VideoGame_Discussion

6th down, 2nd
High on Life
Badge: 1st Amendment makes sense to me.

Largely beat this for @Frank's GotM club this month (vs. later). I liked Trover, so I expected I'd enjoy the humor and in general I did, though the high use of the Fbomb got old. I did some exploring in the game and got like 85% of the chests and talked to a ton of side characters and such. The mechanics weren't anything to go nuts over, but the game was fun and worth playing.

7th down, 1st
God of War 3
Badge - Grown-Ass Man

Been working on this one for a few weeks and I don't think I would've considered it for GAM badge until the end. The 1 fight on your 2nd visit to the bottom of the chain wasn't fun, then the 2.5D fight against Zeus was a nightmare for me. It must have taken me 30 tries, I was pushing too hard, a tactic I often do in these games and fighting games too, trying to be too offensive and not dodging/blocking/slowing down much/enough - I can get 1 track minded, not a good idea. Zeus wrecked me b/c of my lacking skills with blocking and failures to dodge enough. I finally got him by slowing myself down and reacting more with quick attacks vs. rushing and walking right into combos... and declining to lower the difficulty at least twice <sigh>
Game looked excellent even this many years later and it was still in love with it's QTEs, Kratos' rage, awesome music/score and other staples of the series. I only beat GoW2 in the last few years, but after this crazy frustrating final session I think I might take a break - was thinking I'd jump to the 2 portable system offshoots included in my collection. Also want to give Ascension a go as well, but I need a less frustrating game first.
The game interestingly had a few glitches where I had to back out to the main menu and reload in my save. It happened in at least 3 places, but the one I recall was one of the chain flights and I couldn't seem to avoid hitting something right before the cut to one of the Titans and in that scene b/c of the glitch Kratos was missing and the scene wouldn't complete b/c of it, even if I got the QTE right. Oh well.

@SupremeSarna largely curious, but looking at the Mass Destruction badge, how many other games are similar to the example of Rampage? Are you thinking of say Katamarcy as well? One of the biggest reasons I trimmed the count of badges was some felt like they applied to just too few titles or too specific of a genre/subset.

@Slickriven This was a suggestion from another user. I don't play many of them myself, but Blast Corps comes to mind immediately. I'd count Katamari and Twisted Metal also. I'm thinking games with a lot of carnage that aren't hack 'n' slashes or beat'em ups are good candidates.

My #7 is Tiny Tina's Wonderlands.

https://ibb.co/nDwXbZV

Woof. What a mediocre game. Graphics are nice but the game play is so repetitive. None of the weapons feel great. Most skills are low % increases to stats. Dialog is terrible and the jokes are even worse. Such gems as calling a village 'Buttsville' and having enemies repeat the same bad lines in every encounter (My foot bone is going to be connected to your ass bone). Wasn't a fan of the Borderlands games so I'm not quite sure why I picked this up. 6/10

#4 for me is Evil West
This was the best current gen throwback to the Gears of War coop style games of that era. Graphics aren’t the greatest and framerate can be a bit choppy but other than that it tells a coherent tale has some charm and humor and is action up the butt from start to finish. It’s quite refreshing to play a linear based corridor like 3rd person action shooter with a heavy emphasis on in your face satisfying melee combat that packs a punch. We really need more games like this and Focus seems to know that and keeps delivering the goods to us on more than one occasion. Flying Wild Hog is no stranger to action shooters too I just hope sales on this game warrant more like it cause this was simply awesome.

I beat Bayonetta for my 360 clear this year. Got it very cheap on eBay a few years ago, now I’ve made good on that purchase.
[imgt]https://i.imgur.io/DLzE9sW_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]

Game’s fun, plot’s nonsense, it’s sometimes stylish, it’s sometimes trashy, it’s always violent. What else do you expect from Mr. Twitterblock?

I played this years ago in college, but I’d forgotten most of it. Turns out it was better than I’d remembered. Maybe I’ll replay Bayonetta 2 sometime, or buy Bayonetta 3. Always happy to support Jennifer Hale, AKA Aayla Secura in Star Wars: TCW.

@SupremeSarna I'm actually debating playing Bayonetta on my WiiU. I have it digitally on the 360 from a Xbox giveaway, but I bought 1 & 2 from a fellow GTZ person after getting the system last year. Trying to decide btwn that and Captain Toad.

Slickriven wrote:
Captain Toad is probably easier and a bit more violent, but I haven't played it myself. You can't go wrong with either, I'd say.

#8 down- Marvel’s Midnight Suns DLC on PS5. I would like to count it toward the Quest for Peace badge.

This first DLC just came out today and features Deadpool. It includes a few new story missions, allows you to integrate Deadpool into the main campaign, provides a few new costumes, and introduces new research that lets you build a food truck, giving you the ability to discard a card for an extra move and slam. Deadpool was pretty annoying as a character in this, but his deck is interesting to use and the new story missions were OK. I’ll definitely play the other DLCs when they come out, as I really enjoyed this game. I don’t know when they’ll be out, but Venom is supposedly next and then Morbius and Storm.

I've decided after some waffling that I'll update the OP every Friday, not Saturday--changes with my work schedule make this more optimal. Sit tight, everyone!

EDIT: Got everything. With only a few days left in the month, @legendrko25 has time to beat a few more games and become #1 game-beater for January! Several others have beaten a good number--keep on going!

As for me, my brother just moved into a new house and found an abandoned Xbox One X. He gave it to me as he has little need for such a console. What a nice gesture! Now to find a game to play for it. I have a few ideas...

My #8 is Dead Space (2008)

https://ibb.co/rdYbsVv

Played this since the new remake just came out today. Beat it in a little over 8 hours. Great game, didn't play through when it first came out. Graphics are surprisingly good for a 15 year old game, great gameplay and tense moments. Good boss fights too. Plan on playing the rest of the trilogy in February. 8.5/10

8's all around, mine is my fist title as well
Layers of Fear 2
Badge - counts towards Raccoon City

I beat Layers of Fear in '21 and started this last year but didn't prioritize it and thus only got around 30% in. I just finished this almost walking sim... or door opening sim just now and yeah it was meh. Last time you were an artist uncovering what happened to your family, this time your an actor dealing with your past and demons, or something. It was sort of boring to me and you just moved along a linear path or sorts. It tried jump scares that didn't get me but about once. It also tried psychological things, like you enter an empty bathroom and see there's something simple to interact with, you do and a flash and loud noise and turn around and the room is completely different or there's a mannequin right in your face. There's also this monster that gets triggered a few times and chases you, it's not all that scary really, more annoying.
And wow do you open a TON of doors. It's set on a cruise ship, likely a fictional homage to the Titanic, but there are doors everywhere. They're largely used as checkpoints and prevention mechanism on any form of backtracking. I just got tired of clicking the mouse to grab the door handle and swing the door mostly away from me, but sometimes towards. I also apparently got the 'indecisive' ending - fitting. I unlocked NG+ but have zero interest in playing it anymore. It was from Bloober Team, the devs that are doing the Silent Hill 2 remake - technically their skills were great as the game was atmospheric (I should've used headphones to enhance that) and the game looked great, if a bit dark at times. The story and flow was just slow and not all that entertaining, I liked the first game's story and delivery better.

#9 down: Grumpy Cat’s Worst Game Ever on iOS. This (alongside WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!) gives me the Makin' Money with Minigames! badge.

After the hundreds of minigames I played to unlock everything for this, I never want to play a mini game again. It seems I’ve found something I hate as much as really puzzle-driven games.

Got my 9th, 3rd
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
I think I might look to beat this 5x times, so not applying towards anything yet.

I've beat this now with every character besides Raph and just finished likely my worst character, Mike. I have enjoyed this and it's not too long thus why I might go for the 5x, but we'll see. I started my next run with Raph and already am liking him over Mike. Heck I like April better than Mike, her aerial kick was pretty cool. I'd guess I've already beat this the 5x times in the last calendar year, but I'm going to guess the badge implies all clears in 2023. Once I get Raph's run done, I'll have to decide on if I care to make 3 more runs...

Additionally I've been playing The Legend of Tianding and the game is alright I guess. There's a bit too much story via dialog to read, but the fighting and exploring in some areas is decent. The 3rd boss SUCKED so much. Again it was a case of me pushing too much, but even when I caught myself doing it, it was like she tailored her attacks to what I was trying to hit her with, so I kept having to alter my strategy and dodge like a pro. When I finally beat her I was beyond stoked. I'm now facing the next boss and after just 1 try he wasn't as frustrating, but I've also purchased several more health upgrades.

Let's welcome @buster4252 for joining this year's challenge! I've got you all set on the OP and spreadsheet, so I hope you'll play many games with us.

I beat two more games: Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! and Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! .
[imgt]https://i.imgur.io/vMgxV56_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]
[imgt]https://i.imgur.io/EqwBJYL_d.webp?maxwidth=640&sha...[/imgt]

As my first real Minis game, March Again was quite good. It was longer than it needed to be, but most of the puzzles were well-made and comfortably challenging. The ones that make heavy use of Thwomps are a pain, and the DK boss fights are pretty weak, but otherwise it’s a good time. Got all 100 gold stars.

As for Wario Blast, beep Bomberman. It’s a decent game, but holy cow, Bomberman is ruthless and annoying by design. The enemies wander around placing bombers thst detonate in four directions, and your own bombs vaporize you—one hit and you’re dead! You have to best the enemies in 2 out of 3 matches, then they add more. There are upgrades like the ability to kick bombs forward and even Wario’s first motorcycle. Once you get the ability to shove and stun enemies, you become nearly omnipotent.

But then bosses come into play. Some are easy, but others are incredibly frustrating. They’re usually invincible unless you destroy some projectile to make them briefly vulnerable. But that takes a lot of setup and they take multiple hits to kill; one mistake kills you, remember. The final boss is dreadful, with three separate phases and numerous projectiles that it can launch at a moment’s notice. Took at least 20 tries to beat him, and that’s ignoring all the deaths I suffered at bosses 2 and 4. Never again.

#10 down: Samorost 1 on PC. This is my first clear for the Brain Teaser badge and the first game I've ever played on Gog. This is a really weird, short puzzle game in which you have to help this gnome guy get back after his rocket took him off course. I don't usually like puzzle games, but I will admit that some of the ones in this are fairly clever. A few were pretty tricky and took me awhile to figure out. Some of the characters look kinda creepy, because it looks like someone took a regular picture of a person's face and used it on a different character (like this one squirrel you encounter with a human face).

SupremeSarna wrote:

No the dog

#11 down: Halo 2 on Xbox. This gives me (alongside my previous clear of High on Life) the 2nd Amendment badge.

I enjoyed this one more than Halo. The story was more interesting, and there were a few level design details that I was impressed with despite how old this game is. While there are still a lot of grey hallways like in the original, there’s more variety this time around.

#12 down: Hearthstone on PC. This is my first completion toward the All Aces badge. As per the badge, I beat two matches, but that didn't feel like enough, so I also beat a bunch of challenges and a single player campaign. This game is pretty addictive, and the fact that you can just pick it up and play a match whenever is nice. You can actually unlock quite a bit without paying any money as well.

January was an all-PS4 month for me:

Jurassic World Evolution: I've been wanting to play this since forever, bought it some months ago and finally installed it. The game controls are great, IMO. That's something that can be a hit or miss with this type of game on consoles. Enjoyed the missions and the dinosaur variety, as well as the different challenges that each island provides. Incubating and releasing a T-Rex and hearing that famous roar hits differently, lol. I'm currently playing through the Return to Jurassic Park DLC missions which is kind of a prequel to the main campaign. Missing 2 or 3 trophies for the plat.

Anthem: Man, I really liked this one. I got it for under $2, so that might have helped lol But flying around the world is great, the environments and models look awesome, and I really liked the acting and the dialog during the missions. The experience was pretty smooth too, I only had one issue where I entered this cave and there was like an invisible force draining my health and my character had the biggest lag. I got the plat for it and there's a collectible trophy that is a bit of a pain, but aside from that I enjoyed my time with the game. It's a shame it wasn't that successful among the masses.

One Night Stand: Quick game, the visuals are pretty interesting. I got half the trophies just doing 3 or 4 playthroughs, got the rest and the plat checking a guide. It's a nice quick story about the uncomfortability and opportunities that can arise after a one-night stand.

Cat Quest II: Got the plat for it. I really liked the first one, so I needed to play this. It's pretty much the same but with doggos. I felt it was easier and shorter than the first one, but I still enjoyed completing it. Waiting for the third part.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Hands down one of the BEST xbox originals it helped start xbox live as we know it

I beat fallout 3 on the xbox360

I enjoyed it. I’m just starting to catch up on all of the Xbox exclusives I missed over the years.

legendrko25 wrote:

I love that game. It’s one of the few games I’ve beaten more than once without it being for achievements or trophies.

legendrko25 wrote:

I'll be updating soon, so get your last clears in the next 5 hours. I look forward to the first monthly update!

I beat Fallout 3 Broken steel (DLC) on the xbox360

Got my 10th of Jan, 4th
The Legend of Tianding
Badge - I'm claiming this for G-AM and it earns me the badge after GoW3

This game was interesting as it almost felt like 2 different games in 1. This won't be spoiler worthy, but if you don't want to know about game mechanics stop reading. So you are a Robin Hood like character who fights corruption taking on thugs to corrupt/evil cops and military foes. You use a knife that can be upgraded a few times as your main means of attack, via the X button. You also have a red sash (Y button) that can grab enemies after you deal a little damage and it will steal their weapon, replacing your knife until it breaks. You also learn a stronger dash move that consumes a stamina bar. This dash can propel you higher for the platforming, as well as dash you through a foe. If you stand still and hit the dash button (B), you'll do a strong punch that sends weaker foes flying. Lastly there's a dodge-roll (RB) that if timed just right nets you a shadow that effectively doubles your damage as hits come from you and the shadow until it goes away.
In normal levels you can move along swiftly, hitting X, X, X for a 3-hit combo that knocks the weaker foes down and generally triggers the Y icon so that you can grab them and steal their weapon and use that until it's gone. I rarely died in fights against even many enemies like this b/c you can do good damage and dodge things, plus the weapons you steal can be good, from weak throwing rocks to rocket launchers, there's a big spread and you can get perks to enhance many aspects of the game, including duration and damage from these weapons. There are basically 3x foe levels, standard humans, bigger/stronger humans and a 2nd set of the bigger guys with larger health bars and more damage. None of them were noteworthy difficult, though with enough foes on screen, you could lose track of your guy, but in general the regular level progression wasn't difficult.
What was challenging was the bosses. There's only 5 really and you fight them 100% differently which was why I say it's like 2 different games. In normal levels I could be aggressive and move around, hitting guys, stealing weapons with larger ranges or throwable/firearms and could zip through them, keeping a stolen weapon in use 90% of the time. Against the bosses you had nothing to steal, the Y 'attack' was all but useless and if you tried to be aggressive, 2-4 hits from them would end you quickly. You can pick up a food item to heal you that takes around 2 seconds to consume, so you could use that when you can, but you're open to taking damage then.
So the 3rd and final boss were the worst, but the 1st and 4th weren't cake walks. With them you HAVE to slow way down and almost more counter-attack or wait for them to attack, dodge it and hit them a few times after. If you get too aggressive most will have a counter to you and hit you for 30-50% of your health. No boss was I able to beat in the first 6 tries I'd guess, and the 3rd and 5th took me certainly over 2-3 dozen tries. It was frustrating even after I caught myself pushing too much and looked to slow down.

So G-AM might be a bit pushing it, but the game also has 2 difficulty levels and I was playing on the 'Hardcore' according to the achievement I got. They made the easier one seem like it was meant as the story mode, so that's why I didn't try that. I did earn all bar 2 achievements and 1 I'd have to replay around 25+% on a new game to earn.

#13 down: Eternal on PC. This (alongside my clear of Hearthstone) gets me my 4th badge: All Aces

I managed to finish one more with 30 minutes to spare! This was the most games I've ever beaten in a month before. Eternal was decent. There are some interesting card mechanics. However, Hearthstone was more fun overall.

January is DUNZO, everyone! To go through some of the stats like previous gamekeepers, we've beaten 97 games and covered a whopping 14.37% of consoles! Eight players haven't beaten a game yet, but four players have beaten ten or more. I'm winning in the clears department with 14, with @Bleed_DukeBlue and @legendrko25 below me with 13 and 12, respectively. Bleed_DukeBlue is our current top badge-collector, with 4.

I considered adding game-themed riddles for each month, with there being some (non-monetary) reward for the first person who figures out the game based on the riddle and then beats it within that month. But it feels like a weird thing to throw into this thread, it would essentially be yet another Game of the Month thing, the riddles could be too easy or too difficult to decipher, and then there's the matter of choosing games everyone has some degree of access to... it's just not a good direction for the thread. So I won't attempt it unless there's serious demand.

Anyhoo, it's February, y'all. Beat lotsa games!

My #9 is Dead Space 2.

https://imgbox.com/IPbK2Gc2

More dismembering Necromorphs, this time in a space city. For some reason all the weapons come unlocked at the beginning of the game (maybe premium edition unlocks?) and thatkilled the survival horror aspect of it. There are a few new enemy types but no boss battles like in the first. Overall has a more action adventure kind of feel to it. Not as good or atmospheric as the original, but still a good game. 8/10

I beat Fire Emblem Engage on Switch. Probably my favorite FE game now, but I still need to play through all the routes in Three Houses someday.

I beat Tetris 99 .
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A tough game, but oh so satisfying to win! I do this once a year to test my meddle.

Got my 1st of Feb, 11th overall, 4th
Blaster Master Zero
Not sure if this is badge-worthy

I had some $$ set to expire in my M$ account earlier last month so I bought this on sale. I ended up getting the 'normal' ending annoyingly b/c in Stage 7 (of 8) I didn't know better and went to the area's boss and backtracking was annoying so I beat it without fully collecting everything in the area and you needed to do that for the 'true' ending - dumb. I believe that I got everything else and stages 1-5 you revisited so I was thinking I might revisit the other one too. Game wasn't good enough to replay and backtracking from the very final boss (there's no fast travel WHY?) to stage 7, just is NOT worth it, uninstalled.

The game did manage to put the nail in the coffin of my X1 controller. I've had a White Sports version for a long while and it was my primary on this X1X before I got the Red Sports version to match it and then it went back to primary on the X1X after I got my XSX and didn't love the newer style controller (so Red for XSX and White on X1X). Anyhow, the RT had been sticking for a while and the rubber on the left thumb-stick is now shot, plus you had to hammer the X button to fire in the game and it isn't super responsive anymore, is sticking.
It might not be dead, but I tried the final boss a few times and wasn't cutting it, got annoyed, switched controllers and in-game weapons and beat it on the very next try, more responsive button 100% helped. It needs cleaned for sure and new rubber, so I'll try that, I really like that controller.

My #10 is Dead Space 3.

https://imgbox.com/Hak7oVc7

Poor Issac Clarke. He can't catch a break. Not only does he have to deal with Necromorphs but now humans too. This one has him traveling to the alien homeworld. They really throw a bunch of creatures at you at some points of the game. I completed all the optional side quests. There is also a lot of cinematic sequences and scaling cliffs, giving it a much more AAA feel to the game than the previous two. They changed the weapon and upgrade systems, making them more customizable, but making the weapons lack individual identity and the iconic feel of the past games. Now you can only carry two weapons at a time, down from four. Overall, a good wrap up to the series. 8/10

#14 down: The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom (First clear on Xbox One. I would like to count it towards the Heavy Machine Gun badge). This was OK for a random game pass game. Most of the game is running around shooting zombies and weird mutated creatures, but, since it’s a kids game, there isn’t any blood or gore. I saw this was leaving Game Pass and got curious. It was mindless but not terrible and took me about 8 hours to beat.

#1 - Goat Simulator 3 (beat on 1/31)
My kids got this game for Christmas. They find it hysterical. It's pretty funny and the pop culture references are great. There's an awesome little nod to P.T. in there too! I appreciated that. Took us around 28 hours of goofing around to finally see the end credits.
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#2 - A Plague Tale: Requiem (beat on 2/3)
I can't say much more here that hasn't been said. Just a fantastic game. The narrative and the voice acting are just superb. Charlotte McBurney is outstanding! I will say that I think the first game involved a bit more strategy. I found that you could brute force your way through the stealthier sections pretty easily this time around.
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Beating Donkey Kong Country 3 every year gets a little stale, so I upped the ante by beating with one hand.
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Love this game to death, and this challenge put my skills to the test! Once you get movement down, a lot of stages are largely unchanged by the one-hand restriction. The most interesting stages under this challenge are Ripsaw Rage (a speedy, upward autoscroller where you climb trees away from a huge saw), Bobbing Barrel Brawl (where you use Ellie the Elephant to suck up and shoot out water, now with awkwardly-placed buttons), and Krack-Shot Kroc (where a reticle is constantly targeting you and you have to shoot Squitter the Spider's web platforms to proceed). The latter was the hardest.

I recommend trying this if you own a Switch with NSO and are a DKC fan. I plan to play all of them this way eventually, but now I'm doing the same challenge in Super Mario Sunshine. I feel guilty using my right hand to type all this, haha!

#3- Fantasy Life (incl. Origin Island DLC)

This is a fun little romp from Level-5, originally released in 2014. benstylus and I have been playing it together. You can choose from 12 different character classes (referred to as “Lives”) that you can change at your discretion after completing the initial missions. Need weapons and armor for your Paladin? Become a Blacksmith and make some sweet gear! Need healing items? Cook up healing dishes as a Cook or brew up potions as an Alchemist.

It’s an interesting take on RPGs, and the story turns some classic tropes on their heads.

Things I like:
StreetPass! You can share most items with a friend.
Local multiplayer! You can have a buddy travel with you to complete particularly tough missions.
Pets and allies! If your real life friends aren’t available, you can partner up with some characters after certain points in the story.

Not so much:
Gender-specific armor. benstylus got some amazing kit on his file and neither one of us can use it because we both chose male characters.
The inventory system. You can’t sort your items by type beyond “Consumables” or “Materials”.
Fetch quests and RNG. Need something for a mission but your luck isn’t very high? Sucks to be you.

It’s been a treat to play. I’d recommend it if the physical copy weren’t more expensive than any sensible person should pay for a 3DS game and the DLC wasn’t going away in a month.

Really hoping Level-5 decide to revisit this one for the Switch.

(Level Up! Badge 1/2)

sailorneorune wrote:

Dang, I was about to ask if it was worth buying. Guess I'll pass if acquiring it costs a bunch in a short timeframe. Waiting for a remake sounds like the best bet. Unless...

Would you like that counted as just Fantasy Life? Or Fantasy Life and Fantasy Life DLC?