DelireMan7
Member
Curious to get some feedback on this.
I heard good things about it some years ago and it's somewhere on my list of games to play.
I think got it on one of the PSplus free games once.
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No new games in 2022, unfinished backlog only
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I heard good things about it some years ago and it's somewhere on my list of games to play.
I think got it on one of the PSplus free games once.
Y0ssarian
Banned
My immediate thoughts, it reminded me a bit of Fable 1, but more bloody. Now that I've played for a while I'd say it actually distinguishes itself as it's own thing pretty well. If you got it for free it's a no brainer, it's a good game. It has a good dialogue system that allows you to pick different options and you can "persuade" people. I chose the rogue path because I liked playing assassin in Dragon Age and Dragon's Dogma. The side quests are good, not Witcher 3 level but not absolute mmo filler garbage. Can't really comment on the main quest except the start is like Planescape Torment
Y0ssarian
Banned
I've played more of the game. It is similar to Diablo in terms of gear, combat and gaining new abilities. Just not isometric
SpiceRacz
Member
DelireMan7
Member
I did it a couple of months ago. Amazing game really ! Just some boss fights are annoyingly hard.
Aurelius
Member
I got stuck in one mission where you had to rescue an NPC, the enemies kept killing her before my turn even came up. I had to put the game down for a while. Eventually the A.I. descided to do something else and I got an opening. The game is amazing, but is in desperate need of a remake.
DelireMan7
Member
Is this the mission on rooftops ?
Because I heard about this one and I think my game glitched or something. The NPC got focused and kind of killed but I got dialog from the bad guy and the mission was over (like completed). I didn't get what happened, it almost played itself.
DelireMan7
Member
My challenge :
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
Games completed :
Ok let's put out of the way the few bad things about it. But it's mainly due to its age :
Zelda games have a particular feeling to me. I consider myself a fan of the franchise despite having completed only 2 of them : Link's awakening (like dozen of time in a row on Gameboy as a kid) and Breath of the Wild. I might have done Link to the Past through emulation. I remember playing a big part of Minish cap on emulation too.
Zelda franchise has this feeling of heroic and cheerful adventure, perfectly transcribed by the main theme of the serie we all know. Ocarina of Time is no exception.
No better feeling is to go back into Hyrule's Field and be cheered by its theme song.
The game is filled with cleaver and challenging puzzles. You really have to think them out and get really satisfied when you succeed them. You need to use everything to solve them. It can be a song with the Ocarina, put fire to something, use bomb, shoot arrow at something, find a way to activate a push plate...
Temples are quite long (most of them took me 2/3h) and interesting. My personal favorite was the Water Temple.
I like how some late temple make you use of items you got very early and how items have multiple uses. Like the Iron boots which are primarily use for walking underwater but later you can use them to resist powerful wind that would push you otherwise.
The game always encourages you to explore its mechanics and experiment with them. I had this feeling with BOTW and I found out they already succeed that with OoT.
In addition, the game is filled with secret and side content. I did only a small part of it but this game has a lot to offer. There is a nice time travel mechanics that allows some neat interactions. Also the Ocarina is a pretty nice core mechanic.
Might be a con for some but for me the fact that the game gives little direction or explanation of what you should do is a plus. There is some complaints about Elden Ring and Souls in general about the lack of direction but I think these people didn't play Ocarina of Time. The game really wants to discover what to do or where to go by yourself most of the time. I spend sometimes several hours in a place to find out what I have to do : "Should I come during the night ?", "Should it be raining ?", "Maybe shoot an arrow on this", "Maybe bring this item to this NPC", "Let's go here as Kid Link"...
This game is a masterpiece ! Amazing soundtrack, well crafted secrets and side content, great level design in temples, smart puzzles/bosses, encourages curiosity and challenge the player's mind, great humour (I laughed so good on several occasions ; I mean that Goron's dance xD)...
What to play next :
Well, I was thinking to maybe jump into The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess. I also have Skyward Sword that I might give a second chance (played the first hour of it few years ago and I was baffled on how childish it was, that fairy was sooooo annoying). Windwaker is also one I want to play once.
BUT ! There is something on my list that tickles me since a bit of time : the Baldur's Gate games. I did for the first time the first one 2 years ago and I was completely blown away !
Now it's time to gather my party and venture forth again with Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear !(Started the 13th of September)
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
- The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
- Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
- Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)
- Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
- Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of time (N64)Done !- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Project X Zone (3DS)Gave up !- Brigandine : The legend of Runersia (Switch)
The Mark of Kri (PS2)Done !- Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 : Record Breaker (3DS)
Demon's Souls (PS5)Done !- Divinity : Original Sin (PS4/5)
- [2022] The legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess (Wii)
[2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : The War of the Lions (PSP)Done !
Games completed :
- Demon's Souls (PS5) (Started the 13th of December , finished the 3rd of January, 25h20)
- [Replay] Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice (PS5) (Started the 6th of January, finished the 1st of February, NG/NG+/NG++ done in 91h40)
- [2022] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 25h of February, finished the 22nd of April, 190 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 23rd of April, finished the 16th of May, 52 hours)
- [2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : the War of the Lions (PSP) (Started the 18th of May, finished the 4th of June, 51 hours)
- Project X Zone (3DS) (Started on 20th of February, gave up, around 35 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started 4th of June, finished the 22nd of August, 88h)
- The Mark of Kri (PS2) (Started 23rd of August, finished the 27th of August, 6h48)
- The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64) (Started 27th of August, finished 12th of September)
Ok let's put out of the way the few bad things about it. But it's mainly due to its age :
- Controls : N64 stick is awful to me. The game has automatic jump if you run and approach a ledge. Meaning if you not perfectly perpendicular to it, you'll jump completely off of your target.
- Camera : only way to control it is to use the "lock" button to center it behind you
- Lock system : has its own agenda
Zelda games have a particular feeling to me. I consider myself a fan of the franchise despite having completed only 2 of them : Link's awakening (like dozen of time in a row on Gameboy as a kid) and Breath of the Wild. I might have done Link to the Past through emulation. I remember playing a big part of Minish cap on emulation too.
Zelda franchise has this feeling of heroic and cheerful adventure, perfectly transcribed by the main theme of the serie we all know. Ocarina of Time is no exception.
No better feeling is to go back into Hyrule's Field and be cheered by its theme song.
The game is filled with cleaver and challenging puzzles. You really have to think them out and get really satisfied when you succeed them. You need to use everything to solve them. It can be a song with the Ocarina, put fire to something, use bomb, shoot arrow at something, find a way to activate a push plate...
Temples are quite long (most of them took me 2/3h) and interesting. My personal favorite was the Water Temple.
I like how some late temple make you use of items you got very early and how items have multiple uses. Like the Iron boots which are primarily use for walking underwater but later you can use them to resist powerful wind that would push you otherwise.
The game always encourages you to explore its mechanics and experiment with them. I had this feeling with BOTW and I found out they already succeed that with OoT.
In addition, the game is filled with secret and side content. I did only a small part of it but this game has a lot to offer. There is a nice time travel mechanics that allows some neat interactions. Also the Ocarina is a pretty nice core mechanic.
Might be a con for some but for me the fact that the game gives little direction or explanation of what you should do is a plus. There is some complaints about Elden Ring and Souls in general about the lack of direction but I think these people didn't play Ocarina of Time. The game really wants to discover what to do or where to go by yourself most of the time. I spend sometimes several hours in a place to find out what I have to do : "Should I come during the night ?", "Should it be raining ?", "Maybe shoot an arrow on this", "Maybe bring this item to this NPC", "Let's go here as Kid Link"...
This game is a masterpiece ! Amazing soundtrack, well crafted secrets and side content, great level design in temples, smart puzzles/bosses, encourages curiosity and challenge the player's mind, great humour (I laughed so good on several occasions ; I mean that Goron's dance xD)...
What to play next :
Well, I was thinking to maybe jump into The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess. I also have Skyward Sword that I might give a second chance (played the first hour of it few years ago and I was baffled on how childish it was, that fairy was sooooo annoying). Windwaker is also one I want to play once.
BUT ! There is something on my list that tickles me since a bit of time : the Baldur's Gate games. I did for the first time the first one 2 years ago and I was completely blown away !
Now it's time to gather my party and venture forth again with Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear !(Started the 13th of September)
Last edited:
Y0ssarian
Banned
I think since the last time I posted I beat Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and Silent Hill 2. I don't really want to talk about the former, I did enjoy it though. I have played Resident Evil for more than 20 years, and several other survival horror games, but this was the first Silent Hill I've done in my gaming career. And it actually lived up to it's reputation. I should have played this like 10 years ago, but I suppose being older I have a greater understanding of the themes and story. There probably isn't much that hasn't already been said about Silent Hill 2, but I'd say it's the best game I've played this year.
I'm going to play 3, Homecoming, Downpour and maybe 4. I might go back to 1 last. I just started Dead Space (on chapter 4) and I might start Deadly Premonition Director's Cut as well
I'm going to play 3, Homecoming, Downpour and maybe 4. I might go back to 1 last. I just started Dead Space (on chapter 4) and I might start Deadly Premonition Director's Cut as well
Last edited:
LegionX
Member
Not for the first time, I've been slack and not written up the games I've completed, and basically ignored this thread for too long... so... here's the next batch for anybody that may care!
20. Killzone Mercenary (Vita)
First Playstation Vita native title I've actually completed in quite some time, it brought memories back on the potential of the thing cause this is one good looking game for 10 year old portable hardware! Other than that, It's more Killzone, I really enjoyed playing it, didn't mind the touch controls for stealth/melee, the only one thing I found frustrating was the touch controls for picking up ammo, as you have to do it SO much as each enemy only drops a few rounds at a time... Otherwise, was a nice reminder of the Vita and has me looking to play one of the other (many) games I bought for the thing but have never gotten around to
21. Singularity (PS3)
I went to my box of PS3 physical games, reached in without looking and picked this one out... still sealed (I'm so bad with buying games and taking ages to get to... this one was probably a decade!) Turns out this one is a pretty solid FPS with interesting time related mechanics (age or de-age things to make broken stairs go back to a repaired state etc) that introduced some basic puzzle mechanics. All up I think I would have liked the game a bunch more if I'd had a PC copy, as graphically it's quite dated in 720p, and it's certainly 30fps at best as it never really felt that great to control, but otherwise it's a solid game that I did enjoy playing through
22. Killzone Shadow Fall (PS4)
And with this, I've now played through every Killzone game released! Once again, I bought this WITH my Playstation 4... and it was still sealed until I started it up for this playthrough... I remember reading that it wasn't that well received or thought of... Firstly... I guess it's a broken record for the series, but damn does it look impressive for a launch title... As to the gameplay, I think I can see where the negatives came in, it has a early tutorial/prologue type mission setting up the story of the game, but then the first actual mission of the game.... I found to be the worst of all missions in the game.. It feels more like an open world title with different objectives at different corners of the map and just overall felt really lacking to me... Thankfully it goes more traditional after that.. but I can certainly see people dropping off after the start... All up, a good title, and I do wonder if we ever get a return to the series
Thus ends my FPS block of titles, and I've moved on to other things since, which I'll hopefully update in here a bit quicker this time!
20. Killzone Mercenary (Vita)
First Playstation Vita native title I've actually completed in quite some time, it brought memories back on the potential of the thing cause this is one good looking game for 10 year old portable hardware! Other than that, It's more Killzone, I really enjoyed playing it, didn't mind the touch controls for stealth/melee, the only one thing I found frustrating was the touch controls for picking up ammo, as you have to do it SO much as each enemy only drops a few rounds at a time... Otherwise, was a nice reminder of the Vita and has me looking to play one of the other (many) games I bought for the thing but have never gotten around to
21. Singularity (PS3)
I went to my box of PS3 physical games, reached in without looking and picked this one out... still sealed (I'm so bad with buying games and taking ages to get to... this one was probably a decade!) Turns out this one is a pretty solid FPS with interesting time related mechanics (age or de-age things to make broken stairs go back to a repaired state etc) that introduced some basic puzzle mechanics. All up I think I would have liked the game a bunch more if I'd had a PC copy, as graphically it's quite dated in 720p, and it's certainly 30fps at best as it never really felt that great to control, but otherwise it's a solid game that I did enjoy playing through
22. Killzone Shadow Fall (PS4)
And with this, I've now played through every Killzone game released! Once again, I bought this WITH my Playstation 4... and it was still sealed until I started it up for this playthrough... I remember reading that it wasn't that well received or thought of... Firstly... I guess it's a broken record for the series, but damn does it look impressive for a launch title... As to the gameplay, I think I can see where the negatives came in, it has a early tutorial/prologue type mission setting up the story of the game, but then the first actual mission of the game.... I found to be the worst of all missions in the game.. It feels more like an open world title with different objectives at different corners of the map and just overall felt really lacking to me... Thankfully it goes more traditional after that.. but I can certainly see people dropping off after the start... All up, a good title, and I do wonder if we ever get a return to the series
Thus ends my FPS block of titles, and I've moved on to other things since, which I'll hopefully update in here a bit quicker this time!
DelireMan7
Member
I don't blame you. I have never play any Monkey Island games but I was so excited by this announcement.
This is a franchise I want to tackle in future.
This is a franchise I want to tackle in future.
LegionX
Member
Only a fail if you'd gone for the heaviest option of not a single new game in the year... but anyways.. I'm pretty sure we all take this thread as a general goal/plan rather than anything quite so rigid..I failed. Bought Return to Monkey Island. No regrets though. It's great so far!
On the topic though.. I've been contemplating a replay on Monkey Island 2 lately myself.... I think it's over 10 years ago now that the first 2 got remastered, and I bought them on release, re-completed the first game, and then... never got around to the second one.... last time I played it.. it was a copy on the Amiga.... on..... 11 floppy discs! oh how times have changed!
LegionX
Member
23. Family Guy - Back To The Multiverse (PS3)
Another old PS3 game picked at random, this one turned out to be a pretty quick 5 hours or so to get through and be done with. In all honestly, it's a kind of mediocre game.. the typical "based on a licensed property" type game of the past, however, with it's very short runtime it never really wore out its welcome. It's a very basic 3rd person game where you play as Brian and Stewie, and each level is a different multiverse based on the series... so you get typical cameos from characters from the show, generally saying their catchphrases or not much more, and the difficulty is low, I assume because they expected the age of most players to be low... All up, was a fine distraction considering I bought it cheap, s/hand at an EB Sale from memory.. but it would have been very disappointing as a full priced title
Another old PS3 game picked at random, this one turned out to be a pretty quick 5 hours or so to get through and be done with. In all honestly, it's a kind of mediocre game.. the typical "based on a licensed property" type game of the past, however, with it's very short runtime it never really wore out its welcome. It's a very basic 3rd person game where you play as Brian and Stewie, and each level is a different multiverse based on the series... so you get typical cameos from characters from the show, generally saying their catchphrases or not much more, and the difficulty is low, I assume because they expected the age of most players to be low... All up, was a fine distraction considering I bought it cheap, s/hand at an EB Sale from memory.. but it would have been very disappointing as a full priced title
DelireMan7
Member
My challenge :
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
Games completed :
This expansion is just more of Baldur's Gate. Just with much less sense of adventure.
You do not have access to the full world like you had in the first game. It's much more segmented and contained in smaller area.
But it's still filled with discoveries and unexpected things. Every little conversations or caves you explore can lead you into something unexpected. I love that.
It still has the main issue of the first game : major difficulty spikes in some combat. While it was only the final boss, in the first game that caused me troubles, here a lot of fights led me to death in seconds. Then by thinking about it, I could make better use of my spells and take the win. But as in the first game, I switched to Story mode (instead of Core rules) for the final fight. It was winnable (not like in Baldur's Gate) but it was after a succession of tensed fights so I was a bit fed up being stomped in seconds so many times.
My main complaint is the fact that all the party member are always available to recruit easily. Several party member left me at the beginning because of my reputation but I could always ask them again to join me.
In Baldur's Gate, I had the feeling that when I dismissed one of them, I couldn't find them again (it was maybe due to it's big world). Here I didn't have the feeling to face any consequences when losing a party member due to reputation or when dismissing it.
Overall a cool extension of the first game but it doesn't reach its greatness.
Minor note : regular crashes occurred during my playthrough
What to play next :
So I stand in front of greatness with Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn but I don't think I will go immediately into it. I love these games but they take quite some times and I don't want to dive into this long game now.
Since few weeks I want to go back to modern gaming, and God of War (Started 3rd of October) is in my mind. I almost took it 1 year after it's release but after checking some gameplay, it didn't feel really appealing to me.
But now with the ambient hype of the sequel, and a friend of mine started the first game, I might take a dip. And technically it's part of my backlog thanks to the PS collection.
I also received several old games from a friend. The most notable is Skies of Arcadia Legends on Gamecube. I'll play it a bit later.
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
- The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
- Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)Done !- Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
- Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of time (N64)Done !- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Project X Zone (3DS)Gave up !- Brigandine : The legend of Runersia (Switch)
The Mark of Kri (PS2)Done !- Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 : Record Breaker (3DS)
Demon's Souls (PS5)Done !- Divinity : Original Sin (PS4/5)
- [2022] The legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess (Wii)
[2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : The War of the Lions (PSP)Done !
Games completed :
- Demon's Souls (PS5) (Started the 13th of December , finished the 3rd of January, 25h20)
- [Replay] Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice (PS5) (Started the 6th of January, finished the 1st of February, NG/NG+/NG++ done in 91h40)
- [2022] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 25h of February, finished the 22nd of April, 190 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 23rd of April, finished the 16th of May, 52 hours)
- [2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : the War of the Lions (PSP) (Started the 18th of May, finished the 4th of June, 51 hours)
- Project X Zone (3DS) (Started on 20th of February, gave up, around 35 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started 4th of June, finished the 22nd of August, 88h)
- The Mark of Kri (PS2) (Started 23rd of August, finished the 27th of August, 6h48)
- The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64) (Started 27th of August, finished 12th of September)
- Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS5) (Started 13th of September, finished 3rd of October)
This expansion is just more of Baldur's Gate. Just with much less sense of adventure.
You do not have access to the full world like you had in the first game. It's much more segmented and contained in smaller area.
But it's still filled with discoveries and unexpected things. Every little conversations or caves you explore can lead you into something unexpected. I love that.
It still has the main issue of the first game : major difficulty spikes in some combat. While it was only the final boss, in the first game that caused me troubles, here a lot of fights led me to death in seconds. Then by thinking about it, I could make better use of my spells and take the win. But as in the first game, I switched to Story mode (instead of Core rules) for the final fight. It was winnable (not like in Baldur's Gate) but it was after a succession of tensed fights so I was a bit fed up being stomped in seconds so many times.
My main complaint is the fact that all the party member are always available to recruit easily. Several party member left me at the beginning because of my reputation but I could always ask them again to join me.
In Baldur's Gate, I had the feeling that when I dismissed one of them, I couldn't find them again (it was maybe due to it's big world). Here I didn't have the feeling to face any consequences when losing a party member due to reputation or when dismissing it.
Overall a cool extension of the first game but it doesn't reach its greatness.
Minor note : regular crashes occurred during my playthrough
What to play next :
So I stand in front of greatness with Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn but I don't think I will go immediately into it. I love these games but they take quite some times and I don't want to dive into this long game now.
Since few weeks I want to go back to modern gaming, and God of War (Started 3rd of October) is in my mind. I almost took it 1 year after it's release but after checking some gameplay, it didn't feel really appealing to me.
But now with the ambient hype of the sequel, and a friend of mine started the first game, I might take a dip. And technically it's part of my backlog thanks to the PS collection.
I also received several old games from a friend. The most notable is Skies of Arcadia Legends on Gamecube. I'll play it a bit later.
Last edited:
VidKid369
Member
Hey I just got a new 4K T.V. so that kinda messed me up on what games to play since I need HDMI adapters for all my systems. So no PS2 gaming for awhile, at least.
So what I’ve been up to lately I beat:
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
- Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)
I took a break from RPGs for a while now I’m back into it.
I’m playing Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. And I just got in today The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.
So what I’ve been up to lately I beat:
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
- Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)
I took a break from RPGs for a while now I’m back into it.
I’m playing Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland. And I just got in today The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.
Bakkus
Member
I've finished two game ssince i last posted here:
Bayonetta 2 - Great game. It's more rounded than the first game with none of the annoying QTEs which instakills you like the first game has. However, the first game has much higher highs than this game. In particular the final boss fight. However, the color grading here is much better and the level design is probably better too. Play this if you liked the first game.
Suikoden 2 - Really liked this too. It's much better than the first game. The battle system here is much imporved and really fun and the inventory management is much better. It has a likeable main cast as well as several new characters. The villain Luca Blight is such a monster and it felt great to take him down. Some problems is that the game drags a bit at times with segments which takes too long and like the first game, there are some missable characters to recruit. Two of them in particular is really easy to miss and it's required to get all of them if you want to get the best ending. The translation is also not good, but that's gonna definitely be fixed in the upcoming HD remaster which I'm definitely gonna get.
I'd also say it's required to play the first game before this one as you get bonuses from the game which you should not live without. In particular the main character from the first game being playable.
Bayonetta 2 - Great game. It's more rounded than the first game with none of the annoying QTEs which instakills you like the first game has. However, the first game has much higher highs than this game. In particular the final boss fight. However, the color grading here is much better and the level design is probably better too. Play this if you liked the first game.
Suikoden 2 - Really liked this too. It's much better than the first game. The battle system here is much imporved and really fun and the inventory management is much better. It has a likeable main cast as well as several new characters. The villain Luca Blight is such a monster and it felt great to take him down. Some problems is that the game drags a bit at times with segments which takes too long and like the first game, there are some missable characters to recruit. Two of them in particular is really easy to miss and it's required to get all of them if you want to get the best ending. The translation is also not good, but that's gonna definitely be fixed in the upcoming HD remaster which I'm definitely gonna get.
I'd also say it's required to play the first game before this one as you get bonuses from the game which you should not live without. In particular the main character from the first game being playable.
DelireMan7
Member
My challenge :
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
Games completed :
Let's start with things I didn't like. And why not start with the most annoying thing that almost made me quit the game after my first session : the fucking camera that is so close to Kratos that you can barely see anything on your side and back. So many time I got hit by enemies I couldn't see coming. Yes there is some indicators for that, but they glow red for so long before an attack is coming that it's not really helpful. Especially in group fight where there will always be an attack incoming off camera...
Then the whole "immersive cinematic" experience can be annoying. By that I mean all the door opening animation, the climbing animation... Also the fact you can't drop from a ledge anywhere you want but have to go where there is some yellow painting to trigger a climb down animation can be really frustrating on the long run. Also forced slow walk animation during dialogue is annoying. Just put a cutscene ! Making me pushing my joystick is not more immersive, even worse for me it breaks my immersion when suddenly my controls are limited for no reason.
A big letdown is the lack of enemy and boss diversity. Like after 2 hours you almost seen everything. After it's just reskin or small variation in moveset/look. This goes for the bosses as well (Even the famous Valkyries, which are optional challenging bosses, are quite similar. Some different moveset at first but quickly they start to combine their moves making it no so thrilling anymore). And they didn't even made some different "kill animation" on the bosses. You'll kill lot of Trolls which they try to make different by changing colors and add one specific element/move to the fight but the kill animation is always the same...
Add to this the lack of big epic battle that what made the success of the original trilogy. I mean there is like 3 "epic" boss battle (+ 1 interactive cutscene let say) in the entire game. The rest is just standard boss fights (lot of Trolls...).
Not a open world collecthaton at first but kind of it in the end. It's not really in your face, but if you dig the side content it can become a checklist game.
But now the good things !
First I was surprised it's not a reboot in term of story. It's a continuation of the first Trilogy. I would have know I would have play/replay them before. And I probably will before playing Ragnarök.
The story of the first games play quite an important part in the story and it makes Kratos a really interesting character in my opinion.
Speaking of characters, I really like most of them. Kratos is phenomenal (and his voice !), the dwarves are funny and touching, Baldur is also quite something and the same goes for Freya.
My favorite is probably Mimir : so funny and well thought. I like how he informs you about the lore. I can't get enough of him and hope he comes back in the sequel.
Atreus (the Boy) is good in average but there is a small period of time where he suddenly becomes an annoying brat that annoyed me (even if it's kind of justify by the story but I think it could have been handle differently).
So good characters that serves a pretty good story. From the opening scene to the end I was really interested. Kratos and Atreus relation is well managed and some stuff with others character (don't want to spoil) are really interesting in my opinion. The ending kind of surprised me on how it was managed. It's not a bombastic ending, just something really smooth that could directly go into another game. But nonetheless I really enjoyed it.
I had a rough start with the combat (played in "Give me a challenge"), but the horrible camera and questionable "floating" lock system didn't help, but I ended up liking it once I unlock several options.
The visceral and brutal feeling is quite good.
The "RPG" system is interesting. You can change armor that offer different stats boost and can be infused with enchantment that further increases stats and offer some perks (like heal after a parry, slow time after a last second dodge...). I personally went for a "cooldown" focus build to reduce all my ability cooldown that allow me to use them quite a lot. You could do a parry centric build where each parry have a chance to trigger different effects. Or focus on enhances on particular damage type to demolishes your enemies with it.
It's maybe me because I don't like changing my build, but I ended up not use some "better" enchantments or armors I found later in the game because it was not useful for my build.
Ok my post is already too long so let's finish here.
The game is really stunning graphical.
I love some of the music (like the main theme).
The World serpent voice is amazing and I want a 10 hours ASMR video of it.
In conclusion, a good game that makes me want play the sequel (but only next year I think). I would call it "overrated" in regard to the big hype there is around it and I have the feeling its visuals and "cinematic" feel carry it. It's a good game but not a masterpiece in my eyes.
What to play next :
I already started Rogue Galaxy (29th of October) on PS2. I wanted to go back to my list and a JRPG.
Just played one hour but I already like that particular old JRPG atmosphere. Combat is decent (but camera controls horrible) and the skill unlocking system seems addicting.
No 2022 games (or as low as possible). I can buy older games. If I buy a game, I play it immediately avoid growing my backlog.
Physical Backlog* :
- The Legend of Heroes : Trails in the Sky (PSP)
- Rogue Galaxy (PS2) Ongoing !
Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS4)Done !- Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadows of Amn (PS4)
- Baldur's Gate 2 : Throne of Bhaal (PS4)
The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of time (N64)Done !- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Project X Zone (3DS)Gave up !- Brigandine : The legend of Runersia (Switch)
The Mark of Kri (PS2)Done !- Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 : Record Breaker (3DS)
Demon's Souls (PS5)Done !- Divinity : Original Sin (PS4/5)
- [2022] The legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess (Wii)
[2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : The War of the Lions (PSP)Done !
Games completed :
- Demon's Souls (PS5) (Started the 13th of December , finished the 3rd of January, 25h20)
- [Replay] Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice (PS5) (Started the 6th of January, finished the 1st of February, NG/NG+/NG++ done in 91h40)
- [2022] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 25h of February, finished the 22nd of April, 190 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started the 23rd of April, finished the 16th of May, 52 hours)
- [2022] Final Fantasy Tactics : the War of the Lions (PSP) (Started the 18th of May, finished the 4th of June, 51 hours)
- Project X Zone (3DS) (Started on 20th of February, gave up, around 35 hours)
- [Replay] Elden Ring (PS5) (Started 4th of June, finished the 22nd of August, 88h)
- The Mark of Kri (PS2) (Started 23rd of August, finished the 27th of August, 6h48)
- The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64) (Started 27th of August, finished 12th of September)
- Baldur's Gate : Siege of Dragonspear (PS5) (Started 13th of September, finished 3rd of October)
- God of War 2018 (PS5) (Started the 3rd of October, finished the 28th of October, around 49 hours)
Let's start with things I didn't like. And why not start with the most annoying thing that almost made me quit the game after my first session : the fucking camera that is so close to Kratos that you can barely see anything on your side and back. So many time I got hit by enemies I couldn't see coming. Yes there is some indicators for that, but they glow red for so long before an attack is coming that it's not really helpful. Especially in group fight where there will always be an attack incoming off camera...
Then the whole "immersive cinematic" experience can be annoying. By that I mean all the door opening animation, the climbing animation... Also the fact you can't drop from a ledge anywhere you want but have to go where there is some yellow painting to trigger a climb down animation can be really frustrating on the long run. Also forced slow walk animation during dialogue is annoying. Just put a cutscene ! Making me pushing my joystick is not more immersive, even worse for me it breaks my immersion when suddenly my controls are limited for no reason.
A big letdown is the lack of enemy and boss diversity. Like after 2 hours you almost seen everything. After it's just reskin or small variation in moveset/look. This goes for the bosses as well (Even the famous Valkyries, which are optional challenging bosses, are quite similar. Some different moveset at first but quickly they start to combine their moves making it no so thrilling anymore). And they didn't even made some different "kill animation" on the bosses. You'll kill lot of Trolls which they try to make different by changing colors and add one specific element/move to the fight but the kill animation is always the same...
Add to this the lack of big epic battle that what made the success of the original trilogy. I mean there is like 3 "epic" boss battle (+ 1 interactive cutscene let say) in the entire game. The rest is just standard boss fights (lot of Trolls...).
Not a open world collecthaton at first but kind of it in the end. It's not really in your face, but if you dig the side content it can become a checklist game.
But now the good things !
First I was surprised it's not a reboot in term of story. It's a continuation of the first Trilogy. I would have know I would have play/replay them before. And I probably will before playing Ragnarök.
The story of the first games play quite an important part in the story and it makes Kratos a really interesting character in my opinion.
Speaking of characters, I really like most of them. Kratos is phenomenal (and his voice !), the dwarves are funny and touching, Baldur is also quite something and the same goes for Freya.
My favorite is probably Mimir : so funny and well thought. I like how he informs you about the lore. I can't get enough of him and hope he comes back in the sequel.
Atreus (the Boy) is good in average but there is a small period of time where he suddenly becomes an annoying brat that annoyed me (even if it's kind of justify by the story but I think it could have been handle differently).
So good characters that serves a pretty good story. From the opening scene to the end I was really interested. Kratos and Atreus relation is well managed and some stuff with others character (don't want to spoil) are really interesting in my opinion. The ending kind of surprised me on how it was managed. It's not a bombastic ending, just something really smooth that could directly go into another game. But nonetheless I really enjoyed it.
I had a rough start with the combat (played in "Give me a challenge"), but the horrible camera and questionable "floating" lock system didn't help, but I ended up liking it once I unlock several options.
The visceral and brutal feeling is quite good.
The "RPG" system is interesting. You can change armor that offer different stats boost and can be infused with enchantment that further increases stats and offer some perks (like heal after a parry, slow time after a last second dodge...). I personally went for a "cooldown" focus build to reduce all my ability cooldown that allow me to use them quite a lot. You could do a parry centric build where each parry have a chance to trigger different effects. Or focus on enhances on particular damage type to demolishes your enemies with it.
It's maybe me because I don't like changing my build, but I ended up not use some "better" enchantments or armors I found later in the game because it was not useful for my build.
Ok my post is already too long so let's finish here.
The game is really stunning graphical.
I love some of the music (like the main theme).
The World serpent voice is amazing and I want a 10 hours ASMR video of it.
In conclusion, a good game that makes me want play the sequel (but only next year I think). I would call it "overrated" in regard to the big hype there is around it and I have the feeling its visuals and "cinematic" feel carry it. It's a good game but not a masterpiece in my eyes.
What to play next :
I already started Rogue Galaxy (29th of October) on PS2. I wanted to go back to my list and a JRPG.
Just played one hour but I already like that particular old JRPG atmosphere. Combat is decent (but camera controls horrible) and the skill unlocking system seems addicting.
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DelireMan7
Member
I feel you. I think it's dead.
It saddened me because I really like this thread. But yeah I think it's over. I might continue to post because I like doing my thought here.
jufonuk
not tag worthy
I got Prodeus. Plus four other games on switch sale so I broke.
Those games.
Inside
Limbo
Debris Infinity
Call of Juarez
I’m working my way through Luigi’s mansion 3 as well. But Prodeus won’t be a game i play on my TV until my kids are sleeping as I can imagine them getting interested in it and have nightmares. Lol.
Prodeus is excellent as a game.
On the switch there is some performance issues. Switch owners know the drill.
All using £25 eshop credit.
Those games.
Inside
Limbo
Debris Infinity
Call of Juarez
I’m working my way through Luigi’s mansion 3 as well. But Prodeus won’t be a game i play on my TV until my kids are sleeping as I can imagine them getting interested in it and have nightmares. Lol.
Prodeus is excellent as a game.
On the switch there is some performance issues. Switch owners know the drill.
All using £25 eshop credit.
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LegionX
Member
Well... This thread really did die with the banning of its most active users huh! With the expectation things probably wont continue for next year, I may as well write up the games I've completed since the last update... finish off the year at least... regardless of if anybody else cares
24. Ashen (PC)
This was my first "soulslike" game... I read that this one wasn't quite as complex as Froms games so thought it might be a good starting off point, and... in general I had quite a good time! Clearly though it's not a genre I have much in the way of skills at. It's mostly built up of traveling the map to do quests, each one a bit further away than the last generally, and eventually you unlock the ability to fast travel between a number of areas (once you've discovered them). There were a couple of lengthy sections where you go into an area and are locked in and have to try to get to the end without dying that took me some time... but after about 20 hours I made it to the final boss... aaaand..... got stuck...until this point I'd been able to get stronger/better by repetition to get past things... but for the final boss, I had fully upgraded weapons etc, IE... no way to get any stronger... I just needed to get good.... and... I failed.... I could get to the final boss's second stage of the battle, but would die quickly at that point without ever improving. Not helping was the fact that after dying you needed to go through a dungeon full of enemies to even get back to the boss... it was probably less than 10 minutes providing you didn't have to turn back for healing items... but it really made things frustrating doing that over and over just to die to the boss in minutes each time. Also your healing items/throwable weapons would be lost, so I got to the point where I was going to have to go grind enemies to fund more... so at that point I gave up and just watched the final cutscene... which I pretty much never do.... so yea... I think the experience has stopped me from wanting to continue with the genre sadly... a pity cause the game was proving fun up till that point!
25. LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (PS3)
Here's a really weird one.... but I booted up my PS3 and had a look at the downloaded games I had on it (290 or so it seems!) I picked the one at the bottom of the list, and here we are! This was a short puzzle game that I think for some reason they were calling an interactive screensaver at the time... but it's certainly a game! A hard one to describe though... but basically you need to "wake" and guide a bunch of LocoRoco (small round blobs I guess?) around to hit certain gates that need a certain amount of them, to then unlock further areas. You do things like tapping a button to attract them (make them bounce up and try to reach your avatar), or shaking the controller to make some drop down... (generally to wake them you need an active one to touch them). At certain points of the level you can control parts with movement of the controller to flick them over areas etc (it was the early days of the sixaxis controller). All up, it's not a bad little distraction, but super basic... there's no saving... so you need to get through it in one sitting... it's not long, but I a couple of times ended up having to shut off the PS3 to do something else... so yea... otherwise... and interesting little game!
26. Super Stardust HD (PS3)
Same as above, I decided to play another old PS3 game in my download list and figured I'd jump on to a Housemarque game seeing as they are now a Sony studio. Normally I'm not a massive fan of pure arcade games, so I played through all the levels of this game and tried all the modes, but I didn't stick with it trying to keep increasing my score or anything... Saying that... you can clearly tell that it's a well designed game and has a good feel, and when it gets chaotic it doesn't feel unfair when you die, more that you just have further improvement to make, I can see why fans of the arcade shooter would have really liked this back in the day
I've completed other games since the above, but it's getting late for me here so I'll post again later on Tuesday (I hope!, I don't have the greatest of records with following up on things in this thread)
24. Ashen (PC)
This was my first "soulslike" game... I read that this one wasn't quite as complex as Froms games so thought it might be a good starting off point, and... in general I had quite a good time! Clearly though it's not a genre I have much in the way of skills at. It's mostly built up of traveling the map to do quests, each one a bit further away than the last generally, and eventually you unlock the ability to fast travel between a number of areas (once you've discovered them). There were a couple of lengthy sections where you go into an area and are locked in and have to try to get to the end without dying that took me some time... but after about 20 hours I made it to the final boss... aaaand..... got stuck...until this point I'd been able to get stronger/better by repetition to get past things... but for the final boss, I had fully upgraded weapons etc, IE... no way to get any stronger... I just needed to get good.... and... I failed.... I could get to the final boss's second stage of the battle, but would die quickly at that point without ever improving. Not helping was the fact that after dying you needed to go through a dungeon full of enemies to even get back to the boss... it was probably less than 10 minutes providing you didn't have to turn back for healing items... but it really made things frustrating doing that over and over just to die to the boss in minutes each time. Also your healing items/throwable weapons would be lost, so I got to the point where I was going to have to go grind enemies to fund more... so at that point I gave up and just watched the final cutscene... which I pretty much never do.... so yea... I think the experience has stopped me from wanting to continue with the genre sadly... a pity cause the game was proving fun up till that point!
25. LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (PS3)
Here's a really weird one.... but I booted up my PS3 and had a look at the downloaded games I had on it (290 or so it seems!) I picked the one at the bottom of the list, and here we are! This was a short puzzle game that I think for some reason they were calling an interactive screensaver at the time... but it's certainly a game! A hard one to describe though... but basically you need to "wake" and guide a bunch of LocoRoco (small round blobs I guess?) around to hit certain gates that need a certain amount of them, to then unlock further areas. You do things like tapping a button to attract them (make them bounce up and try to reach your avatar), or shaking the controller to make some drop down... (generally to wake them you need an active one to touch them). At certain points of the level you can control parts with movement of the controller to flick them over areas etc (it was the early days of the sixaxis controller). All up, it's not a bad little distraction, but super basic... there's no saving... so you need to get through it in one sitting... it's not long, but I a couple of times ended up having to shut off the PS3 to do something else... so yea... otherwise... and interesting little game!
26. Super Stardust HD (PS3)
Same as above, I decided to play another old PS3 game in my download list and figured I'd jump on to a Housemarque game seeing as they are now a Sony studio. Normally I'm not a massive fan of pure arcade games, so I played through all the levels of this game and tried all the modes, but I didn't stick with it trying to keep increasing my score or anything... Saying that... you can clearly tell that it's a well designed game and has a good feel, and when it gets chaotic it doesn't feel unfair when you die, more that you just have further improvement to make, I can see why fans of the arcade shooter would have really liked this back in the day
I've completed other games since the above, but it's getting late for me here so I'll post again later on Tuesday (I hope!, I don't have the greatest of records with following up on things in this thread)
LegionX
Member
OK, time for my next batch!
27. Dead Nation - Apocalypse Edition (PS4 game played on PS5)
Another Housemarque game... after Super Stardust I thought I'd try one of their games that's a bit more my style, thus Dead Nation... and I enjoyed this one a lot more.. While by now the whole zombie thing is a bit overdone, it probably wasn't when this game originally came to PS3 (I played the PS4 port though). all up, it was longer than I thought, with most of the missions being multiple checkpoints and with plenty of content. You find a number of different weapons as you go along and certain enemies are more resistant to certain types, so it has tactical elements as well, all up, really solid game.. The one thing however that quite surprised me is... while it's totally playable... it's not 100% PS5 compatible... After every mission the game will hard crash on the PS5... thankfully progress is saved first... but it's a bit dodgy for a game from what is now a Sony owned developer, to not get a patch so one of their older (still for sale) games runs perfectly on their current console...
28. Skydiving (PS3)
Another game in my PS3 digital download backlog... and... wow... this game is... awful! More surprising is when the Sony name/logo comes up when the game loads.... seems their quality control on games they released in the PS3 era was WAY lower. This is a game released that only works via sixaxis motion controls.... and... they are nowhere near accurate enough for what the game expects. As the title suggests, it's based on Skydiving, with 2 game types. The first is the most broken, yet the second the most boring.. so it's a failure either way. The first mode has a bunch of skydivers jump out a plane and you have to manouver your skydiver via sixaxis to get in place for each part of the routine... the moving via sixaxis to get in place isn't too bad, but the spinning of your character to get the right angle is so very sensitive yet inaccurate that it's like pulling teeth to do.. The second mode is landing on an island, and the controls are pretty much fine for this... but... it's boring.... the first few minutes is just floating in the air, and it's really only the last 15 seconds or so where you really are trying to get the landing right.. and then in that time it's either success or fail, try over.... some of the landing areas are very small so it's challenging to master. I never mastered it as it bored me to death so I did my best to unlock each area and then moved on
29. Nucleus (PS3)
This is a top down twin stick shooter... but somehow it makes that potentially fun style... less so.... it's not a terrible game or anything, but it's quite lacking. Firstly movement is very slow, and the shooting etc just feels kind of limp.... It has multiple different game types, some being just shoot x things, or survive x amount of time, to what are basically boss battles... The difficult is quite high too... I completed the Easy Mode, got maybe 3/4 through the Normal mode, and barely anywhere in Hard... Granted I wasn't enjoying the game enough to really push TOO hard in getting better, but it didn't feel like Hard was ever going to be remotely possible for me, so I moved on!
30. Blast Factor (PS3)
Another top down twin stick shooter.... but this one feels polished and massively improved over Nucleus. The concept of it is you are fighting bacteria in petri dishes, with different types being introduced as levels go along, depending how you did in a level you can be lifted up to a higher level or dropped to a lower, and if you get to the end there's a boss battle. It all feels quite solid and is enjoyable, it's again quite difficult but feels like a human could actually do it.... The one thing I struggled with was have to tilt the dish left or right to send a wave that pushes all the enemies to the side... some enemies require this to flip them over so they are vulnerable etc, and sometimes you do so to get yourself out of trouble.. however... it's done by tilting the sixaxis the direction you want it to tilt... there's no buttons to do so... and I found it inaccurate, leading to many deaths that should have been avoided.... All up a solid little game though!
27. Dead Nation - Apocalypse Edition (PS4 game played on PS5)
Another Housemarque game... after Super Stardust I thought I'd try one of their games that's a bit more my style, thus Dead Nation... and I enjoyed this one a lot more.. While by now the whole zombie thing is a bit overdone, it probably wasn't when this game originally came to PS3 (I played the PS4 port though). all up, it was longer than I thought, with most of the missions being multiple checkpoints and with plenty of content. You find a number of different weapons as you go along and certain enemies are more resistant to certain types, so it has tactical elements as well, all up, really solid game.. The one thing however that quite surprised me is... while it's totally playable... it's not 100% PS5 compatible... After every mission the game will hard crash on the PS5... thankfully progress is saved first... but it's a bit dodgy for a game from what is now a Sony owned developer, to not get a patch so one of their older (still for sale) games runs perfectly on their current console...
28. Skydiving (PS3)
Another game in my PS3 digital download backlog... and... wow... this game is... awful! More surprising is when the Sony name/logo comes up when the game loads.... seems their quality control on games they released in the PS3 era was WAY lower. This is a game released that only works via sixaxis motion controls.... and... they are nowhere near accurate enough for what the game expects. As the title suggests, it's based on Skydiving, with 2 game types. The first is the most broken, yet the second the most boring.. so it's a failure either way. The first mode has a bunch of skydivers jump out a plane and you have to manouver your skydiver via sixaxis to get in place for each part of the routine... the moving via sixaxis to get in place isn't too bad, but the spinning of your character to get the right angle is so very sensitive yet inaccurate that it's like pulling teeth to do.. The second mode is landing on an island, and the controls are pretty much fine for this... but... it's boring.... the first few minutes is just floating in the air, and it's really only the last 15 seconds or so where you really are trying to get the landing right.. and then in that time it's either success or fail, try over.... some of the landing areas are very small so it's challenging to master. I never mastered it as it bored me to death so I did my best to unlock each area and then moved on
29. Nucleus (PS3)
This is a top down twin stick shooter... but somehow it makes that potentially fun style... less so.... it's not a terrible game or anything, but it's quite lacking. Firstly movement is very slow, and the shooting etc just feels kind of limp.... It has multiple different game types, some being just shoot x things, or survive x amount of time, to what are basically boss battles... The difficult is quite high too... I completed the Easy Mode, got maybe 3/4 through the Normal mode, and barely anywhere in Hard... Granted I wasn't enjoying the game enough to really push TOO hard in getting better, but it didn't feel like Hard was ever going to be remotely possible for me, so I moved on!
30. Blast Factor (PS3)
Another top down twin stick shooter.... but this one feels polished and massively improved over Nucleus. The concept of it is you are fighting bacteria in petri dishes, with different types being introduced as levels go along, depending how you did in a level you can be lifted up to a higher level or dropped to a lower, and if you get to the end there's a boss battle. It all feels quite solid and is enjoyable, it's again quite difficult but feels like a human could actually do it.... The one thing I struggled with was have to tilt the dish left or right to send a wave that pushes all the enemies to the side... some enemies require this to flip them over so they are vulnerable etc, and sometimes you do so to get yourself out of trouble.. however... it's done by tilting the sixaxis the direction you want it to tilt... there's no buttons to do so... and I found it inaccurate, leading to many deaths that should have been avoided.... All up a solid little game though!
LegionX
Member
Sorry for the spam, but gotta get through these!
31. echochrome (PS3)
This game seriously broke my mind and was a hell of a struggle for me... If you know what M C Eschers artwork where stairs and pillars etc are all upside down and not physically possible to reconstruct... That is what this game is based on. You have a character (looks kinda like a mannequin) where your only direct control of them is to start or stop them walking, and to speed them up... that's it. You solve the levels by moving the camera view of the map... What you need to do is reach and touch a number of other static characters that do not move, and then get to an exit point that only shows up once you've cleared the last character... and there's a time limit... The logic of the game is... if there's a gap your character can't get past, move the map so a pillar blocks that gap visually, and your character can walk behind it as if there was no gap. You can also link up different sections my moving the map about so 2 sections nicely join. It may sound simple but it gets crazy complicated when jump pads and holes are added... or at least it was crazy complicated for my brain! After a while I was muting the game and playing music albums as I played... And near the end there were a few times where I completed the whole album without solving the level I was on (they tend to have time limits of only a few minutes). There's about 50 levels, it took me some time! But I'd say I'm not really the best at this type of game. It's a nice concept though!
32. Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures (PC)
This is one of the older Telltale episodic games... I'm playing them in order of release (very slowly) and haven't yet hit when they changed their style and the popularity took off with Walking Dead, so these older releases are far more of a traditional point and click game (though in saying that, they made the characters controlable directly in this game rather than true traditional point and click character movement). There are 4 episodes of this one and it's obviously based on the stop-motion series of the same name. While again, the graphics are very basic, they actually work really well considering what they are based off. The mouth motions being kind of jerky and exagerated work in this case due to it trying to copy the stop-motion style. Like the earlier Telltale Sam and Max games, these are generally 2-3 hour experiences, and while separate stories, often have reference to the past episodes. Not really much I can say about them, other than they were solid games and if anybody likes the older style adventure games, could be worth a look if cheap
33. Monkey Island 2 : Special Edition (PC)
I bought the first 2 Monkey Island special editions when they came out... something like 12 years ago now... and completed Monkey 1 in 2018... and it's taken me this long to complete the sequel. Firstly... I know at the time there were people complaining about the art style and music etc.. but personally I think they did a great job of these. Firstly... they've built the special edition on top of the original... so you can literally press a button at any time and go instantly back to the old graphics and interface... and adding voice work always helps out this kind of game too... All up... Had a great time with the game.. I have to admit to checking a guide at times as I just don't have that patience and spare time I had back in my teens when I didn't have a backlog of literally a few thousand games... but I did try my best to not check until I was stuck, and I enjoyed the story. I DID have this back on the Amiga back in the 90's... but I actually never got that far in to Monkey 2 as it was such a pain to play via... I think it was something like... 12 floppy discs? The endless loading and disk swapping! How times have changed!
I've got one last update to make for the year and then I'm all done!
31. echochrome (PS3)
This game seriously broke my mind and was a hell of a struggle for me... If you know what M C Eschers artwork where stairs and pillars etc are all upside down and not physically possible to reconstruct... That is what this game is based on. You have a character (looks kinda like a mannequin) where your only direct control of them is to start or stop them walking, and to speed them up... that's it. You solve the levels by moving the camera view of the map... What you need to do is reach and touch a number of other static characters that do not move, and then get to an exit point that only shows up once you've cleared the last character... and there's a time limit... The logic of the game is... if there's a gap your character can't get past, move the map so a pillar blocks that gap visually, and your character can walk behind it as if there was no gap. You can also link up different sections my moving the map about so 2 sections nicely join. It may sound simple but it gets crazy complicated when jump pads and holes are added... or at least it was crazy complicated for my brain! After a while I was muting the game and playing music albums as I played... And near the end there were a few times where I completed the whole album without solving the level I was on (they tend to have time limits of only a few minutes). There's about 50 levels, it took me some time! But I'd say I'm not really the best at this type of game. It's a nice concept though!
32. Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures (PC)
This is one of the older Telltale episodic games... I'm playing them in order of release (very slowly) and haven't yet hit when they changed their style and the popularity took off with Walking Dead, so these older releases are far more of a traditional point and click game (though in saying that, they made the characters controlable directly in this game rather than true traditional point and click character movement). There are 4 episodes of this one and it's obviously based on the stop-motion series of the same name. While again, the graphics are very basic, they actually work really well considering what they are based off. The mouth motions being kind of jerky and exagerated work in this case due to it trying to copy the stop-motion style. Like the earlier Telltale Sam and Max games, these are generally 2-3 hour experiences, and while separate stories, often have reference to the past episodes. Not really much I can say about them, other than they were solid games and if anybody likes the older style adventure games, could be worth a look if cheap
33. Monkey Island 2 : Special Edition (PC)
I bought the first 2 Monkey Island special editions when they came out... something like 12 years ago now... and completed Monkey 1 in 2018... and it's taken me this long to complete the sequel. Firstly... I know at the time there were people complaining about the art style and music etc.. but personally I think they did a great job of these. Firstly... they've built the special edition on top of the original... so you can literally press a button at any time and go instantly back to the old graphics and interface... and adding voice work always helps out this kind of game too... All up... Had a great time with the game.. I have to admit to checking a guide at times as I just don't have that patience and spare time I had back in my teens when I didn't have a backlog of literally a few thousand games... but I did try my best to not check until I was stuck, and I enjoyed the story. I DID have this back on the Amiga back in the 90's... but I actually never got that far in to Monkey 2 as it was such a pain to play via... I think it was something like... 12 floppy discs? The endless loading and disk swapping! How times have changed!
I've got one last update to make for the year and then I'm all done!
LegionX
Member
OK.. last update!
34. Ninja Senki DX (Vita)
This one I probably played over a 6 month period this year (not continuously... with many lengthy gaps). It's a 2D platformer done in a Gameboy Colour type graphical style/complexity. 16 levels with half of them ending with a boss battle. I did it over a lengthy period of time just due to frustration as aside from the first few levels they generally took me a fair amount of time to pass due to the challenge being pretty high... mostly the levels with boss battles because you run through the whole level and then fight the boss battle with whatever health/lives you have left... so many times as I tried to get used to the boss I'd be running through the whole level, getting the boss, and being dead and having to start over 30 seconds later..... (or less sometimes!). But I muddled my way through it.. I probably did/attempted the final level 100 times before I beat it and the boss, but the sense of accomplishment was pretty nice! Recommended for those that like these old skool type games (think Megaman without the different weapons)
35. Bionic Commando Rearmed (PS3)
I remember buying this one on release, playing maybe 15 minutes, and just not getting how to traverse around the level (there's no jump so the only way to get over gaps or obstacles is by using your bionic arm). But here we are something like 12 years later and I didn't have anything like the same kind of issue. It IS kind of weird and sometimes you get stuck in silly situations where you could EASILY climb over an obstacle to progress if only they allowed it.. but all up, was a fun game. Apparently it's quite accurate to the orignal NES Bionic Commando game, but I never played that. It looks pretty decent in this version even if it's only in 720p though. Most levels end in a boss battle, but at least on Normal mode, it allows you to continue right from the start of the battle if/when you fail, so that was appreciated!
36. Flock! (PS3)
My last completed game of the year.. (only finished it yesterday). This is another small downloadable game (under 100meg download), surprisingly released by Capcom, but there's very little info online about it, almost no YouTube videos which is unusual for most games these days... It's a puzzle game I guess.. In the common style of having a batch of levels (55 in total) where depending on how long you take to complete it, you get Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals. There's also a Star for abducting every animal... You play as a space ship and it's basically a herding game... it starts with sheep, and you follow behind them to guide them to you space ship (the MotherFlocker if you can believe it). It starts simple but ends up getting quite complex as it adds extra animals, holes in the ground, mole holes, creatures at night, etc.... I enjoyed playing through it, but equally it can be very frustrating with the imprecise controls and time limit at times... trying to get the animals to dop what you want and then having them fall off the edge to their deaths like lemmings.... All up a solid little game aside from one final issue... After EVERY level it tries to contacted the online server to record your score... but Capcom have obviously long ago taken that offline.. and there's no cancel button.. so after every level you have to sit and wait for about a minute for it to time out... With 55 levels there's an hour of waiting tacked on...
Well.. that's it! And with my doubts of this thread getting a 2023 variant due to all the interest dying.. I guess I'm done typing out my thoughts to the world for nobody to likely read them anyways! Sad way for this to end.. but I guess nothing lasts forever!
34. Ninja Senki DX (Vita)
This one I probably played over a 6 month period this year (not continuously... with many lengthy gaps). It's a 2D platformer done in a Gameboy Colour type graphical style/complexity. 16 levels with half of them ending with a boss battle. I did it over a lengthy period of time just due to frustration as aside from the first few levels they generally took me a fair amount of time to pass due to the challenge being pretty high... mostly the levels with boss battles because you run through the whole level and then fight the boss battle with whatever health/lives you have left... so many times as I tried to get used to the boss I'd be running through the whole level, getting the boss, and being dead and having to start over 30 seconds later..... (or less sometimes!). But I muddled my way through it.. I probably did/attempted the final level 100 times before I beat it and the boss, but the sense of accomplishment was pretty nice! Recommended for those that like these old skool type games (think Megaman without the different weapons)
35. Bionic Commando Rearmed (PS3)
I remember buying this one on release, playing maybe 15 minutes, and just not getting how to traverse around the level (there's no jump so the only way to get over gaps or obstacles is by using your bionic arm). But here we are something like 12 years later and I didn't have anything like the same kind of issue. It IS kind of weird and sometimes you get stuck in silly situations where you could EASILY climb over an obstacle to progress if only they allowed it.. but all up, was a fun game. Apparently it's quite accurate to the orignal NES Bionic Commando game, but I never played that. It looks pretty decent in this version even if it's only in 720p though. Most levels end in a boss battle, but at least on Normal mode, it allows you to continue right from the start of the battle if/when you fail, so that was appreciated!
36. Flock! (PS3)
My last completed game of the year.. (only finished it yesterday). This is another small downloadable game (under 100meg download), surprisingly released by Capcom, but there's very little info online about it, almost no YouTube videos which is unusual for most games these days... It's a puzzle game I guess.. In the common style of having a batch of levels (55 in total) where depending on how long you take to complete it, you get Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals. There's also a Star for abducting every animal... You play as a space ship and it's basically a herding game... it starts with sheep, and you follow behind them to guide them to you space ship (the MotherFlocker if you can believe it). It starts simple but ends up getting quite complex as it adds extra animals, holes in the ground, mole holes, creatures at night, etc.... I enjoyed playing through it, but equally it can be very frustrating with the imprecise controls and time limit at times... trying to get the animals to dop what you want and then having them fall off the edge to their deaths like lemmings.... All up a solid little game aside from one final issue... After EVERY level it tries to contacted the online server to record your score... but Capcom have obviously long ago taken that offline.. and there's no cancel button.. so after every level you have to sit and wait for about a minute for it to time out... With 55 levels there's an hour of waiting tacked on...
Well.. that's it! And with my doubts of this thread getting a 2023 variant due to all the interest dying.. I guess I'm done typing out my thoughts to the world for nobody to likely read them anyways! Sad way for this to end.. but I guess nothing lasts forever!
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DelireMan7
Member
Yes it's really sad. I really like this thread but looks like people are not so interested into it anymore.
I liked writing my thoughts and reading others' in older games.
LegionX
Member
It seems to have been a bit of a cursed thread... I think maybe the last 3 years the thread creator ended up catching a perm? Certainly the majority of the regular contributors did
DelireMan7
Member
Unfortunately not so many people interested anymore.Ah, we are not continuing this? Too bad, it helped me out last year.
I guess we could still make it for the few of us.
Sidney Prescott
Member
Any of you guys interested in bringing this back? I really enjoyed this thread a while back and I've been delving in to my backlog quite a bit lately.
I'm not too great at making OP's but I could give it a go for a 2023 version or somebody could help me put it together if there's interest. Thanks!
I'm not too great at making OP's but I could give it a go for a 2023 version or somebody could help me put it together if there's interest. Thanks!
LegionX
Member
I'd be happy to contribute if a new thread were to appear, I doubt it would get a whole load of traction as 2022 was very slow (also partly my fault as I seem to dissapear for months at a time), but I've been at least noting down what I've played and when, out of routine I guess, so would be happy to bore people with small writeups. So yea.. +1 from me at least
DelireMan7
Member
If it's up again I would contribute to it. Evenso I am not into backlog at the moment but catching up with recent titles I missed.
LegionX
Member
The new thread is actually already up, activity is pretty low, but you're welcome to contribute if you like