VideoGame_Discussion

I beat Rock Band Track Pack 1 on the ps2 (beaten with guitar)

#45

Dying Light 2: Stay Human

I've had this one in my queue for quite some time. Over a year and a half and I finally got around to it and I rather enjoyed my time with it for the most part but I would in no way replay it again unless it was in co-op on a new game plus perhaps. It suffers from the tired sandbox open world Far Cry like motif of checking off boxes to level up your character in the world, etc. Also, there's windmills like radio towers to take over and the fast travel system is terrible. You must pretty much do a quest within each metro station scattered around the open world city and only then can you fast travel to each one of them. Never have I ever quickly decided to skip fast travel in a game until this one and instead slogged around from one end of the map to the next. Traversal is okay but I expected more from a game heavily focused on parkour. They wanted you to spend all the time doing side missions, gathering resources, and what not to upgrade your traversal and paraglider and even then it still feels lacking in regards to getting around the big open world map. Some of the control precision could be a bit more tightened as well as I found myself falling to my death more times than I should have. And the combat had some cool ideas, like parrying and blocking at the right time to traverse over enemies and such, but I felt a lot of the time I was just mashing the right trigger while dodging left/right to kill enemies quicker that way other than the fancy ways they set out in front of me. But those grievances aside, the story was pretty solid about a guy in search of his long lost sister. I played the first Dying light years ago and I think it's the same dude from the first game. I stuck to mainly the story missions too and I'm glad so I didn't lose focus on the tale it was trying to tell. Upgrading the main character too lets you choose which function you favor upgrading, stamina or combat. I stuck with a balance of both but more so favored stamina to get more efficient traversal skills. And you can find special boxes hidden in the map or by progressing through the story to upgrade your health or stamina meter as well. Overall, the story and gore was enough to make me see it through to the end. The parkour was solid enough, albeit minor control issues, that it reminded me of Mirror's Edge from time to time, especially during some climbing missions and I love me some Mirror's Edge like traversal. If you want a new zombie first person action co-op game I will likely hope to suggest Dead Island 2 over this one, which I am about to play next and hear really good things about.

#23 -- Tzar The Burden of the Crown ()
As difficult an RTS as I've ever played. I'd only recommend it if you're looking for a challenge, AoE, C&C, WC, SC, etc. all outshine it. The campaign is fairly short. Took around 20 hours.
This clear combined with Heroes of Might and Magic II qualifies me for the The Best Offense badge

image


#24 -- Galaga ( Arcade1UP, new high score = 73,430)
Pay no mind to the high score of 149k set by my Galaga-freak of a daughter. I've always been terrible at Galaga. Still, 73k is well beyond my previous personal high score of 48k.
This clear combined with my new high score on Pac-Man earlier in the year qualifies me for the Quarter Muncher badge

image

I beat and 100%’d (takes deep breath) Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey, exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It was great!
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GAetDv4XgAAN1Mf?format...[/imgt]
I haven’t played the DS original in about a decade, so it was nice playing this new version with a superior art style. Unlike last year’s Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions, which was similar to playing a completely new experience, BIS is a game I have nostalgic memories of playing—comparisons were drawn this time. The DS game is often heralded as AlphaDream’s magnum opus, which I mostly agree with.

A disease called the Blorbs infects the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom. The villainous Fawful is the culprit, and he tricks Bowser into eating a Vacuum Shroom. This makes him suck up a bunch of stuff—including Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Starlow. With them out of the way and Bowser incapacitated, Fawful conquers Bowser’s Castle and brainwashes his army. Now Bowser has to thwart his maniacal scheme while the Bros. manipulate him from the inside.

It’s generally the most emotionally impactful M&L game, with a memorable cast of characters and an awesome collection of special moves to use in battle. The soundtrack is one of the best in the series, and journeying through Bowser is brilliant. Every area of his innerds looks visually distinct and creative, never gross. Some even have fun minigames to play, like bulking Bowser’s muscles or making him violently sneeze.

The bosses are great, too. They have boatloads of health and varied attacks you need to dodge or counterattack. They give you a good reason to whip out those special moves and practice with them. (The 3DS version made one of the bosses especially adorable.) There are even fights where Bowser grows massive and punches buildings in the face! Top it off with a killer finale and you have an RPG for the ages.

Now for the cons. My goodness, 75% of the new characters have obnoxious speech patterns. Fawful’s dialogue is expectedly bonkers, and he’s always entertaining. But the others just pile on, making half the text irritating to read. Midbus uses choppy sentences; the Emoglobins talk like artsy, medieval criers; Durmite drawssss outttt her wordssss; zee deux French garacteurs ‘ave exaggerated accents; Dr. Toadley speaks in questions followed by answers; and who even knows what Chakron the sage is babbling about half the time. I think they should’ve reigned it in a bit more, focusing on eccentric personalities that are conveyed through regular English.

It’s weirdly difficult to save your progress when you’re inside Bowser, because the only save blocks in him are characters who disappear when the scripted event you’re playing is finished. It feels like you see what there is to see in the world before halfway, and then they make you backtrack to previous locations instead of making new ones. The enemy variety can get a bit sparse, making you fight the same enemy groups constantly. Dr. Toadley tells you to “prepare for the final battle,” but then the game continues for about four more hours after he says that—the last area is traversed as the Bros. and Bowser, unlocks another inside-Bowser area, requires several mini games, and has five bosses plus a giant battle. Aside from the aforementioned killer finale, the area drags.

As for some remake changes, the art is better than ever and the music is largely improved. Many of the special moves were tweaked—some are now easier to execute while others were nerfed hard. You can restart a battle immediately if you lose, even dropping the difficulty if you wish. Any use of the DS microphone was ditched, which I’m fine with. The Giant Bowser battles were adapted by the infamous developer Arzest, which is why they’re now sluggish and low-poly. The overall difficulty was toned down on 3DS as well.

The most indefensible change is the title screen: The original had a simple image of Peach’s Castle on the top screen and Bowser’s Castle on the bottom, with one of Nintendo’s most beautiful tunes playing over it. It was an elegant way to highlight the duality present throughout the story: The Bros. and Bowser are enemies, but with a larger threat looming over them both, they’re now two sides of the same coin. The remake ditched this visual and melody completely, opting for a forgettable, militaristic tune playing over a picture of Bowser and Bowser Jr. standing near lava. It’s a hard downgrade that, no joke, made me skip the game at launch. (The credits and end card of the 3DS version still use motifs of the original title tune, highlighting how strange this change was.)

As for Bowser Jr.’s Journey, it’s an 8-hour strategy game that improves on the Minion Quest mode from Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. You choose nine characters for your army and arrange them to defeat the advancing squads. The Best Fitness Friends villains are great here, and their dialogue is funnier than the main game. Bowser Jr. is insufferable through most of the quest, until he hits rock-bottom and has to mature. It’s a decent story, but the Minion Quest misadventure was more endearing. At least this mode did the unthinkable and made me kinda care about the Koopalings.

All in all, this game is worthy of your time. Play it on the DS for more difficulty and a wonderful title screen, play it on 3DS for superior graphics and sound, plus Bowser Jr.’s Journey.

Beat a few more games. Including a couple on my new replacement for my Micro. A nice small emu system with a small screen. Great little thing to play GBA games on.

Dream Town Story - IOS
image
Another one of Kairosofts newer games. This was the first "modern town" one I've played as I haven't played any of their town story type games. I really liked it.

Mario Kart Super Circuit -
image

Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland -
image
First time playing and beating this game. Cute and fun. Looks great on a small screen!

I beat Mortal Kombat 11 on the xbox1

It's been a really slow year for me, but I managed to beat another game, Super Mario Wonder. My son and I played through it co-op. I also have another save file going where I'm playing through it solo.

NES -
SNES -
N64 -
GC -
Wii -
Wii U - Yoshi's Woolly World
Switch - Pokemon Scarlet, Super Mario Wonder
GB -
GBC -
GBA -
DS -
3DS -
360 -
XB1 -
PS1 -
PS2 -
PS4 -
PSP -
GEN -

2/19 - Unique systems

3 - Total games

I beat Zelda II: The Adventure of Link again, now on Wii U. Still great!

Zelda II. AKA The original Dark Souls. So good.

Scott wrote:

i dont know why, but i was kind of underwhelmed by mario wonder. I don't know why because it really did have its claws in me. I felt the drive to keep playing every chance I got. BUt something felt off for me.

Super Mario RPG Switch remake only took 13 hours:

https://twitter.com/fabledlife40/status/1732601276...

There is some post-game stuff, basically harder versions of the bosses.

#75 down: Rock Band 3 on PS3. This (alongside my previous clear of American Idol) gets me the Rhythmic badge. Only one badge left! This is also my first PS3 clear of the year.

I’d been meaning to play this one for awhile. Every Rock Band guitar I’ve been able to find is not very good. The buttons don’t react well and seem stiff, and, in general, they just are not reliable at high difficulty levels (unlike the Guitar Hero guitars I have which are great). The drums are very solid though, and the keytar is the best. I ended up using the keytar the most, as it’s really responsive and unique to RB3.

The way you beat RB3 is by beating all of the road challenges, but you have to unlock new forms of transportation (tour bus, plane, etc.) to be able to do the challenges. Unlocking the challenges is very time-consuming and requires you to get millions of fans by doing things like getting 3 stars or higher on all of the challenging songs on guitar or playing 300 notes without missing one on keys. One cool thing I discovered is that you can play the keytar for the guitar and bass parts in the road challenges and quickplay, and it won’t give you credit toward the goals right away, but, once you plug in a guitar and beat any song, you get credit for the parts you beat on keytar. As a result, I ended up using the keytar for everything, as it was fun to use.

There’s a nice twist to the ending of this game too that I won’t spoil, and the credits have individual goofy pictures for each person, which was a nice touch.

Johnny wrote:

A lot of people seemed to feel that way. I loved it overall, but much more in the first half of the game. In the second half, the novelty started to wear off a bit. I wasn't getting AS excited for each new wonder seed section.

BloodPuppetX wrote:

Wow, is the original that short too? Based on my vague memory of it, I would have guessed it was at least 20-25 hours.

It would seem the original is actually a bit longer. I don't know if it's due to walk speed, dumbed-down battles, stricter localization in the dialogue, but it's definitely shorter.
https://howlongtobeat.com/?q=super%2520mario%2520r...

It's probably a combination of these things. It seems the more I read/hear about the remake, the happier I am that I didn't day 1 it. I mean Valentina doesn't even jiggle anymore! How am I supposed to play this?

Maybe battles are a little faster. I'm fairly certain I had the game paused for a couple of those hours.

BloodPuppetX wrote:

Getting perfect hits deals damage to everyone on-screen in the remake, cutting down on battle time over the course of the game. That’s probably it. Item management and equipment are also snappier due to QoL changes.

yeah super mario RPG has always been a shorter RPG. It's a great intro to jRPGs because of it. Maybe a 20 hour game, 25 at most. That might also be a reason I've beaten it 4 to 5 times.

I beat Super Mario Land . It's good and short, which is nice this time of year.

#25 - Braveland Pirate
Beat the first Braveland game last year, a quirky Heroes of Might and Magic style strat RPG. Decided the series was good enough (and cheap enough, $2 or less on Steam sales) to play/buy the other games in the series.
image

1st of Dec, 76th overall, 9th on
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China

I had a goal to beat a game for all 7 (why so many) PC platforms/stores that I own games on and the uPlay (now named Ubisoft Connect) platform was the last one left, so this checks that box and completes another personal goal for the year.
Game wasn't too bad as a 2D AC game vs. the main series. What's crazy is that I own pretty much every AC game before the most recent 3 (so up to Origins) and this is actually only the 2nd one I've beat (or really even played) after the original which I liked, I just simply didn't devote time towards the others - I should some day.

What's also crazy is there's only just over 3 weeks left in the year. I was hoping to make a big gaming push this month and have my way too long remodel fully in my rearview mirror, but so far neither of those have happened. I could say my new goal would be to finish in 2nd or 3rd place overall, but I wouldn't want to incentivize Ren2k or BleedDuke to push (any more than they might otherwise be doing) to get/stay ahead of me. Maybe my goal should be to finish with more than 50% of clears vs. Sarna...

I beat Ryse Son of Rome on the xbox1

moving on from my gb micro, playing a little more gba stuff.

Double Dragon Advance -
image

I've been seeing Russ's video on this thing, luckily I dodged the bug to try it out. I've got a Miyoo Mini Plus, this seems mostly redundant. Only thing I have left to pick up when I'm out of the hole I'm in is an Odin 2

yeah I bought this because it was closest to the micro. It's pretty comfortable and I like it. But there is a little bit of struggling on some games, like the intro for FF6, even with frameskip.

So weird, I feel like most handheld chipsets are more than capable of handling SNES no issues... this a GBA emulation issue?

DarkFact wrote:

yeah it's prob the emulator. But problem is with the custom firmware is the only way this thing has a sleep/hibernate mode but that firmware only includes 2 options for gba emulation.

Anbernic is coming out with a micro one soon so I'm playing this only temporarily.

GM! It's me, the falls off every year in March and returns in December man

I've beaten 2 new games:

Halo: Combat Evolved
I actually own almost all the Halo games, but never beat the campaigns, I owe it to myself to rectify this. The flood is ridiculous, and the Library is the worst level. I really enjoyed playing through the campaign, and now I want to run it back turbo with all the Halos

Halo: Reach
Played this with some buddies, wasn't too hard but a lot of fun. The backstory to CE from Reach is really good, and I am excited to see how the story continues to unfold with Halo 2

OP updated! Keep on beating games and I'll keep on jotting them down.

Hey! Thanks for the update, and no big deal, but I think you missed my post from the 7th. (I beat Rock Band 3 on PS3 to finish off the Rhythmic badge).

SupremeSarna wrote:

My #48 is The Outer Wilds: Spacer's Choice Edition.

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

My #49 is The Outer Wilds: All DLC

#76 down: House of the Dead Remake on PS4. I beat this using the Move controllers, so I'd like to count it toward the Now You're Playing with Plastic badge.

There's only one game from this year that had any right to be the game that clicks my PlayStation 5 checkbox of 2023.

Number: 78
Full Title: Final Fantasy XVI
Platform Played: PlayStation 5
Collection: N/A
Native Platform: PlayStation 5
Original Platforms: PlayStation 5
Applicable Badge: Level Up! (already earned)

The release of a new Final Fantasy game used to be the gaming hallmark of the year, but for the past generation or so, it's filled me with skepticism more than anything else. Final Fantasy XV wasn't terrible, but it didn't take the franchise into the open world nearly as well as another massive franchise that made a similar transition a few months later. I haven't played Stranger of Paradise yet, but the readings I've picked up on it have ranged from "surprisingly entertaining" to "CHAOS". And I'm as big a fan as any of a decent remake, but Square-Enix seems morally opposed to releasing a true definitive edition of any of their classics. After all, if they gave us the perfect release with all the optional content, all the aesthetic options, and all the quality of life toggles, why would we ever need to buy another release the next time they needed another bite of the apple?

So, the whisperings that FFXVI would be darker, grittier, and more mature than previous offerings met my ears with a hard "meh." It's a cliché at this point that a flailing franchise or developer (especially during a transition to a new platform) runs out of ideas and tries to appeal to the Bro Generation and throw some blood, boobs and blasphemy into a game to make things seem New and Improved. And let's get this straight right off the bad: I couldn't give a flying flock that characters drop copious F-bombs in this game. Or that there's more side boob than an issue of Maxim. Or that the main character has more Stark DNA than Strife.

But there is a point to all the blood, and to all the other obvious fragilities of the game's main characters. For the first time in nearly two decades, the story of a Final Fantasy game had me by the balls.

I can practically visualize the board room conversation that led to the game's design. "Let's start from scratch," someone probably said, "and strip everything away, and then we'll slowly add back in the things that build the backbone of the franchise." The living Earth. Absolute power corrupting absolutely. Crystals. Magic. Chocobos. Gil. Awe-inspiring summoned monsters. A grisly, inventive geezer named Cid. "Okay, fine, we'll throw in a Moogle, too, but make sure you underline 'summoned monsters' to make up for it. Twice."

What didn't make it? Treasure hunting, and the bloated inventory that comes with it. The encyclopedia of status effects that could end a battle before it starts because you ran out of the precise curative you need to fix it. Active Time Battle. Overcomplicated growth and progression systems. Systems in general. Spikey-haired teenage divas with a "aw shucks" approach to the Apocalypse. Clive enters a battle with three potions, a handful of special abilities, a (properly-proportioned) sword, and a prayer. And as it turns out, that's all you really need for a satisfying - if not a bit repetitive - real-time battle system.

But back to the story for a moment: Clive is not my favorite Final Fantasy character, nor is he even my favorite character in this game in particular. (Sup, Cid. Need a throat lozenge?) But by the time the game's logo flashed on screen, I was on his side, where I remained for the next thirty-five hours. I didn't know or care if the world was ending. Couldn't be fazed by the various warring kingdoms or the respective bones they happened to be picking with each other. Wasn't thinking about what ability I was about to unlock, or what sword I would get next, or what was in the glowing spot of treasure up ahead. (Usually nothing...) But I wanted to see Clive get the justice and the victory that he deserved, and I was willing to mash my controller into oblivion over and over to make it happen.

The rogue's gallery of lesser antagonists made that even easier. The other dominants that run counter to Clive's mission (four fiends with elemental affinities... sounds familiar...) are have their fair shakes of mustache twirling and scenery twirling, but they serve their role well. Hugo Kupka is the personal standout, despite him originally being introduced as a beige Hulk with slightly better language skills. It also helps that the showdowns with each of these foes are some of the most memorable fights in the entire franchise, both as technical and cinematic showcases. The first ten minutes of the game, which serve as a preview for some of these unforgettable battles, may be one of the best cold opens in the series.

The downside into each of these set pieces is they shine a spotlight on how unevenly the game is paced. Without fail, each of these encounters is followed by a slower-paced, lower-stakes filler mission that serves only to fill out the game's 35+ hour runtime.

Clive defeats a beastman general. Then, Clive wipes out a small band of dirty raiders.
Clive destroys a massive magical artifact. Then, Clive fetches some rare herbs from a bush somewhere for... reasons.
Clive wipes out an unbelievable celestial beast. Then, Clive spreads rumors for some little kids.
Clive blows up a planet. Then, Clive waits in line in the DMV.

That last one may or may not have happened.

It's far from perfect. I missed the treasure hunting and gear upgrading a whole lot more than I expected to. The music - though gorgeously-rendered, award-winning, and full of plenty of cues that reach all the way back to the very first Final Fantasy game - is much more of a single voice than the varied energies of past games' scores. And while the battle and growth systems improve on the mess that we were thrown with Final Fantasy XV, I felt like there's a core mechanic or strategy that I never picked up throughout the game's runtime, even when I found myself in the center of the final battle.

Still, Final Fantasy XVI gets a lot of credit for making me care about a well-crafted plot again, thanks to its interesting main character, mature storytelling, and its ability to set some fireworks.

As 2023 comes to a close, the current games of the month - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - have both found themselves on my backlog. Miles is as much of a joy to play as his mentor, but I have a long way to go until I get used to Zelda II's unique mechanics, relative to the rest of the series.

I beat Super Mario RPG last night.
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBC6rVDaQAAw-8n?format...[/imgt]

SMRPG is a nostalgic game that, surprisingly, I haven't previously beaten during my time on GTZ. I've loved playing it since middle school, and I was very excited to play this remake. Sure enough, it's an extremely faithful remake that makes everything look/sound excellent. It makes a few QoL changes to the inventory and map, adds beautiful cutscenes, and even changes a few battle mechanics to improve the flow. The best addition is the scrapbook and monster list, which give you insights into the story and enemies--often to hilarious results! This might just be the definitive way to play.

The postgame is fire! They have you rematch several non-Smithy Gang bosses with far greater HP/attack power. The fights are typically remixed to only be beatable by a pro. Punchinello takes almost no damage from your attacks, and his Bob-ombs kill you instantly if you don't guard them--you have to use certain moves to turn his bombs backwards so they attack him instead. Johnny wants a one-on-one duel with Mario and forbids healing items, so you need to perfect guard his special attacks to survive. Bundt and Raspberry will KO your whole party if all his candles are lit, so you need to put out enough candles each turn to ensure that doesn't happen. And Culex's rematch is glorious in 3D! This twist on the original game makes it worth a play on its own.

My criticisms are mostly nitpicks. Since everything's 3D now, Mario tends to awkwardly slide off platforms if you only barely land on them, which makes a few tricks difficult to do. A lot of the character names and pop culture references were arbritrarily changed/omitted, which was kinda lame (you can't give Frogfucius a generic name like the Frog Sage, I won't allow it!). It's a little too easy to perfect guard everything when they give you prompts, and now your perfect attacks can defeat enemies they weren't even targeting--so the already low difficulty of the regular adventure is reduced further. Lastly, to get all the medals/scrapbook pages, the devs expect you to do some ludicrous stuff, like get a perfect score on the Midas River or score 3 million points in the Beetle Mania minigame.

So yeah, SMRPG still rocks! And now Nintendo can't call Geno irrelevant for Smash Bros. anymore.

pretty close to one of the screenshots I was going to show for my complete.

I beat Kirby's Dream Land 3 (originally SNES).
[imgt w=1280 h=720]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBHw1zqaIAARUDV?format...[/imgt]
This game's a real jam, and an easy one to boost your clear count in December. The graphics are lovely and the music is sweet. The physics are possibly the best in the series--it's really satisfying using a weighty Animal Friend like Kine or Nago and bounding across a row of enemies.

2nd in Dec, 77th overall, 2nd
Contra: Shattered Soldier

I wanted to get a 2nd game done and after getting an emulation setup for the system whilst and not really messing with that, I went to this game in part b/c it was notably shorter - I wasn't a fan. I've never been a huge Contra fan anyhow and this didn't change my view for the better. I died a lot and ended up using save states which feels lame but the 5 stages only have a single mid-way checkpoint each and you only get 3 hits before going down, zero chance to regain health and no health bars on the numerous big bosses.

I saw the credits after spending way too long taking on the bonkers 6-phase final boss. I earned a B ranking surely from unintentionally taking down the final phase before destroying all parts of it and when you get a B or worse ranking from your time and % killed score, you don't unlock the 6th mission. There's apparently a 7th as well.
Since I didn't care for this I don't intend to face the final phase again and try to unlock the 6th mission. Since I got credits, I'm alright with that and calling it beat.

I had wanted to make my physical copy of Jak 2 that I never got around to playing from ~20 years ago my 2nd PS2 title but my console is sitting on a shelf in my basement, not hooked up to my old CRT down there currently, nor back on my surprisingly supportive LCD in my den. I also don't know if I would've been able to find the time for that game.

I am hoping to at least hit 80 games again, like I did last year, since I'm pretty close. I only have the final stage of Timesplitters 2 to replay as in my final gaming session on that console, back in Sept, before the remodel, I reached the final boss but with only like 20% health and died. The checkpoint was a good 15 mins of progression back so I had to stop. I've also played a few stages of Asura's Wrath and that's a quick title that I think I'll get wrapped up soon as well. After those 2 I'll need to find just 1 more. I'm looking forward to being off work starting on the 21st til the 2nd so I ought to be able to get some gaming in then.

Beat A Space for the Unbound on Nintendo switch.

Extremely emotional game and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys games with a deep story. Hit on some really tough topics like suicide, loss, and abuse. All things that I resonated with a lot. Might be triggering for people (triggered me a lot in certain parts)
8/10

To finish the December tradition I started two years ago, I beat the last of the Griptonite-developed Harry Potter RPG: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban .
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBQ-thpWQAAJrmU?format...[/imgt]

People say this is the best of the bunch, but I'm mixed on it. It's slightly comparable to the great Golden Sun with its battles and graphics. They also fixed the party issue present in the GBC games, where most of the fights separate you from your teammates. While there are moments that do that here, PoA mostly lets you keep at least one teammate in battle. This game also marries the "unique" look of the GBC games with the movie aesthetic, which is the best of both worlds.

As for the downsides, the flow of this game feels incomplete. You get bits of the story, but it's mostly taking classes--no Dementor attack during Quidditch, no unfolding mystery regarding Prof. Lupin, not even the Marauder's Map. It ends with the Shrieking Shack and Time-Turner stuff, as it should, but they treat the werewolf twist as if the characters already knew it. Then the final battle is Draco Malfoy for some reason, despite the previous Werewolf Lupin fight being more final boss-esque.

It's also extremely easy to get massively overleveled. Hermione has a technique that boosts your EXP for no magic cost, and it can be used in every battle in which she's playable. You'd be a fool not to abuse it.

For my money, Chamber of Secrets was my favorite of the trilogy, but this one's a close second.

I just beat my 150th game of the year. I decided it would be most fitting to make it Donkey Kong Country since I started it in January and just never got around to finishing the final world.
[imgt w=1536 h=2048]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBRra2NXwAAPvjQ?format...[/imgt]

I respect this as a good demake of DKC, though the K. Rool fight is way less forgiving here. But you can also easily grind lives in Misty Mine here, so you'll win eventually.