VideoGame_Discussion

Jones in the fast lane is amazing. Probably the best PC "board game" ever created. Wish there was anything else even close to that cool.

#35 down: Minit on iOS. This is a quirky little game that plays kind of like old-school Zelda, except that you die every 60 seconds and respawn at whatever the most recent spawn point is that you reached (like your house or a caravan). You have to make sure you do something to make progress (like pick up a key or find and item and take it to someone) before the 60 seconds are up. It adds a lot of franticness to the exploration. I think it would have been too stressful if it was a long game, but, thankfully, it's not.

My #34 is South Park the Fractured But Whole: From Dusk Till Casa Bonita & Bring the Crunch DLCs

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rxcyowDdEokFw9v88

I beat Tetris 99, netting me the G-A Man badge.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNQQYayacAAQ89J?format...[/imgt]
This game's always difficult. The Endless Ocean: Luminous event that's currently going on gave the music a soothing effect, which helped he manage the pressure of the final ten. Also, the first five knocked each other out faster than expected, which helped a bit.

#29

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe -

As my 2D side scrolling Mario-a-thon rounds another corner and almost comes to a close I find myself revising the U title that really is just perfecting the DS games and tweaking them so they play as gorgeous as the graphics look. And boy how pretty these graphics are especially while playing on the OLED Switch model. Some courses were more frustrating than some like those dang lava levels and ones with the rising and falling platforms but nevertheless it’s still a Mario game at the end of the day and it’s just gonna be a fun time regardless of any little nitpicks.

Date: 5/11
Number: 19
Title: Madison
Time: Just under 6 hours
Badge: Raccoon City [Silent Hill The Short Message / Madison]

Outside of P.T., this might be the scariest game I've played. Just awesome! If you're into the genre, I don't think Madison will disappoint you.
image

My #35 is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ph6F5zpDqyQiSCSv8

As someone who has had episodes of psychosis, this one initially put me off of it because of the memories it brought back. But I powered through and witnessed a mature and well thought out perceptive of mental illness. Combat was good and the puzzles were decent and not too frustrating. 8/10

#36 down: Neo Monsters on iOS. I'd like to count this toward the Level Up! badge. (It's a turn-based JRPG made by a company based in Tokyo.)

This is one of those free-to-play games that gates things to make you pay, but it has a legit (albeit not very good) story mode with a ton of dialogue, and to its credit, it is possible with enough time and patience to beat the game without buying anything (which I did). This plays a bit like Pokemon in that you can capture creatures and also hatch creatures from eggs and then evolve them (and level them up and ultra evolve them, etc.). Really, though, you can't go far with the creatures you catch in the wild. The only way to make a strong enough team to beat the game is by doing events for gems and then saving up the gems and cashing them in for packs of eggs and hoping for mythics and legendaries. There is a lot of RNG and grinding, and I definitely wouldn't do it again had I realized how laborious it would be. I can't say that I would recommend this game. That being said, though, the actual battles can be cool at times due to all the different strategies that are possible. My team had a creature that can do area of effect water attacks and solo killer moves under certain conditions that can clone itself with an exact copy except with only 1 hp. The clone enters as soon as one of your creatures dies. You can get to where you have a whole team of that creature set up to all clone themselves upon death (which both protects your other creatures and also lets you do a bunch of damage to theirs for free). If you pair it up with a strong autodefense creature that blocks for the others, it's pretty effective.

On a side note, I was hoping I could add Beat Saber to my clear list, but it's probably not going to happen. I got to level 23, but it's unlikely I'll be able to get any further. It's gotten really tough. Great game though.

OP updated! Keep going, everybody.

#37 down: Creed: Rise to Glory on PSVR. This clear (alongside my previous clear of Golfie) gets me the Bo Knows badge.

This game is a workout! It’s technically not very long, but, personally, I’m not able to go longer than a few fights before I have to take a break. I’ve never been able to play it without breaking a sweat. Fun times though. Weirdly, I had a harder time beating the second to last opponent than the last one, but I think that’s because you do training before each match, and the better you do in the training, the more stamina you have for the fight. Before the second to last guy, I only got three stars on the training, but I got five going into the final match.

Game #24 of 2024

We Were Here Together on
This goes towards BFFL badge because it can't even be played without a second player.

incubus421 wrote:


Glad to hear that because I just bought it on PSVR2. Quite a few 10/10 scores from the VR channels I follow.

#38 down: Creed: Rise to Glory Championship Edition on PSVR2. This has the original campaign from the PSVR version but adds a new campaign that has you play as multiple characters and has an interesting plot twist. The controls and tracking are so much better than on the original PSVR version. Fun times!

#39: The Artful Escape on PS5. I would like to count this one toward the Rhythmic badge. This is a beautiful 2-D platformer in which you do rhythm stuff with your guitar to entertain creatures from around the universe. (Playing it got me a collectible on PSN (Melancholy and the Finite Sadness) that specifically is given for playing a rhythm game.).

I’m leaving this somewhat vague so as to avoid spoilers. This is a really strange game, but it’s enjoyable and has some really interesting moments. I probably never would have discovered it if not for PS+, but I saw it was leaving the service soon and decided to give it a shot. I’m glad I did. It’s a neat experience and the platinum is easy if you like trophies.

5th in May, 31st overall, 9th on
Sprawl
Badge - Already have 2nd Amendment

Got this earlier this year from someone on here selling some keys from a bundle they didn't want. I was after Astalon and didn't really even know about this game but after a quick look I figured sure for like $2 I would check it out. It was alright. I liked it better until I got into the 3rd act. A few sections leading up to the end were simply not very fun, either swarms of enemies somewhat unlike earlier portions, or some heavy wall running that I still wasn't excellent at - thankfully there was no fall damage but redoing some wall climbing attempts like a dozen or more times got frustrating and wrecked my WASD fingers. Steam shows me with 6.5 hours invested and I just noticed it didn't give me credit for beating the final level... so I jumped back in and beat the final boss a 2nd time, the fight was a lot easier vs. some of those other sections I mentioned from the final act. With the achievement now earned, I've uninstalled it. I likely died more times in 1 late game battle than I did total in the first 2 acts.

My #36 is Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XJ1MTr25f8eWw5Pa8

Best Yakuza so far. Story is amazing. Combat is better than it's ever been and uses the leveling up system from Kawami 2. Graphics are pretty great as well.

Game #25 of 2024

Behind The Frame: The Finest Scenery VR on PSVR2

I finished Touch Detective 3 + The Complete Case Files on Switch. Three games in total that took about 25 hours to beat them all.

#30

Spider-Man 2

Just when you think Insomniac cannot get anymore amazing and spectacular, they somehow manage to outperform themselves. Besides minor gripes in regards to repetitive crimes and an odd choice of verbiage for naming Miles enhanced abilities after one of the main villains in the game, this was a stellar sequel. The story alone is a 9.5/10 for me. It’s the Spider-Man 3 film we deserve. Not the crap we got. Who would have thought utilizing and combining 2 characters in such a way that hasn’t really been done in the comics before would work tenfold. And even beyond that the way it ended sets up a very exciting
3rd entry in the series. One of the main villains hinted for the 3rd game was exposed in one of the side missions of all places and it was executed in such a subtle fashion once you figured out who the villain was going to be it was an utter delight to the senses. Combat and upgrade wise it pretty much built and grew off of the first game offering some enhancements to abilities and unique powers for both Miles and Peter alike. Peter has his spider arms at his disposal whereas Miles had his electro shock spider abilities, each with evolved upgrades the more you progress in the story. Quality of life improvements such as adding the most welcome and epic web wings to glide around the city at will which can only be enhanced by finding wind tunnels scattered around the city. And swapping between Miles and Peter was as slick and smooth and seamless as you would think. Also balancing both characters evenly with the story was nicely paced I felt. Even Mary Jane had oddly cool parts, partially because they gave her a way to fight back this time which was pretty rad. And the side missions were created uniquely that were tailored for both Miles and Peter separately so you needed to switch back and forth between each hero to do those side missions. And thankfully no more annoying catch the pigeon side missions in this game. And the amount of enemy bases to take down were kept to a minimum as well which were nice and allowed more of a focus on the story and more interesting side quests. Overall, this was simply sensational all around minus a few minor pet peeves. I am thoroughly looking forward to the 3rd and potentially final installment in this Spider-Man trilogy and shall indeed happily and merrily web swing my way there once it releases in the coming years.

#40 down: Hand of Fate on Xbox One. I would like to count this toward the All Aces badge. This is a fun and challenging roguelite in which you have paths made of cards that you land on and flip over for various events. The events can involve combat, games of chance, narratives with choices that involve various levels of risk, etc., and everything (except for combat sequences in which you actually fight) plays out via choices of cards and the probability of various events tied to those cards. Along the way, you get hats, body armor, rings, swords, axes, maces, hammers, and other cards you can equip as well as magic spells, blessings, etc. You can also end up with curse cards that hamper your progress. The final boss was rough and took me quite some time to beat, but now I've learned strategies that are more effective.

#19 Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth -

Good game. Nowhere near as good as the first. The story in the first was just so good. I put over 100 hours into this baby, and seemed to want to keep going back. So on that alone I must have been enjoying myself. But part 1 had better stuff, including the business side quest over dondoko island, the end game tournament fights for job level grinding, over the grid like dungeons. and of course the story. a solid 7.5/10

image

#4 Golden Axe II on

Recently I beat

Assassins Creed Odyssey (PS4)

Astral Chain (Switch)

I beat Little Kitty Big City on the xbox 1

#41 down: Last Stop (beaten and platinumed on PS4). This was another game about to leave PS+ extra, so I decided to check it out, and it was well worth it. It took me about 7 hours to get the platinum trophy. This is basically a walking sim with some limited interaction and choices that aren't really choices (except at the end, when you have a few choices that actually dictate the endings for the main three characters). In this game, you have three characters with separate storylines that overlap at various points (2 of which I found really interesting and 1 of which started out OK but then kinda lost me eventually). Overall, I found the first 6 chapters of each story really good, but the last chapter is not great, and then the endings redeem things a bit but leave some unanswered questions (and some logical inconsistencies) that are unfortunate. Still, I'd recommend checking this out. In a previous year, I beat this team's last game before this (Virginia), and Last Stop is a notable step up from Virginia.

Game #26 of 2024
We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip on

OP updated! I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so don't expect another update any time soon.

My #37 is Heavy Rain

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oiAaU5FJsagEPTMf6

SupremeSarna wrote:

Have a good vacay dude!!!

Enjoy your vacation Sarna, will work hard to make sure you have plenty to update when you get back... like this:
6th in May, 32nd overall, 1st on
Psyvariar 2
Badge: Earns me Destroy the Core along with Jamestown

Been watching a bunch of 'the best <##> of games for <console>' videos lately to get some ideas largely for the consoles that I didn't own too many games for, like the DC. Then I created some goofy means of picking some new games to try out from a sizable list I already comprised based on simply looking through my huge ROM, MAME and PC libraries. I've also been wanting to play some more SHMUP's so when this landed in my 'try out' list and was recently added from those top DC games lists, especially for SHMUPs, I figured it was something I had to play.

It was enjoyable and short. I beat in on very easy and then again on normal, using I believe 1 continue on VE and 3-4 on Normal. It has an interesting buzz mechanic where you can (I THINK) get close to projectiles and get a boost from that and potentially not take a hit... I'm not 1000% sure how it works but was starting to feel like I understood after playing some, though I clearly took plenty of hits, more so on normal. Graphically the stages looked incredible for a game that's 20 years old. I beat it both times with the 'shooter' type female character vs. the male 'buzz' type. I tried him and his bomb was different and I didn't love how he felt initially, so I went back to her.

#31

Super Mario Maker 2

Culmination of all the best of the best Mario 2D platforming at its finest.

#42 down: Legendary Tales on PSVR2. Alongside my previous clear of Dead Island 2, this gets me the BFFL badge, as I completed it in co-op.

This is what I imagined when I first played VR games--a fully co-op Dark Soulsish game in VR with a bunch of different weapons and magic options. I wrote more about it elsewhere on this site in response to a question, but, the short version is this: it's tough and very fun.

#32

Trepang2

I think I was expecting more from this game from the trailer. It looked like it was going to be a straight up spiritual successor to F.E.A.R. but instead turned into a culmination of not only that game but also Doom, Call of Duty and a tad hint of PT rolled into one and it kinda didn’t work all too well in it’s favor. It should have just picked a lane and stuck with it instead of trying to be 4 or 5 different games in one because it was quite a disjointing and overall tedious experience even with multiple points of reference games tossed into the mix. What I did enjoy was the slow mo yet high octane gun play. Having the ability to do a sweep into your enemies causing them to flip or get knocked back to have your way with them was fun as was grabbing enemies and tossing them back into crowds of other foes while strapping a grenade to them and watching the fireworks. The level design I felt was way too linear for its own good, funneling you into only one direction even with a multitude of doors displayed teasing you entry only denying you once you try to open them. In regards to the story, it relies on you picking up intel scattered about each mission to learn more about what went wrong in these facilities that caused some type of mutation or something to occur to science folks or something something something dark side of Doom something something gateway to a hellish dimension, wash rinse repeat. Performance wise, the frame rate also suffered at times too in large firefights I felt and could have used more polish. Thank goodness for it’s length and mildly fun gunplay which were it’s two saving graces as you can top this game off in about 5 hours or less. There’s like 5 side missions too if you want to do short burst chapters which really are just 1 objective and last about 15 minutes each and don’t really add much value other than eliminating targets on your hit list. I didn’t finish them all nor did I have the desire to as the game didn’t really have that kind of pull for me. It just felt like a glorified tech demo of something that had great potential but came up a bit short of hitting the mark and sticking the landing. If there’s a Trepang3, I hope it is a lot more fleshed out.

I forgot to post this earlier, but I beat Wild Guns Reloaded on a plane ride. I think that fits with 2nd Amendment, but I’ll have to check.

Beat it with Clint, who is objectively the worst character—he’s identical to Annie, but she has better movement speed, so she has an automatic advantage over him. I’m rusty, but I did finish hard mode in just a few tries. It’s an awesome game, definitely recommend.

Did some GAMING last night.

Both
#5 Super Aleste
#6 Aero Fighters

Went through Aero Fighters with a couple of the characters. What a gem. My only complaint is that it's one of those shmups where you have to keep pressing the shoot button instead of being able to hold it down.

Oh and @SupremeSarna (just tagging to make sure this one is spotted) we can add Sega Mark III to my list of consoles. Albeit via the form of the JP converter that attaches to a mega drive.

Game #27 of 2024

Red Matter on PSVR2

#32

Super Mario Land via Online

I haven’t played this since I was in grade school and some of it aged well like the music and whimsical nature of the classic Mario gameplay but other parts didn’t age so good. Such as the controls. Maybe it’s just me but I found it very hard to utilize the run function by holding B or X because it felt very uneven and the timing was just off. Or maybe it’s because it was running on emulation software on Switch online and it caused it to run at a very high framerate? Either way it made me feel like I had to walk in eggshells to get to the finish line. I also forgot how short the game was too at just 4 worlds, and 3 stages within each world. I sped run this in about 1.5 hours it felt unintentionally.

6th in May, 33rd overall, 6th on
Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Badge - 1st towards BFFL

Best bud and I started this back in early '20 and then had a bit of a falling out before getting over that and finally coming back to this in late '23. Game has its flaws as its more open mission flow became a PITA with not knowing where to go, going to areas you didn't need to or areas you were way under-leveled for or losing progress for various reasons. The mini-map was also rubbish and the dark underground sections largely sucked. I'm happy to have finally completed it and I don't think I'll bother playing any more solo and he said he's done with it - there are a few things we didn't do and there's some daily/weekly crap that could be tackled and some post-story stuff, but eh. I've got Wolfenstein 2 I could/should play instead, plus Doom Eternal to get back to if I want my Bethesda shooting fix.

Oh and this was my 100th GP title beat, which is a bit bonkers to think about, but I've been on the service for close to or over 5 years now.

I beat Fallout New Vegas on the xbox 360 (beating this and fallout 3 get me the vault boy badge)

I'm not gonna report anything until Sarna Senpai gets back. I'll just heap it on him all at once when he gets back.