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General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 10:42:05 am

Title: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 10:42:05 am
The promise of the fresh start with a new year means another year of catching up on our backlogs! The goal is 52, but even if you only accomplish beating half that many games it's all for the greater good of reducing our backlogs, some of which are ridiculously long lol. But let's make this a better year than 2021 with more games played and beat, especially with next gen hardware getting into the hands of more and more people. Or just play the thousands of great retro games available, your choice :)


PS: In case anyone is new to this challenge, the 52 Games Challenge is an annual event where members of this board attempt to beat at least one game a week on average from their collection. Sure, owning games and having them neatly on a shelf if great, but it's even better to actually play and beat them! That's why this challenge was created, in order to reduce many of our ever growing backlogs of games. Pretty much state what you're playing, what you beat, what games you gave up on, and keep track of what games you played this year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 10:42:22 am
I have A TON going on this next year which has me worried about whether or not I'll be able to best 52 games again, but so far I've never fallen short since this challenge began like 4 or 5 years ago. I guess it wouldn't surprise though if I didn't hit 52, but I have a whole year ahead of me so who knows.


Aside from randomly playing whatever interests me at the time, and plan on replaying a lot of games I've played before, but haven't beat in years this year. Some examples of this are games like KOTOR, Max Payne, Sonic the Hedgehog, and various other games it's easily been 10-years at least since I last played them. But other than those I plan on playing a ton of games I've never played before, including a bunch of retro games. Really looking forward to playing a ton of games over the next year :D


1. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS4) (1/1/21) [39/50]
2. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis) (1/9/21) [37/50]
3. Zero Wing (Genesis) (1/9/21) [30/50]
4. Propeller Arena (Dreamcast) (1/29/21) [30/50]
5. South Park: The Fractured but Whole (PS4) (2/2/21) [34/50]
6. King of Fighters XII (PS3) (2/21/21) [24/50]
7. King of Fighters XIII (PS3) (2/21/21) [38/50]
8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2) (2/22/21) [32/50]
9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2) (2/22/21) [28/50]
10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2) (2/23/21) [34/50]
11. King of Fighters 96 (PS2) (2/23/21) [34/50]
12. King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (PS2) (2/23/21) [18/50]
13. King of Fighters 2006 (PS2) (2/23/21) [19/50]
14. King of Fighters 2000 (PS2) (2/23/21) [35/50]
15. King of Fighters 99: Evolution (Dreamcast) (2/23/21) [37/50]
16. King of Fighters 2001 (PS2) (2/23/21) [29/50]
17. King of Fighters 2002 (PS2) (2/23/21) [36/50]
18. King of Fighters 2003 (PS2) (2/24/21) [37/50]
19. King of Fighters XI (PS2) (2/25/21) [35/50]
20. Zanac X Zanac (PS1) (2/25/21) [34/50]
21. The Last of Us: Part II (PS4) (5/2/21) [41/50]
22. Sorcerer Striker (Arcade) (5/25/21) [37/50]
23. Brave Blade (Arcade) (5/25/21) [21/50]
24. 1944: The Loop Master (Arcade) (5/25/21) [20/50]
25. Kingdom Grand Prix (Arcade) (5/26/21) [31/50]
26. Dimahoo (Arcade) (5/26/21) [35/50]
27. Night Slashers (Arcade) (5/27/21) [35/50]
28. Psyvariar 2 (Dreamcast) (6/7/21) [24/50]
29. Breakers (Dreamcast) (6/15/21) [30/50]
30. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries (PC) (6/22/21) [33/50]
31. Streets of Rage (Genesis) (6/22/21) [34/50]
32. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) (6/22/21) [34/50]
33. New Pokemon Snap (Switch) (6/25/21) [35/50]
34. Spiderman and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis) (6/26/21) [22/50]
35. Keio Flying Squadron (Sega CD) (6/28/21) [36/50]
36. Mace the Dark Age (N64) (8/10/21) [30/50]
37. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (PS5) (8/12/21) [38/50]
38. Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2) (9/12/21) [33/50]
39. Cruis'n Blast (Switch) (9/18/21) [32/50]
40. Silent Hill 2 (PS2) (10/3/21) [41/50]
41. ReDux: Dark Matter (Dreamcast) (10/4/21) [24/50]
42. Shikigami No Shiro 2 (Dreamcast) (10/4/21) [35/50]
43. Trizeal (Dreamcast) (10/7/21) [35/50]
44. Triggerheart Exelica (Dreamcast) (10/8/21) [28/50]
45. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4) (10/30/21) [46/50]
46. Fighting Vipers 2 (Arcade) (11/7/21) [31/50]
47. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Genesis) (11/13/21) [23/50]
48. Jurassic Park (Arcade) (11/14/21) [28/50]
49. Donkey Kong Country (SNES) (11/15/21) [38/50]
50. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES) (11/19/21) [43/50]
51. Kirby's Dreamland 3 (SNES) (11/20/21) [26/50]
52. Pokemon Red Version (Gameboy) (12/9/21) [37/50]
53. Cuphead (PC) (12/23/21) [40/50]
54. Final Fight 3 (SNES) (12/26/21) [26/50]
55. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2) (12/31/21) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 10:50:54 am
Earlier and earlier with this each year.  Reserving my post.

Met my goal in 2016 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105641.html#msg105641), 2017 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132350.html#msg132350), 2018 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php?topic=8821.msg149004#msg149004), 2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162655.html#msg162655), and 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173290.html#msg173290); with 2016/2017/2020 being 104 games and 2018/2019 being 52 games as the goals.  2015 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg103895.html#msg103895) I tracked the info super late and I had another really busy year that year.  Demolished my goal last year hitting 121 beat.  Last year was an effort to franchise run a lot of series, and I think I did pretty good with that.  Some series I got through most of the games, some I got through the ones I missed, and some I successfully beat them all.  Probably more of the same this year, more franchise runs, more games I should've already played, and I'm on a discord that has a game club running that I've been taking part of.  1st was Chrono Trigger, great, 2nd was FF6, not so great, and now it's Super Mario RPG.  Again, I'm not going to explicitly carry over titles from previous years just like last year.  If I start playing such a game again, I'll bring over the info, but I'm not going to clog up my post with that info.

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ignition365)
Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/Ignition365)

2021 52 Game Challenge

Top Games played released in 2021

Top Games played NOT released in 2021

Top Games played overall in 2021

Honorable Mention

- Content posts -
Games 1 - 17 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185666.html#msg185666)
Games 18 - 36 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185670.html#msg185670)
Games 37 - 60 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186054.html#msg186054)
Games 61 - 76 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186162.html#msg186162)
Games 77 - 88 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186581.html#msg186581)
Games 89 - 101 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188655.html#msg188655)
Games 102 - 114 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188665.html#msg188665)
Games 115 - 125 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189958.html#msg189958)
Games 126 - 140 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190398.html#msg190398)
Games 141 - 152 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190436.html#msg190436)
Games 153 - 165 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191088.html#msg191088)
Current + Not in progress (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191226.html#msg191226)
Final Stats (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193729.html#msg193729)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 10:59:36 am
Reserving my first content post too while I'm at it I guess.

Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

1. Dark Souls III: Fire Fades Edition (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwhtVEWFTI&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQHqc5-dAaSve3HD8GqQ7DI) (X1)
So, my wife had family coming into town over the weekend and they were going to be staying with us.  I'm well aware that 2 of the folks coming down are very much into the Souls games and I want to start DS3, so I went out and bought with the idea that either they would bring down their X1 and we'd co-op or I could get them to help me.  Well, they both kept back and forth telling me polarizing things.  "Go that way", "No, don't go that way".  "Kill her, it'll get you a shortcut", "I didn't kill her when I played, I wouldn't bother".  Every single thing turned into them getting me screwed, I'm fairly early in the game, I might actually delete my save and start over just so that I'm not so screwed.  They headed back home and were telling me "Oh, hey, when we get back we can co-op all 3 of us and we can help you", Screw that noise.  I am actually pretty pissed about the whole ordeal.  Their opinion about the Souls franchise is very different than mine.  They believe that no matter what you do, you're going to die, because the game is just that hard, so it doesn't matter.  Read as, they suck and had to put in years of effort to be able to get where they are.  My opinion is that these games are not unlike retro games in that if you know what you need to do, it's just about execution.  I can execute.  I just don't know what to do or where to go.  I can use a walkthrough, I have no quarrels with that, because, to be frank, I don't like wasting my time, I'm not going to try every different thing, dying hundreds of times until I figure out the right direction, just tell me the right direction and I'll go about my business.  I also have no interest in having people basically play the game for me, so if we co-op, chances are you are either going to be explicitly unhelpful, like before, or you are going to go ahead and basically kill everything so that I'm just following.  No thanks.  Now back to relevant things.  Going back to Souls from Bloodborne is a bit weird.  It took a lot to get used to the stagger visceral system in BB, but I'm aware that that is going to assist me in parrying in DS3.  Going from blood vials back to estus flasks is troublesome, because I'm used to having plenty of healing items and being able to recover health via dealing damage.  It's also a bit difficult going back to using a shield when I'm used to having a pistol.  The DS games prepared me well for Bloodborne, but Bloodborne is so different it almost makes going back to DS harder.  The fact that those folks fucked up my playthrough, and I'm not that far, I may actually delete my save file and start over.  Dicks.  Recently found that I have the collector's strategy guide for this game that I got for free a while back.  I was planning on beating this game this Summer, but since my wife's cousin has been out of town all summer, I probably won't get around to this until late August/Early September and even then, who knows. <--All written in 2017.  2020 and here we are and I'm finally jumping back into this game.  I think I've played this game for like an hour each year trying to get back in, but between being angry about 2017 events and not knowing what I was doing or what to do, I would give up.  Same thing happened in 2020, but a day later I was still feeling like giving it a try and now I've dumped in an additional 10+ hours and am level 43 and at Smouldering Lake now.  It was probably around this point that I started streaming my playthrough of this to Twitch.  Now that I'm doing that, I might be writing on here less frequently as I'll be able to look back at playthroughs (exported to Youtube).  Actually going through the process right now of exporting my first stream to Youtube, so hopefully that goes well.  Did all the DLC, got like 90% of the achievements.  Just need all rings, all pyromancies, all miracles, all gestures, and the 2 endings I hadn't gotten before.  Would require a run at NG+ and NG++ though, so I'm hesitant to bother.  I think my rating of souls is DS2 < Demon's Souls < BB < DS < DS3 < DSR < Sekiro.  Demon's Souls Remake will probably fall in around BB, either before or after I imagine.  I really enjoyed Bloodborne, but DS1/3 are great and Sekiro is top tier for me.
Rating: Soft Recommendation.  I personally loved this game, but I know folks won't in general.

2. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SiWjrs1FQ8&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQPni6I0IAWECbZaHNTiJYS) (PS4)
Was trying to pick out a new game to play while waiting for Xbox's Gamerscore Challenge to start (will talk about that when it starts).  My wife suggested I finally play this game because she liked it a lot and has been recommending it to me for a while.  This was my first game to stream start to finish on Twitch.  So my entire playthrough is available over there.  Short 2-3 hour game with some interesting stories and concepts.  The game warns you that it doesn't hold your hand and expects you to figure things out on your own.  I don't think I would've been able to beat this game without a walkthrough for A) not being able to find such tiny things, B) not being able to find things in such similarly colored areas, and C) not wanting to wander to far and miss out on stuff.  That said, I wasn't personally a fan of the ending, I found it quite polarizing and it sort of ruined the experience for me.  Maybe a second playthrough, knowing what you know at the end, might enhance things, but I'm thinking not.
Rating: Soft pass.

3. Super Mario RPG (SNES)
I started this one last year, but I never documented it last year, not a huge deal.  I do that frequently, either document it after beating the game, or just get around to it whenever.  This is game #3 of the discord game club.  Seems like at this point it's only like 3 or so people still really taking part.  A couple of people dropped out at Chrono Trigger, and then almost everybody dropped out at FF6.  I think everyone who got through FF6 started SMRPG and is enjoying it immensely.  I'd love to have been able to stream this game, but I don't have a capture card, so only PS4+/X1+ for now... and even then, I'm playing through an emulator and using cheats/save states to help the game go quicker.  I have an aversion to the massive grinding required in older RPG games and a lot of the cheap 1 hit KO stuff a lot of older games would do as well.  The level of cheating I use largely depends on how much I'm enjoying the game and how much trouble I'm having with the game.  I didn't cheat much in FF6 until I was ready to abandon the game, at that point I cheated massively.  This game I largely only cheated with money and FP, and occasionally did XP boosts so I wouldn't have to grind to level up.  Does that belittle my accomplishments?  Probably, but I don't really care.  I'm getting what I want out of the games and I'm not going to feel bad about it.  Timed hits works better than I remember.  I feel like as a kid I always had trouble with the timed hits, but it wasn't nearly as bad.
Rating: Soft Recommendation.

Rant #1
This is one of those things I'm concerned about with my move to streaming my playthroughs of games.  A) While I do own this game physically, I'm playing it through an emulator, as I usually do with older games, which leads to other problems.  B) I tend to use cheats on older games, like infinite lives or something, so that I can get through the game without having to start over and over and over.  C) I tend to use save states frequently, because rather than taking the time to trial and error having to start over, I'll trial and error and then save scum essentially. D) I like to play some of these games in short bursts which isn't really streaming friendly, can't really just stream for 5 minutes at a time a 40 hour game.  E) I like to play these games on the go.  I might be playing for 5 minutes on the toilet, I might be playing for 5 minutes before bed, I might be playing for 5 minutes while I'm waiting on code to compile.  Can't really stream when I'm moving about so much and might not be somewhere where I could stream.  I just bought a Retrotink 2XPro, so that's step one of being able to stream something like this (though I already own a Retron5 and that's probably what I'd use to stream this), just need a capture card... that's next.  I'm just concerned that my playcount will go down if I'm holding off on playing for when I can stream, a lot of games get beat for me when I'm playing in tiny unstreamable chunks.  The other main concern is the shit I'll get from people for cheating/save scumming (read as cheating).  On the one hand, I don't care because this isn't about them, but I still don't want to deal with it.  As it is, I've gotten so much shit from people invalidating my 121 games beat last year because I didn't beat 3 games 100%.  I beat 3 Sonic games, having only played through with one character instead of beating it 15 times with all of the characters to get the true ending.  I would argue getting the true ending would be 100%ing the game, and beating the game with one character is beating the game in general.  I never claim to complete/100% games when I say I "beat" a game.  As it is, my definition of beating a game largely lies in getting it off my backlog, if the game is off my backlog, as in I did what I wanted and got what I wanted out of it, I consider it beat.  I usually want the credits to roll or to get the main story done, but if a game's good, I'll go for more.  And now I see I made a huge wall rant irrelevant to SMRPG, so I'm gonna strip this to a separate rant.

4. Mixups by POWGI (PSV)
Started this game last year, but set it on the side due to Sonic/FF6.  Finally came back to it after beating SMRPG.  Didn't have much left to do.  Managed to get the easy platinum.
Rating: Hard pass.

5. Word Wheel by POWGI (PSV)
Next POWGI game on my list to play.  One of those scrabble esque games where you're given letters and you've got to come up with words.  Only constraint is that every word has to use the letter in the middle of the wheel.  Pretty simple stuff, pretty enjoyable too.  Reminds me a bit of old text twist, just slightly more annoying with the required letter per word.
Rating: Hard Pass

6. Tic-Tac-Letters by POWGI (PSV)
I jumped into this one next, goal is pretty much draw up a stalemate type of scenario, no 3 in a rows.  It starts out pretty fun, but I kept getting to a point where I just didn't understand how you were supposed to know what to do next.  Seems to have a certain sudoku type of thinking out things to figure out the puzzle.  If I had been in a better mindspace, I probably would've enjoyed the game more, but at the time I was just annoyed.  Regardless, it's an interesting and novel concept.
Rating: Hard pass.

7. Fifty Words by POWGI (PSV)
Another entry in the POWGI series.  This is basically a word search game, but every single letter in the grid (which isn't a traditional grid) gets used, sometimes more than once.  It does basically expect you to find the words without telling you what words to look for, but it does let you know when a given letter on the grid will no longer be used, which helps narrow things down.
Rating: Hard pass.

8. Just a Phrase by POWGI (PSV)
More POWGI.  This one is build a wheel of fortune esque phrase, where the phrase is intentionally used incorrectly, by selecting letters hangman style.  Interesting, but still not very good.
Rating: Hard pass.

9. Wreckfest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqy58wrjjLY&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTaymbBdSOwxoXV9ccceURF) (X1)
I expect to abandon this game by Xmas as I'm getting Death Stranding for xmas, so I'm probably going to jump into that as soon as I can.  Something about this game doesn't satisfy my want for a destruction derby game.  I don't know if it's the fact that you take damage when you deal damage, which makes sense, but it makes the game difficult to take part in the destruction and still win, plus you get auto wrecked if you don't deal damage for a minute or something.  Again this is one I'm mostly only playing when I need to earn achievements for Xbox Rewards.  Xbox Rewards is kind of being my bane right now in gaming, I could be playing and beating games on X1, but I feel it's a waste to earn achievements that could otherwise go towards rewards.  I need to get over it.  Anyway, I'm at the tail end of the 4th championship where I've just got to do 800 points worth of races or something to win it.  Finally finished this game after who knows how long I've been working on it.  Honestly, real good fun.  Youtube copyright claiming my uploads so I get to deal with that.  I'm gonna dock points for this inconvenience.  Shame there isn't some twitch/youtube/console integration that has the games not stream the music but let the player still hear it.  afaik there is and I'm dumb.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

10. Alphaset by POWGI (PSV)
I'd love to say this is the last POWGI game, but I'm sure there are more I haven't done and will do.  I believe this one is a crossword style puzzle where you fill in 26 blanks, each blank representing a unique letter in the alphabet.  Pretty simple stuff.  Does seem to be the last POWGI game, I went and searched around to see if there is one I haven't done yet and seems I've done them all.  There is one new one I see now, but it isn't on Vita and I don't want to play on PS4 and I'm mostly only getting these for trophies so Switch just doesn't align.  Eh.  Whatever.
Rating: Hard pass.

11. NHL 94 Rewind (X1)
I have this thing in my head where I'm like oh yeah, NHL 94.  I play it and I'm like oh, I suck at this.  I about give up and someone tells me about the j-shot thing and I'm scoring goals now.  I run through the playoffs, play a couple of games, and bam, 1000 gamerscore.  Nice and easy and only took up most of an evening.  Over 10% done with this month's gamerscore challenge now.
Rating: Soft pass

12. Sonic Advance (GBA)
Decided it was finally time to hop back on my franchise run of the Sonic series.  I'm not a big fan of Sonic in general, so I'm not gonna have a lot functionally to say at all, let alone good stuff.  Art style seems really good, very animated sprites, seems to be in the style of Sonic X.  Gameplay is actually pretty enjoyable, I'd say one of the best 2D sonics I've played.  Pretty short too with only 2 acts per zone.  I can't recommend it because I don't like Sonic games, but if you like Sonic, you owe it to yourself to prioritize playing the Advance series.
Rating: Soft pass.

Streaming tangent
I'm sort of splitting my run between 2d/3D and console/handheld.  Next games up would've been this and/or Shadow the Hedgehog iirc.  I'm putting off any console entries until I can stream the playthrough.  I got my retrotink 2xpro a few days ago and I managed to snag a cheap elgato hd60s+ on amazon that should arrive Friday.  So maybe I'll start streaming Shadow the Hedgehog on Saturday.  May do a test stream with something simple to just figure out OBS and such.  Totally off topic, anyway

13. Sonic Advance 2 (GBA)
More Sonic Advance games.  Even better than the previous entry, improving in most ways.  Really don't have much to say as it's more of the same.
Rating: Soft pass.

14. Call of the Sea (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB2Pgz3eNc&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRG9kK-Gb9TQd5LnwHXwrci) (XS)
In more of my coincidental Lovecraftian game playing, here's another one.  This one should be pretty short, and should make for an easy 1000 gamerscore now that the gamerscore challenge has started.  Puzzle/walking simulator, so should be an interesting time.  Got through Chapter 2 and none of the achievements popped, so after I ended the stream I completely replayed chapter 2 to get the achievements.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again. Didn't happen again.  Rest of the experience was actually pretty good with this game.  Thinking about it, I'm going to try and make an effort to link to my playthrough playlists for the games I've streamed in case folks wanna see and so I can get back to it real quick.  Story is good, gameplay is pretty good, graphics are good.  Overall a good game.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

15. Gone Home (X1)
I've already beaten this game before, but I needed gamerscore for the gamerscore challenge, so I went through and played through this game a couple of times to get the collect all the things, collect all the things in 10 minutes, and the view all commentary achievements.  Basically beat the game like 4 more times, but I'm not going to count it more than once.  Very quick 1000g, and an enjoyable game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

16. Sonic Advance 3 (GBA)
Okay, so last entry in the Advance series, and they swap things up.  This game has an overworld for each zone, doesn't really serve a purpose, but it's interesting and actually kind of pleasant.  Each zone has 3 acts again, bonus levels sprinkled, and a boss level.  In this one, I noticed the levels felt particularly long, but not in a bad way.  A few levels were weird in that they play more like a Mario level than a Sonic level in riding a platform and dodging stuff instead of going fast.  Best 2D Sonic game I've played so far (Not counting spin offs because Chaotix and Tails Adventure were probably better)
Rating: Soft pass.

17. Black Mirror (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzFz6ZU8-Ns&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRu4KO6pfPx1mFg7HorXWy2) (X1)
Went looking through my games and their achievement guides and saw that this one was not only quick, but pretty easy to get everything in one playthrough without much effort guide wise.  Oh. My. God.  This. Game.  It's terrible.  Like laughably terrible.  Animations are wack, voice acting is off, glitchy/buggy.  Just this game could be a treasure trove of memes.  Story wise, this game's story is actually quite good... really makes me want to go read through my Lovecraft book my wife just bought me.  Oh, did I mention this is another Lovecraft game?  I swear it's not on purpose, I just happen to be doing it.  I promise.  I really can't recommend this game, but it is a quick and easy 1000g.  But this is probably one of those games that's so bad that it's sort of redeeming in the meta-entertainment section.
Rating: Hard pass.

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185670.html#msg185670)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 11:09:42 am
Quote from: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 10:50:54 am
Earlier and earlier with this each year.  Reserving my post.



Less than two weeks before the start of the new year, I don't see what the big deal is.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 11:14:37 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185666.html#msg185666)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

18. Nier Automata (X1)
I thought about not adding this one, because I was hoping it'd be quicker, but I did wind up sinking over 5 hours into the game and I have previously platinumed this game on PS4.  A cool dude on twitter did a video about a hidden cheat in the game that basically unlocks chapter select at the beginning of the game.  I leveraged that to get the full 1000g for the game because of the current gamerscore challenge going on.  I'm considering creating another Xbox Live account and streaming the 1000g because it's actually quite simple... but I probably won't.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

19. Halo: Reach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FKXDDoAJEU&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTQkk2iNqius8YkLsy3gMqc) (XSX)
Decided to finally start my franchise run of Halo.  My thought was "hey, there's 7 games here and I need about 2,000g left for the gamerscore challenge, this will work out well", well at this point I've played through 2 Halo games and I have about 300g to show for it, so with 5 games left, I might get another 700g, maybe.  That'll leave me with 1,000g to still earn and no time left, so I'm looking at other stuff and maybe I'll finish the franchise run closer to the 10,000g mark or once I'm done and don't need to worry.  I remember the story for this game being more... idk, meaningful when I played it 10 or so years ago, this time, I was very meh the entire game and I like Halo more than I did 10 years ago, not that it really says much because I still don't care for it.
Rating: Soft pass.

20. Super Smash Bros. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13Pg7r9XZw&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTiun20WWd3oeA81mQBybJG) (N64)
I hadn't intended on counting this one, but I did technically beat the game and get the credits to pop and I did spend about an hour playing the game.  I was streaming my playing of the game.  I hooked the system up to a Retrotink and the retrotink up to an elgato and I was using the Hyperkin Admiral wireless n64 controller.  Honestly, the whole setup worked really well.  I'm really happy with how it worked out.  Will be trying to make an effort to play some retro games sometime soon.  Probably Shadow the Hedgehog though.
Rating: Soft recommendation, obviously.

21. Sonic Battle (GBA)
I don't know why I hadn't written anything up on this yet.  I've been playing it for a week or so and beat it a few days ago at this point too.  Game is a pretty simple arena brawler beat em up fighting game.  1v1, 1v2,1v1v1,2v2, etc type of ordeal.  Took some getting used to how the game plays and controls, but overall, it was a pretty enjoyable game.  I wish the story hadn't been as long as it was, but it wasn't a slog or anything like some other games.  Just longer than I would've liked.  If it provided any value to the Sonic canon I'd recommend it, but as a handheld party-esque fighting game, I'm gonna say soft pass, but it's still not bad.
Rating: Soft pass.

22. Halo: CE Anniversary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buUQVmGbvBs&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQ9r248ENtAyVFGygNnUhom) (XSX)
Started this up shortly after finishing Reach, I've played this one before, but I don't think I ever beat it.  I played it on PC way back in the XP days, but Halo 2 was Vista minimum so I just kind of gave up because I was like whatever, never playing it.  I remembered quite a bit of the game as I was playing through it, but also felt like the gameplay was pretty dated.  I was hoping in the anniversary release they would've gave it some QoL improvements over just graphical stuff.  A bit of the game is pretty terribly cliche and meme-y and some of the fights are pretty cheap.  I definitely will be taking a break before starting Halo 2, but that might be partly because I need to get like 1,000g to get closer to the goal for the month.
Rating: Soft pass

23. Donut County (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ZepWL_0jo&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRV_gRVB8voL3rZtrnxctg_) (X1)
Game got added to Game pass and I knew it was a quick 1,000g, so I went for it because of the gamerscore challenge.  Took about 2 hours... almost exactly, my stream was 121 minutes and I took a couple of breaks to help my wife with stuff.  Fun game.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

24. Lococycle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Db5iiyLMU&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQxODXPTP3sHww65jSRGC3X) (X1)
It was getting down to the wire with the gamerscore challenge, and I still needed about 800 points, so I decided to give this game a go again.  It looked like an easy 1,000g, so I decided to go for it.  I beat this game a few years back on Steam through Steamlink which worked pretty well.  But this time I streamed playing it and gosh I just didn't really remember how terrible this game is story wise.  Like Roundabout or Lollipop Chainsaw bad.  Very entertaining.  Can't really recommend the game, but it is an absolutely entertaining piece of entertainment.
Rating: Soft pass.

25. Shadow the Hedgehog (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3faVLap1zbs&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRg3plM8IIo5ehGFhKB9eFv) (GCN)
This is my continuation of my Sonic franchise run and it's my first real stream using my elgato setup.  I went into this game expecting it to be both terrible, and for some god awful reason I was expecting a 3rd person shooter... what I wound up with was Sonic Adventure but with guns.  On the one hand, it does play mildly better than Adventure, on the other hand the gun combat is just the worst because there is no lock on, just lock on alone would make this game massively better.  Camera work in 3D Sonic games are just the worst.  Story was pretty bad, but since I went for the normal ending I didn't get any really wild stuff.  I need to go watch the pure evil ending because apparently it's just something to behold.
Rating: Hard pass.

Rant
I didn't test audio well enough and my headset I was using is apparently garbage, so I need to figure something out before I continue because the commentary on this stream is just absolutely atrocious.  I don't know that I want to use my wired headset with how far away the computer is, but bluetooth seems to be absolutely terrible quality.  I've got to give on something because I want to stream, record commentary, and still hear the game through my sound system.  What this means is, playing on the TV, streaming from the computer, not being near the computer, and recording my audio but not the sound coming from the sound system.  This is all together probably unreasonable, so either I need to give up on playing on TV, giving up on using the sound system, or giving up on the commentary.  I may tool with the audio some and see if I can figure out getting decent sound out of my bluetooth headset/buy a new bluetooth headset, but it sounds like bluetooth audio just isn't feasible for streaming.

26. Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7BbNnXuSmE&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQTJG1TT7JaAoee43b7mCG3) (360)
Been sort of dreading/looking forward to this game. This game is so infamous for being bad.  Moved my streaming setup around and swapped some equipment so now I should be able to stream pretty good.  The stream for this seemed to go pretty well except that my voice was just a little echoey, something to work on.  Honestly, I'm getting some good entertainment out of this game, it's bad, real bad, but entertaining.  I'm really hating that I can't modify the control stick directions, I really hate that left is right and right is left.  As always, I hate that 3D Sonic games don't have a lock on targeting system.  This game has some stupid difficulty curves due to camera shite and glitches.  Game frequently doesn't save because shenanigans, so you have to make sure you manually save frequently.  I played for an hour last night, game overed, and had to redo the entire hour of gameplay because it hadn't saved once.  I was having stupid fun with this game doing commentary until I hit that point.  I was pretty livid with myself for not saving frequently enough that I almost abandoned it.  I managed to push through and finish Sonic's episode.  Definitely not touching this game ever again.
Rating: Hard pass

27. Sonic and the Secret Rings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdFgnO4w-hg&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSiYGuEvkwwRt2kd_alQnsn) (Wii)
Beat this game days ago at this point, but am just now writing about it... and even now I can't be bothered.  The game is an auto runner with like 2 buttons and a remote shake.  The buttons work well enough, but the remote shake is so wonky that you wind up throwing out your shoulder just trying to get it to register too late.  Game was mildly enjoyable, but got flustering with the controls.  Also, enough of the game I didn't really understand control wise, so it was just kinda there.  One of the earliest levels, I played the level on a loop because I didn't understand that I wasn't supposed to lock attack at a spring and just fall to the ground.  Overall, best 3D Sonic I've played to date, but that really doesn't say much.
Rating: Hard pass.

28. Sonic and the Black Knight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDKdGtKUwPU&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTwhPOfx1YO_yVOa9UwxEyx) (Wii)
Gosh, it's been a solid week at least since I beat this game.  The final boss fight was kind of infuriating, I think I almost quit playing at it because I just didn't get what was supposed to be done, other than that though, this game was pretty pleasant to play.  Not an auto runner like the previous game, mostly mindless waggling from the wiimote to slash and hack at enemies.  Boss fights are completely different from regular combat, at least in that you can't just randomly slash, you have to time things and such.  Overall not a terrible game, but still don't recommend it.
Rating: Hard pass.

29. Tomoyo After -It's a Wonderful Life- CS Edition (NS)
Had been working on this game for quite some time, but only putting in a little bit of time at a time.  Finally decided to dump time into it.  Not many decisions in the game that matter, let alone many decisions at all.  The endings in general actually kind of suck, but I guess that's Clannad for you in the being super sad and shit.  Like the bad endings are actually kinda good endings and the true ending is sorta fucked... It's not a bad game, but it definitely is super inferior to Clannad, both in story, content, and branching paths.  That said, I'm invested in these characters so I know it's a game I can get into even if the plot itself is subpar for me.
Rating: Soft recommendation

30. Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa (NS)
This game sure was something.  I'm not invested in the characters so I was skimming a lot of the text because I was having trouble caring.  Puzzle mechanics weren't the worst, but it just made me want to play puzzle league.  Game is basically strip puzzle combat, which was weird.  Eventually hit the time loop stuff and even following a guide kept looping and looping because I kept getting it wrong somehow.  I eventually shut the game off and turned it back on because it was glitching which was probably the reason the loops kept happening.  Finally got the good and true endings.  True ending was seemingly open ended like maybe a sequel, not really sure, but I don't think this game did very good, so I don't expect anything, which is fine by me.  Story got a little interesting towards the middle and end, but between the two and even before I'm just like uh, is this over yet?  Especially with the bugs and glitches.
Rating: Hard pass

31. Panel de Pon (NSO)
Out of nowhere my wife was wanting to play pokemon puzzle league, so I was gonna set up the N64 and play that and she's like don't they have puzzle league for Switch yet?  and I'm like nope... oh wait, they have tetris attack on NSO.  I load up Panel de Pon and she's like this isn't tetris attack and I have to explain the SMB2/USA shenanigans they did to Tetris Attack, and we proceed to play for like 3 hours, and then the next day play for a few more hours, so this will likely be a recurring thing for a while.
Rating: Soft recommendation or whatever I said last year.

32. Pokemon Puzzle League (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU2WIBQuEHg&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRq4BTHExU6N_Tlm0xKVTf7) (N64)
I love Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon, but I was really wanting to play Pokemon Puzzle League, both because of content/characters and in that the game does actually play differently than Tetris Attack.  So now we're playing this pretty much daily.  If I play on level 9 and my wife plays on level 5, I win pretty much every time, if I play on 10 and she plays on 5, it's hit or miss, I'd say she probably wins more than I do.
Rating: Soft recommendation or whatever I said last time I played this.

33. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxIogauv0Mc&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjS0Nk_6gM-mWIs2Yx3FgzAy) (360)
Discord game club decided to play Banjo-Kazooie 64, but I've 100%'d that and Tooie multiple times and didn't particularly feel like playing it again... so I decided to finally give Nuts & Bolts another try.  This game is very odd.  It's not really a platformer, if anything, it's like a vehicular platformer.  Getting out of the car is very beneficial for more precise actions, but the entire game is expected to be played inside a vehicle.  The vehicle controls are wonky af and feels like the driving mechanics from a platforming game, but it's the key mechanic of this game... it just doesn't work very well.  That said, the game can be pretty fun if you can get past its many pratfalls.  I didn't even touch the last world, I thought about it, but the name sounds like a water level, and that's never good.  I might go back to this game one day for shiggles, but I doubt it.  There's plenty more for me to do in the game, but I did beat the game.  Not that I've kept up with my rating score stuff, but I'd say this game is 6/10, maybe 5.5/10.  It's not good, but it's not the worst, and it can actually be fun, so it deserves at least over a 5.
Rating: Soft pass

34. Senran Kagura: Reflexions (NS)
Just got this game in the mail after waiting the better part of a year for it.  I was expecting more VN out of this game.  You get like 10 unique lines of text per playthrough, and by that, I mean the game has 10 unique lines of text per character, regardless of decisions.  The gameplay is basically minigames, very quickly the mini-games become optional so you can skip them entirely.  Which means you can completely beat a character's true ending in about an hour... and even then, none of it has substance.  This game serves purely as fan service, and I'd argue it's not even good fan service.  I enjoyed my time with Estival Versus enough that I'll keep this game, but I won't come back to it unless I decide I care enough about a specific character to give their route a chance.  I played with Yumi for no real reason, and the only character I recall to care for is Hikage who is mysteriously missing from this game.
Rating: Hard pass.

35. Goldeneye Remastered (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0uNu2viWQ&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjR8fyC2j14lWVQ5d5PngijC) (360)
I don't know how I skipped adding this one.  I played through the whole story mode and I even streamed some of my playthrough.  Really weird that it got missed.  It was a wonderful experience to go back to playing this game, especially with a modern controller.  Absolutely recommend giving this a go as it is a massive improvement over trying to play with an N64 controller.
Rating: Highly Recommended.

36. Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu (NS)
Was trying to pick a game to play after finishing Reflexions, my wife was being... well herself, so I needed to be wherever she was, and I think I was in a mood that I wanted something that I wouldn't have to think too much about, so this game popped in my mind.  AFAIK something prompted me to want to replay Yellow basically.  I have complaints, lots of them actually, but I've been enjoying my time with this game because it's basically an excuse to replay yellow, its gameplay is super chill and relaxing compared to even regular pokemon games because everything is dumbed down so much.  That said, leveling in this game is an ordeal because you basically have to blindly catch pokemon which is weird, and you have to do good with the motion controls to get good xp... and even then you're still at the mercy of stupid rng of succeeding.  I got a combo up to like 10 and then the stupid rattata just would not be caught.  Ultra ball, candy, perfectly executed excellent tiny circle throw and he still kicks out at 2 and then runs away, combo murdered.  Early on, game was super easy and I was overleveled and it was all great.  I'm at Silph Co/Sabrina/Yoga and I'm drowning fighting a single pokemon having trainer because I can't level up fast enough.  I have one major peeve with RPGs, if you make me grind... at all... I have negative opinions for your game.  If I grind by happenstance of doing something else, that's fine, but making me repetitively do the same thing over and over and over just to get xp so I can go do another fight that as soon as I finish I'll have to grind again, nope, hate it.  That's where I'm at.  I wound up not having to do a ton of grinding, so the game wasn't that bad.  Overall enjoyable experience, but I couldn't be bothered to keep playing after the credits rolled to even bother getting Mewtwo.  I got to Cerulean cave, but turned off the game two steps in.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

37. Kona (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPBK1Q4Atbw&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTcpAKb__4Fxh8a9TRjC0xj) (X1)
Saw this game was getting delisted from Game Pass, so like always, I prioritized playing through the game.  I probably have some old notes on this game from way back when I saw it at PAX years and years ago.  I went in expecting a walking simulator, that's basically what the game is plus a little detectiving.  The sole combat in the game is when you run into wolves and the end of the game, which is largely more wolves.  Some of the game is interesting.  Sadly, the most interesting this was the 4 pages of what should've been at least 5 pages of a novel about a guy planning on murdering a lady, but winding up marrying her and having kids and still planning on murdering her.  The story might fall together well if you do 100% of everything there is to do in this frozen Canadian wilderness, I did not do everything, I only found 94% of the cabins and houses or something.  So that said, I thought I understood the story, heard something in game and thought it was something else, went online to read more and found something else and thought I had it, and then read something else and realized I really had no idea what happened in this game.  Between this and falling asleep during my first stream of this game... plus my second stream my wife and kid being difficult... I really don't have fond memories of this game.  If it weren't getting delisted, maybe I'd have put in more time, but then I wouldn't have played it yet anyway, so damned if you do.
Rating: Hard pass.

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186054.html#msg186054)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on December 21, 2020, 11:18:37 am
Guess I'll reserve my post before it runs off the first page!

Games Played in 2021:
1. Stardew Valley (PC and Switch)
2. Rocket League (PS4)
3. Among Us (PC)
4. Ghosts 'n' Goblins (Switch)
5. 1943: The Battle of Midway (Switch) 
6. Ring Fit Adventure (Switch)
7. Owlboy (Switch)
8. Quiplash (PC)
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)
11. Little Nightmares (PC)
12. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game - Complete Edition (PS4)
13. TowerFall (Switch)
14. Persona 5 Royal (PS4)
15. Mario Party Superstars (Switch)

Games Finished in 2021:
16. (1.) Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186292.html#msg186292) - 1.18
17. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186801.html#msg186801) - 2.11
18. Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg187803.html#msg187803) - 3.7
19. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188241.html#msg188241) - 3.25
20. (5.)  Return of the Obra Dinn (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188455.html#msg188455) - 4.3
21. The Last Blade 2 (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188531.html#msg188531) - 4.7
22. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188680.html#msg188680) - 4.12
23. Night in the Woods (PC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188795.html#msg188795) - 4.17
24. New Super Luigi U. (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189872.html#msg189872) - 5.26
25. (10.) Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189925.html#msg189925) - 5.30
26. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189947.html#msg189947) - 5.30 
27. Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190046.html#msg190046) - 6.6
28. Far From Noise (PC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190311.html#msg190311) - 6.18
29. Shantae (Switch) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190339.html#msg190339) - 6.21
30. (15.) Silent Hill 2 (PS2) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190456.html#msg190456) - 6.28
31. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190737.html#msg190737) - 7.11
32. Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191201.html#msg191201) - 8.14
33. Super Mario 64 (Switch) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191461.html#msg191461) - 9.6
34. Magic the Gathering: Shandalar (PC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191560.html#msg191560) - 9.12
35. (20.) The Last of Us Part II (PS4) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192310.html#msg192310) - 10.25
36. NES Remix Pack (Wii U) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192466.html#msg192466) - 10.31
37. Dujanah (PC) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192530.html#msg192530) - 11.4
38. Sky: Children of the Light (Switch) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193786.html#msg193786) - 12.29
39. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193788.html#msg193788) - 12.31

Other
Kingdom Hearts Chi Back Cover
Kingdom Hearts RE: Coded

Final Stats (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.275.msg193801.html#msg193801)

Previous Lists
2015 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.msg104675.html#msg104675) - 27 finished, + 10 played but not finished
2016 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg105642.html#msg105642) - 32 finished, + 16 played but not finished
2017 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg132293.html#msg132293) - 26 finished, + 13 played but not finished
2018 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149017.html#msg149017) - 23 finished, + 6 played but not finished
2019 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162665.html#msg162665) - 20 finished, + 9 played but not finished
2020 List (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173286.html#msg173286) - 45 finished, + 10 played but not finished
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 21, 2020, 11:25:25 am
Previous 52 Game Challenges: 2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg174802.html#msg174802)

01. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185951.html#msg185951) Ring Fit Adventure || Nintendo Switch || 01.02.21
02. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186132.html#msg186132) Golf Story || Nintendo Switch || 01.07.21
03. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186141.html#msg186141) Flipping Death || Nintendo Switch || 01.09.21
04. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186180.html#msg186180) Severed || PlayStation Vita || 01.11.21
05. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186221.html#msg186221) Feel the Magic: XY/XX || Nintendo DS || 01.13.21
06. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186527.html#msg186527) Ultimate Chicken Horse || Nintendo Switch || 01.30.21
07. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186799.html#msg186799) Wandersong || Nintendo Switch || 02.11.21
08. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg187213.html#msg187213) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening || Nintendo Switch || 02.21.21
09. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg187406.html#msg187406) Never Alone || PlayStation 4 || 02.24.21
10. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg187761.html#msg187761) Astro's Playroom || PlayStation 5 || 03.04.21
11. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg187903.html#msg187903) Bugsnax || PlayStation 5 || 03.09.21
12. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188083.html#msg188083) Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope || Nintendo Switch || 03.17.21
13. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188242.html#msg188242) Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows || Nintendo Switch || 03.24.21
14. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188271.html#msg188271) Bound || PlayStation 4 || 03.26.21
15. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188690.html#msg188690) Little Nightmares II || PlayStation 4 || 04.12.21
16. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185951.html#msg185951) Ring Fit Adventure (NG+) || Nintendo Switch || 04.20.21
17. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188961.html#msg188961) Threads of Fate || PlayStation || 04.20.21
18. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189011.html#msg189011) Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers || Nintendo Switch || 04.21.21
19. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189290.html#msg189290) Desert Child || PlayStation 4 || 05.01.21
20. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189785.html#msg189785) Road to Guangdong || Nintendo Switch || 05.21.21
21. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189851.html#msg189851) Sayonara Wild Hearts || Nintendo Switch || 05.24.21
22. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189918.html#msg189918) Coffee Talk || PlayStation 4 || 05.29.21
23. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190226.html#msg190226) Katamari Damacy Reroll || Nintendo Switch || 06.13.21
24. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190291.html#msg190291) Persona 5 Royal || PlayStation 4 || 06.16.21
25. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190415.html#msg190415) Catherine: Full Body || PlayStation 4 || 06.25.21
26. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190571.html#msg190571) Sky: Children of Light || Nintendo Switch || 07.04.21
27. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190690.html#msg190690) Wide Ocean Big Jacket || Nintendo Switch || 07.09.21
28. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190789.html#msg190789) Pikuniku || Nintendo Switch || 07.14.21
29. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190789.html#msg190891) Guacamelee! 2 || PlayStation 4 || 07.21.21
30. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191042.html#msg191042) Doodle Champion Island Games || Browser || 07.31.21
31. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191140.html#msg191140) Kentucky Route Zero || Nintendo Switch || 08.08.21
32. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191199.html#msg191199) What the Golf? || Nintendo Switch || 08.15.21
33. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191320.html#msg191320) Kuukiyomi: Consider It || Nintendo Switch || 08.27.21
34. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191556.html#msg191556) Psychonauts || PlayStation 4 || 09.11.21
35. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192246.html#msg192246) The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series: The Final Season || PlayStation 4 || 10.20.21
36. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192326.html#msg192326) Until Dawn || PlayStation 4 || 10.27.21
37. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192450.html#msg192450) 2064: Read Only Memories || PlayStation 4 || 10.29.21
38. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192480.html#msg192480) Untitled Goose Game || Nintendo Switch || 10.31.21
39. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192867.html#msg192867) The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan || PlayStation 4 || 11.17.21
40. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg192995.html#msg192995) Carto || Nintendo Switch || 11.23.21
41. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193103.html#msg193103) SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom || PlayStation 2 || 11.28.21
42. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193138.html#msg193138) PaRappa the Rapper || PlayStation || 11.30.21
43. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193155.html#msg193155) The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope || PlayStation 4 || 12.01.21
44. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193155.html#msg193194) The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes || PlayStation 5 || 12.02.21
45. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193370.html#msg193370) South Park: The Stick of Truth || PlayStation 4 || 12.10.21
46. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193671.html#msg193671) Hexceed || Nintendo Switch || 12.20.21
47. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193687.html#msg193687) South Park: The Fractured but Whole || PlayStation 4 || 12.21.21
48. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193746.html#msg193746) Um Jammer Lammy || PlayStation || 12.27.21
49. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193773.html#msg193773) PaRappa the Rapper 2 || PlayStation 2 || 12.29.21
50. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193778.html#msg193778) Major Minor's Majestic March || Wii || 12.30.21
51. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193804.html#msg193804) WTF: Work Time Fun || PlayStation Portable || 12.31.21
52. (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg193805.html#msg193805) Burnout 3: Takedown || PlayStation 2 || 12.31.21
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 11:38:39 am
Quote from: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 11:14:37 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 11:09:42 am
Quote from: ignition365 on December 21, 2020, 10:50:54 am
Earlier and earlier with this each year.  Reserving my post.



Less than two weeks before the start of the new year, I don't see what the big deal is.
Other than just chatting about what we're planning next year, which I think almost no one does historically, we're just reserving posts 2 weeks before we'll have anything of value to put in them.


Because there have been so, so many other posts in recent months, and half have been such high quality posts from the likes of Oldgamerz and Seether. I'd really hate to add a post whose value won't be realized for another 10-days or so!


 ::)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: shfan on December 21, 2020, 11:53:11 am
Previous Years

2020 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173272.html#msg173272) - 33 beaten, 20 tried and discarded
2019 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162658.html#msg162658) - 45 beaten, 34 tried and discarded
2018 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg149025.html#msg149025) - 44 beaten, 41 tried and discarded
2017 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg147415.html#msg147415) - 37 beaten, 9 tried and discarded
2016 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg132260.html#msg132260) - 21 beaten

Games beaten

01] Resident Evil 3 (remake) (PS4)  |16 Jan| Replay with the ammo maker tool, had abundant ammo this time!
02] Mount & Blade: Warband (PS4)  |24 Jan| No surprises here, one of my all time favourites replayed yet again.
03] Daymare 1998 (PS4)  |5 Feb| Basically a budget RE2/3 Remake clone, had a lot of fun despite technical glitches and a few tough sections.
04] Drox Operative (STM)  |19 Feb| Endlessly replayable, but beaten umpteen randomly generated scenarios and spent enough time on it to have beaten a standard game.
05] Shikhondo: Soul Eater (PS4)  |13 Mar| Replay using the other playable character, bog standard vertical shooter, nothing outstanding nor bad about it.
06] Unholy Heights (STM)  |16 Mar| Really original take on the tower defense genre, well presented too, happy!
07] Resident Evil VIII (PS4)  |12 May| Bloody fantastic game, pity it's taken 2 months to beat a game -.- Disaster.
08] Chaos Legion (PS2)  |20 May| Flawed but still one of my favourite PS2-era games, haven't played through this one in a decade, had forgotten so much!
09] Moero Crystal H (NSW)  |30 May| Bonus beaten game for the month, unexpectedly managed to progress massively after picking it up again a week ago.
10] Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (STM)  |3 Jun| Double digits at last and a massive undertaking for me, really pleased to have played the original AoE through properly at last.
11] The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (NSW)  |19 Jun| Heavy duty nostalgia from this one, almost emotional at points, a real treat to play through.
12] The Final Station (STM)  |25 Jun| They made a hash of the ending but it was a great game and another I'm very pleased to have had the opportunity to play through.
13] Tesla vs Lovecraft (STM)  |14 Jul| Twin stick shooter. Fun.
14] Katamari Damacy Reroll (STM)  |23 Jul| We never got the original Katamari in PAL territories, so it's interesting to have played through it at last via Steam.
15] Lewdapocalypse (STM)  |20 Aug| NSFW click to shoot skit of RE3, not exactly the highlight of my gaming year..
16] Basement (STM)  |28 Aug| This on the other hand is a cracking but hard as nails strategy games where you have to produce and sell narcotics and deal with gangsters.
17] Undead Horde (STM)  |8 Sep| Imagine Overlord but on a smaller scale and with skellies instead of minions and you've got this, fun game.
18] Castle in the Clouds (STM)  |1 Dec| Risque metroidvania, surprisingly good game in its own rights, NES-ish visuals.

Games Tried/Disliked/Got Rid Of

01] Sparklite (NSW) |11 Jan| Liteweight. Like a lot of these randomised games, there's not enough meat on the bones to be at all interesting.
02] Distrust (PS4) |24 Jan| Fiddly controls, less than compelling gameplay, not terrible but certainly not something I could be bothered to keep playing.
03] Fade to Silence (PS4) |6 Feb| Overall really intrigued, came across a couple of deal-breakers though, pity.
04] Intruders: Hide and Seek (PS4) |20 Feb| The game itself is OK, but the restart points on failing are eye-watering, deal breaker.
05] NeoGeo Battle Coliseum (PS2)  |13 Mar| One of the most pointless games played in living memory - cheapest final boss ever, horrid looking character sprites - why did they bother?
06] Swords of Destiny (PS2)  |1 Apr| Was enjoying this hack and slash game until I hit upon a part I couldn't get by no matter how hard I tried.
07] 10,000 Bullets (PS2)  |20 May| Rare. Also: shit.
08] 198X (STM)  |30 Aug| Homage to 80s arcade games, featuring a handful of bite-sized games, looks gorgeous but the games themselves are mostly poor imitations.
09] Disaster Report 4 (NSW) |8 Sep| Just plain disaster, took a really quirky and fun game series and squeezed out a shonky walking simulator instead, no thanks.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on December 21, 2020, 12:06:45 pm
1. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (PS4) - Beat / Jan. 22
2. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Switch) - Beat / Feb. 4
3. Injustice 2 (XB1) - Beat / Jan. 23
4. Control (XB1) - Beat / Jan. 29
5. Minecraft (PC) - Endless
6. 1943: The Battle of Midway (Switch) - Beat / Feb. 19
7. Deadpool (XB1) - Beat / Feb. 26
8. Hitman (2016) (PS4) - Beat / Feb. 28
9. Bulletstorm - Full Clip Edition (PS4) - Beat / Mar. 7
10. Hitman 2 (PS4) - Beat / Mar. 12
11. Cyber Shadow (XB1) - Beat / Mar. 17
12. River City Girls (XB1) - Beat / Mar. 22
13. Super Mario World (SNES Mini) - Beat / Apr. 1
14. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (PC) - Beat / May 7
15. Super RubberRoss World (Switch - SMM2) - Beat / May 13
16. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (JPN) (Switch) - Beat / May 21
17. Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) - Beat / June 6
18. Splinter Cell: Conviction (XB1) - Beat / June 10
19. Maneater (XB1) - Beat / June 14
20. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (XB1) - Abandoned / June 23
21. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) - Beat /July 7
22. Horizon Chase Turbo (PS4) - Beat / July 12
23. Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) - Playing
24. Far Cry 2 (XB1) - Beat / July 27
25. PC Building Simulator (PC) - Endless
26. Astro's Playroom (PS5) - Beat / July 29
27. Shadow of the Colossus (2018) (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 3
28. Hollow Knight (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 13
29. Resident Evil Village (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 29
30. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS5) - Beat / Sept. 3
31. Far Cry 3 (PC) - Beat / Sept. 15
32. Darkest Dungeon (PC) - Beat / Oct. 5
33. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Switch) - Beat / Oct. 10
34. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Switch) - Beat / Oct. 16
35. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2DS XL) -  Beat / Oct. 25
36. Little Nightmares (PC) - Beat / Oct. 29
37. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Switch) - Beat / Nov. 9
38. Zombie Army 4: Dead War (PS5) -  Beat / Nov. 20
39. Far Cry 4 (XB1) - Beat / Dec. 8
40. Mortal Shell (PS5) - Beat / Dec. 12
41. Blasphemous (Switch) -  Beat / Dec. 23
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 21, 2020, 12:13:39 pm
Moving a few things that are slipping out of 2020 and I'll do in 2021.

1 - Cyberpunk 2077 (PC 2020) - DROPPED
2 - Spider-Man: Remastered (PS5 2020) - PLAYING
3 - Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 (Switch 2020) - PLAYING
4 - Dark Souls 3 (PS4 2016) - PLAYING
5 - Crash Bandicoot 4 (PS4 2020) - PLAYING
6 - Override 2 (PS5 2020) - DROPPED
7 - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch 2020) - BEAT
8 - Beat Saber (VR 2018) - ENDLESS
9 - Valheim (PC 2021) - ENDLESS
10 - Powered Gear (Arcade 1994) - BEAT
11 - Rainy Season (PC 2020) - BEAT
12 - Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (VR 2020) - PLAYING
13 - Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4 2015) - DROPPED
14 - Monster Hunter Rise (Switch 2021) - BEAT
15 - Hunt: Showdown (PC 2019) - ENDLESS
16 - Clone Hero (PC 2017) - ENDLESS
17 - Pokemon Snap (Switch 2021) - BEAT
18 - Resident Evil 2 Remake (PC 2019) - BEAT
19 - Resident Evil 7 (PC 2017) - BEAT
20 - Resident Evil: Village (PC 2021) - BEAT
21 - Returnal (PS5 2021) - BEAT
22 - Subnautica: Below Zero (PC 2021) - BEAT
23 - Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5 2021) - BEAT
24 - Chivalry 2 (PC 2021) - ENDLESS
25 - Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA 2004) - BEAT
25 - Super Metroid (SNES 1994) - DROPPED
26 - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Switch 2021) - BEAT
27 - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PC 2013) - BEAT
28 - Dead by Daylight (PC 2016) - ENDLESS
29 - Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (PC 2015) - BEAT
30 - Deltarune: Chapter 1 & 2 (PC 2021) - BEAT
31 - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4 2018) - BEAT
32 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4 2018) - PLAYING
33 - Death Stranding: Director's Cut (PS5 2021) - BEAT
34 - Metroid Fusion (GBA 2002) - BEAT
35 - Dying Light (PC 2015) - BEAT
36 - Halo: Infinite Multiplayer (PC 2021) - ENDLESS
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: koemo1 on December 21, 2020, 01:18:47 pm
Reserving my spot
1. Red Dead Redemption II [PS4] 9/10
2. Tomb Raider [PS1] 7.5/10
3. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile [PS1] 8/10
4. The Sniper 2 [PS2] 5/10
5. Devil's Third [WiiU] 6.5/10
6. Zelda: Breath of the Wild [WiiU] In progress
7. Demon's Souls [PS5] 8/10
8. Link's Crossbow Training [Wii] 7/10
9. Call of Duty: Finest Hour [PS2] 6.5/10
10. Jet Set Radio Future [XBOX] In progress
11. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes [Wii] 7/10
12. Sin & Punishment: Star Sucessor [Wii] In progress
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on December 22, 2020, 12:05:16 pm
I do not want to totally undo my current system, so the idea will be I will start a new game, or finish a previously started game on a Monday. If I beat the game before the end of the week, I'll continue my existing schedule.

Quote from: Ignition365's Modified Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten/endless in 2021
bold games are games that have been beaten/endless in the past but played in 2021
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

1. Major League Manager
2. Metro 2033 Redux
3. Endless Legend
4. Skyrim LE (68 of 75 achievements)
5. Borderlands 3
6. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (endless)
7. Civilization V (130 of 286 achievements)
8. Duke Nukem Forever
9. Alien: Isolation
10. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
11. Zaccaria Pinball (endless)
12. Pool of Radiance
13. Eye of the Beholder
14. Eye of the Beholder II
15. Dungeon Hack
16. Big Pharma
17. Fallout
18. Crusader Kings II
19. Borderlands
20. Payday 2
21. Betrayer
22. Serious Sam 3
23. Bioshock 2
24. Borderlands 2
25. Minecraft: Project Ozone 3
26. Just Cause 2
27. Crimzon Clover World Ignition
28. Pinball Arcade (endless)
29. Quake 3
30. Call of Duty: Ghosts
31. Diablo III
32. Cities: Skylines
33. Middle Earth: Shadow or Mordor
34. Aliens: Colonial Marines
35. Pinball FX2 (endless)
36. Bulletstorm (Steam version requires crack to play, didn't trust it)
37. Anomaly Warzone Earth Mobile Campaign
38. Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders
39. Control
40. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
41. Prison Architect
42. Aliens vs Predator
43. Magicka 2
44. The Banner Saga
45. Europa Universalis IV
46. Die Young
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: medisto on December 22, 2020, 04:58:00 pm
GAMES COMPLETED IN 2021

1. Thunder Cross (Switch)
2. Gunbird 2 (Switch)
3. Deponia (Switch)
4. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams (Astro City Mini)
5. Air Zonk (PC Engine Core Grafx Mini)
6. Ultraman: Kaijuu Teikoku no Gyakushuu (Famicom Disk System)
7. The Game Paradise (Saturn)
8. Ketsui Deathtiny: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi (PS4)
9. Demon's Souls (PS3)
10. Conquests of Camelot (PC)
11. Fire Shark (Mega Drive)
12. M.A.C.E. (Switch)
13. Loom (PC)
14. Twinkle Star Sprites (PS4)
15. Ghost Blade HD (PS4)
16. Diablo II: Resurrected (PC)
17. Simon the Sorcerer (PC)





GAMES ADDED TO COLLECTION IN 2021

1. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (Switch)
2. Witch Spring 3 Re:Fine: The Story of the Marionette Witch Eirudy (Switch)
3. Fight of Gods - Special Edition (Switch)
4. Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype Definitive Edition - Limited Edition (PS4)
5. SuperEpic: The Entertainment War (Switch)
6. Blaster Master Zero (Switch)
7. Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)
8. Wizard of Legend (Switch)
9. Shantae and the Seven Sirens - Collector's Edition (Switch)
10. Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition (Switch)
11. Itta (Switch)
12. The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa / Arrest of a Stone Buddha (Switch)
13. Citizens Unite!: Earth x Space (Switch)
14. Märchen Forest: Mylne and the Forest Gift - Limited Edition (Switch)
15. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)
16. The VIC 20 Console
17. Distraint Collection - Limited Edition (Switch)
18. Project Starship X - Limited Edition (PS4)
19. Two Point Hospital - Jumbo Edition (Switch)
20. Atomicrops (Switch)
21. Katanakami (Switch)
22. Forward to the Sky - Limited Edition (Switch)
23. Hades (Switch)
24. Senko no Ronde 2 (PS4)
25. Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas (PS4)
26. Ms. Splosion Man (Switch)
27. Senran Kagura Reflexions (Switch)
28. Monster Hunter: Rise - Collector's Edition (Switch)
29. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town - Deluxe Edition (Switch)
30. Scourge Bringer - Limited Edition (Switch)
31. HyperParasite (Switch)
32. Golden Force - Limited Edition (Switch)
33. Coffee Talk - Collector's Edition (Switch)
34. Bladed Fury (Switch)
35. Raiden IV x Mikado Remix - Limited Edition (Switch)
36. Rolling Gunner + Over Power - Complete Edition (Switch)
37. Toaplan Shooters - Collector's Edition (Genesis/Mega Drive)
38. Habroxia 2 - Limited Edition (PS4)
39. Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice (Switch)
40. Tanuki Justice (Switch)
41. Crypt of the NecroDancer - Collector's Edition (Switch)
42. Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack (Switch)
43. Bite the Bullet - Collector's Edition (Switch)
44. Razion EX - Limited Edition (Switch)
45. R-Type Final 2 - Limited Edition (Switch)
46. Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack (Switch)
47. Rival Megagun (Switch)
48. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)
49. Yuuyoku no Fräulein: Wing of Darkness - Limited Edition (Switch)
50. Little Dragons Café - Limited Edition (Switch)
51. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - Ultimate Edition (Switch)
52. Shantae - Collector's Edition (Switch)
53. Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut - Collector's Edition (Switch)
54. Dead Tomb (NES)
55. Legend of the Skyfish (Switch)
56. My Aunt is a Witch (PS4)
57. Void Gore (PS4)
58. SaGa Frontier Remastered (Switch)
59. Biler: Ræs I Kølerkildekøbing (V.Smile)
60. Peter Plys: Honningjagten (V.Smile)
61. Byggemand Bob: Bobs Travle Dag (V.Smile)
62. Cinderella: Askepots Magiske Ønsker (V.Smile)
63. Den Lille Havfrue: Ariels Majestætiske Rejse! (V.Smile)
64. Mickey Mouse: Mickeys Magiske Eventyr (V.Smile)
65. Thomas & Friends: Togene Arbejder Sammen (V.Smile)
66. Unruly Heroes - Limited Collector's Edition (Switch)
67. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX - Signature Edition (Switch)
68. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - HD Remaster (Switch)
69. Chicken Police: Paint it Red! (Switch)
70. The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse - Special Reserve Box (Switch)
71. Crossing Souls - Special Reserve Box (Switch)
72. Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (Switch)
73. Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story - Limited Edition (Switch)
74. Arc of Alchemist (Switch)
75. Megadimension Neptunia VII (Switch)
76. Mighty Gunvolt Burst - Collector’s Edition (Switch)
77. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (Switch)
78. Chasm - Classic Edition (Switch)
79. The Mummy Demastered - Collector's Edition (Switch)
80. Doom 64 (Switch)
81. Carrion (Switch)
82. Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force (Switch)
83. Grandia HD Collection (Switch)
84. Yaga (PS4)
85. Naruhodo Legends Collection (Switch)
86. Hardcore Mecha (Switch)
87. Eternum EX (Switch)
88. SturmFront: The Mutant War - Übel Edition (PS4)
89. Empire of Angels IV - Limited Edition (Switch)
90. Crawlco Block Knockers (Switch)
91. Hotline Miami Collection (Switch)
92. Cursed Castilla EX - Collector's Edition (Switch)
93. Legend of Mana (Switch)
94. Kitaria Fables (Switch)
95. YesterMorrow (PS4)
96. Task Force Kampas (PS4)
97. Cthulhu Saves Christmas (Switch)
98. Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition - Collector's Edition (Switch)
99. Metroid Dread - Special Edition (Switch)
100. Hyper Light Drifter - Special Edition (Switch)
101. Panzer Paladin (Switch)
102. Metallic Child (Switch)
103. Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute - Special Edition (Switch)
104. Cat Quest (Switch)
105. Kamiko (Switch)
106. Mary Skelter Finale - Day One Edition (Switch)
107. To the Moon - Collector's Edition (Switch)
108. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 - Classic Edition (Switch)
109. Afterparty (Switch)
110. Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (Switch)
111. Shin Megami Tensei V - Fall of Man Premium Edition (Switch)
112. Darius Cozmic Revelation - Collector's Edition (Switch)
113. The Legend of Zelda (Game & Watch)
114. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond / Pokémon Shining Pearl Dual Pack (Switch)
115. Miitopia (Switch)
116. Trigger Witch - Limited Edition (Switch)
117. Death end re;Quest (Switch)
118. Doom: The Classics Collection (Switch)
119. The House in Fata Morgana: Dreams of the Revenants Edition - Collector's Edition (Switch)
120. Dangun Feveron - Collector's Edition (PS4)
121. Dragon Star Varnir (Switch)
122. Shadows of Adam (Switch)
123. Blaster Master Zero III (Switch)
124. Clockwork Aquario (Switch)
125. Gryphon Knight Epic - Definitive Edition (Switch)
126. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (Switch)
127. Illvelo Swamp + Radirgy Swag - Limited Edition (Switch)
128. Eastward - Collector's Edition (Switch)
129. Iro Hero (PS4)
130. Bravely Default II (Switch)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on December 22, 2020, 06:24:29 pm
January
         Name                                                                  Platform         Start         End          Rating
1. The Last Blade                                                              PC             1/2/21      1/2/21         8/10
2. Metal Slug 2                                                                 PC             1/2/21      1/2/21         8/10
3. Bright Memory                                                              PC             1/2/21      1/2/21         9/10
4. 007 Legends                                                                360            1/3/21      1/5/21         6/10
5. Metal Slug 3                                                                 PC             1/9/21      1/9/21         7/10
6. The Last Blade 2                                                           PC             1/9/21      1/9/21         6/10
7. Metal Slug X                                                                 PC           1/10/21     1/10/21        8/10
8. Erica                                                                           PS4          1/11/21     1/13/21        9/10
9. Super Castlevania IV                                                   SNES         1/14/21     1/15/21        9/10
10. Castlevania: Bloodlines                                              GEN          1/15/21      1/17/21        8/10
11. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest                                     NES          1/17/21      1/19/21        7/10
12. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse                                  NES          1/21/21      1/22/21        8/10
13. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge                              NES          1/22/21      1/23/21        7/10
14. Kid Dracula                                                               NES          1/23/21      1/25/21        7/10
15. Control                                                                      XO          12/16/20     1/29/21        8/10

February
16. Demon's Souls                                                          PS5           1/4/21         2/3/21         9/10
17. Samurai Shodown: Sen                                             360            2/4/21        2/4/21         7/10
18. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2                             NSW         1/26/21        2/8/21         7/10
19. Mafia: Definitive Edition                                              XO          2/10/21      2/26/21         9/10

March
20. FF Archives Vol.1:Fatal Fury: King of Fighters              PS2            3/4/21        3/4/21         5/10
21. FF Archives Vol.1:Fatal Fury 2                                    PS2            3/5/21        3/5/21         6/10
22. FF Archives Vol.1:Fatal Fury Special                            PS2            3/5/21        3/5/21         7/10
23. FF Archives Vol.1:Fatal Fury 3                                    PS2            3/8/21        3/8/21         8/10
24. FF Archives Vol.2:Real Bout: Fatal Fury                       PS4          3/13/21      3/13/21         8/10
25. FF Archives Vol.2:Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special            PS4          3/13/21      3/13/21         9/10
26. FF Archives Vol.2:Real Bout: Fatal Fury 2                    PS4          3/13/21      3/13/21         8/10
27. Garou:Mark Of The Wolves                                        PS4          3/13/21      3/13/21         9/10
28. Art of Fighting Anthology: Art of Fighting                    PS4          3/14/21      3/14/21         5/10
29. Art of Fighting Anthology: Art of Fighting 2                 PS4          3/16/21      3/16/21         6/10
30. Art of Fighting Anthology: Art of Fighting 3                 PS4          3/17/21      3/17/21         8/10   
31. World Heroes Anthology: Word Heroes                       PS2          3/30/21      3/30/21         7/10

April
32. Bloodborne: Game of the Year Edition                         PS4           2/5/21       4/15/21       10/10
33. World Heroes Anthology: Word Heroes 2                     PS2          4/16/21      4/16/21         8/10
34. World Heroes Anthology: Word Heroes 2 Jet                PS2          4/16/21      4/16/21         9/10
35. World Heroes Anthology: Word Heroes Perfect             PS2          4/16/21      4/16/21         7/10
36. Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues                  PS4           4/16/21      4/24/21         8/10

June   
37. Metroid: Samus Returns                                             3DS          5/11/21      6/1/21          9/10
38. Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS                           3DS            6/1/21      6/3/21          8/10
39. The Sopranos: Road To Respect                                   PS2          5/28/21      6/4/21          6/10
40. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow-Mirror of Fate HD             PC           1/30/21      6/9/21          7/10
41. The Conduit                                                                Wii           4/19/21    6/11/21         7/10
42. American Gladiators                                                   GEN           6/12/21    6/12/21         5/10
43. Saturday Night Slam Masters                                      GEN           6/12/21    6/12/21         8/10
44. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samurai Shodown              PS4           6/13/21    6/13/21         8/10
45. Resident Evil: Village                                                  PS5           5/11/21    6/20/21         9/10
46. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samurai Shodown II          PS4           6/20/21    6/20/21         9/10
47. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samurai Shodown III         PS4           6/24/21    6/24/21         6/10
48. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samurai Shodown IV          PS4           6/25/21    6/25/21         8/10
49. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samurai Shodown V           PS4           6/26/21   6/26/21          7/10
50. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samsho Shodown V S         PS4            6/29/21   6/29/21         8/10
51. Samurai Shodown VI                                                   PS4           6/30/21   6/30/21          7/10

July
52. Samurai Shodown                                                       PS4             7/1/21    7/1/21           7/10
53. Samsho Neogeo Collection: Samsho Shodown V P         PS4              7/2/21   7/2/21            9/10
54. Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring                                 PS3            7/21/21  7/23/21           6/10
55. Mortal Kombat 2: Unlimited                                         GEN            7/31/21  7/31/21           8/10

August
56. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney          3DS              6/3/21  8/14/21           9/10
57. Street Fighter                                                               PS4            8/26/21  8/26/21           5/10
58. Street Fighter II: The World Warriors                              PS4            8/27/21  8/27/21           8/10
59. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition                                PS4            8/28/21  8/29/21           7/10
60. Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting                                    PS4            8/30/21  8/30/21           8/10
61. Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers                  PS4           8/30/21  8/30/21           8/10
62. Super Street Fighter II: Turbo                                        PS4           8/30/21  8/30/21           9/10

September
63. Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact Giant Attack                     PS4            9/2/21   9/2/21            7/10
64. Street Fighter Alpha 3                                                   PS4            9/3/21   9/5/21           10/10
65. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike                                          PS4            9/5/21   9/5/21            9/10
66. Army of TWO: The 40th Day                                          360            9/7/21  9/12/21           7/10
67. Samurai Shodown                                                         GEN          9/12/21 9/12/21           6/10
68. Fatal Fury: King of Fighters                                            GEN          9/19/21 9/19/21           6/10
69. Hades                                                                          NSW           8/5/21 9/24/21           9/10

October
70. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds                  3DS           8/15/21   10/6/21         8/10
71. Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days                                         360           9/13/21 10/10/21         5/10

November
72. Metroid Dread                                                             NSW         10/17/21 11/14/21         9/10

December
73. Final Fantasy VII Remake                                              PS5             7/6/21 12/13/21        10/10



Replay
1. Tekken                                                                         PS1            7/31/21  7/31/21            6/10
2. Tekken 2                                                                      PS1              8/1/21    8/1/21            7/10
3. Tekken 3                                                                      PS1            8/12/21  8/12/21           10/10
4. Tekken Tag Tournament HD                                           PS3             8/16/21  8/16/21           10/10
5. Tekken 4                                                                      PS2            8/16/21  8/16/21             8/10
6. Tekken 5                                                                      PS2            8/17/21  8/17/21             9/10
7. Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection                                          PS3            8/18/21  8/18/21             9/10
8. Tekken 6                                                                      XSX            8/18/21  8/18/21             7/10
9. Tekken Tag Tournament 2                                              XSX            8/20/21  8/20/21             8/10
10. Tekken 7                                                                    PS4            8/21/21  8/21/21              9/10
11. Street Fighter Alpha                                                    PS4            8/30/21  8/30/21              8/10
12. Street Fighter Alpha  2                                                PS4            8/30/21  8/30/21              9/10
13. Street Fighter III: The New Generation                         PS4            8/31/21 8/31/21               7/10

Now Playing


On Hold
Mike Tyson's Punch Out[NES]
Frenzy Retribution[PC]
Ghost of Tsushima[PS4]
Super Mario 3D World[Wii U]
Yugioh: Legacy of the Duelist-Link Evolution[Switch]
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2[PS4]

Nope List 2021(Games abandoned)
1. WWE 2K Battlegrounds[PS4]-7/15/21
2. TNA Impact![PS3]-8/15/21



Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on December 24, 2020, 06:34:53 pm
In 2020 besides hitting 52 games, I had a list of specific games I had wanted to beat, I got to maybe half of them unfortunately. For 2021 I'm sticking to just a number goal again. Making it a little easier on myself. So here we go! good luck everyone.

2021 List:
1. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) 01/02
2. Godfall (PS5) 01/17
3. Spyro The Dragon Reignited (PS4) 03/28
4. Super Mario 64 (Switch) 04/03
5. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) 04/08
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) 04/22
7. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) 04/26
8. Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS5) 05/01
9. Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (PS4) 05/09
10. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart (PS5) 01/17
11. Gris (PS4) 07/23
12. Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/25
13. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/31
14. The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) 08/07
15. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) 09/26
16 Metroid Dred (Switch) 10/14
17. Until Dawn (PS4) 10/16
18. Resident Evil HD Remaster (Switch) 10/24
19. Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XBO) 11/13
20. Forza Horizon 5 (XSX) 11/19
21. Gears of War 2 (360) 11/28
22. Gears of War (360) 12/27
23. Dragon Quest XI (XSX) 12/29
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: cosmos on December 27, 2020, 03:17:20 pm
Unlikely to hit 52 games, but I'll give it a try!

[1] Cyberpunk 2077 ~ PS4 ~ 13.01.21
[2] Astro's Playroom ~ PS5 ~ 14.01.21
[3] Maneater ~ PS5 ~ 16.01.21
[4] Dirt 5 ~ PS5 ~ 17.01.21
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on December 28, 2020, 05:32:34 am
Reserved - Not expecting to get anywhere near 52, but I want to log my progress anyways :)

Game Beaten
01. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (SEGA Megadrive) 31/01/21
02. Sonic Advance 1 (GBA)
03. Yakuza 5 Remaster (PS4)
04. The Sexy Brutale (PS4)
05. Sonic Adventure 2 (PS3)
06. BlackSad: Under the Skin (PS4)
07. Tornado Outbreak (PS3)
08. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (PS3)
09. House of the Dead 3 (PS3)
10. Samurai Showdown 1 (PS4 - Neo Geo Collection)
11. Zone of the Enders 1 HD (Xbox 360)
12. Zone of the Enders 2: The 2nd Runner HD (PS4)
13.  The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PS3)
14. Resident Evil VII + DLC  (PS4)17/05/2021
15. Resident Evil VIII: Village (PS5) 18/05/2021
16. Final Fantasy: Dissidia NT (PS4) 31/05/2021
17. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4) 01/07/2021
18. OnRush (PS4)
19. Far Cry 5 (PS4)
20. Bugsnax (PS5) 02/08/2021
21. Sonic The Hedgehog Episode 4 - Part 1 (PS Now)
22. Altered Beast (PS Now) 03/09/2021
23. Golden Axe (PS Now) 03/09/2021
24. World War Z (PS4) 03/09/2021
25. Streets of Rage 4 (PS Now) 04/09/2021
26. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space (PS Now) 05/09/2021
27. Sam & Max The Devil's Playhouse (PS Now) 13/09/2021
28. Zombie Vikings (PS Now) 19/09/2021
29. CONTROL (PS5) 21/09/2021
30. Untitled Goose Game (PS4 - Co-op) 03/10/2021
31. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage HD (PS4) 05/10/2021
32. Life Is Strange 2 (Xbox One X) 30/10/2021
33. No Straight Roads (PS4) 5/11/2021
34 Stubbs the Zombie (PS4 Co-op) 27/11/2021
35. Life Is Strange: True Colours (PS5) 27/12/2021
36. Sonic Colours Ultimate (Xbox One X) 31/12/2021
37. First Class Trouble (PS5) Played Enough in 2021
38. Fortnite (PS5) Played Enough in 2021

Games on the Backlog
Yakuza 7
Monkey King
Ni No Kuni Remastered
Final Fantasy II
Mirraza Falls
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: azure on December 28, 2020, 05:36:08 pm
My gaming this year was severely lacking so I'll give this a shot.

1. Dungeon Explorer (Co-op) - TG16
2. Kirby's Dream Land - Gameboy
3. Dragon Quest - Switch
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: jipsy on December 30, 2020, 08:32:34 am
1. Mafia III (Started) -PC
2. Sphinx and the cursed mummy -PS2
3. The Last of Us Remasterd -PS4
4. The Last of Us Part II -PS4
5. Saints Row II -PC
6. Saints Row The Third -PC (Started)
7. Saints Row The Fourth -PC
8. Just Cause -PC
9. Just Cause 2 -PC
10. Just Cause 3 -PC
11. Bioshock Remastered (Started) -PC
12. Bioshock 2 Remastered -PC
13. Bioshock Infinite Remastered -PC
14. Resident's Evil Directors Cut -PS1
15. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Started) -PC
16. Mafia II (Started) -PC
17. The Walking Dead (Started) -PC


Finished/Quit:
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: chrismb on December 31, 2020, 07:49:43 pm
2017 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,7980.msg149108.html#msg149108
2018 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,8821.msg160906.html#msg160906
2019 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,9921.msg162691.html#msg162691
2020 : https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173524.html#msg173524

5th time doing this!

Finished:

1. Resident Evil Survivor [Playstation 1]
2. DMC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition [Playstation 4]
3. Mafia 3 Definitive Edition [Xbox One]
4. NBA 2K21 [Playstation 4]
5. NBA 2K21 [Xbox Series X/S]
6. MLB: The Show 20 [Playstation 4]
7. FIFA 21 [Xbox Series X/S]
8. Ma Bimbo [PC]
9. Eldarya [PC]
10. Amour Sucré [PC]
11. DmC: Devil May Cry - Vergil's Downfall [Playstation 4]
12. AirCar [Oculus Quest 2]

Currently Playing:

- Mafia Definitive Edition
- Devil May Cry 5
- Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Nightlong Union City Conspiracy
- Epic Roller Coasters
- Dream Daddy
- The Sims
- The Sims Mobile
- Love Sick
- Frontier Justice
- Tony's Hawk's Skate Jam
- Madden NFL 21
- NHL 21
- Rugby 20
- AO International Tennis
- AFL Evolution 2
- Pro Yakyū Spirits 2019
- WWE 2K20

Next Games:

-
-
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla
-
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 02, 2021, 01:38:15 am
1. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS4)

Funny that the first game I finished this year would be one that i started last year, but here we are.


Overall, I really, really liked Cyberpunk, and mind you I was playing the infamous, "unplayable" PS4 version. Speaking to that version, yes, the game crashed on me about a dozen times during my 70-hours of playing it, and I encounter easily 10-times that many bugs ranging from hilarious to slightly annoying, but overall the technical issues this game is more well known for than the game itself did very little to hinder my experience with this game. With that out of the way, Cyberpunk is probably one of the most ambitious games I've ever played, maybe even too ambitious. For one, the amount of detail, things to do, and features in this game is insane! Like, this might be one of the most immersive games I've ever played and there were periods of times while playing where I never wanted it to end. That is until I got into a combat situation where I feel like this game stumbles the most. The combat isn't terrible, but it's very clunky and poorly implemented at times which really decreased my enjoyment of the game whenever I had to get into a firefight or sneak around an enemy base. Likewise, driving in this game is a very mixed bag with most vehicles handling like shit, and other handling slightly better than that. I found the motorcycles to be the best in terms of handling and fun, so they're what I used 95% of the time I played. As for missions, there are A TON of them. Some are okay, a few were annoying, and then most were pretty fun and interesting, to holy shit, that's was awesome! I felt this way about many of the main story missions as well, but unfortunately this really died at the end of the game during the final mission. So there are 5 possibly endings in this game, which I figured was enough to range from super shitty to super awesome. Sadly, the bottom tier decision lives up to my expectation, however the best ending has an okay outcome at best. There are still some really crappy things you have to deal with an accept in the end, which after everything you go through during the game just didn't sit right with me. Overall I felt pretty dissatisfied with my ending, which was the 2nd best ending. I looked up what the best ending is and it honestly wasn't much better. While the endings (at least some of them) aren't terrible, they do leave a ton to be desired and in some ways feel interchangeable given certain things you just kind of have to accept with each ending. But anyhow, yes, I mostly really enjoyed my time with Cyberpunk, but given it's letdown ending and issues I had with the gameplay, I'm not sure if I'll ever go back and replay it. I guess time will tell, but at the moment I'm just happy it's over and I can move on to other games I really want to play this year. (1/1/21) [39/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: shatterstar69 on January 02, 2021, 06:42:51 am
I think I'm going to bow out this year.  I made it to 52 last year!  However, I got a lot of things going on in RL this year so not sure I can do a traditional challenge.  I do plan on going back to some previous titles and complete trophies/achievements.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on January 02, 2021, 12:52:40 pm
Main post: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185703.html#msg185703

Metro 2033 Redux - abandoned

There are many things wrong with this game and I played it for about 2 hours before I decided to abandon it. This is the type of game that you can only play it as the developers intend. There is no freedom of choice and it is basically a rail shooter with some open areas. It does no use invisible/death walls but it does use death triggers. If you go a wrong direction, you will trigger recurring enemy spawns that will kill you when you run out of ammo, or a death screen with a 1 hit enemy kill. There is no freedom to get past any area and if you get stuck, you have to endlessly try to determine where you are supposed to stand, and what target priority you are supposed to use. If you do not go to the correct part of the map and attack the enemies in a certain order, you will die. For any encounter, it is rare to be able to have a safe firing position. I only encountered two of them in the short time. One where you can be under a bridge to fight the flying enemy (actually I think you are not supposed to fight this enemy at this time, but I kited it to me and went under the bridge). There is another area where you can climb a tree, but I think this is a geometry glitch and wasn't overly useful. There are areas you can shoot enemies from inside of a building, but the enemies know how to path to you so if you do not kill them, they will go into the building to find you.

There is the part in Moscow where you follow a guy, and you enter into a combat area. The cpu player is a bad shot and you have to fight about 6 of the fast "weak" enemies, then two of the flying ones show up after x amount of those weak enemies are killed. It brings to light an issue with the combat at this point. The game forces you to have close encounter battles and all of the guns (at this point) are not strong enough for close combat. The weaker enemies are 2-3 hit kills and the flying ones are 6 hit kills. Even the melee attack is 2 hit kill on the small enemies. There is a HUD for ammo but not for health. You only know to heal when a hint appears on the screen. When you press button to heal, it plays an animation. You can cancel reload or heal animations but it applies partial stat changes in the case of health, but will spend the health kit. So if you heal, then reload, you waste the heal. In this large battle in Moscow there is not enough time to heal and reload and kill these enemies. If you attempt to find cover, the game will use a kill screen on you. The gun reload animation will glitch with the SMG and make it appear your mag is empty, so you waste time to reload when you don't need to.

The game also does not give enough information as to what to do. In the underground areas, these sections are linear enough that you can follow a wall and get to where you need to go. In Moscow, it is a large open area and you can be lost. It will just say "go to the back of the hotel" but you are not told which building is the hotel, or given any direction as how to go about doing that. There are areas that look like you should jump on them, but they are just decal objects. Maybe a problem is that everything in the game is in Russian, maybe if I knew how to read Russian it would be easier to figure out.

The premise is good but the issues are too large to bother to play:
- no direction as to what to do
- gameplay is a combination of interactive cutscene or rail shooter.
- You cannot be creative to solve problems, you can only complete areas as the developer intended.
- uses kill triggers
- guns too weak / enemies too strong even on the easiest difficulty.
- HUD has no health indicator, some weapons can be carried but game does not have a control option or instruction on how to use them (grenade, knife)

On to Endless Legend. It being a 4X I already know it will be "endless" although I can quantify it for this challenge as "win a map/scenario", and it will just remain on my playing list until I can 100% the achievements.

1/6/2021 update
- redid main post and reformatted game list.

Endless Legend - won a game
A 4X that has more in common with Heroes of Might and Magic style of game than with Civilization. Another thing that stands out is that the text is very small on the UI and there doesn't seem to be a way to make it any bigger. After doing the tutorial, I started a game on the lowest difficulty. I didn't bother to read all the lore, of which there is a lot since it is a fantasy world rather than being based on the real world. I was doing fine for awhile but I did not realise how big the game world was. After I learned how to fully zoom out the map, I realised I wasn't doing as good as I thought. Near to the end of the game (it has a turn limit) there is a message saying the green player will win a victory by conquering territory. After seeing how big they were, I decided to just throw all of my armies against them, since the game was ending soon, I would get it over with to start again. I was completely overmatched and they defeated all of my armies and took half of my cities. I basically just decided to turtle and just build buildings and not make any new armies.

Then another message, blue player will get economic victory in 5 turns! No point to play, I'll just go to the end playing the prod game. Then suddenly I won! An interesting mechanic being that you can win if an ally meets a victory condition. I got the achievements for winning on the difficulty I was on, and for the faction I was using, so I'm counting it.

After that first game, I now have a better idea of what to do, at least next time I think I will be able to field a better army. I am leaving this game installed and will return to it in the future. For the rest of the week I will continue on my regular schedule, so those games have been added to my game list post. All of them have a completion goal with exception of BL3. So if I happen to hit 100% achievements, or get Dark Matter/100%er on BO4 (presuming I can even play since Treyarch no longer monitors mod queue) or complete the PO3 mod pack. The next one to start on Monday looks like it will be Aliens Isolation, but we'll see.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 02, 2021, 01:48:08 pm
01. Ring Fit Adventure || Nintendo Switch || 01.02.21

Having played regularly almost every other day since September 2020, I've found so much value in playing Ring Fit Adventure during the pandemic. As someone who had just started visited a gym a few months prior to when most businesses began having massive temporary closings in March, not having an ideal place to exercise was really disappointing. During this time, I was well aware of RFA, but the pandemic made a lot of items including this game a lot more sparse and desired. I finally got around to securing a copy back in July, but it took me a good while to make a habit in playing. However, while I was admittedly only visiting the gym maybe once a week at most, I'm happy that I look forward to exercising with RFA in the comfort of my home each and every time I begin. While RFA isn't going to give the same results that a gym offers to its members, the game easily gives its players the chance to tone up their bodies and to maintain a healthy fitness level. As someone who was moderately healthy before yet had no real sense of fitness, I definitely feel a proper change in my well-being and overall health—although I can't give RFA all the credit in this regard, as I've adapted to a healthier diet while also monitoring my daily calorie intake.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: mrfreise on January 03, 2021, 06:48:48 am
long time user but this will be my first attempt to document a true years worth of games. 52 games in 52 weeks

i once saw a forum dedicated to this sorta thing back oin 2018 and i always said i would try it.
well here we go

i will be streaming the entire thing on twitch so feel free to come stop by
https://www.twitch.tv/mrfreise

i will update this as often as possible


     title                                                       console                   start date              end date         rating
1)  Onimusha: Warlords                                PS2                        1/2/2021
2)  Medal of Honor: Rising sun                       PS2                        1/7/2021
3)  SSX 3                                                    Xbox                       1/7/2021
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on January 03, 2021, 12:57:14 pm
Finished my first game for the year!

1. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) 01/02

Really enjoyed the shit out of this one, they took everything that made Spider-Man great and turned it up to 11!!!

Also.. I already had to make an exception to my goal of not getting a new game for the PS5 till I finish my previous one. I was gifted a copy of Demon's Souls and well... yea fuck that. I'll get to it eventually but I'm not ready to take that one... so I'm just going to skip right over that for now and play Immortal Feynx Rising.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on January 03, 2021, 12:58:15 pm
Quote from: emccann86 on January 03, 2021, 06:48:48 am
long time user but this will be my first attempt to document a true years worth of games. 52 games in 52 weeks

i once saw a forum dedicated to this sorta thing back oin 2018 and i always said i would try it.
well here we go

i will be streaming the entire thing on twitch so feel free to come stop by
https://www.twitch.tv/mrfreise

i will update this as often as possible


     title                              console                   start date        end date
1)  Onimusha: Warlords       PS2                        1/2/2021
2)

Is it okay if I use your listing format? The start and end date is something that I never thought of using and I really want to implement it on my list
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on January 05, 2021, 10:34:37 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185670.html#msg185670)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

38. Pokemon: Sword (NS)
For some reason decided to jump into another Pokemon game after finishing the previous pokemon game.  Took a while to really start because I didn't know which pokemon to pick.  I was trying to decide between grass donkey kong, fire pele bunny, and james pond... then while trying to find a james pond reference on google for it, I found a gex reference and that sort of pushed me towards picking water gex... then I saw his dynamax form where he grows a sniper's perch and a sniper rifle and I'm like oh duh, this is my dude.  Thus my wife picked fire pele bunny for when she plays Shield, I picked shield for her because of the fire unicorn pokemon.  Full xp share from the beginning speeds things up, my whole team is 10+ already and I'm fighting level 5-7 guys right now because I grind too fast, I guess.  This kind of continued the entire game, being 10-15 levels over everyone else, which was pretty awesome... however the final fight against the champion however, he was like exactly my level.  Now maybe I should've been out catching pokemon still and leveling up even further like I wound up throughout the game, but I really didn't know where else to look for pokemon to catch and I read about how different pokemon spawn in areas depending on the current weather and don't know how the weather changes.  That sort of ruined the game for me.  I like being boss awesome strong, that's a personal thing so whatever, but he got destroyed by the pokemon and I destroyed the pokemon, I shouldn't have been getting 1-hit KO'd by every single one of his pokemon.  I will admit he was probably the most challenging trainer in all of Pokemon though, because all of his Pokemon knew it's own type, plus the types to destroy its weaknesses, thus making battle complex compared to normal 1 dimensional trainers.  So complaints either way, if you want challenge, you don't get it until the final battle, mind you I Gigamax'd once the entire game and it was the end of the final battle with Leon.  There appears to be quite a bit more to do, so I'll keep playing for now.
Rating: Soft recommendation

39. Ringfit Adventure (NS)
I've already beaten this game last year, and I had stopped playing it last year after beating the main story.  Finally decided I needed to get back on it so I can stay in a nicer shape rather than just concentrating on treadmilling.  I'm currently down to 155-160, which is a nice loss of ~30lb.  Not much to say about this, I'm just working on new game+ and only doing about a level a day.  Even from starting up having not played in about 6 months, I wasn't sore doing this, but I also know I'm not over doing it by only doing one level a day.
Rating: Soft recommendation

40. Sara is Missing (Android)
LRG announced Simulacra and I just really didn't want to support them.  So I looked into Simulacra to see where I'd want to play it and where it's the best price.  Android won in every category and I saw there were other games in the "series" and like it so I downloaded a bunch of phone snooping games.  This the predecessor to Simulacra, I played this first.  I was expecting it to be more "Lost Phone Stories" and less psychological horror, so color me disappointed when the ending turned out to be very much not an ending at all... and I still have no clue what happened.  Like was Iris in on it?  What happened to Sara?  I don't know, but I certainly didn't care enough to even google it.
Rating: Hard pass

41. Gato Roboto (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWJ6q1l18jA&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQaPuRIYsxypKKBGdbUXuuY) (X1)
Every month games get delisted from Game Pass and that's the stuff I prioritize, I saw this was getting delisted so I finally pushed myself to play it.  Glad I did because this was a pleasant experience.  There was maybe one or two parts that frustrated me, but it's because I did something difficult when I could've done something easy, had to undo what I did, the same hard way, just so I could go the easy way.
Rating: Solid recommendation

42. Simulacra (Android)
I'm figuring this will be a quick game, but it's kind of contingent on me being able to sit down and play for more than a few minutes and pop in earbuds.  It's more of Sara is Missing and has stupid horror psychological aspects.  Honestly, not really enjoying the horror aspects, and it tends to lean towards not having closure, it being a franchise and it being horror.  Not really horror if you get closure.
Rating: Hard pass

43. There is no game (Android)
My wife made me sit down and play this on her phone, and I had to be like I'm pretty sure I played this as a flash game a long time ago.  But I played it anyway and remembered that it was indeed entertaining and she brought to my attention the "sequel" Wrong Dimension, so we'll probably get that either for Android or Switch.  It's basically a game where the narrator tries to convince you that there is no game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

44. Gear.Club Unlimited (NS)
I've been playing this game off and on for years, but this year I'm finally dumping time into it because it's a great game to just play on the fly.  Races are super short and I can jump in and jump out.  That said the game crashes quite a bit, has stuttering and slowdown a ton, and has input registration issues.  If not for those things, this game would be like an 8/10 for me, but the fact that this stuff happens so often and is kind of infuriating I can't even justify something like 5/10.  It'd be a great game if they'd just optimize or prioritize performance.  Legitimately this game suffers from such poor performance issues I just can't recommend it.  I am however going to play the sequel and see if that's any better.  This game does have a hefty amount of "content" because there are like 300+ races to do.
Rating: Hard pass

45. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6hY289AvUo&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQFLf-eyVxw25iGHFWT7QNB) (PS5)
Got this at launch but decided to wait for the PS5 upgrade to actually play it.  I will say, having been playing games optimized for next gen and stuff, I don't think they necessarily look or play better than last gen, they just load faster.  That's a great thing, loading faster, but it doesn't necessarily feel like a reason to buy a console.  The move to an RPG based system instead of a brawler based system took a bit of getting used to, and I still take umbrage with it.  Story is pretty good so far, but I am slightly concerned/curious how and if the story will veer back towards Kamurocho.  The fall out Tojo irks me something fierce in that it holds that only Kiryu was holding Tojo together and when he "died" everything fell apart... but that was basically the theme of the first 6 games really.  Ok, so only really one major complaint about this game.  I had to do like 3-4 hours of grinding, like straight grinding, even after doing all of the side content, to beat a story boss.  A minor complaint is that the whole game is pretty quick but then right at the end you get a handful of fights that literally take 30+ minutes to get through.  May not even be tough fights, but the enemies have so much health, or such high defense, or so many resistances, that it literally takes 30+ minutes to knock down their health... also so many enemies immune to all status effects.   ::)  The tail end of the game gives so much info and possibly fan service that it made me giddy every time stuff happened.  There was certainly more I wanted story wise, and they left a few loose ends, but what game doesn't really.  Kume's bit confused me a bit, I'm sort of hoping a sequel will do something about that.
Rating: Highly recommended

46. Ape Out (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZF_BAicarE&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSobJDftIWhbdB2p73RSntw) (PC)
I've been super interested in this game, but it's only on Game Pass for PC.  The game was also going up for order physically for Switch so I wanted to see if this was a game I needed physically or not.  This game is actually quite fun to play and possibly has replay value in its procedural generation... but for me, that's a no.  I don't think I'd be missing out in my life not being able to play this game ever again, there are plenty of other games out there that I'd possibly have more fun replaying or even moving on to a new game over replaying this game.  The game is also only maybe 2 hours long depending on random generation and how good you are at the game.  That said, the game is fun to play and if you have game pass or can get the game on the cheap I'd recommend giving it a go.
Rating: Soft recommendation

47. Streets of Kamurocho (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEEDfMPw23s&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRvKhOaaFd_mjz1KXQ05Ack) (PC)
After playing Ape Out, I decided to look at Steam and see if there were any games I'd like to play, so I installed a bunch of games including this one.  I saw HLTB listed the game as extremely short, so I decided I'd kill an evening playing this game.  The game is extremely short in that you play through 3 levels and then you loop playing through the same 3 levels infinitely to obtain a higher score.  So in that aspect the game is endless and once you've beaten the 3 levels you've essentially beaten the game.  The only reason to keep playing the game otherwise is to unlock Ichiban Kasuga, which you'll unlock within like 10 minutes of playing.  I don't know what unlocks him, but I unlocked him very quickly and without even beating the 3rd part of the game.  That all said, the game is/was free, but even then it doesn't really provide much value that I'd say it's an easy pass.
Rating: Hard pass.

48. OutDrive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHuoJTJMgzw&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSnpIRFzmnyd6ViDPh6sCsz) (PC)
This was another short game that I had in Steam and decided to play.  Premise is basically drive fast, but not too fast, but also not too slow, but drive safely, but not too safely.  That's it.  That's the game, don't meet those criteria?  The girl dies and game over.  The game has no ending, you just keep playing as long as you can.  I think I managed to last like 20 minutes and then I wasn't paying attention because I was talking to myself on stream about how I was about to give up because I'm just not feeling the game, and then I died.  It's a mindless game with beautiful visuals and a nice synthwave soundtrack... other than that, not much going on for it.
Rating: Hard pass

49. SUPERHOTline Miami (PC)
I don't remember if I was looking at SUPERHOT stuff or itch.io stuff, but I saw this existed so I decided to give it a go because it was short.  Pretty fun short game.  Really not much to add, it's just Hotline Miami with the SUPERHOT mechanics.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

50. Operation Logic Bomb (NSO)
We went to my sister's house to have our kids play together now that all the adults are fully vaccinated.  I brought my Switch because my sister and I used to play Tetris Attack/Pokemon Puzzle League a lot, thought maybe we could play.  Didn't even bring in my Switch and forgot about it.  Wouldn't have had time to regardless.  Kids and whatnot. Got home and decided I'd play something NSO, just picked a sort of random game to jump into.  I might have checked HTLB, but I can't say for sure.  Short enough game though, pretty good too. Not necessarily my thing, but it's definitely not a bad game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

51. Super Valis IV (NSO)
Another case of just playing a game to play a game.  Knew nothing of this game going in.  It's just a little platformer like Castlevania.  I do think it's super cool that this game that's nearly 30 years old had an awesome female protagonist.  That's pretty common these days, which is still pretty cool, but I'm always pleasantly surprised when I find older games like this.  Shortish game in that it's only got 7 "levels" but the levels are pretty large.  I used save states like a scrub, so the game was made much easier and I didn't really leverage any of the items that you can pick up throughout the game.  I did get a low score on time for the game, so I assume the boss fights could have been quicker had I used items or something.
Rating: Soft recommendation

52. Wild Guns (NSO)
The final case of just playing a game to play a game.  I knew about this game going in, but maybe not to an extent.  The music of this game is great.  I didn't really use save states on this one, but I did use the rewind feature a bit.  Game is basically a shmup.  I think I can enjoy shmups under one of two circumstances: rewind feature and/or infinite lives.  Not infinite continues, infinite lives.  Without those the games get hard enough that I can't bother.  That said, and while I enjoyed this game, I know I would not enjoy it without the rewind or save state features.
Rating: Soft pass.

53. Wilmot's Warehouse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovs1IT9ijjA&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSlzwiyMRLsme1yESqna_Yi) (X1)
I decided to play this game because I wanted to play something while We Happy Few was installing.  Of course I forget that Xbox throttles download speeds while playing any game, so it made the download take hours to finish.  I streamed my first time playing it.  It was boring to watch.  I streamed my second time playing, but the audio was garbled, so I deleted it.  Then I decided I just wouldn't stream playing it because it's kind of boring to watch and I wanted to pick up and play whenever I wanted without worrying about streaming.  It's basically an inventory management simulator.  Nothing fun really, just menial and tedious.  A puzzle game.  That out of the way, it's a pretty good inventory management simulator.
Rating: Soft recommendation

54. WWE 2K16 (X1)
Randomly decided I wanted to play a wrestling game, saw that this was the oldest one for X1 that I owned in some manner so I decided I'd go with this one.  Really frustrating that I don't actually own like any WWE games post Smackdown Vs. Raw except this (GwG) and 2K19... and they are all pretty pricey for no good reason it seems.  I had already beaten "story mode" from this one, but I decided I'd do the My Universe or whatever where you play a CaW and go through the whole shebang.  I only put in so much time that I went through the whole NXT section and then hit the main roster and stopped so far.  I mostly stopped because I wanted to play games to earn achievements for the gamerscore challenge and this was just too long to be worth doing right now.  That said, I don't really like the 2k series of these games, they over complicated everything.  Pins, submissions, etc are all skill/timing based and I can't do that shit to the point that if a bot decides to quick pin me, odds are pretty high I'm gonna lose.  Limited reversals and stamina make sense but are still annoying.
Rating: Hard pass.

55. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (X1)
I've actually been playing this off and on for years just whenever I feel like it as I already completed the game on 360 back in the day.  Randomly decide to play the game.  My original playthrough I went a lot into stealth and archery and made it so I could one shot stuff with a bow and arrow.  I forced myself to go pure mage in this playthrough.  I do have a bow and arrow for when magic just isn't an option, but I basically only use magic.  My health and stamina are like base and I put all points into magic and magic skills.  Enjoying the change.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

56. Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (XBLA)
Saw that this was a quick completion for achievements so I decided to jump into it to earn a quick 400 points, but then I saw I could make it super fast 320 points and just not bother with the last 80 points that are difficult.  Did that.  Basically just play through the story mode once and do some tutorial stuff.  I'm not big on fighting games, and I have no clue what was going on with this one, I didn't even fully understand the controls. Meh?
Rating: Hard pass.

57. The Videokid (X1)
Another game that I saw was a quick 1kGS.  Sounded like it was a modern take on Paperboy but with tons of 80's references.  All in all, I appreciated the references... and the gameplay was pretty addictive too.  It was actually an absolutely pleasant 1k to earn.  That said, it's only really a quick 1k if you can learn all the stuff and have the "skills" to do it, it took me several hours, but I enjoyed my time.  A pleasant throwback.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

58. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (X1)
I was flipping through TrueAchievements to see what all I could get quick achievements from and saw that I could 1k this pretty easily.  I already had like 300-400 from the game so I only had so much to do.  Super fast experience to get the 1k.  I probably wouldn't have counted this if I hadn't already counted it as beat in a previous year.  The 1k doesn't even require beating the game, just level selecting the boss level and beating the episodes plus some other stuff.  Honestly might go back and play it again one day though.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

59. Knight Squad (X1)
Another game that I had been working on because of a previous gamerscore challenge, but I had forgotten that I had never finished it up, so I hopped back into it and earned another 500GS from it.  An absolute pleasant couch party game and a fast 1kGS.  Played this quite a bit over the years at PAX, glad they made a Knight Squad 2, hope it hits GPU one day.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

60. The Gardens Between (X1)
Another game I had seen was a quick 1k.  I had been putting off playing this game, dunno why, but just kept putting it off.  I skipped buying the physical release of this game, and glad I did.  The game is only about 2 hours long and doesn't really leave a reason to ever play it again.  That said, the puzzle mechanics are like Life is Strange meets Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker... but simpler?  Music is great, graphics remind me of Oxenfree, story is very meh until the end in which it's like oh yeah, of course that's what was going on.  I probably could have and should have streamed playing this game, but it's whatever, it was short and I played it sort of in bursts but also kind of all in one go.  I just really haven't been feeling streaming and we're going through figuring out if we are going to move or not.  It sounds like we probably couldn't win an injunction against our neighbors to get them to stop playing music loudly (with high bass) but finding another house that we like as much as the one we currently own is just impossible.  Anyway, probably need to get back to streaming.
Rating: Soft pass.

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186162.html#msg186162)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 07, 2021, 04:23:32 am
Beat Saber (VR 2018) - ENDLESS - First game to get added to the list this year and it was something I've wanted to play for two years now.  I use to be a huge Guitar Hero/Rock Band player and this game just hit me hard with those same kind of feelings even if it was an entirely different rhythm experience.  I played it once for a couple songs like in 2019, and that was it.  But I finally got an Oculus Quest 2, figured that with the unit being standalone, I can get Beat Saber and a handful of other experiences, I could get enough out of VR for the first time.  VR is pretty neat, the headset can be weird to figure out to get comfy, but overall it's been interesting.

Beat Saber I love, even if I don't like most any of the songs they have in the game (If they want electronic stuff, get like some 90's Eurobeat or like DDR type songs in there lol).  I'm counting this game as endless, even if it has a campaign, but I'm probably not gonna touch the campaign much.  That being said, I have a lot of fun with the game, it's simple, but it gets me active and it looks super cool.  I'm gonna be looking at adding custom songs to the game very soon as I need some freaking rock and metal going on!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on January 07, 2021, 12:24:12 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on January 07, 2021, 04:23:32 am
Beat Saber (VR 2018) - ENDLESS
[...] I'm counting this game as endless, even if it has a campaign, but I'm probably not gonna touch the campaign much.  That being said, I have a lot of fun with the game, it's simple, but it gets me active and it looks super cool.  I'm gonna be looking at adding custom songs to the game very soon as I need some freaking rock and metal going on!

I played on PS4, and found the campaign super fun and difficult, actually.  Though I do agree it needs more variety in the music would be really appreciated - the downside of not playing on PC.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 07, 2021, 01:52:26 pm
Quote from: Cartagia on January 07, 2021, 12:24:12 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on January 07, 2021, 04:23:32 am
Beat Saber (VR 2018) - ENDLESS
[...] I'm counting this game as endless, even if it has a campaign, but I'm probably not gonna touch the campaign much.  That being said, I have a lot of fun with the game, it's simple, but it gets me active and it looks super cool.  I'm gonna be looking at adding custom songs to the game very soon as I need some freaking rock and metal going on!

I played on PS4, and found the campaign super fun and difficult, actually.  Though I do agree it needs more variety in the music would be really appreciated - the downside of not playing on PC.

I might give it a shot then, it didn't really seem to have a lot going on, and it starts out on Easy, so stuff is kinda slow, but couldn't hurt to try it.  My main goal is custom music and there's a ton of other stuff I want to play.  I'm getting my link cable in today, so hopefully I can figure out adding a bunch of cool songs.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: mrfreise on January 07, 2021, 04:30:44 pm
Quote from: droaa on January 03, 2021, 12:58:15 pm
Is it okay if I use your listing format? The start and end date is something that I never thought of using and I really want to implement it on my list

of course!!

i had set mine up that way as i know i will consistantly not finish in a single sitting/day so i just threw it up like that

p.s.  ijm stealing your rating column tho  ;)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on January 07, 2021, 08:37:35 pm
Quote from: emccann86 on January 07, 2021, 04:30:44 pm
Quote from: droaa on January 03, 2021, 12:58:15 pm
Is it okay if I use your listing format? The start and end date is something that I never thought of using and I really want to implement it on my list

of course!!

i had set mine up that way as i know i will consistantly not finish in a single sitting/day so i just threw it up like that

p.s.  ijm stealing your rating column tho  ;)

Thank you. I specifically saw the start date section and thought it would be a good idea to see when exactly I started and entice me not to start something and leave it in purgatory like I usually do. No problem sir :)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 08, 2021, 03:43:38 pm
02. Golf Story || Nintendo Switch || 01.07.21

When first buying a Switch a few months after its release, Golf Story immediately stood out to me in the then-sparse eShop. At the time, I played through roughly half of the game but then became too busy to finish it. After 2.5 years, I created a new file and was able to play through the entire game, and the experience was just as great as I had remembered before. Billing itself as golf with RPG mechanics, Golf Story by no means treads lightly in its comedic approach by introducing ridiculous characters and scenarios. As someone who ordinarily has little to no interest in the traditional sports genre, titles like Golf Story excite me while giving me hope in the creative process in modern and indie gaming. I would love to go more in-depth about certain story elements within the game, but that truly would be robbing those who are interested of a more fulfilling experience. As far as the golf mechanics operate, I've not played other traditional golf games to compare them to, but, overall, Golf Story's gameplay is simple to learn while difficult to master.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on January 09, 2021, 06:28:32 am
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch 2020) - BEAT - I really dug Hyrule Warriors back when it first came out, getting spinoff Zelda games are so rare, let alone a Zelda game that lets you play as more than just Link.  This game continues that by letting you play as all the Champions and some other characters and its just nice to jump back into Breath of the Wild and get more fun story stuff.  Not that it gets any particularly great character stuff, Zelda is sorta the only one with an arc to her, but it's still just nice to see more of them.  There's some fun stuff with the story too that works great for a spinoff game.  I do wish this game had villain characters to play as like you could in the previous Hyrule Warriors, there's only two you get, one I haven't unlocked, but I feel like there should be more, and for some reason it makes me feel like they are gonna have a villain DLC pack that is hopefully free because it should be of characters that already exist in the game.

I do really like the world map in this, it doesn't have that nostalgic charm of the Adventure Map from the previous game, having sprite based characters running around old school overworld maps based on Zelda games, but functionally it's better than that.  Everything is on one map, you can pick or choose way more of what you want, and it makes it feel like part of the game, rather than a separate mode.

Don't have any real complaints other than performance, it of course runs pretty poor, the first game didn't run great either, but it bothered me less than I expected, mostly because I was just having fun with the game.  It's mindless and grindy, but having all this big action in a Zelda game with all these characters, I love that and I'm gonna keep playing it also, working to max out my characters, unlock more costumes, and I still have 2 post-game characters to unlock and I just hope they add some DLC later on.  Heck, I'd love it if they just outright added Hyrule Warriors characters back into the game.  Bring back Linkle! lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 09, 2021, 08:02:36 pm
03. Flipping Death || Nintendo Switch || 01.09.21

Having bought Flipping Death mostly after hearing good things about the developer's previous title Stick It to the Man! while also interested in the game's unique art style, I started playing the game without having any expectations for this puzzle-platform title. Although not of the adventure genre, Flipping Death plays as much easier adventure title with some simple platforming mechanics. And, as someone who has played a few games within the adventure genre over the years, I've always appreciated the effort and love put into creating fun characters and challenging puzzles, although I fully admit that good adventure titles often force me into looking up more answers online than I'd like. Overwhelmingly, these two aspects of the genre make or break an adventure title.

Unfortunately, I have to report that Flipping Death doesn't score high at all to my personal tastes. Opposite to what I listed of good aspects of adventure titles, Flipping Death does not introduce interesting or even fleshed-out characters. Instead, the cast can largely be divided into two character groups: the odd, living townspeople and the ghosts—both who are severely underdeveloped to the point that I don't really care when their stories and problems are solved. As far as game's puzzles, most of them are straight-forward which results in the player almost feeling as if the lackluster story is running on automatic if it were not for the player's needed engagement to control the character back and forth from problem to obvious answer again and again. When two of the most important aspects to a genre aren't successful, your game is left lacking and disappointing to its players. Coupled with these issues, the game's platforming mechanics—chiefly its character movement and actions—are difficult enough for me to talk about them, which only adds more to the list of what Flipping Death suffers from.

Overall, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend Flipping Death. Even if the game were on sale, I know that newcomers to the genre would find much more entertainment value from games similar to it that I know are more highly-acclaimed, whereas those invested into the genre would find no enjoyment playing Flipping Death at all.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 09:01:40 pm
Damn! It's awesome to see how on the ball people are with this challenge this year already! I need to get my ass in gear and quit playing so much video pinball and actually beat some more games! Might actually jump into one tonight ;)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on January 09, 2021, 09:54:06 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 09:01:40 pm
Damn! It's awesome to see how on the ball people are with this challenge this year already! I need to get my ass in gear and quit playing so much video pinball and actually beat some more games! Might actually jump into one tonight ;)

Both the games I've started are long-ish RPGs, so I'm probably not getting any completion notches for another week at least
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 11:31:31 pm
2. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)

Something dawned on my late last year that just didn't sit right with me; despite having played the original Sonic a million times over the past 30-years and it being the reason I wanted a Sega Genesis back during the early 90s, I'd never actually beat the game! Well, that all changed tonight when I beat the game from start to finish in one sitting! Overall, it's definitely the weakest of the 4 main Sonic games on the Genesis, but it's still very easy to see why this game was so revolutionary and innovative back when it first came out in 1991. I found some levels to be amazing, while others, mostly the ones with any sort of water, to be somewhat tedious and annoying. Still overall, I enjoyed my time with this game quite a bit, and if for nothing else it's always a massive hit of nostalgia for me. Visually this is a very, very good looking game for 1991 and the soundtrack is top notch, even though all the other Genesis Sonic titles have it beat in that department. But what an absolutely special game and one that is personally very important to me as a gamer. I'm happy that I can finally close the door on this one though and say I beat it. (1/9/21) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on January 10, 2021, 12:02:33 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 09:01:40 pm
Damn! It's awesome to see how on the ball people are with this challenge this year already! I need to get my ass in gear and quit playing so much video pinball and actually beat some more games! Might actually jump into one tonight ;)

I'm trying to get in as much as possible before I start class in 2 weeks because I know when it starts knowing my track record that my gaming will be at a decline. I don't want it to be but it is bound to happen. Thankfully, I'll be in my final semester
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 10, 2021, 02:05:58 am
3. Zero Wing (Genesis)

Since I had my Genesis plugged in still to play Sonic I decided I wanted to play a 16-bit SHMUP I've never played, but thanks to the internet and meme culture I was fairly familiar with. Yes, Zero Wing's opening seen is pure, poorly translated comedic gold, however it's all kinda downhill once you start the game. For a SHMUP for this era Zero Wing is okay for the most part. It has decent graphics and audio, and I really like how cool some of the bosses looked, but the gameplay is what really holds this game back. Zero Wing uses a checkpoint system like various other older shooters which in a way works for these older games, but still can be fairly annoying. Luckily Zero Wing saves right before an item drop enemy appears which is a welcome gameplay feature since many shooters from the late 80s and early 90s that employ power ups love to maroon you if you die in the middle of a stage. Luckily Zero Wing doesn't do this, but it might as well given how poorly designed certain sections of the game are. I feel like the harder this game got, the less I enjoyed it since the limitations of its gameplay become most aparant during its more challenging sections. Still, it was a decent old school shooters and I'm happy I finally got around to checking out this memefest of a game. (1/9/21) [30/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: cosmos on January 10, 2021, 03:43:00 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 09:01:40 pm
Damn! It's awesome to see how on the ball people are with this challenge this year already! I need to get my ass in gear and quit playing so much video pinball and actually beat some more games! Might actually jump into one tonight ;)

I know what you mean.

I’m fully immersed in Cyberpunk. Apart from the numerous crashes, I am really enjoying the game and not ready to move on anytime soon.

52 games may be a stretch!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on January 10, 2021, 12:06:25 pm
I just finished Ventus's story in Birth By Sleep, but I'm not going to count the game as finished until I've done Terra and Aqua's stories as well.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 10, 2021, 12:07:43 pm
Quote from: cosmos on January 10, 2021, 03:43:00 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 09, 2021, 09:01:40 pm
Damn! It's awesome to see how on the ball people are with this challenge this year already! I need to get my ass in gear and quit playing so much video pinball and actually beat some more games! Might actually jump into one tonight ;)

I know what you mean.

I’m fully immersed in Cyberpunk. Apart from the numerous crashes, I am really enjoying the game and not ready to move on anytime soon.

52 games may be a stretch!


I felt the same way, at least until the end of the game. The endings all leave a lot to be desired, even the "best" secret ending. Maybe you'll like them more, but the ending really put a damper on the experience for me. Otherwise I loved it and could not put it down despite all the performance and glitch issues on the PS4.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: alkaid on January 11, 2021, 07:46:48 am
Returning as no longer someone who buys games and doesn't play them, but someone who plays games and doesn't buy any bc I'm broke as fuck. Tmi but shoutouts to my adhd meds reigning in my impulse spending and giving me a resemblance of an attention span. Couldn't attempt this without you bby

The organizer in me is loving seeing these different layouts. The lazy-ass in me is appreciating that I don't have to come up with something creative myself.

※ Green italicized games are beaten. Challenge games are ones I don't necessarily expect to (be able to) finish.

52 Games 2021
1. Kirby's Dream Course (SNES) [01/08 - ]
2. Final Fantasy VIII (PS1) [01/09 - ]
3. Final Fantasy X (PS2) NSG [02/05 - ]
4. Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg (PS2) [01/29 - 02/05]

Challenge Games
Devil May Cry (PS1)
Ninja Gaiden (NES)
Final Fantasy X (PS2) NSGNS and/or Rikku SCC (won't count towards the 52 total, but want to mark it off)
Touhou 10 ~ Mountain of Faith (PC) (with or without continuing)

Updates:
[02/05] So I wasn't going to count my FFX NSG run since I'd started that before the beginning of the year, but I accidentally my laptop so I have to start over qq. So I might as well put it on the list. I put a couple of other FFX runs under the Challenge list, and was only going to count the first one I did, but since I'm starting over NSG I'm going to count that one towards the 52 and any additional runs will be extra. Can you tell I really like this game?
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on January 11, 2021, 08:12:23 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186054.html#msg186054)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

61. Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (NS)
Not really sure why I decided to play this right now, but I did.  I had started this game on PSP way back when, not really sure how far I got, but I definitely did not beat the game.  I've always found Prinnies entertaining, so this series interested me, I still need to give Disgaea a try, I think I have most of the games on Switch now, just hoping 2 and 3 get ported at some point so I can play the whole series on Switch instead of jumping to PS2/PS3 in the middle.  The platforming in this game is infuriating because if you move and jump, you've committed to where you're going and you can't stop it, which I guess thinking about it now, I could've ground pounded to stop early if I needed to, that might've made the game easier. ::) Anyway, most of the game was "difficult" but manageable, thus fun.  Final boss however was infuriatingly difficult, but like Dark Souls difficult and it throws you right back into the action pretty quickly and painlessly, so it's the good difficult plus not sitting at a loading screen for 2 minutes and having to run through garbage to get to the boss, which is nice.  Took me exactly 100 tries to beat the final boss, I learned his pattern quick, but I kept screwing up and getting flustered.  Had to stop playing several times because my arm, hand, and/or fingers were getting too sore and full of pain.  Close to midnight I finally managed to beat it after trying for literally hours.  I had real good fun with this game, but damn if I never even want to do that boss fight again.  That all said, I don't know if I can really recommend this game over any other platformer even with Prinnies in this game.  Plus it sounds like this game isn't really an improvement over the OG game, I can think of a lot of QoL things that would have made this game more enjoyable/casual, but I feel like they at least upped the resolution and it still looks pretty good.
Rating: Soft pass.

62. Night Call (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HYeP1kE6H8&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSdRINHwbEgEGoTtZBr5PxD) (X1)
The first in a series of games that are being delisted from GPU for June.  Knew nothing of this game, but with all delistings, I look at them to decide if I'm even mildly interested in playing.  Looked good enough, so much so that I chose to play it first. Some complaints up front.  The lack of VO work makes the game a little jarring, I would have really loved for this game to have some French VO work to go along with the text, would have added so much to the immersion.  Also, when I got to replaying the game and seeing the same text over and over, I really wanted to speed through the text, but mashing A also has you accidentally making selections while trying to speed through text, and the auto mode is rather slow.  Complaints aside, gameplay is pretty good, I question the advertised replayability given that it's always the same person who done it.  That said, I enjoyed the game enough that I played it for 4 hours straight and beat the scenario in one sitting.  It's not often that a game gets me enough to have me dump in 4 hours right away, let alone beating it in one sitting.  Plus, I definitely walked away wanting more, so I'm still playing, doing free roam and prepping to work on the other scenarios.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

63. Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (NS)
Started this one up shortly after finishing the first Prinny game.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to put myself through another Prinny game so soon, but it did offer a "baby" mode which I was like "Oh, yes, if it makes the game easier than Prinny 1, I'll probably enjoy it more"... nope, it basically makes the game the same difficulty as Prinny 1, because Prinny 2 normal is actually way harder than Prinny 1.  It does add some "training wheels" but whatever.  Difficulty in this game ramped up at an acceptable pace, no hard walls or anything.  Looking at my end game results I could see each level got progressively harder going from 1 death in the first level to 6 in the 2nd, to 15 in the 3rd, and so on until the final boss where I died 121 times just in the boss fight alone.  118 of those deaths I think I didn't even deal 20% damage, literally 3 times did I make it past the first section of the boss fight, that's how complicated the first part of the boss fight was.  Story is funny, voice acting is pretty great, gameplay is definitely refined over the first entry, but there are still some frustrating and unintuitive things about this game.  Definitely makes me want to give the Disgaea series a go.  Maybe that'll be a candidate for a franchise run soon.
Rating:Soft pass.

64. West of Dead (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWCoW8OKQw&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRnE2LstqwYpwl9mhB6Ys7F) (X1)
Another game leaving Game Pass soon.  Had been interested in this game mildly.  Finally got to it, and it frustrated me.  It really did.  I don't like rogue games, they run on that old school arcade logic of you get value/time out of game by having to start over constantly.  Not a fan of that, especially when you don't really get stronger in subsequent runs.  This game is "okay" in that you get things that make starting over not so bad, but you don't get stronger or anything.  I'd say other than getting better/more starting weapons that you aren't really in a position to be having an easier run than a fresh start.  That said, the game is fun enough and I enjoy 3D games over 2D games so that makes it a bit more bearable.
Rating: Soft recommendation

65. Observation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klDqCpCQQ08&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjQF2c1vpa7Ibltex6mxH-Z3) (X1)
Last game pass leaving game.  I played this over two sessions, first session was short and I was falling asleep and I just wasn't enjoying this game.  Second session, I played for hours and burned through the entire game and had a pretty good time.  That said, I did follow a walkthrough so I could come out of the game with the full 1k gamerscore and I didn't full on understand the plot.  Not to spoil things, but I guess there is massive sci-fi, multiverse, alien implications going on in this game.  Does make me wonder if there is plans for a sequel.  It does feel like a game that would be frustrating without a guide though, I could be wrong, but I'm glad I followed a guide.
Rating: Soft pass.

66. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (NS)
Another one of those Mario games that I just slow play for years until I finally beat it.  Sat down and chewed through nearly the entire game in a day or so of random playing.  Nothing special, just a 2D Mario game.  Frustrating at bits, easy at others.
Rating: Soft recommendation... just because it's Mario I guess.

Uncounted Demo: Tunic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY2PpwJP4kM&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjRTFEhLAUDD6lO8YgvAiTeM) (X1)
Played this quite a bit since the demo went up.  Played through and beat it the normal way, played through looking for all the secrets, restarted accidentally, played through obtaining all secrets I could find, still think I missed some, got the special ending to the demo.  Streamed playing through getting all the secrets I knew about, spent an additional hour and a half looking for more secrets, found nothing else.  Super hyped for this game.  Will probably pre-purchase it as soon as it goes up for pre-order.  Played through and did a pacifist run.  Then I ran through and did a run where I didn't even pick up any weapons so I definitively could not hurt anyone.
Rating: Highly recommended

67. Metroid (NSO)
Started this up mid Mummy Demastered because I wanted to play a Metroidvania game in the middle of the day and definitely couldn't continue streaming, so I picked this.  Relatively fun, but the no text of anything left me scratching my head on a lot of stuff and getting stuck until I gave up and started using a walkthrough, at that point game was pretty fun.  I won't necessarily knock it points for that given how old it is, but yeah, they definitely could've been like "You expanded your missiles", "You got the ice beam", etc.  I enjoyed it and want more, so I'll probably play Zero Mission at some point, the only problem is that I packed away all of my handheld games.
Rating: Soft recommendation... but probably just play Zero Mission.

68. Mummy Demastered (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEg6eXrFuxg&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTpPxNR4UsWjbAQb597uKmn) (PS4)
Started this up because I wanted something new to play.  I looked through my physical games and gave up and decided to look at my digital library and saw this and decided it was time to finally give it a go.  Game is fun enough in that I do really enjoy Metroidvania games... but there are a lot of things in this game that hurt the experience.  Dying and having to go fight yourself to collect your equipment sucks, it makes sense in context, but it sucks.  I died in one spot 4 times and had to kill multiple of myself to get to my main self and that's where I kept dying. I died 6 times total in my playthrough, 4-5 of those deaths were in the area I died and had to fight myself.  Fighting my dead self was the hardest part of the game... that doesn't make much sense.  The infinitely spawning crows/ravens made the platforming a miserable experience.  The final boss fight was super anticlimactic, this might have been because I collected all of the best weapons so the fight was trivial.  Honestly, the game is pretty good, but it makes me yearn for better games.
Rating: Soft recommendation

69. Blaster Master (NSO)
Started this up after Metroid because I wanted more Metroidvania and allegedly the Blaster Master games fall under that category, if loosely.  I'll give later entries a try, but the game feels like a mash between Metroid and Contra, it's technically got Metroidvania elements that qualify it, but the gameplay just is weird comparatively.  I'd say it's my least favorite Metroidvania game so far, it's an ok game and I enjoyed my time with it, but it just wasn't good enough.  I didn't care for the controls of Sophia, that kept messing me up.  I have issues with old NES hitboxes in general, but I won't necessarily hold that against it.  The bosses have weird hitboxes where I fire 5 shots and only 1 manages to hit.
Rating: Soft pass.

70. Donkey Kong (NSO)
I finished Blaster Master and my wife and son were there.  My wife said to my son, what do you want him to play now, and he said the same thing he always says "Mario".  I didn't feel like playing Mario, so I played the next closest thing I could think of.  Donkey Kong.  I played through the 4 levels like 5 times before I realized it loops infinitely, so I stopped playing and started playing the next game.
Rating: Hard pass.

71. Donkey Kong Jr. (NSO)
Ah, yes, the next game.  Donkey Kong Jr (Donkey Kong) must free Donkey Kong Sr. (Cranky Kong) from Mario.  Swing from vines and get up to Mario to proceed.  This actually was my first experience with DK Jr.  I did the loop once I think and then gave up to go play something else.  I really didn't enjoy this one as much as OG DK, but it was okay.
Rating: Hard pass.

72. Donkey Kong 3 (NSO)
After everyone else went to bed, I figured I'd round it off by playing through Donkey Kong 3.  This one has you playing as Pest exterminator Stanley.  I kept dying because I didn't realize that I need to spray Donkey Kong to get him to climb upward to win. I think I did the loop twice before I gave up.  Really not a fan of this one, especially since it's basically a shmup.
Rating: Hard pass.

73 Vice: Project Doom (NSO)
Started this one up after DK games because I wanted to play something else... and honestly I think I forgot the SNES app existed.  I really hope they make a GB/GBC/GBA app at some point, lots of good games over there.  Anyway, this was one of the first NES games I bought when I started collecting.  I already owned some NES games, but like, they were gifted to me, I didn't buy them.  I bought this one in a bundle of games that came with a top loading NES, it was the priciest game in the bundle at the time and honestly might be one of my most expensive NES games ignoring CIB stuff (Note: 2nd most expensive actually, just barely under Mega Man 6).  Anyway, this one is mostly action platformer but has a couple of top down car levels (shmup) and a couple of arcade shooters (lightgun-esque).  Story is... hard to follow... and I'd argue not very good, like campy b-movie not good.  Like Robocop not good.  So, sorta good, but doesn't translate into a game story well.  I really don't have much to say about this one really, I didn't particularly enjoy it and won't be coming back to it.  Might even sell my NES copy.
Rating: Hard pass.

74. Rogue Legacy (PS4/PSV)
So this game had been on my shit list for years because I played it a long time ago and didn't get it or enjoy it.  I think honestly, this might have been pre-Dark Souls, so I didn't get the appeal of tough games.  I totally get the appeal now.  I didn't get the appeal when I first played Dark Souls either, but I totally get it now and I love the trauma it gives me.  I did have save data when I launched this up, but I was only like level 12 or something, I'm not sure.  I kinda wish I had streamed some of this game because I really enjoyed it.  I had a lot of fun, even getting to the parts when I'm just grinding for money so I can buy upgrades was pretty good too.  I got to the point that I cleared every room of the castle and I was like there's nothing left to do other than the boss fight... I guess I'll do the boss fight and die again and clear the castle again for more cash... but then I beat the boss.  I was very surprised that I beat the boss.  Honestly, I think this game is going on my top 5 because between this and the other rogue games I played this year, this one was probably the best in that you actually get stat boosts from upgrades.  It won't be at the top of my list, but it's up there, no question about it being the best, because it wasn't, but it was fun and deserves a place.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

Rant about Rogue games
I'm really considering giving a lot of rogue games a chance now.  I need to figure out which is which regarding rogue types and find a list of best and give them a go. Went on a google warpath and read many articles and came back with almost no answers.  I think roguelike is the bad one where you die, you start over, that's it, no persistence.  Roguelite being the one where you have some persistence of some kind, so it sounds like true roguelike games are few and far between and most games that claim rogue are roguelite.  Sounds like a roguelike is more about the journey rather than the destination, so dying is fine because you just get to play again with a new character and there is no end goal, it's just about playing.  Roguelike, however, has a destination, so you trudge the journey to get to the destination.  It complicates things a tad because I feel like games like Rogue Legacy and Dead Cells deserve to be in two different categories.  Games that give you a persistence element that makes every subsequent run easier (Rogue Legacy) and games that give you persistence features that don't necessarily make each run easier with maybe one feature that actually carries over permanently and the rest just options down the road (Dead Cells, West of Dead).  Rogue Legacy you up your stats, Dead Cells/West of Dead you get health potions, that's it.  In Dead Cells/West of Dead, you buy weapons/blueprints to unlock skills/weapons/etc, but you can't just choose to use those items anyway, so what are you buying other than filling a slot in your trophy case?  Both games, you buy a gun, it shows up in your room when you start a new run, but you can't get the gun out of the case, it's just there to be seen.  It serves no purpose.  I guess once you get the upgrade to get random starter weapons from your armory it makes a difference, but you just get a lvl 1 version which you'll replace quickly anyway, so legit what's the point?

75. Super Mario Kart (NSO)
My kid wanted me to play more Mario and I wanted to play something I hadn't beat according to Backloggery, I didn't see this on there, so I went ahead and started this up.  I wasn't expecting to beat it because from what I recalled, I wasn't very good at 2D racer games like this, but I really had almost no trouble playing this game.  Steering was a little weird, but I adjusted quick enough because I knew it was weird.  Burned through the 3 cups in 100cc to get the special cup, ran through the special cup to unlock 150cc and got the credits to pop.  That was good enough for me.  I really won't recommend it though because the series peaked at Mario Kart 64 for me and anything before hand wasn't great and everything after was a shadow.
Rating: Soft pass.

76. Dead Cells (NS)
I was going to start up Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection, but someone had suggested I give Dead Cells a go after Rogue Legacy, and I really wanted more Rogue Legacy, so I hurried up and popped in Dead Cells before I started up Mega Man.  This game did not disappoint.  I wouldn't call it more Rogue Legacy so much as a 2D West of Dead... or is West of Dead a 3D Dead Cells?  Anyway, great game. So some notes I made elsewhere.  Started meh, got better, that's my opinion of the game, as I adjusted to the controls and gameplay mechanics, I the player got more skillful in my actions, which made my experience of the game better, not inherently the persistence features.  A successful run, when you get there, shouldn't take but an hour tops.  Subsequent runs don't really get easier, the only thing that persists that makes it easier really is the health potions, which matter, but you have to buy other upgrades to unlock more health potions... not a fan of that, just let me keep upgrading my health potion.  I got to the final boss early on, started with 1 health potion and by the time I got to the final boss I had unlocked the second health potion... I barely lost.  Once I unlocked the 3rd health potion, I managed to beat the boss with a little bit of health to spare.  Did a run where I cleared every enemy of every level I went to and managed to get to the boss and did well enough.  My setup of choice was Frost blast main (freezes enemies), nutcracker secondary (critical hits frozen enemies), tonic skill (gives temp health up to 80% max health), and ice grenade skill (freezes enemies), mutations that heal on damage dealing, lower skill cooldown on damage dealing, etc and managed to just burn through the game.  Final boss has resistance to freeze, so that made things a little hard, but it was enough.
Rating: Soft recommendation

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186581.html#msg186581)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on January 11, 2021, 09:48:06 am
I took Minecraft: Project Ozone 3 off my list because while it is still in my regular rotation, I haven't played it yet this year.
Also had difficulty staying connected to battle.net, which has been a thing for me for a little while now, so I wasn't able to play BO4 this week. So Instead I moved up DNF into my schedule... a game that I've had installed for years but never finished. I did beat the SP on Friday night, but won't take it off my list until I finish the DLC mission.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 11, 2021, 05:17:09 pm
04. Severed || PlayStation Vita || 01.11.21

Unlike DrinkBox Studios's previous projects, Severed tells a story steeped in loss, anger, revenge, and, eventually, acceptance. With your family taken and your arm severed, the player assumes the role of daughter Sasha on a hunt to save her family and to get revenge at the evil which wronged her and she ventures in the unknown world that they all now are inhabit. Relying upon touch screen controls, Severed features dungeon-crawling exploration in pair with rhythmic and strategic battles controlled by screen swipes. As you lay low to the demons which attack you, their body parts may be severed and harvested for unlocking new abilities within a branching skill tree. As you progress, further resources to aid yourself both in battle and in exploration are collected. While the story is as-expected, the gameplay is captivating and makes excellent use of the PlayStation Vita's touch screen capabilities. I highly recommend those who have even the slightest interest in dungeon-crawlers and rhythm-paced action gameplay to consider playing Severed. Being ported to also the Wii U, 3DS, Switch, and iOS, Severed has numerous options to play if you're one without a Vita. That being said, I greatly consider Severed to be a must-play for Vita owners.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: koemo1 on January 12, 2021, 05:10:35 pm
Quote from: tripredacus on December 22, 2020, 12:05:16 pm
I do not want to totally undo my current system, so the idea will be I will start a new game, or finish a previously started game on a Monday. If I beat the game before the end of the week, I'll continue my existing schedule.

Quote from: Ignition365's Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

1. Metro 2033 Redux
2. Endless Legend
3. Skyrim LE (68 of 75 achievements)
4. Borderlands 3 (endless)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 MP (83% MP, gold tactical)
6. Civilization V (123 of 286 achievements)
7. Duke Nukem Forever
8. Alien: Isolation

Games beaten: 1
Games abandoned: 1

Game reviews: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185942.html#msg185942
Good luck with Duke Nukem Forever! I enjoyed the game but I had a lot of difficulty getting passed the flying octopus/squid  !
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: cosmos on January 13, 2021, 11:11:14 am
[1] Cyberpunk 2077 ~ PS4 ~ 13.01.21

Mostly, I very much enjoyed my time with Cyberpunk. The world is amazing (if slightly overwhelming), the main story and side quests are great and the combat is varied and enjoyable.

I played on PS5 and my main problem was numerous crashes...I counted 28 in my 60 hours playtime. It was very distracting.

I also found the ending I got rather unsatisfying, but I didn't complete every single side quest, so maybe that's on me.

I'd like to give it another playthrough as a katana user....maybe when all the bugs are ironed out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 13, 2021, 10:56:18 pm
05. Feel the Magic: XY/XX || Nintendo DS || 01.13.21

As an action mini-game compilation in the same vein as WarioWare, Feel the Magic: XY/XX offers an enjoyable—yet, at times, also aggravating— gaming experience. Utilizing both the touch and microphone hardware capabilities of the DS, Feel the Magic follows the thin narrative of a young man as he seeks to capture the attention of his new love interest as he finds himself in one wild experience after another. With roughly thirty mini-games compiled in a single playthough, most of the segments rely upon either swiping or tapping the stylus, but there are a few which require to breathe or to create noise through the system's built-in microphone. While Feel the Magic can be completed by most in about two to three hours, there is definitely some difficulty among many of the mini-games; newcomers will definitely lose from time to time. If you're looking for a further challenge, Hard and Hell difficulties are also available, albeit I personally finished the game with a satisfied amount of challenge on the normal setting, although I may re-visit Feel the Magic at a later time to see just how extreme the difficulty can be. While I can't report this as a must-have for DS owners, I can still acknowledge that there's good fun to be had, and, at the game's cheap price, I can certainly recommend for others to consider playing it if they're on the hunt for a light-hearted but still challenging game to play.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 14, 2021, 02:05:26 pm
Quote from: cosmos on January 13, 2021, 11:11:14 am
[1] Cyberpunk 2077 ~ PS4 ~ 13.01.21

Mostly, I very much enjoyed my time with Cyberpunk. The world is amazing (if slightly overwhelming), the main story and side quests are great and the combat is varied and enjoyable.

I played on PS5 and my main problem was numerous crashes...I counted 28 in my 60 hours playtime. It was very distracting.

I also found the ending I got rather unsatisfying, but I didn't complete every single side quest, so maybe that's on me.

I'd like to give it another playthrough as a katana user....maybe when all the bugs are ironed out.


your experience was very similar to mine. And I spoiled the other endings and they really aren't that great either. I also romanced Judy which is way better than any of the other romance options by far. Rivers is freakin awkward as hell, Panam's is just super unsatisfying, and Kerry's is okay I guess.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: cosmos on January 18, 2021, 03:10:36 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 14, 2021, 02:05:26 pm
your experience was very similar to mine. And I spoiled the other endings and they really aren't that great either. I also romanced Judy which is way better than any of the other romance options by far. Rivers is freakin awkward as hell, Panam's is just super unsatisfying, and Kerry's is okay I guess.

I romanced Panam which ended up a bit weird. Your line to initiate the cut scene is 'Oh yeah, Let's go.' Yuck!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on January 18, 2021, 12:51:53 pm
Game 1 – Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix (PS4)

Ventus – 10 hours
Terra – 6 hours
Aqua – 10 hours
Final Episode – 1 hour
Total time – 27 hours

It’s such a great feeling picking up a Kingdom Hearts game again after being away from the series for about 10 years. I’ve only played KH I and II, and never followed or watched anything Kingdom Hearts since beating those two games. So I’m excited to play through some of these other titles that I never experienced as well as revisit the games I’ve already finished.

I’ve always loved the gameplay in Kingdom Hearts, and this game is no exception. It’s incredibly deep and fun, and as I played the three different characters, I experimented with more and more of the combat system and gained a deeper appreciation of the combat mechanics over time. There’s also a lot of secrets, collectables, secret challenges and hidden bosses to keep you occupied for a long time. Most of the minigames are awful, but there’s a cool arena that was fun at least.

This game is a weird one when it comes to story. Even though it’s the first in the series chronologically, I feel like the developers expect you to have a basic knowledge about the world of Kingdom Hearts, and know other small details like the cameos of the Organization XIII members, many of whom have no importance in the story. I also don’t know how I felt about the three story system. It was interesting at first to play through each character to gain their perspective of the events of the story, but after playing through as Ventus and Terra, I’d basically seen everything the game has to offer in terms of areas and bosses, and it got very repetitive. In addition, Aqua’s story really doesn’t even add anything much at all to the overall story which made playing as her the worst of the three.

On the topic of repetitive gameplay, I really didn’t like most of the Disney worlds you get to explore. Most of them felt very boring and simple, and you can beat each one in 30-40 minutes tops. And the fact that each world is piece-mealed among the three characters make it even worse.
There were three other small things that I wasn’t the fan of. It was really disappointing that there was only one Final Fantasy character in the whole game. I also found that the voice acting for Terra and Aqua was not very good, which sucks the impact out of important moments in the story. Lastly, the music is a combination of awesome and obnoxiously annoying  and repetitive, and having to play though each world three times doesn’t help. Looking at you Disney Town and Castle of Dreams.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 18, 2021, 03:03:30 pm
Quote from: telly on January 18, 2021, 12:51:53 pm
Game 1 – Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix (PS4)

On the topic of repetitive gameplay, I really didn’t like most of the Disney worlds you get to explore. Most of them felt very boring and simple, and you can beat each one in 30-40 minutes tops.

There were three other small things that I wasn’t the fan of. I also found that the voice acting for Terra and Aqua was not very good, which sucks the impact out of important moments in the story.

If you plan to continue to play through the series, I think you'll be quite pleased with how expansive the worlds are in Kingdom Hearts III, albeit the total number of worlds is roughly half of what Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II offers.

As far as voice acting goes, I know that there is an acknowledged community opinion of disliking Terra's voice work in particular, which is something I agree in that the performance is lacking.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: cosmos on January 19, 2021, 08:29:04 am
Since I got my DualSense controller back last week, I have sped through a few of the shorter games I had for PS5 :

[2] Astro's Playroom ~ PS5 ~ 14.01.21
Wow, this game is incredible. Hard to believe it's a pack in title. If you have played Rescue Mission, you know what to expect. My only complaint was that I just want more please.

[3] Maneater ~ PS5 ~ 16.01.21
This one really surprised me. It's quite pretty, quite funny and quite unique. I really enjoyed leveling up my baby shark into a wrecking ball. Good game.

[4] Dirt 5 ~ PS5 ~ 17.01.21
This one surprised me too. It's baaaad. Horrible performance, lots of crashes (not the driving kind!), probably the ugliest UI I've seen in years. The events themselves are mediocre at best. Shame, because I really enjoyed Dirt 4.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on January 19, 2021, 10:16:11 am
Quote from: dhaabi on January 18, 2021, 03:03:30 pm
Quote from: telly on January 18, 2021, 12:51:53 pm
Game 1 – Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix (PS4)

On the topic of repetitive gameplay, I really didn’t like most of the Disney worlds you get to explore. Most of them felt very boring and simple, and you can beat each one in 30-40 minutes tops.

There were three other small things that I wasn’t the fan of. I also found that the voice acting for Terra and Aqua was not very good, which sucks the impact out of important moments in the story.

If you plan to continue to play through the series, I think you'll be quite pleased with how expansive the worlds are in Kingdom Hearts III, albeit the total number of worlds is roughly half of what Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II offers.

As far as voice acting goes, I know that there is an acknowledged community opinion of disliking Terra's voice work in particular, which is something I agree in that the performance is lacking.

Yeah I recieved all of the games so I'm planning on doing a franchise run! I'm watching Chi Back Cover right now. I was going to play 0.2 next but because it's apparently a combo of a Birth By Sleep epilogue and a KH III prologue, I'm going to wait on that and so will probably play KH I next
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on January 19, 2021, 10:32:36 am
Quote from: koemo1 on January 12, 2021, 05:10:35 pm
Good luck with Duke Nukem Forever! I enjoyed the game but I had a lot of difficulty getting passed the flying octopus/squid  !

I've had played DNF quite a long time ago and it was still installed. So I didn't really end up playing it (this year) for very long until I beat the regular game. You can tell by the dates of the achivements for it, where some I got in 2012, then 2016 and then this year.
https://steamcommunity.com/id/tripredacus/stats/DukeNukemForever

I finished Alien: Isolation but let me tell you something. I used a mod that changed the Alien's behaviour. If you read my review of Metro 2033, you should already know that I do not care for death triggers. That is basically what the Alien is, since it is impossible to kill them, only to scare them away. I even shot one 3 times with a bolt gun and it doesn't do anything except play a stun animation. The androids are a much bigger threat, at least in the middle of the game. Especially considering the hitbox on them is wonky, and your hitbox is larger than theirs (meaning the distance they can hit you with melee is larger than for you to hit them. And in reality, most of the android attacks are cut-scenes with quick time events. What interested me most with the game is to be able to explore the ship and look at all the neat details. I just wish the world was more interactive than it was. Another odd thing is the large use of going through vents, which is at odds with the movies because the aliens are always in the vents, but in this game, they never go into there. So the vents are a safe space. Even from androids. There is a log somewhere that said an android is too big to go in the vent.

The presentation was good, the load times were super fast and the graphics were good. Some gamma issues at times, but maybe just a couple. Sound was a bit strange, as it seems the game only played audio in stereo and not surround. This was another consideration for me to disable Alien aggro, because there was no sound for me to hear. Conversations were this way also, so I always had to be facing the person. I did not end up having any of the DLC and didn't know there was DLC under after when I did file inspection. I did look them up and they didn't seem like they would be that great of a thing to bother with so I passed.

Now this week is on the regular schedule and I will pick a new game on Monday.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on January 20, 2021, 01:48:27 pm
I figured at this point that I would like to share some small thoughts on the games I have played through so far since well everyone is doing it and as a way to contribute more than just what I have listed:

1. The Last Blade[PC]-1/2/21: Feels like SNK tried to make something similar to Samurai Shodown that wasn't Samurai Shodown. By all accounts this was fun despite their being limited credits and atleast to my knowledge no way of getting any more credits-8/10

2. Metal Slug 2[PC]-1/2/21: Never have given much of the Metal Slug series a try except for maybe first two levels of the original but that changed with me playing through the first last year and decided to follow up with the 2nd. Thankful for unlimited credits because it is chaotic and you really need to know it to make it through like Contra. Despite that, really fun game. Dug the final boss in concept-8/10

3. Bright Memory[PC]-1/2/21: This game is essentially a paid demo. It's not very long but damn it is fun and I can't wait to see what the full game Bright Memory: Infinite has to show. It's an FPS but with very solid movement and a bunch of tricks that kind of make it seem like a hack and slash of sorts. If you can get this on sale and you like shooters, this is a must-9/10

4. 007 Legends[360]-1/5/21: This felt more like a COD game than a James Bond game. The same can be said for the previous Bond FPS title Quantum of Solace but I had more fun with that one. That said, this one was alright but I felt like you have a better understanding of the different scenarios if you had watch the movies being represented in here which I didn't or maybe I would have hated it more cuz they butchered x, y and z. Regardless, it was alright. Not the worse-6/10

5. Metal Slug 3[PC]-1/9/21: I didn't feel this one as much as the second. It was good just not as good as the second. It had less stages but that was because the last stage was drawn out to oblivion and so far its the longest single stage Metal Slug level I have played through-7/10

6. The Last Blade 2[PC]-1/9/21: Didnt like this one as much as the first. It played fine but it different ramped up the bullshit spectrum rather quick which I expect out of SNK but man it was infuriating at not only the end boss but the one before him-6/10

7. Metal Slug X[PC]-1/10/21: I didnt know until just before I was about to play that this game is essentially an updated version of Metal Slug 2. 2 was good and so was this updated version-8/10

8. Erica[PS4]-1/11/21: This game is more an interactive movie than the likes of Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls and the like because literally you are watching a live action movie and your only actions are choices throughout and some small interactivity. That aside, if you enjoy those type of games then this is a good one. One cool thing is that you can control the game using your smartphone with a companion app. Originally I started this on the PS5 however you can only use the other method of control in the touchpad and it is trash using it so unless you want to better your control, you need to play this on a PS4 console. Also if you are into trophies, this one is not hard to get. I'm not a trophy guy but I decided to go for this one-9/10

9. Super Castlevania IV[SNES]-1/15/21: For the longest time, I have only ever played through stage 1 due to lack of trying. That all ended when I decided to playthrough this for real this time and overall really well executed game that ramps up the bullshit very quick. If anything, most of the difficulty comes from the stages themselves than the actual bosses who by all accounts aren't the worst until you get to the final stage. I'm not going to spoil but it is an endurance. Swing mechanics were find and controlled well which I thought might have been an issued but not really to be honest and great soundtrack-9/10

10. Castlevania: Bloodlines[GEN]-1/17/21: With 2 characters to use, each playthrough is shorter at 6 stages and aside from using a few different paths with Eric due to his jumping ability, stages are mostly the same. I found John's section a bit tougher than Eric but apparently he's more hard mode than Eric. John plays more in the traditional sense with  the whip and aside from diagonal whip from left and right while jumping, this games doesn't have multi directional whipping like Super Castlevania IV. With Eric it feels much easier however it helps that by the time I got to Eric, I knew what to expect given that as I said the stages aren't much different. His range especially when fully upgraded is so good and he does have diagonal movement as well as a downward thrust which I never used but it's pretty cool. Overall, it had a great soundtrack and it plays well albeit some BS but it's to be expected. I didn't like that this game has limited continued as no other CV game to my knowledge has limited except for this one-8/10

11. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest[NES]-1/19/21: I used a guide for this and playing this illustrated how cryptic this game was made to be which is a shame because past that, this game is not bad and got a bad rep for unfortunate reasons. It felt like a precursor a decade earlier to Symphony of the Night because as you progress into the game, you get more and more powerful. But again some of the things needed to progress gives off alot of how was I suppose to know that on my own. Also it has some killer music that doesn't get enough credit nor has been used in other CV games like Dracula's castle theme-7/10
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on January 29, 2021, 11:31:40 am
My next game lined up, seems to be an error for me. That is Baldur's Gate. For one reason or another, I have it as being in collection but it is not in my collection on the site. Only Tales of the Sword Coast. I have noticed (again) some PC games I'm pretty sure I own are not in my collection here, such as Unreal Tournament and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. So this weekend I will rearrange my collection at home and see if I can find these outliers and maybe be able to play Baldur's Gate.

Oh i also marked Duke Nukem Forever as beaten, as I did beat the base game this year. I still haven't beaten the DLC yet... I might not, it is pretty annoying.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 30, 2021, 10:27:24 am
4. Propeller Arena (Dreamcast)

I went back and revisited this game and unfortunately my opinion of it was slightly less favorable than it was the last time I beat it. For those of you who don't know, Propeller Arena is an unreleased Dreamcast game that was unfortunately cancelled for various reasons due to 9/11 (it was supposed to come out the week after the attacks occurred). Unfortunately I can't say the world is at a terrible loss that this game was never released and it's one of the weaker first party Sega games released during that time. Still, it does have its moments and if you wanted to play a very simplistic game, even for an arcade game, then this is a game you should try. Just need to track an ISO of it online, burn it to a disc (or emulate) and go to town. (1/29/21) [30/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on January 30, 2021, 01:33:23 pm
06. Ultimate Chicken Horse || Nintendo Switch || 01.30.21

If you're in the market for having some good competitive gameplay with most rounds bringing out laughter, I highly recommend playing Ultimate Chicken Horse. This past week, the Japanese Switch eShop has offered a free trial to play, and it's been the most fun with co-op that I've had with friends in quite some time. The game's premise is that each round brings about a new level design, as each player selects a new element and places it onto the map. Once items have been placed, everyone races to the goal post. For a free trial, I was greatly pleased that the entire game is available to play, in addition to both local and online co-op features implemented; I highly enjoy this aspect, as this game actually allows for local and online co-op gameplay to work at the same time. The only downside is that the last two days we played, there was a little lag, but it was nothing major, and it very well could be attributed to my own internet or that I've been playing from the United States while my friends are in Japan. Throughout our roughly 12 hours playing, we unlocked all 17 stages, but there are still quite a lot of character accessories to unlock.

Nevertheless, the free trial is available until 3:00AM EST I believe, so if you're interested, don't skip on the free offer!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on February 02, 2021, 03:36:21 am
I beat my 1st game of the year yesterday! (There is no hope for me on this challenge :P)

01. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
I've been saying for years I need to sit down and play the Complete version of Sonic 3, I've never done it before now. I certainly see what all the fuss is about when combined this is an EPIC package! The question is do i prefer it over Sonic The Hedgehog 2... Ehhh... No! I thin Sonic 2's level design while not as huge on scale, is more coherent. Not saying that Sonic3&K is a mess like Sonic CD, but there are times where it is easy to get lost - I had many such issues with Sky Sanctuary to where I found myself looping the same area. But it cetainly is an impressive game. I've always enjoyed Sonic 3's Special Stages the most and to have that elevated to Super Emerald status was epic. I also liked the additional story nods with knuckles, simple but his story arc is very effective. Overall great game, am considering moving on to the Sonic Advance GBA games as I've dabbled with them in the past.

I'm also playing Yakuza 5... It started out great, I plowed 17+ Hours into the 1st Chapter and then suddenly... nothing. The games 2ndChapter starts off feeling to similar to a scenario in the previous game, which was a slog then but at least the area was unique - Can't say that for Y5 this time around. However, once past that area there is a new location with this character and it's interested but held back by painfully slow pacing, tutorial explanations and fetch quest faf. I really loved the start of the game but have been struggling all month to enjoy this again and I so much want to play Yakuza 6 & 7. I'll see how I feel easing back into it after Sonic 3&K but I'm not optimistic.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on February 02, 2021, 06:06:33 am
January Update

Games Beat in January:
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (PS4) - A good game that is way too long.  Beat on Jan. 22.
Injustice 2 (XB1) - NetherRealm is the king of story in fighting games.  They've really nailed the balance.  And it is much better than the first.  Beat on Jan. 23.
Control (XB1) - Holy crap this was good.  I love the world and the aesthetic.  Felt like it kind of rushed to the end once you hit Act 3, though.  Beat on Jan. 29.

Games Played in January:
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Switch) - The OG FE game, finally in an official translation.  It's surprisingly good, but definitely missing some modern QoL improvements.  I'm sometimes spending 15-20 minutes before the end of a chapter optimizing and moving equipment around.  That's mostly why I'm not finished yet - it can be a bit of time sink for that reason.
Minecraft (PC) - Oh, god.  Am I one of those people now? It's fun and something the GF and I can play with our friends.  Hoping to put together a little community with out small friend group so we can still hangout in the (still raging) pandemic.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on February 02, 2021, 09:06:23 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186162.html#msg186162)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.

77. Mega Man Zero (NS)
This was my alternate for Dead Cells, real glad I played Dead Cells though.  I didn't know for sure what type of game Mega Man Zero was, didn't even google it.  I was kind of hoping it wasn't straight up a Mega Man game, but maybe Mega Man adjacent... honestly I was hoping it was a Mega Man Metroid game, that'd be dope.  Anyway, I like Metroid-vania games, but I don't really like Mega Man games, I can play them, I like Mega Man characters and the idea of elemental weapons and stuff, but I'm just not big on level based platformers.  I think the level based just makes the game look longer and daunting, I just don't enjoy it.  That said, for the most part this game wasn't bad once I got into the mindset of a Mega Man game and not a Metroid game.  First boss wrecked me constantly until I got into Mega Man X mode.  Then the rest of the game just kind of fell in place with me only needing to look up boss weaknesses.  Final boss however, was absolute bullshit.  I'll preface this with the statement about the Legacy Collection's Save assist mode which gives you checkpoints and what amounts to infinite lives.  The final boss is split into 2 phases, both incredibly tough, no checkpoint between them... So in order to practice the second phase, you have to beat the first phase again, and the first phase is tough on its own.  This is definitely something I would have enjoyed them modifying to put a checkpoint between the phases.  Future games in this series I may turn on Casual Scenario mode, because this was just absolute bullshit and I enjoyed this game fairly right up until the end.  I full on decided to abandon this game right at the final boss, but I was convinced to give it another try with a different strategy, still didn't work, made a strategy of my own adjacent to two strategies I had previously read, changed up the control scheme to go with the strategy and made it work after another 10 tries.
Rating: Soft pass overall, Hard pass on the final boss. Edit: Soft recommendation with Scenario Assist.

78. Dark Souls Remastered (https://youtu.be/JQ8hUndEREo) (NS)
This wasn't necessarily on my list of games I planned to play this year, but a Discord I am on is doing a Game Club, nobody would pick the next game.  Admin said whoever wrote up a description and such first, that would be the game.  I wrote up a quick troll description for Skyward Sword because it's a running joke how much the admin hates SS, he said too bad, everyone's playing SS.  I edited my post a few minutes later because it was still my post, I changed it to Dark Souls.  That didn't make people much happier still.  I even offered to be summoned and help people on most platforms and even offered to assist via voice chat/streaming/etc.  So far only myself and one other person appear to be even giving the game a chance, which is really sad and kind of goes against the whole point of what gameclub was going for... giving games a chance that you've never played before.  DS gets such a bad rap for being this incredibly tough game, and it is, but a lot of its difficulty is overcome via assistance, knowing what to do, and just practicing until you get better... and my offer to assist, I feel, could've made the experience really good for a lot of folks who made abandoned it once before or were hesitant to give the game a try due to its stigma.  DS1 is one of my favorite soulsborne games, Sekiro being my favorite, and the game is great with friends.  I actually talked to someone about Sekiro because it's my favorite and they never gave it a try because it has no single player, and their fun with these games is the co-op... it's something I didn't think about because I rarely play games online.
Rating: Solid recommendation

79. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (NSO)
I've never really played this game before.  I'm sure I've told the story before, but I'll sort of give a quick run down again.  I got this game for Xmas one year, probably the year it came out, but that xmas we went to Louisiana to visit family for xmas and didn't bring our SNES.  My brother had to take a plane back home ahead of everyone else (we drove) because he had to go back to work, so he asked if he could take the game with him so he could play it since I couldn't play it anyway.  By the time we got back home he had already pawned the game to buy alcohol and drugs.  Never got to play it, my parents never rebought the game for me, and I only in recent years re-acquired the game, but still being so bitter about it never really got around to playing it.  So after being super bitter about this game for over 20 years, I'm finally getting to play it.  That being said, this game feels like a completely different game.  The controls feel more refined and the graphics look much better.  Mind you this game came out on SNES AFTER the N64 was already out.  The world seems more open with the boat thing, but I'm not far enough into the game to really understand any of that stuff yet.  I abandoned this game again back in 2019, bitterness is strong.  Re-picked it up this year and played it on NSO instead now that it's on NSO, so I had to start over anyway.  I didn't get what the bears were about as none of them did anything.  I found 0 uses for the DK or Bonus coins, the bear coins could only be used at one shop and even then the items I bought did nothing.  I might look it up, but it won't make a difference because I'm not going back and the game still didn't explain it.  There's a reason this franchise went dormant for 10+ years and we never heard from Kiddy or Dixie ever again.  This game isn't great, it tried to hard to be different, and just wasn't as fun as previous entries.  A lot more could've been done with what they started to implement, but it just wasn't there.
Rating: Soft pass

80. F-Zero (NSO)
I played F-Zero something (GP Legend?) on GBA years ago and I didn't enjoy it.  It had a legit story mode and it got stupid hard some part way through.  This one I expected more of the same, but this has no story, just MK style Grand Prix stuff.  Burned through all of the races and consider the game beat even though there are no credits unless I guess you beat it on Master Mode which I'm not bothering with.  The game introduces other elements like weather, magnets, road hazards, etc for increased difficulty in later levels and such.  I honestly don't enjoy F-Zero in general, so it doesn't affect me that the franchise has been dormant for nearly 20 years.
Rating: Hard pass

81. Bloodborne (PS4)
I started playing this after Dark Souls Remastered because my wife's cousin made mention he'd never played it before and I was like oh hell yeah, I love bloodborne and you can summon me, I'm on NG+ so I'll have to play a bit to be helpful (like beat a bunch of bosses and such so I can go anywhere they need).  So I did most of Central Yarnham, Hemwick Lane, Old Yarnham, and a few other places. Even if I keep playing this, I'm not intending on beating the game as I just want a character build for summoning for folks.  I forgot how much I really enjoyed this game.  There are some scenarios of enemies being stupid OP.  There is this one enemy that spawns for instance that spams a shotgun blast and has infinite ammo.  If I'm relegated to holding 20 bullets max, enemies should have a max as well.  They should not be allowed to just stay at a distance and spam bullets.  There's a reason this one enemy has like 50 notes nearby talking shit about him.  I barely beat the guy and I summoned an NPC to play bullet fodder mecca.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

82. Q.U.B.E. (PS4)
As always, I'm looking for a game to play and wind up just skimming through PS+ stuff.  I have Q.U.B.E. 2 on Switch and I've said to myself that I'm not playing it until I play through the first game.  So another on a whim game.  Plot is very meh on this game, even at the end with no real explanations or anything, it's just not very good.  Gameplay is good enough.  My statement is if you've never played Portal, just go play Portal.  If you've played Portal and say to yourself that you want more puzzle platforming, give QUBE a go, but otherwise don't bother.  The plot and dialogue isn't comparable to Portal in any way, but the puzzle platforming is pretty solid in this game, if even a little unforgiving at parts.  I considered abandoning the game at some of the tougher puzzles, but I persevered and pushed through against what I wanted honestly.
Rating: Soft pass.

83. Clannad: Side Stories (NS)
Clannad is one of my favorite animes, so I knew I needed this when it finally got announced.  That said, I wasn't aware from the beginning that the game is basically an audiobook.  No selections, you can't even choose the pace, it auto continues the text as if you're listening to an audiobook.  You can rewind and stuff if you missed something, but there's basically no interaction with this game.  This is basically for people like me who love Clannad and just want more story.  It's a series of 16 absolutely not connected side stories in the Clannad universe.  Some of the stories aren't canon of the true ending, because some of the stories take place during the plotlines of Tomoya dating different characters.  That all said, I can't honestly recommend this unless you really click with the Clannad series and just want more.  Otherwise there is absolutely no reason to play this.  You definitely can't play this if you never played the full Clannad game.  I don't think this requires any knowledge of Tomoyo After at least.
Rating: Hard pass.

84. The Touryst (XS)
My AC went out and we basically lived in my son's room for half a week, and in that time we brought in a TV, portable AC, and my X1X.  I saw a couple of games were leaving Game Pass, so I loaded them up and gave them a go.  This wasn't the first one I played, but it was the first one I beat.  Game is an puzzle platformer exploration game where you go through like 7 islands and do all the things it has to offer.  No combat really, basically just mini-games and puzzle platforming sections.  A pretty chill game overall.  Pretty enjoyable short experience.  One of the few games that has me puzzled like when I did Rogue Legacy, technically I played this on X1 and XS (as it has an XS version).  I see no reason to mark it beat for both platforms on backloggery, because I really don't identify a difference between X1 and XS, which I guess the same could be said for cross-save PS4/PSV games, so maybe I should mark it as beat on both.  Anyway, pretty fun game that I would recommend.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

85. Undermine (X1)
The other game I played while the AC was out that is leaving Game Pass soon.  I saw that the game is a roguelike game, sorta looked like Moonlighter gameplay wise (minus the shop mechanics), so I decided to give it a go because I had been enjoying roguelike games.  Pretty enjoyable game overall, but I think I've been more enjoying metroidvania more than roguelike in general, but a zelda-esque dungeon crawler roguelike isn't bad so no real problems there.  The enemies stealing money that you don't pick up quick enough is a very annoying mechanic.  I think I would've been okay with it if it ended up with "oh, hey, thanks for "paying" us all this money, have this cool thing"... which thinking about it, there was an area that was driven by donations... I'm gonna google real quick and see if that's related... nope, so my statement stands... also reading about the place for donations, it's stupid that if you mess up you basically have to delete your saved data and start the entire game over if you want to try to get in that place.  Honestly, I was gonna say this game isn't so bad, but reading that, I'm knocking it points for that bullshit.  This game has 96 achievements, so it winds up with like 10 points each.  I don't get the point of that, you're trying too hard.
Rating: Hard pass

86. Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (NS)
My wife just recently played this game and insisted that I play this after her.  It wasn't a terrible game, but it just isn't that great of a game.  It's a not very good LTTP clone.  I won't make any direct comparisons as it's been a long time since I played Link's Awakening and I never actually finished LTTP, so it'd be hypocritical of me to try to make comparisons.  At the very least I can say that this game doesn't have the QoL stuff you'd expect from a modern game, so very dated in many ways... LTTP it's like ok it's a SNES game, whatever, this is a modern game.  The game uses very few buttons, so it makes most of my complaints particularly frustrating.  The lack of strafing makes the game frustrating, too often you need to hit enemies in a specific direction and it'd make it so easy if you could lock facing a certain direction and move around (strafing).  Teleporting is frustrating, it was so much worse for my wife.  Teleporting is just a list of location, pick one and warp.  It would have been a huge improvement to show a map to the side with the list and a little dot showing where on the map each entry related to.  The map itself is frustrating, because you go to look at the map and it defaults to zoomed in on the center of the map, so you have to manually zoom out, and then find yourself... it should just be zoomed out by default and relatively centered on yourself.  Items have no name or description, so there are a handful of items that I just never knew what they do because I'm not using a limited resource when I don't know what it does.  I still don't know what the butterfly is for.  Game has no way to run, eventually you unlock some shoes that let you dash, but the dash eats like a 3rd of your stamina.  Stamina drains super fast, but refills painfully slow.  It's probably not an exaggeration to say the stamina bar takes a full minute to refill.  Most items are unlimited use, but use stamina to use.  Boss fights heavily rely on items, so you hit the boss 2-3 times with whatever item and then dodge for a minute waiting for stamina to refill.  As it is, boss fights aren't the usual rule of 3s, and bosses don't show health bars, so boss fights are frustrating.  By the way, I mentioned dodging, no dash, no dodge roll, no running, it's just moving out of the way.  Joycon drift/pro controller d-pad design make a lot of the more precision areas frustrating.  We're talking walking over deteriorating floors over a chasm, but the labyrinth takes like a solid 2 minutes to get through, plus they throw enemies at you that either chase you, shoot at you, or just hover about.  I suggested to my wife to play Ittle Dew after this because I felt Ittle Dew was a better Zelda clone, but she abandoned it pretty quickly because she felt it was too rigid and difficult.  Might have to replay it to see if maybe my memory is incorrect regarding that game.  This game wasn't unenjoyable, but there was a enough frustrating about it that I'd be surprised if one couldn't suggest a better Zelda clone easily.  Oh and I entirely forgot, since the game only uses 3 face buttons, you've got a ton of buttons that could have been used for say, permanent upgrades/tools, or even letting you assign an item to each face button instead of just the 3.
Rating: Soft recommendation

87. Later Alligator (NS)
This is another one my wife played that she insisted that I play after her.  This one I had no hesitation because of how quickly she beat it.  I was enjoying this game honestly, just a stupid little Visual Novel type of game with some mini-games strewn throughout.  Some of the minigames are more of a joke than anything which is amusing, some minigames are like whatever, okay, sure.  And then some minigames are just stupid.  Played through the whole game and I was like I enjoyed this well enough that I'll playthrough NG+ basically to aim for 100% because the game is short enough and there didn't seem that much more content to hit.  The first mini-game I hit after starting NG+, I failed it, and it locked the minigame/activity so I couldn't complete it.  I'd have to playthrough and get to the next playthrough before I could have another chance... and if I mess up on the next playthrough, I'm having to commit to multiple playthroughs just to get through this one minigame.  I turned off the game and deleted it from my system.  This is by design for a steam achievement, well no achievements on Switch, so it just feels like a dick move.  I get it, but I ain't having it.  Don't give me a wholesome chill game and then lock something where if I mess up I gotta play through the whole game again, nothing chill about that.  The game wasn't good enough to let me let that go.  That aside, controls were too sensitive and made using a controller frustrating.  Pretty much designed to have to use the touchscreen, which basically makes it feel like a phone game.
Rating: Hard pass.

88. Nioh (https://youtu.be/jyunMLq5i4k) (PS4)
I've been thinking about playing this game a lot as I've heard the Soulsborne comparisons.  After playing Dark Souls Remastered and playing Bloodborne a little, I finally decided to give this game a go as I wanted more Soulsborne and something new.  So much to unwrap with this one.  I wasn't enjoying it at first, but I gave it the good old college try and grew to like it, it just took a lot of adjusting as it really isn't a Souls clone... it's its own thing but it adds in some Souls elements, I expect that it's essentially Ninja Gaiden with some added Souls influence, but I've never played a Ninja Gaiden game, so it's just an assumption.  So some observations re: souls, the controls in this game vary wildly from souls, dash and interact are swapped, interact is hold instead of press, attack is [] instead of the triggers, ranged attacks aim/fire a la FPS (L2/R2), almost any enemy can kill you quick and you can/will burn through your Ki (stamina) fighting a single enemy and must leverage the ki pulse system (basically refills your stamina quicker), and no open overworld, strictly level based self contained maps.  That said, playing this game, I put in a few hours and I'm done, I want to play something chill and just be done... but then I go to bed and wake up and I want more... I haven't yet decided if this is good or bad.  As I played more, and even got some info from viewers in my twitch stream, I've liked this game more and more.  I had the habit of never using the living weapon, to my detriment.. I also wasn't using magic/ninja skills to the best.  Eventually I hit a boss where I was getting my ass handed to me over and over and over.  I was about to give up and I looked up some stuff and I found out that all status effects work on bosses.  I was so used to playing games where bosses are immune to status effect stuff, so I just never even tried.  So I came up with this system where I hit sloth, defense down, attack down, spinning sword AOE, and attack up for myself... plus my guardian was adding damage to skills.  So I wound up beating the boss in like 15 seconds.  I thought it was a fluke, but I applied it to every subsequent boss and it wrecked house in most situations.  I definitely plan to come back to this game and possibly even aim for the platinum if it doesn't have difficulty/ng+ based trophies.
Rating: Soft recommendation

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg188655.html#msg188655)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on February 02, 2021, 05:13:59 pm
Safe to say I went a bit much than I expected for the first month although to be fair, the majority were a bunch of shorter games like the Castlevania games and a few SNK games I have had on Steam for some time. With that said, I have been fairly been careful not starting games only to drop it like I used to. Obviously its only the first month but I hope to keep the trend going. Not sure how much I will get done this month now that classes have started but hopefully something as oppose to nothing.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 02, 2021, 11:50:28 pm
5. South Park: The Fractured but Whole (PS4)

I've been on a serious South Park kick as of late and I really wanted to either replay The Stick of Truth or play Fractured but Whole for the first time, and the promise of an exciting new South Park adventure won out. Presentation and sound wise Fractured but Whole nalls it with making the game look and feel like an 20-hour interactive South Park episode, but sadly the rest of the game falls short. I really wasn't a big fan of the story, especially the last third of it or so; it definitely wasn't as good or funny as Stick of Truth and the ending felt very anti-climactic (also hated who they made the main bad guy to be). The gameplay is very simple and straight forward which I really appreciate, however it might be a little too simple as it just felt way to easy and on top of that it just felt kinda stale after a while. With all that said, yes, I laughed really hard at several parts and the whole experience was pretty enjoyable, but sadly it's just not as good as the first game (2/2/21) [34/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on February 03, 2021, 10:13:36 am
Finished main quest of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

I've already talked about the vehicles elsewhere and in the end they aren't even really a problem. This is because you do not really need to use them for anything besides their introductory quests. Any other large gap on any of the areas I've found either can easily be jumped or have jump pads. Another issue I had found in the game is that you continuously get stuck on the terrain. Anytime there is some slight incline, you have to jump over the part where the polygons mesh or you can't move. Some ramps on Helios are like this and make no sense.

I previously said that I was just using snipers and that was partially true. Snipers vs humans. The laser weapons are by far the best guns to use. Some of them just melt. Pistols, machine guns and shotguns are fairly weak. Difficulty wasn't that steep, until one mission near the end you have to destroy a large ship. I died many times and I had to side-quest for about 5 hours before I was able to get past that area. The issues there were not enough ammo for weapons with range to damage the ship (laser weapons have a range limit) and others not doing enough or not being accurate enough to use at range. Second was shield, which was going down instantly to the fluff enemies. In Borderlands, bosses always have fluff enemies around that you can use to get second wind, but they still do shoot you and can be a general nuisance unless you outlevel them.

So I needed some more levels, a better long range gun (ended up using a gold SMG with 100% accuracy with hipfire), more ammo for the gun. And during this "grinding" period I did the quest where you can unlock the Grinder. Which is a machine you can put items into it and combine them into random other items. I would play the game just to do this all day, and I was basically doing that anyways and ignoring main quest. Fill up inventory with stuff, go back to town and grind them, go back out and repeat.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on February 09, 2021, 10:26:49 am
After going and reorganizing my PC jewel case games, I managed to only find a few extra items. Unreal Tournament discs which are actually already accounted for as part of Totally Unreal. Destruction Derby on PC, some NFR version of it anyways and then Icewind Dale. Still appear to have misplaced Soldier of Fortune, Soldier of Fortune II, RTCW and Red Faction, but even if I do find those, they go into my "already played" portion of my backlog list, which has lower priority than unplayed games.

In light of that, I also went through and tried to mark down the "includes" of multigame packs and demo collections, in order to attempt to find this "Baldur's Gate" I had. While I do have Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate proper will have to be WL material for now. I was only able to find 1 game that included the Baldur's Gate demo, which is on the Forgotten Realms Archives - Silver Edition (https://vgcollect.com/item/133772) which I have added into Currently Playing, despite my post in this thread (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185703.html#msg185703) only tracking the individual games.

Using DOSbox for now (which won't cut it for Baldur's Gate demo, so I'll have to either complete my Win9x build or use a notebook) I had my first foray in trying to install from the CD to the mount point. It installed something, somewhere but I was not able to determine where it went. I didn't look on the ramdisk, it is possible it went there. In any case, I was able to run games by copying the dir from the CD to my HD and run then from the mountpoint.

I started out with Pool of Radiance, which had quite a learning curve since I do not have the manual. I do, however, have the code wheels and boy I can say I do not miss those one bit. After many attempts to figure things out, this type of game has a lot of prep work that needs to be done before you can even do anything. Truly a D&D simulation in that you have to create all your characters and change their sprites and this took some time. Inventory has a lot to be desired. I ended up abandoning this game because I encountered a soft lock within the first 20 minutes. Here is the flow of my Pool of Radiance experience:

1. Spend 10 minutes quickly creating party
2. Get taken on the tour of the starting town
3. Go outside into the real world and kill 2 kobolds, but my wizard is 1 HP
4. Go back to town and into the temple to get heals
5. Heals cost 600 gold (don't have it)
6. fat-finger the keyboard and accidentally "camp" inside the temple
7. guard comes and yells at me
8. get stuck in the temple between 2 walls and 2 triggers that bring up the merchant

Not wanting to even bother anymore, who knows how many more instances of mishaps there are like that. No confirmations on actions, especially things like camp while inside of a building! I checked some videos of the next few games on the disc and decided to not bother because they all ran the same engine.

So I moved onto Eye of the Beholder. Took a bit to figure out what to do but then another problem. This game doesn't use the code wheels but does use manual codes. So had to go look those up. Then on to level 2 and... I find out the hard way that there are certain areas that change your direction or teleport you around. Spend about an hour running in circles. I'm going to have to print the maps for this game because it is extremely confusing and frustrating.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on February 10, 2021, 05:37:01 am
02. Sonic Advance (GBA)
After playing Sonic 3&K I thought I'd move onto the Advance games. It was okay, the last level featured a lot of irritating pitfalls (Nothing nearly as bad as Sonic Rush mind you). It was an okay game, I see how the X-Zone area tried to cater for nostalgia but it came off as a bit tacky. Oddly enough, this game has a Level selection, so I could access the final boss without getting all the emeralds - which I had no intention of doing to be fair - Nor did I even find one bonus level to even get them! It's an okay game. I like the art direction despite t he limitations of the GBA. I can see myself trying the others.

I jumped back on Yakuza 5 last night and plowed through the part I was stuck on and hopefully am now back on track, though I certainly wont be ready for Yakuza 7 come March.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on February 11, 2021, 08:54:01 pm
07. Wandersong || Nintendo Switch || 02.11.21

Having gone into Wandersong almost completely blind, I feel good with my time exploring the world and meeting its inhabitants. What initially brought my attention to Wandersong is its art style which can be described as a children's book aesthetic complete with foreground and background layers. To match such style, the narrative largely begins with a  happy-go-lucky attitude as the player controls a bard who finds himself becoming the world's much-needed hero to stop the world's cycle of destruction. Along your journey, you'll meet dozens of characters who definitely bring life to the narrative, as the game includes a lot more dialogue that I had anticipated, albeit dialogue that is entirely optional. However, the game's mood almost suddenly shifts to a more realistic tone of what an end-of-the-world adventure may be. And, in my opinion, the game becomes much more enjoyable from this point. Events become bleak, characters begin to harbor doubt and sadness, and the adventure really does seem at its end for the worst. While the gameplay admittedly does not have much depth, the platforming segments are fine, yet seldom offer much challenge. Alongside platforming, the player will also encounter many music segments that are mostly call-and-repeat. Overall, the gameplay is casual, which I feel suits this type of game.

If you're looking for a casual title with great art direction and relatable characters to young adults, I recommend to consider playing Wandersong.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on February 11, 2021, 10:28:13 pm
Game 2 - Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix (PS4) - 30 Hours (Proud Mode)

+ Man, it felt really good to revisit this game. I had very fond yet fuzzy memories of the first Kingdom Hearts game when I played it in high school. Other than KHII, this game was the one I was looking most forward to playing on the collection. And honestly, I was surprised at how well this game still holds up. I thought the gameplay and controls would be a step down from Birth By Sleep, but it truly wasn't that bad. Apparently this game was tweaked somewhat when the HD remastered version was being developed, so that might have something to do with it. Regardless, everything about this game is an upgrade over BBS. Companions to fight with, better designed and more expansive worlds to explore (with the exception of Never Land), a better story, more secrets and content to discover, more Final Fantasy cameos, a much appreciated lack of focus on stupid mini games, better music... pretty much everything outside of the combat. Just a really great start to a fantastic game series.

- For me, the only problem I had was the limitations of your AI companions while playing on Proud Mode. Donald and Goofy have no self-preservation whatsoever and constantly make sub-optimal decisions with attacking and magic, when to heal, etc. yet you as a player don't really have that many options to designate their behavior. On normal mode it's less of an issue but on proud mode you need everything to count. There are also some cringy moments in the story with the dynamic between Riku and Sora, but it's part of the two of them growing up and maturing so it's really not too bad. Other than those two things, those are the only things that I didn't like.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 12, 2021, 03:44:34 pm
I really need to get my ass in gear and play some games! I've just been super busy with work and also have been very into console modding recently! Actually have some cool things to show off on here in the coming weeks potentially. Still, I really want to dive into some games and am going to try and beat something this weekend...maybe lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on February 15, 2021, 10:46:48 am
Eye of the Beholder
Printed maps are neat and were used sparingly. There is a mapping program for the first two games in this series called ASE or All Seeing Eye. It is specifically designed for the game to be run in DOSBox, and it puts an automapper to the right of the game. This means you have to play windowed. It helps a lot for not getting lost in the levels. Especially since there are blind teleports and other spots that change your direction. I ended up using the character editor to give some additional HP to my 4 main party members but that alone wasn't enough. I ended up starting over completely and having a cleric on the team because that class is the only one that can do important things such as: heal, remove paralyze, cure poison and resurrect dead. I ended up not having to use any resurrections. Used the character editor in ACE to give the cleric the Cure Lights Wounds, cure paralyze/poison. The game is fairly straight forward and not overly complicated once I figured out what I was doing. The only tough areas are the ones with spiders or mantis enemies, which poison you on hit. You need a Cleric to remove the poison before resting or else your characters will die during the resting.

The next big hurdle was the Mind Flayers. They are in the second to last level and are very strong. They also have a high chance to paralyze your characters using AOE. The best maybe 1, but the worst maybe 5. It took me a while to determine how to handle them. You cannot just run up to them and hack away like the other monsters because your front line fighters will get paralyzed. So you have to run up, attack first, use a spell and retreat/heal and go back. After I got this down they weren't so tough. Now to the end. I made it all the way to the Beholder and that enemy is just the worst. What the Mind Flayer does to you with paralyze, the Beholder does with damage. He can 1 hit kill your entire party. If your cleric is the one that gets killed, you have to reload a save. The tactic used on the Mind Flayer doesn't work and it appears that you cannot actually "kill" the Beholder. I had to watch some LPs to see what you are supposed to do. Use a wand that I didn't have to push the Beholder into a corner of a room. There is no way I would have figured that out. Not only this, but the game pauses any time a spell is cast, either yours or the enemy, and the room you have to do this in has fire traps and no easy way to move you or kite the Beholder into the correct position to pull this off. Game was abandoned.

Eye of the Beholder II
This one plays pretty much the same as the first game (including the pauses when spells are used) with the exception that some areas have respawning enemies. My first attempt at this game was using a new party and I'm fairly certain that this is not how the game is intended to be played. The enemies are way too strong, especially the monks in the temple, to be able to progress with new characters and base items. On a restart I imported my party from EOBI and they fared much better. Like the first game, you have to find keys to get into areas, but the map design was as such that you didn't need to use keys in a certain order. If you went into one door off the main trail, you would eventually find another key to go into the door you need to go through to complete the level. Not so in this game. It came down to using a key on the wrong door and then not being able to progress. I searched through every place I could and then viewed the full map to see if I missed anything, and I did not. I didn't feel like having to replay the entire game up until that point, so I decided to abandon this as well.

Dungeon Hack
This game plays similarly to the two EOB games I played, with the exception that there is no ASE for it (although I didn't look), the graphics are larger or more chunkier, and you consume food when resting. Perhaps EOB1/2 did that also but it wasn't apparent because the food bar is on screen at all times here. This is a dungeon generator that you can create random dungeons to explore. I played it for awhile, but since it was not really a game with an end, I didn't feel like bothering. I marked this as abandoned on my game list post (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185703.html#msg185703) just because I didn't finish the one dungeon I created.

I ended up skipping on EOB3, as well as the older style games that were more like Pool of Radiance. I am also going to be skipping on the Baldur's Gate demo since I do not have a computer ready to play that.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on February 17, 2021, 10:45:29 pm
10 - Powered Gear (Arcade 1994) - BEAT - Picked up that new Capcom Arcade compilation, you get a nice mixture of shooters and action games, and a few fighting games.  The collection is done nice, there's a lot of features, I can save games, there's a rewind button, I can speed up some of the games that might feel slow, there's roughly 30 games for 40 bucks, and though I probably won't play them all, I'm gonna try to give them. 

Never heard of Powered Gear, it apparently has a different name in North America, but they only had the JP version on here (Some games have both English and Japanese roms).  This is a kinda cool beat em up, where you are in a mech suit, fighting other mechs, with the gimmick being that you can pick up the different arms of enemies as weapons, and change your limited use shoulder mounted gun with either a flamethrow or missile launcher, etc...Overall it has pretty good movement to it, the sprites are pretty big, so they look great, though it's kinda hectic at times.  It's one of those arcade brawlers, where you are just gonna get hit a lot and so you just bang your head against it till you get to the end.  Thankfully quarters are infinite in this lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: necrosexual on February 18, 2021, 06:25:42 pm
about 2020 (http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,10536.msg173618.html#msg173618) i did okay tbh. considering animal crossing: new horizons dropped in 2020. and considering my playtime for it is >500 hours. because that shouldn't be a problem this year i should get much closer to 52 games, unless you take into consideration my slow pace as is.
otoh i have no idea how to score puzzle games, as i played a lot of endless puzzles last year... lot of tetris, tetris attack... things i didn't include because it just seemed lame to do so. i play a lot of puzzle games like this (currently obsessed with flipull) so it holds shit back.

wanting to play/beat more zelda and final fantasy this year. less pokemon. the former might happen but the latter never will

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/419736706393178134/663045184636059658/1067979-20_platinum.png) <-- i use this as a mark of completion or an obtained platinum trophy

~~~~~11.01.21~~~~~ pokemon gold (GBC)
~~~~~01.02.21~~~~~ final fantasy IV (PSP)
~~~~~05.02.21~~~~~ hyrule warriors: age of calamity (NSw)
~~~~~19.02.21~~~~~ legend of zelda (NES)
~~~~~22.02.21~~~~~ pokemon silver (GBC)
~~~~~28.02.21~~~~~ pokemon blue (GB)
~~~~~03.03.21~~~~~ legend of zelda: a link to the past (SNES)
~~~~~06.03.21~~~~~ mario kart 64 (Wii U VC/N64)
~~~~~13.03.21~~~~~ legend of zelda ocarina of time (Wii U VC/N64)
~~~~~01.04.21~~~~~ legend of zelda: windwaker HD (wii u) (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/419736706393178134/663045184636059658/1067979-20_platinum.png)
~~~~~06.05.21~~~~~ hades (NSw)
~~~~~20.05.21~~~~~ pokemon sword (NSw)
~~~~~20.05.21~~~~~ 靈幻道士 SUPER MAGICIAN (SMD/GEN) english title 'elf wor' or literal translation 'excellent magical daoist priest'
~~~~~11.06.21~~~~~ mcdonald's treasure land adventure (SMD/GEN)
~~~~~11.06.21~~~~~ dragon crystal (SMS)
~~~~~17.06.21~~~~~ シルヴァ・サーガ２/silva saga ii: the legend of light and darkness (SNES)
~~~~~18.06.21~~~~~ sanrio world smash ball! (SNES) [keroppi]
~~~~~26.06.21~~~~~ dodonpachi (PS1)
~~~~~01.07.21~~~~~~ wiz'n'liz (SMD/GEN)
~~~~~09.07.21~~~~~~ earthbound (SNES) happy birthday to me! what a great game to beat on my birthday


drops:
zelda ii: adventure of link (NES) [balls hard and everything i read says it only gets harder. got through palace 3 and realised i was only considering continuing to say i beat zelda ii. i saw enough, and it just wasn't for me.]

background games:
yoshi's wooly world (Wii U) / zelda: twilight princess (Wii U)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on February 21, 2021, 04:48:44 pm
08. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening || Nintendo Switch || 02.21.21

As someone who has played several of The Legend of Zelda titles, I find myself looking up answers to puzzles more often than I'd like to admit, although I can usually get through a majority of the game on my own. Having never played the original Link's Awakening—or any of the classic Zelda titles, for that matter—I was a little surprised at how straight-forward the steps to progress through the story came to me (even though I did have to look up a few answers still, haha.) However, this isn't by any means a negative or even a positive aspect to my experience, but it is something that I feel good about, nonetheless. After looking up the differences between the original Game Boy and updated Switch versions, it seems that, in addition to the great visual presentation, a fair amount of quality-of-life and content updates were added to the latter. The biggest of these updates is perhaps the additional dungeon creator aspect, which I admittedly did not venture to try, as I'm generally not interested in game modes such as this. Perhaps my only criticism is that, if one is attempting to collect every collectible, the means are quite grindy in addition to there being no reward except self-satisfaction. And, for this reason, I didn't go out of my way to collect everything, although I did search for as much as I could.

If you're a The Legend of Zelda fan and haven't experienced the Switch version, definitely check it out. If you're someone who has yet to venture into the older 2D Zelda games, I think that most would be fairly challenged and have an enjoyable experience. And, on that note, the same can be said to those who have not yet played any The Legend of Zelda title. I think that Link's Awakening would be a fine introduction to the series, as the world seems quite self-contained within the island the game takes place on.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 22, 2021, 01:26:14 am

6. King of Fighters XII (PS3)

7. King of Fighters XIII (PS3)



It's been way too long since I sat down and enjoyed some video games, so I figured after a not so stellar weekend I'd relax and play something I could jump right into and have a lot of fun with. I decided to revisit the KOF games on the PS3, both of which I haven't played in at least 8-years. I remember thinking KOF XII was a massive disappointment, but upon replaying it's way, way worse than just that. It literally feels like some unfinished alpha version of KOF XIII or some cancelled KOF game that was never made. I almost feel bad even comparing it to KOF XIII seeing how awesome that game is. But yeah, it has a small, disappointing roster, a completely forgettable OST, and also just feel and plays really off compared to most other KOF titles. I seriously can't recommend KOF XII unless you're a massive KOF fan or just want to collect some PS3 fighting games. (2/21/21) [24/50] On the other hand, KOF XIII is an excellent game, possibly the best in the entire franchise. It's super vast pace, excellent controls, very colorful and engaging graphics, and pretty good OST all contribute to how great it is. I played through KOF XIII several times due to how much fun I was having with it. Definitely an exemplary fighting game of the 2010s. (2/21/21) [38/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 10:14:11 pm
Well, I'm certainly making up for barely playing anything the first 45-days of this year lol.


11. King of Fighters 96 (PS2)

Unfortunately I didn't find KOF 96 an improvement over its predecessor, which was in turn an improvement over 94. Still, this was an excellent fighting game that at least had 95 beat in regards to gameplay, but lost a point in visuals mostly due to how it recycles a few stages with minor variations between them. Either way, you can't go wrong with either 95 or 96. (2/23/21) [35/50]

12. King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (PS2)

13. King of Fighters 2006 (aka Maximum Impact 2) (PS2)

I'd only briefly played one of these terrible games prior to diving into them this evening, and after doing so I wish I'd just let it stay that way. These games are an insult to KOF that have terrible, floaty gameplay with almost no depth or complexity, terrible graphics overall, and bad audio as well. In fact, the only positive thing I can pick out from this game is its terrible voice acting and hilarious lines that come from the characters; I was nearly in tears from laughter at a few parts in the game. Unfortunately though they're both complete crap, with 2006 only having a slight edge due to a slightly better OST. Either way though these are bad, bad games that I'd suggest no one ever play.


14. King of Fighters 2000 (PS2)

I feel like KOF 2000 tried to progress the series and provide something new, but in the end it's additions, mostly to its gameplay come across as somewhat superfluous. I'm mostly referring to the assist character system which has you selecting a 4th character that has a limited amount of times they can pop on screen to assist you in combat. No mater who I elected to be the assist character it never helped with turning the tide of battle in any way, and in fact the assist character missed my opponent about 75% of the time. Other than that, this is still a fun KOF entry with solid gameplay, excellent 2D characters and stages that definitely were polished up compared to 99 and previous entries, and it has one of the best soundtracks in the franchise. Still, even with all this it still falls short of many of the classic KOF games, but that's certainly not saying you shouldn't check it out because you definitely should if you're a fan of arcade tournament fighters from this era. (2/23/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 24, 2021, 01:43:00 am
Okay, well this is certainly a record for me; today I have beat a total of 8 games! Given their all fighting games so this isn't like I beat 2 RPGs in one day or anything like that, but still. And to think I actually worked today to and still got all this accomplished! Throw in cross referencing and comparing these games with others that I both played today and have played and beat before and wow...that's a lot of King of Fighter lol. But here are the last ones I beat today.


15. King of Fighters 99: Evolution (Dreamcast)

To be perfectly honest this is the one and only version of KOF 99 I've ever played; the original one had non-3D stages and also the Evolution version has 2 extra stages. Other than that it's more or less the same game, but to be sure I actually ordered a copy of the original 99 version tonight that I'll be able to compare this one to for good measure. But anyhow, this entry in the KOF series was a lot better than I remember, especially from a gameplay standpoint. I was mistaken in my last post; the first KOF game to implement the Striker mechanic was this one, however it feel less annoying and in your face as with 2000 so it oddly didn't bother me as much. Other than that it looks excellent visually and also has a great, memorable OST. I actually ended up debating whether I liked this KOF more or some of the other ones that rank higher up for me. But regardless it's an excellent entry in the series and a solid start to the NESTs story arch. (2/23/21) [37/50]

16. King of Fighters 2001 (PS2)

Of course I had to balance out playing a surprisingly good KOF game with playing a surprisingly bad one following it. KOF 2001 is probably the ugliest 2D KOF game. The backgrounds are very plain and bland, and also look like someone smeared Vasoline on them. The music isn't that great either, but also isn't terrible either. But worse off was the gameplay which just felt kinda sloppy and broken at times. Sure it wasn't Maximum Impact bad, not even close, but it just felt limited compared to most other main series entries I've played. And this is even with the ability to more or less ignore the Striker mechanic, which was welcome, but the rest of the gameplay couldn't save this game unfortunately. This is probably the weakest modern KOF game (with the exception of 12 of course) and one I don't see myself wanting to play again. (2/23/21) [29/50]

17. King of Fighters 2002 (PS2)

Not to be confused with 2002 Unlimited Match, which is referred to as a remake of the original 2002, but honestly there are few similarities between them. They don't share stages, there are far fewer characters in this version, the gameplay is less precise and smooth in this version, and the menus and menu character art is way different. 2002 and 2002 Unlimited Match are completely different games as far as I'm concerned so I felt it appropriate to review this one separately. No question, 2002 is not as good as 2002 UM, but that doesn't mean it isn't a great game because it definitely is. 2002 was a very refreshing return to form after 2001. This game is all about the 3 on 3 team combat we all know and love from the KOF series; no gimmicks, no weird modes or mechanics, just straight up KOF awesomeness! I really have no noteworthy gripes about stock 2002 other than 2002 UM is definitely better, but honestly with most of the top KOF games you're comparing apples to applies in terms of quality so that isn't say 2002 UA is leagues better. But yeah, this is a top tier example of a KOF game that any fighting game fan should check out if they haven't. (2/23/21) [36/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on February 24, 2021, 01:49:23 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.

I got into a KOF kick late last year and it was a nice way to experience the KOF games I never really gave much time for in the past. It got very addicting.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on February 24, 2021, 09:41:42 pm
09. Never Alone || PlayStation 4 || 02.24.21

As a game wholly inspired by the native Alaskan group Iñupiat, the story of Never Alone is directly taken from the traditional oral tale Kunuuksaayuka. Created with the blessings of native families and village elders, and even being translated and play-tested by some of these same groups of individuals, Never Alone tells the story of a young girl whose village is being ravaged by a  monumental blizzard and then seeks out the blizzard's cause to save her people. Complementing the story, the gameplay largely comprises of standard platforming with light puzzle-solving.

Truthfully, from a gameplay perspective, Never Alone is minimal, lacking, at times difficult to control, and technically flawed. The player can either split control between the girl and a fox spirit who guides her, or the player can delegate the fox's controls to a second player. Playing the game on my own, there were regular annoyances in platforming successfully when needing to rely on both characters' actions and movements, which I believe are attributed to the game's frustrating and heavy controls.

With that said, the only reason the game should be someone's consideration is to learn about the Iñupiat people and their cultural history. Accompanying the gameplay are video interviews and the like which delve further into these people's history while also highlighting certain segments of the game's story. Having known that the game was a short 2-3 hours and having sat on it as a potential game to play for the last five years or so, I decided to finally play. While I don't necessarily regret my time with Never Alone, I do believe that the game is for a niche audience who are intrigued in cultural history.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on February 25, 2021, 09:55:04 am
15. Big Pharma
Marked as complete, as the game uses a scenario system. The first is the tutorial, which I will say was not actually enough for me to understand everything. The second is beginner. I have completed the Beginner scenario and will keep the game around to try the other scenarios in the future. Each of the different missions in the scenarios have different goals, but in the end the changes made to gameplay between missions is miniscule. You still basically end up doing the same thing over and over. There is no variable in the game with exception to that of the supply/demand aspects that change the ingredient or drug prices, which is also caused by the AI which is working in the background.

There is also a situation where there does not seem to be a failure condition. You can go into debt with fairly large numbers with no repercussions. You can take loans at any time they are available, and most importantly, can somehow make loan payment at negative cashflow. It is partly a puzzle game due to how the slots on machines are set up.

So I think it is a fun (for me) game and you can certainly get lost in it for a few hours. There seems to be some more back-end strategy involved that includes the market numbers, and there are certainly more things that can still be done. There is also a DLC available that I did not have, so that will be something to look at in the future.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 12:50:44 am
Quote from: droaa on February 24, 2021, 01:49:23 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.

I got into a KOF kick late last year and it was a nice way to experience the KOF games I never really gave much time for in the past. It got very addicting.


Dude, I am deep in it right now! I've probably played close to 30-hours of KOF over this past week and I don't feel like stopping lol. I've spent a decent amount of time with most of the main games, but really dove into several I just never played a lot like 99, the original 2002, 94 Re-Bout, and the Maximum Impact games (shudders). But they're incredible games and overall my favorite fighting game franchise of all time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 01:01:28 am
18. King of Fighters 2003 (PS2)

19. King of Fighters XI (PS2)

Funny enough, I've barely played one of these games prior to the other day, while the other one is probably a top 5 in the series in terms of playtime. I've played 2003 a handful of times over the years, but never for more than a few short play throughs. i decided to change that by spending a good amount of time digesting the game's mechanics and really appreciating how good of a game it is. Overall, KOF 2003 is one of the best games in the series and is incredibly well rounded overall. I also like the new tag system which I felt was well implemented in this title. It also has a great OST, excellent graphics, and is just a great experience overall. Returning to XI was like meeting up with an old friend...an old friend who you liked, but remembered how annoying they can be also. KOF XI is super fun with its unlockable characters, good graphics, and improved combo and tag system, but I always felt like some of the characters and their specials were just wildly broken in this game. And don't even get me started in the final boss! He is probably he cheapest bastard in the whole series which is saying a lot seeing how a fairly stable hallmark of the KOF series are its cheap as hell end bosses. Despite this KOF XI is still a great entry in the series and certainly one I'd wholeheartedly recommend.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 01:07:34 am
20. Zanac X Zanac (PS1)

I completed my second Xstation install this evening and decided I was going to test it and reward myself with the fruits of my labor by playing a game! I decided to try out a shooter I've never played before due to it being a late release Japanese exclusive on the PS1, and sadly the last shooter Compile would develop before going bankrupt in the early 2000. Zanac X Zanac is a fairly underwhelming game visuals with a few exceptions, but what it lacks in visuals it makes up for some pretty good, yet still flawed gameplay. ZxZ relies on a chaining system to wrack up points, but also deal out huge damage to enemies and bosses. While he gameplay is good and the visuals are okay, the best part of ZxZ by far is its soundtrack! I mean, oh my god it has an incredible OST! If I go on youtube after playing and just want to listen to a game's soundtrack then it automatically means it was excellent! I'd definitely recommend this shooter which is truly a hidden gem if there ever was one. (2/25/21) [34/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on February 27, 2021, 01:04:39 am
9 - Valheim (PC 2021) - ENDLESS - This game came out of nowhere for me, I was watching a streamer playing Rust, this game kept coming up, so I looked it over and it seemed like my kinda game, though it was in Early Access, and 80 hours later, I think I ended up liking it lol This is a survival/crafting game, with a 90's era aesthetic to the visuals, and a viking theme.  Comparable games to me would be like Minecraft and Terraria, that sorta level of build a base, get your gear, upgrade it, fight bosses, progress to the next gear type, etc...The "survival" aspect is actually sorta minimal, like you can't starve, you don't need to drink, you don't technically need to eat, as eating just increases your healthbar for a time.  You can die and all your gear drops in that spot for you to get back to it, which can be tough if you die far away from your current bed respawn. 

The crafting part is more where the game shines for me, you get a lot of freedom to how you want to build, within a couple basic rules based on building stability and rain damage that requires most built thing others than stone and I think the core wood beams to have a roof above it.  On top of this, you can basically terraform the terrain, leveling it out, digging deeper, filling up spots, so you can turn a lot of areas into sorta whatever setup you want.  You can farm the few available plants/veggies, you can tame boars for food, you got 5 different biomes I believe currently, each with their own enemies and such, you can craft viking longboats to explore, and there are 5 fleshed out bosses already with more to come.

It is in early access, with a small development team, but it apparently has been in development for like 2 years, and it shows, because if they had just spent a couple more months on this, filled in some of the gaps, clean up some of the wonkiness, released it for 20 to 30 dollars, it would be worth it right there.  It runs well, the 90's polygonal design with pixelated textures is kinda unique and probably helps that performance, it's got a large procedurally generated world, and you can play it co-op if you want to.  It's become ridiculously successful, hitting 4 million sales in less than a few weeks, so it'll definitely got the support it needs.  Highly recommend this game if you are into these types of farm and grind games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on February 27, 2021, 06:45:37 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 12:50:44 am
Quote from: droaa on February 24, 2021, 01:49:23 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.

I got into a KOF kick late last year and it was a nice way to experience the KOF games I never really gave much time for in the past. It got very addicting.


Dude, I am deep in it right now! I've probably played close to 30-hours of KOF over this past week and I don't feel like stopping lol. I've spent a decent amount of time with most of the main games, but really dove into several I just never played a lot like 99, the original 2002, 94 Re-Bout, and the Maximum Impact games (shudders). But they're incredible games and overall my favorite fighting game franchise of all time.

I would like to replay them again mostly cuz when I did it last year I was a wennie and used the services to reduce boss health down cuz I wasnt putting in the effort beat them legit
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on February 28, 2021, 10:55:37 am
Quote from: droaa on February 27, 2021, 06:45:37 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 12:50:44 am
Quote from: droaa on February 24, 2021, 01:49:23 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.

I got into a KOF kick late last year and it was a nice way to experience the KOF games I never really gave much time for in the past. It got very addicting.


Dude, I am deep in it right now! I've probably played close to 30-hours of KOF over this past week and I don't feel like stopping lol. I've spent a decent amount of time with most of the main games, but really dove into several I just never played a lot like 99, the original 2002, 94 Re-Bout, and the Maximum Impact games (shudders). But they're incredible games and overall my favorite fighting game franchise of all time.

I would like to replay them again mostly cuz when I did it last year I was a wennie and used the services to reduce boss health down cuz I wasnt putting in the effort beat them legit


As much as I love KOF, the worst thing about the games are the bosses. I'd say half of them are cheap, but certainly still beatable if you're at least an above average player. Then there are about 5 or 6 that will try your patience to the limit given how insanely cheap they are. I don't think there is any shame whatsoever in lowering several of the bosses' HP given how insanely cheap they are; it's just leveling the playfield a bit.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: droaa on February 28, 2021, 01:21:05 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 28, 2021, 10:55:37 am
Quote from: droaa on February 27, 2021, 06:45:37 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 26, 2021, 12:50:44 am
Quote from: droaa on February 24, 2021, 01:49:23 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on February 23, 2021, 03:33:45 pm
I'm on a massive KOF kick right now and have beat the following games in the series over the last couple of days.


8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2)

9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2)

10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2)

We'll start where it all began! I haven't really sat down and played KOF 94 in a long, long time. But the game is definitely a classic and is pure aesthetic in terms of levels, music and stages. Unfortunately the gameplay is KOF 94's biggest limitation, which can be forgiven since it was the first game in the franchise. Still, this is a very fun, engaging fighting game that still hold up well even to this day. Unfortunately it's more modern remake is less than stellar. Pretty much 94 Re-Bout takes nearly everything that made the original KOF 94 special and awesome and replaces it completely with bland new stages, uninspired character sprites, and remixes that don't hold up as well as the original OST. Worse still, they left all the negatives about KOF 94's gameplay in tact. If anything they should have just overhauled the gameplay while keeping the visual and musical assets in tact. Was pretty disappointed in Re-Bout though. And finally KOF 95 is mostly an improvement over its predecessor, at least in terms of gameplay. Visually it's about the same, and I feel like the OST was a smidge better than 94. Overall though, I enjoyed 95 just a bit more which is what you'd expect in a game that sought to enhance its predecessor from the year prior.

I got into a KOF kick late last year and it was a nice way to experience the KOF games I never really gave much time for in the past. It got very addicting.


Dude, I am deep in it right now! I've probably played close to 30-hours of KOF over this past week and I don't feel like stopping lol. I've spent a decent amount of time with most of the main games, but really dove into several I just never played a lot like 99, the original 2002, 94 Re-Bout, and the Maximum Impact games (shudders). But they're incredible games and overall my favorite fighting game franchise of all time.

I would like to replay them again mostly cuz when I did it last year I was a wennie and used the services to reduce boss health down cuz I wasnt putting in the effort beat them legit


As much as I love KOF, the worst thing about the games are the bosses. I'd say half of them are cheap, but certainly still beatable if you're at least an above average player. Then there are about 5 or 6 that will try your patience to the limit given how insanely cheap they are. I don't think there is any shame whatsoever in lowering several of the bosses' HP given how insanely cheap they are; it's just leveling the playfield a bit.

Believe you me, some of the bosses in this are complete horseshit but trying to beat them legit is more a personal goal just to say i did it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on March 01, 2021, 01:59:27 am
Rainy Season (PC 2020) - BEAT - I probably shouldn't really count this for my list, since it's not much of a "game" and it can be beaten very quick, but it's still something and was a slightly chill, nice, experience.  Basically it's the "walking sim" game, where you are just walking around a house, interact with a few things, getting a little story, and that is about it.  This one in particular is very short and doesn't really a lot of story to it, it seems to be someone remembering back to a day they had as a kid, nothing special, it's just a rainy day that stopped them from going to the amusement park and as a stuck kid at home, you are just wandering around, having daydreams about stuff.  It's basically really short bouts of wandering the house to get little tidbits of what the kid sees, and then you get some nice daydreams about some spooky monster, or a giant cat having a party, or wanting flowers to bloom, there's really not anything more to it.  I like it for the Japanese aesthetics, I have a thing about that and it's overall quite chill with the simplistic graphics, there's no twist or surprise to it, it's just something kinda simple and nice. 

It's not something I would recommend since it can be finished in less than an hour and there really isn't a lot you can do, but it's only 4 bucks, so I'm fine having grabbed it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on March 02, 2021, 08:37:33 am
February Update

Games Beat in February:
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Switch) - Started in Jan.  I'm amazed at how much it feels like the modern titles, aside from the graphics.  I was missing some of the quality of life stuff, in regard to be able to trade items, etc.  Beat on Feb. 4.
1943: The Battle of Midway (Switch) - Yeah, this was definitely an arcade title.  At least I didn't have to pump quarters in.  There were some sections that were surprisingly easy, but after the first level it is truly a bullet hell game.  Best on Feb. 19.
Deadpool (XB1) - Meh DMC style action game.  You'd think a previous gen updated game would run better than this.  It was funny in spots, but was also the more juvenile Deadpool style humor I'm not the biggest fan of.  Worth a play if you like comics and or the character, but nothing to write home about.  Beat Feb. 26.
Hitman (2016) (PS4) - Super fun, but kinda short if you are only playing to beat the campaign.  I'm just not personally that interested in the re-playability, but it has tons of options for it.  Feb. 28. 

Games Played in February:
Minecraft (PC) - Put a lot more hours into this month, but kind of hit a wall a week or so ago.  Still worth buying, and I'll probably return to it in the future, but that honeymoon phase is wearing off.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on March 05, 2021, 05:11:45 pm
10. Astro's Playroom || PlayStation 5 || 03.04.21

Existing much more as a fully-fledged game than a tech demo, Astro's Playroom is a huge and welcoming delight to all who secure a PlayStation 5. As a free title, Astro's Playroom showcases the new features of the DualSense controller with much-satisfying 3D platformer gameplay. In truth, Astro's Playroom may be one of my favorite first-party SCEI titles of all time. Interwoven with dozens of cameos from past SCEI titles, fans of Sony will go out of their way to inspect every nook and cranny to discover what else the game has to offer in its world as simply background information. Having not yet played any other PlayStation 5 title, Astro's Playroom left me excited for what's to come throughout this new generation, all thanks to the DualSense controller. In particular, the updated trigger responsiveness and resistance is my personal favorite addition to Sony's line of controllers.

If you're a PlayStation 5 owner and have yet to play Astro's Playroom, play it as soon as you can.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on March 07, 2021, 02:53:28 pm
Game 3 -  Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories (PS4) - 22 hours

When I first started playing this game, I didn't like it much at all. As I continued through the game, I started to come around to it a lot more. I think it's greatly flawed, but it's not as bad as I originally thought when I started playing.

One thing that I actually ended up liking a lot was the story. While it was super cheesy and silly, I actually really liked the idea of someone taking apart your memories and replacing them with ones that are not yours. This setup added a lot of mystery and I thought it was really compelling. And it was great to learn about the in-between story that took place between Kingdom Hearts I and II. However, because the game is based on Sora's memories, you are forced to play through all the same areas from the first game all over again, with the same environments, music, and enemies. Every single boss was the same as the first game (except the fights in the actual Castle Oblivion). It felt very repetitive. In addition, the game takes on a dungeon-crawling like design with user-driven room creation, and while it was fun deciding what rooms to make, each layout was lazy and empty, with only some generic objects to hit and random encounters all day long. The stories in the individual worlds were also really lazily done and stupid.

To make up for most of the game being a copy-past from KH1, the developers implemented a card-based redesign to the combat. Generally, I do enjoy games with cards and deck building, and it was rewarding to try and find and collect as many different cards and sleights as possible. My biggest issue with this change is that Chain of Memories attempts to insert elements of strategy into frenetic action-based combat, and it ends up being a shitty middle ground between a strategy game and a hack-and-slash game that doesn't really excel in either genre. Simply, you have no time to strategize about which cards you should use in the middle of battle since you're constantly trying to joystick and maneuver around enemy attacks. Enemy attacks are way harder to dodge and some of them you can't dodge at all, meaning you have to use a 0 card or a high powered sleight to break through them. You can also have your attacks broken if your card's value (from 0-10) is lower than the opponents, so the strategy in the beginning is just "put the highest value cards possible in your deck so you can attack uninhibited". For the first 10 hours the game felt like a clunkier, slower, and disjointed version of the battles from Kingdom Hearts.

That is, until I figured out how to use sleights. Frankly, sleights are very easy to abuse, and there are some that can completely break the game. I ended up making two decks: one for regular battles and one for boss battles. For the regular battles I spammed powerful AOE attacks like "Proud Roar", "Omnislash", "Splash", and "Mega Flare", to completely demolish the hordes of heartless, and standard enemies don't carry any 0 cards or sleights of their own, so you'll always be able to use your sleights. Against the Organization/Riku fights, I would use a deck made of nothing but "Lethal Frame", and "Sonic Blade", which can stun lock your opponent permanently. I found that consistency was far more effective then actually strategizing on the fly in battle. So while there is plenty of strategy to be had in building your deck OUTSIDE of battle, the actual combat got very repetitive, linear, and brainless. Particularly with the Organization fights, I found that I had to employ this strategy or get completely bodied. There was no middle ground.

Next up will be 358/2 days and then I'm planning on taking a break from the series to play some other games before jumping into Kingdom Hearts II. I'm not sure yet if I'll also go back to play Riku's campaign in this game or if I'll just watch the cutscenes online, but if I do end up playing it I'll add to this post.

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on March 08, 2021, 10:38:14 am
16. Fallout
This is my first time getting to play this game, but there was a time before that I had tried it. I'm not entirely certain what year it was that I had tried it before, but it was when Hive City was around, which was a Pentium 133Mhz computer with a Voodoo Rush and Windows 95. I do not remember how I got the game, I know I did not buy it. So I could have borrowed it or perhaps it was acquired some other way, idk. All I know is that the game did not run because it was so large that I had no free hard disk space. And then I put it into the Recycle Bin, which caused an even bigger problem since you need free disk space to empty the it. I remember it taking hours to figure out how to get that sorted out, and this was before you could just go online to figure things out.

Round 2, this time I have the game on Steam. It does support widescreen but I ended up playing in 1024x768 stretched. It didn't make too much of a diference. You can tell modern games have come a long way when it comes to inventory management and quest guides. The map was OK. Transferring items or bartering would sometimes not use the correct quantities. Especially when trading with companions, where say you want to give them half your ammo, the counter goes up to 6 so you put it at 3. Then your companions do not always use guns when they are supposed to which is weird. AND sometimes your companions will not engage in a battle if they are off screen, but this also happens with enemies. Some quests have details that are only kept in dialog and not shown on the quest screen. For example the Brotherhood of Steel gives you a quest to go to a town and bring back an item. The name of the town they give does not match the town names on the map. And then when you are in a town, it can be a pixel hunt to figure out what to do. I never ended up finding that item.

I got capped quite early. I finished the first quest to get the water chip, but ended up killing the ghouls. I wasn't intending for it to happen this way. I followed the direction of the ghouls to go a certain way to get the parts, but I never found any parts. In the process of exploring I found the chip, brought it back to Vault 13 and then went back to find those parts. But when I got there, everyone died because their water turned off. After that I went to another town where you needed to help The Blades get some guns, but you had to get past Deathclaws. Those are probably the hardest enemy in the game and I couldn't survive killing just one. I didn't have any other quests or places to explore left. So I ended up using Falche which is a save editor for Fallout and Fallout 2. There isn't really a way to make you do more damage, but you can change your DT so that you do not take normal damage. It isn't a god mode as you can still be killed and damaged by criticals. Even with this, it does not make the game any easier with the exception of being able to live longer. I still had the same weapons I did before and it takes forever to kill just one Deathclaw. And I had to do this many times because I didn't see the stairs to the basement of the building until my 4th time in that zone.

And then after doing that quest and being able to get some better guns, again I ended up with nothing to do. Some quests seemed to be not available, or people wouldn't talk to me. I couldn't get into the Glow area, which I'm sure is a quest from somewhere. And when I approached the Super Mutants, I didn't get a dialog option they just attacked and there is a door that requires a code. When all seemed like there was nothing left to do, I tried to kill the Overseer in Vault 13 and after an hour it seems he is unkillable.

Anyways, that's enough for me. The game is not interesting enough for me to try it again to do something different. I didn't want to bother having to look up everything or following a walkthrough. It was interesting experience and will definiately give Fallout 2 a go some day.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: koemo1 on March 08, 2021, 03:14:51 pm
Quote from: koemo1 on December 21, 2020, 01:18:47 pm
Reserving my spot
1. Red Dead Redemption II [PS4] 9/10
2. Tomb Raider [PS1] 7.5/10
3. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile [PS1] 8/10
4. The Sniper 2 [PS2] 5/10
5. Devil's Third [WiiU] 6.5/10
6. Zelda: Breath of the Wild [WiiU] In progress
7. Demon's Souls [PS5] 8/10
8. Link's Crossbow Training [Wii] 7/10
9. Call of Duty: Finest Hour [PS2] 6.5/10
10. Jet Set Radio Future [XBOX] In progress
11. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes [Wii] 7/10
12. Geometry Wars Galaxies [Wii] In progress
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on March 10, 2021, 12:37:51 pm
11. Bugsnax || PlayStation 5 || 03.09.21

Quickly introducing the player to quite the eccentric world, Bugsnax tells the story of a reporter sent to discover the rumors and the legitimacies regarding a group of settlers on a previously undiscovered island called Snaktooth Island and the rumored new collective species of animals called Bugsnax. Upon your arrival, the settlement has disbanded largely due to disagreements amongst another, with everyone going off to their own corners of this unexplored world. As you're introduced to each character, it's clear that they all believe that Bugsnax are the answers to all their problems on an individual level, but, in your time with them, you see that their reliance upon Bugsnax only caused more problems for them to overcome.

Did I mention that Bugsnax are the group's primary source of food and that, upon eating Bugsnax, the body begins to morph into physical characteristics to what they've just eaten? And that Bugsnax are some weird animal/food hybrid species, meaning that the settlers are literally mutating into food? Yeah, the creators weren't shy about introducing a quirky story.

With a straight-forward story and even more straight-forward gameplay, Bugsnax is an easy game for players to delve into. Simply find a settler and solve some of their immediate concerns, and they'll return to the group encampment. For a variety of reasons, their most of their problems require the player to capture Bugsnax, which of course the settlers eat without any question. While the game can be completed fairly quickly, it also offers a lot to accomplish for a complete playthrough, as several dozen side-quests and 100 unique Bugsnax exist to capture.

While I secured my copy of the game through PlayStation Plus, I would recommend to those who don't have Bugsnax but are interested that it ss a title worth trying at its given pricing and is one to try if you're especially attracted to oddball titles.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: necrosexual on March 13, 2021, 10:35:41 pm
gonna make a quick rundown of the zelda games i've played so far this year. full disclaimer is i have literally zero qualms about using walkthroughs, especially as it pertains to hidden goodies unlocked after obtaining certain items. i tend to enjoy my time more this way.

i have also played all of these on emulated hardware of some kind, but strictly without using save states. i'm trying to experience them as originally intended, so while i respect people who use states, and have used them myself for other games, i'm choosing not to for the zeldas. :)

legend of zelda
i'm a wee young to have experienced this one at its prime, so copious amounts of walkthrough usage applied here. that said, this game still is a kind of magical experience, and super charming too. i spent a number of hours trying to uncover all that i could without assistance and it honestly gave me the same sense of exploring a huge map with lots of neat little secrets that breath of the wild gave, and i wish i could've been there when it was huge, trading what i found and so on. i think this is one of those games that i'll find myself replaying here and there, esp because its length is just right for it. good on them.

zelda ii: adventure of link
this game gets too much flak and 'one of the worst games ever!!' is exaggerated imo. that said, it is also downright cruel when it comes to HP management, with no bottled fairies, no recovery drops and a magic system that can get quite tight (leaving too little to heal) with uncommon MP drops as well. after struggling and barely passing palace 3 i realised i had seen enough to know it isn't for me, my reaction speed is too slow to keep up, and it was only going to get harder.

that said, i liked the palace maps i saw. i feel it is less cryptic than the complaints led me to expect. controls were tight, and my only worries about jumps were due to dmg knockback. i think there is potential there, but someone at play-testing should've said 'hey all, maybe we should be less mean to players...?' ahaha.

link to the past
dungeons great, overworld good, lots of fun items and fun visuals. i never knew about dark world bunny link and i was like 'whaaaat no one warned me of this! what is this?!'

that said, i'm mixed on this one. i was desperate for the defence upgrade long before it was obtainable. i never felt like i really 'got' the combat aim down, and whatever it was i expected was off balance compared to the left-handed swing and shots of the game. i don't really know why.

i felt like the first 50-70% of the game was a real fun time, and the last bit was also a fun time, but that late-mid and pre-end game area was sloggish and i felt kinda done with it, and frustrated at times by getting mobbed and my health sapped insanely fast by the enemies that continually got stronger over time, particularly before getting access to the defence upgrade. it really made my experience suffer overall, which is a shame because this game has really good dungeons and puzzles, really fun items to use and a welcome overall friendliness to players.

ocarina of time
p sure there is legit nothing i can say that hasn't been said 1000 times about this game. i played it up to ganondorf's castle when i was younger, so i had experience with the game, and it was fun to experience it again after some 15+ years since then! and amusing what i did and didn't remember.

my only real hot take to offer is: i don't mind the water temple, and would rather do it twice than jabu-jabu's nauseating belly dungeon and deal with ruto's spoiled brat nonsense. water temple has few enemies to interrupt you when trying to figure out the puzzles and doing map cross-checking. it's a super long dungeon, a little tedious if you dislike menuing, can become awfully confusing... but i kinda dig that 'ruins raid' feeling, tho the final boss fight is absolutely laughable ime. meanwhile jabu-jabu is the opposite, enemies try to interrupt you constantly, most of which are annoying to deal with (particularly pre-boomerang), the puzzles are not very complex, the map is pretty boring and the final boss was super unintuitive, with my boomerang making the 'clang' failure sound 3+ times, which i took as 'not the method to fight it', when it actually was i just got that unlucky. and the visuals are gross, too. no thanks. worst dungeon imo.

i also grew a visceral hatred for bongo-bongo, tho maybe that should be actually directed at the wreck that is z-targeting in that fight. but i chalk this up in part to the wii u version's input delay (it's a 4 frame delay, and most noticeable with the bongo 'rush' and [phantom] ganondorf's tennis mechanic ime), because i don't recall it being a wreck when i was younger.

but oot is a classic masterpiece and for good reason, and it would be asinine to say one dungeon makes the overall game suffer, no matter how much i dread jabu-jabu every time. i completed everything except the final quiver upgrade (my aim sucks and it was a real struggle to get the heart piece from horseback archery alone...) and the 100 gold skulltula task (finished with ~73 iirc), and while i was glad to be finished, i felt like it was the perfect length, not overstaying its welcome, and not closing out too soon.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on March 15, 2021, 10:37:02 am
17. Crusader Kings II (endless)
After having played this game for a week, it really has the potential of usurping Civilization V as my favorite casual game. It is really something else. This isn't the first Paradox game I've played, having previously attempted Europa Universalis III many years ago, I was well aware of how complicated it can be. Unlike EUIII, this game has a tutorial and you can easily get away with not doing anything and just play the events. The game is still super complicated and while I have learned much I'm sure I'm still quite terrible at it. I'm pretty sure I'll be playing this for years to come. I even considered postponing the 52 games challenge to just play this.

I ran through 3 dynasties. The tutorial area starts out in regular mode? And it took me quite a long time to figure out combat. Tutorial is a good start but isn't where you want to play. If you want to be able to earn achievements, you need to start a new game in Ironman mode. It is slightly disappointing as I'm sure I would have gotten achievements in Tutorial.

Some things I have yet to figure out is how to build boats. On my third attempt I was up in UK area and couldn't force claims on mainland Europe because I had no boats to take me over there. On this third run, I started as Gwriad ap Elidyr (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwriad_ap_Elidyr) of Ynis Manaw (currently known as Isle of Man) which is another neat thing where all the countries and (playable) people you can choose at the start of a game actually existed. One thing I know now is I really do not know much about medieval Europe. Anyways, my guy joined the Coven of Satan and things were going great until I had to sacrifice a few kids to the devil and got possessed by a demon. Being on such a small island meant I was having a tough time filling out my council with competant people and eventually what happened is there was an uprising and the peasants killed the entire royal family.

Now this is truly an endless game, but it does technically have an end. You can't progress into the future forever, there is a cutoff year, while you can start around 760 I think the game would end in the 1600s sometime. The way the game works is you can continue on only if you have an heir. So yes in this game you can get married and have kids. And when you die, you play as your heir. All the while having to manage your kingdom and make personal decisions, there is just so much to do it is overwhelming at times... but as I said you can always just not do anything and click on event decisions.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on March 17, 2021, 07:40:54 pm
Quote from: necrosexual on March 13, 2021, 10:35:41 pm
gonna make a quick rundown of the zelda games i've played so far this year. full disclaimer is i have literally zero qualms about using walkthroughs, especially as it pertains to hidden goodies unlocked after obtaining certain items. i tend to enjoy my time more this way.

i have also played all of these on emulated hardware of some kind, but strictly without using save states. i'm trying to experience them as originally intended, so while i respect people who use states, and have used them myself for other games, i'm choosing not to for the zeldas. :)

legend of zelda
i'm a wee young to have experienced this one at its prime, so copious amounts of walkthrough usage applied here. that said, this game still is a kind of magical experience, and super charming too. i spent a number of hours trying to uncover all that i could without assistance and it honestly gave me the same sense of exploring a huge map with lots of neat little secrets that breath of the wild gave, and i wish i could've been there when it was huge, trading what i found and so on. i think this is one of those games that i'll find myself replaying here and there, esp because its length is just right for it. good on them.

zelda ii: adventure of link
this game gets too much flak and 'one of the worst games ever!!' is exaggerated imo. that said, it is also downright cruel when it comes to HP management, with no bottled fairies, no recovery drops and a magic system that can get quite tight (leaving too little to heal) with uncommon MP drops as well. after struggling and barely passing palace 3 i realised i had seen enough to know it isn't for me, my reaction speed is too slow to keep up, and it was only going to get harder.

that said, i liked the palace maps i saw. i feel it is less cryptic than the complaints led me to expect. controls were tight, and my only worries about jumps were due to dmg knockback. i think there is potential there, but someone at play-testing should've said 'hey all, maybe we should be less mean to players...?' ahaha.

link to the past
dungeons great, overworld good, lots of fun items and fun visuals. i never knew about dark world bunny link and i was like 'whaaaat no one warned me of this! what is this?!'

that said, i'm mixed on this one. i was desperate for the defence upgrade long before it was obtainable. i never felt like i really 'got' the combat aim down, and whatever it was i expected was off balance compared to the left-handed swing and shots of the game. i don't really know why.

i felt like the first 50-70% of the game was a real fun time, and the last bit was also a fun time, but that late-mid and pre-end game area was sloggish and i felt kinda done with it, and frustrated at times by getting mobbed and my health sapped insanely fast by the enemies that continually got stronger over time, particularly before getting access to the defence upgrade. it really made my experience suffer overall, which is a shame because this game has really good dungeons and puzzles, really fun items to use and a welcome overall friendliness to players.

ocarina of time
p sure there is legit nothing i can say that hasn't been said 1000 times about this game. i played it up to ganondorf's castle when i was younger, so i had experience with the game, and it was fun to experience it again after some 15+ years since then! and amusing what i did and didn't remember.

my only real hot take to offer is: i don't mind the water temple, and would rather do it twice than jabu-jabu's nauseating belly dungeon and deal with ruto's spoiled brat nonsense. water temple has few enemies to interrupt you when trying to figure out the puzzles and doing map cross-checking. it's a super long dungeon, a little tedious if you dislike menuing, can become awfully confusing... but i kinda dig that 'ruins raid' feeling, tho the final boss fight is absolutely laughable ime. meanwhile jabu-jabu is the opposite, enemies try to interrupt you constantly, most of which are annoying to deal with (particularly pre-boomerang), the puzzles are not very complex, the map is pretty boring and the final boss was super unintuitive, with my boomerang making the 'clang' failure sound 3+ times, which i took as 'not the method to fight it', when it actually was i just got that unlucky. and the visuals are gross, too. no thanks. worst dungeon imo.

i also grew a visceral hatred for bongo-bongo, tho maybe that should be actually directed at the wreck that is z-targeting in that fight. but i chalk this up in part to the wii u version's input delay (it's a 4 frame delay, and most noticeable with the bongo 'rush' and [phantom] ganondorf's tennis mechanic ime), because i don't recall it being a wreck when i was younger.

but oot is a classic masterpiece and for good reason, and it would be asinine to say one dungeon makes the overall game suffer, no matter how much i dread jabu-jabu every time. i completed everything except the final quiver upgrade (my aim sucks and it was a real struggle to get the heart piece from horseback archery alone...) and the 100 gold skulltula task (finished with ~73 iirc), and while i was glad to be finished, i felt like it was the perfect length, not overstaying its welcome, and not closing out too soon.


One of my many gaming goals I have for this year is to play at least one new Zelda game I've never played before. Fortunately there are a lot that fit that into category for me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on March 17, 2021, 11:23:50 pm
12. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope || Nintendo Switch || 03.17.21

Already acquainted with the first two campaigns within the Shovel Knight series, I never got around to finishing the overarching story as subsequent DLC updates released over the years. With the series compilation Treasure Trove combining all four campaigns in one convenient package and in my possession, I decided to delve right back into the series from the very beginning to experience the story all at once.

Having played the initial campaign long ago at its debut for the Nintendo 3DS, my initial reaction to the Switch port was concerning. While it may just be my memory faulting my judgement, I don't remember the 3DS port's control feeling so heavy. Whether the controls have slightly changed or not, I quickly felt at greater ease in my platforming skills and combat. While I've not played many timeless platforming classics that inspired Shovel Knight—namely Zelda II, Castlevania, DuckTales, and countless others—I can tell as a stranger to the style of games that Shovel Knight's inspirations are worn proudly at its sleeves while excelling at bringing a fresh breath of nostalgic air to retro-loving gamers.

I'm looking forward to finishing the remaining three campaigns. That Yacht Club kept good on their word in delivering more and more content as promised from the Kickstarter campaign is a true testament of developers keeping their audience and fans in mind throughout the seven years spent on this one title.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on March 25, 2021, 12:36:36 pm
Game 4 – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS) – 26 Hours

After reading some reviews online, I decided to pick this game up rather than watch the cutscenes on the PS4 collection. It looked like it was worth playing through, and while I don’t regret purchasing the game, I do understand why some people would opt to just watch the cutscenes instead.

For one, I’m not entirely sure why the game needed to be on the DS. While the gameplay is structured as a mission-based design with a local co-op option, hardly any other aspect of the DS is used at all. In fact, the gameplay takes a severe step down on the handheld because of the lack of analog sticks and only two shoulder buttons. Controlling the camera and locking on to enemies is made way more difficult as a result, and the game overall feels clunky and slower. Towards the end of the game, the mission-based gameplay started getting repetitive, and it generally felt like an inferior experience when compared to the console games.

The only other new aspect to gameplay is the use of a panel system in which all your upgrades, moves, and even leveling up is handled. At first it seems like it would be an interesting mechanic, but it felt unnecessarily tedious to manage. It’s like they took all the spells, moves, and weapons you unlock naturally from the previous games and added more bookkeeping on top of it.

Visually, 358/2 Days is very impressive for being on the DS. The game features several areas from KH I and II but “DS-ified” for lack of a better term, and it actually looks very good. Unlike Chain of Memories however, this game adds new areas to the existing worlds that you’ve explored in the previous games which was fun.

As far as the story goes, I’m a little more mixed on it. This game takes place in between KH I and II, and it was really great to learn about Roxas and the other Organization members, including Axel, Saïx and others. It gave those characters a lot more personality than they were originally portrayed in KH II, and you can sympathize with their motivations more. However, given that I had already played KH II, I was not interested at all in Roxas’s journey to discover “who he is” because it’s already been established that he’s Sora’s nobody. And even if you haven’t played KHII this game none-too-subtly tells you right off the bat from the opening cutscene. I was more interested in Xion as a character because of her tragic existence, though her interactions with Riku were very confusing and hard to follow. You also really need to have played through KH II to understand what happens to Roxas at the end of the game.

Like I said in my Chain of Memories review, I'm going to spend a little time playing some different, shorter games before starting KH II.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on March 25, 2021, 12:40:42 pm
13. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows || Nintendo Switch || 03.24.21

Despite having also played Plague of Shadows once before, I realized that I didn't remember too much about the story, which allowed for a subsequent playthrough to be more enjoyable than I had expected.

In the same vein as Shovel of Hope, Plague of Shadows brings players back to the exact setting—even the same moment of time—as the first game. Behind the scenes of the initial campaign, character Plague Knight has selfish schemes and goals of his own which require for him to undermine his allegiance to the Enchantress and his fellow knights of the Order of No Quarter. As the player progresses through the story, Plague Knight's intentions become more transparent, and I questioned if he was even to be considered a villain, really (although he certainly isn't a hero, either.)

While the Plague of Shadows campaign is largely similar to Shovel of Hope as the player traverses through the same levels while facing the same enemies with little varied battle tactics, the game remained fresh and distinct on its own from Shovel of Hope. While one can expect the same platforming and battle mechanics, how these elements are implemented are vastly different in this second campaign. Just as Shovel Knight, Plague Knight has his own arsenal of upgrades and skills to unlock, in addition to his own unique default controls and play-style. However, from my own personal experience, I do believe Plague of Shadows suffers slightly, as the core mechanics and level design were recycled from the initial campaign which was intended to be played as Shovel Knight. That being said, both the level progression and boss fights felt a fair amount easier to get through than in the original campaign.

I'll be continuing to play the final two campaigns of the Shovel Knight series, which I've yet to play before. I only hope that they vary more than what I've experienced so far, as a third and fourth playthrough of mostly similar aspects may become stale.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on March 25, 2021, 12:46:04 pm
Quote from: dhaabi on March 25, 2021, 12:40:42 pm
I'll be continuing to play the final two campaigns of the Shovel Knight series, which I've yet to play before. I only hope that they vary more than what I've experienced so far, as a third and fourth playthrough of mostly similar aspects may become stale.

Yeah, I took a break between Shovel of Hope/Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment/King of Cards because of things were starting to feel stale.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on March 26, 2021, 05:48:20 pm
14. Bound || PlayStation 4 || 03.26.21

Having purchased Bound on a fair whim at a discounted price some time ago, I only knew that the game was a short platformer before starting. Before I get started, I must say that Bound is difficult to recommend while being a game I'm not sure if I enjoyed for what it is.

As I began to play, I learned that Bound's core gameplay is nestled in an abstract frame narrative told from the perspective of a pregnant woman who arrives at a beach-side environment. As the woman sits down, she skims through her sketchbook of abstract illustrations which represent her childhood trauma. With the woman's intentions for this visit to confront her past trauma in the hopes to overcome it one page—one memory— at a time, the player is allowed to select an illustration in any order which transports the player to the inner thoughts and trials that the woman must navigate through.

In this abstract world, you are now a child. You are trying to make sense of the newly-wrought broken environment as your frustrated mother sends you away to solve these problems. Taking control of the player-character, the player moves about with a dancing rhythm. Understanding shortly later that the end-goal for Bound is to overcome the pregnant woman's ongoing trauma, I recognize that this form of movement and the freedom it grants is the driving force behind achieving her goals.

As the world is in disarray, traversing through the rubble requires extensive platforming. And it is this aspect—the chief gameplay of the game—that I am disappointed with. Certain segments have narrow platforms to reach with plenty of error to be experienced that seems to never work in the player's favor. I fell at one specific segment nearly a dozen times. Being able to long-jump, there is a short window of length to be taken with the action, as the player is faulted again and again and is punished by the player-character stumbling to their feet which requires slowly getting up to readjust themselves on good footing.

Exploring my surroundings, I had no idea where I was going at any moment of time throughout my playthrough. With the world's environments having no real differentiation within itself, I simply move in the direction that seems as if the game is guiding me toward. I understand that the narrative explains that this world is destroyed, but the player is left with a strong lack of understanding from beginning to end. At some point, I noticed that the environment would frequently even leave a small trail of breadcrumbs to follow, which proves that progress seems to be intentionally designed difficult.

At some point, I realized that each level has an open-ended design with branching paths. Collectibles are scattered about each level, so venturing throughout each area to find these may be rewarding to some (especially since certain trophies are tied to collecting everything.) While the open-ended design allows for subsequent playthroughs, I just don't envision the casual Bound player exploring more and more of each stage at a later point, as, again, making sense of where is where and what is what is challenging.

As a short aside, Bound also offers a VR mode. However, I opted to play the game without this feature. And, looking back, I'm not sure how rewarding any additions that may be gained when playing in VR would be.

Overall, it's difficult to broadly recommend Bound to others, as I enjoy the sense of working toward an end-goal with at least a fairly-defined sense of progression. Throughout my time playing, I never know how far along in a stage I had gone, as the level design made it difficult to know much of anything. More often than not, levels would end abruptly. That Bound has these shortcomings is disappointing. While nothing is wrong in its approach to telling a story with platforming elements in a 3D environment, I think that Bound ultimately crossed some line and would benefit from re-evaluating certain aspects.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on March 27, 2021, 01:19:15 pm
Realized it's been over a month since I beat anything. No doubt this is because work and a variety of other factors that have kept me from sitting down and playing a game. I was actually going to play some Genesis games last weekend, but my SCART cable decided to have a literal meltdown and fry itself. Spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what happened and luckily it was just a faulty cable. This weekend though I'm committed to beating at least one game, or at least starting something.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on March 29, 2021, 10:43:07 am
18. Borderlands (Game of the Year Enhanced)
Beat the main quest (killed The Destroyer)

Talk about a backwards way to play a game series. My history goes like so:
1. Borderlands 2
2. Borderlands 3
3. Borderlands the Pre-sequel
4. Borderlands
Still haven't played the Telltale game yet, but it is on the list.

I don't have any real review of this game, just some thoughts about mechanics.
Gunplay: The game has a real sighting problem. It isn't tied to accuracy or handling like in previous games. Even with a 98.5% accuracy stat on a sniper (and with a +40% mod) you can put the crosshair on a head and miss completely even at close range. There is a surefire way to get crits and it involves going into or being in ADS and move left/right onto the target before firing. If you fire right at the time of putting the crosshair on the head, you get a crit every time. Literally every time. If you ADS to the head and fire you miss, 90% of the time. This is true of any scoped weapons. During midpoint I was relying heavily on pistols with hipfire because they were doing more damage than snipers. At the end of the game I was using a sniper and a slow firerate SMG, but basically using the SMG like a sniper.

Pathing: I was able to cheese most of the boss battles and some of the badass fights by getting the enemies stuck behind something, or putting myself onto some part of the scenery where they couldn't path to me. This allowed me to take on skull enemies, which unlike other Borderlands games, skull enemies 3 levels over you are big problems. There is also a range limitation for many enemies, where they enter an idle animation if you are too far away. Using a sniper you can just sit there forever and shoot without having to worry about running away. One example I can think of is how you can shoot Bone Head from inside of town and he doesn't shoot back.

Driving: The cars in this game do 1 hit kills on enemies unlike later games. This means if you are fighting something tough out in the open, even a skull enemy, just hit them with a car and that's it. Too bad I couldn't use that car everywhere, it would have been great.

Aside from the learning curve with shooting I had to deal with, the only other things about this game that I notice are just the things that were added in later games. There doesn't seem to be as much walking around like in BL2, so the need for fast travel wasn't really a big deal once you can get a car. It has the same ammo and item pickup mechanics of BL2, which is not as good as BL3 but it is manageable. And it is missing the rarity color on the item card for your equipped gun when looking at a ground gun.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on April 01, 2021, 10:46:40 am
19. Payday 2
Abandoned

The game seems easy enough, and is also way to complicated regarding skills and confusing regarding items and the loot crate system. Such as, you can get skins or mods for items you do not own. For example a gun that requires a DLC you haven't purchased... and there is a LOT of DLC apparently.

While it is/was possible to continue playing the game outside of the "story line" I didn't want to just be randomly clicking on things on the map. I abandoned the game because it has forced stealth missions where it is an automatic game over if you screw up. I think it was only the 3rd mission (in the story line, I had played others on my own) where you could not raise an alarm. It puts some crazy obstacles in the way. There are multiple paths inside of the building, but most are blocked off by interactables that cannot be unlocked until much later on. It does say you can replay the mission, so maybe that is why they are there. I did eventually manage to get into the building but then the second issue arises. You cannot steal anything outside because there are a dozen people out there. My path into the building only had 2 people but inside you cannot open any boxes without a crowbar... and guess what, I have no crowbar. Is there a crowbar in the building somewhere? I wandered around that place for a half an hour and couldn't find one. Then I find a giant safe and the narrator basically says you can only open it with MP and not bot teammates. And for such an early mission where you can't make any sound, this is also before you unlock the ability to get a supressor. You have a suppresor in the tutorial missions, but not here. So I bring guns in that I can't actually use. I only was able to kill the 2 guards because I had a knife.

I really do not like a game that forces you to complete a task in a very specific way. Especially since it tries to say that you can complete things in different ways. Having stealth options are perfectly fine, but automatic game over screens are something I can't stand. If these stealth missions gave you the ability to see if you could survive blowing the stealth portion, that would be another story.

There is a mod system for the game that uses LUA scripts. I looked into it just to see if the kill screen could be disabled.... and there was a way to do it. Unfortunately, I wasn't hooked on the game and wasn't interested in getting involved with figuring out the mod system. So I just tossed the game into the bin.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: necrosexual on April 01, 2021, 07:58:08 pm
legend of zelda: the windwaker HD
i think a big critique of this one is that overall, the map spaces are empty, and yet the world is big, leading to big empty world syndrome. and i see the point, but i don't find it quite as dull as most. maybe because i'm filling out a map, and if breath of the wild and etrian odyssey have taught me anything, it's that if you have me fill a map out, i like the area way more than i otherwise would.

windwaker was the first zelda game i owned and beat so i'm insanely biased in its favour. the HD remake really adds QoL that would make going back to the original difficult (no swift sail would be awful) for sure. however, windwaker is also extremely easy, especially after having played the NES and SNES classics. i also cannot understand moving the hero charm from early-mid game to post-final dungeon, it makes it worthless, and i don't think it carries to NG+. very lame.

i like the characters in this one, and i like how expressive they are. grandma's soup elixer is a charming added touch too. the final ganondorf fight is really flashy and neat, and i love dual-wield 'dorf, what a badass lookin dude. i think his motive is realistic, too. i like that zelda has a lot more action, and of the games i've played so far, this is by far my favourite rendition of her character. i like the idea tho maybe not as much the execution of link interacting compared to previous games, using a conductor's wand/baton to display this. tho i understand command melody to basically be mechanically necessary, because, well, we know how AI is when you need precision...

i like the dungeons and puzzles, tho i still dislike the wind god dungeon with makar (makar is super cute tho). and boy do i hate trying to enter the forbidden forest, there's a lot going on there, and a lot of room for error and failure, and i just feel it sets up a difficulty spike that never really gets delivered. it sucks, and i'm honestly shocked it wasn't edited to reduce or eliminate the peahats that can knock you in the water near the entrance.

i consider myself having completed this one, as i did everything except the nintendo gallery, which in many games would not be required for 'platinum trophy' but as addition to. i got all treasure maps and their treasures, every tingle statue, all supplementary maps, completed every giant octorok and platform and submarine and secret cave, had full upgrades (health, rupee, magic, bombs, arrows), had the magic armour and hero charm, 4 bottles, every type of chu jelly potion, completed the trade sequence, got to the final floor of savage labrynth, had the extra magic-using spin-attack and a completed sea chart.

i'm probably going to take a break from zelda before returning to majora's mask or continuing to twilight princess. i'm a little intimidated by TP's length, so it would be best to hold off i think.

Quote from: bikingjahuty on March 17, 2021, 07:40:54 pm
One of my many gaming goals I have for this year is to play at least one new Zelda game I've never played before. Fortunately there are a lot that fit that into category for me.
yea same actually~ the only ones i put serious time into were windwaker, OoT and breath of the wild, but i'm on a roll rn~
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on April 02, 2021, 12:50:01 am
March Update

Games Beat in March
Bulletstorm - Full Clip Edition.  I don't think I've ever played a game with a bigger gulf between polished gameplay and absolutely atrocious writing.  It out-bros Gears of War in every metric.  Fun to play, hated the story and characters.  Beat Mar. 7.

Hitman 2.  Same as the previous game.  Super fun, but surprisingly short if you are only playing for the campaign.  More overall options here though.  Big recommend if you like these kinds of games.  Beat Mar. 12.

Cyber Shadow.  Hot damn I loved this.  There were a couple of small issues with the directional controls not being a finnicky as I would have liked - too sluggish for what it is asking you to do in  couple of places.  Hard, but not obnoxiously so.  Beat Mar. 17.

River City Girls.  Decent beat 'em up.  Not enough enemy variety for a modern game, though, and the bosses were a big difficulty spike before going back to the same boring fodder enemies in every stage.  Not the best in the genre, but still quite passable. Beat Mar. 22.

Games played in March
After not playing for the first 2-3 weeks I went back in hard on Minecraft this past week.  It's just such an easy fun way to pass the time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on April 04, 2021, 08:36:59 am
Game 5 - Return of the Obra Dinn (PS4) - 10 Hours

Absolutely phenomenal game with a fascinating core gameplay mechanic that completely sucked me in. I haven't played a ton of puzzle games before, but this felt unlike anything I've every experienced. Part of what made the game so engaging was the unparalleled sound design, voice acting, and soundtrack which help build an incredible and engrossing atmosphere. Another portion is the visual design, with a unique retro/minimalist black and white aesthetic that provides a original visual experience (although is is a little hard on the eyes at times).

Obra Dinn's gameplay revolves around the player using logic-based deductive reasoning to determine the identify and fate of all the people on the ship, and the game then uses this core mechanic to piece together a tragic (albeit somewhat cliché) story of greed and betrayal on the open sea. The game provides the player with a variety of easy, moderate, and hard puzzles to solve, but allows you to do some guessing if you aren't entirely sure about who a character is and what their fate was. I really liked that middle ground the game struck by being challenging without being frustrating.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this game, and I'm glad I picked it up as a physical copy because it's absolutely worth owning.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 06, 2021, 10:25:26 pm
Monster Hunter Rise (Switch 2021) - BEAT - Didn't expect to "beat" this so quick, as before I knew it, I was hitting the credits.  It's like half as long as World was at the very least.  Not that you play Monster Hunter for the story, at least with Rise and World, it's not handled well, but still would've liked a little more thought put into it lol

Not that I'm done with the game even slightly, I still got new monsters to unlock, the credits is almost like "Hey, you've done a 15+ hour tutorial, here comes the real shit" lol Game is a real good time though, better than I was expecting as I was sorta worried that being on the Switch would be way too much of a downgrade from World on the PS4/PS5.  It actually runs and plays incredibly well, surprisingly so, Capcom nailed it.

It's hard for me to say if I like Rise or World more, they both have their pros and cons that make them stand out in their own way, like I wish Rise looked and ran as good as it does on PS5, the UI is way smoother and nicer looking, just the overall menus and such are way better in World.  Rise on the other hand introduces some really cool verticallity to the game, new mobility that is a lot of fun and works well with the normal gameplay, and Wyvern Riding is way cooler than mounting monsters. 

I think my preference with them is just gonna come down to if I'm sticking with Rise as much as I did World.  Combined with Iceborne, I put 450 hours into that game with stuff left to do, I think I maybe put 200 hours into base World, so we'll see if Rise keeps on pace.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on April 07, 2021, 08:15:55 pm
Game 6 - The Last Blade 2 (PS4) - 8 Hours

So disclaimer: fighting games are my least favorite genre of game out there. Even though franchises like Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, and all the offerings from SNK are hugely popular, I never played any of these games in the arcade or on console as a kid, and I think that factored into my overall lack of interest. However, when I bought my GameCube several years back, it came with a copy of Capcom vs. SNK 2. That game did teach me one thing that I like about fighting games which are the unique and colorful characters. So it was because of that that I decided to go out on a limb and buy Last Blade 2 to give this genre of game another shot because of some of the fun characters I played with in CvSNK2.

As I played through Last Blade 2, it really solidified all of the reasons why I don't like fighting games. These games are ultimately designed to take your money at the arcade first and foremost, and so they are brutally unfair and frustrating. And that was what 90% of my time playing this game felt like. Even on the lowest difficulty, I found myself constantly wanting to pull my hair out over the unfair, unbalanced, and brutal opponent AI. This game (like many other fighting games), require lots and lots of practice and memorization of button combinations and enemy movements in order to do well. And I will admit, I'm really bad at this game and fighting games in general, but I simply don't find myself wanting to practice and get better, because the reward for getting better at this game is so not worth the investment. It isn't like Dark Souls where there's story, new bosses, and environments to be explore upon overcoming the game's challenges. This game will reward you with nothing but the same fights against the same opponents (which you can play as yourself mind you so they aren't interesting at all) in the same 10 environments with nothing else to keep you invested in playing. Yeah, that's how fighting games are designed, but it's not a progression mechanic that I like at all. The only other reward is being able to beat your friends, but I highly doubt I'll meet anyone who would want to play this game with me, and I'm definitely not interested in playing against foes online.

So that's my overly long rant about why I don't like 2D fighting games, but Last Blade 2 has a couple other aspects that really soured the experience even more. Almost all of the dialogue and text is untranslated, which makes for a bewildering and incomprehensible story experience. What is translated is horrendously done, which doesn't help matters at all either. These two issues ultimately make the "story mode" laughably anemic, silly, and inconsequential, which is typical of this genre unfortunately. In addition, many fights play with no music at all which can feel pretty jarring. With only a paltry few modes and a simple gallery, there really isn't that much else to say about this game in terms of content. You can get the entire gist of the game and story from the 1st hour of play.

There were some things that I did like, though. As I've already mentioned, the game has some really interesting and cool characters. The background environments are absolutely gorgeous and the animations are very smooth and nice. And for sure, there were some moments of gameplay that felt really exciting and exhilarating to experience too, don't get me wrong. But I would say that the vast majority of my time with this game was not really that great. Maybe if you were a fan of the game as a kid, but for me I just don't get it. That might just be me though.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on April 08, 2021, 09:57:54 am
20. Betrayer (abandoned)
Interesting concept. Abandoned due to save file corruption and not fun enough to bother replaying. Of course the save became corrupted due to my own mechanations, but I was already at the point of giving up. I think I had made it about half-way through the game and came to one point where, no matter how I approached it, I could not get past. This was not a case of the game having some limitation, rather it was a large jump in difficulty that occurred for apparently no reason. No lead up to get you to think a particular battle was coming. So there are these totems that you find in the dark that have a black smoke effect on them. This means there are undead (or evil) in the area that needs to be killed in order to proceed. I've run into these before, you go up to it, it makes a shreik sound and then some skeletons come out of the ground and you have to kill them. Usually 2-3 skeletons depending on whether you aggro'd some before going up to the totem. But this particular one spawned 5 skeletons and 2 thieves. The skeletons are not entirely terrible, it takes 3 shots to kill them, they are slow and you can kite them easily. The thieves on the other hand are fast and I'm not entirely certain that I've ever killed on, even with explosives. This particular totem spawn the thieves and I would die immediately, every time. All of the monsters are ranged also, so while I could exploit the physics engine to get into unroutable spots (or for example, enemies can't jump and do not path around fallen trees), it doesn't help because they switch to ranged. The thieves also teleport (disappear and reappear, or maybe they go under the ground, idk). Anyways the story was not that interesting but the concept was nice.

21. Serious Sam 3
Now this was a good game. Fast but not super fast (couldn't do the proper turn around with the mouse) and very few annoying aspects. The witch enemy was really annoying because they restrict your aiming. Kleers can be at times because they move fast to you, but do not do that much damage. Great engine and would like to see more games made with it. Did the Campaign and bonus mission on Tourist. Cheesed the last boss of the bonus campaign (he got stuck on the environment) which was good because I didn't have any ammo and ended up killing him with shotguns at long range. Also the way to kill the final boss of the main campaign is something I would never have figured out for myself. I had to watch a video of how someone else had done it, then it was easy.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 08, 2021, 04:20:56 pm
Override 2 (PS5 2020) - DROPPED - Unfortunately, this is just not a good game.  It's basically a budget PS4 game that they slapped a PS5 branding on, and it doesn't take advantage of anything on the PS5 in particular as it has performance issues and some pretty standard loading times.  I wanted to like the game, it's giant robots duking it out, but the gameplay is pretty basic, not a lot to it, the AI is fairly poor and predictable, the customization is bad, and the story mode with leagues has absolutely nothing going on.  It's not super terrible, I imagine that maybe just playing with friends alone might be okay, not sure if it has couch co-op, but that's the only thing I'd recommend it for.  Having Ultraman characters is neat, but it doesn't save the game at all.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on April 12, 2021, 10:31:57 am
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

89. Xeodrifter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WdWXYjf8iI&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSyY2c8Ob-vwqT06pzHM1-Q) (PS4)
I wanted to play something short and different after playing Nioh, just as a sort of palate cleanser.  How long to beat listed this as like a 3 hour game, so I figured 2 streams tops and I'd be through.  Managed to get through in one go with a bit over an hour.  I watched a short review of it or something and was like oh yeah, this will be quick and easy... and it was.  Boss fights were largely the same with some minor changes.  Gameplay mechanics were actually quite good, but the game is just too short.  Like I'd dub this game a microvania or something because it's just so small.  Some of the mechanics were a little tough to get used to and some of the fights felt cheap, but overall a really good short game.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

90. New Pokemon Snap (NS)
I got this on the cheap with a deal at Gamestop, my wife immediately was like "Oh, I'm gonna play it" and then immediately abandoned it because she said it was too stressful.  I kinda laughed at that and was like "That's the whole shtick with the game, you make multiple runs through the level and try to get better pics".  I remember the original game having a lot of "lure pokemon over here and they'll do a thing" and I feel like this game didn't have much of that, but I also might need to look into guides or something.  That said, this game didn't capture my attention like the OG game did, and that might be because I was more attached to pokemon back then and I knew all of the pokemon back then and now, I just don't.  It's not a bad game, but it's just not for me.
Rating: Soft pass.

91. Strider (NES)
I, both, had not intended on playing any Strider games and not intended on doing a Strider franchise run... but someone suggested I play Strider on PS4, so I started that game.  But I also decided, hey, if I'm going to play one Strider game, I might as well play them all.  There was no clear cut list out there of Strider content, so I had to make my own list.  Strider (Arcade), Strider (NES), Strider Returns (Gen), Strider 2 (PS1), and Strider (PS4) seems to be the full list.  While I could've started with Strider Arcade, I decided to save that for when I hit Strider 2 and play the PS1 version.  Now I did play these games all back to back, so hopefully I can keep things well separated.  The whole series is very hack and slash platformer, but this and the reboot are the only Metroidvania-esque titles in the franchise.  A bit like Xeodrifter in that you have to go back to "base" to swap locations, but you constantly revisit locations to gather new skills and reach previously inaccessible areas.  This game suffers from all of the lack of QoL of an NES game, so I won't hold that against it, but I will say the Triangle Jump (wall jump) was just too difficult, and it's unfortunate they couldn't have designed that to work better.  I literally spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to get past the wall jump sections before I unlocked the Jump skill.  That was literally the hardest part of the game, had that been better I'd say this is a fantastic game, but that alone nearly had me abandon the game.
Rating: Soft pass.

92. Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness (Gen)
This is the non-canon, non-Capcom produced sequel to Strider.  As such, I probably could've skipped over this entry, but I decided to go for it.  It felt very Western 16-bit era, which is an era of games I never really got into growing up.  This game didn't play like the previous one, it was stage based, and very much felt like it was made by someone else.  It's not a bad game per se, but it deserves to be non-canon
Rating: Hard pass

93. Strider (PS1)
Started this one immediately after the last one.  Definitely plays arcade style.  Some sections are arcade hard, where you can tell it's designed to just eat up your quarters, luckily game has infinite continues and just places you at the last checkpoint constantly, you just lose your score.  So I got a good way through the game and kept getting game over at this couple of sections of platforming that were just painfully difficult.  I see a lot of stuff in this that I've seen in the 2014 Strider reboot, so it's kind of cool to see how a lot of stuff was before it was reimagined.  No metroidvania elements as the game is just a straight arcade game.  I feel like this is one of the few instances where the "inferior" console port winds up being a better game... yes I know the NES release wasn't an arcade port, but you know what I'm getting at.  Regardless, this game isn't necessarily bad, it just suffers from the terrible design decisions that came with arcade games to make players waste money... that said, the fact that it has infinite continues makes the game at least playable.
Rating: Soft pass.

94. Strider 2 (PS1)
This one was the best of the Strider games mostly in quality of life, as Strider (NES) was quite a good game, just the triangle jump ruined it.  That said, I'm not a huge fan of games with sprites thrown into a 3D world, also not a huge fan of 2.5D stuff in general as it is.  That all said, game is pretty short and straight forward.  5 levels each with 6 scenarios for a total of 30ish "levels", most levels are super short.  This one didn't suffer from the same arcade design flaws, but it also had infinite continues which again is very nice.
Rating: Soft pass.

95. Shadow of the Ninja (NSO)
So I don't think I've talked about this yet, but one of my lesser advertised goals is attempting to play a game from every year starting back at some random year.  I don't pick a random year as much as I'm starting from whatever year is the oldest I happen to be playing anyway.  At this point I was missing 1990 and I just didn't know what to play.  I had a few ideas of what to go with, but this one was on NSO so I decided to go with it.  I'm also missing 1994 I believe, so I might play something NES/SNES on NSO for that as well.  This seemed at least mildly relevant to me playing the Strider games.  I don't believe the character you choose makes a difference really, just a choice.  Not a great game, but not a bad game per se.  Just a level based action platformer.  Not really a fan of health carrying over from level to level and not healing, but eh that's just QoL stuff.  Overall not really worth your time though.
Rating: Hard pass.

96. Mega Man Zero 2 (NS)
I started this around my Strider franchise run, I think after I started, but I can't quite remember.  I got towards the end of this game and then put off finishing it because I wanted a clean run through the Strider franchise with no games breaking the run, but then stuff happened and I still haven't beaten Strider 2014.  This time around I made sure I took advantage of the Casual Scenario mode because while most of Mega Man Zero was a great game, the final boss was just painfully difficult and I just wasn't having it.  Casual Scenario really lightened the difficulty by getting rid of most instant death things (spikes, fire, etc), lowered damage taken, and raised damage dealt.  It honestly turned the game from "normal" difficulty to "very easy" difficulty, takes away a bit of the fun from the challenge, but definitely makes the game more "enjoyable".  A lot of reuse in terms of enemy bosses, which wasn't something I was expecting from a Mega Man game as they usually introduce new bosses each game, but not a huge deal.  Story is definitely a continuation of a tale, whereas I feel like Mega Man [X] doesn't feel like a cohesive overarching story.  Overall more enjoyable, thanks to Scenario Assist, but I'm sure Zero would've been too.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

97. Mega Man Zero 3 (NS)
Jumped straight into this one after Zero 2.  First thing I noticed in this game was the chips, I won't go too much into it, but there are 3 chip slots, and it works out perfectly.  Head chip has one where it auto charges both weapons so you don't have to press and hold... oh my god is this the greatest thing ever.  Charging shots in games is always my bane, it hurts my hand to press and hold and let go and repeat over and over, maybe I'm pressing too hard, maybe I'm not good at the motions without being too hard, that's on me, but I just can't do that stuff without hurting myself, so this was a fucking saving grace.  The body chip is for your elemental stuff and some other things.  Foot chip has a bunch of different stuff, but they have an equip all chip for the foot so just have that on, I don't know if that's a casual assist thing or what, but this stuff is fantastic.  Now casual scenario mode on 2 made the game too easy, almost unenjoyably easy, not a hard play, but just kinda too easy to enjoy.  This game, the bosses were hard enough and even the final boss was hard enough that with casual mode, I had some challenge... so that said, without casual mode, I probably would've been mad like with Zero 1.  So I'm gonna have to give this a conditional ranking like 1.
Rating: Soft recommendation, Solid recommendation with Casual Scenario.

98. Strider (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL3RuXTeaN8&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTjKpvhJbC3oAHFv0VYTUEy) (PS4)
This game man.  I started this at the recommendation of a guy on discord.  It'd been on my shortlist of Metroidvania games to play.  Honestly, didn't enjoy this one.  It suffers from the same shit I hate in Mega Man, and that's the charged shot shit, at least Mega Man usually lets you remap controls so I can minimize the pain I get in my hands... this game however does not.  So I get to suffer in excruciating and violent agony.  Also, this game has difficulty options, but you can only set it at new game and can never change it, which is just BS.  It's one of my most hated features, don't even offer difficulty at that point.  I get all the way to the end, want to change the difficulty but then I have to start over?  Might as well abandon the game at that point.  So I powered through despite wanting to break something.  Controls are infuriatingly confusing, in that I kept pressing the wrong buttons because it wasn't intuitive.  I also didn't use many/any special attacks until the end of the game because it was never clearly conveyed, I forgot it existed, and I didn't really need it... until the final section before the final boss.  I died like 10 times and got so sweaty that I needed to take my shirt off to get through that final section.  The final bosses weren't as hard as that final elevator leading to the boss.  Game's map glitches out and doesn't work 90% of the time.  There is no fast travel, so if you want to explore before the final boss and collect everything, it's gonna take a while.  Plus, there is no post-game exploration, so you gotta do everything pre-final boss if you care... which I am not about with a broken map and no fast travel.  The game also suffers from what I dub XBLA era design, which I just don't care for.  I don't know how to explain it, but the design patterns, choices, and even art style feel like something out of mid aughts XBLA games, which I always have trouble enjoying.  It's an okay game, that right at the end showed its true colors and became a not so good game.
Rating: Soft pass.

99. Claymates (NSO)
I chose this game, to be quite honest, solely because it was released in 1994 and I needed a 1994 game for my weird goal for the year.  I definitely wouldn't call it necessarily a good game, but it has some interesting things going on.  Normal-ish platforming gameplay where you change forms to different animals which have different skills and such, pretty straight forward, but between levels you've got little puzzles to do to move to the next level.  Platforming is pretty basic and not that noteworthy to be honest.  The puzzle stuff between levels was unexpected and thus frustrating, but it's a novel concept and if I had been in the mood for it I probably would've enjoyed that.
Rating: Hard pass.

100. Hades (X1/XS/Cloud)
I'm gonna preface this review with the statement that Xbox claims I played this game for roughly 100 hours.  Game club game #5 after my 2 picks were ultimately ignored. ::)  Anyway, lots to unpack with this one.  I played mostly on Series X which played pretty well, but achievements just wouldn't work no matter what I tried.  I also played quite a bit on Xbox One X so I could get achievements to unlock, most just unlocked, but it took a lot of closing the game, turning off my xbox, turning it back on, loading the game, and then loading a save.  A lot of achievements however required you to meet the requirements for the achievement all over again to get it to pop, so that wasn't fun.  I also played some on XCloud because I wanted to lay down while playing.  I hurt myself at work, still not recovered, might be a hernia, not fun.  That said, Series X played best, but no achievements; Xcloud played second best and achievements worked, but it is linked to having useable internet and my bedroom is a wifi deadspot; Xbox One X plays the worst, still playable, but noticeable lag at parts where I'm concerned the game is going to crash and achievements work.  Moving on from technical issues, the game is quite good.  The story is great and the characters are likeable enough to push you to keep playing.  The dialogue between characters seems plentiful to the point that even dying you have the conversations to look forward to.  That said, the gameplay is pretty solid, but I feel there isn't enough of a persistence feature for me personally.  Even the inclusion of "God Mode" wasn't accessible enough for my tastes.  God mode just ads 20% damage reduction which increases by 2% every time you die to a max of 80% damage reduction total.  I found that at 50-60% damage reduction I had little issue completing the game.  I found at 80% damage reduction it took too long to die when I wanted to kill myself, so that said, it might be good enough in that it forces you to play through several (30) failed escape attempts before you hit max, encouraging you to take in the world and the characters before you can "beat" the game.  So yeah, I will say God mode is good in that it makes the game get easier every time you fail, up to a point that the game should still maintain a level of challenge without offering you the potential non-fun of being invincible as I know from experience that that can actually ruin the fun of a game.  But that said, "God mode" feels misleading and potentially makes you feel bad for using it, I however highly suggest using it, but that's me not being a true fan of roguelike in general.  1 successful escape gets you to take in the whole experience, 10 additional escapes gets you to the end credits and completes the main story, an additional 10 escapes + a lot of other goofy as requires that will honestly take you like 70 escapes total gets you the epilogue, and finally another 5-10 escapes gets you the rest of the bond with all of the characters.  I did the first escape and said to myself that I cared enough about the story that I wanted to get the credits to pop.  I got the credits to pop and said I care enough about this story that I want to get to the epilogue.  I got another couple of runs and said to myself "I'm close, I'll keep going", and then did that another like 6 times, until I eventually got the epilogue, during this point I started getting sick of the game, the gameplay loop, and even the characters.  I then proceeded to play a little bit more to try and tie up some stuff that I was close to finishing, but I finally said no and turned it off.  Having taken in the whole Hades experience, I'd say escape once and decide at that point if you care to see the story through, if so, proceed.  At that point, do the ten additional escapes to get the rest of the story, and then stop playing.  Maybe watch a youtube video of the epilogue.  If you really love the game and don't mind the loop, go for it, play to your hearts content, but know that the epilogue is so small and honestly so obvious, it isn't worth the time you have to sink to get to it.  If this game had 2 additional things, I think this would be nearly the perfect experience for me in terms of rogue-like.  1) More persistence, let me have the ability to buy even more starting health, or armor, or damage resistance; let me be able to start with a couple of boons of my choice; let me upgrade my weapons to be stronger and stuff and not just these simple aspects.  Matter of fact let me use multiple aspects.  2) When I buy/unlock cosmetic stuff, let me display it all.  Some of it doesn't make sense to do that and that's fine, but let me display multiple paintings instead of replacing one another.  If I could display all simultaneously, I'd be more willing to put in the time to unlock it all.  I reached towards the end of the game and I had tons of darkness and gems and I was only using the gems to convert to higher quality items for other stuff, which is a great use of otherwise useless resources, but I just felt like I was accumulating stuff for no good reason.
Rating: Soft recommendation... Solid if you care about Greek mythology.

101. Xena: Warrior Princess (PS1)
I was talking to my wife about picking a new game to play after being done with Hades.  My wife said she has a suggestion, but I can't laugh or whatever.  I said ok.  She suggested this and I was immediately like Ok, I don't know why you think I'd laugh, I'll play it, you just gotta sit there with me.  So in one 3 hour stream I managed to playthrough all of this game.  Riffed on it pretty hard, lots of laughs, but my mic's sensitivity didn't save correctly so the game's audio has some bad echo to it.  Gameplay isn't great, but isn't the worst.  Story seems non-sensical, but it's Xena.  Most fights are pretty infuriating.  Some levels are pretty infuriating too, especially since you can have a checkpoint, but it's a one time use checkpoint where if you die again you have to start the level over.  That said, levels are like 5 minutes max.  Final boss was the most infuriating thing because if you fail on the final boss, you have to redo all of the pre-final boss boss fight stuff again.  It was good fun to play this with my wife, so this was an enjoyable experience for me, and I may look fondly back at it, but it's not a good game, and I don't recommend it.  It doesn't even have the official actor's voices.  I don't think I mentioned it originally, but the facial expressions in the cutscenes are pretty amazing and if anything meme worthy.  Definitely makes me feel like it could be made into a good LEGO game.
Rating: Hard pass

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Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: covfefe2020 on April 12, 2021, 01:02:00 pm
doesnt that mean you have most of the year to still beat 12 games?
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on April 12, 2021, 03:31:43 pm
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

102. Xena: Warrior Princess - The Talisman of Fate (N64)
Still in a lot of pain, still playing games my wife wants me to play.  Game is just an arena fighting game, like Tekken and stuff.  Everybody has sameish basic attacks and then everybody has some button combo special moves just for them.  Like most fighting games, story mode is just an excuse to fight everyone, no real story, ending is you won, congrats.  Definitely a fighting game just for multiplayer, but they threw in a "story mode" to round out the experience, but very much just kinda thrown in there.  Not a game for me, and I couldn't honestly recommend it over any other fighting game, but I know my wife and her family had tons of fun playing 4 player the last time everyone came to visit.
Rating: Hard pass

103. Mega Man Zero 4 (NS)
I waited too long to write this up and have since forgotten a lot about this game and might be confusing some mechanics with ZX as I played that more recently.  So I'm having to look up Youtube videos on the game to refresh my memory.  Beating bosses gives you EX skills, I don't recall if that's a new thing for the series or if Zero 3 had it as well, because I don't think I took advantage of it if it did exist.  Instead of having Mega Man style suit swaps you equip EX skills that will let you do different elemental attacks and such.  You can have multiple equipped at once which can let you do all elemental types with one setup, but there are some EX skills that are only swappable so while you have different things that will let you do the 3 elements, you've got to pick out of 4 for what your buster does, the other ones are button combos like Up + Slash.  I feel like this game was the most trivial of the Zero games with Casual Scenario mode.  I managed to get through the majority of the game without leveraging the elemental attacks, and then I took advantage of it towards the end.  Game pretty neatly ties off the Zero franchise.  I won't go into it because spoilers.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

104. Xena: Warrior Princess (GBC)
Next in the franchise run of Xena games... because I guess I'm playing all of the Xena games.  My wife found out this existed, and got kinda offended that we don't own it yet.  So I said I'll put it on my list of games to keep an eye out for, but in the mean time, let's play it.  Wowie is this game terrible.  It's a bad Link's Awakening clone... like it tries to be a 2D zelda game and it takes place in a dream... but it's terrible.  I managed to play through nearly the entire game without Xena's shakram (yes, the game calls it a shakram instead of a chakram) because the weapon was basically hidden, I only managed to get it right before the final boss area because I happened to be in the area.  The character model is an abomination, they should've just went for a zelda style 8-bit model, but they honestly made her look like what if Xena were the Hulk, she just looks goofy ass large and beefy.  Every enemy has just as much health as you and their hit boxes are terrible so it's easy for you to get hit trying to hit an enemy, and ever enemy takes 4-8 hits to kill so every enemy is boss level tough... and the bosses are wildly difficult because they take like 50 hits to kill... and they respawn if you happen into their room again, which is required, so you fight the Wasp boss like 4 times throughout the game due to having to walk through the boss room to get to a certain village.  Which is only an issue because there is no fast travel at all.  Inventory management is quite terrible especially when you consider that most items are used once and then never used again, but they just take up room in your inventory.  NPCs don't acknowledge that you have the item they need unless you actually equip the item, which caused me to physically replay like a real life hour of the game because I thought I missed picking up a quest item, but no, I had it, just hadn't equipped the item.  That wasn't fun and I nearly cried on stream when I thought I had to redo so much... and I redid the stuff anyway, reloaded my old save state and saw that I replayed that garbage for nothing.  Sure that might be on me, but it's still garbage.  Too much having to repeat terrible platforming sectons and having to backtrack back and forth between areas.  The final area where you beat the game has no boss, you literally make your way to the last area and then you unlock some doors, watch ghosts fight (Yes, you have to wait and watch ghosts fight before you can proceed to let other ghosts out to fight more ghosts, it's dumb), and then you free sleep god and game over you win.  That's it.  Kinda anticlimactic, like who locked him up?  Why didn't I have to defeat whoever did that?  Whatever, there's a reason this game was forgotten.  Also, it's made by the same devs who brought you Superman 64.
Rating: Hardest of passes.

105. Mega Man ZX (NS)
Started this up after Zero 4.  I felt like this was the Mega Man Metroidvania game, so I finally looked it up after starting up the game.  It is sorta a Metroidvania game.  The only thing really stopped you from progressing in different areas is the getting handed colored key cards after defeating bosses.  So if anything, it's a pretty linear metroidvania game.  You do unlock weapons and such or whatever Metroidvania style, but they aren't what you need to explore new areas, you just need the colored key cards.  Just overall it's not a very good metroidvania game.  The way the skills work in this game where you swap models or whatever, I wound up almost the entire game just using the ZX model because I would run out of special attack for all of the models and never find the stuff to refill it.  Plus hitting with ZX attacks wound up easier than any of the other models overall.  So I would use the other ones where I could, but I just burned through special bar too quickly compared to other Mega Man games.  It sounds like story wise, this game takes place 100 years after Zero 4, but as far as I can tell, there is no text to actually link the games, they don't even tell you who created the Models and stuff, they very much leave it open to setup Advent I guess.  I'll write more on that when I get around to writing up stuff for Advent as I'm playing that currently.  This game wasn't so trivial even with Casual Scenario mode, so that was nice, and I enjoyed it enough that I chose to play it on what would've been my streaming time instead of streaming games.  Probably could've streamed playing at least some of it, but I just don't like streaming parts of a game.  Game definitely wasn't good enough to be on my top list or even my honorable mention list so it's ok.  I always give big negative points to metroidvania/exploration games that don't have maps, this game was kinda frustrating in that I had to memorize myself how to get between different zones because there is no real helpful map, just vaguely which zone-# connects to other zones, how to actually get there is on me.  Also, the touch screen features were pretty non-existent. The different models displayed different things on the touch screen portion, like maybe the Ice model had a functional map, but like I didn't figure that out until the final boss area when I noticed it.  They didn't do a good job of explaining anything regarding the touch screen.  It wasn't a terrible game, but it honestly just wasn't a noteworthy entry in the series.
Rating: Soft pass.

106. Mega Man ZX Advent (NS)
I had higher hopes for this game, hoping it would improve on the issues of the previous entry... but it did not.  The voice acting in this game managed to make the game worse.  Like the voice acting is so bad, I've put Chaos Wars on my shortlist to compare.  Fast travel is a little bit better this time around because there is a sort of overworld map so I know where I'm going mostly, instead of letter-number identifiers.  But you're still limited to like 1 transport spot per area (normally after the boss, so I guess once you start something, you're stuck until you quit or beat the area.  The swapping merge stuff becomes cumbersome as you get more stuff, because there are like 20 forms to swap between, still dealable, but cumbersome nonetheless.  Game has a little connect to ZX, but mostly only in that they explain who "HE" is, Vent/Aile does appear towards the end of the game, and Pandora/Prometheus are big parts of the story.  Still no answer as to what happened during those 100 years between Zero 4 and ZX, no answer as to really where these models came from other than that "HE" created them, they add in confusion stating that they've repeated this cycle tons of times over the millennia, and they don't really establish the significance of the "chosen one" stuff.  They also don't really give you any sort of significance of what happened at the end of ZX either.  The story in this game is just a mess, the voice acting is just the worst, and the game is even less of a metroidvania game, because it's not even keys that lock you out of new areas, it's just that you can't get there until someone unlocks the transport codes or whatever for you.
Rating: Soft pass.

107. Pursuit Force (PSP)
I'm not entirely sure why I started this one.  Like for real, no clue why I did it.  I grabbed my Vita, wanted something to play, loaded up Pursuit Force and just... kept playing.  This game is super hard, that should have deterred me.  But no, I went and got cheats for the game.  The cheats didn't work in that it prevented me from proceeding because you can't progress with cheats enabled.  I spent the better part of an evening working out how to bypass that and got it working.  Even with cheats this game is still super tough, some levels are even designed such that with cheats it's nearly impossible to complete because objectives are still tough as fuck or you can't do certain actions with these cheats enabled.  So I wound up having to disable cheats for certain levels.  Gameplay is an amalgam of car racing/combat, third person shooter, and first person shooter.  Not a fan of shooting from helicopters in general in games, so that was meh, the third person segments weren't the worst except for when they were timed, and the car stuff worked pretty well, but boss fights felt largely unfair and some of the levels were just so tightly designed that even seemingly running things as best as possible, you still nearly lost due to time constraints.
Rating: Soft pass.

108. Vectorman (NS)
A guy on one of my discord servers frequently hassles me to play the Vectorman games, so I finally decided I'd give them a go, but I wouldn't tell him until after I already beat both games.  So I beat both games back to back.  Originally, I had told him I wouldn't play them because my Genesis games are packed away and with my injury I can't dig them out.  Then I was looking at my Switch games after having finished Mega Man Zero/ZX and noticed that both Vectorman games are on the Sega Genesis Classics game.  This brings me to a conundrum.  When I play NSO games, I mark them beat on their original platforms because you're just playing a ROM in an emulator, no QoL updates and NSO isn't really a game.  Sega Genesis Classics collection is a game, but no QoL updates and you are playing a ROM in an emulator, so I want to put them beat under Genesis, but I also want to put them beat under NS because Sega Genesis Classics collection is a game for the Switch.  But I don't want to put them under both because I don't want to pad my backloggery.  But I also don't care about padding numbers really, but it feels disingenuous to say I beat it on Switch and Genesis... but I do this with Smart Delivery games on Xbox One/Series X if I happen to play on both platforms.  Anyway, about the game.  Graphics are 2D, but have that 3D graphical look to them.  Gameplay reminds me of Claymates a little.  Basic 2D platforming, but this character has a gun that goes pew pew.  More forgiving than most platformers of its time and has difficulty options which is nice.  Overall, not a bad platformer.  That said, I'm not big on platformers in general, so it's hard for me to say a platformer is a good platformer when I don't generally enjoy them.
Rating: Soft pass.

109. Vectorman 2 (NS)
More of the same honestly.  More levels, some extremely short to my surprise, which was kinda nice.  Graphics are a bit nicer.  Levels are a bit bigger and have more theme and difference between them.  Some levels have shticks which is a refreshing change of pace, instead of just being the same type of level over and over.  Some levels were even a little complex in having to figure out how to get out of a certain area or finding the right route to the end.  Boss fights were more interesting this time around, though 2 fights in later levels it was hard to tell if I was even doing anything because it just took so long to beat the bosses.  Not a fan of boss fights without health bars, it's nice to see you're making progress.  Definitely better than the first game though.
Rating: Soft pass.

110. Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice (PSP)
Started this up immediately after finishing the first game.  Right out the gate I can tell this is going to be a better experience, it has difficulty options.  Story mode is more coherent, has cutscenes, voice acting (including Tom Clarke Hill, Timesplitters' Sgt. Cortez), and an actual story arc.  I actually enjoyed this game immensely compared to the original.  Shit I'd even consider recommending this game, and be willing to state to skip the original as it provides no additional story, context, or even gameplay benefits.  Story is a bit b-movie campy, but game also isn't that great on its own either, so the combination just happens to make it work.  It's more of the same from the previous game, but a lot of the stuff just works better, you get some AI to assist you in some scenarios.  It's a shame the PS2 version never came to light and the game never got a 3rd entry.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

111. Mega Man 2 (PS4)
I was watching AEW Dynamite last night and I wanted something to play that I had no interest in streaming.  I kept thinking of games that either I knew I wanted to stream or they were handheld, but I definitely wanted something to play on TV since Dynamite was playing on my laptop.  Thought about it and remembered that I had a digital copy of Mega Man Legacy Collection on PS4 and hadn't beaten any OG Mega Man games other than the first one.  When I first started trying to do franchise runs, this was one of my first ones that I tried to do.  I played through the first Mega Man game and when I got to this one, I abandoned it.  I don't know if it was something about the game, life at the time, or just not digging platformers, but I couldn't do it and just hadn't come back to it.  I've been playing a lot of platformers and stuff in general, and while I still don't appreciate them like most, I'm having an easier time.  This was actually absolutely pleasant to play, and didn't take too long to get through.  I didn't really appreciate the final boss section where you run through all of your energy and can't replenish any of it and like literally can't defeat the final boss if you don't have the bubble weapon fully charged, that just seems like a cheap way to screw over the player.  Music in this game is just absolutely awesome.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

112. Hotshot Racing (X1)
Saw this was leaving game pass later this month, so I installed it and gave it a go.  Pretty standard arcade racer, and pretty decent at that.  Impossible to destroy other drivers because of standard arcade rubberbanding.  Rubber banding also makes every race down to the wire, which is cool if you like that.  Trying to restart a race in GP mode restarts the entire GP series, so I fucked up once in like the 3rd race and hit restart and was thrown back to race 1, didn't make that mistake again.  I will say, it does feel like the game suffers from your car is weightless and other drivers are tanks, because they hit me and I spin and hit a wall and wind up in 8th place, I hit them and they are unmovable.  Not a fan of those mechanics because it makes it such that you have to be concern about other drivers hitting you, so if the AI decides to be aggressive, you're boned.  No clear cut story mode or anything, so I'm considering the game beat because I won all of the Grand Prix trophies.
Rating: Soft pass

113. Mega Man 3 (PS4)
I'm probably going to have very little to say about these games as I played them all back to back and they are all so similar.  This is the only game, I believe, that has you fight new characters as well as the characters from a previous entry.  You fight the 8 robot masters, and then you fight the 8 robot masters from Mega Man 2... and you still have to do the boss rush thing before the final boss, refighting the 8 robot masters from this game.  It's an interesting and novel concept, but I'm glad they didn't keep it around.  Having to refight the robot masters every game is always an annoyance for me, but it is what it is.  Also grateful that they got rid of the gameplay element from MM2 that you could only use one specific weapon to damage the final boss, making it impossible to win if you don't have enough energy for 1 weapon in particular.  I'll probably reiterate this, but the rewind feature is such a life saver, like I'm going to consider enabling rewind on emulators in the future if it can work as well as this does.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

114. Mega Man 4 (PS4)
IIRC this is the future entry in the series that does the, now trope, of having some "new" enemy that is actually just a pawn for Wily.  Later in the franchise (not series) they do a reversal of the trope, but I think I missed it in gameplay do to some poor choices, so I'll need to youtube or something to get what I missed.  It's also the first of many games that extends the gameplay by having 2 "boss areas", so you go through the first boss' 4 stages and then you go through the final boss' 4 stages.  I think this concept sticks around for all games that do the pawn enemy trope.  I think this one brings back the only one weapon will hurt the boss thing, but I didn't get much warning about it and I had no problem, so I think it was fine.  If I recall correctly the final boss fight for this had a stupid mechanic where it's dark and you have to hit Wily when he appears for a second and before he disappears again.  Quite annoying and I think they brought it back in Mega Man 5, but you didn't have the pleasure of having the pharaoh shot that you can just jump around with.
Rating: Soft recommendation

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189958.html#msg189958)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on April 13, 2021, 09:15:40 am
Game 7 - The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC) - 18 Hours

I beat this game playing co-op with my girlfriend, and overall we had a really good time. It isn't a perfect game, but it provides a unique experience that I think we really enjoyed. Playing the game with both a GameCube and Game Boy Advance, while a pain to set up, is very fun and allows for a smoother transition when players need to enter houses, caves or water. We didn't really play competitively that much though. We shared Force Gems and items pretty much the whole time, which made the game much more fun and less frustrating in my opinion.

Four Swords Adventures plays like a multiplayer version of Link to the Past with some spruced up visual effects from Wind Waker. It's quite nice visually, even though it does feel a little dated and stale. The game actually borrows quite a bit from LttP, including most of the music and some bosses. While most of the bosses were fun and interesting, quite a few of them get recycled over the course of the game, which was disappointing. Outside of fighting bosses, the standard Zelda formula is there: explore dungeons, forests and mountains, fight enemies, collect items, and solve puzzles, just with an intriguing multiplayer twist to the aforementioned puzzle solving and combat. The game also adds some puzzle solving-only levels with no combat at all, which were definitely challenging to solve. We had to dip into the strategy guide a couple times as a result (shoutout to Flashback2012 for providing me with that guide a few years back)  ;D

If there was one thing that I really don't like about Four Swords Adventures, it's the lack of progression from level to level. All your heart containers, items, etc. disappear after you beat the stage, which makes the game feel very repetitive at times because you're recollecting the same items over and over again, and it really disincentives you to explore because all that effort will be wasted when you finish the level. The Force Gems in particular don't really serve any purpose other than giving something for you and your friends to fight over. You get an upgraded sword when you find 2,000, (and I think you get extra lives based on how many you have at the end of the game) but other than that they don't do anything because they aren't treated like money ala regular rupees.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on April 13, 2021, 10:57:52 am
Bioshock 2 abandoned

I knew right away there was something wrong. First experience is that the game automatically tried to use the Xbox 360 controller, to the degree of actually disabling the mouse. After switching it back, another issue cropped up. The menu was freezing every 5-10 seconds. Micro-stutters I believe is the common term for it. Any new game I am going to be going through the menu to make sure the AV settings are where I'd like, and the controls are correct. Then into the game, ok presentation and seems to be ok. Although setting the audio to 5.1 Surround doesn't actually put all game sounds in that mode. The music and ambience are in 5.1 but the character voices/sounds are in stereo.

And the game crashes at the first Big Daddy fight. Well it doesn't actually crash, it freezes. It writes to the event log that it got a classic 0xC0000005 and the game doesn't actually crash until you go to DFT. So I look it up. Apparently the game is known to crash constantly and there is no patches or fixes for it. Not going to bother wasting the time doing a guess and test for a pedestrian shooter.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on April 13, 2021, 05:47:08 pm
15. Little Nightmares II || PlayStation 4 || 04.12.21

Having finally played Little Nightmares within the past year, I was excited to jump back into the world I had recently explored to discover more. Existing as a prequel to the debut title, Little Nightmares II largely excels at what it sets out to accomplish while improving as a follow-up title in every regard.

Taking place in a new area outside from where the debut title resides in, Little Nightmares II has the player explore a multitude of environments surrounding an area called The Pale City. Settings are bleak, cold, and uninviting, whereas the characters who inhabit it are both unsettling, disturbed, and intimidating. Enemy characters and the immediate areas they're found in pair well together, and to witness just how each enemy's threats and abilities are displayed and designed to be overcome by the player is executed highly.

With a non-descript story told only through the game's visuals alone, I was pleased with how the series's lore at-large connects with another. Admittedly, some aspects of the story do get confusing as circumstances are left unexplained to allow for viewer interpretation, but I believe this choice grants fans healthy discussion and theories as to what may be. While developers Tarsier Studios have confirmed that they will be moving onward to other projects, Bandai Namco does own the IP rights and may continue to explore its world.

While adopting puzzle-platform gameplay as its predecessor, Little Nightmares II elevates the core game mechanics to add some slight action sequences when confronting certain enemies. I personally enjoy this added aspect to the game, although I do admit that there are times when such fights are difficult to control in addition to offering a narrow window to execute quality timing to advance.

Overall, if you're interested in modern horror titles, I highly recommend playing Little Nightmares II.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on April 15, 2021, 01:42:47 pm
Changed the key/color for my tracking post (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185703.html#msg185703) to indicate the difference between games that were beaten or played/endless this year and games that were beaten in previous years but I have played this year.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: thewelshman on April 15, 2021, 08:27:20 pm
Trying to make this year my backlog year. I have too many sitting on my consoles that I'm aiming to "Beat then Delete."

1. Little Adventure on the Prairie - This is a trophy-fluff game, plain and simple. I don't remember buying it, but I got the platinum in about 56 minutes and deleted it.
2. Burley Men At Sea - PS Plus free game that I've had for some time. Cute little game that I knocked out in a few hours.
3. Dragon Fantasy Book II - I enjoyed the first game and have had this sitting on my PS4 for some time. Decided it was time to platinum.
4. Tales from the Borderland - Don't remember why I stopped playing this, but it was enjoyable and I look forward to a possible sequel.
5. I Am Setsuna - I enjoyed this game more than most. Decided to play through it again and try and get all of the trophies. Sitting at 46/50 trophies.
6. Hue - This is a platformer and a puzzle game, which I am bad at both genres. Regardless, it was a fun little game and now I can delete it, lol.
7. Another World - I missed out on 90s Pc games and after playing this, I don't feel like I missed out on anything. Didn't enjoy this game. Beat and Delete.
8. Color Guardians - This was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed the game more than I thought I would. Got lucky with the platinum.
9. Cat Quest - Grabbed it on sale for $2 and enjoyed every second of it. I will certainly play the sequel.
10. Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story - Another game I got on sale. Wasn't too bad for what it was. Game glitched me for the platinum and will need a replay.

Working on Severed, World of Final Fantasy, and whatever other game I can knock out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on April 17, 2021, 06:47:28 pm
Game 8 - Night in the Woods (PC) - 8 Hours

I thought this was a pretty decent adventure game. One of the most striking aspects of this game for me was the top-notch visuals, music, and sound design. I also thought the writing was one of the game's stronger features, as it goes for a more loose, casual and grounded approach to dialogue which was a welcome sight. The dialogue was also reflected in several really interesting characters, especially the playable character, Mae. The game doesn't have a lot of gameplay to speak of other than walking, talking to people, and some light platforming; however, there are some other gameplay mechanics like a dungeon crawler, guitar hero-esque rhythm game, and other content that helps break up some of the monotony. I personally felt like these additions were a little more vestigial to my liking.

The one thing that felt a little disappointing about this game was the story. For one, the narrative really doesn't start to get going until halfway through the game (~4 hours in). Most of the story deals with interpersonal relationships between the main characters, and your character's personal encounters with ghostly apparitions and an introspective "spirit journey" for lack of a better word. Suddenly, an evil cult with a motive ripped from a Republican National Convention is introduced to explain the ghost aspect of the story, and then they're dispatched in a matter of minutes. It overall felt very underwhelming. Even the personal challenges that Mae goes through are given a bad explanation and conclusion over the course of the story, with an ending that didn't provide a lot of closure. I dunno, it just didn't do it for me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on April 20, 2021, 10:00:50 am
26. Crimzon Clover World Ignition

Completed 2 runs but with continues. Novice Default using Type I and then Novice Burst using Type II. First issue with this game is that everything is so small. The speed is not too difficult to manage but I guess I got used to the size. There does not seem to be a way to scale the graphics to make it bigger. I may consider seeing if I can use my super-rotato monitor on this computer but I am not sure that the video card software will support it. But the fact that the game does support たて means it might be worth a shot.

This certainly is not a game I can play a lot of. It takes less than an hour to do a run with continues, so it should take even less without. I do not have a fight stick yet so the optimal controls are not at my disposal. I had, in the past, stopped playing BlazBlue Calamity Trigger because I didn't have a stick. I played it using the Xbox 360 controller, which the game supports for input but does not actually use the button layout. So it will have prompts for buttons but not the controller's buttons. The second run on Burst was a lot easier/better because I learned how to use the homing missile attack... BUT then the issue became that my hands hurt from using the controller about 2/3rd of the way through the run.

I am considering the game to be completed as to win the game you just play for an hour basically.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on April 21, 2021, 08:01:24 pm
17. Threads of Fate || PlayStation || 04.20.21

Having mostly only played the Final Fantasy titles of this era from Squaresoft, I began playing Threads of Fate with the only context that there were two stories to experience and that they connected with another. The stories revolve around player-characters Rue and Mint. Immediately, there were certainly both good and bad elements of the game that became apparent.

Beginning my first playthrough with Mint, I came to realize that she's incredibly blunt, over-the-top, and completely transparent, which all lead her to become one of the funniest game characters I've experienced playing as. Her entire goal throughout the story is to become all-powerful. Quite regularly, she talks about world domination to others, and nobody even bats an eye and just goes along with it. On the other hand, when I began Rue's story, I was disappointed. Having already met Rue in slight capacities while playing as Mint, I knew that Rue's character was not as interesting. More-or-less, Rue is quiet, respectful, and direct in his goals. Only in the latter half of his story did his plot become interesting, although his character still remained rather boring.

Not even knowing what genre of game Threads of Fate was prior to playing, I learned that it is an action-adventure title with platforming elements. With Mint's combat, progression was more difficult than it should have been. However, toward the end of her playthrough, combat became much easier, as I had gained access to more useful magic techniques. On the other hand, combat with Rue was incredibly simple. Unique to Rue, he can transform into defeated monsters. However, his base strength levels are high enough to simply hack-and-slash through enemies. Despite his abilities, I only ever transformed when the game required it.

In addition to combat, there is, of course, the platforming segments. Platforming is so, so, so irritating. To preface my thoughts: many environments follow a linear path with no means of backtracking. When the player encounters platforming areas, you're generally stuck. You either succeed, or you die. You can't backtrack to re-gain health or to save. You're simply stuck. During the game's first major platforming segment, I died perhaps five times, with each failure chipping away about 5% of my health each time. It was rough. However, by the time I began my second playthrough, I had a good handle on the game's controls.

As far as the two intertwined stories—it's loose. The characters seldom interact with another, and they each have their own goals. I was fairly disappointed that each narrative didn't follow the same exact events with a unique perspective shown. The narratives to each are different, although the overarching plot remains the same. If I'm being honest, Mint's path feels more of an encompassing story, while Rue's feels self-contained to himself alone.

Overall, I imagine that Threads of Fate isn't going to be a favorite to many. However, it is a good game in its own right. I don't regret my time playing it, albeit the second playthrough was completed more out of obligation to get the complete story. I do recommend for Squaresoft fans to play it. It's hard to decide on which path for others to begin playing as. If you're someone who wants an easier experience at the expense of a boring player-character and decent story, play as Rue. If you're someone who likes a fair challenge but with a much more interesting character, play as Mint.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on April 22, 2021, 10:55:18 pm
Man I haven't been keeping up this year... both in beating games and updating my list.. so heres some additions

2. Godfall (PS5) 01/17
3. Spyro The Dragon Reignited (PS4) 03/28
4. Super Mario 64 (Switch) 04/03
5. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) 04/08
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) 04/22
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on April 23, 2021, 12:18:57 am
18. Touhou Hyouibana: Antinomy of Common Flowers || Nintendo Switch || 04.21.21

Well, playing a Touhou game certainly wasn't something I was expecting to play anytime soon, much less beat. Nevertheless, I spent time with a friend yesterday who really wanted for me to play the latest fighting game in its series that had just received a console release. Not being a fan of Touhou and certainly not aware of its lore, a lot of the dialogue went over my head. I tried to make sense of what was going on by asking my friend, but it didn't really matter in the end for my own personal experience.

At the same time, I am not someone who plays fighting games, so my opinion isn't all too in-depth. However, I will say that the combo system is very limited, while controls are easy to pick-up for a beginner. I imagine that the game is more directed toward fans of the series rather than just a fan of the genre. Overall, I had a fairly good time throughout my playthrough. The game seems pretty easy to finish, as it offers five difficulty settings, with the fifth to-be unlocked. Playing the game on Normal (difficulty 2), I felt accomplished. If you lose all three lives, you simply start again at your current match with all lives being regained. As for fighters, each character has three unique special attacks which offer variety within an individual's fighting style. As typical to Touhou, the game is dependent on phasing through enemy attacks.

If you're a fan of Touhou, then I'm sure you're well aware of the game and probably have even played it. I know that Touhou fans are pretty extreme in their love for the series. For anyone else...honestly, I'm not sure. Fans of the fighting genre generally enjoy robust combo systems and a huge catalog of fighting styles that they can spend hours with, but I don't think that's something really offered with this title. However, there is definitely a challenge original to this spin-off series with its phasing gameplay elements and among the higher difficulty settings, so perhaps some non-Touhou fans may enjoy these aspects.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 24, 2021, 01:59:37 am
14 - Monster Hunter Rise (Switch 2021) - BEAT - Redoing what I had before since I hit an actual "beat" state with this game, having finished the final boss and I feel I have a better handle on comparison between Monster Hunter World and this.  The gameplay options with the wirebugs are great, it makes things way more active, much less downtime recovering and it makes for some cool new moves along with wyvern riding.  That being said, I feel like that's the only thing I think this game does better than World.  Otherwise, I feel like I enjoy the design of Monster Hunter World more.  I like the levels and their traps more, I like the UI much better, there just feels like more depth to the package.  The story is better too, which I wouldn't say is Monster Hunters strength to begin with, but there's just way more to the characters.  There's really nothing happening with the characters and the story in general in Rise.  It's just, "The Rampage is coming!" and that's about it.  It feels kinda half-assed, same for the game lacking layered armor right out of the gate.  The only layered armor right is paid content, which is kinda lame.

That being said, Rise is still really solid, it's a fun time, and it's definitely a must have for the Switch.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on April 28, 2021, 07:25:22 am
15 - Hunt: Showdown (PC 2019) - ENDLESS - I dabbled in this game over the past few years whenever it went F2P for a weekend and I liked the idea of it, but it always felt wonky.  Eventually I got another shot at it recently and it turns out they cleaned up the game alot, added in optional gameplay controls so the game plays more like a regular shooter (It use to be you'd have to ready your gun and then click again to actually fire it, and I found that kind frustrating.) and it all runs well.  I mostly just got it because of a good sale, because it is a mainly a team based game and I don't love playing with rando's in team focused stuff like this, but I played it abit, and just found out they have a Quickplay singleplayer mode that is a big deathmatch mode, fighting to the last player among 11 others and I like that quite abit.  Probably what I'll play most for abit.

16 - Clone Hero (PC 2017) - ENDLESS - Probably my first "unofficial" game I've done for these challenges lol As the name is clear, this is a PC version of Guitar Hero that lets people playing custom songs.  As of right now, I have nearly the entire selection of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in one game and a ton of additions from another playlist, so I have around 1000+ songs total. I'm so out of practice as I haven't played this game seriously since Warriors of Rock back in 2010/2011, but I can still do expert for the most part outside of the tougher tiers of songs as I just don't got the wrist power like I use to, but it's been fun diving back in.  I really need to get a laptop that can be filled with Clone Hero stuff so that when I get back to hanging out with friends in a party setting, I can bring back Guitar Hero lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on May 01, 2021, 12:39:36 pm
Couple of additions

7. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) 04/26
8. Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS5) 05/01

Immortals was an interesting game for me. At first I really had this feeling that it was nothing more then a cheap Breath of the Wild close, but the more I kept playing the more I realized it really was its own game, I mean sure it clearly took inspiration from BotW... but it really did end up being a great game on its own. The whole last section with the climb up the mountain and then the final boss fight all just felt grand and epic.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 02, 2021, 02:19:01 am
Pokemon Snap (Switch 2020) - BEAT - For such a casual game, I went super hard on this game lol I was a very big fan of the original Pokemon Snap, at the time I was real big into Pokemon games with Stadium, Snap, Red, Blue, Yellow, and then kinda just never really played Pokemon afterwards much till relatively recently, but I always wanted to see Pokemon Snap return.  I'm still dumbfounded that there was never a Pokemon Snap for Wii U, it should've been one of the first games they thought about making for the console with how perfect it is for that.

The game is great! I've been real down on Pokemon since Sword last year and how half-assed that game was, but this game just nails everything.  It looks real nice, plays smooth, there's quite a lot of content as far as I can tell and a nice little story to propel progression and even some nods to the original game as it is a proper sequel.  I beat the story, but there's still something like 25 to 30 Pokemon for me to still find, each Pokemon having 4 different variations to capture for completion sake, along with a ranking system for each of those four, and there's challenge pictures to take, multiple ones in each location, so getting 100% will take a nice while and beating the story unlocked another night time version of a location, so that's more to do right there. 

If you were ever a fan of Pokemon Snap, this game is a must.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 02, 2021, 02:50:13 pm
It's been over two months since I last beat a game, hell, since I really even played a game. Most of this has to do with me working on yet another career path and hopefully what will develop into my own business in the near future. This is probably the longest I've gone without beating a game since this challenge began in 2015.


But I broke the game drought with a game I abandoned last year due to its controversial mid game shakeup. The Last of Us: Part II.


21. The Last of Us: Part II (PS4)

I'm not going to say any spoilers, but what made me pick this game back up was reading more about some of the overarching, main themes of this game that I wasn't aware of or I didn't care about given what happens midway through the game. I decided to play through the second half of the game with an open mind and very low expectations, and well, I was actually pretty surprised by what I found. I actually ended up liking the second half of the game more than the first and sympathized more with the main characters from that second half. On top of that, I liked the settings, objectives, and atmosphere of the second half more too. Unfortunately, the ending of this game was a bit of a drag, but not because of what happened between two of the main characters in the final scene, but rather it just sort of left everything loose during the scene following it. I guess Naughty Dog did this in order to leave things open for a Part III if that ever happens. Aside from this there was some fairly awkward scenes, most of the side characters throughout were forgettable or even annoying, and I'm not a fan of the game's heavy handed identity politics inserted throughout the game. Still, despite this the story, presentation, and gameplay were top notch. I still prefer the first game, no question, but I'm happy I at least have a newfound appreciation for Part II and I'm glad I decided to replay it despite some flaws and grievances. (5/2/21) [41/50]



Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on May 02, 2021, 03:44:44 pm
April Update

Games Beat in April
Super Mario World - Wanted to try out my HDMI streaming set-up.  Worked great.  Beat the game in a single sitting.  Still a masterpiece.  Beat Apr. 1

Games played in April
Finished some rail systems I was working on in Minecraft.  Then got bored again.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 has eaten up most of my time this month. It's incredible.  I should be finishing in the next couple of days, then maybe I'll get back on track for 52.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on May 02, 2021, 04:37:16 pm
19. Desert Child || PlayStation 4 || 05.01.21

Beginning Desert Child without any expectations or awareness to the what the game was about or offered, I only knew of it having some adventure-style gameplay as part of the experience. I was definitely not let down. Taking place in a future environment of year 2071, players are introduced to a world not that different from the world we live in today. Cities are sprawling with all sorts of types of people, nooks and crannies exist all over with small locales that have character, and society's underbelly still has a foothold to street politics. As the player-character, you experience all of these things and more as you street-race on your hoverbike to earn enough cash for your chance at competing in the planet's major racing event.

It's a little difficult for me to explain how to pinpoint this game's genre. On one hand, the racing elements are straight-forward action sequences. On the other hand, the overworld exploration is simply just that. There isn't really any interacting between characters and passerby, but, instead, the interactions are between you and traversing about this somewhat familiar city environment. In the city, a lot of personality can be seen. Graffiti is sprawled on walls, a near-naked man can be seen practicing yoga poses as he moves about the city on a day-to-day basis, river boat businesses can be visited, ramen shops offer tasty noodles at affordable pricing, and each and every passerby simply exists within this world seemingly to a beat as they and the player-character move to the background music.

Which, on such note, the game's music is phenomenal. Without a doubt, this game may be the most exemplary display of a game having its own vibe, and the music is a perfect complement to the world you find yourself exploring. Moving from place to place is a casual experience, and the music reinforces such idea. There isn't any hurry to begin seeking out races and criminal activity. Simply enjoy your time moving about to the sounds. I was glad that the game offered a "Chill" mode which offers a static screen as music plays.

While there are some slight problems, it's not a deal-breaker. My biggest gripe may be that it's important to keep most of your earned cash deposited in the bank. However, to progress to endgame, you'll need a large amount on-hand. When withdrawing and depositing from the bank, you can only do so in increments of +/- 10 or +/- all. I wasn't going to risk losing everything I had by endgame (which was much more than the needed amount), so it took a few minutes of spamming the action button to acquire the needed amount. Other than this small problem, some may be a little confused as to how to navigate certain menus. The game's UI isn't explained well. Overall, both of these problems are fairly insignificant, with the former being a large issue of not having user experience in mind.

Nevertheless, Desert Child was a fantastic treat. It's relaxed, it's humorous, it's fun. I highly recommend it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 02, 2021, 11:34:51 pm
Resident Evil 2 Remake (PC 2019) - BEAT - Was in a RE mood with Resident Evil 8 coming up, couldn't really figure out what I wanted to do as I started into RE7, but wasn't feeling it, but saw that there was a randomizer for RE2R and figured why not.  Overall it was a kinda goofy way to play through the game, it didn't sequence break stuff a ton for me, though by the time I had Mr. X show up, I had basically everything I needed to leave to the garage, so I didn't have to deal with running around the station with him on my tail.  Also no majorly out of place items other than I did get that trophy clue in the police station, but that was about it.  It did make the game harder though as I was really struggling for ammo through much of the first 2/3rds of the game and then got to the lab and had basically all the ammo I could want practically and found the Magnum there lol  I think the only place I didn't get to loot was the green key room, I never found it, though it could've been with the statue puzzle that I never finished.  Didn't struggle for herbs though, you start to hate the crap out of herbs because they ended up being 60% of what you pick up, especially for me.  The only "bug" was that I ended up with double of most of the chest pieces for some reason, as I don't think there were meant to be doubles of any of them, but I was very happy to not come across any progression locks as the randomizer is still beta.

I'd definitely recommend it if you've played the game a few times already and want to mix it up abit for kicks.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on May 03, 2021, 10:29:01 am
29. Call of Duty: Ghosts

Single player is OK. Hold to slide is kind of weird, rarely used it. There was something just off about mouse look. Couldn't quite dial in the sensitivity. It either was too slow or had the chance of over compensating, which would result in me facing the wrong direction when doing a 180. Story was ok. Didn't play the co-op mode because no friends. Did install MP but there were only 22 people in lobbies, so one DM lobby and that's it. All gun camos were/are DLC so there is not motiviation to use any particular weapon besides what was comfortable.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on May 06, 2021, 02:44:25 am
11. Zone of the Enders / 12.ZoE2
I've always had a soft spot for this ZoE1 at times i feel the location is a little basic but overall the short running time and narrative are compelling. The weird thing is when I played ZoE2, I could see the vast improvements in action sequences with more unique objectives but the story very VERY underwhelming. I'm not sure why either, Dingo makes for a charismatic protagonist, and the story has plenty of cutscenes for a good pace but its just all rather dull... The Antagonist is rather 1-Dimensional and the big impending threat in the game is left a little too ambiguous to be compelling. I want to like ZoE2 and even can see why it could be considered an upgrade from it's predecessor but was left feeling unimpressed.

The TV Anime series Dolores,i however is fantastic! I don't tend to watch much anime but I really enjoyed it, it allowed time to see the in-game world and society more as when your piloting mechs in-game you're always high in the sky and never really get a great insight as to what life is like in this universe. It also adds much needed humour and the cast of characters are great to tag along with - highly recommend if you've enjoyed the games abut never bothered with it.

Oh and I gave up on Oddworld SoulStorm :( I reached the end of an area which has a fork pathway and didn't know which way to go. I'd have liked to explore the area to save as many prisoners as possible but the lack of a warning pushed me into the next area without any way to go back - so the prisoners I missed are effectively dead, which effects the progress and ending of the game. So I felt rather cheated and have put it aside for now.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 06, 2021, 03:39:41 am
Resident Evil 7 (PC 2017) - BEAT - Had initially changed my mind on playing through RE7 again before RE8 came out, but changed it back to doing so, figuring I'd make a Madhouse run through it using infinite ammo.  Harder, but easier.  I was mostly just wanting to go through it for the story again as I've already beat the game a couple times at this point, so I was going through it all fairly quick.  Still a top notch game in terms of atmosphere, it's just so tense, and while I know for a lot of folks, the later half of the game isn't as good, which it sorta isn't, but it doesn't bother me much as it's still all very entertaining.   Also did Chris's DLC, think this is only my second time, it's okay, more action focused, but still entertaining.  Just gonna do End of Zoe next to finish it off and then I'll be ready for Resident Evil 8 tomorrow.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 08, 2021, 02:37:24 am
Resident Evil: Village (PC 2021) - BEAT - This was a big one for me this year, I was such a fan of RE7 and to see that they were gonna take RE7 and just mix in a whole bunch of Resident Evil 4, I was all on board.  It's absolutely got a lot of RE4 to it, but in the best way as it's definitely not rehashing RE4, it's more a general feel of the game, but it's still much what RE7 was.  The cool thing was that they put more work into creating a bigger setting to explore.  There is stuff that will be cut off eventually, the castle is basically it's own location that you can't go back to, and there's a final section of the game that ends the free roam, but the village and its outskirts offer a good bit to explore. 

I have two complaints with the game mostly...One, on PC, I had a bunch of freezes.  They started happening a bunch in the castle, forcing me to quit, I did forget to update to the newest drivers and that eventually seemed to fix it, but I started to get them again right towards the end, which was super annoying.  My other complaint is that the puzzles are way too damn easy, to the point I feel like I don't see why they are puzzles.  There's only a couple that let you figure it out, which aren't hard, but otherwise, it's complete handholding, to the point that the answers are nearly given before you know there is a puzzle.  Same for the treasures, they just don't let you figure them out, if you have the two items that combine, it will tell you they combine.  I don't see why they are so adverse to having good puzzles, like this isn't a game for kids, you don't need to hold grown ass adults hands for this, you can have challenging puzzles! They shouldn't be getting worse than RE7.

Other than that, the story is crazy nuts as always, I would say this feels a lot like RE4 in that way with the big weird characters you go up against, same with a good bit of the gameplay feel, though still RE7 enough, because I was burning through ammo pretty quickly with how much ammo the enemies can take.  You can melee down enemies, but I felt they made that a little hard, like I think if you fought a lycan melee only, it would take a dozen hits at least and you will slowly take damage as guarding doesn't negate damage taken, it only minimizes it and you never get a better melee attack like your weapons upgrade.  It doesn't feel like a good backup like it does in RE4.

I think there will be some slightly divisive elements in this sorta like in RE7, but overall a real good time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on May 12, 2021, 10:01:53 am
Marking Cities:Skylines as being beaten, although it is technically not possible to beat in any sense of the word. Previous "endless" games on my list where ones where some sort of victory condition exists but that the game can be replayed indefinitely. I could consider Cities: Skylines "victory condition" to be to unlock all of the monuments.

I have not met that victory condition, nor am I abandoning it, but I certainly do not want to put it as currently playing either. The game is interesting and neat but the issue for me is that it can't hold my interest for more than a couple of hours. I have no real ambition to try to complete any particular goal, no motivation to make any particular thing. Nothing really to work towards, no problem that needs fixing. It is just making new districts when the demand goes up, add water line and electricity lines. I spend more time trying to connect new roads to highways and rail lines. Have no interest in creating bus routes or metro rail. Maybe this indicates to me that I am no longer interested in city builders? Will I have this same reaction when I get to the SimCities of my backlog?
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on May 15, 2021, 06:50:35 am
Subnautica: Below Zero (PC 2021) - BEAT - Heck of a month for games for me, with Pokemon Snap, Resident Evil Village, Returnal was abit of a surprise for me, and then I forgot that Subnautica's standalone expansion was releasing, and really wanted to jump in.  Overall it's a solid game, just like the first, it's more of a standalone expansion, it's not as big and expansive as the first one, built more around characters and story, than what was mostly just a pure survival game with general story stuff to accomplish.  It all works pretty good, I like the lead Robin enough, the general experience is nice.  The smaller location feels nicely crafted, the first game was so big, it did sorta feel like wasted space at times, though this might be a little too small and it's design...well I don't want to say linear, but it's more directed than before, so it doesn't feel quite as free roaming as you'll end up going back and forth to a lot of the same spots.

My issues are small, like the new Snow Fox hover bike sucks, it feels kinda unfinished as it has terrible maneuverability, though it's fast, but it just feels like it's grinding along the ground most of the time.  I basically only used it for one thing and then never used it again as the Prawn is better, even on land.  Also the final mission stuff really wore me down, there's so much back and forth to the deepest section of the game, so if you don't have a base right nearby, there's a lot of running back and forth and it was starting to wear me down.  The new Sea Truck can be a mobile base, but it's not on the same level as the Cyclops.

A good time though, if you liked the first, you'll like this one even with a smaller scale and more story and characters happening.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on May 22, 2021, 07:38:07 pm
20. Road to Guangdong || Nintendo Switch || 05.21.21

Interested in the idea of a game set in rural 1990s China as the player-character drives across from town to town across the highway system, I began playing with that premise being the extent of what to expect. I have to admit, while I personally found enjoyment from the game, it is certainly not a game for everyone, and I feel it to be difficult to make a convincing case for spending one's time with it.

Split between driving, car management, and basic adventure-style gameplay, Guangdong doesn't set out to offer anything new or anything even polished, really. A lot of the issues I found while playing could be remedied had there simple been more time spent throughout development. Spread throughout the game's few notable gameplay styles, basic input options are difficult to handle yet could be fixed by simple quality-of-life adjustments. I found most of my annoyances during moving to and from interacting with the car mechanics. For example, if the player has just purchased new car parts, they need to fully leave the mechanic to make the repairs on their own. Then, if they're wanting to sell the old parts (which is assumed, as there is limited inventory space), then they will need to enter the vehicle, drive away some, then drive back into the mechanic's shop.

To expand upon what little gameplay is offered, Guangdong would benefit from more story-telling and adventure-style segments. After driving for up to 30 minutes real-time to go from point A to point B, the adventure gameplay is minimal and can be argued lackluster. I would love for there to have been branching dialogue trees, however slight, and perhaps the problem-solving that requires gathering items. At the same time, it was a letdown that environments cannot be properly explored. There is no character movement, as moving from screen to screen is done by selecting from a text menu. Walking about these locales would have been both rewarding and a serve as breath of fresh air from all the driving in addition to showcasing China's beautiful environments.

Strange as it is, in spite of all these problems, I still found enjoyment with my experience playing Guangdong. Driving—albeit stiff—is carefree and relaxing, and it created an itch for driving across wide open spaces throughout rural places, with the idea of discovering new food in mind.

It's a hard sell. I'd recommend getting others' reviews before considering a buy. Again, I did still enjoy my time playing.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on May 25, 2021, 06:55:11 pm
21. Sayonara Wild Hearts || Nintendo Switch || 05.24.21

Self-described as a "pop album video game," Sayonara Wild Hearts presents players an experience with such a strong identity that isn't shy about introducing new gameplay mechanics along the player's journey, all while in pair with a stunning visual style.

At its core, Sayonara is an action game. While the self-descriptor may confuse some players to believe the game to be rhythm-based, it is not. Sayonara is broken into approximately 25 musical segments that detail a woman's emotional journey. During each stage, the player-character must avoid obstacles in auto-runner fashion and is even reminiscent of Tron's lightcycle sequences, although failure to do so simply results in restarting from the previous checkpoint. However, as players progress, level design begins to introduce additional gameplay elements or styles—certain segments later on even replicated Rez's core gameplay, which was a much-welcomed surprise! These aspects are bundled together in an arcade-like presentation, with a built-in points system relating to combos and even in-game achievements to be unlocked.

Throughout the game, music is certainly a chief building block to providing a great gaming experience, but, again, it is not a part of the gameplay, unless responsive short quick time events can be categorized as such. In addition to Sayonara being described as a pop album video game, the developers are on record for also describing it as an interactive music video, as well. Largely revolving around synth instrumentals, the soundtrack is one that players will need to appreciate to enjoy the game. Mentioning Rez again, Sayonara seems to try to convey a similar multi-faceted sensory goal, with visual and auditory mechanics being blended together as one experience that cannot be separated.

While Sayonara does introduce a plot, it is not overly-descriptive about specifics while instead being fairly abstract toward its story progression. However, having a clearly-defined plot is not essential to enjoying the title, although I do believe that most players would understand enough that the game's stages are representative of the player-character's emotional journey. That being said, there is a lot to appreciate and analyze, if one is keen on doing so. Tarot cards are widely represented throughout the story, and there is good reasoning for why the cards are represented and introduced when done so. However, players can ignore this aspect altogether and not have their time with the game ruined—actually, understanding this aspect can only strengthen their experience!

Overall, Sayonara Wild Hearts introduces its own visual and auditory aesthetics and succeeds at blending the two together. I definitely recommend checking the game out.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 26, 2021, 01:26:06 am
I've been trying to play more games again and tonight I decided to binge on some MAME shmups I've been meaning to play for a very long time.


22. Sorcerer Striker (Arcade)

I always love when I'm surprised by how good a game is and Sorcerer Striker was definitely one of those instances. This game was Raizing's first shmup and consequently their first game. And wow! they get massive props for their first attempt! The biggest standout in this game is its OST and presentation, the music especially. The presentation is also excellent with some super cool enemies and stages. Gameplay is definitely above average, but not incredible. I'm very happy I finally played this game and it's absolutely one I plan on returning to. (5/25/21) [37/50]

23. Brave Blade (Arcade)

I felt like this game had a lot of promise and I figured since it was the last SHMUP Raizing developed that it would be on par with many of their other mid to late 90s SHMUPS. Nope! Not even close actually. The visuals looked like they were 3 or 4 years behind, and even then they would have been just okay. The gameplay was generic and poorly executed, and the soundtrack was definitely nothing special, but nothing bad either. Overall this was a pretty forgettable game and one I'm not surprised is still in the dustbin of obscure late 90s/early 2000s arcade games. (5/25/21) [21/50]

24. 1944: The Loop Master (Arcade)

One of my most controversial opinions, at least when it comes to shooters, is I'm not a fan of the 19XX series of shmups. Whether it's the ones made by Capcom, Psikyo, or in this case Raizing, none of them have impressed me and in fact I'm often left wondering when the game will be over so I can get on with my life. This was my experience with 1994: The Loop Master too. The game is as generic and repetitive as it gets where you pretty much just fight wave, after wave, after wave of slight variations in size and color of tanks, WW2 style planes, and battleships. That's it. And maybe worse yet is this game is WAYYY too long for its own good. I actually would have enjoyed this game just a pinch more had it been half its length. The soundtrack is forgettable, generic rock music, and the gameplay has no sense of balance, order, or strategy whatsoever. It's pretty much just an hour long exercise in madness as you zip around, shoot, die, continue, rinse and repeat. I know that might sound like all shooters to some, but when you've played hundreds of these games you know when the game's developers actually took the time to make sure the game is well crafted and there is purpose for way a certain section is the way it is over another. While this isn't the worst 19XX game I've played, it certainly didn't change my mind on it. I'm just glad it's over. (5/25/21) [20/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 26, 2021, 02:59:18 am
Decided to play two more before bed!


25. Kingdom Grand Prix (Arcade)

I've always wanted to beat this game, however up until recently I didn't know how to play it properly. This might seem like an odd thing to say considering this game is primarily a shmup, but it's also a Racing game. Yep, that second tacked on genre is what confused me for so long, and how I exactly won races that were in the form of SHMUP levels. While I did figure this out, unfortunately I realized after playing through this game several times that these two genres are fairly incompatible. In order to win the races you pretty much have to be holding down two buttons that prevent you from shooting, but also make you go faster. On top of that you more or less have to be riding the top of the screen the whole time since doing so makes you go even faster. You can decide not to do either of these things and just play Kingdom Grand Prix as a normal shooter, but in doing so you ignore half the game, and also the primary objective while playing. This is really too bad since both the game's OST and graphics are excellent, but unfortunately its schizophrenic gameplay really keeps this game back from being one of the greats. (5/26/21) [31/50]

26. Dimahoo (Arcade)

I've played this game before and from what I have played it's freakin awesome. While I still mostly feel this way after beating it, there are some things I'd definitely change, mainly the gameplay. The gameplay isn't horrible, in fact it's far from that, but it does lack the balancing and super tight gameplay of older Raizing shmups. Despite this the bosses are crazy awesome, the enemies are varied, the stges look great, and just overall this is a very visually pleasing sprite based game. I also really liked the OST, and it was nice to hear remixed versions of other Raizing titles in this game. While I certainly had a good time with Dimahoo it just didn't do it for me the way that a handful of other Raizing SHMUPS do. Probably the closest it came was to matching Battle Bakraid in quality; Dimahoo definitely more enjoyable to see and listen to, but Bakraid is more fun to play. Still, this is a cool SHMUP and one I'd recommend to someone who wants to go deep down the SHMUP rabbit hole. (5/26/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on May 27, 2021, 08:50:23 am
Game 9 - New Super Luigi U. (Wii U) - 2 player co-op, 6 hours

While New Super Mario Bros U. was hardly a breath of fresh air for Nintendo's long standing 2D platformer series, I had a lot of time playing it with a couple friends a few years back. I had been meaning to play through the standalone DLC release as well and finally got around to playing it this year.

Unfortunately, New Super Luigi U. is a very anemic and underwhelming experience. It recycles the entire world from the first game, including the same story and bosses. If you thought the original was derivative, then this game is even more so. What changes are present all make the game worse in my opinion. Luigi and co. are given a floatier jump with less traction on the ground like in older games, and it makes playing through the levels harder as a result. On the topic of difficulty, all the levels have a 100 second time limit now, so you have to play fast and reckless pretty much at all times, and it lead to some frustrating moments. All of the levels were very, very short as a result too, which made them feel over before they even started. The only addition that was fun was the addition of some older power ups like the penguin suit and the propeller-shroom.

Don't get me wrong, I still had fun playing it. I just think I would rather play the original or the Wii version over this.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on May 27, 2021, 08:57:09 am
Quote from: telly on May 27, 2021, 08:50:23 am
Game 9 - New Super Luigi U. (Wii U) - 2 player co-op, 6 hours
[...]
Unfortunately, New Super Luigi U. is a very anemic and underwhelming experience. It recycles the entire world from the first game, including the same story and bosses. If you thought the original was derivative, then this game is even more so. What changes are present all make the game worse in my opinion. Luigi and co. are given a floatier jump with less traction on the ground like in older games, and it makes playing through the levels harder as a result. On the topic of difficulty, all the levels have a 100 second time limit now, so you have to play fast and reckless pretty much at all times, and it lead to some frustrating moments. All of the levels were very, very short as a result too, which made many levels feel over before they even started.

I was very excited to try this one out when I heard it was supposed to be a more "difficult"/"hardcore" experience for the New games, but this was basically the impression I walked away with, too.  The designs are bland, and they didn't do enough to differentiate it.  Sure Luigi is a bit harder to control, but not so much so to really change the underlying game at all.  And the lower time limit actually made things feel easier to me, because I just zoomed through everything.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on May 27, 2021, 09:17:27 am
Quote from: Cartagia on May 27, 2021, 08:57:09 am
Quote from: telly on May 27, 2021, 08:50:23 am
Game 9 - New Super Luigi U. (Wii U) - 2 player co-op, 6 hours
[...]
Unfortunately, New Super Luigi U. is a very anemic and underwhelming experience. It recycles the entire world from the first game, including the same story and bosses. If you thought the original was derivative, then this game is even more so. What changes are present all make the game worse in my opinion. Luigi and co. are given a floatier jump with less traction on the ground like in older games, and it makes playing through the levels harder as a result. On the topic of difficulty, all the levels have a 100 second time limit now, so you have to play fast and reckless pretty much at all times, and it lead to some frustrating moments. All of the levels were very, very short as a result too, which made many levels feel over before they even started.

I was very excited to try this one out when I heard it was supposed to be a more "difficult"/"hardcore" experience for the New games, but this was basically the impression I walked away with, too.  The designs are bland, and they didn't do enough to differentiate it.  Sure Luigi is a bit harder to control, but not so much so to really change the underlying game at all.  And the lower time limit actually made things feel easier to me, because I just zoomed through everything.

I think for me it was because I played with another person that the game was harder, and that was the case with the original as well.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on May 28, 2021, 12:34:52 am
27. Night Slashers (Arcade)

I found out about Night Slashers while doing some research for a youtube video I was working on, and prior to that i'd never heard of or seen this game in an arcade ever. I played it a little after discovering it and just from the first couple levels I knew I had to revisit it soon. Well, I just did and it's awesome...for a beat'em up that is. Night Slasher's is essentially 80s Horror Movie the beat'em up and just has that undeniable, over the top charm that many 80s horror movies possessed. Gameplay-wise...it's a beat em up. It plays very similar to Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and many of the other Beat Em' Ups of the late 80s and early 90s. This game's presentation is where it really shines however with both its visuals and OST. Like most beat'em ups I was ready for it to be over by the time I was 2/3 through the game, but at least Night Slasher's theme carried it a little more than most other beat em ups I've played. Definitely a hidden gem. (5/27/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on May 28, 2021, 10:21:08 am
32. Middle Earth: Shadow or Mordor

I've complained about stealth missions for prior games, but not for this one. First of all, I think that there are very few forced stealth missions, and of those I encountered, maybe only a couple are required for beating main quest. That being said, this game does stealth right and it is actually preferable (to me) to run stealth nearly the entire time. I was stuck near the end and almost thought I wasn't going to beat it because I could not for the life of me figure out how to kill a Graug. I had "killed" them before, but they didn't count. Unlike where you can use the environment to kill Orcs to count towards goals or get XP, killing a Graug with the environment does not assign the kill to you. With Orcs I can understand because they have XP of their own and they can level up during fights (usually by killing teeth icon monsters) which can get slightly annoying at times. There is a second circumstance where Caragors can (and often do) kill a graug but they have no level system. This is the one enemy where you MUST kill the thing yourself in order for it to count.

For the orc levelling system, an orc that is an enemy killing say a teeth icon monster (usually caragors) can be an issue because they level up like I said. And when they level up they gain a skill. Using caragors to attack enemies is usually fine unless they have certain traits such as Monster Slayer or Battle-Hardened. When the enemy levels up during a fight, their health goes to 100% and then they get a skill. The skills they can typically get are: Invulnerable to combat, Invulnerable to Ranged, Invulnerable to Stealth. Those are the player's 3 main ways to get kills. Outside of that, the other 2 ways to get kills are using mounts (attacking while riding a monster), explosions or fire. Those are very situational and you can get into a situation where you facing an impervious foe with nothing to explode and no monsters to ride. I ran into one such situation early on where an enemy had levelled up during a fight 4 times and was impossible to kill and I only was able to deal with him much later on.

Later on in the game things get easier the more skills you unlock. Most of the useful skills are unlocked via the storyline and not just by playing. The ability to mount Caragors, Shadow Strike (and Shadow Strike mount) and brand are game changers. Especially brand because you can turn the enemy into an ally. There seems to be a cooldown on the grunts but the ranked orcs you can keep forever presuming they survive. Enemies have red names and friends have blue names. Here is one of the better Captain I ended up getting which you can see why based on my previous paragraph.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2499859347
For these super strong enemies that are basically invincible, sometimes you can get a stealth brand to convert them.

Overall it is an enjoyable game and it lets you keep playing after main quest. There isn't a whole lot to do besides achievement hunt. Also there are some other campaigns that I can do later because of the DLC.

Now onto the bugs.
- There are situations where the tough enemies do not take any damage. This orc for example is the one I talked about earlier that levelled up multiple times in combat because he killed Caragors. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2493056321
Despite the fact that it says Damaged by Ranged (which is normally correct) it was not working on this one. I had to wait a long time to come back around to this guy, get better damage and skills, etc. This is the only situation I ran into an invincible enemy, but fortunately it didn't last. I don't remember how I killed this guy but he isn't alive anymore so I'm not complaining.
- Sometimes you can brand or stealth brand Captains before they retreat and sometimes you can't. There is no indication in game or anything as to why. Usually you can't grab or brand a Captain before their intro cutscene (this is super annoying btw) but you can kill them with stealth or with ranged, explosion or monster if they don't see you.
- AI detection is kind of weird and can be exploited with few exception such as warchief in stronghold after alarm is raised. Say you had to fight a captain like in the pictures I posted so far but they had vulnerable to stealth. The process of confronting the enemy so their cutscene plays (because usually you want to make the attempt to brand them which requires the cutscene, getting their health down so they flee and then grab them) getting their attention (so they follow you) then climb up a wall and hide for literally 2 seconds. They will lose sight of you and as long as the other orcs can't see you, they go into "search mode" and this can be done with anything. BUT their line of sight is not based on say "their eyes can see your body" (well it is) but instead it is based on the angle of the in-game camera. So you can move the camera in such a way that the orcs can no longer see you even though they should. Anyways, since you can evade and they lose sight very quickly, you can hide for 2 seconds, stealth kill a guy and repeat constantly. Because the enemy can't hit you during the stealth kill animation and even if there are 50 enemies all around you, you can usually escape back up that wall without dying.
- For me there were problems with getting some actions to work, such as having Caragors bite something or Graugs to eat an orc. It is because the key assigned for that action is also the key for ADS and 99% of the time when I'm trying to get a monster to heal, I'm going into ADS. Rarely it would work properly and when it did or didn't did not give any indication as to why. I thought maybe I'm not facing the correct direction, maybe the orc needs to be downed, maybe the orc needs to be standing, maybe need to be behind. Never figured it out. It would just work sometimes and usually didn't.
- You can get stuck on the terrain constantly. In the beginning it is super annoying because it means you can't get away from a fight. Sometimes it is a rock, sometimes there's nothing there and you can't move, sometimes some object's hitbox is bigger than the texture. There are some walls that have the appearance you can climb them but you can't. This issue mostly goes away once you get the Vault skill which means you can jump over enemies. But before that it can be super frustrating.

Overall the game is good but the post end game content in the main game can get a bit lacking and repetitive. I can see the possibility of not having much to do if you end up branding all of the captain. Haven't gotten to that point yet but maybe some day.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on May 29, 2021, 05:44:46 pm
22. Coffee Talk || PlayStation 4 || 05.29.21

Starting my playthrough in the late-night hours as it rained on a weekend night to myself, I found out that my conditions were perhaps the most ideal environment to become acquainted with Coffee Talk. Set in a fictional setting of present-day Seattle, you play as the barista/owner of night-exclusive coffee shop. The music is relaxing. The outside rain is calm. Your ingredients are fresh and prepared with care. You understand your patrons, both old and new.

Living alongside humans, all sorts of fantasy-like races exist. From werewolves and vampires to elves and orcs—they all exist, and they're all simply trying to live their lives and overcome the challenges that life presents to them. As the barista, you're here to mostly listen to their stories as they interact with other patrons, while, of course, serving them their hot beverage of choice.

As an adventure game, the gameplay is more of an interactive novel. Throughout each segment, you will be tasked to create a few drinks. Aside from that, reading is all that there is. Which, to me, Coffee Talk succeeds in its storytelling and its character development. The game is not groundbreaking, but it certainly offers an enjoyable experience. With a short playthrough of around three hours, Coffee Talk doesn't overstay its welcome with the stories and characters it presents. However, I did finish playing wishing that a new ensemble cast could be introduced, but perhaps that longing could be resolved from a sequel.

For adventure fans, Coffee Talk is recommendable. And, I highly recommend listening to the game's soundtrack as well, although perhaps it may be best to reserve a listening experience in the evening hours.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on May 30, 2021, 02:08:54 pm
Game 10 – Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix (PS4) – 40 hours (Critical mode)

~Spoilers~

If you had asked me 10 years ago what one of my favorite games was, I would have said Kingdom Hearts II. Since then, my gaming tastes have refined and expanded significantly, and I'm afraid I can’t say that this game remains among my top 10 of all time. However, I still think it’s an excellent game, and my favorite Kingdom Hearts game that I’ve played so far.

Upon starting up Kingdom Hearts II, I already knew that I was going to enjoy the combat immensely based on what I remembered from since I was a teenager. That was absolutely the case here. Everything from the first game is improved upon. The game plays much smoother and cleaner than the original, the magic, limits and summon system is improved, synthesizing items and the drive mechanic are welcome additions, the AI is more sophisticated... everything just feels better. In addition to the combat, the game sports a larger variety of interesting worlds, and is brimming with additional content, minigames, and secret bosses to find. It’s all incredibly well done. The only aspect of the game that I did not like was the Atlantica stage. I don’t think anyone particularly likes the horrible minigames and cringy, god-awful singing that you have to bear in that world. Thank goodness it’s over quickly.

As for the story, I remembered not really caring much for it much the first time I beat the game. Of course, I hadn’t played Chain of Memories or 358/2 Days at the time, and so playing this for a second time I understood about 90% of the game’s story. I think the Organization is one of the best aspects of the story and the series in general. Though they aren’t exclusive to this game, they have a compelling motivation that you can sympathize with, and their mysterious and elusive aura was interesting to me both back then and now.

HOWEVER… I still needed to read up a bit on some of the game’s story components. My biggest complaint throughout this series so far has the co-existence of Roxas and Sora in Chain of Memories and KH II. After it is established that Roxas needs to die in 358/2 Days for Sora to come back, and he seemingly does just that at the beginning of KH II, you still fight him near the end of the game. I had to look up that fight online to learn that it was internal and not actually real, but the cutscene was so sloppily done that it did not convey that important detail to me at all. That is just one example of many cutscenes that had either no temporal reference point or are laden with a lot of metaphorical nonsense that makes it difficult to parse out the big picture. I have more to say about the narrative of this series that I think I’ll save for a reflection/recap deal, but in general, there was a fair share of confusing, unclear, and very cringy moments that held back the story, though it’s not as bad as I remember.

So with KH II done, I think I'm going to go back watch the cutscenes from Riku's story in Chain of Memories, then watch the RE:Coded cutscenes, then it's on to 0.2 BBS A Fragmentary Passage!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on June 01, 2021, 03:26:53 am
@ telly - That Roxas battle was horrendous, it wasn't even in the original game but the difficulty spike was far more than any of the following bosses in the games story. The digital battles against the Organization are on a whole 'nother level! I'm proud to say I managed to even beat them all! I need to go back and clear up the Gummi-Ship Missions and trophies to get the Platinum, I just never cared for it much :P

16. Final Fantasy: Dissidia NT (PS4)
I've been tinkering with Dissidia again, I still don't think it's a great game but I wanted to at least beat it! The structure of having to grind the arcade mode to get points to progress the story is beyond at chore - Still there is a way to spam the game using the FF14's female character on the Core Battle Mode. The story isn't even worth mentioning, nor the character interactions which often didn't even make sense - Like Kuja helping out the Heroes then being on the Villans side at the end, or Jetch blindly even being on the Villans side (I like Jetch but they should have got Seymour for this).

The combat is okay, however the nature of the 3on3 battle system can be problematic - especially if 2 characters are ganging up on you. I also found that sometimes the AI would just float away far to the distance and it would become tedious chasing them. The one area the game truly shines is the visuals, each character looks fantastic and are great renditions for their modern console counterparts. There's a little bit of post-game missions to do which I might try out, I did like some of the boss battles, even if they all felt similar - Apart from the last one which required you to use mages.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 01, 2021, 04:25:55 am
Returnal (PS5 2021) - BEAT - I'm not gonna spoil anything for the story, but I did hit credits and that was enough for me.  I'm personally not a fan of the story, it's all too vague and interpretive, and that kinda hurt the game for me towards the end, it's this specific kind of scifi I'm not a fan of.  The good aspect of the game to me was definitely the gameplay, it's a pretty solid third person shooter rogue-like, with metroidvania styled elements, where you progress and eventually pick up gear that'll help tackle obstacles or open new paths that you'll come across upon fresh lives.  Visually it also looks quite good and runs great.  Not that I feel like this is a game that could only be done on PS5, but a game like this does need a smooth 60 fps to deal with all the bullet hell going on.

Aside from the story, the only negative I had was that some of the weapons felt really awful to use.  Like if it wasn't the carbine, the shotgun, or the machine gun (I'm forgetting their specific names lol), I always had a harder time with the game or didn't feel like they did enough to justify me using them, though one or two weapons I know are just very situation specific.  I guess this isn't all to different than Hades in that regard, but at least with Hades I'd always pick the weapon I wanted to start, since weapons are random in Returnal.

Overall, as a game itself, it's pretty solid, I just didn't love the story enough which made the games grind sorta frustrating towards the latter end of things.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 01, 2021, 09:16:48 am
Game 11 – Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) – 18 Hours

86 shines (15 from blue coins), 150 blue coins total

Ended up finishing a second game over this long weekend! I’ve already finished and written a review for this game a few years ago, so I think I’ll just add to what I already said here. This time through I tried to at least find more shines and blue coins than I had found in my first playthrough, without resorting to a walkthrough.

Super Mario Sunshine is a game with some great ideas, but some flaws that hold it back somewhat. The game presents a gorgeous island aesthetic with memorable setpieces, enemies, bosses, and music that create an unforgettable experience. I still love what FLUDD adds to the game too, and it provides so many different movement options that (for the most part), mesh well with the game’s environmental design. When it works, it’s fun and exhilarating, but when it doesn’t work, it’s frustrating and stressful.

Unfortunately, Super Mario Sunshine is not a very stable experience. I had multiple collision issues or other glitches happen while playing, and it really detracts from the experience. The physics are also quite wonky on some of the items in-game, like the infamous boat ride. Yoshi in particular has quite a bit of jank in his jumping controls. These little things add up a lot over time and detract from the overall experience. The only other criticism that I had was with some of the repetitive missions, particularly the red coin and “catch shadow Mario” missions.

All that being said, I still enjoyed my time with Sunshine, and I'll probably still pick it up from time to time looking for those secret shines. I'm really excited to jump into Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, both of which I have never played before!

Previous review of Super Mario Sunshine: https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,5879.200.msg99132.html#msg99132
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on June 01, 2021, 09:37:33 am
May Update

Games Beat in May

Divinity: Original Sin 2 (PC) - One of the best RPGS, nay games, I have ever played.  2017 was truly a year of total masterpiece games.
Super RubberRoss World - A Super Mario Maker 2 world from RubberRoss / RubberNinja.  Made to be difficult and trolly.  Didn't find it that hard until the last couple of levels.  Frustrating, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - The Japanese version of CV3.  Great game.  Found the characters I unlocked maybe a little pointless as I spent 95% of my time as Trevor.  Think I prefer the original, but that is likely just nostalgia talking.

Games Played in May

Ghost of Tsushima - The best Assassin's Creed game never made.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on June 01, 2021, 11:28:32 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

115. Mega Man 5 (PS5)
This game introduced the plate collectibles, which I didn't realize were a thing until I had already missed two levels worth of them.  This made the endgame stuff more difficult because I think they expected you to leverage beat to make the fights easier.  This one returns the trope where Protoman is the enemy, but he isn't because he's a pawn, but also I think he's a clone, not the actual protoman?  The final fight of this one is very similar to the final fight of the last game, but like I said, you don't have the pharaoh shot, so you just have to have good timing and hit him with a charged buster shot.  I think as I finished this game my wife made some off handed joke about Mega Man chasing down a defenseless old man and that I'm the real villain because all she saw was the ending where you chase Wily off and he starts begging and pleading.  I got a bit of a chuckle out of that.
Rating: Soft recommendation

116. Mega Man 6 (PS4)
More of the same, I suppose.  I recall playing the X games and noticing an obvious decline in quality of the games, but the OG Mega Man games don't really have that.  Some bosses aren't intuitive or great, but the quality is about the same across the board so far... and this game... this game has one of my favorite Mega Man song's, Flame Man's stage music.  Honestly, it makes me wish we could get something a la Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix where the soundtrack is from OCRemix.  I would absolutely love to play these games with those songs in them, but especially Flame Man's stage's Turn the Flame higher.  It wasn't until Flame Man's stage that I really thought about this, and I'm just kind of salivating at the concept.  The best thing I can say is, after having played Mega Man 2-6, I still want to play more Mega Man games, whereas when I was playing X-X6, I was hating playing the games towards the end and X7 I played for about 20 minutes and then didn't touch another Mega Man game for like 3 years.  As much as the majority of my life I claimed to love the X series over the original, the original is so much better overall (at least so far) and while Mega Man X is my favorite 2D Mega Man game, the series goes downhill way too fast, whereas the original keeps a steady flow of comparable quality titles.  I'm a bit excited to play the first non-NES entry in the original series when my copy of Legacy 2 comes in, but I'm also keeping my expectations in check, because I expect the move to a new platform will inevitably introduce polarizing concepts.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

117. Mega Man X7 (PS4)
I had been putting off this entry for the longest time for multiple reasons.  The main one being that I wanted to earn the platinum trophy for the overall X Legacy 2 collection, but the trophies for this game in particular are really tough to get and the game is quite terrible.  Sony killed their rewards program, so I lost interest in earning Platinum trophies.  This game is just so terrible in general I didn't really want to subject myself to it without any form of incentive.  But I'm sitting here waiting for Legacy 2 to show up and I wanted more Mega Man, so I finally pushed myself to play this one with the incentive that I'd stream me playing through this terrible game.  Very quickly I realized the tranfer to 3D didn't do well for this franchise, similar to how 3D didn't do well for Sonic either... which also pushed the comparison of X = Sonic, Zero = Knuckles, and Axl = Tails, which honestly hurt me and the franchise in my eyes  ::)  The voice acting in this is also very terrible.  The levels are frustrating in so many ways, I nearly abandoned the game, not even at a boss fight, but the intro to a level because I kept dying due to some pretty terrible physics and level design.  I'm a robot, I'm pretty heavy, if I'm standing on a moving platform, I should move with the platform, not stay in place while the platform under my feet starts sliding out from under me.  Ignoring that I'm a powerful robot, that's still just a terrible design choice.  Then on top of that, the platforming in general is quite frustrating as wall jumping doesn't work as nicely as it did in the 2D entries and the platforming doesn't work that well when you can't see how high you need to jump to know if you even need to wall jump or not, so I kept falling off the level and dying.  Even ignoring that, the boss fights are pretty terrible, very cheap, and honestly super difficult.  Adding on top of that that camera control is L1/R1 and not the right analog stick, but the right analogue stick switches weapons instead of L1/R1 I kept switching weapons while I was trying to turn the camera which constantly screwed me up.  I might have been able to swap the control scheme for the game to fix this issue, I didn't even think about it until I started writing this up, and afaik I can't change the scheme, but regardless it should've been the other way by default.  Things like this show why people stick to what you know, because a team of 2D developers are probably going to have trouble making the transition to 3D.  That said, I gave up pretty quickly once I fully embraced the fact that I wasn't earning the platinum trophy and turned on Rookie Hunter mode and just kind of blew through the game as quickly as possible.
Rating: Hardest of passes.

118. Mega Man X8 (PS4)
Once my kid went to sleep for the night I sat down and decided I'd stream and play through this game as well, hoping to get it done in one stream as well.  I've been told by a lot of people to just skip X7 and just go straight to X8, because X7 is an abomination, but I knew the series was downhill in general, so forcing my way through X7 might make me appreciate X8 more, because going from X6 to X8, I might be able to perceive a downhill trend, but going from X7 to X8 there is nowhere to go but up.  That said, I was so fed up that I just wasn't willing to put myself in a position to abandon, so I started with Rookie Hunter mode and Easy from the start.  I regret this decision and put the blame on X7 for being so terrible.  This is one of those games where you can't even get to the true final boss on Easy, you have to be playing on Normal or higher, and with Rookie Hunter mode on, I really didn't need to play on Easy.  I'm not going to replay the game to get to the Lumine fight, I'll just watch a youtube video.  While this game doesn't play infinitely better than X7, I feel like I'm in agreement with my initial assessment that this is probably still worse than X6.  I might need to give this game another chance down the line and play on Normal with/without Rookie Hunter, but right now I just wasn't having it after playing X7, and I don't see myself ever giving X7 another chance.  This entry reverses the normal Mega Man trope, so the whole game you're thinking Sigma is running the show behind the scenes, but in actuality Lumine is actually pulling Sigma's puppet strings.  Voice acting seems a bit better.  Overall still not a good game though, and honestly, I can see why Mighty No. 9 was destined for failure.
Rating: Hard pass

119. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
I've beaten this game before in that I beat Mega Man 64 for sure, and I'm fairly confident I beat this on OG PS1 back at some point, but my backloggery doesn't show it.  To be fair, I know my backloggery doesn't have much in the way of entries for old stuff because I don't remember what I've played and I haven't gone through old memory cards to confirm what I did and didn't beat.  Like I know I beat some GCN/PS2/PS1 stuff back in the day, I just don't remember exactly what until I go through old memory cards.  But you know what, I don't mind replaying this game.  This is one of my all time favorite games.  It doesn't have a ton of replay factor like a lot of my other favorite games, but I have such fond memories of this game and truly enjoyed revisiting it.  This game just makes me really want Tron Bonne merch.  I have a Mega Man Volnutt/Trigger figure and a Roll Caskett/Data figure, but I have nothing Tron Bonne.  I can try and go out and buy an old toy of her, but I'd love to have something like the Nell figures I have.  All that said, I played this on my Vita and I remapped the controls due to the vita not having L2/R2 buttons.  I moved the mapping for the screen and the rear touch pad, I mapped L1/R1 to the right analogue stick and mapped R2 to the L shoulder button and [] to the R shoulder button.  This worked fantastically, because it made the right stick control the camera as games should, and the L button aim and the R button shoot.  Worked absolutely fantastically, like better than the original as far as I can remember.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

120. Mega Man 7 (PS4)
A lot of my complaints are going to largely be driven by opinions on the collection as opposed to the game itself.  The 1st Legacy Collection had rewind, save states, and other emulator features.  Legacy 2, and the same goes for Legacy X 2, has no emulator features.  Doesn't even have a save feature for this game.  Just a checkpoint system.  The checkpoint system is honestly the bare minimum they could've done to give it some quality of life because in essence you can have unlimited tries as long as you reload at the checkpoint, but that does carry whatever you were at the save of the checkpoint, which screwed me more than once, check point saving with 1 health.  Back on the title itself, I never did figure out what to do with the bolts I collected throughout the game.  I just looked it up, apparently there was a shop you could get to somehow to buy tanks, lives, and such.  At least I didn't miss out on something useful.  Though final boss would've been easier with one more E-tank.  First boss you fight (with the guide I used) has an instant death mechanic baked in, so I'd get through the majority of the fight and then hit the spikes and have to start over.  That's another thing, Legacy 2 has no feature to make the spikes not instant death like all of the other Legacy Collections (X included).  Honestly, super disappointed in this collection, it really makes me want to just play on SNES/emulator so I can "enjoy" the experience.  Like, yeah, I'm proud of myself for powering through, but it was more frustrating than fun because I kept having to redo pain in the ass instant death sections to get to wherever I'm dying over and over.  It demoralized me so much that I only got through a level or 2 in Mega Man 8 before I was like "Yeah, I'm gonna go to bed early tonight".  I just don't see a single game in this collection getting a recommendation because of the lack of QoL changes.
Rating: Soft pass.

121. Mega Man 8 (PS4)
This one actually has a save system, which is nice, and stupid that the other didn't.  Even the X collections had save systems that overrode the password system.  This collection is so lazy.  The save system for this one is the baked in PS1 Memory card save system, not something collection specific.  I'm just hoping, this being the most "modern" entry in the Mega Man series, it'll have the most QoL.  I say this because I know that 9 and 10 are designed to be NES style, so they probably don't have any QoL stuff expecting to be tough as nails. ::).  I'm at the tail end of the game and I spent nearly 2 hours working on one platforming section because it is long, brutal, and has no checkpoints in the middle of it.  If you're wondering, it's the "snowboarding" section of Wily Stage 1.  I can't quite decide if this game took me so long because of my pain or because it just was that unenjoyable of a game.  I like the art style, not love because it could be better.  It has that almost hand animated style that looks so smooth, but the quality is pretty low for that unfortunately so it can only look so good.  This game did some interesting things, especially by throwing in some other genres by doing little shmup like sections, but this game is another one that would have benefitted from modern emulator features missing that were in the first collection.  The voice acting is terrible and makes me wish I had played the Japanese version, but I still appreciate the cartoon scenes, even if they are quite quiet.
Rating: Soft pass

122. Mega Man 9 (PS4)
Started this right after finishing Mega Man 8, didn't really expect to beat it in one sitting, but here we are, me writing up my paragraph about this game after beating it in one sitting.  This game is a full on throwback to the OG, Mega Man 1.  No sliding, no charged shot, no wall jumping (not that Mega Man ever did, the chump).  Allegedly this release has some QoL over the original release in that you take less damage per hit.  Frustratingly this game both could've been a legitimate NES game (Missed opportunity of a homebrew imo) and could've easily had emulator features since they did it for the NES games.  I get it's not an NES rom but a ported modern game, but like you did it for the NES games, why not this?  Game was actually quite good though, I rather enjoyed it even without emulator features.  I will say Tornado Man and Splash Woman's stages were pretty bullshit, to the point that I nearly quit for the day on each of those, but I got to a point where I said "1 more good run at this section and then I'm done" and I managed to complete the section, so I kept playing.  Honestly, I'd almost consider recommending this game as it's quite good, much better than 7 or 8, but without the QoL stuff, it's still hard to justify.  I do appreciate that the ending totally calls out that Mega Man is a chump for constantly not killing Wily.
Rating: Soft pass

123. Mega Man 10 (PS4)
This one was such a surprised by how pleasant it was.  It was everything 9 should've been.  A fantastic OG Mega Man experience, full of QoL improvements, nostalgic throwbacks, and accessibility features.  Still no emulator features, which is a let down, but still a great experience even without it.  I won't say it's the best in the franchise or anything, but definitely a worthwhile entry in the series, better than 7-9 for sure.  I do feel like the game probably had an intro that explained the early plot that I must have missed because I didn't really get any exposition until after the 1st and 4th boss I think.
Rating: Soft recommendation

124. Mega Man 11 (PS4)
I started this one off on casual difficulty because I wanted some challenge, but didn't want to hate myself or for this game to take too long to get through.  I got about 2 levels in and realized this was going to be a really slow play and I was going to hate it.  So I restarted the game, because you can't change the difficult after starting, and did the easiest difficulty just to see what difference it would make.  Huge difference that allowed me to get through the game in one sitting instead of multiple plays on multiple days.  Game has no emulator features, just a pure straight forward Mega Man experience.  You get frequent checkpoints, but limited lives, so you die, you reload in the room or near the room where you died, but once you run out of lives, game over and start the whole level over.  Easiest difficulty has infinite lives, so you always start with some progress.  Very few instant death mechanics on easiest difficulty, and this game is just jam packed with instant death traps, feels like way more than in previous games, 9 possibly excluded.  The gear system feels like an unnecessary complexity, but after getting used to it I can see it being a good thing.  That said, I don't believe I ever truly got used to it, because while in boss fights I'd remember to do the power gear, during regular gameplay I'd always forget that speed gear exists and there are a lot of sections that absolutely require the speed gear to proceed.  Not a terrible game, even the voice acting wasn't the worst, but just feels off in so many ways.  It doesn't help that the art style makes me think of Mighty No. 9.
Rating: Soft pass

125. The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (PS1)
I'm gonna mark my progress in Zenny, because that's the only true objective to the game iirc.  I have started this game multiple times over the years.  I played it on PS1, I bought it for PSN and played it on PS3, and now I'm playing it on my Vita.  I have always made some progress in the game, but I know I've never beaten it.  I've enjoyed my time with the game, but it's always so daunting all of the management stuff you have to do in the game.  Even now, I want to play it, but I'm constantly deterred by the thought of having to manage which Servbots to use and worry about.  That said, I fully expect this to be a game I will absolutely love and adore by the end of the game.  Tron Bonne is one of my favorite characters of all time.  I really wish they'd make some figures of her.  Finally finished it, and it is a fantastic game.  The game is broken down into several styles.  You have the overall micromanagement of servbots which is actually pretty minimal, but by doing it and upgrading the bots, you make the game easier for yourself overall, this involves chatting with them, training them (which is comprised of multiple mini games), giving them items, sending them scouting, and taking them on missions.  The training minigames is a carnival shooting game, a game to pass out food to servbots as fast as you can, and a torture mini game where you torture the servbots so they stop being lazy.  The rest of the game is about earning money doing missions, which breaks down into a puzzle style set of missions, Mega Man Legends treasure hunting/bank robbery/animal thefting missions, and getting to send your favorite servbot to a casino to gamble mission.  Like Mega Man Legends, the game has little replay value as there is no incentive to keep playing and you'll get nothing new on additional runs... plus you can't even replay missions once you've beat them other than the ruin mission because it's replayable and not a set mission.  I hadn't replayed it, but I imagine it's not procedural.  The fact that this game doesn't add much to the series, I won't push so hard on the recommendation, but I personally loved this game because Tron Bonne is one of my favorite characters.
Rating: Soft recommendation

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg190398.html#msg190398)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on June 02, 2021, 09:49:11 am
34. Aliens: Colonial Marines

It is better than Alien Isolation IMO. Whatever Steam installed was not the janky broken version that was originally released, although I was kind of looking forward to being able to play that. Things I notice is that CPU teammates barely do any damage, but they can kill things. Enemy human players can shoot through walls. Hit detection is completely terrible. It took a bit to realise it but the guns have range issues, however there is no long range option. I get why it is like this, the game is not designed for you to try to fight at range, maybe they didn't playtest accuracy at range. Also there is certainly a aggro distance that you can take advantage of in the outdoor areas where the enemy will not do anything and just die.

Hitboxes on the enemies are not what they seem. Shoot the feet to get body shot. Shoot body to maybe hit the head but usually miss entirely. Headshot gives more damage but can't shoot it reliably. Didn't know that there was a weapon inventory until 3/4 through the game. About half way I had no ammo and was using the pistol which has infinite ammo but had no attachments. I had Gorman's Pistol before level 10 and level 10 is when you can start to earn points to add attachments.

Loadout is best use laser sight if you are going to use hipfire. Suppressor always if possible or if not use stock. I finished with the base gun with suppressor and ACOG for medium range (as I noted, there does not seem to be a long range option, unless it is the Battle Rifle which I never got) and the SMG for short range with stock. SMG is probably the best weapon but is useless at medium range. Shotgun was OK but fires too slow, and reload is too slow especially since the cover system doesn't work as expected. Cover only works when using crouch behind an item on the ground like a box. It might work if you crouch behind anything, such as a wall, I never got to that point.

Game got very simple once I learned about the inventory and recognized the range issues. Music was good as an ambience (I turn music down to 50% usually). The stupid issue where the game opens by itself after you exit still is a thing. Didn't bother with multiplayer and not interested in replaying the campaign to get more guns. Didn't have DLC and you can't piecemeal DLC anymore, only buy the complete game again.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on June 02, 2021, 05:16:18 pm
Quote from: tripredacus on May 28, 2021, 10:21:08 am
32. Middle Earth: Shadow or Mordor
[...]
Overall the game is good but the post end game content in the main game can get a bit lacking and repetitive. I can see the possibility of not having much to do if you end up branding all of the captain. Haven't gotten to that point yet but maybe some day.

Not copying the whole review, because it is... a lot, but I do generally agree with what you said throughout.  It's a bit difficult to get into, but as you get your powers the whole game opens up more and lets you kind of walk all over it, but it does get repetitive by the end.  The Nemesis system was cool, but never quite lived up to it's potential.

Quote from: tripredacus on June 02, 2021, 09:49:11 am
34. Aliens: Colonial Marines

It is better than Alien Isolation IMO.

And now I hard disagree! LOL  Alien: Isolation is one of my favorite games based on a movie, and a terrific survival horror game, but is maybe a bit too long.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on June 03, 2021, 09:42:06 am
I wrote a review about Alien Isolation earlier in this thread, and the reasoning for why I think Colonial Marines is better is because it doesn't force you into scripted segments as much. They are completely different games of course, with Colonial Marines being an FPS.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 06, 2021, 10:13:09 pm
Game 12 - Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage (PS4) - 3 hours, proud mode

Geez that is one mouthful of a name. Anyway, this game is basically a demo, so there's not a whole lot to say about it, but still includes some important story elements, and does serve as a nice glimpse into what the gameplay might look like in Kingdom Hearts III. It felt weird playing a game with different visuals than the 5-6 games before it from the same PS2-based engine, but the graphics are in fact quite lovely. There was a fair amount of stuttering however, which I hope they iron out in III.

Despite the framerate issues, the game was still fun to play. It sort of combines the best elements from KH I and II with Birth By Sleep and it's a joy to play. It felt really fun to explore, jump, and fight, and there are some nice quality of life improvements like being able to cast magic while moving. Other than that, there's not a whole lot to say. On to Dream Drop Distance!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 07, 2021, 01:29:40 am
28. Psyvariar 2 (Dreamcast)

Unless I'm forgetting one, I've never played a shmup with a more gimmicky gameplay system, and worse a gameplay system that actually ruined what was otherwise a pretty cool game. Psyvariar 2 utilized something called buzz chaining with pretty much allows you to deal out huge damage to other ships by essentially grinding up against their projectiles without getting directly hit by them. The system honestly sounds cool on paper, but in practice it just isn't that fun, and really distracts from mostly anything great the game has to offer. That's a shame considering both Psyvariar 2's graphics and OST are really good; so while I was hating my time playing this game, at least I had something cool to look at and listen to. Not the worst Dreamcast shooter I've ever played, but not too far off either. (6/7/21) [24/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 11, 2021, 03:19:30 am
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5 2021) - BEAT - This was mostly for just the Yuffie DLC, which is a nice little bit of side story, but nothing too amazing unless you are just dying for some more bonus FF7 Remake content or to have fun with the little ninja firecracker, but I got a solid 6 hours out of the experience.  You get a run through the Sector 7 area again, letting you play the new Fort Condor minigame which I dug, and earn Ramuh as your summon, before going Shinra HQ to try and steal materia from them.  I like Yuffie quite alot, she could have very well be written to be more annoying, like a Naruto or something, but she's quite lovable.  Sonon your partner does a good job and I liked him in the story.  There's even some bonus post-FF7R stuff I wasn't expecting to get which is nice.  Nothing amazing, but a fun bit of time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 14, 2021, 06:55:56 am
Chivalry 2 (PC 2021) - ENDLESS - If wanting a shooter that's built around chaos, you go to Doom, and I think if you want that for melee, you go to Chivalry.  This one snuck up on me, I didn't even know it was coming out this month till the beta and reminded me how fun the game could be.  I didn't play the first game a ton, only a couple dozen hours, but I had some fun with it.  Chivalry 2 seems to be more of the same, some things cleaned up abit.  I do feel sorta like the game is missing a couple things as far as sequels go, like I remember flails being in the first game, but aren't here yet.  But that could be coming soon, I believe all the new maps and character classes/weapons are free, so I don't mind it being abit late.  Game can get real nuts and once you sorta figure out the general basics, it can be very satisfying, though I swear the hit detection for range weapons is quite questionable lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on June 15, 2021, 04:34:24 pm
23. Katamari Damacy Reroll || Nintendo Switch || 06.13.21

As a big fan of the Katamari series, I had actually not played the original game which started the series in many, many years. That being said, returning back to the series onset—albeit a port for a system two generations ahead of its original hardware—I had a great time with the game's simplicity that yields such fun.

For those unaware of Katamari's gameplay, the player-character controls a moving ball dubbed the katamari to pick up objects that stick to the katamari with the goal to create the largest katamari you can under a time limit. While it may sound boring, it's anything but. Katamari Damacy (Reroll) was perhaps the game to introduce a lot of quirky Japanese charm to Western audiences, and the game's popularity quietly grew into the long-running series it is today.

Having mentioned that my time away from the original game was long, perhaps I had forgotten how rough the game's controls are. Or, perhaps these impressions are based upon the port itself, although I feel as if it is the former. When moving the camera 180°, the time to do so may be longer than one would think. When confronting larger objects that aren't able to be picked up, I found the katamari to be incredibly sensitive, with absorbed items flying in every direction off the katamari. The katamari's sensitivity is much more lax in later entries, which is a much-needed improvement. I would often find collectible items only for them to have been knocked off at some point throughout the stage, which was slightly annoying. However, the worst gameplay instance I encountered is when my katamari was completely stuck for the remainder of a stage. I could move the camera around and try to move free from the tight space I found myself caught in, but I ultimately could do nothing but wait out the timer.

Ultimately, Katamari Damacy (Reroll) is a fine game. For someone who has played the follow-up entries, the game is simple in the controls it offers as well as its variety in stages. I did not experience the game's two-player mode or play the game with Joy-Cons detached, but my experience in playing the game undocked was smooth. There is a brief moment of lag during a portion of stage loading, but that is the only issue I encountered in that regard. Nevertheless, for those who have no means to play the remainder of the series and only have access to a Switch, Reroll still is a fantastic game to play. And, if that isn't the case and a PlayStation 2 is accessible, I can only recommend to playing the game originally as well as picking up the follow-up title We Love Katamari which is arguably the best game in the series.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on June 17, 2021, 09:56:11 am
38. Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders

A short game, point and click. Haven't done one of these in a long time. Some background knowledge is needed for this game in order to get some of the achievements. The main character is Poirot, who (at least to me) is famous from the British TV shows that we get on the public network in the US that my mother always watches. The reason why you need the background is that it is clear that you get extra points for choosing dialog choices that match what Poirot would actually say. Not having watched any of those shows since I was a kid or not ever reading any books does not help me to know what he would say. This does not impede the game at all, and in fact there isn't any way to actually lose the game. It progresses when you find things and the only obstacles you may come across are either the puzzles or not knowing where you need to click.

The puzzles are done very well. There are a couple of issues I ran into, such one instance of a pathing break. When doing the map puzzle, Poirot will say "I've seen these markings on the hunting trophies" but this dialog is just what he says everytime you enter the map puzzle. It is not dependent on you actually having seen the trophies. There is only 1 trophy you will see before getting to this point, the others are off to the side in the map room and I did not know they were there until much later. Also, this puzzle is one that didn't make sense to me and I solved it on accident.

The Chinese lock puzzle was interesting to me only in the reasons that I can tell how comfortable I have become with Chinese language. I can't read or write it, but it is no longer "Scary" if that makes any sense. It is because I have been doing Chinese translations using the pen tool on Google Translate (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6782.msg147462.html#msg147462) for documenting video games on this site. I know that in the past I saw Chinese as moonspeak and would have balked at a puzzle that used Chinese words. Now I can actually recognise the shapes/strokes to a point where it isn't foreign. I'm sure that this puzzle would have caused me quite a problem if I had done it years ago and probably does cause people problems. Unfortunately, it was the easiest one in the game I think.

There are some issues with the writing using assumptions, such as "it could only have been this way" in multiple situation. It becomes an issue when you have to answer questions, but fortunately there is no real penalty for choosing incorrectly since there is no failure condition. There are two situations later in the game that that I think have the potential of causing bad endings. These are the only two times in the game where you can choose between multiple directions, but I do not think that it actually changes the outcome of the game. I think that one can certainly cause a bad ending, which I won't spoil it although I have not replayed to get this potential bad ending.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on June 17, 2021, 10:50:13 pm
24. Persona 5 Royal || PlayStation 4 || 06.16.21

Well, I did it. After 150 hours, I'm done.

There is no way I can even begin to touch on everything that Persona 5 Royal offers. However—wow, what an amazing experience! I wish I could play it again with a fresh mind. Persona 5 was my first introduction to the series, and I will definitely be playing some of the other titles some time later in life. I highly recommend playing it. This game has got such a bold and unified visual style—its UI design is fantastic.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 18, 2021, 02:34:52 am
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA 2004) - BEAT - With Metroid Dread coming out, I figured it was about time I go play Metroid, a series I never really attempted to get into much, for whatever reason, other than I think I put some time into Metroid Prime.  I've played a bunch of metroidvania inspired games, but until recently, I only just beat a handful of Castlevania games 2 years ago, and Metroid now.  Initially I was going to do "story order", so Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid, and Fusion, but I think after playing this, I'm going to do Super Metroid next, Fusion after, and then end with Samus Returns since it's the newer game

Overall I was alright with Zero Mission, it didn't really wow me all that much, not that I think it's specifically bad, the game just didn't do a whole lot to excite me.  Movement and combat felt fairly stiff to me, took a while to settle into it.  Bosses were kinda weak, I just didn't really enjoy any particular fight, and that Mother Brain fight sucks, it's just not fun.  Also that epilogue mission they added wasn't good either, though I didn't get some enjoyment when I got the suit and I was able to just blast away the pirates.  I think most of what I liked is that it's good pixel art, the music was nice even though I think my emulator for the game was running it a little wonky, didn't feel particularly crisp like it should, and the general hunting of items was good.  So kind of a mixed bag, but I didn't hate my time playing it.

Super Metroid up next.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 18, 2021, 12:13:27 pm
29. Breakers (Dreamcast)

This looked like a pretty cool fighting game that I'd only bee made aware of over the last few years. It has pretty good sprite art, animations, and stages, however the framerate is a little low. Gameplay is surprisingly good despite there seeming to be very little balance to it between characters. But it was cool having multiple specials to pull off with each character. And then finally the audio was pretty good, although nothing super memorable. This is a pretty generic mid 90s 2D fighting game that I'd say play if you get the chance, but it certainly isn't no Street Fighter or KOF, that's for sure! (6/15/21) [30/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 18, 2021, 12:15:34 pm
Quote from: kamikazekeeg on June 18, 2021, 02:34:52 am
Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA 2004) - BEAT - With Metroid Dread coming out, I figured it was about time I go play Metroid, a series I never really attempted to get into much, for whatever reason, other than I think I put some time into Metroid Prime.  I've played a bunch of metroidvania inspired games, but until recently, I only just beat a handful of Castlevania games 2 years ago, and Metroid now.  Initially I was going to do "story order", so Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid, and Fusion, but I think after playing this, I'm going to do Super Metroid next, Fusion after, and then end with Samus Returns since it's the newer game

Overall I was alright with Zero Mission, it didn't really wow me all that much, not that I think it's specifically bad, the game just didn't do a whole lot to excite me.  Movement and combat felt fairly stiff to me, took a while to settle into it.  Bosses were kinda weak, I just didn't really enjoy any particular fight, and that Mother Brain fight sucks, it's just not fun.  Also that epilogue mission they added wasn't good either, though I didn't get some enjoyment when I got the suit and I was able to just blast away the pirates.  I think most of what I liked is that it's good pixel art, the music was nice even though I think my emulator for the game was running it a little wonky, didn't feel particularly crisp like it should, and the general hunting of items was good.  So kind of a mixed bag, but I didn't hate my time playing it.

Super Metroid up next.


I've played several Metroid games, but have never actually beat one. I decided I want to change that before Dread comes out and am likely going to beat Super Metroid as my first. It seems to be the one that has the most love and praise around it with maybe the exception of Prime, but I'm mostly focusing on the 2D entries.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 18, 2021, 05:24:28 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on June 18, 2021, 12:15:34 pm
I've played several Metroid games, but have never actually beat one. I decided I want to change that before Dread comes out and am likely going to beat Super Metroid as my first. It seems to be the one that has the most love and praise around it with maybe the exception of Prime, but I'm mostly focusing on the 2D entries.

I've been meaning to do this for years and when Switch put out their SNES games, I was gonna give it a shot then, but just didn't get motivated enough to go through it.  Figured it was finally time.  I'm not gonna do the same with the Prime games, I played the first back on the Gamecube years ago and thought it was just okay, mostly just didn't like the control scheme and I'm hoping Metroid Prime 4 is a proper FPS game or otherwise I'll probably pass on that one too.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 18, 2021, 11:03:25 pm
Game 13 - Far From Noise (PC) - 1 hour

Based on the reviews and previews of this game, I was ready to be blown away by a mesmerizing, beautiful experience. The game's premise is that you are playing as someone having a near death experience, and with the help of a spiritual guide you embark on an introspective journey about existence and personal meaning. I've been spending time with my family this weekend putting together a ceremony for my grandfather passed last year, so I thought this game would be a really interesting way to unpack some of those feelings.

All that being said, while this game does present an awesome concept in theory, I thought this game's execution was very sloppy, uneven, and just plain ineffective. I read through a lot of reviews to see if I just didn't get what this game was going for, but I have several major issues with this game.

First, whenever I play a game like this with very little to no gameplay, the storytelling has to essentially be outstanding for it to be a worthwhile. This game's narrative did not achieve that for me,  and didn't really go as deep as I would have liked. Furthermore, the pacing was fragmented and jarring, with some really powerful and beautiful moments heavily contrasting with just downright silly and dumb moments, which sucked me out of the game every single time it happened. The game's pacing felt like listing to someone desperately trying to hold a conversation with you and pulling anything they can out of their ass to try and keep things going. So with no gameplay to speak of and a story that I didn't like, this game became very difficult to get through almost immediately.

It's a shame too, because the game for the most part has excellent writing, with some really poignant and poetic scenes for you to read and reflect on. This is diminished however, by the main character, whos heavy reliance of all capital text and causal and juvenile phrasing sucks out the impact of the experience much in the same way that the general narrative did. On that topic, the character that you play as felt painfully underdeveloped, and there just aren't any big truths that you uncover about her life or her past to reminisce or reflect on, so you end up not caring that much about her at the end. At least I didn't.

I will say that this game has absolutely beautiful visuals and music. Loved how the scenery changes from sunset to night to a raging rainstorm and back to morning again. The music also perfectly encapsulated the mood that the game was going for, and also dynamically changes with the moments in the story, and it felt very well done.

Even though the game is only an hour long, Far From Noise still overstayed it's welcome. There are additional endings, so I might try to see if there is a different way to experience the story that will be more enjoyable for me. My girlfiend also played it and had a much better experience and shared some other scenes that I think I might have enjoyed more.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 21, 2021, 04:11:11 pm
Game 14 - Shantae (Switch) - 16 hours

With this game being finished, I've finally played through every game in the Shantae series. The original Shantae really lays the groundwork for all the future games, though it shows how little each game changes from entry to entry. I feel like the first three games are relatively interchangeable as a result. That doesn't mean that they aren't fun however. I really enjoyed my time with this game; it pushes the Game Boy color to it's limits and is extraordinary to look at, listen to, and play. The graphics and art are excellent, the gameplay is smooth, the animations are fluid, and the music is phenomenal. The game poses a pretty fair challenge, but you have multiple different items and upgrades to collect, and all within an impressively large and interconnected set of stages. The story wasn't bad either! It's quite impressive.

That said, this game does have some growing pains that are mostly due to it being on the GameBoy color, and as such, there aren't as many buttons to work with. I found pressing up and attack to use an item to be pretty annoying, as well as run and attack being the same button. Other than that, I think the hit detection when whipping your hair could have used a little more refinement as well, but this is fixed in later games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 22, 2021, 04:01:56 pm
30. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries (PC)

I have many good memories of playing Battletech at Dave and Busters in the late 90s; my local DnB had about a dozen of those sim pods that you'd get into and battle against other players in a large open area in a mech suite. As a 9 and 10 year old kid I thought it was incredible and it was always awesome getting a printout of how good you did afterwards compared to other players. Of course I always wanted the Mechwarrior games on PC, but unfortunately I never had a decent PC to run the latest Mechwarrior games until well after the series went dormant since the early 2000s. When Mechwarrior 5 was announced I was beyind excited and couldn't wait to relive those days of playing Battletech in the arcade. Unfortunately those memories were more enjoyable than the latest entry in the series.


Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Mechwarrior 5 mostly; it definitely rides that line between complex sim and accessible PC game well, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make the game more fun overall. Durint the beginning of the game you'll have a blast playing it, but as soon as you get the hang of the controls the game becomes extremely easy. Combine this lack of difficulty with very repetitive missions and levels and by the time you're 10-hours into the game you're just sort of board with it. There is a storyline in all of. this, but it progresses so slowly and the story itself isn't the great anyways so you'll quickly lose interest in all of it. The OST and mech noises are pretty cool, as is the voice acting. The graphics are probably MW5's biggest drawback. I get that this wasn't developed by a massive studio like EA, and for what they had available it actually looks decent, however some of the damage graphics to both mechs and environments don't look that great, and as mentioned the levels you'll be playing it get somewhat repetitive over time. While Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries is a decent game it falls short of being a triumphant return of the franchise and is little more than a game that's fun to play here and there between playing other games. (6/22/21) [33/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 23, 2021, 12:21:52 am
31. Streets of Rage (Genesis)

I've played Streets of Rage many, many times over the years, but a) it's been freakin forever since I last played it, and b) I've never actually beat it. I decided to change that this evening and wow, this game is tough, but unfortunately not for all the right reasons. Streets of Rage is a pretty good beatem' up, but unfortunately has some questionable and annoying gameplay issues involving poor crowd control mechanics, bad stage design at times, and cheap bosses. These gameplay issues are enough to damper your enjoyment of this game and I remember getting pretty frustrated with Streets of Rage as a kid just as much as I did playing it as an adult. However, this game is a freakin showstopper when it comes to its presentation. Streets of Rage is an excellent looking game on the Genesis, and is highly atmospheric. Very repetitive enemies and recycled bosses become a little tiresome, but prety much all beatem' ups did this so it's not a huge deal I guess. However, the music in this game is insanely good! Like 10/10 amazing! Overall, it's easy to see why this game is so iconic and why it every other Genesis owner had it or its sequel. Great game even if it is let down by some annoying issues. (6/22/21) [34/50]

32. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)

Streets of Rage 2 plays better and looks slightly better than its predecessor, however it's OST was definitely found wanting in comparison. With that said, Streets of Rage 2 still had a great OST that I really liked. Oh, and the super movies were totally gimped in this sequel compared to the first. In the end however, I found that I liked them both about them same, albeit for slightly different reasons. Both are absolute classics on the Genesis! (6/22/21) [34/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on June 25, 2021, 09:47:07 am
39. Control

This was available for free (just the base game) on Epic Store last week so I gave it a shot. I had previously watched some people on Twitch play it and I really liked how the environmental damage. The story was interesting, closer to a classic sci-fi type thing. Game gets a little easier as time goes on but some things I cannot ever find like the jukebox. Then there is a plateau period and then it really ramps up at the end, despite having more powers and upgrades. I did get to a point where I was constantly dying, mostly due to invulnerable enemies. Then I learned about the cheat menu so I put on invincibility. You can still die with this on and I did twice. But this made it fun to play the game again instead of before when it just got super frustrating. After seeing the final areas of the game with the enemy types that spawn, I couldn't imagine being able to get through it normally. Game has fake end credits but is the best fake credits I've seen.

Not a lot of bad with this. Outside of the invulnerable enemies, which as these black blob things that throw stuff around. The first time you encounter one you have to lure it into a certain place and "trap" it in there. If you try to trap it into the hallway, it will just respawn behind. Getting it to follow you is hard because its detection range is long, and the way it moves makes it hard to determine if it is following you or just how close it really is. You can use musical cues to determine if it sees you or not, but obviously this would be impossible if you had music disabled. Any other time you see those enemies you just have to avoid them.

Very few amount of invisible walls. You have freedom to solve some situations. Such as not using the path in the quarry, basically use it just so the enemies spawn and then climb up on the rocks where the enemies can't get to. They still shoot at you or throw things so it isn't perfect cover but it makes them manageable. There are some instances where you can outrange enemies so they do not aggro you. There are 2 types of this, one where you can see health bar and one without. This ceases to become useful once you come across armored enemies because you need to be close enough to use the throw power to get them to flesh.

The engine is very good and it makes me want to play other games like this. There are no outdoor areas so that might not be possible. Love all the old tech shown everywhere, wish I could press all those buttons. Some day a game will come out that lets you do that.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 25, 2021, 11:28:01 am
33. New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

I have a ton of wonderful memories around wanting and finally getting the original Pokemon Snap for my birthday in 1999. I played the hell out of that game and literally 100% did everything you could in that game. So when they announced a new Pokemon Snap game and at least superficially it looked like a faithful sequel to the original I was beyond excited to fnally play it. And as fate would have it, I ended up getting it for my birthday as well 22-years after I got the first one. But is New Pokemon Snap as good at the first one, or at least as good?


Almost. New Pokemon Snap is an awesome looking game that utilizes the same great rail shooter style mechanics as you take pictures of various pokemon in their natural settings. There are way more stages in New Pokemon Snap, especially when you factor in the Night Time and Illumina versions on many of he stages. I found the variety to be very welcome, although I didn't feel like the stages or Pokemon within them were as memorable as the N64 game. Speaking of Pokemon, there are way, way more than in the N64 version and represent a diverse spread across all generations of Pokemon. This game really highlighted how outof touch I am with Pokemon beyond Gen 6 though; I have somewhat accepted that I've outgrown newer Pokemon and as a result I don't know or recognize many of the newest additions to the Pokemon roster. Still, it was fun snapping pics of them all the same. My biggest gripes with New Pokemon Snap have to do with some of its gameplay mechanics when didn't seem to work as well as the original game. Also, the tacked on story and characters were superfluous to the point of the game, as was the excessive handholding during the first two hours or so of the game. Soundtrack was pretty good though. Despite more stages and more pokemon, I still prefer the original N64 game, but as a new entry I was not disappointed with this one and would definitely recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the original. (6/25/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on June 25, 2021, 11:51:58 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg189958.html#msg189958)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

126. Mega Man: Dr Wily's Revenge (GB)
After finishing Tron Bonne, I decided I'd play through the handheld Mega Man games before jumping into Legends 2.  I'd say as a nice break, but that's dumb because I love Legends and am not that big of a fan of the Mega Man proper games, but it's more of get the disappointing food out of the way before you get to the good part of your meal.  Being the first entry, it's not very refined.  You do the regular level thing and fight 4 robot masters from Mega Man 1, do a wily stage, then fight 4 robot masters from Mega Man 2 with no stages just straight fight, and then fight Wily.  I like to think of the GB as equivalent to the NES, even though I'm sure it really isn't, so it's weird to me to see such a small game in comparison.  The platforming and such work well enough, but it has its issues.  Most of these issues are resolved in other entries via QoL and improvements in hitbox calculations.  That all said, I appreciate the shortness.  You get 8 bosses, 5 real stages, and no boss rush. But I believe this one is very Mega Man 1 with no rush or sliding.  After the 4 MM2 bosses, but before Wily, you face an original character boss Enker who gives you the Mirror weapon.  You have to use the mirror weapon to reflect Wily's shots to kill him.  Honestly, pretty great setup, fun original boss and original weapon to defeat the final boss.  Major points for making a down port feel original and worth playing, if only at the end.  I don't think I'll wind up recommending any of these handheld games, but if I were to, I feel so far that this might be the one to recommend.
Rating: Soft pass.

127. Mega Man II (GB)
So with this one, you start with the 4 MM2 bosses you didn't face in the first one and then fight 4 bosses from MM3.  I assume by the end you will have fought all of the bosses from 2-4 and half the bosses from 1 and 5, because my understanding is V has all original bosses and none of this half and half stuff.  Graphically the game is an improvement over the first, it reintroduces sliding and Rush mechanics.  This is also the only one not made by the same dev, just a note.  This one brings back stages for the second half bosses.    I'm reading back on it and it sounds like Inafune felt the developer didn't understand MM and had never been acquainted with it and as such this game's design felt off from the series and was why they went back to the original Wily's Revenge dev.  Interesting.  This one did the same as the first and gave you an original character with an original weapon, and the weapon must be used to defeat the final boss.  Though I think you could use other weapons, this was just "easier".  It was an interesting take, but even that original weapon didn't work well because you'd take damage when you use it.  I do find it interesting that while this is the bastard child game, they acknowledge its existence and even include Quint in MMIV.
Rating: Soft pass.

128. Mega Man III (GB)
Graphics improvement again, where I'd say this is on par with the quality of the NES games (even though it is monochrome).  I'd even say the levels themselves are starting to represent their NES counterparts.  I imagine they're slightly different, but they have all the same stuff I remember from playing the originals. Again you face the rest of the MM3 bosses and then 4 bosses from MM4.  I imagine MMIV will start off with the rest of the MM4 bosses and finish off with half the MM5 bosses.  I appreciate that they aren't deciding to repeat bosses, because they easily could.  As a retroactive statement, that applies to the whole handheld series, I expected the 2nd half bosses, at least one right, to be weak to a weapon from the 1st half of bosses, but they aren't.  So you don't have the normal Rock Paper Scissors thing going on.  By that I mean there 2 MM(1 old + 1 new) boss that isn't weak to any weapon in the game and 2 MM(1 old + 1 new) boss whose weapon isn't good against anyone.  I was hoping it'd go full circle and they'd make some new MM boss weak to an old MM boss's weapon.  Again they do the thing where you fight an original enemy and get an original weapon to be used against Wily.  I'm actually not opposed to this concept and am curious why that wasn't something the mainline series took on.
Rating: Soft pass.

129. Mega Man IV (GB)
This one introduces a currency and shop mechanic with P Chips.  This is actually the game in the series that originated the currency and shop model seen in Mega Man 7 and future games.  So at the least this is noteworthy for creating a mechanic that was deemed so good it should be pulled into the series proper.  I decided to read up and see what else this title is good for and I see they brought back the boss rush towards the end of the game and I am full of disappoint, it's not a huge thing, but it's always been my biggest peeve with this series as I hate refighting bosses.  Honestly, I can't decide.  I want to say I shouldn't recommend any of these handheld Mega Man games.  I'll maybe retroactively make my decision after V.
Rating: Soft pass

130. Mega Man V (GB)
This is the first handheld one with fully original story and enemies.  You face "Stardroids" which are robot masters named after planets.  You've got the 8 planets, pluto, the moon, and the final boss Sunstar. ::)  This one follows the 4 then 4 model of the handheld Mega Man games, but Mercury is weak to a weapon only obtained from the 2nd 4 bosses, creating the full rock-paper-scissors model of the mainline games, so this is the only handheld game that offers the full circle, which also means Mercury has no weakness in the 1st 4, because you can't even earn his weakness until end game.  Kind of a shame that they did it this way instead of just letting you access all 8 up front.  This one has the boss rush plus it has you fighting all of the original bosses from the 1st 4 games.  Then you fight Wily and then you fight Sunstar, a little weird that Sunstar is over Wily and then turns out to not really be a bad guy or something, just feels backwards, should've just made it Sunstar then Wily.  Honestly, since this one is fully original, acknowledges the original ideas from the previous 4 entries, and has the most QoL improvements, I'd say if I were to recommend a handheld Mega Man game, this would be the one.
Rating: Soft recommendation

131. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
This game makes my head hurt.  You get 3 MMX bosses and 1 MMX2 boss.  So you face Chill Penguin, which gives you the weakness for Spark Mandrill.  Cool, makes sense.  Spark Mandrill gives you the weakness for... Storm Eagle?  Well that ain't right.  Storm Eagle really has no weakness in this game and you basically have to do the fight with the buster since you don't have Chameleon sting.  Then you face Flame Stag the X2 boss, and he's weak to storm tornado?  Okay, whatever.  I don't remember his level from X2, but it feels very Armored Armadillo.  Just feels dumb that they didn't just do Penguin, Mandrill, Armadillo, Octopus.  Apparently you unlock Hard Mode after beating the game which gives you different robot masters and levels to do, but I'm just not doing that.  This game really wasn't good.  It should've been saved for the GBA.  The wall jumping mechanic just doesn't work well, it's nearly impossible to do dash jumps.  Basic controls doesn't assign dash to anything so you press down + jump like OG mega man, well you can't dash jump like that.  You can assign dash to the start button, but can you imagine how terrible that would control on a Game Boy?  At least on a Gameboy advance you could assign it to L.  I'm just sad that this game is so bad, it could've been serviceable on the GBA I'd imagine.
Rating: Hard pass

132. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
Okay, first off, this game didn't even offer a way to map dash to anything... so I figured out, accidentally, that if you double tap forward, you dash.  I don't think that worked in the first game, otherwise I would've noticed it, but maybe.  At this point I'm pretty Mega Man'd out, luckily the last game I'll probably play is Legends 2 which is a completely different kind of thing.  I was expecting this to be MMX3-X4 bosses but half the bosses were still from MMX, and I didn't look up the other two, but I'd guess X2.  Weaknesses seemed to mostly work this time around, but this game is designed to be played multiple times and collecting all of the power ups across multiple playthroughs.  Story was pretty garbage, gameplay was just as bad as the last.  Really should've waited for the GBA to develop something so ambitious.  One of the boss fights was near impossible, only Zero could hurt him or one specific weapon from X.  Zero can't get close enough to hit without taking damage because melee and his health is weak and low because he wasn't the main character.  X burns through the weapon too fast.  I didn't realize there was a shop until after that fight, so had I went to the shop and got the 1/2 energy upgrade thing, maybe it would've been easier, but it was still no bueno.
Rating: Hard pass.

133. Metroid Fusion (GBA)
I've been meaning to play this one and I saw that it was part of the 3DS ambassador program so I've been slowly chipping away at this game when my Vita is charging.  It'll probably be a pretty slow play for this one.  I'm disappointed that the 3DS VC GBA stuff doesn't offer save states or anything.  Can't even natively do sleep mode in VC mode.  That said, this game seems to have a sleep mode built into the game which is interesting.  The plot for this game is confusing me so far, and I'm hoping it'll get cleared up.  I do actually consider stop playing on 3DS and setup my GCN with hdmi and gameboy player and play on a TV and stream it, because I'm getting 0 advantages from playing on 3DS.  I'm getting about far enough into the game that I need to make the decision soon otherwise I'm fully committed to 3DS.  I haven't been streaming because I've been in so much pain because of my work related injury. At this point I've committed to the 3DS version.  I'm act Sector 3, which is the 4th sector. ::)  I started largely following a walkthrough at some point because you couldn't progress without going through hidden walls and such, which I don't recall being a normal thing in previous games.  And since I was doing that I largely started collecting all the pickups as the guide suggested, but I still only wound up with like 50% item collection at the end of the game.  My understanding is that this game sort of directly leads to Dread, so I knew I needed to play it soon.  I might read up on the series before jumping into Dread when it comes out, but I probably won't play Zero Mission, 2/AM2R, or replay Super Metroid.  I'm expecting once Nintendo does the GB/GBC thing on NSO, if it happens, that Metroid 2 will be there and if they happen to do a GBA thing it'll have Zero Mission and or Fusion.  Here's hoping.
Rating: Solid recommendation

134. The World Ends With You: Final Remix (NS)
Finally started this game.  I had intended on starting it a while back, but I noticed it seemed like it's touchscreen game, so I was waiting for a time when I could focus on handheld stuff.  With my injury, I'm playing a lot of handheld stuff so wherever I'm laying around resting, I can just play.  I initially tried playing this just system only, but the game wants joycons at least on and connected otherwise you can't play, which is dumb for a game that seems very designed around touchscreen only game play.  You can't do anything with the joy cons without using Wii style pointer controls.  It's infuriatingly dumb.  I don't really get this game, and I don't imagine it'll wind up high on my list.  It doesn't help that this game has been overhyped to a point that it's essentially a meme.  There's no way it'll live up to its meme status.  It took almost the entire first section of the game for the game to really grab my interest, and even then, the gameplay was always a deterring factor.  The story for this game is actually pretty interesting, but the gameplay holds it back so much.  I'll admit it's commendable that they decided to come up with such an original gameplay mechanic, it's just not a very good gameplay mechanic.  The English dub for the anime just started, so I intend on watching that, if it's good and it works as a replacement for playing this game, I might update my recommendation to watch the anime.  It's a great story, but that's about where the compliments end, it feels like a poor adaptation of an anime, but it was a game first.
Rating: Hard pass

135. Night in the Woods (X1)
I had been meaning to play this game for a long time, even started it earlier this year, but kind of abandoned it.  It's leaving game pass soon, so I finally bucked up or hunkered down whatever you want to call it and finished the game.  I'm personally not big on dialogue in games unless I care about the characters, story, lore, etc.  So I have the trouble starting games like this and especially visual novels (not that this is).  So after like 7 in game days, I started caring, this is only a problem in that I missed a lot of lore and stuff in the first 7 days.  I won't be replaying this game, but it does make me want to replay it, and it probably wouldn't be so bad because there is so much content I missed I could manage to mostly not repeat a lot of stuff, or at least have enough differences in the second playthrough that it won't be so bad.  That said, I didn't get a lot of background on Gregg and Angus because I chose to hang out with Bea almost the entire game, mostly because my wife said she hung out with Gregg, so I wanted a different experience and if she were watching, she could also get a different experience.  That said, I really like Bea as a character, she's a very deep and well fleshed out character with a real strong backstory.  I'm almost concerned I wouldn't like Gregg's stuff as much, but Bea's content really emphasizes how much of a garbage mammal Mae is.  The entire game does a real great job of emphasizing how garbage Mae is as a person.  And even by the end, I'm not convinced that Mae is gonna change, other than that Bea seems to want to help Mae get help from a real doctor and not their local wack doc.  Game is like 80% just wandering and chatting and Mae being garbage, 15% detectiving, and 5% mysteriousness, rise to climax, and resolution.  There's just a lot of nothing going on in this game until right at the end.
Rating: Soft pass.

136. Night in the Woods: Longest Night (X1)
I wanted to not count this, but historically I count these things.  It's basically a side game that just has you looking at constellations and hearing stories about them.  Not much to it.  It's free on itch.io and stuff, but it doesn't really add anything to the game.  Honestly, should've just been part of the main game as a random evening event or something.
Rating: Hard pass

137. Night in the Woods: Lost Constellation (X1)
Okay, this one is at least different.  It plays different, has different mechanics, and is kind of enjoyable.  More or less one giant puzzle type of thing.  It only adds lore in that in the main game you talk about this person and their constellation.  So it's only tangentially relevant, but it was supposed to be a demo of systems that could go in the game, but as far as I'm aware, none of these mechanics were introduced in the game at all, so it's actually novel in concept.  That said, it still doesn't add much, and some of the puzzles were confusing and I think I had to look up what to do.
Rating: Hard pass

138. Katana Zero (X1)
A bunch of games got added to the list of leaving soon for Game Pass and as always I try to play the games that interest me from the lot.  I passed on the physical of this game, because I wasn't confident that it'd be a game I'd want to come back to.  Pretty pleased that I didn't buy it because I really didn't enjoy this game that much.  The game started on a bad note for me because I thought the referenced "rewind" feature would be an actual rewind feature, but instead it was really just a retry like every game does, they just called it rewind to make the plot make sense in dying.  That's fine, but it was definitely a letdown.  Other than that, gameplay was pretty fine, other than that given the unforgiving nature of the game, some later areas were fairly long which led to dying meaning that you'd have to redo a lot of stuff, which got frustrating.  Story wise, the game was kind of garbage.  A lot of stuff didn't make sense and the story had no real ending or resolution and left off on a giant cliffhanger, which means another game is coming, but I'm not hyped for that or down for how it left things off.
Rating: Soft pass

139. Heave Ho (PC)
Another game pass game leaving. I think I didn't realize this was PC only for Game Pass, it was part of why I passed on the Switch release, but it's fine as I am willing to play on PC.  Seemed like a Snipperclips type of game that should be played local co-op, but I played solo because I wanted to get through it and I wasn't confident that my wife would enjoy playing the game.  Controls are actually pretty good, I was expecting closer to "simulator" games where the controls are frustrating on purpose, but it worked pretty well.  The game relied a lot on physics of throwing yourself across the level, that got a little tough in spots, but it led to some interesting and cool stuff.  I really liked that when you die, you explode into a splooge of ink, it left me laughing in a lot of situations.  Game seems like it would be fun and/or frustrating in co-op, so it could definitely be an interesting party type game, but as a solo experience it loses its luster and value pretty quickly.
Rating: Soft pass

140. Fallout: New Vegas (360)
Don't really know why other than I was hurting because of my injury and I really didn't feel like streaming, so I played something I've beaten before.  So I sat and played this on my XSX for 10s of hours.  I generally have the problem of replaying this game on console to be the lack of mods.  I see the things I didn't care for the game about that mods fixed and I can't do anything about it on console, but just to deal, which is unfortunate.  It makes me realize that the replay factor is definitely diminished for this game compared to the PC version or even Fallout 4 because of the lack of mods.  That said, the world, the systems, the characters, the quests, this game is still amazing.
Rating: Highly recommended.

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Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 26, 2021, 03:01:20 am
34. Spiderman and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis)

I remember seeing this game everywhere in the mid 90s. Between ads in gaming magazines and also seeing it at the rental store a lot, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't partially intrigued by it growing up. However, I've never been much of a comic book guy, especially now with how oversaturated pop culture is with super hero crap,  but regardless I've always had at least an interest in trying this game out. Well, over two decades after first seeing this game in stores I finally have done just that!


Maximum Carnage is not a great game, even for a beat em' up. I feel like for nearly everything I like about this game there's something equally as strong that makes me dislike it. The end result is me feeling fairly meh towards most parts of this game. Howrever, on aspect of the game I am not neutral on, like at all, is its gameplay. Maximum Carnage's gameplay is pretty bad; between the super cheap, broken boss fights, the poorly implemented mechanics, and some of the most horrendous recycling of enemies and levels I've ever seen, this game is not that much fun to play. I suppose your mileage will vary depending on how much of a comic book fan, or more specifically a Spiderman fan you are, but for me I can't see myself ever wanting to play this game again, ever. (6/26/21) [22/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 26, 2021, 03:03:10 am
Quote from: ignition365 on June 25, 2021, 11:51:58 am
Been playing games like crazy again, so now I'm sitting at 73 games beat so far for the year.  I'm currently playing through Rogue Legacy, taking advantage of Cross-Save playing at night on my PS5 and during the day playing on my Vita.  I'm currently level 51 I think and I've beaten the first boss, this game is gonna be such a long and arduous process.  I honestly could see me abandoning it at some point just because of all of the dookie I've got to go through to get through it.


I'm in the same boat right now, except I didn't play anything between late February and early May. Despite this I'm still ahead for the year, but this month has been filled with games and shows no signs of stopping.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on June 27, 2021, 01:32:45 pm
25. Catherine: Full Body || PlayStation 4 || 06.25.21

Being familiar with the debut Catherine after having played it in 2015, I was excited to try out what an updated re-release may bring. However, much of what lies within the game's numerous endings is unknown to me even now, as I've only unlocked one ending to the base game. As far as Full Body itself, it brings two great quality-of-life changes in particular that are simple yet extremely effective: highlighting the path one can take when hanging from blocks and tilting the camera so the player can see the player-character move about as they navigate the backside to blocks.

For those unfamiliar with Catherine, it is an action-puzzle title that stars protagonist Vincent Brooks as he has begun to experience horrifying nightmares which he must climb atop a seemingly never-ending tower of blocks all while in the midst of a troubling love life. As someone who is content with his static life and the familiarity it brings, Vincent is in a stable relationship with Katherine who is now looking to advance their relationship; nevertheless, uncertainty and new trouble begins as a new woman Catherine mysteriously enters his life who is carefree and promiscuous. While the game Catherine focuses on the dilemma between Katherine versus Catherine, Full Body adds a whole new dimension to the story by introducing Qatherine or Rin into the plot. Rin is a young woman Vincent crosses paths with who has undergone some sort of memory loss.

Wanting to experience all of Full Body's new content, my initial playthroughs with Full Body have been pursuing a relationship with Rin. Despite the extra element that does dramatically change the story and is a fresh take, I'm of the opinion that adding Rin to the narrative diminishes the integrity to the game. As mentioned before, Catherine offers a narrative that is focused as Vincent must discover what he wishes to gain from his future: a life with Katherine or a life with Catherine. However, the third element of Rin seems to place both aforementioned characters to the sidelines, and especially so if the player is pursuing a Rin path.

As someone who has not experienced many Atlus games, I can still comment that Catherine is a great game. Just as what you'd expect, Catherine is full of style with an interesting story, in addition to great characters and character development. Both Catherine and Catherine: Full Body mix action-puzzle sequences with plot-progression adventure segments so perfectly. And, knowing Atlus, all of these elements are packaged with an impressively executed style and ambience.

As an aside—it's challenging to recommend Catherine or Catherine: Full Body over another. Some may enjoy the added third element with the introduction of Rin, whereas some may not. While I personally think Full Body introduces elements that detract from the original story, it's still a great game in its own right. They're just different. If you're interested in the series, perhaps try out both. Also, I've already begun to play the game again to unlock the other endings. 3/13 completed so far!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on June 28, 2021, 01:03:13 pm
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

141. Forza Horizon 4 (XS/Cloud)
I had intended on not including games like this this year, because in previous years I did include it and I wanted a bit more of a pure backlog clearing experience for my list this year, but I've spent so much time on these games they really should be included.  They should be included at the least as a sort of return review to these games.  The majority of my return to this game has been for the times when MS is like hey, earn an achievement in Forza Horizon 4.  I played some in the cloud via my phone, I played some on my X1X, and I played some on my XSX.  I've definitely put in at least like 10 hours into this game this year.  My original review of this game complained specifically about the live events nature of this game whereas the previous entries in the series gave you tons of replay value in doing different tiers/types of championships, whereas this one just kinda throws stuff at you and you finish the offline/solo experience pretty quickly.  That said, I've finally taken a look at the "Seasons" stuff and I gotta say, it works pretty well.  It gives players a reason to keep playing because if you do the seasonal events you wind up with useful and good rewards.  The only downside is that I think they have you doing races you've already done again, they are just recycling old races/championships, I can't confirm that at the moment, but that's what it seems to be, which is a bit of a shame as you've got such a big world, you could be generating new tracks and such, infinitely so, I imagine.  The seasonal stuff does make you racer with difficult set to highly skilled in order to win the good rewards, which is a bit unfortunate in my opinion, because it definitely does a bit of gate keeping on doing the seasonal events.  If I'm not that good at the game, I can't win these advertised rewards, thus I shouldn't keep playing.  I definitely had some difficulty with the races on that difficulty, but I managed to get the rewards for the few I did.  So on the one hand good ideas, on the other, the execution leaves much to be desired.  My previous review was a soft recommendation because I enjoyed the game, but felt the content wasn't quite there, but the service aspect, while not appealing to me seemed like a good idea.  At further inspection, I feel like the service aspect does the game no favors and thus downgrade its rating as essentially the worst Horizon game yet.
Rating: Soft pass

142. Fallout 4 (X1)
After playing New Vegas for so long, I decided that I really wanted to play Fallout with mods, I didn't particularly feel like setting up a new character and doing the whole PC thing, so I gave and started playing Fallout 4 again.  Loaded up my usual mods, because I already had a character with mods enabled, and went and dug through the latest popular mods and added some cool looking ones.  I'm sure I'll play this more, but I probably won't really update.  A lot of people hate this game for all it changed, I like a lot of what they did with this one.  Sure the settlements are annoying in many ways, the mod system is wack, the massive amount of pipe weapons is annoying, and the lack of variety is also annoying, but the versatility, lack of a level cap, and the massive expansive world... not to mention console mods, has this game making up for some of its shortcomings.  I will say however, that I don't enjoy the fact that enemies level up with you, so once you hit level 100, all enemies are 100+, you will never run into another level 3 chump ghoul ever again, so the game is this ever constantly threatening gamescape.  I liked in Fallout 3 that by the end of the game you were godlike and could just mow down everyone.  It's definitely a subjective thing, but I enjoy that.
Rating: Highly recommended.

143. Fallout 76 (X1)
I don't know if I've ever written anything about this game.  I've been playing it on and off since it went on Game Pass.  I bought this game at launch because of the CE like an idiot, but I never actually opened the CE, it's still sealed in the shipping box matter of fact.  The game was obviously garbage at first, but they've done a lot to make the game better.  That said, there are so many complexity to the game that make it unenjoyable from a casual perspective.  All ammo has weight, you have limited storage options, and ammo has 0 value.  The most useless things in the entire game are missiles and mini-nukes.  In the solo Fallout games, those are the most valued ammunition, in this, you literally have to throw it away, because there is no other use for it, this is one of my biggest complaints.  The other being the fact that there is no system where you can really sell items.  You can sell items to other players, but I imagine, like myself, nobody is buying, so nothing is selling.  It very much makes the game about only carry what you need immediately.  Only pickup ammo for the 2-3 guns you use and throw everything else away.  The MMO aspect works pretty well as the PvP is very much optional, but I do find that almost every enemy in the game is tough as nails so solo'ing the game is just kind of a wack concept in general.  Regardless, I give this game a try every so often, and it has no clear end goal, so I'm gonna call it "unbeatable".
Rating: Soft pass.

144. Super Mario 3D World (NS)
Copying over my text from my Wii U notes.  Another Wii U game that I bought day 1 and just sort of abandoned very quickly.  Plays like the Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, but with the added Cat outfits.  I normally hate Peach, but Peach is super adorable in this game.  When she gets the fire flower she puts her hair in a ponytail and just looks like she's ready to kick some butt.  When she gets the cat suit, she looks like an adorable pink sorta catgirl.  I somehow skipped the middle of world 4 over to world 5, didn't mean to, just kind of happened.  Sorta abandoned this again.  These Mario games can't really keep my attention.  Started this over with the re-release on Switch, played through a chunk of it back at release and then finished it up recently.  I did random for a bit thinking that'd make it interesting or something, but I wound up just playing as Peach over and over.  She's got her advantages which makes her basically easy mode I think, but she's got some disadvantages too.  Basically played the whole game as Peach though and treated it like a Super Princess Peach 2 but not sexist.  Overall not a terrible game, my wife watched part of my playthrough and certain levels she's like "Games I watch you play that I file under never ever playing this game"  There were some levels that were pretty brutally designed, and not because they're tough, but because the natural camera angles make it tough to distinguish depth and such.
Rating: Soft pass.

145. Family (PC)
Someone was talking about Obra Dinn and I remembered that I've had this game on my recommended list for a while because it's free to play (in browser) on itch.io.  Recommended as Obra Dinn, but about 80s rock bands.  I wasn't sure about the music based on the description because 80s bands is vague, but I enjoyed the music, so that made the experience better.  Just a quick little 30 minute to an hour game about determining which people belong to which bands.  I think I only wound up guessing for 2 because it was like "We'll either get (x) or [y] so I assume they expected you to guess, which logically doesn't make sense for a detective game, you want hard facts, not trial and error.  Trial and error shouldn't work for detective stuff, but it's game so... whatever I guess.  I'm still knocking it points.  There was a game I played where you could pick the right answer, but it wouldn't tell you unless you explicitly pointed out proof supporting your selection, I appreciate that kind of mechanic in a detective game.  You can be right, but without proper proof, it doesn't matter.  I might check out the dev's other games because they are more fleshed out, but consider me mildly disappointed, but also quite entertained by the game.  Lucas Pope even gave the game compliments.
Rating: Soft pass.

146. Bowser's Fury (NS)
Started this up at some point after finishing 3D World.  Starts out slow and small and gradually opens up the world.  This is a new Mario 3D experience for given that it's one open world with access to all of the "worlds" in it pretty much all at once.  It works pretty great.  2 player mode is pretty good in that it's non obtrusive and can be fun.  The AI is mostly useless I imagine, but I had it set to help a little, which turned into him getting in my way sometimes and sometimes actually being helpful.  The game did some interesting things with the boss mechanic, locking certain shines behind his boss attack and the lucky isle stuff in the post game.  Integrating Plessie into the game made it pretty good to travel, and you do unlock fast travel in the post game so you can clean up pretty quick.  It definitely doesn't feel like a full game, but rather a sort of side game like it is, but I'd absolutely love to see a full game like this just adjusted feel a bit more cohesive... or even a new "Galaxy" game where the planets are the size of this world or larger with 10 or so planets to visit, or even just 1 full size planet with biomes and such.  That would blow my mind.
Rating: Solid recommendation

147. Cruis'n Blast (NS)
Bought this a few days ago because of the $30 sale + the $10 GC... so essentially paid $20... and having played it, I paid too much.  Comparing it to the old N64 games, it might be on par content wise, but I expect more from a modern game, even at bargain prices right after release.  That said, the game is pretty fun and I'm surprised that the game licensed the vehicles in the games rather than just make look a like vehicles.  I think when I saw the keys thing I was thinking Rush 2/2049 that the levels would have a free roam mode where you would collect collectibles, but I was mistaken, the keys are baked into the races and the races are pretty linear.  Honestly, this game just makes me yearn for a new Rush game.  I loved Cruis'n as a kid and this meets that nostalgia, but Rush was always the superior game for me.  This game does A for gas and B for brake, which feels weird with a Switch controller, and the game doesn't allow for custom controls.  Game has zero options, as far as I could tell you can't even control the volume of the music/sfx.  All of the vehicles have the same noise, so the helicopter, unicorn, and shark all have engine noises lol.
Rating: Solid pass.

148. Metroid Dread (NS)
Prepared for this game by playing Fusion earlier this year, I enjoyed the game, but the SA-X stuff bothered me and this game sounded to be that turned up to 11.  Luckily it isn't, it's just turned up to like 8, which still isn't great, but at least the checkpoints are so frequent that you aren't having to replay anything but the section with the EMMI.  The game relies a lot on the manual targeting to hit targets at various angles and it doesn't quite work very well, personally I would've liked to see it snap to target or something, but I could see that being problematic.  The EMMI fights can be frustrating with this because you have to hit it a lot and fast, so if you're barely missing it can cost you the fight.  The other thing with this is the Chozo and Robo Chozo fights, especially when they throw multiple enemies at the same time at you.  The last "powerup" you get, which isn't really a powerup but more of a plot device, is pretty bad ass.  Like I wish I felt well enough to stream my playthrough because that whole reveal was just awesome.  Gosh, the final boss fight was tough, 3 phases of just tough ass git gud bossery. Plus a 4th phase to just show off. ::)  I got through the final fight and it loaded what seemed like a cutscene so I just watched and didn't parry and died... I almost cried having to do that fight over again, but I kicked his ass the second time around because I guess I was prepared.  What an awesome game.  I'd call it Dark Souls meets Metroid kind of, it's tough, has parrying, and the bosses are no joke in this game.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

149. Carto (X1)
One of the handful of games leaving game pass again that I'm mildly interested in.  Game is part puzzle game, part exploration/adventure game.  Most puzzle games have the problem that either the puzzle mechanic gets stale/boring/tedious or to keep it interesting they make the puzzle mechanics get too complex.  This game does a fantastic job of keeping sections short enough that the current design doesn't get stale and few enough sections that there aren't too many new mechanics, and the diversity of the mechanics is diverse enough to remain interesting, but not so complex that it gets tedious or frustrating.  I'll echo the sentiments that I've read that there are a handful of puzzles that were complex/unintuitive enough that I had to look it up, but once I read it I was like oh yeah, that makes sense.  Dialogue and story was pretty good too, nothing special, but interesting enough.  The gameplay is really what makes this game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

150. Eastshade (X1)
Another game leaving game pass, looked interesting enough and was recommended to me by a few people.  The world and characters didn't really click with me and the dialogue in this game just isn't very good.  The fact that all of the characters are animals is a little weird, especially when there are cats and horses and such in the game.  I try not to dwell on that too much.  Game is pretty buggy too, crashed more than once and had to restart sections because things got borked.  The progression and layout of the world isn't exactly intuitive and leaves a lot to be desired.  The quests are pretty bland and honestly a bit too interconnected.  The map doesn't show where you are currently and fast travel only works with a limited inventory item so you've just got to walk the entire game unless you waste time fishing or something.  Fishing is pretty much required in the game and it's not very fun nor hard, it's just kinda there.
Rating: Hard pass

151. Knights and Bikes (X1)
My wife started this game a long time ago, but was playing it slowly.  It finally got to the point that it was being removed from Game pass so I told her I was going to play through it before it left and asked if she wanted to play with me even though that would mean starting over.  She said yes and joined me, as it turned out in order to start over I had to overwrite her save data anyway.  It's really unfortunate that there is no simple way to share my game pass ultimate on pc with her so she can play on her own profile.  I mean, there might be a way, I'll have to google it.  Very early on we both had the opinion that Ness was an imaginary friend and that Demelza was just a crazy kid.  Honestly, this thought process really hurt us emotionally, because our kid doesn't really get to hang out with other kids his age due to covid, so it sort of hits home for us about a kid who has no friends.  Ending was meh for me personally.  I know they are making a Knights and Bikes 2 and either it'll be unrelated or they'll have to explain things that were left open ended.  Was Nessa imaginary or is she the pilot's daughter who managed to sneak onto a ferry to Penfurzy?  If she isn't imaginary, what happened to her at the end of the game?  What's up with Oba, he's the only person who acknowledges Nessa the entire game, is he imaginary too or is he playing along with Demelza's delusions because why crush a child's spirit?  Yay, you got me thinking, that's great, but I know a sequel is coming, so you gotta have something definitive in mind.  Story aside, gameplay has its moments that are funny and interesting, but all in all, combat is pretty frustrating, the art style isn't for me, and I sped through the game so I didn't check out the side areas that I probably could've ventured into.
Rating: Soft pass.

152. Gear.Club Unlimited 2 (NS)
I think I bought this game before I even finished the first game.  I enjoyed the first game well enough, but it just had too many performance issues to be a good game.  It crashed a lot, tons of slowdown and framedrops, and in simple screens you had to press multiple times to get anything to register.  In this game, at least early on, I had none of those issues.  As the game progressed and I got further into the game I noticed a lot of the same issues.  If I left the game running for too long, this includes putting the system into sleep mode ::), the game would stutter pretty bad, it got so bad at one point that I swear the race was running at like 10 fps.  The game started crashing a lot, like sometimes I'd get 2-3 races in between crashes.  The pressing multiple times to get things to register wasn't so bad this time around, I think I didn't really have the issue at all, but I did have some issues where it had a delay between actions so I had to wait for some animation to complete before I could make the next selection and that often threw me off.  All of that said, this game may have a similar number of races overall, but it doesn't force you to do nearly as many races to get through the main career mode, so I managed to burn through this game much quicker than it took me to get through the first game.  This game is obviously better, but just throwing that out there.  Another issue that happened was sometimes when the game was running for too long, the AI would throw higher class racers against me so it would be impossible to win.  Like I can't drive anything better than B3, but they throw a single D3 racer in there and they just absolutely demolish me the entire race... I turn off and reset the game and now all drivers are B3 max, so I can win easily.  This game I will say had a certain difficulty curve compared to the last one, in that in the first game I had no trouble with just about any race, but this game had a lot of scenarios where you were just screwed racing against AI/vehicles that out class you constantly and there isn't much to do as your car is maxed out and you can't go up classes or anything.
Rating: Soft pass

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191088.html#msg191088)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 29, 2021, 01:35:56 am
35. Keio Flying Squadron (Sega CD)

I finally got a working SCART cable so I've been on a Genesis/Sega CD kick as of late. I thought what better way to christen the new cable than to play the rarest, most expensive game on the Sega CD!


I feel like I've got to the point where I always automatically lower my expectations when playing a holy grail game, mostly because they almost never match the hype and reputation around them. And while yeah, that's mostly true of Keio also, it was actually a surprisingly good, charming game. Keio's presentation is excellent and despite the Genesis tier in game graphics you have cool anime style cutscenes and transitions between stages. Also, the CD quality audio and voice acting is very good; this game is genuinely funny and I definitely laughed out loud several times. Gameplay, while good overall was Keio's weakest area. This game is a power up based SHMUP that luckily doesn't maroon you like many older shmups like this do when you die, but the ability to collect power ups and use them effectively can be a little too difficult. On top of that there are issues with the framerate in the more hectic areas as well as some projectiles that could have been made more visible. My biggest gripe though was the inconstant hitbox which I felt sometimes was the size of an elephant and other times was a speck of dust. Despite these issues the gameplay is fun, engaging and certainly has more balance and refinement than many other shooters from this era. While I'd say Keio's US release asking price is a very, very tall order, it certainly is worth playing if you can get your hands on it some other way. (6/28/21) [36/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on June 29, 2021, 03:25:18 am
Super Metroid (SNES 1994) - DROPPED - Unfortunately I think I'm done with this game, I'm just not having a lot of fun with it.  It's general feel and visuals are better than Zero Mission, but I find exploration and progression in this game to be pretty obnoxious.  There were some times where I hit a point of being lost, I'd look up where I needed to go, and I would just feel like...how was I supposed to know that?  It doesn't help that the map is pretty basic compared to the improvements I saw in Zero Mission.  I think it comes down to some outdated design ideas that doesn't hold up as well to the games I've played that were inspired by it.  I feel like I'd love to see a remake or mod of this that improved the map, faster transitions, and better button placement (I'm playing emulated so I can change the controls, but the controls suck for the original game), I'd be more inclined to finish it.

It's unfortunate I'm not loving the Metroid series so far as Zero Mission was just okay and Super Metroid isn't doing it for me.  Gonna wait on doing Fusion next, but I'm gonna still continue the series run, not counting Dread, which I'll likely not get.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 29, 2021, 10:14:59 pm
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours

I don’t think I can understate how important Silent Hill 2 is for me; it’s still my favorite game of all time, and easily the most significant experience for me as a gamer. One of my favorite aspects is the setting of Silent Hill itself, a town haunted by a tainted spiritual power that draws in people with emotional baggage and forces them to reconcile their past and regrets. Such a brilliant concept, and sets the stage for quite several really interesting, flawed characters. It’s a way better concept overall when compared to the occult-heavy stories of the other Silent Hill games. The narrative is also conveyed through a maze of deeply complex and layered symbolism and subliminal messaging that just gets more fascinating the more you dive into the game.

One of the things that I found a new appreciation for on this playthrough was how the game tackles how people care for loved ones who are dying, and it unpacks some of those complex emotions, in addition to all the other dark themes the game explores. I also still love the multiple endings which only change how James redeems himself (or not) at the end of the game so the story can retain a tight focus no matter which ending you get. Frankly, I can’t say enough good things about the story, characters, pacing, and execution.

The audio is one of the best aspects of this game and the Silent Hill series as a whole. Love the industrial, non-traditional, distorted and downright disturbing soundtrack and sound design, especially the use of silence. It’s masterfully done, and perfectly encapsulates the game's themes of fear, loneliness, oppression, and dread. Also really enjoy the voice acting, especially since the characters are played by normal people instead of big-name actors. Gives the voice direction a more grounded, believable experience. The artistry continues with the monster design, game environments, pretty much everything is phenomenal.

Touching on some of the more technical aspects of the game, personally I think the game controls well. I’ve always liked the tank controls of the Silent Hill series, and it’s pretty much mandatory given all the changing camera angles. That said, I do think there are some flaws to this game that are important to mention. On the topic of the camera, it loves to swing dizzyingly around you all the time, which can get very annoying. I think they game does have some issues with difficulty as well if you spend enough time collecting all the items you can find and you understand the controls. For me however, these are small flaws that are very minor, and they don’t detract from my love of this game in any way. This game shifted my opinion about games as a whole and made me appreciate how games can tell their own unique stories and provide you with unique experiences, and that’s why it’s so significant to me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on June 30, 2021, 01:08:15 am
Quote from: telly on June 29, 2021, 10:14:59 pm
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours



This is an incredible game. I actually didn't care for the first Silent Hill game that much so it took me a while before I gave Silent Hill 2 a chance. Holy crap though, my experience with 2 couldn't have been more different than with the first game. I was emotionally winded after playing it and it has still stuck with me all these years. You've reminded me how I need to go back and replay it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on June 30, 2021, 09:56:21 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on June 30, 2021, 01:08:15 am
Quote from: telly on June 29, 2021, 10:14:59 pm
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours



This is an incredible game. I actually didn't care for the first Silent Hill game that much so it took me a while before I gave Silent Hill 2 a chance. Holy crap though, my experience with 2 couldn't have been more different than with the first game. I was emotionally winded after playing it and it has still stuck with me all these years. You've reminded me how I need to go back and replay it.

Yeah, I really didn't enjoy the first Silent Hill much at all. 3 and 4 have some great moments but are held back by the story and some of the gameplay in 4's case. I think Silent Hill 2 is the best by far all around, though 3 is more scary.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on July 04, 2021, 07:07:35 am
June Update

Games Beat in June

Ghost of Tsushima - Good, but not great game that is on the verge of being great.  Lots of little things about it were bugging me for some reason, and held me back from really loving it.
Splinter Cell: Conviction - First Splinter Cell I've played since the original.  Not bad, a little too easy, and the "action" sections were a drag, but the presentation was incredible.
Maneater - This was a doofy fun time.  Game is probably a little too long, overall, without enough variety, but it has enough personality for me to recommend playing it.

Games Played in June

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance - A buggy, clunky mess.  I beat the tutorial and the first stage and peaced out.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Either I'm generally getting way better at games, or the discourse of how difficult this is was pretty overblown.  I'm finding the stages to be well designed, fun, and shockingly in a lot of cases, easy.  The bosses can be frustrating, but no more so that any of the Sousborne games - in fact, there's yet to be a boss I've spent more than like 10 tries on when I was definitely hitting like 20-30 on some from the other series.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on July 04, 2021, 07:51:03 am
Quote from: Cartagia on July 04, 2021, 07:07:35 am
Ghost of Tsushima - Good, but not great game that is on the verge of being great.  Lots of little things about it were bugging me for some reason, and held me back from really loving it.

Yeah Ghost was like this really solid 8/10, where it does so much good, but it was definitely lacking, mostly in its open world setup being very beautiful, but very dull.  Mostly a lot of the side stuff just feeling very samey and predictable.  I'm hoping they can improve on this with the new island DLC coming.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on July 05, 2021, 02:24:03 pm
26. Sky: Children of Light || Nintendo Switch || 07.04.21

As a fan of thatgamecompany's previous works, I've been casually waiting for the time when their most recent project would be ported from away from mobile platforms and to consoles. That being said, due to Sky being a mobile exclusive experience for two years, I admittedly had no knowledge of what the game was like. As such, I began playing Sky more blind than I have been before playing a game in a long time. However, with Sky being designed by thatgamecompany, my expectations were high. I will note, though, that I did not once consider how a free game for mobile devices would be designed.

Upon beginning, I wasn't quite sure what my initial thoughts were. Unlike their past releases, Sky introduced narration—albeit brief—which was simply different from what I've come to enjoy as previous games guide players through an abstract story. It is in this aspect—in being different—that sets Sky apart from all of thatgamecompany's past projects. However, the differences offer a unique experience to players.

At its core, I attribute Sky to being an MMO adventure title, as the player embarks on their journey in an open-world environment with many others at any given time. While I've noted that Sky is different, it mostly certainly would not have been created had their previous title Journey not released. Similar to Journey, players can guide one another through the game environment and even navigate through locked paths. Yet, Sky elevates this gameplay experience further, as upwards to eight players can directly connect to one another to trek forward. Created as an even deeper social experience than Journey was, Sky is best experienced when interacting with others. Communicating initially through sounds, players can befriend one another by multiple tiers which unlocks much more direct communication. Among this, players will naturally unlock character expressions and gestures which allow for greater ease in communication toward all players.

Despite Sky being designed with a social experience in mind, I largely ignored this aspect and played through the game as a single-player experience. At times, others tagged along with me as we explored our environments which was a nice change of pace. However, as a game steeped in player interaction, I was a little disappointed in how communication ensues. With multiple in-game currencies, Sky requires players to unlock further communication means that are bound to a player-player experience. If one were to seek to invest a multiple friendships, one must spend more to allow for such. This alone may not be so bad, but the currency required for more transparent communication is somewhat sparse unless taking the initial steps of a friendship seemingly on a whim by spending more common currencies. It's a little difficult to explain. Though, I will say that this form of connecting with others does show a clear sign of growing one's relationship with others. Another major downside to the communication system is that, when approaching parties in an attempt to seek guidance (as many new players do), it's difficult to know what goals others currently have. As the game is fairly open-ended, is revolved around subsequent playthroughs, and has players constantly farming for currency, partnering up doesn't always succeed, even if both parties accept. Whoever leads may very well simply drag the followers around, although anyone is welcome to leave whenever they choose to do so.

Originally and largely still a mobile experience—and free across all platforms—players can spend money toward in-game purchases unlocking more social aspects and in-game currencies. At the same time, the game has undergone numerous "seasons" of free updates, which I am still experiencing as I continue to play post-game. Noting before how Sky's Switch release is a port from mobile, there were admittedly many technical problems I encountered such as sometimes severe clipping and locked character movement. These problems aren't a deal breaker (I mean, it is a free game), but they are a little problematic.

As a game harboring a very welcoming community, it is common for veteran players to organize daily groups playthroughs to collect currencies and to simply hang out with one another in typical MMO fashion within hub environments. For someone who enjoys thatgamecompany's previous works and also enjoys MMO and social experiences, Sky is a must-play. I'm not so keen on MMOs personally, but I'm still enjoying my time with Sky. Again, it's a game that offers a MMO experience but doesn't require it.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on July 06, 2021, 10:00:57 am
40. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

A game I had started many times but never actually played much of. I was originally going to play this on PS3 but I couldn't find everything I needed, also it has been warm recently and as a result I have fans plugged into the power outlet where my wireless speakers for my TV normally go, so I decided to try something else. I kind of have been taking a different approach lately of trying to do everything on my computer rather than original or age appropriate hardware. It is an interesting exercise to see what a person can do with less. Can they collect games but not hardware and accessories, or have the need for old TVs or monitors? So far it seems to. And now that I have this small taste, I will have an option to be playing the Japanese games I have no consoles for.

So for this attempt at playing SoTN I had installed Retroarch and used the Beetle emulator. Then the next step was to get a controller to work. I have already connected an Xbox 360 controller (which is X-Input) that I use for playing Pinball games because Steam automatically recognises it. I also do have a PS2 (PlayStation 2) controller connected via a USB adapter but it did not work with Retroarch at all. So then I tried again (after many years) of using the PS3 controller via USB and did manage to get it working with Retroarch both in menus and in game. Then I could play the game from disc, but it complained about it. After I dumped the disc using the Retroarch menu and loaded the .cue from the HDD it worked with no issues.

I played through to the credits but did not do everything. There were still some areas on the map I didn't go to (such as the spiked corridor on the top left of the map) and also items I did not buy from the vendor. And here again is an example of where I do not have the patience or the care to work through a game to memorize everything. I do not know how I used to do it as a kid. Getting hit and sending you back x distance I know has always been a thing. How did I make it so far into Castlevania III when I had it for NES? I think those days are behind me. And so then you guessed it, I used the HP cheat in the retroarch cheat menu to play this game. Even then it was annoying and confusing.

There were some times that I had to go watch a LP of the game because I didn't know where to go next. I kept running into situations where I was at a certain point in the game before I got there. Or perhaps the places I went were not optimal, or perhaps I didn't grind enough. Liked the map, didn't get lost but there were some passages that were not showing up on the map properly. Might have been the resolution I was playing at. Sometimes it was just because I didn't go right or left enough in a particular room to know there was a door. Watching a video to know where to go next did certainly help a couple of times. Interesting how much of a huge boost it is once you can become a bat, or get the mirror armor so the yellow medusa doesn't turn you to stone anymore.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on July 10, 2021, 10:15:02 pm
27. Wide Ocean Big Jacket || Nintendo Switch || 07.09.21

As someone who's largely drawn to gaming experiences based on a game's art style, I went into WOBJ blindly aside from knowing that it offered a short 2-hour story. And, in this short two hours, I found myself laughing out loud and taking screenshots to remember the many funny moments later on.

With a simple flat illustrative style akin to Untitled Goose Game, WOBJ also adopts a similar light-hearted tone for players to explore that UGG gave. With an everyday narrative, WOBJ offers a brief overnight glimpse of a camping trip taken by a young married couple with their young teenaged niece and her boyfriend, which is something never done from the latter two. Featuring a cast whose relationship is not close but familiar, players are treated to quick-witted nature of both kids and the awkward conversation unfold among all cast members. Talks of saucy books, adult beverages, and divorce ratios are only a small sampling of what conversation is like.

While players explore their unknown surroundings across the camp site, nature trails, and beach, WOBJ provides just enough content to expression to express this ordinary camping experience: elderly park employees are caught napping through the mid-afternoon, littered trash such as crushed water bottles are tossed here and there, and the obligatory sharing of scary stories ensues as hot dogs are roasted over a fire pit.

In short, WOBJ is a perfect example of the type of games I've found myself drawn to in recent years. WOBJ demonstrates the small moments of life that may not seem impactful—and maybe they aren't, even—but give a glimpse of daily musings and events that help define who we are and who we aspire to become as we grow.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on July 12, 2021, 01:23:31 pm
Game 16 - Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (PS4) - 22 Hours (normal mode)

Finally finished the last KH game before Kingdom Hearts III! Dream Drop Distance is a very strange entry in the Kingdom Hearts series, with a LOT of things going on both in the story and the gameplay. Even though this was a 3DS game, I think it's definitely a worthy entry to the KH franchise, even though this is among my least favorite games in the series.

I'm not sure how this game plays on the 3DS, but I'm glad I experienced it on PS4. Plays just as great as any other game on the HD collection, and looks really nice too. My only gripe is that the game has some extremely obnoxious, loudly-colored effects for reality shifts, save spots, and other interactable objects, and it was very annoying visually.

This was the first Kingdom Hearts game that really broke me story-wise. :o Take the already convoluted narrative of the KH series, and throw in time travel, Harry Potter cloning shenanigans, and Inception-level "dreams within dreams", and this story quickly was lost on me. While the setup of waking sleeping worlds does sound interesting, the story for me only made sense at the beginning and the end, and I had to look up several plot points to fully understand. I did like the little summaries of past games though; gives you a chance to review what has been many games' worth of stories up until this point.

The gameplay this time around has several significant changes, some great and some not so great. I liked the flowmotion, which added a new layer of speed, strategy and maneuverability to the game. However, it’s easily abusable and it sometimes activates when you don’t want it to, I.e. sliding on rails. The addition of the command deck mechanics from BBS has nice thematic ties given Riku and Sora are participating in a Mark of Mastery, but several aspects are removed in this game, such as command synthesis and command styles, which I missed. I think the drop mechanic was interesting. It incentives you to play efficiently and collect as much stuff as possible so you can give your next character (either Sora or Riku) a little extra bonus. However, I didn’t like the dropping into worlds mechanic though, it felt very tedious and unnecessary. Lastly, I liked the reality shifts, they were fun to use and had interesting gameplay quirks, especially the Tron one.

The dream eaters are probably the most interesting addition. I think they’re a neat idea in concept but I really didn’t feel like they had an effect on gameplay. For both Riku and Sora, I used at least one baby-tier F-rank spirit that I made at the start of the game and was still able to beat the final bosses without much difficulty. Maybe in proud or critical mode it becomes more important. They’re also not nearly as cute as something like Pokemon. They aren't designed horribly, but they are way overdesigned on the colors, and they all have really dumb names. Those things make it hard to get invested in mechanics like that. I did like using the touchpad for interacting with your dream eaters though. I think it’s the first time I’ve had to use that part of the PS4 controller.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on July 15, 2021, 01:15:13 pm
28. Pikuniku || Nintendo Switch || 07.14.21

Aware of Pikuniku's warm reception, I purchased the title some time ago and admittedly had forgotten that it was in my library. I knew little of what to expect from this unexpected humorous and light-hearted puzzle-platformer.

Playing as the red and armless creature whom I can only assume is Pikuniku, players are introduced to a simple world with simple people who believe simple myths while overlooking not-so-simple problems involving others exploitation. Awakening from a long sleep, Pikuniku wanders into the nearby village with every villager crying out "monster!" upon Pikuniku's arrival and imprison them. Immediately realizing that Pikuniku is no threat whatsoever, the villagers let Pikuniku roam free, with Pikuniku now able to explore the land and soon finding themselves having become the person who is to solve everyone's problems.

With an ordinary puzzle-platformer style, Pikuniku's gameplay style will be familiar to many and brings nothing exciting or new to players. The game does offer a few different gameplay styles throughout certain sections, which is a welcomed addition. However, Pikiniku does offer humorous dialogue with laughable settings and situations. While the game doesn't succeed at becoming one of gaming's most humorous titles, it will at times leave a smile on players' faces.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on July 19, 2021, 10:00:49 am
41. Prison Architect

Finished the tutorial segment. I find this game to work like the Sims and I like the high autonomy of the characters in the game. I did not end up understanding how everything works and I suspect there are still some bugs at play. For example, I did not understand how to properly assign all guards to specific areas. Even when set, many guards would just either hang out in the canteen, the yard or in the deliveries area.

The tutorial segments consist of a few areas. The first few are you having to accomplish particular goals in pre-made prisons. This is quite a thing to put someone into because (at least early on) it is difficult to understand how to fill the needs of the prisoners. As a result, there will be many riots that happen. It seems in regular game play that if many people die then there is a consequence of being arrested and then becoming a prisoner yourself. In tutorial I think that this is disabled because one of the maps I had 70 people die in a day and nothing really happened.

The last portion of the tutorial is where you can build your own prison from the ground up, and this is much more manageable to me. I had no problems like in the pre-made prisons. Never had any guard deaths or any riots. Also I am not real good at making prison designs, I just kind of stick rooms together. This is not really anything new to me, I've always been like this and not really creative in design or building type games. More of a function over form type thing.

Anyways it was a good game and will certainly play it again.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on July 23, 2021, 02:07:09 pm
29. Guacamelee! 2 || PlayStation 4 || 07.21.21

Having played the original Guacamelee! about five years, I looked back on the fun experience it provided and eagerly awaited for what Guacamelee 2 would offer as I began playing. And, overwhelmingly, my experience with the game was positive, and I wished that I had played it much sooner.

As its predecessor, Guacamelee! 2 is a metroidvania-type game revolving around the luchador player-character Juan seven years after the events of the original game. With a wife and children—and having gained some weight—Juan is very much retired as a luchador. However, the world takes a turn for the worse, and Juan is called once again to solve the world's problems. Typical of metroidvania games, there is a lot of backtracking involved once certain criteria is met. Throughout his journey, Juan will re-learn advanced luchador wrestling techniques which also includes the Pollo Power skills which effectively transform Juan into a chicken.

While I looked back at the original Guacamelee! title, I remember it being fairly easy without many challenges. However, Guacamelee! 2 changes that notion to some degree. Throughout the sequel, a fair amount of power-ups require focused platforming skills; at the same time, Pollo Power becomes much more across the entire gameplay experience. However, Guacamelee! 2 introduces a section of the game entirely related to Pollo Powers. Five initial Pollo challenges exist which needed to be cleared in order to unlock the final Pollo challenge. I've read others' accounts that this aspect of the game was not well-enjoyed as the platforming skills required are too high, with these voices likening the gameplay to challenging platformers such as Super Meat Boy and Celeste. That being said, I enjoyed the challenge. Only one aspect of the five Pollo challenges and across the entire game gave me some degree of headache. However, after about an hour, my efforts paid off. I will note, however, that the game's "good" ending requires to accomplish these Pollo challenges, which has earned a fair amount of scrutiny over.

Much like the original title, the sequel is steeped with silly humor that sometimes brings out a smile, but nothing is out-right funny aside from one particular area. Dozens of video game and other cultural references are littered throughout both games, and recognizing them is always something to enjoy. There is one hidden area within Guacamelee! 2 that heavily breaks the fourth wall, as it addresses the backlash the initial game received from some people and their problem with "memes" being in the game. To be honest, I don't recall any degree of memes being in the game, but this hidden area goes overboard with them while having NPCs converse with another by quoting actual negative Steam reviews with player usernames as they discuss how Guacamelee! is terrible because of this aspect. It was absolutely hilarious.

Admittedly, I don't play many metroidvania-type games. I don't know how well Guacamelee! 2 holds up to what else exists within the genre. However, I had a great time with the game. I'm finishing up the DLC still, but I've explored and accomplished everything else within the base game. Perhaps check it out for yourself.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on July 29, 2021, 09:49:22 am
42. Aliens vs Predator 2010 (abandoned)

This game lets you play the 3 different sides of the classic AvP story, marines, aliens and predators. I actually took a long time to play this game but it was a combination of just not getting around to playing but also that the game was not compelling enough for me to get back to it at times. After finishing the Marine campaign, the story progress wasn't complete, there was an end cutscene but not an end credits. It shows a story progression percentage on the level screen, and it was only after then trying the Alien campaign that this percentage increased. Each campaign takes place in all of the same levels, but under different points of view. This was pretty cool how it worked out and does end up giving you an advantage on the 2nd and 3rd modes because you will already know the maps.

The Marine campaign was a typical FPS. You have your guns and altfire, can jump but not always mantle. No crouch IIRC. Can only carry 2 guns besides pistol which has infinite ammo but has a magazine. Flamethrower sucks like most video game flame throwers. Shotgun is good, Pulse Rifle is ok and sniper rifle is great. In the beginning I would run shotgun + pulse rifle and later the sniper replaces the shotgun. Toughest enemy is the androids and in each game it is best to use shotgun on them and then pulse rifle later on. This is because while the sniper is more damage than the shotgun, it is not worth the ammo to use it on the androids. There is some damage randomisation that occurs where a 1 hit sniper shot is rare and a 2-3 shot sniper is more common. The aliens have a bad hitbox and sometimes you can shoot them and they do not take damage. Melee is present but it plays a long animation so it is largely useless. Some rooms have a set objective but what to do not not always obvious. All objectives are relayed via the in-game radio, and the sound system does not use focus so other sounds can overlap. In these few situations, you can have rooms where aliens continuously spawn (but not ammo or health) until you complete the task. Game will sometimes use object highlighting, but sometimes not.

The Alien campaign was good once you get used to how the controls work. In general they are the same as the Marine except that you can walk on walls and ceilings. It took me a few missions to finally become comfortable with it. The auto transition doesn't work for me, the movement is too fast. There are some times when a transition will jerk the camera around and you have to re-center. The amount of enemies in the levels make this not a big problem. 1v1 on Marines are not a big problem, but the problem is in packs. Despite all of the attacks the alien has, I ended up just using stealth and the tail attack almost exclusively. The other attacks take too long but the weak melee attack is very fast and can be used if needed. Alien has a 1 hit fatality but cannot be used on everything. Have the ability to break lights and can see outlines of enemies through walls. Predator was easy to kill as well, even for Marine.

The Predator campaign is where I decided to call it quits. Unlike what I would think it would be like, the Predator missions are not stealth missions. I approached them this way but the game does not allow for this. You must kill marines even if you don't have to. In the start you have the plasma cannon but realistically can only use it twice. Everything is close combat and there is no 1 hit kill option. You can't use other enemies as shields, and you can get killed during cutscenes*. The detection range of the auto-turret is much greater in Predator campaign than Alien. Their range might be 3x which is huge. In the alien campaign you can sneak around the turrets but in the Predator campaign you really can't.

As always, had to turn off the music because it was too distracting. There is no purpose for it because even the music cues are not needed because the environmental sounds are good enough. Also the sound is not balanced so that the music can mask the environmental sounds or even the objectives which come over the radio. So music had to go. This issue only reappears later in certain buildings where Weyland's coporate loudspeaker is SUPER loud and this covers up everything. Music wasn't licensed anyways, so no classic tracks that you would want to hear from the movies.

*getting killed in cutscenes. This is another type of game that plays animations or cutscenes for most actions outside of combat. I came to realise this from watching a StratEdgy game review where he complains about this type of thing. When an action is done, it plays an in-engine cutscene to showcase this action. In this game, that includes melee for all three classes and (at least) the fatalities for the alien and predator. Another issue is that you can't cancel these animations. The Alien's fatality isn't as big of an issue due to its hitbox and the fact that a crouch occurs. The Predator's fatality is done at standing heigh (and perhaps the Predator is actually larger) in combination with the fact that there is no friendly fire nor bounding box for marines/Androids (they can shoot through each other) so if you are doing a fatality on a Marine and then enter the cutscene for this action, you can still be shot/take damage and be killed.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on August 01, 2021, 04:22:50 pm
July Update

Games Beat in July
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) - Beat July 7 - Really amazing game. Just the right amount of difficult and fun
Horizon Chase Turbo (PS4) - Beat July 12 - Rainbow colored puke inducing fun.
Far Cry 2 (XB1) - Beat July 27 - Good gunplay, terrible AI and tedious travel.
Astro's Playroom (PS5) - Beat July 29 - Purely delightful platformer.

Games Played in July
Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) - Kicking my ass twice a week.
PC Building Simulator (PC) - Becoming my time wasting comfort game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on August 02, 2021, 01:14:04 pm
30. Doodle Champion Island Games || Browser || 07.31.21

As I'm sure many here rely on Google as their default search engine, you may be familiar in-passing with the 2020 Olympics Google Doodle that was live for about a week. At first, I thought the temporary homepage simply offered a playful animation, but I was surprised to discover that an entire game was built to commemorate the event.

That being said, Doodle Champion Island Games (DCIG) offers a simple yet fun gaming experience and is perfect for when you've got some time to spend. Naturally, DCIG is a sports title with an overworld to explore, as you control the player-character Lucky, who is a cat that has made their way to the island to partake in the sports game to become the champion. Showcasing sports including table tennis, skateboarding, archery, rugby, artistic swimming, rock climbing, and marathon, DCIG offers a variety of gameplay in the form of mini-games.

However, DCIG is much more open-ended than completing mini-game after mini-game. In addition to these mini-games, DCIG is even surprisingly expansive by having side quests to accomplish, a sizeable environment to explore, and higher difficulty challenges to be unlocked. And, in representing the setting of the 2020 Olympics, DCIG takes place within a Japanese cultural world. Across many facets including dialogue and NPCs, simplified Japanese folklore is present, which is a nice touch for those who are familiar with such tales.

For something as simple as a browser game, DCIG has had a lot of effort put into it to create a fulfilling experience for players. While the Google homepage has since been updated to replace the doodle and game, DCIG is  still available to play here (https://www.google.com/doodles/doodle-champion-island-games-begin). With my time in playing DCIG, I played on PC, but playing on mobile devices is entirely possible too. I wish that there was a cross-save feature to go back-and-forth between the two platforms, but, unfortunately, that's not the case.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on August 04, 2021, 03:59:28 pm
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

153. Unpacking (X1)
I was bored and looking at recent releases on Game Pass and my wife saw me looking at this game and was like "Yes, buy that, I need that".  I had to explain Game Pass and that she could just go play it on Xbox or PC.  She watched me play a bit, said it looked like a good game, but watching me play stressed her out because I was putting stuff where she wouldn't.  It's interesting thought that such a zen game could cause such anxiety lol.  Game play is pretty lax and wholesome and zen, but then once everything is unpacked, you get the little warnings that things need to go in an appropriate place.  This mostly came down to "I don't know what that is" or "I have no clue where you want this to go, seems like it could go anywhere".  I only had 1 situation where I was just entirely baffled as to what they wanted me to do.  It was right at the end too, but I had a laundry basket that it kept telling me no no matter where I put it.  Eventually I swapped it with the laundry basket in the restroom and put the restroom basket in the bedroom and it was happy.  baffling.  Story seems largely to be one where you make your own inferences and/or assumptions, I'm not big on that personally, but I get it for a game like this.  As much as I want to talk about it, it'd be spoilers, but know this is a game I'd love to chat a little bit about.  That said, the ending and the less obtuse parts of the story were expected things for me, they are staples of wholesome indie games to the point that it's a cliché.  Overall the game is short and sweet, honestly, I'd recommend it.
Rating: Soft recommendation.

154. Mario Party Superstars (NS)
I don't know why I never wrote up about this game.  I consider it beat, but I guess I just must have been busy or really hurting to miss writing up something about it.  There is no story mode a la Mario Party 1+ which is a bummer, I enjoyed playing the single player story mode, I think they even had co-op stuff.  Also, all minigames are unlocked from the start, so there is no incentive to keep playing other than to play which is another bummer.  Mario Party games for me were always about unlocking content through playing.  Don't get me wrong, you play to play with folks, but it was additional incentive and I consider that "content" and as such this game really has no content or reason to play other than hey let's play mario party.  It plays well and it's great nostalgia, but it's one of my least favorite Mario Party games, just above the ones where you all move together :shudder:
Rating: Soft pass.

155. Forza Horizon 5 (XS)
Gosh, I went too long without updating stuff here, so I might not have much useful to say strictly out of just not remembering.  Started this game day one because I love the Horizon series.  It's pleasant to go back to driving on the right side of the road, both 3 and 4 were left side of the road and I'm glad I didn't start this game being used to the other way still.  Big expanse open world, I'm always so curious how it stacks up to the real world, are the roads the same, are the towns and such the same, who knows, not I.  Unlike last entry, I actually took part a bit in the seasons stuff and did some things, it's novel, but some of the requirements are a bit too strict while not being exactly clear enough and the season championships I get confused and have no clue what races to do.  Plus, it feels like there are too few ways to earn the Forza Points and such for rewards, but I guess that's their way of getting you to play over time because new stuff drops daily/weekly.  Story has you being the festival champ from the UK, which I don't think you were the champ from Australia or anything, but it seems to have a bit of continuity and even references previous festivals and people which is nice.  Graphics are good, but it doesn't feel much better comparing 4 and 5 jumping from X1 to XS, but again, I think we're both early this gen and we're so far along computationally that things can't really get much better can they.  I love the Horizon series, so I'll always recommend the latest entry.
Rating: Soft recommendation

156. Haven (XS)
Another game leaving game pass that has been on my backlog of games to give a try.  I'm always annoyed by games leaving Game Pass, but games leaving gives me incentive to finally play the game, which otherwise I might not have bothered to try.  Haven is definitely one I would've tried to play eventually, but the next game on this list definitely never would've been given a chance.  I put myself in a potentially dangerous situation with these games too, what if I like Haven so much that I'd want it forever?  Physical release already came and went, leaving game pass, so do I pay secondary market or do I just go digital?  Well, luckily this isn't that great of a game and personally I feel it has little replay value.  The character conversations are quite nice, there's drama and bickering and things are never perfect, just like a real relationship.  The gameplay isn't great, the cleaning things up is sort of zen, the combat really requires coordination and timing which can get tedious and annoying.  There was at least one optional boss I did that kicked my ass for the better part of an hour because I just couldn't do damage to him because as soon as I killed his minions, he spawned more minions, and I can't target him until his minions are gone, but I guess that was a situation to spam the charge items.  The only thing I knew about this game, and I presume at this point it was inaccurate, is that the game featured sex I guess, I think I heard people refer to it as that sex game or something.  The characters are romantic with each other obviously, but the sex is never more than an implication, so I don't really get what people were getting at with the comments.  The dystopian nature of the story is a little interesting, but I feel that they don't go into enough detail into the how's, why's, and what's of the world's history, which is a shame and definitely takes away from my overall interest and ability to recommend the game, because you're just getting this contained story that's really just about these two characters.  As it is, the game has two endings, 1 ending is very detailed and distinct about events, and the other ending is very much open ended and I guess leads to more entries in the series, so obviously the open one is the canon ending because I imagine they are working on a sequel, because why wouldn't they.
Rating: Soft pass.

157. Morkredd (XS)
Another game leaving game pass.  I don't think it was on my list and it wasn't one I was particularly interested in, but it leaving game pass, I gave it a try.  HLTB gave it like 1-2 hours time so I was definitely like I'll give this a go.  I got a little less than 50% of the way through the game (the game tells you your progress in the pause menu) and said to myself "well, you're halfway done, might as well commit" and pushed myself through the rest of the game.  Some of the game play concepts are fairly novel, but it's still just a sort of frustrating puzzle game.  I played solo because my wife wanted to play Dark Souls, I'll talk about that elsewhere, and I didn't really want to interrupt that or sabotage beating this game in time by trying to fit it in with her... plus I could see this game being extremely frustrating for her and I have no clue if this game lets you swap between solo and co-op, achievements make it sound like a no.  The game was mostly fine solo, until it got to a part where you needed to move from left to right, both characters top and bottom on the left side of the orb pushing, very very easily the controls became unintuitive and you just die because you can't remember which stick controls which character.  I nearly quit at that part. There were also some other parts that wound up unintuitive that I was concerned might become unsurmountable for me, but I managed eventually.  The game did wind up short in that I earned the achievement for beating the game in under 120 minutes, so that worked out.  The final section of the game was frustrating, but novel, and I quite enjoyed it.  It's almost a completely different game at that point and that game would've been a rather fun game... but that all said, I honestly can't recommend this game.  It's not very fun, the mechanics gets frustrating, too frustrating, and there is basically no story.
Rating: Hard pass

158. Dark Souls Remastered (NS)
This is another case of a game I already beat this year, but I'm playing through it again.  I did this with Sekiro a couple of years back and I really had nothing to add the second time around, but this time around the situation is different.  My wife was finally convinced to play Dark Souls, which is insane because my wife rarely plays video games and she doesn't play tough games.  I really don't recall what finally convinced her.  It was slow to start and she was hating it, but it's growing on her.  She had the issue she had with Skyrim when she tried to play that game, she just doesn't get the using the shoulder buttons to attack as opposed to using something like 'X'.  She also had the issue that she's just not very good with the right stick in games, it's not intuitive for her, it's why she prefers PC gaming in general.  She had a few instances of dying and just being like this game is garbage and I'm done.  Especially situations with tough platforming or cheap enemies.  But she's getting much better to the point that she and I are doing fights just the two of us and she's staying alive and I started a new character and she's going back and helping me pull my new character through the game and she's having little to no trouble assisting.  She will make her complaints on occasion but she wants to play every single day and she's finally coming to terms with the fact that dying and losing all of your souls isn't the end of the world because you can always get more souls.  I'm really proud of her.  I started a new build that is a squishy sorcerer, which is something I've never really done in a Souls game, so it's an interesting experience and while I'm playing with her on Switch, I started playing on Xbox One as well and I'm taking this knowledge with me in that build as well, but I'll detail that separately.  Right now we've managed to get to the point that she only has the last lord soul (Seath) and then we can either beat Gwyn or do some other side stuff.  We're pretty close to being done, so the conversation is "Will you play Dark Souls 2/3?".  The problem being they aren't on Switch and we don't own multiple copies of those games.  Now I do own 2 Xbox Ones in essence, so I could just go out and buy Scholar and Fire Fades and we can play, but DS2 is kinda garbage and Switch works because I can play handheld while helping and anything else will require multiple TVs.
Rating: Fantastic second playthrough, Highly recommended

159. Test Drive Unlimited 2 (360)
I started this game years and years and years ago.  No clue why I never finished it, maybe it was Forza Horizon?  Like I know I didn't get TDU2 at launch, so time progression, maybe it was around that time.  I've always had it in my head that Forza Horizon was a spiritual successor to TDU in general, so maybe I jumped from one to the other.  It looks like the last time I played TDU2 was Nov 19th 2011 (10 years ago  :o) and I can see Skyward Sword came out the next day.  So there ya go, I jumped to another game and just forgot to come back and then Forza Horizon happened.  This game isn't bad, but it's definitely dated.  Part of my comment comes from how much Forza has spoiled me; the driving line, the rewind feature, the better camera work, map system, and world.  That said, this game does a lot of what Forza does and I'd argue that this game's world map is way bigger than any Forza game, I'm probably wrong, but it certainly feels bigger.  But apparently I dropped this game at the last championship and cup, so I really didn't have much left to do "story" wise.  There is still plenty to do and still plenty that I would've been able to do had I played before the servers went down, but I'll just be done with finishing all of the championships/cups.  What's nuts to me is how much I consider this a predecessor to Forza, but like this came out like a year before Horizon, so Horizon was definitely in development before this even released.
Rating: Soft recommendation, but like only as a dated example of a good game pre-Forza, otherwise play Forza.

160. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (PS1)
I bought a couple of busted PS3 slims and one said the only issue was it couldn't read blu-rays so I tested with an extra ps3 game and an extra ps1 game.  PS3 didn't load as expected, PS1 loaded as expected.  So I played through this.  It wasn't on my backloggery and it really has no story mode, it's just a free race kinda game.  I did a couple of races, so I'm considering it "beat" because there really isn't much else to it, plus I played this a ton as a kid and I hadn't marked it on backloggery.  Fun enough, plays well enough, just not much in the way of content.
Rating: soft pass.

161. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NS)
Out of the blue I decided to play this again, I wanted to finally play with the DLC characters that I paid for.  I wound up doing classic mode and I wound up not even playing with DLC characters because compulsively I wanted to clear all of the characters and I was insisting on doing it in order.  I think I may have actively made myself, right at the end, play with Sora once, but after I beat it with Sora I said "Eh, I've had enough of this, I'll go play something else"  So I probably played for like 5 hours or something, cleared Classic with 10+ characters, and called it a day.
Rating: Highly recommended

162. Naughty Bear (360)
I'm pretty sure I bought this game at launch.  I thought I had gotten all the way to like the end of the game and just dropped it, but apparently I only got about half way through the game before I dropped it.  Not even sure why I dropped it, I feel like I might have felt like the game was frustrating, but playing it now, it's fun.  It reminds me of Party Hard, sneak around and murder everyone without getting killed.  Lots of fun traps and weapons.  Apparently there was DLC for the game and I guess it all got delisted, so I've only got up to episode 8 because I guess that was free and I never bought 9-10.  I think I have the gold edition on PS3, so maybe I'll replay it one day and do the DLC, maybe even play Panic in Paradise because I think I have that on PS3 as well.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a good game overall, but as a sort of guilty pleasure revenge murder simulator, it's pretty great.  Honestly, I'd recommend it strictly as a sort of bonkers interesting kind of game, and it plays well.
Rating: Soft recommendation

163. The Punisher: No Mercy (PS3)
I bought a couple of busted PS3 systems with the intent of trying to hack them so I could play delisted or otherwise inaccessible games.  Managed to finally get around to it and I loaded up this one.  I really knew nothing going into this game other than it was an oddity that it wasn't reviewed well and wasn't very superheroey.  Real short one this one in that there are only 4 levels to story mode, and it's almost Unreal Tournament style story mode, you just get deathmatches with specific enemies and goals.  First one is a team deathmatch first to 50, second is kill 150 enemies, third is regular deathmatch 1st to 40 kills, fourth is a wave based level with limited lives.  I saw a review refer to the game as aggressively mediocre and that's pretty apt.
Rating: Soft pass

164. Dark Souls III (X1)
I wasn't planning on marking this one beat until we actually beat it again, but I'm aware that I'm not going to beat the game again.  I'm going to do the same as Dark Souls Remastered and get myself to the final boss to assist my wife and then I'm going to stop and leave the character as a character to be summoned to help folks.  My wife beat Dark Souls Remastered and decided that she wanted to keep playing and that she'd play more Souls games, everyone convinced her to skip DS2, but I bought an additional copy of the game regardless, so maybe we'll play that eventually.  My wife has been playing through this and I've been running through slightly ahead of her so she doesn't have to worry about assisting me.  We're currently at the tail end of the game, maybe just past halfway through.

165. Ice Climber (NSO)
Really only picked this game to hit 1985 in my list of games by year, because why not.  It was hard to find info on this game and everything I read said you beat the game at Mountain 32, but when I talked to people they were like "Uh, doesn't that game loop like Donkey Kong?" and I really didn't have an answer.  Having now done Mountain 32 and 33, I can tell you it loops after 32.  Shortish game, just a platformer with annoying controls and physics, but it is what it is you know because it is a nearly 40 year old game.
Rating: Hard pass.

Next List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191226.html#msg191226)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on August 05, 2021, 01:57:12 pm
19. Bugsnax - 02/08/2021 (PS5)

I finally got around to playing the PS+ version of Bugsnax and I wasn't disappointing! This charming game follows a reporter investigating the mysterious disappearance of another report on Snacktooth island which seems to feature many bugs which if consumed take a portion of the creatures limbs! A majority of the games objectives revolve around you catching these bugs for fellow creatures. Each creature has a different method to being captured and I enjoyed trying to figure out the ways to trap these suckers!

But what I also loved about the game is the world/island structure! The game has a day to night cycle and certain bugsnax appear through out the day. I enjoyed re-populating the village with the characters and getting to know them via sidequests and activities. The voice acting is stella and I found each one interesting and was compelled to help them.

It's one of the most unique and fun games I've played in quite some time. Highly recommend it to all!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on August 09, 2021, 03:50:34 pm
31. Kentucky Route Zero || Nintendo Switch || 08.08.21

Kentucky Route Zero (KRZ) is a game that is best to begin blind. However, it is almost certainly a game that many people will not enjoy. But, for me, KRZ has become one of my all-time favorite games.

Despite the game best enjoyed completely blind, I still would like to catalog my thoughts here by some means. Since there currently is no spoiler tag system, I'll have to be a little more creative.

In many ways, the player feels as if they are an intruder to the game's unknown and strange places, despite nearly all environments being largely vacated and stagnant to some seemingly ordinary situation yet with their details being elevating the event to being slightly-off setting. There are many quiet moments to reflect upon. You linger throughout this off-centered slice-of-life story.

A dilapidated church with a tape recorder playing sermons from yesteryear. A lonely museum with unusual artifacts paired with the musings of what addiction is. An unwelcoming darkened diner where a brief physical exchange is made with a stranger's hand. A graffitied, broken office building set in darkness, aside from the lone room at the end of the hallway which harbors a dozen men and women drinking coffee that has been prepared by being hung over a makeshift campfire made from cut-out cubicle pieces in substitute of firewood. An oak tree along the highway that never stops burning. A second church overrun with weeds, dampness, and mushrooms growing along the wall's pockets, where drywall is pushed through repeatedly to reveal a singing frog chorus. An office floor made refuge for a group of brown bears. An empty multi-storied storage facility where sermon recordings play to to the hollow building as the janitor cleans. A shirtless man separated from white-collared workers that barbeques food who pauses to play a melancholy organ. CRT televisions placed intermittently within the nooks and crannies of a brick building. A collection of crabs lobbying together with an assortment of office supplies as their new shells and new homes. A community of displaced locals now housed within a spacious museum as gallery pieces.

These aspects—and many, many more—are never questioned. They are out-of-place, and, at times, unnerving to the player. But to the cast, these aspects are understood and accepted, despite how unusual they may be.

KRZ breaks the fourth-wall regularly. Active phone numbers that may be dialed to listen to a voicemail menu system all too common to 1-800 numbers. Local TV programs mentioned in-game are featured online in-full for viewing. Physical copies of a screenplay complete with stage notes regarding an in-game production were available for purchase for others to direct and perform.

Relying upon southern gothic tones by way of Flannery O'Conner and William Faulkner, KRZ's story is commentary to the coexistence between capitalism, debt, and what it means to lose it all. In every way, KRZ is a tragic theatre play, complete with acts and title card sequences. As the player, you are not there to unfold a structured narrative. Instead, you are there to unfold the characters' lives. As one review I came across says, "[w]e watch these characters navigate the pitted wreckage of their lives, our decisions meant not to guide their actions but to illuminate them as people. 'What do you want know?' the game asks, and lets you answer."

In many ways, KRZ turns traditional adventure-style storytelling mechanics into something new. To me, KRZ is an anti-game. And it's now one of my favorites.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 11, 2021, 11:18:53 am
*sigh* It's not looking too likely that I'll get to 52 games this year. I've been hit with a Mack truck's worth of shit to do recently and various circumstances in my life have pretty much necessitated that I devote most of my free time to working on other things. In other words, I've had almost zero time for games since around my birthday. Luckily last night I was exhausted and felt I needed to play something so I popped this game in.


36. Mace the Dark Age (N64)

I have fond memories of renting this game. My local arcade also had a cabinet of Mace too which was pretty cool. This game is exactly what you'd get if you combined Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat, and I'm 98% sure that's what the developers were going for. The game actually does a decent job of almost living up to those games. The visuals are definitely this game's best quality with memorable, cool character that all have their own unique, interesting stages. The soundtrack is pretty good, although nothing to go crazy over. Beyond being heavily derivative of the game franchises mentioned above, one thing this game sorely lack in comparison to both those franchises is its gameplay. While not terrible, the gameplay is just fairly clunky and stiff. Also, it's even more difficult to pull off special moves and fatalities in this game than in Mortal Kombat. Even with the mediocre gameplay this is still a pretty fun game and certainly memorable at a time when there were many generic fighting games trying to emulate more successful fighting games. [30/50] (8/10/21)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 13, 2021, 02:45:17 am
37. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (PS5)

I've really wanted to play this game ever since it was released a few years ago, however I was holding out until Netherrealms announced they were done releasing DLC. I finally learned they were done and it just so happened that the game was on sale at Gamestop so I decided to pick it up. MK11 does not disappoint at all. In fact, MK9, MK10, and MK11 are the best trilogy of games in the franchise. Yes, even better than the original trilogy. It's the only fighting game franchise where I primarily play it for the story, however there are many other great qualities about MK11 as well as its two predecessors. Graphically they all look awesome, voice acting and music is great, and they have so much damn content it's hard to feel like you didn't get your money's worth. And with Ultimate you get all the DLC characters like Spawn and Robocop, but also the conclusion to the story. There were certainly some writing and plot issues in this game, however they didn't ruin my enjoyment of this game and seeings its conclusion. Unfortunately, MK11's biggest weakness is its gameplay. While certainly not bad or terrible, it just fels kinda stiff and clunky, but luckily it's also a lot more accessible than most of the older games in the series. Between MK9, MK10, and MK11, I'd say I liked MK9 slightly more than MK11, with MK10 fallng in third place. Super fun, entertaining game, and I definitely want to revisit it someday when I play the entire new MK trilogy some day. (8/12/21) [38/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on August 15, 2021, 08:37:39 pm
32. What the Golf? || Nintendo Switch || 08.15.21

As the second non-traditional golf game I've played this year, What the Golf? offers a lot of arcade-like fun presented with an abundance of silliness. Throughout my time playing, the questions "what is golf?" and "what can golf be?" became questions I found myself asking.

Over the course of eleven hub areas, you traverse through scattered hole after hole to unlock paths and collectibles. Naturally, the game begins simple with the fundamentals of basic golf remaining for each goal to accomplish; however, this quickly elevates to become quite erratic. A golf ball can be substituted for anything. A golf club? Of course. A golfer? Well, naturally. A horse? You can count on it.

But the game is more than just offering substituting what a golf ball can be. Beyond just reaching the hole, levels can integrate mechanics similar to other game genres, such as shooters and racing. Throughout the middle of gameplay, many areas became focused on parodying other games entirely. From Metal Gear Solid, Superhot, and Super Meat Boy, the parody sections add a healthy amount of gameplay variety while not overstaying their welcome.

Overall, the game is easy to understand. However, certain goals to accomplish can be quite a challenge. I was able to 100% clear everything available to me, but there was certainly a lot of trial-and-error made. Most of the time, the challenge was understandable and was related to myself as the player. Other times—but rarely—the challenge was due to the game itself, with one segment in particular bringing me a fair amount of frustration.

That being said, What the Golf? is a short experience, with my game time totaling around 9 hours when having accomplished everything. If you're interested in unorthodox sports games or just curious as to what golf can be elevated to, What the Golf? is certainly recommended by me. Additionally, I just learned just that additional free content has been announced about one month ago with quite an extensive amount of content to be offered. It was said that the content should be released within a few weeks. While it hasn't released yet, that can only mean it will be announced soon. I'll definitely be returning to the game once the content has been released.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on August 16, 2021, 07:12:27 pm
Game 17 - Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) - 42 Hours (Critical Mode)

Long review ahead! This post will both serve as a review of Kingdom Hearts III as well as some general thoughts about the series as a whole. After about 8 months, I've finally been able to finish the final game in the Xehanort Saga, and man, what a ride it's been. I went into KH III hearing a lot of general disappointment about this game, and while there were certainly aspects that I didn't like, I actually really really enjoyed my time playing.

First, I'll start with the things that I absolutely loved. Kingdom Hearts III is easily the best looking, best playing game in the series so far. The game builds off of the excellent combat engine from BBS A Fragmentary Passage in almost every way. The game starts with the foundation laid out in KH I and II, adds the shotlock and special attacks from Birth By Sleep, and adds a rebalanced version of flowmotion from Dream Drop Distance. These elements combined to produce an exhilarating, expressive, and honestly beautiful combat system. I also loved the ability to upgrade and change Keyblades midway through battle, and the added link attacks and attraction rides were always fun to use. Each Keyblade has it's own link attacks and finishers as well, bringing advantages and disadvantages that you have to consider rather than picking whichever one has the most strength. Overall, I was very pleased to see the legacy of Kingdom Heart's outstanding combat continue to hold true with a next-generation entry on modern consoles. It's really a testament to how well the games are designed for me to still enjoying the combat after what has been over 150 hours playing these games.

The game environments are also downright gorgeous, complex, and simply a blast to explore. Each one is incredibly well modelled, vast, and well designed. There were a lot of NPCs this time around in the more populated worlds, which was a great addition. I loved the little side quests that were tied into exploration like Lucky Emblems, ingredients, and Flantastic 7 Missions. I think the choice to include modern and Pixar movies was a great change of pace, and many of them have some of the best stories in the series (even though the Tangled and Frozen worlds are essentially recreations of the movie plots). All of the worlds have an interesting gameplay quirk to mix up the standard combat, and they're actually fun this time. I especially loved the mechs in the Toy Story level, and the Pirates of the Caribbean level, which combines free roaming ship exploration and combat like Zelda Wind Waker or Assassin's Creed IV. The Gummi ship sections are also the best in the series by far, and instantly became my favorite way of travelling between worlds in the series. There are some worlds that took a downgrade in quality however, like Twilight Town and the 100-Acre Wood, and there are less worlds in general than KH II, for example. But overall KH III goes for quality over quantity, and I'd say they nailed it.


~ Story Spoilers ~

While the combat, world exploration, and minigames of KH III are in my opinion the best in the series, the story was among the worst, and I'd say that's significant given how infamous the game's story is to begin with. There are many, MANY issues that I have with this game's story, but when you have a series that plays so fast and loose with it's rules for the world, it's hard for me to stay mad at a plot hole that could likely be changed with a new retcon or side game. It's more of a story that's meant to be spectacle rather than critically analyzed.

Nonetheless, part of the problem with KH III's story is the awful direction the series narrative took in Dream Drop Distance. Everyone that died in the previous game is brought back in Dream Drop Distance and this game, which removes all sense of stakes, accomplishments, loss, and well.... meaning behind what you did in previous games. The quote-unquote "real" Organization XIII subsequently consists of mostly members of the old organization, along with Ansem AND Xemnas, with some bottom of the barrel villains thrown in as well like Vanitas and Dark Riku, and it felt both lazy and a rehash of fights we've already been through before. All these members are thrown at you in a boss-rush style fight sequence at the end of the game, and it just isn't fulfilling.

I also ended this game feeling really meh about Xehanort as a final villain. For such a grand mastermind, he really doesn't have much presence in the series as a whole (he's only in Birth By Sleep and Dream Drop Distance), and he feels really underdeveloped in this game too. I thought they would go a little into his backstory with the scenes between him and young Eraqus, but they don't. The final boss fight with Xehanort is... fine, but given my lack of interest in him as a villain combined with my distaste for the narrative direction, I just didn't enjoy it that much, which you would think I would have given how long it took to play all these games. On a similar page, I found myself really feeling the same way about Sora. He's a really one-dimensional character with barely any development over the course of this series, and if anything he takes many steps backwards and goes back to where he was prior. I felt this way about most of the characters in this series, with the exception of Axel, and I guess Riku.

~ End of Story Spoilers ~

Overall, I really did enjoy my time with the series, and I'll probably end up playing Melody of Memory and whatever new games come out. I'm really looking forward to devoting some time to playing some different games, however. I do think that playing these in a marathon is the way to go so that you don't miss anything. I would recommend just playing them in release order however, rather than strictly chronological order like I did.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 19, 2021, 10:56:31 pm
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PC 2013) - BEAT - Just got through my run through the main original story of FF14, which is basically the Level 1-50 questing.  Kind of a long time coming as I've owned the game for years, but the two separate times I tried, I couldn't get into it.  Dragged way too much for me and couldn't really get far past the early game.  This time though, I found myself a community to get involved in, I sorta had a better grasp of how to start, what to ignore (Just ignore all the basic sidequests, they aren't fun and are mostly unnecessary), and I progressed through pretty nicely as a Lancer/Dragoon.  At this point, there's a lot of stuff you can do and it's very overwhelming, but I managed to figure out a lot of it with guides and some community help. 

As an RPG/general game, it's just alright, it's what you'd expect from an MMO, but I think how it does a lot of stuff, the ease of it, and that its a very forgiving game makes it a nice time.  It's much more about the community, the interaction, I think that's what keeps me involved more as otherwise it's kind of a very dry and stiff RPG compared to what you would see in other RPG games.

I'm switching to Samurai I think for now, see how I like it as I go through Heavensward.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on August 20, 2021, 11:14:30 am
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)
Previous List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg191088.html#msg191088)

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

Dark Souls 3: Fire Fades (X1)
See 52 Game Challenge 2022 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11713.msg195871.html#msg195871)

SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete (XS)
See 52 Game Challenge 2022 (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11713.msg195871.html#msg195871)

Dark Souls Remastered (X1)
So I've been wanting to play DSR on X1/PS4 to really see the remastered treatment on a proper console, but I just never had the push to do so, and even now I don't, but I am doing it.  The graphics are way better and the framerate is amazing.  It's just fantastic.  Normally when I play Souls games I go for a standard strength build and do heavy weapons and heavy armor and just fat roll all over the place, I'll then throw in some pyromancy/faith for some magic/healing... My new character in DSR on Switch, I went pretty much straight INT so my sword does like 2 dmg on enemies and just isn't feasible, so it makes the game pretty tough, but spell casting is amazing.  So for this build, I'm going to go dex/int so I can play close to normal with weapons, but I'm going to do light armor/light weapons so I can deal some dmg but I'm going to dump into int so I can spell cast too.  I'm hoping it'll be a well rounded character that I can pull myself through the game on my own.  I probably won't finish this as I don't really have the motivation to keep playing, plus both xbox systems are being tied up with Dark Souls 3.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP)
Current Progress: Beginning
I enjoyed the first persona game, but I've read that the rest of the franchise moved away quite a bit in a lot of ways, possibly for the best.  I've been meaning to get into this one to continue my franchise run, but I just hadn't been making time between reading books and playing other handheld games.  I'm not far in this game yet, don't think I've even had a single battle in the hour or so of gameplay I've done.

Halo 2 Anniversary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3U3x5I4p3c&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjTNqKbjgigCDt__772decmU) (XSX)
Current Progress: Chapter 6
Have played this game not even slightly before.  Played through bits as Chief, and now I'm playing as the arbiter which is pretty cool.  Great improvement over Halo CE in many aspects, probably mostly in that this is legitimately an X1 game whereas CE was a 360 game.

The Sinking City (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6DKD5DcEwg&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjSv4uIrepdWzc6L866xtYvi) (PS4)
Current Progress: Lost at Sea - Devil's Teeth
After finishing the Vanishing of Ethan Carter, I was really wanting some Lovecraftian goodness, so I gave this game a go.  Plays super similar to Vanishing of Ethan Carter in a lot of the ways that Ethan Carter has.  Like suspiciously so.  To the point it surprises me that there is no overlap between the games developer wise.  Sort of not enjoying this game for many reasons.  Probably going to be a slow play... could also be temporarily abandoning it today because Xbox's starting a gamerscore challenge.

Kill the Bad Guy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX8LZBWpR88&list=PL7ucKcXKWNjT8dv_5l5_eDYY4uRPjKrfy) (PS4)
Current Progress: Level 25
I'd been interested in this game for years, but never bothered to actually give it a go.  Finally decided to pop it in and give it a try instead of playing Sinking City.  Going in, I expected that I wouldn't beat it right away nor would I beat it this year probably, but I'd give the game a chance and make some progress for when I do finally sit down and beat it.  That said, the controls are pretty frustrating in this game.  X selects objects, [] is used to link/move objects, R2 is used to activate objects, L2 is used to link/move linked objects, can't rotate the camera, zoom is limited, buildings are only see through when you hover over them.  In general I spend more time trying to figure out what buttons to press in what order than actually doing stuff.  Oh and the cursor or whatever you'd call it for linking/moving objects snaps as far as I can tell and it doesn't snap well.  Thinking about it, I might not need to use L2 for moving/linking linked objects, I think maybe L2 is just for snapping to objects when moving/linking, so I can probably do it freehand.  I'll have to give that a try, but that still speaks to how non-functional the snap system is.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on August 28, 2021, 03:57:31 pm
33. Kuukiyomi: Consider It || Nintendo Switch || 08.27.21

Drawn in to Kuukiyomi by its short level design, I was interested in how the game would explore its premise of human consideration. Presented with 100 small situations of everyday life, Kuukiyomi blends together oddball Japanese humor and a simple art style that many will appreciate.

Similar to WarioWare titles Kuukiyomi offers nonsensical fun to its players, albeit the fast-paced action of WarioWare has been dialed down a lot for this title. However, the basic level design remains, but in the form of daily life moments that everyone can relate to. At its core, Kuukiyomi offers this proposition: Do you want to be considerate? Or do you not? To advance through each mini-game, there is no right or wrong answer. Simply answers. Will you move slightly so that more room is available for others to sit down while on board a train, or will you force those standing to search for a seat elsewhere? Will you choose to be the target of a stray sidewalk puddle as a car drives over it, or will the water splash the person you're with?

With that said, Kuukiyomi offers a small amount of replay-ability. As each mini-game has numerous different outcomes, it may be worth it to some players to revisit each level. Alongside the traditional "Consider It" mode, there is also an "Inconsiderate" mode. After finishing each of the 100 mini-games, your performance is rated in-full by several different degrees while being dependent on whichever mode has been chosen. At the same time, there is an in-game achievement system which relies on each mini-game being solved with an outcome separate from both considerate and inconsiderate decrees. Most of these outcomes, for me, are certainly unexpected, with all three types of player input being humorous.

However, many people may not appreciate the limited amount of content offered. An entire playthrough of one mode is around 30 minutes. If you're invested in solving what the unexpected outcomes may be, that will take longer, as there is certainly a trial-and-error aspect to it. While the pricing is fairly cheap, it may still be overpriced for some given its total playtime. Nevertheless, I think that Kuukiyomi is still worth trying out, and it seems to be the perfect-sized game to introduce to others if you're together. Additionally, there are two sequels which I may later visit.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on August 30, 2021, 09:15:44 am
Managed to hit my goal of 104 games a few days ago, sitting at 107 games beat right now.  I'm on a good path to hitting that new goal of 156 games, but I'm sure something will come up and slow me down.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on August 30, 2021, 09:18:00 am
Have quite a few games that I've been playing at once. I think in September I will have quite a few to talk about here. Thought I would give a quick update.

- Owlboy (Switch) - Probably about halfway done. Love love love how this game looks and sounds but the gameplay is a little obtuse. Enjoying it so far.

- Super Mario 64 (Switch) - At about 95 stars. A classic game that is still fun despite some gameplay and camera hiccups.

- Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) - World 4. Playing this with my girlfriend. We're enjoying it so far. I find it to be a fun, but relatively unoriginal/unexciting experience personally.

- Magic the Gathering: Shandalar (PC) - Such a fantastic melding of a card game and old-shool PC game. Really enjoying my time with it as someone who knows very little about Magic. I just wish the ante system wasn't a thing.

- Ring Fit Adventure (Switch) - World 9. Playing this about once a week. Really should be playing it more often but since it's the summer I've been trying to do other things outside that are active.

I also have maybe a few missions left in Valkyria Chronicles but I haven't gotten around to starting that game up again yet.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on August 31, 2021, 03:03:10 am
Dead by Daylight (PC 2016) - ENDLESS - This is one of what I would consider my backlog games, I've owned it since 2019 I think, picked up on a sale, but I recently picked up a bunch of the DLC on another good sale and pushed myself to play the game after watching streamers play it for the past month or two.  I originally played it as Huntress, some survivor, and really didn't like the survivor gameplay.  Still don't think it's particularly great, but I have learned I enjoy Killer.  I feel like I didn't get into the game, a lot because I didn't have a group, but also having "performance anxiety", which is a bit why I don't normally do games like this most of the time, I feel like if I can't be good in either role, that I'm kinda letting other people down.  Survivor just isn't for me unless I was doing it with friends, the gameplay loop is boring, it's why I don't like non-combat horror games like Outlast, Amnesia, etc, but Killer is very active and that's what interests me more.

I pushed past that kind of pointless stress I was feeling, getting a better grasp of things, and I had some fun.  Did some matches as Nemesis that all went pretty well, he's a very slow character, but he's fairly simple to play (despite being marked as "Intermediate" I think, not sure why, his mechanics seem fairly simple), but he's cool to play as.  Also started to get into Trickster, the Korean made character who throws knives and he can be fun just chucking blades lol Not sure how many characters I'll check out, I kinda like the killers who have more range to them I think, less so the movement powers, but I can probably see a handful of characters I'd like to play. 

May or may not get Pinhead who is out next month I think, depends on how much I play, though his gameplay is real interesting, but right now I'm really hoping they can work out a deal for Jason from Friday the 13th.  I know there are still a few things being worked on lawsuit wise, but I've seen companies able to get back to work on products for Jason, so it makes me think there's a chance he could show up to join the likes of Freddy, Myers, Leatherface, and Pinhead for classic horror icons.  He's kind of the only horror character I really like for some reason, I haven't even watched many of his movies, but I just like his look, the mask, it's purely looks over anything lol He's a blunt force and that to me works more than even Michael Myers, mostly due to when Jason is played as absolutely huge, Freddy vs Jason/Jason X style.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on September 03, 2021, 01:17:25 pm
August Update

Games Beat in August

Shadow of the Colossus (2018) (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 3 - Still a gosh-darned masterpiece.  It's way shorter than I remembered, but the awe and spectacle are definitely still there.

Hollow Knight (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 13 - 112% completion, so the maximum amount.  There's one optional challenge that stopped me from getting the platinum - a nails hard boss gauntlet.  I don't doubt I could beat it, I just didn't want to spend the 2 weeks it would have taken practicing.

Resident Evil Village (PS5) - Beat / Aug. 29 - Ended up loving this way more than I thought I would.  I think RE7 is still probably better game overall, but this was just so much damned fun.  Big recommend all around.

Games Played in August
Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS5) - It's modern CoD.  Plays great, story has the subtlety of a jackhammer.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on September 07, 2021, 08:56:21 am
Game 18 - Super Mario 64 (Switch) – 17 Hours

113 Power Stars

Super Mario 64 is a game which needs no introduction. It not only paved the way for 3D platformers as a whole, but also set the standard for level design, controls, and gameplay that would influence the genre for years to come. I had never played it myself, but certainly the game has a significant reputation, and I was excited to see what this game had to offer after so many years.

All of that being said, how does the game hold up 25 years later? I personally really enjoyed my time with Super Mario 64. I found that the controls are still very good after all this time, with the only exception being with getting out of water. The camera, however, definitely leaves a lot to be desired. It felt incredibly clunky, stiff, and awkward to use. Graphically, the game does look a little dated, with most worlds feeling a little emptier than  I would have liked, especially compared to something like Super Mario Sunshine.

I can honestly say that the rest of the game was excellent however. Fantastic levels, secrets, a genius hub-world that connects everything beautifully, great music, there’s really not much to criticize outside of the camera and some minor gameplay hiccups. I also liked how there are more worlds and more actual star missions that you can also do out of order in this game compared to Sunshine, which heavily relies on blue coins to make up for the lack of worlds to explore. On that note, I also liked the power ups a little more in 64, though I don’t think either game’s power ups are particularly memorable.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on September 12, 2021, 12:44:13 pm
34. Psychonauts || PlayStation 4 || 09.11.21

With the long-awaited Psychonauts 2 finally releasing after many, many years of fans' anticipation, I made the decision to visit the original Psychonauts game. However, this was my third attempt to play through the game to its end, and, I'm glad to say that I did finally manage to finish the story this time.

As an action-adventure platform title, Psychonauts stars young Raz as the game's protagonist as he visits a camp to train budding psychics into a part of the elite force Psychonauts to tackle the world's psychic problems. Despite Raz's short stay at camp, events quickly make a turn from ordinary into anything but, with Raz taking the responsibility to challenge the perils at-hand by entering the minds of others to help them overcome their mental woes. Developed by Double Fine Productions, Psychonauts is full of charm, humor, an interesting premise, and its iconic peculiar art style that will draw in many curious eyes.

That being said, I did not enjoy my time with Psychonauts. Had I played the game much closer to its release in 2005, my opinion may be much different than it is now. But, having played for a third—and final—time, my experience with the game left a bad impression. Leaning heavily into the 3D platformer genre, Psychonauts controls have not aged well by any means. And, with a large amount of items to collect, the game's bad controls dramatically diminish the positives that the game's world and narrative introduces. However, the game's aged controls affect the action segments as well, as the player will encounter many boss segments, with a few in particular being greatly affected by the game's controls. Additionally, the action gameplay, whether it be fighting or simply maneuvering around, suffers from some noticeable lag at times.

Despite owning the game for PlayStation 2, I decided to take play the port to PlayStation 4 out of convenience, and I also figured that collecting trophies would be ideal as well. Despite collecting everything in-game, I am barred from collecting all trophies as it requires to finish an incredibly difficult mini-game. I've spent quite some time with it, and, despite knowing that I'm sure I could beat it with enough time passed, I walked away. Again, the difficulty for this challenge is directly related to the game's controls. The other major negative experience I encountered with the port is with the audio in the final cutscene once the game has been beaten. For me, the audio was extremely muffled as incredibly loud static noises clicked repeatedly. I ended up having to watch the scene online. Even at its end, Psychonauts left a sour taste.

If you're someone who enjoys 3D platformers but doesn't feel the need to collect everything, Psychonauts may still be something to consider playing. While the game has noticeably aged, the charm surrounding its narrative is still present. I'm sure that Psychonauts 2 now is leagues better than the original title. I may try it one day later in life.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 12, 2021, 04:06:39 pm
38. Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2)

I got on a massive 2000s tuner car kick recently and there are few video games that embody this period of time better than the NFSU games. I played the first Underground game several years ago and while I still found it fun, it was really let down by its gameplay and a few minor issues like it's overall bad OST and graphics that made it hard to see where you were going on certain stages. Underground 2 is mostly an improvement across the board, however it still isn't amazing in terms of gameplay, and this becomes most evident the further in the game you get. Sure, the game becomes harder as you progress, but when you need you car to be precise and not act like a rag doll, it finds a way to do this. On top of that some of the drag races were poorly designed with your engine either blowing before the race even ended or the game literally placing an oncoming car in your lane right after the start line. Still, the game isn't terrible despite the gameplay being your biggest obstacle. While I'm not a huge fan of the OST, it was better than the first game, and luckily you can turn it off if you want. The cars sound good and change appropriately with certain mods. Visually the game is about on par with he first game and still suffers from visibility issues depending on what stage you're racing on. My absolute favorite part of this game is definitely how saturated it is in early 2000s tuner culture and just the overall zeitgeist of that time period. I was also a big fan of all the unlockables after most races which mostly included new parts for you car. NFSU2 is definitely better than the first game, but still suffers from a lot of the same issues that really held both games back from being something more iconic and important to the sixth console generation. (9/12/21) [33/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on September 12, 2021, 06:35:00 pm
Game 19 - Magic the Gathering: Shandalar (PC) - 32 Hours

I wasn't able to beat the final boss because my game kept freezing. He has 400 life, so I think the game just isn't able to handle such a long duel. Might keep trying to see if I can actually beat him before it freezes.

One of my favorite types of video games are "card game video games". That is, a video game that emulates a popular trading card game such as Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh!. I've played several of these over the years, but I'd never really gotten into what is the grandfather of all trading card games: Magic the Gathering. I decided that I would start with the 1997 PC game Magic the Gathering: Shandalar because it uses the very first couple of sets of Magic, and seemed like a good place to start as any.

Don't let the age or relative obscurity of this game fool you: MtG Shandalar is easily the best single player experience for any trading card game out there. While other games in this style might have a meager story, or no story to speak of, Shandalar features a richly inhabited world full of towns, shops, quests, dungeons, random encounters, special powers to acquire, secrets, and treasures. The music is fantastic, there's a lot of lore to the world to explore, and the game has an actual narrative that gives meaning to your quest.

In addition to being a great aesthetic experience, Shandalar is also just a good way to play some old-school Magic. Everything flows together really well, with only a couple glitches and hiccups. Deckbuilding is very easy to do, and the AI is challenging and rewarding to face, especially on the harder difficulty settings. It's just a phenomenal experience.

All that being said, there are a couple of things I didn't like. One of which is the ante system. Yes, old school Magic had antes built into it's game design. However, antes are mandatory in this game, and they ramp up the frustration way too much for my liking. No matter how good your deck is built, you can still get flooded out or draw nothing but creatures and lose a duel, especially with the game's very restrictive mulligan rules. And just like that, you permanently lose a card from your deck, of which there may be only one of in the entire game. I'm not ashamed to say that I did some save-scumming when that happened, because I just couldn't be bothered.

For all my love of the game's story, I'm not the biggest fan of it's overall progression. Essentially, you are fighting against five evil Wizards who each represent one color in Magic. They send their minions to attack towns and you have to defend them before they are taken over. If any one wizard takes over 5 towns, you lose the game. Simple, right? What happens is that these Wizards eventually get more and more frequent with their attacks, so frequent that you won't be able to fend them all off. You are eventually forced to beat them all just to keep yourself from losing your game permanently. Then, when you beat the last Wizard, you are instantly thrust into the final battle, and whether you win or lose, the game quits to the desktop and you're done.

Boiled down, the game basically puts you on a 30 hour clock. You have to beat the game within that time, which means you don't have the luxury of completing your card collection or experimenting with different decks. I found that on the hardest difficulty I had no time to experiment with different strategies because you simply don't have the time to make more than maybe 2 different decks, especially with the aforementioned ante system. It's just a design element that I really wasn't a fan of, since I like to try out lots of different decks and collect as many cards as possible. I was playing on the hardest difficulty though, so maybe it's a little more forgiving if you play on normal. I just wish you could have an endgame state where you can take your time and challenge the final boss whenever you're ready. Alas. Still a really fun game though, definitely recommended.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on September 14, 2021, 09:08:22 am
I started playing through all of the Mega Man games, so I very quickly managed to hit 131 games beat at this point.  I'm going to easily demolish that new goal of 156 games.  Between the games being short and me being hurt to the point that I really can't do much other than sit around, I've getting through games pretty quickly.  I've still got a bunch more to do, but I probably won't start up Battle Network or Star Force just yet.

So... I'm left with Xtreme 2, Legends 2, Soccer, the Anniversary collection arcade games, the Game Gear and Genesis games, and Street Fighter x Mega Man.  I haven't decided if I'm willing to replay Command Mission.  I recall enjoying the game as a kid, but I also recall the final boss fight being absolute bullshit.

Regardless, very soon I'm probably going to take a break and play TWEWY... but also I need to study for my exam coming up later this month.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on September 14, 2021, 09:43:57 am
Quote from: ignition365 on September 14, 2021, 09:08:22 am
I've still got a bunch more to do, but I probably won't start up Battle Network or Star Force just yet.

I am *Praying* that Capcom does a Battle Network Collection for the series' 20th anniversary, especially since BN 2 and the Star Force games are pretty pricey right now.  :'(
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 16, 2021, 10:38:39 pm
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (PC 2015) - BEAT - Definitely enjoying the story more with FF14 now, like ARR was fine, but there was a lot of repetition to it, back to back primal fights and then having to fight them again, and some of the other stuff going on was kinda really basic up till the story right before Heavensward, even doing some emotional beats better than it was done in ARR.  Ishgard is really cool visually along with a number of the locations and dungeons and the realization of who Thordin and the Heavens Ward were at the end was pretty awesome.  With Heavensward I switched to Samurai, which I definitely am liking.  I did pick up Gunbreaker to try, the kit doesn't seem complicated, but not sure if I'm ready for the added responsibility of what Tank entails, so not sure if I'm gonna do Gunbreaker or even Dark Knight, so probably gonna stick with Samurai as the only other DPS that sounded interesting to me is the upcoming Reaper in Endwalker.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on September 19, 2021, 11:20:00 am
39. Cruis'n Blast (Switch)

The Cruis'n series was my favorite franchise of arcade racers in the 90s. I owned all of them on the N64 growing up, but of course the best times playing this game were when I came across one of the arcade cabinets for USA, World, or Exotica. This series is pretty special to me so when I found out Raw Thrills was porting Blast to the Switch I instantly became hyped! While there are some remnants of the Cruis'n legacy present in Blast, the game mostly just feels like another over the top arcade racing game that you'd have sworn was released in 2001. The graphics, gameplay, and music all feel super late 90s and early 2000s, which in that regard the game absolutely succeeds in being a throwback racer. However, I always felt like the Cruis'n games were just as much about taking in the scenery and going on this adventure than it was about some of its more over the top elements like UFOs and Dinosaurs. Obviously Exotica was all about that sort of stuff, and in a way this game does in a sense feel like a progression of that. However, everything in Blast is thrown at you at breakneck speeds to where you're barely able to really enjoy things like you were in the other Cruis'n games. Don't get me wrong, there are still some really cool set pieces like Dinos, Yetis, UFOs, massive tornados, and other craziness as you're racing, but the gameplay really makes it hard to fully enjoy all this. Overall, Cruis'n Blast is a worthy successor to the Cruis'n franchise even if it does feel like it somewhat lost its way at some point. But those deviations for its roots are definitely welcome ones that make this title certainly stand out from the pack. (9/18/21) [32/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 20, 2021, 03:48:16 am
Deltarune: Chapter 1 & 2 (PC 2021) - BEAT - Gonna count this, even though the game isn't actually finished (Three more chapters are coming as a paid release eventually from what I saw), but doing a replay of the first chapter to refresh my thoughts on the game and what I think is a longer second chapter, adds up to a reasonable chunk of time to count it.  I had a good time with Chapter 2, it introduced a number of fun new mechanics, and while the game isn't hitting quite the same way as Undertale did yet, maybe because it is separated into chapters and that the two chapters were released 3 years apart, it still has a lot of that quirkyness to enjoy.  Looking forward to more, hopefully it doesn't take 3 years to release more lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on September 21, 2021, 02:47:49 am
29. CONTROL - PS5
My fears for this game were true, the game was too abstract and a majority of the story content is hidden in 200+ documents throughout the game. The game has barely any story events that happen in real time, it's mostly about figuring out what has happens. Now I can enjoy abstract story telling, but I am sick of games making document collectables as a necessity to understand what is happening - I think it is a misuse of the medium, video games are not books. The story has a lot of interesting concepts but it is just poorly told.

I also had other issues with the game, the map was horrid. There are many times where I'd see on the map I have to go to one location and it turns out to be false. Also, I hated upgrade system, when I gain experience to utilise, I want to do so efficiently, yet this game has you buy perks which are randomised - so 90% of the time I would get ones which were useless. You can recycle the ones you don't want for a lesser amount of points but it is still frustrating.

The combat was tedious at first, but by the time I reached endgame status the abilities made navigation much easier and I actually began to enjoy combat. I will say though I felt  the game was a bit too action heavy for the feel of the game. It too actiony and I felt it should have been toned down to a more survival horror styled system - So you are more vulnerable and less enemies. I just feel the action packed combat conflicts to much with the sense of mystery the setting is going for. Also, I was disappointed to see they only utilize the shape sifting environments for one section of the game - which is also the most amped up section featuring obnoxious rock music.

While i didn't enjoy the game very much now the combat mechanics have opened up I am compelled enough to get the Platinum, it doesn't seem too much effort. But overall I am glad I got this on PS Plus as i don't think i'll be getting this on disc.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 21, 2021, 03:28:37 am
Quote from: vivigamer on September 21, 2021, 02:47:49 am
29. CONTROL - PS5
My fears for this game were true, the game was too abstract and a majority of the story content is hidden in 200+ documents throughout the game. The game has barely any story events that happen in real time, it's mostly about figuring out what has happens. Now I can enjoy abstract story telling, but I am sick of games making document collectables as a necessity to understand what is happening - I think it is a misuse of the medium, video games are not books. The story has a lot of interesting concepts but it is just poorly told.

I also had other issues with the game, the map was horrid. There are many times where I'd see on the map I have to go to one location and it turns out to be false. Also, I hated upgrade system, when I gain experience to utilise, I want to do so efficiently, yet this game has you buy perks which are randomised - so 90% of the time I would get ones which were useless. You can recycle the ones you don't want for a lesser amount of points but it is still frustrating.

The combat was tedious at first, but by the time I reached endgame status the abilities made navigation much easier and I actually began to enjoy combat. I will say though I felt  the game was a bit too action heavy for the feel of the game. It too actiony and I felt it should have been toned down to a more survival horror styled system - So you are more vulnerable and less enemies. I just feel the action packed combat conflicts to much with the sense of mystery the setting is going for. Also, I was disappointed to see they only utilize the shape sifting environments for one section of the game - which is also the most amped up section featuring obnoxious rock music.

While i didn't enjoy the game very much now the combat mechanics have opened up I am compelled enough to get the Platinum, it doesn't seem too much effort. But overall I am glad I got this on PS Plus as i don't think i'll be getting this on disc.

A shame you didn't like the story, I thought it was incredible back when I played it and kicked myself for not playing it at launch, I was so engaged with the setting and everything going on and I didn't personally find it all that abstract, as normally I abhor that kind of story (Returnal).  It could be weird and a little confusing at times, but I thought the story was great to follow and I thought the document stuff wasn't necessary for the story, but added a whole lot to it so I was eager to find as much as possible as you got a lot of great insight into past missions and such and the weird items.

The gameplay was definitely the weakest for me, though much like for you, it improves greatly when you get cooler weapons and more mobility.  They definitely need to just chuck the upgrade and stat bonus stuff in the trash though for the sequel, I found collecting the random bonus improvements really tedious.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on September 22, 2021, 01:26:07 am
I did continue to play The Foundation DLC as I heard it continued the story, yet it was all still abstract nonsense to me - I followed the game structure as I cleared 4 corrupted spheres but I still don't know what the context of it all meant... nor was I still willing to read the 200+ documents that accumulated by the end. But as an extension of the gameplay I did enjoy the new abilities they added, along with the fresh paint of colour which the main complex lacked.

A similar recent game that comes to mind is Death Stranding, that game too had hundreds of emails you could read explaining in-depth lore. Yet despite not reading that I had a decent understanding of what was going on - even know i'd say it was more convoluted.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 22, 2021, 01:43:12 am
Quote from: vivigamer on September 22, 2021, 01:26:07 am
I did continue to play The Foundation DLC as I heard it continued the story, yet it was all still abstract nonsense to me - I followed the game structure as I cleared 4 corrupted spheres but I still don't know what the context of it all meant... nor was I still willing to read the 200+ documents that accumulated by the end. But as an extension of the gameplay I did enjoy the new abilities they added, along with the fresh paint of colour which the main complex lacked.

A similar recent game that comes to mind is Death Stranding, that game too had hundreds of emails you could read explaining in-depth lore. Yet despite not reading that I had a decent understanding of what was going on - even know i'd say it was more convoluted.

I actually didn't like The Foundation DLC.  I never finished it, I found that one kind of boring, pretty repetitive doing all the spheres, but the other DLC was pretty great if you knew Alan Wake at all, it actually shows up mid game I think, so you might've already done it.  I will say, I was reminded that I hated the ending, it just sorta stopped and that didn't sit right with me.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on September 25, 2021, 01:54:55 am
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4 2018) - BEAT - This might technically be the only Castlevania I've beaten "legit" since this version of the game doesn't have save states like the Anniversary Collection does lol This kinda annoyed me in a few parts, but I'd actually say this game was generally easier than the previous Castlevania's I played that released before this one.  My only major negative is that this game does not have diagonal attacks like Super Castlevania IV, which is an outright downgrade gameplay wise.  But I gotta say, I had some fun, this one is up there in my top 3 Castlevania games so far with Super Castlevania and Castlevania 3.  On to Symphony of the Night...
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on September 25, 2021, 10:48:53 am
Rondo is definitely the easiest of the Classicvanias, especially if you play as Maria. But it's still really good. I might put it at my #2 slot.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on September 28, 2021, 09:31:43 am
Re: Control: I do not know if it makes a difference, but I tend to always play games with subtitles turned on. In Control, I could immediately tell that if a person played with them turned off they would miss a lot of dialog. When the computer or whatever talks, the sound is gibberish but the subtitles actually have text.

44. The Banner Saga
This is basically a mix between The Oregon Trail and whatever genre Disgaea is. There seems to be many ways to handle it, and in this I had changed my methodology half-way through the game. As the main currency is acquired from winning battles and rarely from completing story events, and the currency can be used to buy food (for the Oregon Trail portion), to level up characters or to buy equipment. The first part of the story has you with one caravan that is well off and you rarely have to buy food. So you can then enjoy the level up and buying the gear. Then the second half of the game you have not a lot of money and not a lot of food, and you spend almost everything on food. This would be ok except for the issue that your characters cannot get any better because you can't afford it. There is no way to make money otherwise, such as you can't sell unused gear. So in the second half (maybe it was the last third) of the game I actively switched to getting into as many fights as possible.

The interesting thing about this series is that it appears that you can import your characters from this game to the sequels. This mechanic sounds similar to that in Eye of the Beholder II (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg186941.html#msg186941) and hopefully Banner Saga 2 is better than EOB2.

Only bug I encountered is that during the end credits, if you bring up pause menu and then resume, the video stops playing but the audio continues. Because of this, I may have technically not beat the game as far as the game was concerned. Since I was playing on easy, there is no achievement for beating the game on this difficulty. I am considering it to be beaten either way.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 03, 2021, 04:40:21 am
Death Stranding: Director's Cut (PS5 2021) - BEAT - With this being my second proper playthrough, I think it's cemented itself pretty high as a favorite game at this point, top 20 for sure.  It just absolutely hits the kind of grind I can get into, where it never feels frustrating and I get new stuff on the regular that adds variety and options, while also having an incredibly unique and interesting story to follow along with.    I struggle to have something to compare it to, but I sorta feel like it's the same as vein as a Animal Crossing, where the game can be quite repetitive with what are considered menial tasks, in Death Stranding's case, having to spend 60 to 70% of the game just delivering packages of various amounts across treacherous terrain.  Sure there's combat, but it's a relatively minor part of the game and much of the game is about expanding the network, creating new roads and traversal paths, and getting new gear and items to facilitate better deliveries, while experiencing a crazy post-apocalyptic story.  I don't know why I like it so much, but with this playthrough, I've put over 150 hours into the game at this point and still gonna put more time in to try and finish up most everything again.

As for the Director's Cut version, it doesn't add a whole lot new beyond the big performance boost (Which was already available on PC), but it does run fantastically on PS5.  The new stuff is mostly just bonus traversal items, side content with the firing range and race track, and some bonus side mission stuff along with the Cyberpunk and Half-Life crossover missions.  I wouldn't recommend someone to replay it like I have unless you are a pretty serious fan of the first game.  I think you could do all the new content with a transferred endgame save, but it's not something you'll be likely dumping a ton of hours into.

For anyone that hasn't played it, I would recommend it if you love the wild story stuff that Kojima does, or want what is mostly a walking/delivery simulator as while it does have action and threats and all that, it's such a minor part of the game.  It's a temporary hazard you have to experience while pretending to be the USPS during the apocalypse...So basically you are Kevin Costner from The Postman lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on October 03, 2021, 08:53:34 am
September Update

Games Beat in September
Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS5) - Beat / Sept. 3 - Plays great, but subtle as a bag of hammers.
Far Cry 3 (PC) - Beat / Sept. 15 - An improvement on part 2 in every way.  The story still drags, but at least the characters are more interesting, even if Vaas should have been the main villain.

Games Played in September
Darkest Dungeon (PC) - Incredible minimalistic (and difficult) strategy RPG, but gets a tad too grindy in the middle.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 04, 2021, 12:17:10 am
40. Silent Hill 2 (PS2)

I played Silent Hill 2 several years ago with fairly low expectations going into it because of my somewhat negative opinion of the first game. However, I was absolutely floored by how good the sequel was and knew I had to replay it, not only to properly review it, but to also kick off my plan to play at least a couple scary/horror themed games during the month of October.


Silent Hill 2 is maybe one of the most atmospheric and dare I say beautiful games I've ever played. The fog filled setting of the town, combined with abandoned building like apartments and hospitals that slowly become more and more decayed as you progress through the game is absolutely awesome. Combine that with the constant surreal horror that's present everywhere and it's hard not to appreciate, and get creeped out by this game. The story of the game really keeps you guessing and wondering what the hell is going on to as you're a man searching for his dead wife upon getting a post humous letter from her to meet her in the town of Silent Hill. The audio absolutely lends itself to everything above with not only its amazing OST, but all the strange noises you'll hear when exploring rooms, hallways, and dark streets. This game frankly makes my skin crawl at times which is something that's very hard to do when it comes to horror. You'd think Silent Hill 2 was a perfect game with how I'm describing it, and it might be if not for it's pretty bad gameplay.


Yes, I meant what I said; the gameplay of Silent Hill 2 is pretty bad. It utilizes similar tank controls found in the classic Resident Evil games, but actually finds a way to make them feel even more sluggish, cumbersome, and clumsy. This really gets irritating in almost every enemy encounter, which is luckily offset by the game giving you plenty of ammo and health items. Another thing that mitigates that bad gameplay is the fact that in a strange way it kinda adds to the feeling of dread that constantly follows you wherever you go. If not for these aspects and how amazing everything else is in this game I'd probably have disliked this game quite a bit, but you know what? I don't. In fact, I adore this game. It made me sad, depressed, anxious, scared, terrified, and down right creeped out throughout the game. I never felt bored or feeling like I wish things were different despite those bad controls. Silent Hill 2 is an outstanding game and definitely makes me want to try out more titles from this franchise even though I've heard there a mixed bag beyond the first three games. (10/3/21) [41/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 05, 2021, 12:32:10 am
41. ReDux: Dark Matter (Dreamcast)

With us being in the last stretch of the year I needed to play some catch up if I'm ever going to hit 52 games this year, so I figured what better way than to play some SHMUPs! On top of that I started playing my next spooky game to celebrate October, but just wasn't feeling it today for whatever reason. Unfortunately this game wasn't much better in terms of entertaining me. Redux: Dark Matter is a remake/sequel of sorts to the wildly mediocre, and borderline bad DUX games that were independently released on the Dreamcast by HuCast. Redux really isn't all that better, with bland, forgettable gameplay that is more or less ripped off from R-Type, and graphics that while colorful are fairly generic and uninspiring. Fortunately ReDux does have a pretty cool OST, but it does very little to make this game more enjoyable. Redux isn't terrible, but just very forgettable and boring as far as shooters go. (10/4/21) [24/50]

42. Shikigami No Shiro 2 (Dreamcast)

The Castle of Shikigami games are a series I have wanted to jump into for A LONG time, and while my Dreamcast was fired up I decided to finally give one of them a shot. And wow! While Castle Shikigami 2 is no masterpiece, it was way better than I expected! For one, this game has pretty good graphics for the time, and also has hand drawn anime characters to deliver dialogue between stages and right before certain boss battles. I do somewhat regret not playing the US version on the PS2 since it has some of the worst voice acting ever in a game, but otherwise the audio is pretty awesome and the OST was definitely great! As for the gameplay it was surprisingly dynamic with the various characters having different attacks and abilities which certainly gave certain characters an edge depending on what you're up against. I certainly found some characters to be way more useful than others, but the diversity in gameplay styles between them was definitely welcome. I've certainly played better SHMUPs, but this game was surprisingly good and one I definitely plan on returning to down the road some more. (10/4/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 07, 2021, 11:08:05 pm
43. Trizeal (Dreamcast)

Trizeal is a game I've known about for a very long time, but I'd just never got around to playing it, mostly because it's always cost an arm and a leg. I finally got to sit down and play it and while it isn't the best looking SHMUP on the Dreamcast, it's still a great game, mostly due to its great gameplay and awesome OST. (10/7/21) [35/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 08, 2021, 11:56:40 am
44. Triggerheart Exelica (Dreamcast)

I feel like weird gimmicks in shooters rarely work, and unfortunately the grab/throw mechanic in Triggerheart Exelica is no different. This feature allows you to grab other ships and use them as a shield, projectile or spin them around and destroy a bunch of enemies around you. While this sounds fun in theory I never found it to mesh well with the action taking place on screen and was often killed before I was able to effectively utilize a ship I grabbed. Honestly this game would have been better without it, but it does allow it to stand out somewhat i guess. I also had an issue with the hitbox which was hard to define. I guess this wasn't a huge deal since it's pretty small, making it easy for you to dodge most things with a little skill. Graphics and Sound are pretty good for the most part, but nothing remarkable or memorable. Overall, this is definitely not a great shooter, actually a fairly mediocre one that is only memorable due to a mechanic that isn't even that much fun to use, nor does it work incredibly well in this game. (10/8/21) [28/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 12, 2021, 09:52:57 pm
Metroid Fusion (GBA 2002) - BEAT - I thought after Zero Mission was kinda middling and I actually dropped Super Metroid as too much was annoying me, I ended up really enjoying Fusion quite abit.  The only major negatives I had was that the game is abit more linear than the other, set into sections you explore and then eventually backtrack abit through, it comes across abit more hand holdy than it needed to be.  That being said, I'll take progression I can more easily figure out than the obtuse way they did it with Super Metroid.  The good was that the story was actually interesting, you get just enough to be interested, nothing amazing, but it worked well and the pacing.  One annoying thing was the drastic difficulty spike the game gets, where it goes from like a 3 or 4 to like an 8 a little over halfway through the game.  I'm fine with a gradual increase in difficulty, but the challenge a lot of the time was kinda the cheap way of doing it where everything just does a lot of damage mostly.

I was glad I kept going after Zero Mission and Super Metroid, as I wasn't enjoying myself a ton before that, but I'd say Fusion is quite good and definitely my favorite of the three so far.  I'll probably get to Samus Returns in the next month or so, and no clue if I'll ever check out Dread or not as there's just too much to play right now to then go and grab another 60 dollar game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on October 15, 2021, 04:02:50 pm
been a while since I've posted an update so here's what I've missed posting the past several months. There's no way I'm hitting 52 this year, but I did just quit WoW so that should help a bit lol.

9. Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (PS4) 05/09
10. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart (PS5) 01/17
11. Gris (PS4) 07/23
12. Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/25
13. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/31
14. The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) 08/07
15. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) 09/26
16 Metroid Dred (Switch) 10/14

Metroid was amazing btw.. a fricken masterpiece if you ask me
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on October 21, 2021, 09:21:04 pm
35. The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series: The Final Season || PlayStation 4 || 10.20.21

As a series I've played very sporadically over the course of the last nine years, it was nice to finally sit down and conclude Clementine's long-running saga.

For those unfamiliar to this series or to any of Telltale's projects, The Walking Dead project is a graphic adventure game title where the player has minimal gameplay involvement but instead is in control of how the narrative progresses as characters interact with one another. As the series has evolved, gameplay has incorporated more and more action-like sequences largely through quick-time events and aiming controls, although the focus is still on what the series was grounded upon. To me, I think that that The Final Season balances these gameplay mechanics well in maintaining the player's engagement.

However, the bulk of why players are invested in these titles is for the story itself. As someone who has not delved into the TV series itself, I quickly became interested in the series' chief characters Clementine and Lee and the world they're thrown into as zombies walk the earth. That being said, while the core narrative is centered around this new life, what makes the series fantastic are the interpersonal relationships among characters and the groups they're involved with. After surviving for eight long years surviving this new world, The Final Season introduces Clementine as she cares for a young boy A.J. who was born into this new world. Unlike previous titles where choices greatly impact the player-character Clementine's relationships with those in her life, The Final Season expands upon this idea as Clementine's own decisions influence young A.J. into the person he is to become. In a world like theirs, people are forced to grow quickly, and A.J. is a prime example of this.

Honestly, I finished the series feeling quite pleased with the overall narrative. Of course, in a game like this, numerous outcomes, paths, and overall endings exist. I've only ever played through each game once, but that will surely change over time, as I would love to revisit the series someday. I've never given the show a chance, so I'm not sure if those who explicitly dislike the show will find enjoyment with this game and series overall. However, if you enjoy a game with a strong narrative with a relatively short playtime, it's certainly something to consider playing.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on October 26, 2021, 04:21:46 pm
Game 20 - The Last of Us Part II (PS4) – 32 Hours

This game sure has had a lot of very polarizing reception, possibly the worst in a long time. I myself found that I had a lot of thoughts about the game. I would say that I think it’s a very good game, but there are some serious flaws in the storytelling, pacing, and characters which are described further in more detail.

I think the first thing to talk about is gameplay, because I really didn’t have much to say. I found the gameplay to be just as good as the first Last of Us with some minor tweaks and improvements. It’s tense, strategic, with a nice mix of survival, stealth, and action. I also liked that the game is very forgiving if you mess up the stealth sections. There are a couple new enemies and mechanics added too, like the Stalkers/Shamblers and the use of dogs that can follow your scent. The game also has an impressive amount of accessibility with regards to gameplay, fonts, audio, and controls. The only thing I wasn’t the biggest fan of was the amount of looting and collecting you need to do, which felt very tedious. There are also some collectables which are absolutely worthless, like the coins and trading cards.

Presentation-wise, I think the game is excellent. The soundtrack and voice work is excellent. There were some sound design issues regarding voice volume but overall I’d say it’s well done. Graphically the game looks quite good, with a lot of depressing abandoned structures often with interesting pieces of lore for you to uncover.

All of that being said, the big juicy aspect of this game is its story. I don’t think I can really discuss the game fully without going into spoilers territory. As such, I’m including a link to a google doc that can be read by those who have already played the game.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eWucoOKmQuA_E0LpcERRJRa6fIXdYwiTehhYkCnJhpU/edit?usp=sharing
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on October 27, 2021, 03:53:14 pm
36. Until Dawn || PlayStation 4 || 10.27.21

Having been familiar with Until Dawn and Supermassive Games' follow-up anthology series The Dark Pictures for a number of years, I was definitely excited to finally experience the game myself, despite having watched others play through several scenes that reveal crucial plot elements. Nevertheless, I surprisingly played through the game in one sitting, which is something I rarely do—perhaps even have never done—for a game of notable length.

That being said, Until Dawn is Supermassive Games' first title to feature their recent trend of interactive adventure games with horror settings. Comprised of a group cast of eight, Until Dawn hinges on the decisions that its players make which often influences interpersonal character relations while almost always dictating the narrative toward a new path. The key aspect to Until Dawn is what it refers to as the butterfly effect. Frequently, the player is forced to choose between decisions, and the outcomes directly effect the flow of the game which leads to the narrative subtly shifting into one of two options, which, in turn, have their own branching paths. Additionally, other gameplay elements such as quick time events and holding the controller motionless may influence how the narrative shifts.

Taking place one year after a tragic event, a group of eight young adults (~18-20 years old) decide to return to the scene to commemorate their losses and are hopeful for new beginnings. Quickly, their reunion takes a turn for the worse, as threats of an unstable murderer who seems to be targeting the group as a result of last year's events become more and more apparent and invasive. The group is often divided into pairs, so the player follows their own experiences for some time as clues are found and the greater narrative unfolds. Throughout these segments, however, the player slowly begins to learn that something even more threatening exists nearby.

With the story divided into ten chapters, short interludes taken in the form of psychiatrist visits are shown between. Slowly, the player begins to realize the truths behind who is visiting the psychiatrist and why. The psychiatrist and game's narrator Dr. Hill is a forceful entity bent on understanding why their visitor is playing "this game" and the demonstrating the repercussions that such game has. These scenes are short but impactful, and I found them to be quite enjoyable as a break in action.

Overall, I was definitely pleased with my playthrough. Admittedly, I am not someone who finds it easy to be in control of horror game experiences, but the lack of direct agency of character control once action sequences start are a great alternate for still experience these types of games first-hand. With the numerous paths and endings available, I may later return to Until Dawn at some point. Of the eight characters, seven survived, so it would be nice to accomplish an all-survival ending, and, oppositely, an all-death ending.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on October 29, 2021, 04:28:57 pm
Dying Light (PC 2015) - BEAT - The sequel is coming up and figured it was time to replay this since it's been quite awhile.  Not that it's story is important to the sequel I think, but I did really like the game and wanted to experience it again.  This game has had an impressive amount of support for what is primarily a singleplayer game.  It's not a "Game as a Service", it does have co-op/multiplayer elements, but for all intent and purpose, it's a singleplayer game, but they've add a lot of free bonus content, with paid DLC, and some added content that was pretty good, particularly The Following expansion that adds a whole new open world zone that you can drive a customizable buggy in. 

For being a nearly 7 year old game, it holds up very well in terms of it's parkour movement and action.  Like a few things might be a little stiff here and there, but it's fun getting around and fighting off zombies and there's a lot to keep in the game content wise, especially with everything they've added, such as they are still updating the game despite the sequel being out in a few months by finishing up that Hellraid DLC based on their possibly canceled fantasy game.  I haven't even touched that yet, but they put it into the game in a fun way.

I'm probably done with the game for now, I might go and do the Following expansion abit later because it was fun, but I got some other stuff I want to get to first right now.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on October 30, 2021, 06:51:29 pm
32. Life Is Strange 2 (Xbox One X)

I finally got to play this in it's entirety! I had problems in not being able to play the Demo (Captain Spirit) on PS5 & in recently getting an Xbox One X it was the perfect opportunity to experience the game properly!

How was it? Everything I could hope for!

I love the structure of these games, how the scenes give you room to breathe and navigate the areas at your own place, learning more about the world around you. While it may not be an expansive open world, the small compact areas are rich with little details to explore and interact with. And interaction is key with this game, I was so involved with Sean's relationship with his brother and making decision which influence their journey, it reminds me why I love interactive narratives and how I want to see more games like this in the medium. I also liked smaller moments like letting Sean draw, it's a hobby and part of his character so it's nice to have the game let the player experience that by interacting with his journal it's often often games let you get so introspective with their characters.

When the game gets intense though, It doesn't let go, much like the first game it features intense scenario writing which constantly left me at the edge of my seat. I think the direction of the journey was a good move for the series too. After the 1st game I could see the series getting struct in familiar high school troupes but this game really breaks away from that and the focus on the brothers journey and survival makes it feel very different from LiS1 in the best way possible - I found Before the Storm less engaging if I am honest.

But this was a brilliant experience and I am glad I waited to experience it with the demo's save data integrated into the main game. After each chapter you get to see your choices and how they tally up with other players - seeing some of the outcomes was wild, this story really can take different turns and I could see myself easily playing this again in time.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on October 30, 2021, 11:43:19 pm
46. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)

It's very rare that I play a game that ended up in my top 10 games of all time list. It's even rarer that I play a game that genuinely changes how I think and feel about certain things in life. Red Dead Redemption 2 accomplished both of these objectives in what was by far the best game I've played all year. The who western, cowboy aesthetic really kept me from playing this game before or its predecessor, but honestly the game transcends the western genre as one of the most perfectly well written games I've ever played. The characters were incredible to the point where I actually grieved when several of them died, particularly one. The dialogue was excellent, the story telling was outstanding, I simply could not get enough of this game to the point where I've probably had one of the most unproductive weeks in a long, long time because of me being unable to stop playing this game. And best of all, this game is very long which makes it feel like some outstanding epic. My only grip is the Epilogue chapters do feel a tad anticlimactic when compared to the main chapters; I just wish certain loose ends would have been tied up in the main story and far less of the main plot would have found its way into the Epilogue. It wasn't that the epilogue was bad, far from it, it just failed to captivate me in the same way the main story did. Visually, Red Dead Redemption 2 is pretty amazing to look at, especially the environments. My only gripe had to do with some in game character and creature models which seemed a little lacking compared to other open world games released during that same generation. Otherwise this is a very good looking game. Audio-wise I had zero complaints at all between the OST, sound effects, and voice acting. Red Dead's weakest area is its gameplay which while incredibly diverse did feel cumbersome and clunky at times, especially in the action heavy sections. Still, none of this distracted too much from my enjoyment of the game with the exception of a handful of frustrating part. Otherwise this was one of the best games I've ever played and one that reminds me how awesome games can be. And while I'm not going to get into details, it really changed my perspective on certain things in my personal life; I guess the game's story and some of the things that happened served as a compass of where I want to take my life in light of various recent events and situations I've been in. No, I'm not going to become a cowboy or a bank robber, but rather its themes of what freedom really is and the high cost it can have in the modern world are things that have weighed on me heavily over the past several years. I feel like this game really gave me better perspective on my current goals, fears, and ambitions and put me in a better place to understand what I really want to do with my life in certain regards. Red Dead Redemption 2 is unbelievably good and one I highly recommend that any gamer play during their lifetime. (10/30/21) [46/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on October 31, 2021, 02:22:01 pm
37. 2064: Read Only Memories || PlayStation 4 || 10.29.21

As another title that's been in my backlog for some time now, 2064: Read Only Memories offers an interesting glimpse of what problems in the years to come in year 2064 may look like. And, truthfully, the ideas presented don't seem too far off. The concerns that developer Midboss highlights are certainly believable given the issues that plague today's current world.

As a visual novel of sorts, 2064 introduces the player-character to what is the world's first sapient ROM—a personal robot assistant, more or less—named Turing. Immediately, the player is thrown into the situation of discovering the whereabouts of their friend who's gone missing as a result of their role in creating Turing. With a cyberpunk thriller narrative, 2064 takes place in Neo-San Francisco as the cast explores the city while meeting a varied cast which demonstrates how the world in 2064 has evolved in the years passing.

Progressing through the narrative, the player will be introduced to some heavy social-political topics that the year 2064 is faced with. What does it mean to have cognition? What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to exist? In 2064's world, biomedical technological advancements have advanced into new territories as cybernetic prosthetic "upgrades" have become more and more commonplace alongside new gene therapy methods that combine human and animal DNA together. However, there are both advocates and protesters to both, and the war on human ethics ensues. As the story progresses, the scope of artificial intelligence,  a unified mesh network of information, and artificial sapience are additionally presented.

Despite wanting to play, I did have some difficulty in finding the right mood for me to progress the story and dedicate time to play. However, once I advanced toward the later chapters, the story became much more interwoven with so many issues, and I found myself much more invested in discovering how the narrative would fully unfold. Throughout my time playing, I had but only two minor issues. First, for a text-heavy game, I wish that the player was given the option to re-read dialogue as the conversation has moved forward. At times, conversations are lengthy, and it is not unusual for several dialogue options to appear. Second, there are two or three moments which require the player to input characters as passwords, for example. For some reason, this is incredibly difficult. Input requires not a simple button press, but some exact rhythm of double (triple?) clicking. The last instance of occurrence required an eight-digit passcode that perhaps took me five minutes to enter. It was very annoying.

That aside, 2064 is a game that is perhaps a little niche and may not be for everyone. The game presents issues and characters tailored to certain communities and interests that I'm not personally connected to, but I did still enjoy seeing how these elements were a part of the future to (possibly) come ahead in our lives.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on November 01, 2021, 09:18:21 am
Game 21 - NES Remix Pack (Wii U) - 26 hours

I counted this game as finished after I obtained a 3-star ranking on every stage across NES Remix 1 and 2. As you can see from my play time, this goal actually takes quite an effort to accomplish. NES Remix Pack is an interesting experience for someone like me who did not grow up with an NES and only had surface knowledge of a few titles. I enjoyed exploring some of the more obscure games in Nintendo's library and there's a lot of variety in case you don't like some of the games available (personally, I despise Ice Climber). A lot of these games are stone-cold classics and getting to experience them for the first time was really enjoyable.

While game is called NES Remix Pack, only about half of the stages are actually altered, while the other half are bite-sized "warioware" levels intended to teach you the mechanics of all 25+ games. Additionally, the remixed levels tended to be very superficial visual gimmicks like darkening the stage, blurring characters or zooming the screen out. Very few levels actually had any new gameplay changes, which was disappointing. The game also has these stamps that you can collect while playing and use in Miiverse posts but since that's long dead, the stamps are laughably useless. In fact, there isn't a whole lot to unlock other than more stages, which require stars. Stars are always earned based on how fast you can clear a stage, and nothing else like score or another objective. It means having to replay stages multiple times until you've perfected it, which can get very tedious.

Honestly, I'm not really sure who this game is for. People who are familiar with the NES will likely bemoan all the standard, dummied-down and uninteresting stages that need to be slogged through before all the remixed content is fully unlocked. New players like myself will most likely wish that these games were just available in their entirety rather than fractured and restrictive chunks of what are some really fun games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on November 01, 2021, 04:58:10 pm
October Update

Games Beat in October
Darkest Dungeon (PC) - Beat on Oct. 5.  Terrific turn-based dungeon crawler.  It gets a bit grindy towards the back half, though.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Switch) - Beat on Oct. 10.  Fun but pretty simple Metroidvania.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Switch) - Beat on Oct. 16.  Much better than Harmony.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2DS XL) - Beat on Oct. 25.  Snoozefest.
Little Nightmares (PC) - Beat on Oct. 29.  Eh.  Good designs, but not a particularly interesting game.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on November 01, 2021, 06:14:00 pm
38. Untitled Goose Game || Nintendo Switch || 10.31.21

Oh, Untitled Goose Game. Really, has honk anyone not heard of this honk game?

Upon starting, players find themselves in a quaint English village taking control as the community's bothersome goose who certainly has earned a negative reputation around town. As any ordinary goose, you may waddle about, swim, flap your wings, stretch out your neck, honk, and, above all, pick up items with your beak. In other words, you are an annoying bird who has entered the lives of the community, and you're out to do everything you can to meet your goals, even if it means interfering with others' lives and ruining their day.

Throughout the game, there are several areas that the player must progress through, one by one. In order to do so, a check list is available with tasks to complete. Every single one of these tasks serves at disrupting the people's peace. These tasks range from seemingly harmless actions such as entering the garden to more irritating ones like startling the groundskeeper which causes him to hammer his own thumb. As an action-puzzle game, you as the goose generally must interrupt others' daily routines, often by stealing their possessions and moving them about which forces them to stop what they're doing and gather everything back in its place.

Untitled Goose Game succeeds at introducing a humorous scenario that maintains players' interest as they smile and laugh at how ridiculous the entire premise is. The game serves as a great little pick-me-up for those needing it. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, even with the addition of added checklist tasks to complete once the base game is complete. I'd recommend it playing to all.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on November 04, 2021, 09:58:57 am
Game 22 - Dujanah (PC) - 3 hours

Dujanah is truly one of the surrealist, weird games that I have ever played. At first, the game appears to be supported by a simple goal; you are a mother trying to find your missing husband and child. This narrative sort of plays second fiddle though, because all you need to do to complete this story is visit places and talk to a few people. The real entertainment lies in the actual places and people that you see and talk to. I got the sense that the developer wanted to share different ideas, thoughts, and stories, and provide space for the player to make their own meaning and draw their own conclusions. So while the game's story overall is pretty simple, and there's a lot of other outside stuff that doesn't connect to the story that well, the game was still very emotional to experience with it's themes of death, spirituality, existentialism, grief, and many others, wrapped in very ambiguous yet artistfull imagery and dialogue.

These themes are communicated through some of the most striking visuals and sound design I have ever witnessed. The game is primarily hand-molded clay and mixed media, and is equal parts charming, quirky, creepy, weird, and disgusting. The visuals are filled with glitchy pixels, strange textures, horrifying robots and fleshy creatures, and everything in between. Alongside the visual feast is a soundtrack that is beautiful, haunting, scary, and melancholy. It's very well done. However, did all of these things need to be in the game? I'm not sure; I think these visual choices help strengthen the impact and immersion in some areas but there are others that felt out of place or like they didn't belong.

Surprisingly, the game isn't just "walk and talk to people" like a lot of indie adventure games. A large section of the game is based around playing some trippy arcade games each with their own unique visuals and gameplay quirks. Some of them play really well while others do not. For example, travel is done across a large world map in a motorcycle with some truly awful driving controls. Lastly, there are some interesting random elements and some endings that I missed, which add some nice replay value.

So in summary, while the gameplay and story of Dujanah could feel a little vestigial at times, the game was certainly entertaining and thought provoking, and I'd recommend it. It's definitely "artsy" and is not for everyone though.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: gngtiger on November 04, 2021, 06:28:36 pm
Hmm. Sadly did not keep track. Only joined this site in September. But the library of games I can play has opened up MASSIVELY. I got a Retron 5 and a 2DS this year. I've also tried my hand in speedrunning, getting a Personal Best of 2:23:12 in Super Mario 64 70 Star (Nowhere near the record times, but I'm fine with it. I'm planning to branch out into 31 star next year.)

Some games I have played and beaten since the beginning of this year:
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Mario 3D All Stars (Not Galaxy, completed Wii version instead)
Mario Kart DS
Mother 3 (Dropped)
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Galaxy (For the second time)
Mario Kart 7
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Didn't finish Champions Road or the 30 Green Star stage)
Scribblenauts Unmasked (Dropped)
Mario Kart Double Dash
Earthworm Jim (Dropped)
Mario Kart Super Circuit (Didn't bother unlocking SNES tracks)
Super Mario Land
Super Mario 64 DS
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (Completed Story Mode, but not quite feeling like 100%ing)
Rayman Legends (for the second time)
Mario Golf: World Tour (Dropped)
Mario Tennis Open (Dropped)
Sushi Strikers: Way of Sushido (dropped)

My backlog of stuff to (maybe) complete by the end of this or next year:
Miitopia
Scribblenauts
Rhythm Heaven
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Playing through for the second time)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Donkey Kong Country Trilogy
NES Ultimate Remix
Lego Batman the Video Game
Lego Batman 2
New Super Mario Bros.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Games I'd love to play, but need to collect first:
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania
EarthBound
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger

Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on November 04, 2021, 10:53:21 pm
Quote from: telly on November 04, 2021, 09:58:57 am
Game 22 - Dujanah (PC) - 3 hours

This looks and sounds really interesting. Glad to be aware of another odd title.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on November 06, 2021, 06:40:55 am
Quote from: dhaabi on November 04, 2021, 10:53:21 pm
Quote from: telly on November 04, 2021, 09:58:57 am
Game 22 - Dujanah (PC) - 3 hours

This looks and sounds really interesting. Glad to be aware of another odd title.

If you purchased that racial justice fundraising bundle of games from Itch last year it's included in that!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 07, 2021, 02:39:16 pm
46. Fighting Vipers 2 (Arcade)

This game has been on my radar A LONG time and I finally got around to trying the arcade version! Overall Fighting Vipers 2 is definitely on par with some of the more entertaining arcade fighting games of the late 90s, albeit certainly not one of the best. It's fighting system is very "arcady" for lack of a better term in that it's easy to pick up and is fairly fun to play, but lacks any real depth or strategy for the most part. It's barely more than a button masher, but still a good one at that. Graphically it's not incredible, but still looks pretty good for a arcade game from this era; I really enjoyed its 3D stages, destructible environment, and colorful over the top roster. Sound and OST are a mixed bag. Some of the tracks were pretty catchy while others were actually kind of annoying. Character say very little before or after matches so there is little to talk about there, but at least the sounds of things smashing and being destroyed is pretty satisfying. Overall, Fighting Vipers 2 is nothing that special, but it's still worth half an hour of so of mostly mindless fighting game fun if you ever come across a cabinet for it or the Dreamcast port. (11/7/21) [31/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on November 08, 2021, 02:51:05 am
33. No Straight Roads (PS4) 5/11/2021

I don't know how many here have played or even heard of this but I found it to be a brilliant Co-Op experience! The game is set around these two rock musicians who want to bring back a dying genre to a city which is powered by Electronic Dance Music. It has a very distinct art direct, great characters, progression systems, and funny dialogue - Great Music too thankfully! However, the game has a deep flaw... The combat mechanics are horrendous! A lot of the game is based on timing your attacks and parrying but t he parry system is unbearably broken to the point where it feels it just doesn't work most of the time. Me and my friend just ended up accepting we would have to die and continue and get worse grades to enjoy the game.

Despite this the games compelling story and charm was more than enough to make it a strong recommendation! I can't think of many co-op games that are in third person and allow you to navigate open world/city environments with your buddy. Co-op game are so fleeting these days so to experience one beyond the typical FPS/Racing/Beat 'Em Up genres was a delight!

It's combat is flawed but there is an enjoyable game here and I look forward to see the studios new game Ondeh Ondeh
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 13, 2021, 06:47:54 pm
47. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Genesis)

I've been waiting 24-years to play this game. While I was heavily entrenched in the 5th console generation by the time this game came out in 1997, I still had my Genesis and I still played it occasionally, mostly for Sonic 3. But I remember seeing this game at several stores during that time and I was already hugely into the movie and also the excellent Sega arcade lightgun shooter. I guess back then I thought it might be a Genesis version of the arcade version, but obviously now I know it would be nothing like that. Actually, I knew very little about this game going into it other than it was a but of a childhood bucket list game I'd never got around to playing or owning. But I finally did play The Lost World for Genesis, and, well, it's not that great. It's an over head action shooter game similar to Die Hard on the NES, but instead of shooting terrorists you're shooting dinosaurs and dinosaur poachers. In concept it sounds cool, but the graphics, audio, and gameplay really prevent it from being anything but pretty below average. To the game's credit you do have different mission objectives for each stage, however these range from kinda fun to incredibly mundane and tedious. The controls are pretty awkward too, especially the vehicle sections. Luckily these are few and far between, but still it's like driving a car on black ice while driving them. In some ways I wish I'd left this one in my past, but at the same time I'm glad I finally got around to playing it as a way of fulfilling yet another things I wish I could have done as a 10-year old in the 90s. (11/13/21) [23/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 15, 2021, 12:39:50 am
48. Jurassic Park (Arcade)

Going along with my early 90s Jurassic Park kick from the previous game I beat, I decided to play an arcade title from the series that I surprisingly never saw or played back in the day. In fact, I wasn't made aware of this games existence until a few years ago which surprising me since it looked cool and it also was made by the arcade legends of the 90s, Sega. After playing the JP arcade game, ummm, I'm pretty sure I know why I never heard this game get brought up or get mentioned on best arcade rail shooters of the 90s. Jurassic Park might be the most mindless poorly designed rail shooters I've ever played. I don't know if the machine I was playing on was set to hard or something, but I encountered so many situations where I have no idea how I was going to avoid getting hit by a dino attack. I don't recall ever encountering this in any other rail shooter I've ever played, especially at the rate you encounter it in JP. And even if this wasn't an issue, you pretty much just hold down the trigger and have rapid fire killing the hundreds of dinos that cross your path. Luckily Jurassic Park's presentation is certainly an improvement over its gameplay. The awesome dinosaur sprites look great, especially on some of the bigger dinosaurs like the Trex or Brachiosaurus who are made up of several smaller sprites to give them a more organic, natural motion when moving. All the dinos you'd expect in a JP arcade game are here too, including some nice additions that weren't in the movie. The audio is fairly good too with dinosaurs making various roars and screams as you shoot them, but also the high energy OST defenitely fits the action packed, rollercoaster like gameplay. Overall JP is not a terrible game, but its gameplay is so slopping and mindless that I definitely understand how an arcade game based on one of the biggest movie franchises of all time has slipped into such obscurity. Play it if you ever come across it, but don't expect some hidden gem. (11/14/21) [28/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 16, 2021, 02:12:10 am
49. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

I've been meaning to go back in play this absolute classic for years. In fact, the last time I played and beat it was on the Wii virtual console back in 2007 or 2008. Before that it was the game I got with my SNES for my 8th birthday in 1995 and I played it for countless hours until I was able to beat it. Yet, here I am having beat it again, this time in under 3-hours. It blows my mind how much better i am at games than I was as a kid, which makes sense, but this game took me literal months to beat when I was in elementary school. DKC is still an absolute classic and is filled with so much fun an charm, as well as excellent platforming gameplay. While there are some pretty irritating levels like ones where the lights go on and off, or some of the barrel blasting in a few of the snow levels, the game is still very enjoyable to play overall. Graphically, there are a lot of recycled areas, enemies, and various other assets that are reused a lot, but luckily each stage still somehow feels memorable and fun despite this. The audio of DKC is the stuff of legends and I find it hard to argue against this. That water music especially is like a massive hit of nostalgia for me injected directly into my veins. DKC2 is undoubtedly a better game than its predecessor, but the groundwork laid out by the original was so groundbreaking and innovative that its hard to argue the influence of Rare during the 90s with DKC being one of the prime examples of this. (11/15/21) [38/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on November 17, 2021, 05:08:21 am
Halo Infinite Multiplayer (PC 2021) - ENDLESS - I think it's been about 15+ years since I've played a Halo multiplayer on PC, and probably a good decade since I've played Halo multiplayer at all back when Halo Reach was out.  I never got into Halo 4's as I didn't play that till much past it's release, no multiplayer, and then I never touched Halo 5, still haven't.  Halo is like comfort food to me, because even if I don't really play these arcade arena shooters anymore, more into generally realistic shooters, I can just hop into a Halo and feel good about it.

I am super lost though with like half the gear, items, and weapons though lol Years of not playing Halo, I keep grabbing guns I'm not familiar with and getting smoked.  I think the only not old gun I don't mind is the VK78, an automatic rifle with a slower fire rate.  I hope they plan to add more weapons to the game, especially classic ones, as there's good ones missing like the classic shotgun and magnum.  Also add classic maps.  I read something they don't want to pure remakes, which is unfortunate, but give me the spiritual successor to Blood Gulch and Sidewinder.

Seems like it is gonna be a great time though.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on November 18, 2021, 08:49:33 pm
39. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan || PlayStation 4 || 11.17.21

As a planned eight-entry anthology series, The Dark Pictures is Supermassive Games' follow-up to their well-received title Until Dawn. Adopting familiar gameplay and tones as its predecessor, the collection offers more stories to be shared and decided upon by the player's involvement but in a shorter format while also allowing for a shared two-player experience. The anthology begins with Man of Medan, which, honestly, left me feeling more like I had played Man of Meh-dan.

As previously mentioned, each entry in The Dark Pictures allows for a solo or two-player experience, with my playthrough adopting for the former. Having just played Until Dawn within the past month, a lot of mechanics and details felt the same, which is something I enjoyed. However, the execution was not. As an interactive adventure title, its success is reliant upon the weight of player-input. Unfortunately, it felt that moments of critical decision made little difference to the unfolding story; additionally, these moments felt far and few between.

Critical to every adventure title, well-defined characters are key to a promising game. Again, Man of Medan struggled with this aspect too. At the end of the game, I understood who the characters were just as much as I had within the first hour of playing. While playing, there is almost zero character development. At the same time, there is almost zero character interaction between themselves. Even during free-roaming moments with characters in the vicinity, there is not even the option to speak to others. Just as Until Dawn, decisions determine characters' traits and relationships, yet this crucial element to the series felt the least developed. In the end, it felt as if my decisions had no effect on how characters interacted with others or, at the very least, responded to situations.

Relying upon quick-time events, this aspect generally did well. However, the lack of variety in them was a little disappointing. Unlike Until Dawn, which required more aim-and-respond type inputs, Man of Medan now offered only one or two of these moments. I personally enjoy the more action-oriented responses, so seeing this mechanic become largely diminished was disappointing. However, a new type of player response was added in the form of heartbeat control. While not a quick-time event, it does relay on timed button presses, and I did find this aspect to be successful. At times, the meter's tempo may change more than once, which turns a stressful moment even more so.

Lastly, and, quite frankly, I found the story to be underwhelming and, surprisingly, not scary. Perhaps this is in part to the characters, but, even on its own, the story did not feel as strong as what Until Dawn offered. With a weak cast and half-length story compared to its predecessor, Man of Medan suffers from needing more detail and world-building.

As each of the subsequent entries in the anthology follow a shorter narrative experience, I can only hope that these entries address these shortcomings. Until Dawn exceeded well with more of an expanded story and developed characters, so perhaps follow-up anthology entries can somehow find a means to lean more in to what made Until Dawn exceed so well.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 19, 2021, 02:14:18 am
50. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES)

After beating the first DKC I decided I wanted to immediately jump into its superior sequel right away to in a way compare the two games. Yes DKC2 is better in nearly every single way. The graphics are excellent and varied; the stages and enemies are better and there are more of them; and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the OST is way better too. The original DKC had a amazing OST so to say this one is better is saying a lot. But DKC2 has so many stages, secrets, unlockables, and gameplay variations that this game absolutely set the standard for what made a great platformer during the mid 90s. My only gripes with the game have to do with some half baked gameplay mostly when controlling the animal characters after transforming into them, as well as some questionable level design in some of the harder stages in the game. But these are relatively minor to what is probably my favorite platformer of the 16-bit era. (11/19/21) [43/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on November 19, 2021, 08:05:38 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on November 19, 2021, 02:14:18 am
50. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES)

After beating the first DKC I decided I wanted to immediately jump into its superior sequel right away to in a way compare the two games. Yes DKC2 is better in nearly every single way. The graphics are excellent and varied; the stages and enemies are better and there are more of them; and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the OST is way better too. The original DKC had a amazing OST so to say this one is better is saying a lot. But DKC2 has so many stages, secrets, unlockables, and gameplay variations that this game absolutely set the standard for what made a great platformer during the mid 90s. My only gripes with the game have to do with some half baked gameplay mostly when controlling the animal characters after transforming into them, as well as some questionable level design in some of the harder stages in the game. But these are relatively minor to what is probably my favorite platformer of the 16-bit era. (11/19/21) [43/50]

I've played all three in the last year as well, and it never ceases to surprise me how many people think DKC is the better game.  DKC2 is superior in every aspect.  It's gotta be down to nostalgia, and the number of people that only played the first over the sequel.  DKC3 isn't bad, either, but it is too big, ambitious, and inconsistent.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 19, 2021, 11:14:54 am
Quote from: Cartagia on November 19, 2021, 08:05:38 am
Quote from: bikingjahuty on November 19, 2021, 02:14:18 am
50. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES)

After beating the first DKC I decided I wanted to immediately jump into its superior sequel right away to in a way compare the two games. Yes DKC2 is better in nearly every single way. The graphics are excellent and varied; the stages and enemies are better and there are more of them; and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the OST is way better too. The original DKC had a amazing OST so to say this one is better is saying a lot. But DKC2 has so many stages, secrets, unlockables, and gameplay variations that this game absolutely set the standard for what made a great platformer during the mid 90s. My only gripes with the game have to do with some half baked gameplay mostly when controlling the animal characters after transforming into them, as well as some questionable level design in some of the harder stages in the game. But these are relatively minor to what is probably my favorite platformer of the 16-bit era. (11/19/21) [43/50]

I've played all three in the last year as well, and it never ceases to surprise me how many people think DKC is the better game.  DKC2 is superior in every aspect.  It's gotta be down to nostalgia, and the number of people that only played the first over the sequel.  DKC3 isn't bad, either, but it is too big, ambitious, and inconsistent.


I honestly think it's a nostalgia thing. I owned both DKC and DKC2 growing up and for whatever strange reason I have slightly more nostalgia for the original. Obviously this doesn't say anything about how good the game is, only that my personal connection to it is slightly stronger. I feel like a lot of people confound the two and automatically believe the game is better just because their feelings for it are stronger.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 21, 2021, 12:53:57 am
51. Kirby's Dreamland 3 (SNES)

I bought my first NES from a garage sale in the late 90s and out of all the games I had for it I remember Kirby's Adventure being one of my absolute favorites. It definitely made me a huge Kirby fan from that point on so I've always been fairly enthusiastic for new Kirby releases since playing that first game. Sadly, I feel like for one reason or another Kirby games jus haven't resonated with me like they used to and unfortunately Kirby's Dreamland 3 on the SNES is one of those games. Presentation wise Kirby's Dreamland 3 is a pretty nice looking game; it has a really sentimental colored pencil art style which makes it feel like you're playing the game inside a kid's picture book. Combine this with a very lighthearted and fun OST and the game definitely pleases all the senses...well, at least until you start actually playing the game. Kirby's gameplay is fairly boring, poorly implemented, and just very clumsy. While I wasn't expected it be super fluid and fast paces, the gameplay just feels sluggish and unresponsive at times. Also, one of the main gameplay elements of the game which is to use your animal companions to help get through various levels was more of a gimmick and even a hinderance than a cool gameplay mechanic. Maybe worst of all is just how boring this game becomes the longer you play. Levels are fairly dull, enemies are extremely repetitive, and most things in this game just feel uninspired. As I said, the presentation definitely help make this game slightly more entertaining, but honestly they don't do enough to keep this game fun and engaging. (11/20/21) [26/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on November 21, 2021, 01:02:40 am
I imagine in a few weeks me or someone else will start the 2022 52-Games Challenge thread. I've decided that for next year I'm going to heavily focus on replaying games that aren't necessarily some of the best I've ever played, but ones that I remember enjoying but haven't played for years. Certainly games I haven't played in a decade or longer will take priority, but I would love to revisit more or less anything I've played since before we began this challenge. Recently I've kept on wanting to play games I remember having a great time with and I feel like it would be cool to run with this throughout most of next year. Sure, I will definitely be playing games I've never played before too, but it would be nice if at least half of what I ended up playing are games I just haven't had the chance to play for 10, 20, or even 30 years.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on November 24, 2021, 02:39:38 pm
40. Carto || Nintendo Switch || 11.23.21

Having picked up Carto after watching a brief trailer and knowing nothing else, I wasn't really sure what to expect prior to playing aside from adventure-puzzle gameplay.

That being said, Carto tells the story of young titular character Carto as she travels the skies with her grandmother. As a family of cartographers, they have the ability to perform a sort of geomancy in constructing and deconstructing the world by way of map-making. The story begins as Carto accidentally creates a storm when using their map and is separated from her grandmother, while the map itself has been torn, divided, and scattered across the lands below.

Seeking to be reunited with her grandmother, Carto relies on finding the scattered map pieces while traversing the world and meeting new kinds of people. In the world presented, peoples are divided across varied regions and environments yet seem to all share ancestral origins. The first group of people Carto meets explains their people's customs, in that, upon coming-of-age, a person leaves their homeland and must find home elsewhere with another group of people. While each having their own specific cultures largely relating to their environment, each group is reliant upon their nearby terrain and wildlife while all practicing nomadic cultures.

From grasslands and forests to deserts and tundras, Carto connects the land back together as more pieces of the map is found. Throughout her journey, she inevitably solves the problems in the daily lives of those she meets. As far as the game's puzzle mechanics offer, tiles of land must be connected in certain ways or in certain proximity to other tiles. Upon doing so, the story can move froward, as characters then move to certain areas and even new tiles of land emerge. On that note, land tiles are unique and do not connect with every other tile. Environmental aspects such as rivers and paths must connect together seamlessly on each connecting side. When solving puzzles, tiles will be moved and rotated again and again. At times, how a tile is currently rotated is crucial to solving the problem at-hand. Toward the end of the game, as opposed to single tiles of land, a region's land segments are instead presented as tetrominos. There was a little more challenge in regards to some puzzles presented here, and it did come off as more annoying than not.

Overall, Carto is a casual yet endearing game. The adventure itself and people met are welcoming and warm. While there is only one large end goal, dozens of smaller goals must be met in order for young Carto to move forward as she and her grandmother inch closer to each other yet repeatedly remain out-of-reach due to the environment. As far as the game's puzzles, they do require thought but are not overly challenging. As someone who enjoys this blend of genres yet does not prefer too much of a challenge, I found Carto to offer the right level of difficulty. As a short experience of under 10 hours, Carto is recommendable for those looking for a fair amount of adventure-puzzle gameplay difficulty that offers a feel-good story.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on November 24, 2021, 07:06:41 pm
I've been really bad at updating my list this year. Next year I'm gonna take this a bit more seriously.

17. Until Dawn (PS4) 10/16
18. Resident Evil HD Remaster (Switch) 10/24
19. Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XBO) 11/13
20. Forza Horizon 5 (XSX) 11/19
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on November 30, 2021, 01:45:09 pm
41. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom || PlayStation 2 || 11.28.21

Like many others, I was certainly a fan of the TV series SpongeBob SquarePants during its prime throughout the early 2000s. At the time of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom's release, I owned the game and enjoyed my time with it but eventually removed it from my collection. Nearly 20 years later, I finally was able to re-visit the game once more.

As a game referencing source material from another medium, it excels in recreating a player-driven experience. Numerous references to the TV series are shown, with most shown in the form of the diverse levels to explore. Other times, there are small moments and jokes taken from the TV series. By far and large, the game's writing and tone do well at recreating what the series is known best for, with original dialogue sounding like something that easily could have been a part of the show itself. This principle is driven further by having much of the original voice cast to reprise their roles, with only two minor characters being played by new actors.

Upon starting, I quickly realized just why this title is highly regarded, as its gameplay holds up quite well by modern standards. As a typical 3D platforming collect-a-thon, Battle for Bikini Bottom features varied controls split between three playable characters, with SpongeBob's moveset being able to be expanded upon as the narrative continues. As a children's game, the gameplay is forgiving but not always straight-forward in difficulty. When health is fully depleted, the player-character respawns at the last checkpoint which always affects most enemies and breakables. While minor, the only issue that I encountered was becoming accustomed to the camera controls which are assigned to the right analog stick as opposed to the shoulder buttons which are generally used in modern titles. Apart from this aspect, the game controls well, and any errors are largely in part to player input.

With the narrative focusing on Bikini Bottom being overrun by uncontrollable robots designed by Plankton, the core gameplay is action-oriented to combat these forces. However, another gameplay style that is revisited over and over again is a form of snowboarding that references source material. These segments are generally okay and are fairly simple to get through for a casual experience. However, if one wishes to gather all collectables, a small challenge does present itself to the player. Nevertheless, these segments added a nice change of pace to the game's action-platforming.

Overall, Battle for Bikini Bottom is a highly recommended title for fans of the show and for fans of 3D platformers. The game has aged well, and it makes sense that a remake was developed in recent years. On that note, I am glad that I pursued playing the original game as it relies on the same art direction as the show itself. On the other hand, the remake features bright, high contrasted colors which look nothing like SpongeBob from this era.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on December 01, 2021, 11:37:26 am
I beat game 156 last night to meet my supplemental goal for the year.  I don't think I'll extend that goal any further as for the entire month of November I beat maybe 3 games total and I'm just not sure how many, if any I'll beat in December either.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 01, 2021, 04:17:12 pm
42. PaRappa the Rapper || PlayStation || 11.30.21

As a pioneer to the rhythm genre, PaRappa the Rapper is a wonderful demonstration for early adopters to the PlayStation brand for what the console and its continued success has to offer. Having first played the game long after its debut around 2012, I quickly understood PaRappa to be something quite special.

Unlike many other rhythm games that succeeded it, PaRappa is not simply a rhythm game. Instead, it presents its music in the form of a story about titular PaRappa, a teenage dog who, over the course of the game, wishes to win the heart of his love interest Sunny Funny, a bubbly and fun flower girl. Easily, PaRappa seems to find himself in wacky situations while meeting even wackier characters, ranging from taking karate lessons to selling possessions at a flea market, in his pursuit to impress Sunny.

Set in a contemporary 1990s city, PaRappa's world is bright and eccentric while home to a variety of inhabitants, from humans to animals and anthropomorphic persons. It is a world familiar to players but, at the same time, is quite cartoon-like. While colorful, the world is simple with little to no shadows or depth, with its overall presentation looking similar to an image made in MS Paint. However, that early 90s 3D polygonal look is also present yet strongly contrasts to the characters who are fully 2D, even when viewed from a side profile.

On the topic of the gameplay itself, it is perhaps the weakest element to the game. Stages are set up in a call-and-response type fashion with PaRappa rapping in-tune with the music's flow. However, the gameplay is not that simple. While the call-and-response available, it does not guarantee success, which is especially true for later stages. At times, the player is required to experiment with inputted controls which can easily result in a spastic sound that heavily perverts the song. With a vague scoring system, PaRappa needs to maintain a Good score by the end of the final verse to clear the stage, but the vague experimentation that is sometimes necessary is by no means clear in what is acceptable or not. Fortunately, tracks are short—in addition to all sounding catchy—which allows for quick follow-up attempts. On that note, when elevating to a Cool score, PaRappa is given control to freestyle rap. I have rarely been able to reach this status, but watching videos online of others doing illustrates again how unsteady and broken freestyling is.

While not a perfect game, PaRappa the Rapper is one that I imagine many consider to be recognized positively for its entire presentation and its accomplishments. With the actual gameplay not being consistent and reliable in terms of how scoring functions, it may seem unusual to still consider PaRappa a fantastic title. The game's success is highly supported by its style and music that I'm sure many here would enjoy.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on December 02, 2021, 07:38:58 pm
21. Gears of War 2 (360) 11/28
 
I'm hoping to get one more in before the end of the year here, but its a big one so well see.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 02, 2021, 07:51:30 pm
43. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope || PlayStation 4 || 12.01.21

As the second formal entry of Supermassive Games' anthology series, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope continues the line of gameplay elements, themes, and tropes that its predecessor Man of Medan and earlier studio title Until Dawn established as an interactive adventure game.

Taking place in another modern day setting, the game revolves around a group of individuals surviving a bus accident in the late hours. Seeking refuge, their only means to success is to travel through the desolate town of Little Hope, which has been abandoned some decades ago. However, they soon realize that there is more to this town than meets the eye, as a mysterious fog prevails them from turning away from town while deadly forces and past demons pursue them. With the town of Little Hope's history steeped rich in history regarding witch trials of the late 17th century, the cast repeatedly comes in contact with these haunting moments of the past face-to-face.

Unlike Man of Medan which featured a cast with little personality, character development, or group interaction, Little Hope tackles these issues directly by improving upon these faults to various degrees. Gameplay feels much more balanced with cutscenes appearing regularly that showcase how each character and the group altogether address their immediate problems. As far as its narrative, the story is more interesting as more detail is given, the pacing has been improved, and the forces to overcome are more threatening. As far as quality-of-life improvements, the fixed camera positions of Man of Medan have been replaced with player camera control, which allows for improved exploration throughout a more fulfilling environment. This last change is not necessarily good or bad, but its execution was successful and better suited for Little Hope.

On the other hand, in my one playthrough, I did find negativity in how decision-making affects the outcomes of characters. While it can be praised that player choices have a huge weight regarding how later events unfold, it can not be overlooked how the endgame seems to wholly rely on the player having not only made specific choices prior but to play the entire story a certain way. During the final scene, I had no control over some characters and how they handled their threats—instead, their fates simply happened on their own as a result of these characters not having reached certain character traits. I did not enjoy this aspect, as I feel as if the player should be able to make the decisions they are wanting to make while having to confront whatever possible outcomes, however difficult they may or may not be, on their own and not be sentenced to an automatic fate.

Admittedly, fans of the series have polarizing opinions regarding this title largely relating to the ending and the variety in final character outcomes. Nevertheless, I am one who greatly enjoyed my time playing and understand the story's conclusion differently than some and not at face value which some others choose to believe. Overall, I find Little Hope to be more successful as a follow-up title.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 03, 2021, 09:01:18 pm
44. The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes || PlayStation 5 || 12.02.21

As the third title in Supermassive Game's horror anthology series, The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes should, by now, be something fans are familiar with while knowing what to expect. By far and large, the established mechanics and trends return.

Honestly, I remember watching the initial teaser trailer for this entry when it was shown in 2020, and I was not at all interested in the plot. A story about the U.S. military invasion of Iraq set in 2003? I don't know.... However, the story in House of Ashes was much better than I expected, as the entry removes itself from the psychological horror aspects presented in the former two entries and Until Dawn and instead delves into supernatural horror. Trapped underground in unknown territory, both U.S. and Iraqi forces must survive by working together to overcome their shared adversaries. As the narrative reminds us time and time again, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Remaining true to feature a playable cast of five, House of Ashes also reserves plenty of screen time for NPCs that are crucial for plot development which was a nice addition. With the extended cast, so many different types of characters were designed that showcase their varying methods in not only handling their immediate danger but also handling the war at-large. In particular, two members of the main cast see tremendous growth in their stories as the largely interact with one another. On the other hand, the remaining three members and their stories focus on a failing marriage and love affair. There are some other issues touched upon with these three characters, but the attention is given to this aspect which is something I found disappointing. Knowing this to be a life-or-death situation, I would have rather seen these characters face a different direction for the writing to have taken.

Having seen extensive gameplay of roughly four separate shared playthroughs prior to my solo playthrough, I can say confidently that the game excels in how character traits and relationships were built as this is, by far, the most successful entry in the series to rely upon these mechanics and how they relate to character outcomes. Having never seen a shared experience before for previous series entries, the weight in player decisions was paramount in a solo playthrough compared to a shared one which I believe is a development decision made right and have read that has been improved for this entry. When reading a developer Q&A segment, I learned that over 60 deaths for the main cast were implemented which shows the depth and changes the narrative offers.

After playing through each of the three available anthology entries to date, I'm definitely looking forward to what future entries offer. A teaser for the fourth entry was shown, and the content has again shifted to focus on body horror/escape horror similar to the Saw movie franchise. Going back to that developer Q&A, it was said that the team has identified 30 unique horror sub-genres that they can pull from for ideas. At the same time, they are more than interested in growing beyond the originally-planned eight entry anthology if consumer interest remains high. Building off of player feedback and growing more comfortable with what their series exists as, Supermassive Games continues to publish quality titles that horror fans of any genre will love.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 09, 2021, 02:54:31 am

I definitely had my doubts as to whether I'd make 52, but I did it yet again this year! Not only that, but I feel like my 52 is very appropriate for setting me up for my plan next year to replay a bunch of games I've played and beat before, but not for a long time. This is also true of Pokemon Red Version, which despite my lifelong love of the franchise I haven't actually beat since the Pokemon hype of the late 90s.
 
52. Pokemon Red Version (Gameboy)

Where it all began for me. I was in 6th grade when Pokemon came out in the US and I was among the first people to start playing it at my middle school after a friend had successfully got me hyped about it while he was playing it. We used to play our games constantly, trade Pokemon and battle at lunch, and of course watched the cartoon every morning before school and discuss it in the hallway before class started. When Pokemon's popularity did explode in the west I was front and center for it. While playing this game back then, I also became OBSESSED with the trading card game, watched the anime religiously, and got my hands on any and all Pokemon merchandise I could get my hands on. It was an awesome time to be alive. For whatever reason though I never remembered Pokemon Red being one of my favorite games of all time despite it being my gateway drug into Pokemon back in the day. After replaying it for the first time in 22-years I kind of understand why. Make no mistake, the game is fun as hell as you journey from town to town, getting gym badges, battling trainers, and of course, catching Pokemon. The narrative and story is very basic, but it hardly matters as all you want to do is catch more Pokemon and beef up your favorites so they evolve and become stronger. Just like back then and later on when I've played most other main Pokemon installment I became addicted to this fairly simple gameplay. Sadly, there are very frustrating aspects to the gameplay such as the limited and some times very inconvenient item and Pokemon storage management system. On top of that some of the dungeons/caves in this game are the definition of annoying and tedious as you'll barely be able to walk 4 steps before another random Pokemon encounter. Likewise, there are various other gripes I have with this game, albeit minor ones. This game was really the template that set up the best generation of Pokemon (gen 2), as well as a foundation that the franchise still follows to this day. Beyond just my enjoyment of the game, it actually inspired me to get heavily back into Pokemon like I used to be when I was 12. I just wanted to go through my Pokemon cards and buy new ones, I started watching the anime again, and while I'm still debating it, I may play Gold version next. This game really sucks you into this franchise. While some of Pokemon Red's gameplay is undeniably outdated and tedious, it's still a very fun RPG on the Gameboy and at least for me a massive hit of nostalgia involving simpler times. (12/9/21) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 13, 2021, 05:59:45 pm
45. South Park: The Stick of Truth || PlayStation 4 || 12.10.21

Well, South Park: The Stick of Truth is definitely a game I had no expectations to play. As someone who is not all too familiar with the South Park TV series but has seen a fair amount of its content in recent years, I still wouldn't really consider myself as a fan and definitely not an avid viewer. That being said, it's a show I can watch for some degree of entertainment, which led me to accept playing the game when someone else wanted to watch me play through it.

Laced with adult humor, South Park is probably a franchise that many will, at the very least, be somewhat familiar with and its brand of content and the tones it takes, with The Stick of Truth being no different as the show creators worked directly on the project. Despite relying upon a new medium, the format and direction of the franchise easily adapt into being a game. More or less, The Stick of Truth can be thought of as an extended series of episodes with gameplay elements interlaced between story segments. Throughout the game, the dozens if not hundreds of references to the show's extensive history are littered about which makes it feel as if this game's narrative fits right in with the show's lore.

Relying on RPG mechanics, The Stick of Truth certainly is designed around a casual play experience. By adopting a lower difficulty threshold with fewer challenges, the game allows for all fans of the show—no matter if they're opposed to traditional RPGs or if they don't typically play games—to experience this new story. With a detailed environment, the game offers an effective means of exploration that allows for players to actually feel as if they're experiencing what it's like to be as a resident of South Park. In a sense, the focus of the game is on simply exploring the environment in what is arguably the first worthy game adaption to the series. Instead of fetch quests that many RPGs tend to utilize, most of The Stick of Truth's quests task you with gaining entrance to new parts of town after unlocking abilities and story sequences.

Taking the role as the new kid in town who embodies the silent protagonist trope, the player-character is immediately thrust into the make-believe war the main cast has begun. With the story elements referencing both Lord of the Rings and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Stick of Truth effectively spoofs on both as it adopts itself into a turn-based action RPG. With four classes to choose alongside a two-person battle system, the gameplay is fulfilling and fun. Without a doubt, there are plenty of side quests to accomplish and collectibles to gather. Throughout the game, there are dozens of equipment and accessory items to collect, and a big focus is on constantly updating one's current wear. Generous with items of all kind, the core gameplay is not focused on character development or progression but instead to enjoy the setting and story for what it has to offer.

As a final note, The Stick of Truth is not going to be a game that just anyone can play, even if they're a fan of the RPG genre. However, I believe that any fan of the show would absolutely enjoy the game as a new medium instead of the typical TV viewing experience. I really don't think there is any in-between on the matter, unfortunately.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: tripredacus on December 20, 2021, 10:48:31 am
It has been two months but I have finally (The last game I had played before this was on 9/28 when I beat Banner Saga) completed a playthrough of Europa Universalis IV! Easily the most complicated game I have ever played. I knew this was going to be a possibility, as I had once tried to play Europa Universalis III years ago.

Some may consider this game to be of the "endless" variety, and indeed you can technically play a single scenario forever. However I had determined that there was a victory screen, as the game will show this screen when you get to January 1821. I had used the random country selector and had gone through around 15 different countries before I managed to figure some things out. I'm still not an expert in the slightest. I may have been able to complete this sooner as I had managed to get into the late 1600s using Oirat but that save got nuked when the game updated.

In the end I ran this on "Very Easy" as the aggression of CPU players on Normal is at a level where you need to have a good build order down in order to make it past a year from the start. Game start was the default 1444. Ironman disabled, no achievements yet in Epic.

This run that I managed to survive I was only able to complete just under half of the goals. The country was Brandenberg and for the last 200 years I was Emperor of the HRE and Papal controller twice including at the end of the game. This playthrough I had come up with some sort of system to generating ducats without being in debt constantly or having 60 loans. There is a breakpoint in the game when you can generate enough money to never worry about it again and always keep army at full maintenance. I think with this I was getting over 30/month with max maintenance, and if I lowered it it would be double.

The Epic launcher says I had 92 hours played. Here is the victory screen:
(http://i.imgur.com/xcV2VhOh.png) (https://imgur.com/xcV2VhO)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kashell on December 22, 2021, 11:37:14 am
It was a great year for games. Here's what I finished. I had this post on an RPG forum hence the separation.

RPG:
1. Azure Dreams - Game Boy Color
2. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
3. Chocobo's Dungeon 2
4. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
5. The Banner Saga
6. SaGa Frontier 2
7. Langrisser I - H Route
8. Langrisser II - B Route
9. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
10. Unlimited Saga - Kurt
11. Unlimited Saga - Laura
12. Unlimited Saga - Judy
13. SaGa: Scarlet Grace Ambitions - Urpina
14. Zanki Zero: Last Beginning
15. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
16. Adventures of Mana - platinum'd
17. Brigandine: Legend of Runersia - Eliza Uzala
18. Final Fantasy IX
19. Poison Control - platinum'd
20. Final Fantasy VI - PlayStation/Final Fantasy Anthology version
21. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Lute
22. SaGa Frontier Remastered - T260G
23. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Red
24. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Riki
25. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Blue
26. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
27. Live A Live
28. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Emilia
29. Dragon Quest VIII - 3DS version
30. Legend of Mana Remastered
31. SaGa Frontier Remastered - Asellus
32. Tales of Arise - platinum'd
33. Ys I - Ys I & II Chronicles Version
34. Breath of Fire IV
35. Mary Skelter 2
36. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
37. Blue Reflection: Second Light
38. Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi

Non-RPG:
1. Mega Man Powered Up
2. Mega Man X
3. Mega Man 8 - PlayStation version
4. Mighty Gunvolt Burst
5. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
6. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - bad ending
7. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - true ending
8. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Richter playthrough
9. Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood - Shizumaru Hisame
10. Samurai Shodown II - Ukyo Tachibana
11. Samurai Shodown IV: Amakusa’s Revenge - Shizumaru Hisame
12. Samurai Shodown V - Shizumaru Hisame
13. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
14. Samurai Shodown V Special - Shizumaru Hisame
15. Tail Concerto
16. New Samurai Shodown - Shizumaru Hisame
17. Call of Cthulhu
18. New Samurai Shodown - Basara
19. New Samurai Shodown - Sogetsu Kazama
20. Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X - X
21. Arslan: The Warriors of Legend
22. New Samurai Shodown - Baiken
23. The House in Fata Morgana
24. Castlevania
25. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
26. The Castlevania Adventure
27. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
28. Castlevania: Bloodlines - John Morris
29. Mega Man X4 - Saturn Version - Zero
30. Mega Man X4 - PlayStation Version - X

Dropped:
1. Rabi Ribi
2. Knights in the Nightmare - DS version
3. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin
4. Hades

Demos:
1. Fallen Legion: Revenants
2. Project Triangle Strategy
3. Tales of Arise
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 23, 2021, 12:54:14 am
I'm trying to squeak out one more game before the end of the year, maybe two if shit with work would slow down a little lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 23, 2021, 01:41:33 am
Another low year for me, just not a whole lot for me to play in particular, though I have a few things on the backlog at this point that'll start my year off.  I'll probably only finish Skyward Sword HD last, mostly so I can jump into Link's Awakening next month.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 23, 2021, 05:56:24 pm
46. Hexceed || Nintendo Switch || 12.20.21

Now, Minesweeper is a game that I'm sure many here have at least played once. Personally, I enjoy Minesweeper a lot, but it has been many years since I've last played it or any other similar logic puzzle game. That is, until I decided to play Hexceed.

By far and large, Hexceed surpasses Minesweeper throughout its gameplay. Like Minesweeper, the end goal is to identify which tiles are safe and unsafe. Requiring some minor critical thinking ability, Hexceed takes the principles from its inspiration and expands upon them foremost by being played with hexagonal tiles as opposed to square tiles while adding several new mechanics required to solve. Various rules and gameplay elements help diversity the traditional formula across stages and even throughout segments of each stages, at times.

As opposed to being fairly straight-forward, Hexceed requires more attention than one would think due to evolving gameplay elements. Early on, the game is simple and much like Minesweeper but with different shapes. Soon, though, new mechanics such as barriers that separate tiles from another and tiles that indicate how any unsafe tiles reside within a free-form zone or even a straight line are introduced. All of these elements exist across a level plane that is also free-form, unlike Minesweeper which takes place across a rectangular playing field. That being said, the rules apply across the entire playing field with indicator tiles even being able to expand across multiple different planes as long as they're within the tile's vicinity.

All this said, Hexceed has an organic progression in the challenge it presents. As new mechanics are slowly introduced, the levels ramp up in difficulty and larger playing fields are seen. Some stages require deeper problem-solving in their final tiles to clear, such as the player needing to understand which scenarios can and cannot be possible after playing out possible scenarios. However, Hexceed is not always as unforgiving as Minesweeper is. By default, clicking in error is a general warning, with subsequent clicks negating the last 7-8 solved tiles each time. While this is the default setting, it can be toggled off so that one error results in failure with the stage needing to be retried in full. My entire experience was of the former, which allowed for a more relaxing and casual experience. On many occasions, I could zone out while instinctively recognizing patterns while the game provided that feeling needing to solve "just one more stage" as lo-fi music provided background sounds.

Of course, Hexceed is not a perfect game, although my faults with it are generally minor. The last section of 36 stages were not as enjoyable to me as they felt much more gimmicky in nature, such as playing fields being purposefully shaped to represent something's likeness. However, the entire 472 stages I played were entirely free, so I cannot fault this aspect very much. Throughout each stage's end animation, there was considerable lag most of the time. While there is an option to turn off such animation entirely, I liked the animation when it transitioned smoothly; but that there was lag to this degree during these parts was surprising, as the game is not information-heavy. My final, and definitely biggest, problem was positioning the pointer from tile to tile. Sometimes, the pointer would move slowly, and other times not be steady enough to make a click. The problem frequently caused me to make errors. I'm sure that this problem was entirely due to Joy-Con drift, but I still do wonder if the game was at fault for it to some degree too.

As a free game, the core experience of 472 free stages is fantastic for those enjoying logic puzzle games. The developers have already set in motion for 12 additional sections being offered over the course of 12 months, which introduced in total over 1,000 stages and four new mechanics such as rotating tiles being added. I am interested in the bundle altogether, but I don't think that I will make that end purchase (at least for now.) If you ever enjoyed playing Minesweeper or are a fan of logic puzzle games, I highly recommend playing Hexceed as so much of the game's content is outright free.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 23, 2021, 10:06:33 pm
53. Cuphead (PC)

I've wanted to play this game for a very long time and when it went on sale on GOG I decided I'd waited long enough. TO be honest, I was hoping for a physical release, but for under $10 I figured why wait any longer. But anhow, Cuphead! This game was actually better than I thought it would be and I already imagined it would be awesome going into it. Let's address what everyone already knows; the graphics and art are incredible! Even though this is a 2D action game made in the late 2010s the art is incredible and better looking that most other 2D games ever made. The audio is also pretty good apart from a few songs that seemed like they were trying too hard to sound like they are from the 30s. But found effects, voice acting, and all the crackles and pops you'd here in old cartoons from the 30s and 40s were all present; this game absolutely looks and sounds like an old cartoon. The gameplay was also great, however certain parts of the game were better than others. The best parts were definitely the boss battles. With the exception of a few battles, the boss fights were the absolute highlight of this game. They were fun, fair, and the perfect amount of difficult, again, for the most part. Sadly I didn't enjoy the platforming stages that much, and they definitely felt lacking in design compared to the aforementioned boss fights. Unfortunately another aspect of this game that I felt wasn't up to par were the SHMUP boss fights. Some were great, other were meh, and a few were just flat out annoying. Despite these minor shortcomings, Cuphead is definitely one of the best games I've played all year, and if this is my last game of 2021 it would definitely be one hell of a note to go out on. (12/23/21) [40/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 24, 2021, 05:39:38 pm
47. South Park: The Fractured but Whole || PlayStation 4 || 12.21.21

Well, the same person wanting me to play South Park: The Stick of Truth also really wanted me to play South Park: The Fractured but Whole, so I did. While not having plans to even play the first game, I was not expecting to play its sequel so soon. That being said, I'm glad I did.

Unlike its predecessor, The Fractured but Whole explores much more recent series content that I have seen a fair amount of before. With its story picking up immediately right after The Stick of Truth, The Fractured but Whole's narrative sees the cast of South Park moving away from games of medieval warfare to those of a superhero war to see which team can reign supreme to ensure a successful yet convoluted franchise web. On that note, the game vastly overshadows its predecessor in terms of gameplay, difficulty, and plot.

Revisiting its RPG gameplay from before, The Fractured but Whole features a new battle system alongside class customization that allows the player to create the player-character ideal to their preferred means of gameplay. With battles now taking place on a grid and featuring up to five allies on screen at once, the element of strategy is explored with action QTE sequences remaining. With that in mind, characters each have a limited moveset to traverse the playing field alongside skills having specific directions to which they have effect over much like many other games in the tactical RPG sub-genre. Relying on superpowers for their abilities, The Fractured but Whole excels is providing varied attacks, buffs, and debuffs that align to characters' specific classes.

Apart from battle mechanics, The Fractured but Whole is much like The Stick of Truth. Town exploration and interacting with townspeople is still heavily emphasized. Both of these ideas rely upon unlocking new abilities on an individual level and with a partner at-hand. However, the biggest non-battle element added to the game is its crafting system. While there isn't much depth to it, crafting items is routine but not entirely necessary despite some instances relating to the narrative. While I largely avoided using playable items in battle, crafting is the go-to source for collecting them. While purchasing items is possible, money is more scarce now with costs being much higher. Despite which route one takes, money is never an issue even for those seeking to buy everything. More than enough items will be collected to sell later for a high profit.

As someone who is not interested in superhero franchises in the slightest, The Fractured but Whole offers the right tropes to laugh at from both fans and non-fans alike. As a tactical RPG, the game does present difficulty for those unfamiliar to the genre or are looking for a more casual experience. And, while its depth in the genre isn't anything to boast about, it offers enough aspects from it while utilizing them successfully to present a fun experience. With an expanded story that is connected much more efficiently and diversely than its predecessor, The Fractured but Whole offers a lot of enjoyment for fans. And, yes, I will always feel silly when talking about a game titled The Fractured but Whole.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 27, 2021, 02:06:27 am
54. Final Fight 3 (SNES)

A long time ago I found this game at a game store miss priced significantly. It was clear they thought this was the first Final Fight and I ended up picking this game up for $5 or something like that. Fast forward years later and I was unfortunately forced to sell a large part of my collection including some trophy games, one of which was Final Fight 3. I was sad I never played it when it ended up selling on ebay to some unknown gamer. However, I finally did play through Final Fight 3 tonight and good lord, I really was not missing out on much and surely the money I made from this supposed gem was way more worth it in the end.


Final Fight 3 is a very flawed, somewhat lazy beat em' up that is noticeably inferior to its previous two installments. Being the third game I'd expect this game to be better and more refined than the first and the second Final Fight game, but it was quite the opposite. Beat em' ups are not paragons on deep gameplay and they never have been, but between the extremely cheap bosses, too much enemy recycling, ineffective and infrequent weapons, and poorly implemented supers, the gameplay felt just as annoying as it did fun while I played through it. Worse than the gameplay was the music in this game which surprised me; Capcom made some incredibly good OSTs around the time Final Fight 3 was developed, including the first two games in the series. There is a particularly terrible track that plays often through the game that has a high pitched shrieking tone in it that even my wife commented in while I played this game. Final Fight 3's best quality is definitely its presentation, especially the stage presentation which is pretty good and varied overall. Enemies are recycled just like in most beat em' ups, but I felt like Final Fight 3 lacked variety even as a beat em up. One of the bosses is even recycled albeit with a final alteration to make you think its a different boss. There are also cool cut scenes between some of the stages to in order to deliver a very unremarkable, generic story. Final Fight 3 was certainly a disappointment to say the least; I've always been a Streets of Rage guy, but I still love the first Final Fight and this just feels like a very watered down, inferior version of that game. (12/26/21) [26/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on December 27, 2021, 04:23:59 am
35. Life Is Strange: True Colours (PS5) 27/12/2021

I just managed to beat the game last night, I felt... it was okay. I thnk a lot of the problem is the story holds a lot of cards to its chest then explodes on the last chapter making Chapters 2-4 sluggish - While I enjoyed some of the events in Chapters 2-4 I just feel more plot details could have been paced better within them. I liked Alex as a character and the concept of her powers is really neat but sadly it just isn't utilised as much as the characters powers in LiS1 & 2. There also wasn't that many tense situations & a particular mini-game went on for far too long, despite still being charming. I also felt that the game forced music on you too much, there are many times you can just sit back and listen to music at your leisure but other times it happens after a story event and while you can leave I had an itching feeling wondering if I'd be punished for leaving too soon - Also the main characters music aspirations sort of feels forced, along with the romance options.

It's not a bad game, I like a lot of the story elements introduced in the last chapter. I just felt the pacing was a little off and the game didn't offer many intense scenarios like the previous games had.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: kamikazekeeg on December 27, 2021, 04:34:07 am
26 - Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Switch 2021) - BEAT - It feels nice to have a game that I once considered to be my most disliked 3D Zelda, become not that.  This remaster did quite a lot to improve the game for me for sure, as I really hated this game back on the Wii.  It was at the bottom, but now I'm thinking I'm gonna put it over Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, though I need to replay Majora's Mask, of which I'm hoping they release Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D in an updated bundle eventually.  The improved controls make the game very playable on controller, though it can be a lot wonky having to hold a button to get camera control the whole time.  Visually it looks really nice, runs well, and has some nice general improvements to the experience to improve some big problems the game originally had.

Not that the game is a complete 180 turn around, it still has some fundamental things that can't be changed with a remaster.  The sky area sucks, it's a very boring place with no exploration value.  The main overworld is not great with the separated zones that you keep returning back to multiple times. I still don't like the trials where you have to go and collect the spirit things, and the game just has too much repetition in general as you do the trials 4 times I think, and you have to do the awful Imprisoned fight 3 times.  Also Fi is still the worst companion to me.  She's better than she was when you were forced to deal with her constantly, but the computer robot personality never improves, this isn't a Terminator 2 situation, she never gets better.  Sure, Navi is technically more annoying, but she at least had a personality to me and that Fi shows up after the best companion, Midna, it's such a downgrade for the series.

Problems I have aside, it's still a huge improvement to me and I found myself enjoying it.  It's not amazing, my top 3D Zelda games are are still BOTW, Ocarina, and Twilight, followed by a huge power gap, and then it's Skyward Sword, Wind Waker, and Majora's Mask, but this is something I like to happen, taking games I didn't like before, and making me now like them.  It's why I thought Link's Awakening was a random thing for them to remake, when it never really needed it.  Remake Zelda 2, overhaul the visuals and gameplay of that to make a much better game, give it the Zero Mission treatment so that I want to actually play it and that it's more fleshed out and fun.  Just my random aside lol
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: ignition365 on December 27, 2021, 01:14:10 pm
Main List (https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11230.msg185665.html#msg185665)

It's just about the end of the year and I'm not sure that I'll actually wind up beating any more games this year, so time to build that final stats post.

Top Games played released in 2021

Top Games played NOT released in 2021

Top Games played overall in 2021

Honorable Mention

Console breakdown
X1 - 33
NS - 33
PS4 - 19
NES - 9
SNES - 9
XS - 9
360 - 7
PSV - 7
PC - 6
PS1 - 6
GB - 5
GBA - 5
Droid - 3
GBC - 3
N64 - 3
PSP - 2
Wii - 2
GCN - 1
GEN - 1
PS3 - 1
PS5 - 1
165 games total

Platform with the Most Beat Games: Currently a tie between X1 and NS with 33 games beaten.  In previous years, I could BC games towards X1 and I might have counted NSO games towards NS but this year I counted them for their original platform, NS would've demolished if I counted NSO titles, but maybe X1 would've had some more too, who knows, not me because I'm not counting.  I really felt like I played a lot of X1 this year and not much of anything else, so it's nice to see that NS got some love and PS4 wasn't too bad with 9 games played.  Lots of retro this year though.

Platform with the most unfinished titles: I didn't do a great job of keeping track of unfinished titles this year.  I don't even think I did a good job of loading things up to backloggery.  That said, just looking at what I did list, I've got 3 XS games and 3 PS4 games sitting unfinished, that's probably pretty accurate that XS/PS4 would have the most abandoned stuff.  XS probably wins in that I played other stuff like Artful Escape, Art of Rally, and Twelve Minutes and didn't really get very far in them.

Current v. Retro v. Mobile/Handheld v. PC: 95 - 39 - 25 - 6. (I am considering anything not PS4/X1/NS/PS5/XS to be "retro")

Game that ate up the most time: Dark Souls Remastered or Dark Souls III.  Nintendo says I played Dark Souls Remastered for ~80 hours this year, and I played some of X1 as well.  Youtube says I played DS3 earlier this year for ~42 hours and my new character right now is sitting at ~36 hours, and I will be playing it more by the end of the year for sure.

Quickest game beat: Night in the Woods side stories, Family (PC), Donkey Kong, Outdrive, Streets of Kamurocho, Gone Home.  All a bunch of games that took no time at all to clear through.  Gone Home probably wins in that you can beat that game in under 1 min and I'm sure I did.

For this, I'm going to try to skew a bit and pick 2021 games over older games, unless I just really can't pick a 2021 game

Game per year list
2021 Yakuza: Like a Dragon
2020 Call of the Sea
2019 Wreckfest
2018 Nier: Automata
2017 Black Mirror
2016 Dark Souls III
2015 The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
2014 Rogue Legacy
2013 Lococycle
2012 Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
2011 Test Drive Unlimited 2
2010 Naughty Bear
2009 Sonic and the Black Knight
2008 Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
2007 Sonic and the Secret Rings
2006 Sonic the Hedgehog 2006
2005 Shadow the Hedgehog
2004 Sonic Advance 3
2003 Sonic Advance 2
2002 Sonic Advance
2001 Xena: Warrior Princess (GBC)
2000 Pokemon Puzzle League
1999 Super Smash Bros.
1998 Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
1997 Mega Man Legends
1996 Super Mario RPG
1995 Panel de Pon
1994 Claymates
1993 Super Valis IV
1992 Super Mario Kart
1991 Vice: Project Doom
1990 Shadow of the Ninja
1989 Strider
1988 Blaster Master
1987 Metroid
1986 Donkey Kong
1985 Ice Climber
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 28, 2021, 12:09:20 pm
48. Um Jammer Lammy || PlayStation || 12.27.21

As the spin-off follow-up to renowned PaRappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy was released with high achievements set by its predecessor to surpass. Having played the North American version nearly a decade ago, I played through the Japanese uncensored release on my original hardware, finally.

Featuring a few original cast members fulfilling minor roles, Um Jammer Lammy introduces titular character Lammy as the player-character. Retaining the world's cartoon-driven atmosphere and antics, Um Jammer Lammy revolves around the very nervous and anxiety-driven Lammy as she wakes up late and is repeatedly stopped by over-the-top problems that she must overcome before moving forward to arrive at the venue where she and her band MilkCan are scheduled to perform at. As before, the game's cast features an eclectic cast of unusual townspeople. Over the course of my playthrough, I found myself smiling and even laughing as some sequences played out.

Retaining its rhythm gameplay, Um Jammer Lammy maintains the same call-and-response gameplay that PaRappa the Rapper introduces. However, from the first stage, it was apparent at how the gameplay had improved. The biggest change is that call-and-repeat sequences can be much longer and complicated than before, with some bars looping back to form a second or even third line and may even begin along different spots across the line to follow. Additionally, songs are not divided into sections, which they now are played smoothly without pauses in between. Therefore, there seems to be more input from players needed, which is a welcoming adjustment.

All that being said, there is added difficulty, in some regards. Despite the added focus required of players, how the scoring and ranking elements operate are much more consistent while being more sensible to understand. At the same time, following the commands perfectly generally does award players positive points, unlike before; so, it was nice that, during the times that I did struggle, there was assurance that my ranking could almost always be improved by inputting the shown controls perfectly. Additionally, knowing when to experiment with player input seems to be more understood by me. Longer sequences that have some pauses in between seem more ideal for added freestyling while rapid fire segments are not. This may not actually be the case, but these were my impressions. Overall, though, experimenting is not a focus of the game, and strictly following the call-and-repeat sequences as shown is generally most successful.

As far as elements to the game itself, the music shifts to a more rock-heavy presence as Lammy is a guitarist for a rock band. Even so, there is still that groovy element to the soundtrack that is retained from before and especially so with the game's first two songs. With that said, each button is linked to a specific sound, and I did find that some of the guitar tones when played sound off and not complementary to other sounds when played. I'm not a musician, but some degree of abrupt dissonance were my impressions. In terms of presentation, I was exceptionally pleased that the decision to not include a visible border throughout cutscenes and gameplay was made. As I mentioned before, my experience playing this time was with the Japanese version, so I did enjoy the scene where the credits roll preemptively and several dialogue instances which break the fourth wall.

Overall, Um Jammer Lammy is a wonderful game and worthy successor. While PaRappa the Rapper has its charms, it undoubtedly suffers from inconsistent scoring and player input outcome. Um Jammer Lammy solves these problems while maintaining its predecessor's achievements. I highly recommend playing for fans of the rhythm genre, quirky games, and PlayStation lovers.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: justin8301 on December 29, 2021, 11:21:30 pm
1. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) 01/02
2. Godfall (PS5) 01/17
3. Spyro The Dragon Reignited (PS4) 03/28
4. Super Mario 64 (Switch) 04/03
5. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) 04/08
6. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) 04/22
7. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) 04/26
8. Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS5) 05/01
9. Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (PS4) 05/09
10. Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart (PS5) 01/17
11. Gris (PS4) 07/23
12. Rise of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/25
13. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (PS4) 07/31
14. The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) 08/07
15. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) 09/26
16 Metroid Dred (Switch) 10/14
17. Until Dawn (PS4) 10/16
18. Resident Evil HD Remaster (Switch) 10/24
19. Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XBO) 11/13
20. Forza Horizon 5 (XSX) 11/19
21. Gears of War 2 (360) 11/28
22. Gears of War (360) 12/27
23. Dragon Quest XI (XSX) 12/29

and with that I'm done for this year. Not even close to 52 but i did get some damn good games in this year. I'm planning on taking 22 a little more seriously and try to actually complete 52, wish me luck.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on December 30, 2021, 12:12:33 pm
Quote from: bikingjahuty on December 21, 2020, 10:42:22 am
I have A TON going on this next year which has me worried about whether or not I'll be able to best 52 games again, but so far I've never fallen short since this challenge began like 4 or 5 years ago. I guess it wouldn't surprise though if I didn't hit 52, but I have a whole year ahead of me so who knows.


Aside from randomly playing whatever interests me at the time, and plan on replaying a lot of games I've played before, but haven't beat in years this year. Some examples of this are games like KOTOR, Max Payne, Sonic the Hedgehog, and various other games it's easily been 10-years at least since I last played them. But other than those I plan on playing a ton of games I've never played before, including a bunch of retro games. Really looking forward to playing a ton of games over the next year :D


1. Cyberpunk 2077 (PS4) (1/1/21) [39/50]
2. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis) (1/9/21) [37/50]
3. Zero Wing (Genesis) (1/9/21) [30/50]
4. Propeller Arena (Dreamcast) (1/29/21) [30/50]
5. South Park: The Fractured but Whole (PS4) (2/2/21) [34/50]
6. King of Fighters XII (PS3) (2/21/21) [24/50]
7. King of Fighters XIII (PS3) (2/21/21) [38/50]
8. King of Fighters 94 (PS2) (2/22/21) [32/50]
9. King of Fighters 94: Re-Bout (PS2) (2/22/21) [28/50]
10. King of Fighters 95 (PS2) (2/23/21) [34/50]
11. King of Fighters 96 (PS2) (2/23/21) [34/50]
12. King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (PS2) (2/23/21) [18/50]
13. King of Fighters 2006 (PS2) (2/23/21) [19/50]
14. King of Fighters 2000 (PS2) (2/23/21) [35/50]
15. King of Fighters 99: Evolution (Dreamcast) (2/23/21) [37/50]
16. King of Fighters 2001 (PS2) (2/23/21) [29/50]
17. King of Fighters 2002 (PS2) (2/23/21) [36/50]
18. King of Fighters 2003 (PS2) (2/24/21) [37/50]
19. King of Fighters XI (PS2) (2/25/21) [35/50]
20. Zanac X Zanac (PS1) (2/25/21) [34/50]
21. The Last of Us: Part II (PS4) (5/2/21) [41/50]
22. Sorcerer Striker (Arcade) (5/25/21) [37/50]
23. Brave Blade (Arcade) (5/25/21) [21/50]
24. 1944: The Loop Master (Arcade) (5/25/21) [20/50]
25. Kingdom Grand Prix (Arcade) (5/26/21) [31/50]
26. Dimahoo (Arcade) (5/26/21) [35/50]
27. Night Slashers (Arcade) (5/27/21) [35/50]
28. Psyvariar 2 (Dreamcast) (6/7/21) [24/50]
29. Breakers (Dreamcast) (6/15/21) [30/50]
30. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries (PC) (6/22/21) [33/50]
31. Streets of Rage (Genesis) (6/22/21) [34/50]
32. Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) (6/22/21) [34/50]
33. New Pokemon Snap (Switch) (6/25/21) [35/50]
34. Spiderman and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis) (6/26/21) [22/50]
35. Keio Flying Squadron (Sega CD) (6/28/21) [36/50]
36. Mace the Dark Age (N64) (8/10/21) [30/50]
37. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (PS5) (8/12/21) [38/50]
38. Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2) (9/12/21) [33/50]
39. Cruis'n Blast (Switch) (9/18/21) [32/50]
40. Silent Hill 2 (PS2) (10/3/21) [41/50]
41. ReDux: Dark Matter (Dreamcast) (10/4/21) [24/50]
42. Shikigami No Shiro 2 (Dreamcast) (10/4/21) [35/50]
43. Trizeal (Dreamcast) (10/7/21) [35/50]
44. Triggerheart Exelica (Dreamcast) (10/8/21) [28/50]
45. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4) (10/30/21) [46/50]
46. Fighting Vipers 2 (Arcade) (11/7/21) [31/50]
47. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Genesis) (11/13/21) [23/50]
48. Jurassic Park (Arcade) (11/14/21) [28/50]
49. Donkey Kong Country (SNES) (11/15/21) [38/50]
50. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (SNES) (11/19/21) [43/50]
51. Kirby's Dreamland 3 (SNES) (11/20/21) [26/50]
52. Pokemon Red Version (Gameboy) (12/9/21) [37/50]
53. Cuphead (PC) (12/23/21) [40/50]
54. Final Fight 3 (SNES) (12/26/21) [26/50]


Well 54 games is likely going to be the final total for 2021. I'm in the middle of playing a game right now, but I'm all but certain it won't be completed until next year.


Looking back on this year's challenge, I'm happy I even was able to reach 52 given all the craziness that went on in my life in 2021. I got married, I got promoted, and I went on two vacations and saw two oceans. Probably more than that was me heavily getting into console modding, repair, and restoration. In fact I didn't play or beat any games at all during March and April. i'm still heavily into modding, but it has certainly cooled down in recent months due to the chip shortage and many mods being harder to get than unicorn poop right now.


For next year I'm hopefully looking at a much less busy year and I don't anticipate any issues with reaching 52 games next year. In fact my sights are set even a bit higher than that as I hope to even break 60 games. But you never know what might happen so I guess we'll just have to see.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 30, 2021, 12:37:38 pm
49. PaRappa the Rapper 2 || PlayStation 2 || 12.29.21

As the third and final installment to the PaRappa the Rapper franchise, Parappa the Rapper 2 left me with a lot more opinions than previous series entries and for sure more than other games I've experienced. After having played through all three entries in quick succession, I can see what elements the debut title introduced for better or for worse and see how the series was able to evolve from such starting point. To me, what the debut title aimed to achieve at conception in its gameplay is what PaRappa the Rapper 2 presents. Conversely, there are some aspects to this title that move backwards.

Releasing on next-gen hardware with the PlayStation 2, PaRappa the Rapper 2 quickly impressed me with its visuals. The environment and characters are much more colorful and detailed which ultimately bring more life to the world. Retaining its cartoon-style world, the game's scenario is unbelievably silly and is never questioned by anyone. The overarching plot revolves around the growing threat of Noodlization which is the act of all foods—and eventually all things—in town being transformed into noodles and is led by a villain character. A more subdued sub-plot once again features young titular character PaRappa as he works toward impressing his love interest Sunny Funny.

In previous entries, the narrative moved automatically which required the player to move from song to song. In PaRappa the Rapper 2, however, an overworld has been crafted that allows players to revisit stages whenever they want. When moving from stage to stage, distinct stage selection music is featured which is akin to a remixed music box with rap lullaby sounds which provide a peaceful contrast to the narrative taking place. At the same time, the overworld provides new game modes such as VS Player 2 to be played immediately upon completing a stage. Before, extra game modes were only available once finishing the story mode entirely.

While the previous two series entries were action-packed and full hectic tension, PaRappa the Rapper 2 provides a more subdued manner of storytelling. In this third entry, a more straightforward narrative was written that sees more conversation taking place without much excitement happening. While this does provide more details and the same style of humor being preserved, I realized after getting partway into the plot how static the game felt. Before, the games revolved around high tension with the narrative moving in expected directions. However, this is not the case with this installment. For instance, in succession, three of the eight stages all take part inside PaRappa's living room. The humor remains, although its level has been slightly diminished.

Prior to beginning stages, a never-ending practice mode starts. At first, I thought critically of such a feature, as stages are only a few minutes long with there being no consequence to failing a stage. However, I soon realized that the practice mode offers a means for players to see what kind of player input experimentation works out for certain sequences in the stage to come. That being said, I ultimately didn't have much success in heavy freestyling throughout the game's eight stages. Nevertheless, freestyling is perhaps best explained in this entry throughout visual cues along the call-and-repeat line. Unlike the original game, spamming buttons is not how you're going to succeed by any means. Throughout the narrative, characters repeatedly mention how PaRappa needs to find his own groove while rapping instead of following orders as strictly shown.

Eventually, three scoring meters appear which each relate to a different style of player input. While not explained in-game, the three meters measure obedience (following commands as shown), freestyle (variety in word choice), and funk (rhythm.) These meters are coupled by the unmentioned availability to add D-pad controls throughout sequences which manually control word choice, as most buttons offer two different words that automatically are said back-and-fourth with repeated presses. With these two aspects, there is certainly more depth in the gameplay but is an aspect that can easily be ignored by the casual player without any repercussion. Upon clearing a song, a bonus stage to boost one's score may ensue. I'm not sure if these stages are scripted after certain songs or not. To me, they felt a little tacked on and unnecessary, although nothing is inherently bad about its presence.

With all these finer details to the gameplay experience, the ranking and scoring system remains ultimately the same. When the player's rank shifts, a slight pause in the song has been added with dialogue to indicate such a change. Such pause is a design choice I am critical of as the natural flow to the song is often lost multiple times throughout each stage. The added pause provides nothing that the previous two entries, and even this entry itself, does not already successfully provide, as the music becomes heavily distorted when performing poorly and reverting to its normal quality upon improving performance.

Unlike my time with the previous two entries, I was able to successfully achieve Cool rank twice for extensive periods. And, honestly, I don't enjoy it. Upon achieving, the call-and-repeat element ends, and the player entirely freestyles. At the same time, the scenes change to become considerably less dynamic with, again, abrupt pauses being present between both entering and leaving Cool rank. With that said, I believe how Cool rank operates is the same throughout all three entries, so this opinion of mine is not exclusive to PaRappa the Rapper 2. When thinking about how exceptional performance could have instead been designed, I thought about how a scoring multiplier would have been more successful and seamless and especially so for a series that already places some emphasis on achieving high scores.

As for the music itself, I have to unfortunately report that not every song is as memorable and successful as what the previous two entries offered. While PaRappa the Rapper 2 once again features PaRappa as the player-character, the series' iconic groove returns as opposed to the more rock-centric focus of Um Jammer Lammy. However, most songs simply don't go above and beyond in leaving a lasting impression. Many of the songs are still good, although one retro video game-styled song certainly left more to be desired.

Overall, I think that PaRappa the Rapper 2 is okay for what I was looking to get out of the experience. Personally, I am not someone invested in achieving high scores and besting previous scores, although others may find this emphasis pleasing as it provides a game that can easily be played but challenging to master. In this regard, this final entry is the most successful one to date. However, I cannot overlook the plot's mild execution and choices in plot progression. While there is a much more plot-heavy scenario, it is just too tempered. Before, the situations were so ordinary, but the ridiculous circumstances throughout them are what made PaRappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy so iconic, and, to me, it is this aspect of the series which ultimately sets it apart from other games.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 30, 2021, 07:37:18 pm
50. Major Minor's Majestic March || Wii || 12.30.21

With the title of the final game developed by NanaOn-Sha with a visual style provided by Rodney Greenblat, Major Minor's Majestic March (MMMM), is a title I had no expectations whatsoever prior to playing. Despite its name, I did not even realize that the game is centered around a marching band. With this in mind, the Wii Remote functions as a marching baton throughout gameplay, with the player being required to move the pseudo-baton in regular intervals to a steady tempo. Almost immediately, I knew that the experience ahead would be considerably tiresome  with difficulty in responsiveness as the entire game revolves around this mechanics with no other options for play. Even at this time, I didn't know what exactly I was getting into.

Playing as the titular character Major Minor, the narrative begins as the player-character embarks on his new role as a drum major to lead a marching band of his own similar to a conductor's role to an orchestra. As the player, it is your job to observe each of the band members and their comfort levels as they perform. Each character has a predetermined comfort level to maintain as their respective instruments have certain thresholds to meet. Being successful with this criteria in mind is largely dependent on the current tempo although other factors described later on also influence the overall performance. Controlling Major Minor, the player can swing the baton at any speed, and maintaining a tempo that suits everyone is key to a successful march.

As previously mentioned, numerous other factors come into play that dramatically affect whether the player will successfully complete a stage. Throughout the march, additional musicians may be recruited to your march as well as items being available for use. Securing both elements are also determined by maintaining tempo. Of course, every single aspect to a successful march is dependent upon correct motion controls. Early on, this principle was difficult to become comfortable with, and exhausted band members quickly left the march over and over again which resulted in several stage failures. As the player, if you think that the up-down motion you're performing is varied enough, know that it probably isn't and that larger movements are necessary. On top of everything else, additional elements such as downward and upward slopes which require adjusted tempos alongside some items being detrimental to the band's performance are also a part of stages. With all of these other elements added to the core gameplay, some forward-thinking and certainly concentration is necessary to win.

Despite the project being designed by the same project leads who created the PaRappa the Rapper series, MMMM is a dramatically different experience. Designed with a child audience of perhaps ages 5-9 in mind, the story is narrated like a children's story with no vocal dialogue from the main characters themselves. At its core, MMMM tells the story of Major Minor creating a marching band and moving from location to location as they gain recognition, and very little happens outside of this premise. With the demographic being established, the aforementioned mechanics seem too challenging for the audience, as I certainly had my own difficulty in playing. Unlike the PaRappa the Rapper titles, there isn't any humor to be found either and is straightforward in telling a simple story. I would like to note that the game tries hard at recreating the iconic "I gotta believe!" and "Leave it to Lammy!" catchphrases by PaRappa and Lammy respectively. However, MMMM's "March, march keep on marching, KEEEEEEEEP OOOOOOOON MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARCH-ING!" catchphrase is not in any way endearing and is instead considerably irritating as it's being squawked.

Ultimately, MMMM is far too challenging with no substantial payoff in the end. Upon completing every one of the seven stages, I earned a 1-star rank out of 5. Had the game instead been designed similarly to how previous studio entries had by featuring fun characters and a world with cartoon antics, the gameplay may be worth investing time to master, but perhaps not. With a barebones narrative directed at children, characters without character, unrewarding gameplay, repetitive motion controls, and lackluster sounds that aren't even worth mentioning, I can't seriously recommend for others to play this game. However, since the game is cheap, it may only be worthwhile for fans of NanaOn-Sha to try out, but I would suggest having low expectations.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: weirdfeline on December 30, 2021, 09:29:19 pm
Quote from: dhaabi on December 30, 2021, 07:37:18 pm
50. Major Minor's Majestic March || Wii || 12.30.21

With the title of the final game developed by NanaOn-Sha with a visual style provided by Rodney Greenblat, Major Minor's Majestic March (MMMM), is a title I had no expectations whatsoever prior to playing. Despite its name, I did not even realize that the game is centered around a marching band. With this in mind, the Wii Remote functions as a marching baton throughout gameplay, with the player being required to move the pseudo-baton in regular intervals to a steady tempo. Almost immediately, I knew that the experience ahead would be considerably tiresome  with difficulty in responsiveness as the entire game revolves around this mechanics with no other options for play. Even at this time, I didn't know what exactly I was getting into.

Playing as the titular character Major Minor, the narrative begins as the player-character embarks on his new role as a drum major to lead a marching band of his own similar to a conductor's role to an orchestra. As the player, it is your job to observe each of the band members and their comfort levels as they perform. Each character has a predetermined comfort level to maintain as their respective instruments have certain thresholds to meet. Being successful with this criteria in mind is largely dependent on the current tempo although other factors described later on also influence the overall performance. Controlling Major Minor, the player can swing the baton at any speed, and maintaining a tempo that suits everyone is key to a successful march.

As previously mentioned, numerous other factors come into play that dramatically affect whether the player will successfully complete a stage. Throughout the march, additional musicians may be recruited to your march as well as items being available for use. Securing both elements are also determined by maintaining tempo. Of course, every single aspect to a successful march is dependent upon correct motion controls. Early on, this principle was difficult to become comfortable with, and exhausted band members quickly left the march over and over again which resulted in several stage failures. As the player, if you think that the up-down motion you're performing is varied enough, know that it probably isn't and that larger movements are necessary. On top of everything else, additional elements such as downward and upward slopes which require adjusted tempos alongside some items being detrimental to the band's performance are also a part of stages. With all of these other elements added to the core gameplay, some forward-thinking and certainly concentration is necessary to win.

Despite the project being designed by the same project leads who created the PaRappa the Rapper series, MMMM is a dramatically different experience. Designed with a child audience of perhaps ages 5-9 in mind, the story is narrated like a children's story with no vocal dialogue from the main characters themselves. At its core, MMMM tells the story of Major Minor creating a marching band and moving from location to location as they gain recognition, and very little happens outside of this premise. With the demographic being established, the aforementioned mechanics seem too challenging for the audience, as I certainly had my own difficulty in playing. Unlike the PaRappa the Rapper titles, there isn't any humor to be found either and is straightforward in telling a simple story. I would like to note that the game tries hard at recreating the iconic "I gotta believe!" and "Leave it to Lammy!" catchphrases by PaRappa and Lammy respectively. However, MMMM's "March, march keep on marching, KEEEEEEEEP OOOOOOOON MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARCH-ING!" catchphrase is not in any way endearing and is instead considerably irritating as it's being squawked.

Ultimately, MMMM is far too challenging with no substantial payoff in the end. Upon completing every one of the seven stages, I earned a 1-star rank out of 5. Had the game instead been designed similarly to how previous studio entries had by featuring fun characters and a world with cartoon antics, the gameplay may be worth investing time to master, but perhaps not. With a barebones narrative directed at children, characters without character, unrewarding gameplay, repetitive motion controls, and lackluster sounds that aren't even worth mentioning, I can't seriously recommend for others to play this game. However, since the game is cheap, it may only be worthwhile for fans of NanaOn-Sha to try out, but I would suggest having low expectations.
Will you keep on marching to 52 games?
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on December 31, 2021, 09:48:38 am
Game 23 - Sky: Children of the Light (Switch) - 7 Hours


Personally, I find this game just okay. This statement is coming from someone who is a massive fan of Journey (it's one of my top 10 favorite games of all time.) Being from the same developer, Sky does borrow heavily from Journey in almost every aspect, including the gameplay, controls, visual design, story elements, and setpieces. It's hard to think of something this game doesn't take from Journey, but there are a couple unique things that stood out to me.

One is that the game forgoes a linear style of gameplay progression to a more open and explorable world, which has a different set of advantages and disadvantages when compared to Journey. I thought that this game's open expanses full of caves and secrets fit the game's narrative appropriately, but a lot of areas felt far to wide and boring, and as such a pain to navigate. This was especially the case when you're backtracking trying to find all the spirits that you missed or when looking for areas that were previously locked to you.

Another difference is the ramping up of several social and customization elements that were first explored in Journey. In this game, you can keep a friends list, chat with people, hold hands, emote, and outfit your avatar with a variety of wigs, clothing, and accessories. I actually spent quite a bit of time chatting and interacting with other players, though admittedly it is a huge distraction from the game's story. The customization and social aspects of this game are also tied into a in-game currency that you need to purchase with real money if you really want all the options with multiple friends, and as such I didn't explore a lot of this part of the game. I don't think I changed my character's appearance at all while I was playing.

Lastly, there were a couple other gripes I had with the game. I was clear to me that this game came from phones, because it has a really bad and unintuitive menu and UI. The other thing was I experienced a lot of glitches, particularly in the final level. Two times the game failed to load a stage or cutscene and I had to restart.

Ultimately, this game felt like a less interesting Journey with changes that I ultimately disliked more than I liked. I can't be too hard on the game however, given that I really enjoy games from this company, and that this game in particular was free to play.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on December 31, 2021, 10:07:20 am
Game 24 - Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) - 34 Hours

Simply put, I think this game is amazing. It might be one of my favorite games of all time. The first thing that sucked me in was the gameplay. I had never played anything quite like it. It's closest comparator for me is Fire Emblem, but rather than turn based combat, this game goes for a more fluid, action-oriented experience that requires precise movement, awareness of surroundings, use of different terrain, careful troop selection and management, and numerous other strategies. I was a phenomenal experience, especially for being the first game in the series.

On top of outstanding gameplay, everything else about this game was well-polished and high quality. The visuals consist of a sketchbook and watercolor aesthetic and it looks incredibly beautiful. The game's story was pretty good, integrating some really interesting themes to underscore an otherwise typical war story/save the world cliche. The game had a great difficulty curve, and there were no glitches or issues at all while I was playing either. Lastly, the soundtrack is amazing as well. It just ticked all the right boxes for me.

There were a couple minor nitpicks that I had while playing. While this game is a war story, sometimes the characters treat their fighting less like fighting a war and more like a casual competition or game. That lack of serious took me out of the experience a touch, but that's just my preference. Additionally, the game does require some trial and error especially in the latter stages, but there's no way to easily restart a battle. You either have to die on purpose, or reload your game entirely. It got a little frustrating at times.

Other than that, I really enjoyed my time playing and am looking forward to exploring the other games in the series!
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telekill on December 31, 2021, 12:13:08 pm
As I guessed, I had nowhere near the time needed to complete even half of this challenge. Congrats to those that had the ability to do so.

Here's what I was able complete in 2021:
 
 - Uncharted Drake's Fortune (PS4)
 - Uncharted 2 (PS4)
 - Uncharted 3 (PS4)
 - Uncharted 4 (PS4)
 - Ninja Turtles Hyperstone Heist (Genesis)
 - Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in TIme (SNES)
 - Streets of Rage 4 (PS4)
 - Mass Effect (PS4)
 - Mass Effect 2 (PS4)
 - Judgement (PS5)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: telly on December 31, 2021, 04:49:45 pm
This year was on the lower end for me but I did play a lot of RPGs and longer games. But looking at my average time to beat a game it's only a couple hours more than last year. Nonetheless, I have some many awesome games that I'm excited to play in 2022!

Total Numbers
Total games played: 39
Total games finished: 24
New games/replayed games: 34/5
Games released in 2021: 1

Play Time
Longest game played: Stardew Valley (Switch/PC) - 55 hours
Longest game beat: Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) - 42 hours
Shortest game beat: Far From Noise (PC) - 1 hour

Average to finish a game: 19 hours

Games Played per Platform
PS2: 1
PS3: 3
PS4: 13
PC: 8
DS: 1
GameCube: 1
Wii U: 2
Switch: 12

Genres

Action RPG: 8
Adventure: 4
2D platformer: 3
Strategy: 3
Action-adventure: 2
Fighting: 2
RPG: 1
Other: 2
Horror: 2
3D platformer: 2
Party: 2
Sports: 1
Shoot 'em up: 1
Beat 'em up: 1
Exercise: 1


Top 5 Best Games Played in 2021
1. Silent Hill 2 (PS2)
2. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
3. Return of the Obra Dinn (PS4)
4. Kingdom Hearts II (PS4)
5. Last of Us Part II (PS4)

Top 5 Worst Games Played in 2021
1. Last Blade 2 (PS4)
2. New Super Luigi U (Wii U)
3. NES Remix Pack (Wii U)
4. Far From Noise (PC)
5. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (PS4)
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: Cartagia on December 31, 2021, 05:15:33 pm
Didn't get a lot of my previously expected game time this week, so here is my final update of the year.

Far Cry 4 (XB1) - Beat / Dec. 8 - Eh, it was fine, but it felt like it was just stopping me from playing way too often.  Unskippable cutscenes plague the whole front half and it's infuriating.  Pagan Min is an incredible villain, though.

Mortal Shell (PS5) - Beat / Dec. 12 - Pretty solid Soulslike. Interesting mechanics and doesn't suck up a ton of time at around 10 hours.

Blasphemous (Switch) - Beat / Dec. 23 - Solid as hell Metroidvania. Love the art design and combat. Doesn't follow the exact MV formula, as movement tech is barely required to beat the game, which is interesting.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: vivigamer on December 31, 2021, 05:33:37 pm
36. Sonic Colours Ultimate (Xbox One X) 31/12/2021
I never played the original Wii version so was quite keen to get this, my overall thoughts... it's okay. I think my biggest problem is the level design, it seems more focused on short bursts with different routes and replayablity - Normally I would like that but these levels feel SO short that I could barely settle into a level. The bosses were a joke, I beat the 1st one under 30 seconds without knowing I beat it :P

There are also some performance issues - most notably in the Aquatic Zone, which would often have stutters, the load screens/options menu would really struggle. I know this is an Xbox One X but it shouldn't struggle with a Wii game...

I did enjoy the story, it was very low key, and didn't feature the expansive sonic cast this time and that was a nice change. The writing was funny and while simple the story was enjoyable. I can't see myself playing to 100% completion because the strucure of the levels doedsn't entice me to rince and repeat them. I did enjoy it more towards the end though.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 31, 2021, 07:07:19 pm
51. WTF: Work Time Fun || PlayStation Portable || 12.31.21

Beginning my WTF: Work Time Fun playthrough with the expectations of gameplay similar to WarioWario titles, I was sorely mistaken. While comprising of dozens of bite-size minigames, WTF brings an all new meaning to its title while challenging the definition of "game."

With WTF's Japanese title Baito Hell 2000 being a play on the Japanese loan word "arubaito" meaning part-time job, the original title certainly translates the game's true intentions well.  Without much narrative, the player finds themselves in hell where they must take on various part-time jobs. In a sense, the main menu hub serves as a sort of job center, with demons at center-screen who seem to run the operation while making snide comments. By far and large, these jobs are menial in nature while some paying pennies upon success. Of the title's 40 jobs, some of the most boring and repetitive tasks are ones such as separating newborn chicks by sex, picking up golf balls, counting pedestrian traffic, and perhaps WTF's most infamous job that requires the player to place pen caps correctly on pens as they're being processed along a factory line. Of the 40 jobs, some are quickly understood to not be worth investing time in playing to accrue money. At the same time, it became obvious that the game's most boring jobs were the ones that paid the most. Funny how that works out, right? In regards to the pen-capping game, the counter at bottom-screen can count up to 10^36 total pens, which is mind-numbing, although it humorously shows how endless the player-character's eternity in hell is to be.

At the game's onset, only four jobs are available as a means to earn income. However, what exactly is money spent toward? Well, numerous gachapon machines with varying pricing are able to be used which mostly unlock collectable trinkets. While these trinkets serve no purpose, they do provide some incentive to keep playing, with around 500 to collect in total. On occasion, unlockable tools and jobs may also be dispensed. So, in order to have an array of jobs to cycle through to earn money and to avoid complete monotony, the player must begrudgingly work through some of the most awful ones early on. With that said, I am not suggesting that all jobs to be unlocked are great, because that is almost objectively not true. Of the 40 jobs, only a fraction are decent with only a handful providing a somewhat worthwhile experience with only one, in my opinion, being fun. The job I'm referring to is one titled Buddha's Quest, which really is a sort of minigame unlike many others. In brief, it is akin to early first-person dungeon crawlers although it only focuses on the battle aspect and no exploration.

As I mentioned before, other items rewards such as tools may be collected from gachapon machines. I never actually took the time to try them out, but they largely serve one purpose and are practical in nature. Two in particular stand out to me in being funny, which are the ramen timer and restaurant bill splitter. I can only imagine someone in 2006 while out dining pulling out their PSP so they can evenly split their bill. Aside from the unlockables, there are other aspects to WTF accessible through network settings (I think) that I unfortunately did not invest time into setting up as I've had the game running throughout my entire playthrough. Nevertheless, these aspects are a sort of achievement system in addition to in an-game email network. Looking back, both of these features probably would have added some additional depth and the feeling of being rewarded to some degree, so I do feel a little disappointed about it.

Needless to say, WTF is not something I can seriously suggest people trying. When I understood what the game's true intentions were, I already felt obligated to keep on playing as I wanted to see just how much of it I could endure. And, with that said, I am still going to be playing the game off-and-on as I have been over these last few months. Despite WTF perhaps being the best candidate for what an anti-game could be in every sense of its identity, I still oddly had an interesting time playing. However, I am still surprised that WTF released outside of Japan and was even a first-party developed and published title.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: dhaabi on December 31, 2021, 09:12:30 pm
52. Burnout 3: Takedown || PlayStation 2 || 12.31.21

As someone who has little history playing racing games, I still have often thought back to when I first played Burnout 3: Takedown over 15 years ago when I rented it over a holiday break. After all this time, I finally revisited the title and am so glad my fond memories were as enjoyable as I had remembered.

Unlike traditional racing games, Burnout 3 offers a more arcade-like experience to players as the game is heavily centered around crashing into opponents and the environment to secure victory. In fact, the game is split between two main gameplay modes, being racing and crashing, although crashing-type races are certainly to be found within the former as well. That being said, Burnout 3 offers a great variety of content that never leaves a player feeling worn out from any repetitive nature. Over the course of its 173 events, it always seems as if the player can progress without playing the same kind of game mode twice in a row. Aside from traditional races, modes such as road rage task the player to succeed in crashing into as many opponents as possible while maintaining your own vehicle while eliminator forces you to never be in last place over a six lap race are some of the variety within the game's offerings.

With a focus on close encounters and destruction, Burnout 3 provides an immense rush to players, whether they're completely demolishing opponents or struggling to catch the lead. In that regard, I found my constant true opponent to be the environment itself as opposed to any other racer. As a game that is dependent on a risk and reward payoff, it's crucial to squeeze into tight spots, turn hazardously, reach dangerous speeds, and drive close to non-racing vehicles that can easily wreck your own. Over time with more and more accidents to be expected, vehicles become tarnished while falling into pieces, but taking these risks are the fundamentals to success.

Aside from racing, a game mode wholly centered around crashing is available. Easily, this is my favorite aspect to Burnout 3, as even a player like myself who struggles with some races can win while finding immense enjoyment to the damage being created. During these courses, the player must travel along a short distance path and purposely crash into parked vehicles and moving traffic with the goal to reach a certain damage expenses quota. In this game mode, a degree of strategy becomes necessary, as understanding where to make the first crash impact becomes the crux of the outcome. With numerous vehicles available throughout this mode, these races may require a basic sports vehicle or something much more powerful like a fire truck.

Of the 173 available events, I've been able to unlock 161, with 146 of those having earned gold. As this point, I'm barred from progressing further only due to my skill level, as I've only left to unlock additional races while all 100 crash events have been completed by earning gold. As the game progresses, difficulty certainly ramps up and provides an ideal challenge while maintaining player interest. Overall, Burnout 3 offers a fun experience with an abundance of modes to please even those who typically avoid the racing genre.
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: bikingjahuty on January 01, 2022, 12:29:01 am
55. Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore (PS2)

Well looks like I might pad my games beat numbers a little more before it hits midnight for me in less than 2-hours lol


I LOVED DOA2 back in the Dreamcast days. I used to rent it pretty often before finally buying a disc only ex-rental copy of it eventually. Beyond the busty, bouncy female characters you can play as which umm, really appealed to me as a 13-year old boy, DOA2 was just just a fun, good looking game. This was true of its enhanced port to the PS2 DOA2: Hardcore. Essentially Hardcore is the same game albeit with more unlockables, modes, characters, and other goodies you get rewarded with for playing the game. This was the version I played the most given a) it was one of the first PS2 games I bought when I first got the console, and b) it had more of the fan service I enjoyed about the original on the Dreamcast. Essentially unlocking everything through all the modes was an addictive experience for me, especially stuff like CG mode and the extended endings. That was how I felt about it back in 2000/2001 at least. While I still like Hardcore's plethora of unlockables, they just don't appeal to me as a much less hormonal 34-year old man as they did pre-internet 13-year old boy. Still, the gameplay is fun and exciting, especially with the games counter system. But what really steals the show in DOA2 are its graphics and audio. DOA2 is probably the best looking fighting game for its time and one of the best looking games period in the late 90s and early 2000s. Everything from the very detailed characters, to environmental effects like wind and water splashing, to the destructible stage elements, this game is pure eye candy. As mentioned, its audio is also great with some excellent tracks and enjoyable voice acting too. I'm very happy I went back and played this one and it's certainly still an appealing game to me, albeit for slightly different reasons than it was over 20 years ago. (12/31/21) [37/50]
Title: Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
Post by: NickAwesome on January 04, 2022, 10:09:19 pm
I was able to beat 29 games in 2021. That's a lot more than usual. Hoping I can keep it up next year and beat more retro games too.


1.Bugsnax 1/1/21
2.Last of Us Part II 1/5/2021
3.Mafia Definitive Edition 1/6/21
4. 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim 1/12/21
5. Katamari Damacy Reroll 1/12/21
6. Transistor 1/15/21
7. Days Gone 1/20/21
8. Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition 1/23/21
9. The Pathless 1/25/21
10. Detroit Become Human 1/25/21
11. Infamous First Light 1/26/21
12. Rise of the Tomb Raider 1/30/21
13. Ori and the Blind Forest 2/5/21
14. Ys IX Monstrum Nox 2/20/21
15. SMT Nocturne 7/27/21
16. Scarlet Nexus 9/24/21
17. Demon's Souls 9/25/21
18. Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart
19. Lost Judgment 10/28/21
20. Deathloop 11/5/21
21. Artful Escape 11/9/21
22. Psychonauts 11/16/21
23. It Takes Two 11/18/21
24. Morkredd 11/18/21
25. Boyfriend Dungeon 11/19/21
26. GTASA Definitive Edition 11/26/21
27. Psychonauts 2 11/29/21
28. Returnal 12/4/21
29. The Gunk 12/31/21