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52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

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dhaabi:

--- Quote from: justin8301 on December 27, 2023, 12:42:25 pm ---Heres a question... for the purposes of these challenges, how do you guys handle a game that was started in the end of one year and then finished in the beginning of the next?
--- End quote ---

Many here go about this "challenge" a lot differently. Some add any game played to their total count even if it's endless or abandoned, so it may make more sense to base the list's items on when the game was started, rather than ended. Personally speaking, I only add a game once it's been completed while omitting any games which I've stopped playing prematurely, so my criteria is based off of completion date.


--- Quote from: kamikazekeeg on December 27, 2023, 07:55:58 pm ---I've ended up turning it into less of a "Challenge" thing after all this time, and more of "I have the memory of a goldfish and I want to keep track of everything I played this year" lol
--- End quote ---

I've always treated the event the same way. In recent years, I've wanted to maintain a better memory of certain types of media experienced, which is why I post fairly lengthy thoughts with each game completed. It's definitely less about finishing a determined amount of games and more of a collection of my thoughts. Writing about the experiences also helps me reflect on aspects of the game in ways I ordinarily wouldn't have. If I can actually reach 52 games played or even surpass it, then that's only better.

kashell:
1. Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon

I was playing this on the low immediately after BN3 for some reason. I was warned about this one. Still, no matter how good or bad a game might be, I’m always excited to play something new. That excitement didn’t last long. Someone told me that this is the entry in the series worth avoiding. I should have listened, but no. OCD with numerical order kicked in and off I went into a Battle Network game with a barebones story, a horrible translation, and an unsatisfying loop. I think the highlight was seeing the characters from Boktai. Random, but a nice touch. And to be fair, the various forms (I got water, metal, and junk) were pretty cool for a few battles. Otherwise, it was a mess. From what I can tell, there isn’t any bonus content. I wouldn’t have checked it out but I know that there are a lot of people that enjoy it. Instead, people have to finish the game three full times in order to access everything. And that’s just for one version? Come on. I intend to play a lot of games this year. It’s going to take a real stinker to out-stink this.

bikingjahuty:
1. Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5)

I've always been a big Mortal Kombat fan, however, I feel like the series has been the best its ever been since 2011's Mortal Kombat (MK9) when Netherealm Studios chose to heavily invest in MK's story mode while giving the player fun, engaging gameplay. While I will admit that MKX wasn't amazing, and MK11 certainly improved things from its predecessor, I was definitely ready for the story to take a new direction, which is why I was pretty excited when MK1 was announced and it was revealed that it would be resetting the MK timeline from the very beginning. I finally got around to playing MK1, and while the game started out very promising, it really all well apart in the end, at least in terms of story.


I'll go ahead and rip the bandaid right off. MK1's first, second, and third acts are pretty good overall and definitely deliver on creating a new, alternative timeline for the MK characters that we've all grown to know and love. Unfortunately, the game's fourth and final acts introduces something that pretty much killed whatever interest and investment in the story I had and took a hard right turn into absolute ridiculousness. I won't spoil anything, but what i will say is I wish all professional writers would collectively swear off including any sort of multiverse crap in their work. It destroys continuity and removes any stakes or established rules, and pretty much just establishes "anything and everything goes." Some people might enjoy this, but for me it's just lazy and absolutely stupid. MK1 is a victim of modern multiverse think which ruined what was otherwise a great story up until it was introduced. Unsurprisingly, I found the ending of the game completely anticlimactic as a result of this too. For MK2, or whatever they call the next game in the series, I really hope Neatherealm just sticks with a cohesive story with no multiverse or alternate timeline crap and sticks with it. As for the gameplay, it's on par with MK11's albeit with a few new mechanics, most notably the tag assist system which has a second character provide brief assistance to provide an additional attack, set up extended combos, or move cancel. I'm not a fan of this time of mechanic in other fighting games, and I wasn't in MK1. I'd much rather have a fully fleshed out tag team mechanic that allows you to just swap between two fully playable characters. Still, MK1's tag in mechanic does nothing to take away or add to the gameplay, it's just sort of an unnecessary feature that was just sort of there for me. Visually MK1 is pretty amazing looking, and aside from some aspects of the game just not feeling very Mortal Kombatish, the visuals were about as good as they could possibly be. Audio is mostly good, however no really memorable tracks and the occasional spotty voice acting holds MK1 back from being as good as it could have been in that department. Despite my grievances with MK1, I still found it it be an enjoyable, new entry in the MK series. It's just too bad the story really had to shit the bed at the end, which significantly dampened my enjoyment of the game once the end credits rolled. Here's hoping things are fixed or at least greatly improved in the next game. (1/1/24) [35/50]

bikingjahuty:
2. Einhander (PS1)

I have a long time relationship with Einhander. I first went crazy over wanting this game back in the late 2000s when I was heavily collecting for the PS1 (and a dozen other consoles). When I finally did get a copy, I popped it in my PS1, really excited about all the hype and great things I'd heard about it, except the game ended up being far less enjoyable than I'd been lead to believe. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy Einhander, but I have definitely lean more towards it being just alright. I've returned to Einhander at various times over the years, hoping that I will like it more the next time and see what many others see in this game. After beating Einhander again, I am happy to say my opinion of it did improve slightly, but it's still a game I think it heavily overrated within collecting circles.


More than anything, Einhander is a very good looking game. The game's heavily stylized graphics make this one of the best looking games on the PS1 imo, and it definitely escapes being another forgettable, generic SHMUP because of it. The same can be said about the game's OST, which is very catchy and adds to how unique and memorable Einhander is. I have less glowing things to say about Einhander's OST, which while not terrible, but lands pretty firmly into being okay. There are some cool mechanics and parts of the game, however the level design and balancing ranges from meh to bad in half the game. The game gives you swappable weapons which is a nice feature, and tries to align what weapons are best for a given situation before they are needed, but at the same time some of these weapons offer insufficient support to eefectively get past certain parts of the game. On top of that, Einhander uses stage checkpoints instead of the more common respawning instantly right where you just died when you get hit. Essentially you have to replay a specific section of stage all over again when you get hit. It's as annoying as it sounds, at least for me. So yeah, I do like Einhander a tad more than I did the last time I beat it, but it's still not the incredible shmup masterpiece that so many others love to claim this game is. (1/1/24) [35/50]

kamikazekeeg:
4 - Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC (PC 2023) - BEAT - Meant to play this last year when it released, but finally got around to it and I think it's pretty great.  It's been awhile since I've played the original Separate Ways, but I feel like what they did is better here, much like the main game was.  They took a little bit of Leon's stuff and worked it into this part of the story pretty well and they definitely tried to make her stuff more unique with her grapple hook stuff.  I just had a great time with RE4.  It's definitely a different game, better in many ways, though it is missing that cheesy ass stuff from the first game, but that just means I get two good versions of the game.

The only real complaint I have, that I had before, was that Ada's voice actor is not good.  I was hoping that if she got more to do, since she doesn't say alot in Leon's story, she'd show something more here, but she is just awful.  I think they are trying to play her kinda of "cold and detached", nothing gets to her, she's seen everything and takes no shit, but she just comes off bored and stiff.  It's not a voice direction issue as everyone else in the game is fine or great, but she just doesn't work.  I really hope they are done using her for anything else, just bring back the actress from RE2, she was fine.

Great game though, I'm crossing my fingers that they don't remake RE5 next, that game would only work for me as a top to bottom overhaul, to the point that it's barely recognizable lol Otherwise, just give me a new RE1 remake or something like Code Veronica, which I haven't played before.  Either would be neat.

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