VideoGame_Discussion

Kommie wrote:

I can think of a few people who have the time.

For April I beat:

My Big Sister (Vita): Some cool pixel graphics, the plot is so so. Might be worth checking if you're into light horror stuff.

FF7 Remake (PS4): Really enjoyed this new presentation and the expanded take on the characters. I might go for the plat later. Also, anybody that hated FF13 because of its linearity but praised this one needs to take a long look in the mirror.

Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4): Finally played this after having it for so long in the backlog. The combat system and web-swinging through the city are a blast. Currently going through the DLC.

Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy (Switch): I think I've only played the first two Layton titles, so I'm not an expert, but I found this one to be rather simple. Puzzles weren't that difficult, and there was some focus on extra mini-games that I didn't really care about. The presentation and the charm are there, though.

Scott wrote:

Time, yes. People who actually want to do it though?

Game #13 Alien Soldier

Kommie wrote:

To Sarna's credit, he did offer to help out with this thread. I turned him down b/c I didn't want to monkey with my 'system' and when AntiPop and I tried to work it together it wasn't perfect either. I'm thinking for '23 I'll pass on the reigns to him and see how that goes - then he can add a new badge weekly for all I care.

WithinTemptation wrote:

I grew up with Internet, but I lacked parental permission to use it beyond a handful of sites. Fortunately, in the GameCube/Wii era, games were being more transparent in their direction. Paper Mario: TTYD and Super Mario Sunshine held many secrets, but how to reach the end of the game wasn't one of them. Cooking all the recipes and finding all the blue coins were trickier.

Slickriven wrote:

I'd probably limit my badge additions to around ten-ish. I don't want to overdo it, after all. I have a lot to learn before I can completely take over, though.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Around November I can start to get you involved so it doesn't just drop into your lap on January 1 if you'd like that. We can chat about it as time draws near.

Slickriven wrote:

Sure thing. Happy to assist.

Slickriven wrote:

I'm loosing my motivation to be clears leader now. lol. I really wanted my badge to be added Maybe @SupremeSarna will add some of my idea regardless or who wins

Scott wrote:

Not me, too busy with all these clears

Two more games to report, one for April and one for May.

On April 30, I got all the high scores in Pirate Pop Plus for 3DS (#82) I didn't realize there wasn't an actual ending, and it's just a high score chase. Since I filled the high score table with all me, I'm considering it beaten.

Fun game. If you like Pang/Buster Bros., it's that, except sometimes gravity changes to a different side of the screen.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kn73owPg8NaHeWxf6

Next up, this evening I was cataloging what games I have downloaded to my various systems in preparation for OMG!Con. And going through my PS3, I saw the Nights Into Dreams remaster (#83) and got all nostalgic.

The Saturn, and especially Nights really defined my college years. So I finished cataloging the PS3 then started up the game.

Even with a PlayStation controller instead of a Saturn 3D Pad, it's still one of the best, more pure games ever made. I really do love almost everything about it (not so much a fan of the randomized bosses though. Some of them are much tougher than others)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/M7RDrnWRRjebcAGc9

January:

February

March:

April:

May:

@benstylus I added your April game to the OP, but didn't mess with the overall leader board to give you 82 over WT's 81 - since he's already to 86 in May... I'll button that up when I do my next larger OP update.

Knocked out a few more from the collection. Not sure how many more I'll play. There are about 10 others I have put some time into, but not sure how many I'll try and finish. Maybe I'll grind this collection one more day and see where I'm at.

Vectorman
Streets of Rage 2
Sonic Spinball

I used a cheat code to refill my health in Vectorman so it wasn't too bad. Otherwise would have been rough. Sonic Spinball wasn't too bad, but some parts of the levels were annoying. I'd make a save after each emerald. So this wasn't too bad either with save states. I could do some trial and error and just reload when it didn't work. Its not a long game, but can see it being difficult to beat without saves.

#16 down: Bound by Flame on PS4. That (alongside Foreclosed) should give me the You're Winner badge.

There's no critic metacritic score available for the version of Foreclosed I played (the Stadia version), but the PC version got a 53. Subjectively, I also thought it was pretty bad. Bound by Flame got a metacritic score of 53. I actually didn't think it was that bad, but I got it as part of Secret Satan, so, not only did it pass the Metacritic criteria, but it also was specifically given to me because someone thought it was really bad.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

I couldn't beat Bound by Flame's final boss for the life of me. I don't know why it was so difficult for me, lol

Aside from that, I also thought it was ok. Certainly not as bad as some people claim.

That last boss was tough. It took me awhile, but I had a stockpile of those explosive mine things, health potions, and crossbow bolts, so I just barely got by him.

Best1989 wrote:

I liked Bound by Flame. I thought it was a decent game.

I just beat another game, but there's more content to it. I'll update you when I've finished it. Hint: It's a normally-expensive Wii game I got through the Wii U eShop.

Everyone needs to experience The Quiet Man. You think you've played the worst game ever? Think again.

Wikipedia:

"The Quiet Man is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game developed by Human Head Studios and published by Square Enix..."

Oh the Balan Wonderworld guys!

benstylus wrote:

You act like that's their claim to fame. How quaint! Any gamer will scoff and remind you that they made King's Knight, too.

SupremeSarna wrote:

Any gamer who remembers King's Knight never actually played it.

If you had, your brain would have repressed those memories for your own good.

I have Balan but haven't played it. I'm sure it's a masterpiece compared to The Quiet Man.

Kirby is the better version of Balan Wonderworld. Less songs in foreign languages (not devoid of them), better powers. Kirby can become Bleachers. Kirby can become Wheel. Kirby can become Water Balloon. Kirby can become Arch. Kirby can become Traffic Cone. Kirby can become Lid. Kirby can become locker. These powers are very good.

I think I'm on the last world, Dedede kinda freaked me out. They did a good job of making him unnerving, and KIRBY FINALLY GETS PUNISHED FOR A VICTORY DANCE, SERIES FIRST

A couple more completed, these took allot longer than the others to complete. I have made good progress on a few others and "think" I'm close to finishing DecapAttack .

Ecco: The Tides of Time
Kid Chameleon

I liked both these games. Kid Chameleon is one of those games where you need certain powers to complete different parts of the levels. I didn't like how you had to randomly find those powers in the level and they could be lost. It also wasn't really obvious what some of them were even needed for. Like why would I think wearing a knights helmet would allow me to climb a wall? I had to look up a guide as a few parts I was stuck, but the not knowing about the wall climbing was the biggest hurdle. After that it wasn't too bad. I never did feel comfortable with the jumping in this game, I thought it was awful. The parts where you need to do short precise jumps I'd just save state before attempting as I'd fail like 20 times before randomly getting through. Still was a good game and another I can see myself really enjoying had I owned it back in the day.

Completed Bunny Raiders

Not bad for a free game. Each run is randomly generated and you must find your way to the boss. There are allot of different weapons and powerups. Took about 45 minutes to find the boss each time. If you die you have to start from scratch. I had to do 2 runs as the first time I failed at the boss. I did run into a few glitches that causes me to reset, but they were all early in a run so it wasn't so bad. One of the glitches is you can't go through a door, so that is a reset. The other I got a few times was it would somehow double my character and if the double died I had to reset. I had played it a few times before, but I'd get annoyed with the glitches and stop.

I beat Disneyland Adventures for the xbox1

Shadow Hearts

After about two weeks and a bunch of hints I posted that no one guessed, I beat Rhythm Heaven Fever (originally Wii).
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/lV0TKBU_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

It's got a ton of charm, appealing graphics, varied challenges, great music... and tremendous difficulty. I was hooked enough to play every challenge and get all Superb ranks, and even one Perfect on Ringside. But there's no way I'd go for all Perfects.

My favorites were Shrimp Shuffle, Ringside, Karate Man, Double Date, Samurai Slice, and Flipper-Flop. I didn't like Love Rap, Tambourine, Donk-Donk, Figure Fighter, and See Saw (though the music was tight). Some I'm half and half on, like Cheer Readers, Air Rally, and Monkey Watch--they're appealing but troublesome to do well. The Remixes are especially tough but mix up the visuals and often incorporate a bopping song (one of which is seems to be about a woman wanting you to take her virginity, in an E-rated Nintendo game).

If I had the chance to make a RH mini game, it would be about mashing cartoon potatoes with a potato masher. You can quote me on that.

Now enjoy some Rhythm Heaven meme videos from years ago. Language advisory on the second one.
https://youtu.be/9S3YXXp6bOM
https://youtu.be/71Gte4wiVL0
https://youtu.be/hZMyCt3a3MI

SupremeSarna wrote:

Nah, she's singing about getting a high score in the two player mochi minigame. Go make her dreams come true!

I've been threatening to do it for ages, but ten months after first picking it up for Frank's Game of the Month, I finally finished Horizon: Zero Dawn for the PlayStation 4.

I don't pay much attention to E3 or other big gaming conventions these days, but I remember when Horizon was first announced. The trailer opened as a cross-section of many popular AAA gaming tropes of the time: a strong female character with a unique look, bows and arrows, crafting, and a massive bustling environment to explore. It'd been a long time since I'd bothered with open world titles - they were too large and too long, and I was too easily distracted by errands to focus on the main quest thread - so I was about to write the game off. Right before I mentally checked out, though, Aloy rounded a corner and encountered a sabertoothed tiger. A robotic sabertooth tiger laced with white armor, thick electric cables, and a whole other mess of high-tech anachronisms. As the clip continued, the battles - and the monsters - grew bigger and more intense.

Massive, neverending open world? Not really interested. Massive, neverending open world with robotic dinosaurs that you fight with a bow and arrow? Okay, you now have my attention.

When Frank dropped Horizon as a Game of the Month, I took it as a welcome excuse to try the game out, which had been added to my library for free with the purchase of a PlayStation 5. My qualms about the game's open world nature were immediately put to rest as I noted all the quality of life improvements that newer entries to the genre had incorporated. The map is detailed and easily customizable, supplemented not with a minimap but with a robust radar and waypoint system with its own pathfinder. The player's inventory is well-divided into categories and sections and includes the notable ability to create quests for specific materials you need, which is a very welcome in-world substitute for throwing your hands up and heading straight to GameFAQs. The combat, as expected, was pretty overwhelming at first especially with its reliance on aiming with a bow. Once you figure out the appropriate times for melee and stealth and how they're complemented by the advanced abilities of your ranged weapons, the combat becomes really satisfying. This was also the first time I made steady use of the PlayStation Back Button attachment, which made running and activating my Focus - the Google Assistant of the Post-Apocalypse - more comfortable than the analog stick's buttons.

While I was engrossed by the world itself and the Big Question of how cavemen ended up dancing with robots, I was less enthralled with the game's minor characters and their "talking head" conversation sequences. The exposition usually dragged on, especially with the odd inflections in the language of these forwards-backwards people, and the voice performances paled in comparison to Aloy herself, who was stunning to watch in motion. I also predicatably fell into the open world trap and got lost completing side-quests, filling out the map, and trying to kill every herd of machines I encountered. By the end of the month, I'd barely made it through a third of the game's main missions, and by that point, it was time to move onto some new monthly challenge.

I started every month with the plan to finish off the monthly challenges and then jump back into Horizon where I left off, but that never ended up happening. The Horizon drop was also aligned with my return to full-time in-office work, plus a string of monthly challenges that took much longer to complete than average. Oddly enough, the greatest speedbump to picking Horizon back up was when the site collectively dove into another Sony open-world masterpiece, Marvel's Spider-Man. The game rocked with its dynamic combat, excellent well-performed narrative, and perfect cinematic presentation. I was much more interested in squeezing more and more out of that game than picking up an older open world title with mechanics that were much clumsier by comparison.

I felt the same way when Horizon finally found its way back to the top of my backlog. Even with a new performance patch that had dropped in the interim, my re-entry into Aloy's world was a clumsy one with me wasting arrows, scarfing medicinal herbs, and missing critical hits as I struggled to relearn the game's combat mechanics. I slowly found my footing, and as I did, the game's inner mysteries started to crack open. As I approached some long awaited answers to questions that had been dangling in front of me for almost a year, I started to crave my Horizon sessions again. The game's final act ended up being a masterfully crafted, incredibly satisfying conclusion that made the long hiatus worthwhile.

Horizon now has a large DLC pack and a full-fledged current generation sequel that are now both firmly imprinted on my radar, but who knows when I'll get to them? I have a hard time believing either of them will top the rush of Zero Dawn's final setpieces.

One of the reasons my Horizon playthrough was delayed is because I kept bumping other smaller unfinished games to the top of my backlog. With over thirty years of gaming, I could effectively fool myself with that approach forever; there are enough loose threads in my gaming history to knit a sweater for Shaq. With that in mind, I'm going to finish off this month's challenges - Gris for Frank's thread, and Alien Soldier for the Retro Talkshop Thread - and then dive into Mass Effect 2. I've started and made significant progress in the game twice - once at launch, and once many years later - but never saw it through to the end. It's time to change that.

@Slickriven

been playing a lot of stuff but most of it episodic and unfinished so not counting that stuff til its done.

these are some recent completions though


Once in a Lifetime

STWA: The Author

Nice write up @Renaissance2K - I too didn't get into HZD basically until it was Frank's GOTM selection and while I was excited for its selection and the push to start it, it was also a hair frustrating b/c it FULLY sucked me in and there was no way I could have realistically finished it in a month, I didn't want to rush it. I therefore finished it the following month and it immediately became the best game I played in that generation and I say that not loving some of the combat. I fully agree with your thoughts about side characters. I enjoy history and the story and how Aloy's history was told and unraveled was just awesome to me. I soaked in as much lore as I could and did all the side missions too - the dude who drank the machine blood was very enjoyable as was Silas - great actor.

I also didn't jump into the DLC and want to but I don't play on my PS4 really enough but I need to make time for it. Forbidden West is the #1 reason I want a PS5, Returnal and Ratchet are also up there. But I do differ with you on the Spidey take. Again Frank's selection got me to dig that title out and I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. I know why and it's largely b/c I adored the Arkham series and Spidey felt like a rip of that, but also tried to speed things up and go it's own way. I didn't enjoy playing as Miles/MJ or even Peter and never nailed the combat such that the final fight was about zero fun for me - taking many attempts. I also got sick of being shot at and sometimes hit after about 50% of the story and the simply too numerous groups of foes all over the place - made traversing a PITA. Game was excellent looking and traversal could be fun, the details of the city were excellent, but a few too many things left a bad taste in my mouth, such that unlike most open world games I didn't attempt to do all of the side stuff and haven't really thought about going back. I did do a decent amount, but I was ready for the end once it arrived.

Finished up DecapAttack and a couple more.

DecapAttack
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Fatal Labyrinth

Fatal Labyrinth is pretty bad. The playthrough was basically a ton of save states and running from enemies. I hated every minute of this game and forced myself to complete it. RNG rooms where the path only appears when you get close while having a ton of enemies run after you. Way too many dead ends. So I'd make a save each floor and run in one direction, if it was wrong I'd just reload the last save. It was far too easy for the enemies to box you in and they take so little damage from your weapons its pretty much game over since you get hit 4 times by the enemies to your 1 attack on just one of them. I found some armor or something that boosted my armor stat really high, so I could tank a few hits while running.

I know I said I was done with the collection, but there is only 4-5 more games I plan to finish. Possibly some of the arcade games, I'll try them all and see if anything is fun.

benstylus wrote:

I'm surprised you know which song I'm talking about. Rhythm Heaven is one of the lesser-known Nintendo series, as far as I can tell, and I didn't link the song, lol.

SupremeSarna wrote:

I don't think I ever heard of it. I'll have to check it out to see what kind of game it is.

what would completion requirements be of wii sports? one sport pro status or all sports pro status?

I beat Super Return of the Jedi . Thanks to @dunno001 for the sale!
[imgt]https://i.imgur.com/0MlSpp6_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sh...[/imgt]

Hard game like its predecessors. I used to say it was the best of the trilogy, but there are some janky levels in this one--Ewok Village 2 and the Shield Generator are the most egregious. It's nice that you can choose your character every stage, though, like the first Super Star Wars. And it has the password feature introduced in Super Empire. But the levels are certainly a mixed bag.

I think those 3 games for the SNES are great. Super Star Wars is the least of the 3. Empire is my favorite of the 3.

Also....did this thread finally generate a trade after five years? lol.