to another RPG.

 

[stn]

I beat Dragon Quest 11S (PS4) finally! Took about 47 hours and I basically avoided all side quests. However, I also discovered that there's a post-game, so now I'll have to beat that, lolz. Overall its a great RPG, I'd score it a 9/10.

Next up I'm going to focus on these games one-at-a-time: Devil May Cry HD (X360), Sekiro (PS4), Bayonetta 2 (Switch), Hitman 2 (XBO), Pokemon Shield (Switch), and Dragon Quest 8 (3DS). I also have some PS2 titles I'd like to beat, so I'm going to try avoid buying any new games for the rest of the year.

 

[Bakkus]

Rez was finished yesterday. That was fun. There's nothing like it out there. Gotta finish it again today!

 

[LegionX]

10. Grand Theft Auto 3 (PC)

This one was... interesting.... I think I got to it too late to really enjoy it like people would have on release... It was one of the first of the sandbox style open world games and it shows it, with a number of things lacking compared to more modern titles... Things like there being no full map, or waypoints, or any pathfinding on how to get to the next mission etc.... and equally, not listing even on the mini-map where things like the ammo store or spray booth are, expecting you to just remember and know the city by heart.... Equally the gunplay is just.. well... awful.... Extremely simplistic and painful to deal with... The story is extremely lacking also, with very few missions actually progressing any kind of story.. just being more random occurrences. Oh... and the fact that whenever you fail a mission, you can't just restart it, you need to drive back to the base of whichever character is offering the mission, THEN drive back to where the mission starts.... All these kind of things were fixed in newer titles.... Saying that though... I DID still enjoy my time with it, just, I could only manage short bursts... so while not the longest game out there.. it did take me quite a while to get through! Still interested in continuing the series at some point... but perhaps not for a while

 

[Kazza]

Rez was finished yesterday. That was fun. There's nothing like it out there. Gotta finish it again today!

What are you playing it on? I've got it on my 360, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[Bakkus]

What are you playing it on? I've got it on my 360, but I haven't tried it yet.

PS2

 

[Bakkus]

I replayed Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. I never finished this one before because I was an idiot when I was younger and played the Wii VC version with a GC controller which not only was extremely awkward, but it also made Toxic Tower pretty much impossible to complete. But this time on the SNES with a SNES controller I not only beat it, but finished it 102% and man, it was worth it. Some of the best music, visual aestethics and atmosphere in gaming history without a doubt. If there are some things which prevents it for being an all time classic for me is that the leves are very inconsistent quality wise with some frustrating design choices in certain ones which first time around is gonna kill you no matter what because it's impossible to predict what's gonna happen next. Still, this game is very high up on my favorite 2D platformers, and a must play if you're in to that genre and have yet to play it.

 

[DelireMan7]

My challenge :
No 2021 games . I can buy older games as my backlog is limited to 1 genre and I might want to change genre during the year according to my mood.

Physical Backlog :

• Lunar Silver Star Harmony (PSP) Done !
• The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
• Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
• Odin Sphere (PS2)
• Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) Done !
• Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) Done !
• Zelda Ocarina of time (N64)
• Hollow Knight (PS4) Done !
• [Replay] Final Fantasy X and X-2 (PS2)
• [Replay] At least one SoulsBorne (PS3/4)
• [2021] Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• [2021] Project X Zone (3DS)
• [2021] Radiant Historia : Perfect Chronology (3DS)

Games completed :

1. Rayman Origins (PS3) (started in Spring 2020, main story finished 5th of January 2021, coop with my 4 years old daughter, her first video game)
2. Lunar : Silver Star Harmony (PSP) (Started 1st of January, finished 17th of January, 25h56m)
3. Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) (Started 19th of January, Finished the 13th of March, around 67h)
4. Hollow Knight (PS4) (Started 26th of February, Close to platinum the 23rd of April, around 83h)
5. Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) (Started the 25th of April, Finished the 29th of May, around 33h)
6. [Replay] Metal Gear Solid (PC) (Started the 29th of May, Finished the 5 of June, 8h32)

Back in the day, I discover Metal Gear Solid completely randomly. My father wanted to offer me a game, we went to the supermarket and he asked me to take the one I want. I looked on the shelves and stop on Metal Gear Solid. I vaguely knew the name, I checked the back of box and saw something like "A true cinematic experience". I took it, even if I wasn't 100% sure. Once at home, I installed it and launched it. The introduction cinematic blew me away and that was the start of my love for the franchise and Hideo Kojima.

So it was full of nostalgia and a smile on my face that I launched it again last week. And I was in my teenage again. Everything was hitting me like the first time. Even on the technical side : I was again surprised how the guards react to the sound you make when walking on those water puddles on the very first area (docks) and then how they can see your footstep in the snow...

The story, with its wonderful twists, and its characters are a true wonder. Each character is memorable and kind of iconic. This go for the story as well which is filled with memorable moments (the heliport section, the corridor before the Ninja, Psycho Mantis introduction, the final fights (or actually every boss fights of the game), etc...)

I will not go into detail since most of you must know the game but I loved my playthrough (with the exception of one or two things, that already annoyed back in the day like how a guard can spot you if catch him from the back when being too close). I realized how the stealth is really well implemented especially with the cameras work. The camera is on top of your character meaning you have a very limited vision of your surroundings and especially in front of you. But you can use the first person view to see if the way is clear or when a camera is not looking in your direction. Also the "corner view" (when you against a wall near a corner) the camera show you very well what's going on this area (and most of the time was made to show you important stuff like cameras). Of course there is the radar which make everything easier (and all the things I mentioned above useless) but when playing above the normal difficulty, the radar is off. Back in the day, I considered Hard and Very hard to be the best way to play the game. Now I did a Normal run (because the radar was too iconic to not having it) but try to not rely too much on it and used a lot the first person view and corner view, it really brings to the immersion.

In conclusion, Metal Gear Solid was a masterpiece back in the day... And Metal Gear Solid is still a masterpiece today.

What to play next :
Well it's time to replug my PS2 ! The run of Metal Gear Solid put me in mood for Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of liberty (started on 7th of June). I rewatched the first trailer of it and damn ! I am hyped like I was back in the day !

 

[Phase]

My challenge :
No 2021 games . I can buy older games as my backlog is limited to 1 genre and I might want to change genre during the year according to my mood.

Physical Backlog :

• Lunar Silver Star Harmony (PSP) Done !
• The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
• Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
• Odin Sphere (PS2)
• Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) Done !
• Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) Done !
• Zelda Ocarina of time (N64)
• Hollow Knight (PS4) Done !
• [Replay] Final Fantasy X and X-2 (PS2)
• [Replay] At least one SoulsBorne (PS3/4)
• [2021] Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• [2021] Project X Zone (3DS)
• [2021] Radiant Historia : Perfect Chronology (3DS)

Games completed :

1. Rayman Origins (PS3) (started in Spring 2020, main story finished 5th of January 2021, coop with my 4 years old daughter, her first video game)
2. Lunar : Silver Star Harmony (PSP) (Started 1st of January, finished 17th of January, 25h56m)
3. Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) (Started 19th of January, Finished the 13th of March, around 67h)
4. Hollow Knight (PS4) (Started 26th of February, Close to platinum the 23rd of April, around 83h)
5. Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) (Started the 25th of April, Finished the 29th of April, around 33h)
6. [Replay] Metal Gear Solid (PC) (Started the 29th of April, Finished the 5 of June, 8h32)

Back in the day, I discover Metal Gear Solid completely randomly. My father wanted to offer me a game, we went to the supermarket and he asked me to take the one I want. I looked on the shelves and stop on Metal Gear Solid. I vaguely knew the name, I checked the back of box and saw something like "A true cinematic experience". I took it, even if I wasn't 100% sure. Once at home, I installed it and launched it. The introduction cinematic blew me away and that was the start of my love for the franchise and Hideo Kojima.

So it was full of nostalgia and a smile on my face that I launched it again last week. And I was in my teenage again. Everything was hitting me like the first time. Even on the technical side : I was again surprised how the guards react to the sound you make when walking on those water puddles on the very first area (docks) and then how they can see your footstep in the snow...

The story, with its wonderful twists, and its characters are a true wonder. Each character is memorable and kind of iconic. This go for the story as well which is filled with memorable moments (the heliport section, the corridor before the Ninja, Psycho Mantis introduction, the final fights (or actually every boss fights of the game), etc...)

I will not go into detail since most of you must know the game but I loved my playthrough (with the exception of one or two things, that already annoyed back in the day like how a guard can spot you if catch him from the back when being too close). I realized how the stealth is really well implemented especially with the cameras work. The camera is on top of your character meaning you have a very limited vision of your surroundings and especially in front of you. But you can use the first person view to see if the way is clear or when a camera is not looking in your direction. Also the "corner view" (when you against a wall near a corner) the camera show you very well what's going on this area (and most of the time was made to show you important stuff like cameras). Of course there is the radar which make everything easier (and all the things I mentioned above useless) but when playing above the normal difficulty, the radar is off. Back in the day, I considered Hard and Very hard to be the best way to play the game. Now I did a Normal run (because the radar was too iconic to not having it) but try to not rely too much on it and used a lot the first person view and corner view, it really brings to the immersion.

In conclusion, Metal Gear Solid was a masterpiece back in the day... And Metal Gear Solid is still a masterpiece today.

What to play next :
Well it's time to replug my PS2 ! The run of Metal Gear Solid put me in mood for Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of liberty. I rewatched the first trailer of it and damn ! I am hyped like I was back in the day !

I'm about to start MGS 1-4 very soon. Great writeup.

 

[DelireMan7]

I'm about to start MGS 1-4 very soon. Great writeup.

Thanks.

That's also my plan to redo the serie

 

[InfiniteCombo]

What's up, bitches!!! I'm back

Long absence was due to work seriously trolling, but I'm about to resume normal hours. So back to games I go.

Actually -- I've been playing some retro games on and off through the past couple of weeks, getting retro achievements and such; it was easy enough to do, with a low time commitment (as opposed to starting a new game).

I'm wondering which game to start next. I think I might go for Bayonetta on PC.

I'm about to start MGS 1-4 very soon. Great writeup.

Yooooo! Let me know how they are. I have MGS5 in my backlog, but whenever I start down that road, I should probably start with MGS1.

Thanks.

That's also my plan to redo the serie

I'll echo what Phase said. Fantastic writeup!

 

[InfiniteCombo]

I replayed Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. I never finished this one before because I was an idiot when I was younger and played the Wii VC version with a GC controller which not only was extremely awkward, but it also made Toxic Tower pretty much impossible to complete. But this time on the SNES with a SNES controller I not only beat it, but finished it 102% and man, it was worth it. Some of the best music, visual aestethics and atmosphere in gaming history without a doubt. If there are some things which prevents it for being an all time classic for me is that the leves are very inconsistent quality wise with some frustrating design choices in certain ones which first time around is gonna kill you no matter what because it's impossible to predict what's gonna happen next. Still, this game is very high up on my favorite 2D platformers, and a must play if you're in to that genre and have yet to play it.

Have you played all 3 SNES Donkey Kong games? Which one do you like the best?

Excellent writeup on 2. Which funnily enough is the one out of the the SNES trilogy I have not yet played. But I own it (complete in box and all.... got it for a decent price years ago). Although I'll say -- it'll be tough to dethrone DKC3 for me. I'm probably the only one that thinks DKC3 is the best one, and a masterpiece. I love that game.

When I get around to DKC2, I hope it lives up to its reputation.

 

[Bakkus]

Have you played all 3 SNES Donkey Kong games? Which one do you like the best?

Excellent writeup on 2. Which funnily enough is the one out of the the SNES trilogy I have not yet played. But I own it (complete in box and all.... got it for a decent price years ago). Although I'll say -- it'll be tough to dethrone DKC3 for me. I'm probably the only one that thinks DKC3 is the best one, and a masterpiece. I love that game.

When I get around to DKC2, I hope it lives up to its reputation.

I have yet to play 3. I played number 1 last 12 years ago, so I don't know how well it holds up.

 

[stn]

I love the hell out of DKC2, its in my top 3 for platformers (no order: DKC1, DKC2, Super Mario World).

 

[InfiniteCombo]

No worries about prying. I think I'm finally losing interest in the same formulas. I need something new mechanically, something to surprise me. I guess that's a normal feeling for lifetime gamers at different points, and I'm just feeling that at the moment. I can't find the enthusiasm for most of the new games releasing because I feel like I've seen it before (they just look nicer). For example. Far Cry 6 and Horizon Forbidden West. The past two years I've had fun playing old games but when I look to the present or future I'm not seeing much. I've been consistently disappointed in recent years (e.g. Control, Yakuza, Outriders, RE Village, Half-life: Alyx, BF 1 and 5) Biomutant the latest example. The last relatively new game I had a lot of fun with was Death Stranding.

My favorite genre of gaming has always been arena shooters, like Unreal Tournament, Tribes, etc. But they've been dead and buried for so many years now and the new ones just aren't very good, like Diabotical. The last decade trend of shooters has put me off and now I rarely even play online mp.

There are at least a couple of games I'm somewhat excited to play that just released, like Nier Replicant and Path of Exile 2, but I'm noticing games I want to play are few and far between nowadays. I guess that's fine. I'm getting older and have other hobbies. Maybe more time away from games will help me appreciate the ones I do play (this sounds like every /r/truegaming thread I've ever read lol).

I didn't initially reply to this because I didn't want to reply with something generic. You put in a good amount of thought and effort into your post, and I feel like I should reply in kind.

I think you already know what to do, but from my initial reading it sounds like you might be getting slightly burned out and need to either slow down or (at an extreme) take a temporary break from games.

You're still right though: for pretty much any gaming genre I can think of, there's the 5 or so percent of games that are elite: truly innovative, timeless, and fun. But then the rest are fairly derivative schlock. As an example: I love retro platformers, but for every Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Bros. 3, or Donkey Kong Country, there are dozens of other derivative, lackluster, and sometimes even downright BAD platformers. Same for retro fighting games. Or shooters. Or really, any other genre I can think of.

If you're not feeling a game, you probably shouldn't try to power past it, because then you might end up resenting the game -- and potentially that whole genre, and, when taken to an extreme, resenting gaming as a whole. So if a game is not that fun but you still want to see it through, maybe play it at a slower pace. And if at some point it just becomes unbearably boring/mechanical, then there's no shame in dropping it altogether.

Stay strong, my friend!

 

[Phase]

I didn't initially reply to this because I didn't want to reply with something generic. You put in a good amount of thought and effort into your post, and I feel like I should reply in kind.

I think you already know what to do, but from my initial reading it sounds like you might be getting slightly burned out and need to either slow down or (at an extreme) take a temporary break from games.

You're still right though: for pretty much any gaming genre I can think of, there's the 5 or so percent of games that are elite: truly innovative, timeless, and fun. But then the rest are fairly derivative schlock. As an example: I love retro platformers, but for every Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Bros. 3, or Donkey Kong Country, there are dozens of other derivative, lackluster, and sometimes even downright BAD platformers. Same for retro fighting games. Or shooters. Or really, any other genre I can think of.

If you're not feeling a game, you probably shouldn't try to power past it, because then you might end up resenting the game -- and potentially that whole genre, and, when taken to an extreme, resenting gaming as a whole. So if a game is not that fun but you still want to see it through, maybe play it at a slower pace. And if at some point it just becomes unbearably boring/mechanical, then there's no shame in dropping it altogether.

Stay strong, my friend!

Thanks, man. I appreciate the response. I've been playing sparingly lately, for sure. I also have some life stuff at the moment so I think in combination it's affecting me more than usual. When I figure those things out I'll be able to relax and hopefully be in a good state of mind when gaming.

 

[Phase]

27. Nier Replicant (PS4) - 13hrs

My brother brought it up while visiting so I was only able to play through the A ending before he left, but I really enjoyed it. I had only played Automata before this, so playing through this helped me understand more of the backstories of the main characters, especially Emil. The graphical style is uniquely "Nier," as Automata was, as was the wonderful music. Overall, a very memorable experience.

 

[Kazza]

A big thanks to the person who recommended Ninja Gaiden Shadow for the Gameboy a few pages back. I just finished it today, and it's a really great game:
- nice cutscenes and scrolling effects for a Gameboy title
- perfect difficulty (all enemies and bosses have a recognisable pattern to learn, and the difficulty increases gradually throughout the game)
- nice variety of gameplay (lots of different enemies, plus regular horizontal scrolling levels, mixed with few vertical auto-scrolling ones)
- nice music

Here's a nice little SNESDrunk video about the game:

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Original Post

+1. Current backlog completed count: 17.

Marvel Super Heroes; on PC (RetroArch).

I already own two copies of this game -- the Sega Saturn Japanese version (I'll be creating a separate post for that), and the emulated version released as part of "Marvel vs Capcom Origins" on PS3/X360, which of course I bought before it got delisted. Anyway, I love this game. I keep going back and forth between this and X-Men vs Street Fighter as my favorite game in the Capcom-developed Marvel series. Depending on the day, this game may edge out X-Men vs Street Fighter. This was the first game to introduce me to long -- sometimes "infinite" combos -- and therefore this game is directly responsible for my GAF username.

Pros:
+ Fun, Street Fighter-based gameplay with over the top action and a fresh twist with the "gem" system
+ Big, colorful, beautiful sprites. To me, this is the best looking game in the entire Marvel line developed by Capcom. (With maybe Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter as a close second)
+ Fantastic animation
+ Top-notch voice acting (I think Capcom brought some of the voice actors from the various 90s animated series for this. Actually, not 100% sure, but I know they did that for this game's predecessor -- X-Men COTA).
+ Amazing soundtrack; all of the main character themes (e.g., Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, etc) would be reused throughout the series, for good reason.
+ Varied set of superheroes/supervillains from the comics
+ Some nice attention to detail. (One such example: When the player performs a super, the announcer yells "INFINITY!!!" But for the X-Men characters, when they do their original supers from X-Men COTA, the announcer yells "X!!" [EDIT] Another example is Wolverine; he takes about the same damage as other characters in his class, but if you look at his health bar, when he is hit, he initially takes disproportionately big damage, only to gain some of it back immediately; it's their shout out to his "healing" ability from the comics.)

Cons:
- Small roster -- only 10 playable characters (13 if you use cheat codes for Dr. Doom, Thanos, and Anita in the Japanese version)
- Signature Capcom recycling -- Out of the 10 selectable characters, FOUR return from the previous game (X-Men: Children of the Atom) -- Wolverine, Magneto, Psylocke, and Juggernaut. Wolverine and Magneto I can understand, since they're popular and are fun to play. Psylocke and (especially) Juggernaut are "WTF sauce."
- With the infinite combos and huge damage output, the game can be broken at times. (I'm being objective here; this is not particularly an issue for me, personally. I think it adds to the fun.)
- A puzzling omission of Thor, would which remain the case until they finally added him in Marvel vs Capcom 3.

I know this game pretty well, so this Achievement set on RetroAchievements wasn't hugely challenging. The most challenging one was the "Use the Mind Gem" one; there are only 5 gems held by your various opponents, but when you reach Thanos, he steals all 5 gems from you, which gives him all 6, since he's originally in possession of the Mind Gem. And with Thanos, you can only steal his gems by using Infinity (Super) moves, which means you have to hit him successfully with 6 supers before you can get the Mind Gem. That's much easier said than done...


Screenshot gallery (WARNING: minor spoilers for various aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe):

A Civil War:

Hulk vs Thanos:

The ultimate snap:

Thanks, Cap! (At the end of Civil War, I think Captain America breaks out all his allies -- including Scarlet Witch -- from captivity; my gameplay screenshot coincidentally happened to be when I beat the game as Captain America!)

Alright, that's enough MCU for now; some action shots:

 

[DelireMan7]

My challenge :
No 2021 games . I can buy older games as my backlog is limited to 1 genre and I might want to change genre during the year according to my mood.

Physical Backlog :

• Lunar Silver Star Harmony (PSP) Done !
• The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
• Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
• Odin Sphere (PS2)
• Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
• Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) Done !
• Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) Done !
• Zelda Ocarina of time (N64)
• Hollow Knight (PS4) Done !
• [Replay] Final Fantasy X and X-2 (PS2)
• [Replay] At least one SoulsBorne (PS3/4)
• [2021] Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
• [2021] Project X Zone (3DS)
• [2021] Radiant Historia : Perfect Chronology (3DS)

Games completed :

1. Rayman Origins (PS3) (started in Spring 2020, main story finished 5th of January 2021, coop with my 4 years old daughter, her first video game)
2. Lunar : Silver Star Harmony (PSP) (Started 1st of January, finished 17th of January, 25h56m)
3. Baten Kaitos : Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube) (Started 19th of January, Finished the 13th of March, around 67h)
4. Hollow Knight (PS4) (Started 26th of February, Close to platinum the 23rd of April, around 83h)
5. Assassin's Creed IV : Black Flag (PS3) (Started the 25th of April, Finished the 29th of May, around 33h)
6. [Replay] Metal Gear Solid (PC) (Started the 29th of May, Finished the 5 of June, 8h32)
7. [Replay] Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty (PS2) (Started the 7th of June, Finished the 15th of June, 13h29)

So first, I am happy that my PS2 is still working.
Then when I putted in the disc and watched the introduction cinematic, I was send back more than 15 years in the past. I watched it so many time as a teenage. And again today, I enjoyed it a lot.

The first thing that shocked me when I launched the game was the graphics. They are still amazing. They hold up extremely well and I am really surprised by the capacity of the PS2.

Now the game itself :
The jump from Metal Gear Solid 1 is impressive both in term of graphics and gameplay mechanics. You have a lot of freedom on how you want to handle the situation. You can go full stealth and just avoid the guards, you can kill them from distance, you can surprise them and stole them their dog tag or goods, you can distract them with noise/ throwing an empty ammo clip/ erotic magazine, you can shoot their radio (or use a chaff grenade to disable it) to prevent them calling backup, you can shoot guard in the limb to slow them or prevent them using their weapons or radio... It's just incredible !

It also a nice improvement that the alert is not immediately triggered when spotted and you have a chance to prevent them. I really like the fact that if they start their radio call and you then stop them, they will still send some guards to investigate the situation.

The whole tanker prologue is just perfect. Snake is perfect, the rainy moody atmosphere is perfect, the gameplay is perfect, everything...

Then the Big Shell level... First we have Raiden, I know he's generally not liked but I am fine with him. Of course I would have preferred Snake, especially because he's in his best form here, but yeah...
The level itself is a bit repetitive due to the structure of the building : 6 hexagons (strut) connected by a small bridges. Each strut and bridges are different but I would have preferred another setup.
Also the game force you to do a lot of back and forth at the beginning :
Quickly you go to Strut C and find a bomb disposal expert. Then you have to clear each strut (A to F) of bomb. Then "ho no ! Go to Strut C", "Good now go to Strut A", "now go Strut E" then "infiltrate the core of shell 1" (Nice !) "but wait you don't have an AK go back in this strut"... After that you have again to do this to get another weapon then it's done but it felt a bit tedious.
Speaking of tedious, the underwater sections are a bit annoying especially due to the controls.
Then the sniper section (you have to protect someone) was frustrating (I played on Hard so it maybe didn't help). I mean the sniper is basically unusable without Pentazemin (your scope is having strong random movement....) but its effect do not last for long. So you have to constantly switch item (because Thermal goggles are strongly recommended here) to take some. Hopefully there is an infinite supply just next to you but you have to get it each time, same goes for the ammo. Then this section last quite some time. And the worst offender is how enemies appear at the last moment, and you have few seconds to take kill them before they spot the person you protect. I mean I take them down as early as possible and was thinking "ok this zone is clear" but at the last moment BOOM new guards are there...

But I'll stop there with the negativity because I really enjoyed the game.
I often see the critics about the number of cutscene and their lenghts and yes there are a lot of cutscene and some are quite lengthy. As an example before the final boss you get something like 45 min cutscenes/codec.
But I really enjoyed the cutscene and story so it's fine with me. The only thing that disturbed me was the overuse of Codec. In the first game, I loved the 2 anime faces of it, but here I didn't really like the look of it and it's use all the time. I mean you meet a character, you are just next to them and it's always "Let's switch to Codec communication"... Of course it was to avoid animating cutscenes but it was too much Codec for me.

The story is much more convoluted than in the first game. But I like it overall especially how the whole "Shadow moses all over again" is confusing Raiden and the player (at least me). After it's Kojima, and it goes maybe too far and too "over the top" sometimes, with plot twists over plot twists but I enjoyed it a lot.
On this side, I loved how the game is going crazy at one point of the game. The "I need scissors ! 61 !" lane kill me so much each time.

I have the feeling my summary is maybe too much negative but don't be fooled, I loved the game. The first is still a better game for me but Metal Gear Solid 2 is still a classic in my opinion !

What to play next :
Well, I go directly in to Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater (Started the 18th of June). I remember that after playing it, I stated I like it as much as Metal Gear Solid 1. So let's see if it's still true

Also my backlog will probably not advance much this year because Elden Ring has a release date and there is no way it's not a Day one for me ! And I want to replay Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 before its release.
And since a big part of next year will probably me playing only Elden Ring, I would like to play Death Stranding before its release (I already postponed that several time and don't want to wait after I am done with Elden Ring).
In addition I sill want to squeeze Final Fantasy X/X-2 in between...And of course continue the Metal Gear Solid franchise with Metal Gear Solid 4 and maybe 5 with Ground Zeroes (this will be a first) and The Phantom Pain (actually in my backlog thanks to PS+, tried it but dropped it after the prologue)
So yeah, the rest of this year will be mainly replaying games...

 

[VidKid369]

Beat Tales of Destiny. (PS) Kinda meh. Mashed the game pretty much the whole way through. Thinking about playing Persona 2: Eternal Punishment next.

 

[LegionX]

Beat Tales of Destiny. (PS) Kinda meh. Mashed the game pretty much the whole way through. Thinking about playing Persona 2: Eternal Punishment next.

Tales of Destiny is one of the games in my list to get to soon... Curious as to what issues you had with it... the only Tales game I've played thus far is Phantasia (the first one), so I'm figuring it'd have to be an improvement at least? a translation team has recently (rapidly) worked on a translation of Tales of Destiny DC (PS2 remake), so I'm thinking of waiting for that to get to release 1.0 before starting. Can't help with Persona as the only one I've played is the original game

 

[VidKid369]

Tales of Destiny is one of the games in my list to get to soon... Curious as to what issues you had with it... the only Tales game I've played thus far is Phantasia (the first one), so I'm figuring it'd have to be an improvement at least? a translation team has recently (rapidly) worked on a translation of Tales of Destiny DC (PS2 remake), so I'm thinking of waiting for that to get to release 1.0 before starting. Can't help with Persona as the only one I've played is the original game

I just thought Tales of Destiny would throw the player a lot of little fetch quest like over and over especially towards the end of the game when you just want to enter the final dungeon and beat the final boss. I thought it was so tedious. And annoying. That was my main gripe. The combat system was a bit grindy. And the encounter rate was annoying, but I enjoyed the battles. I read a comment that said the story was kinda thin and I kinda agreed lol.

 

[Bakkus]

Beat the first two Super Monkey Ball games on GC. Fun arcade action with lots of creativity in the course designs. Some of them work very well, others feel a bit more gimmicky. The one major annoyance I had with these games is that you have to play the game a lot in order to be able to complete the hardest levels which there are 50 of in a row. Not because you have to practise them, but because they made it so you can (and you will) run out of continues. So you have to replay levels many many times in order to earn points to get unlimited continues for the first game, and buy more lives for the second game. You also have to buy sports minigames before you are able to do this, and all of these feel like an afterthought. They are forgettable in every sense of the word. But the main game is really fun.

Did also do a replay of Super Mario World. Haven't played this game fully in probably like 15 years and that was on the GBA. This time, I did it on the original SNES, and did it 100% with all secret exits and all 8 Star levels, and man, this game is still so really charming. You can tell that this was an early (launch actually) SNES title in certain ways, but so much still manages to hold up remarkably well.

 

[Kazza]

The one major annoyance I had with these games is that you have to play the game a lot in order to be able to complete the hardest levels which there are 50 of in a row. Not because you have to practise them, but because they made it so you can (and you will) run out of continues. So you have to replay levels many many times in order to earn points to get unlimited continues for the first game

How long does it take until you get infinite continues in the first game? I quite that one, as there was one level towards the end of the intermediate batch of levels where I kept dying and getting sent back to the very beginning. I've got a decent PC now, so was thinking of just emulating it on Dolphin instead of playing the original GC version, that way I could create a save state at the beginning of the level in question.

 

[Bakkus]

How long does it take until you get infinite continues in the first game?

The fastest way I found was completing the normal mode with 30 levels several times. You first need to buy the 3 minigames which costs 2500 each (7500). And then you get one extra continue for each time you reach 2500 points after that, after you reach 9 continues the next one will give you infinite. Since you start at 5 continues you have to then reach 2500 five times. So all in all you need 20.000 points to get it. The normal mode gives you 1600-1700 points if you play all levels, so you have to play it 13 times probably to completion if you don't do anything else.

 

[Ryuji Goda]

It's been a while since I've posted.

Finished The Orange Box on 360 (HL2, Ep. 1, Ep. 2 and Portal). Loved it. Especially Portal. Also finished Alan Wake (and both DLC's). Loved the main game, didn't care much for the DLC.

Right now, I'm playing Rockstar's Table Tennis. Really cool game, but fucking hard.

 

[Ryuji Goda]

Paused on Table Tennis and tonight going to start the first Saints Row on 360.

 

[stn]

Beat Pokemon Shield last night, now on to Bayonetta 2 (Switch). After that, I'm planning to tackle Onimusha 2, 3, and Dawn of Dreams, all on PS2.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Original Post

+2. Current backlog completed count: 19. Both games I own on PS1, but played on RetroArch for Archievements.

Resident Evil: Director's Cut

Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha:

I have a feeling y'all are getting tired of my long ass writeups So I'll spare everybody this time.

 

[Kazza]

Original Post

+2. Current backlog completed count: 19. Both games I own on PS1, but played on RetroArch for Archievements.

Resident Evil: Director's Cut

Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha:

I have a feeling y'all are getting tired of my long ass writeups So I'll spare everybody this time.

I never knew retroarch had achievements like that. Cool.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

I play the Retro stuff on RetroArch in between longer games. Some of my current progress:

"Site Awards" is the list of games I've gotten the "Platinum" for, to use a PlayStation trophy term. In the website, it's called "Mastering" a game.

The games I've "mastered" shown, in order:
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PS1)
Marvel Super Heroes (Arcade)
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha (PS1)

Kazza Yup, it's pretty cool. I didn't know either. It was actually jshackles that told me about it.

I really do like the system. RetroArch has a plugin that ties back to a website called RetroAchievements; in the RetroArch options, you can enable Achievements, and will ask you for your RetroAchievements site credentials (username and password). And during standard gameplay, when you get an Achievement, it will "pop" just as a PSN, Xbox, or Steam Achievement would (even with a chime similar to the Xbox system, I believe).

Some of the achievements for modern games can be grindy, a waste of time, and not really skill based. These retro ones are about evenly divided between standard progression Achievements, and skill-based Achievements that are ever increasing in difficulty. Depending on the retro game, and how well you know it, you could get about 80-90% of the Achievements with ease; but then there's always a small fraction that can be pretty freaking brutal, even for games that you think you know well. I think for pretty much every game I've "Mastered" I've found a new strategy or new technique I didn't know about, even if I had been playing the game on and off for years.

Cool stuff.

 

[Kazza]

Some of the achievements for modern games can be grindy, a waste of time, and not really skill based. These retro ones are about evenly divided between standard progression Achievements, and skill-based Achievements that are ever increasing in difficulty. Depending on the retro game, and how well you know it, you could get about 80-90% of the Achievements with ease; but then there's always a small fraction that can be pretty freaking brutal, even for games that you think you know well. I think for pretty much every game I've "Mastered" I've found a new strategy or new technique I didn't know about, even if I had been playing the game on and off for years.

I think achievements should be about skill rather than grind. I'm currently playing through Yakuza 0 on PC, and a llot of the achievements there seem to be "talk to people 100 times", and other such low skill/time expensive things. I'm not going for any achievements anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me, but they just seem kind of pointless.

For retro games, some skill based achievements would be cool. For example, for a 2D Sonic game it could be things like:
- complete a level within 90 seconds
- bounce off 3/4/5 enemies consecutively without touching the ground
- beat boss without getting hit once

While it may take time to get your skills up to the level required to completely these, they would be inherently skill-based rather than grindy. I don't know how many of the retro achievements are of that nature?

 

[Kazza]

Beat Pokemon Shield last night, now on to Bayonetta 2 (Switch). After that, I'm planning to tackle Onimusha 2, 3, and Dawn of Dreams, all on PS2.

Good to see another PS2 person! Are you playing on original hardware?

I've currently got 3 PS2 games on the go:
- Virtua Fighter 4 Evo - I'll probably be at this one for the whole year, fighting my way through all the arcade tournaments - really enjoying it so far
- Ace Combat 4 - I'm stuck on a mission about destroying sea-based fuel facilities while fighting off enemy fighter jets (keep running out of time), but am still liking it a lot
- Ridge Racer 5 - won the first grand prix on easy mode, so decided to start over on normal (much harder). The controls have taken a while getting used to (I usually play Sega-arcade racers), but I'm getting there. Lots of jaggies, but the game still looks nice overall.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

I think achievements should be about skill rather than grind. I'm currently playing through Yakuza 0 on PC, and a llot of the achievements there seem to be "talk to people 100 times", and other such low skill/time expensive things. I'm not going for any achievements anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me, but they just seem kind of pointless.

For retro games, some skill based achievements would be cool. For example, for a 2D Sonic game it could be things like:
- complete a level within 90 seconds
- bounce off 3/4/5 enemies consecutively without touching the ground
- beat boss without getting hit once

While it may take time to get your skills up to the level required to completely these, they would be inherently skill-based rather than grindy. I don't know how many of the retro achievements are of that nature?

Most of the Achievements that I've run across on the retro end are skill-based, so to answer your question, I would say "a vast majority."

To give an example, in Mega Man X, there are standard "beat [X] boss" standard Achievements; but then there are the more challenging "beat [X] boss using only the X-Buster." Then they escalate from there.

"Reach Sigma's Fortress 3 final boss without using any energy tanks"
"Defeat all other 7 Mavericks with no dash upgrade, before getting the dash upgrade in Chill Penguin's stage [No Passwords allowed]"

I think I know Super Mario World pretty damn well. Still, there were a couple of skill-based Achievements that really kicked my ass. "Complete the entire Special World as little Mario [no power-ups of any kind, no Yoshi, no star, etc]" ... Yeah, that one was fun, LOL.

Since you mentioned Sonic, take a look at the Sonic 3 Achievements:

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Mega Drive)

There are 29 achievements worth 310 points. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Mega Drive - explore and compete on this classic game at RetroAchievements.

retroachievements.org

Cheers!

 

[stn]

Good to see another PS2 person! Are you playing on original hardware?

I've currently got 3 PS2 games on the go:
- Virtua Fighter 4 Evo - I'll probably be at this one for the whole year, fighting my way through all the arcade tournaments - really enjoying it so far
- Ace Combat 4 - I'm stuck on a mission about destroying sea-based fuel facilities while fighting off enemy fighter jets (keep running out of time), but am still liking it a lot
- Ridge Racer 5 - won the first grand prix on easy mode, so decided to start over on normal (much harder). The controls have taken a while getting used to (I usually play Sega-arcade racers), but I'm getting there. Lots of jaggies, but the game still looks nice overall.

Yup! Got a phat PS2. First time getting into Onimusha 2, 3, and DoD, so I'm pumped. I liked the remaster of 1 on PS3 enough to purchase the remaining games.

 

[Phase]

Yup! Got a phat PS2. First time getting into Onimusha 2, 3, and DoD, so I'm pumped. I liked the remaster of 1 on PS3 enough to purchase the remaining games.

Ha same here! I finished the remaster of 1 on PC and got ps2 copies of the others. It's brilliant and apparently the sequels are even better.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Yup! Got a phat PS2. First time getting into Onimusha 2, 3, and DoD, so I'm pumped. I liked the remaster of 1 on PS3 enough to purchase the remaining games.

Ha same here! I finished the remaster of 1 on PC and got ps2 copies of the others. It's brilliant and apparently the sequels are even better.

You phat PS2 people. I feel like the uncool kid in the class hanging out with my slim

(Japanese slim though, white version is )