Board 8 > The Great 2018 Video Game Challenge (Topic Two)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hah, almost forgot about that comment, this is why you don't engage with Corricks.

And damn do I want that account name.

9. Beat a remake or enhanced port
Yakuza Kiwami

Just got into the series and I'm hooked. Going for the plat next

13/50
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17. Beat a first-person shooter

DOOM (2016)

37/50
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17. Beat a first-person shooter
BioShock 2

46. Beat a game that features historical events or people
BioShock Infinite
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18. Beat a third-person shooter

Jet Force Gemini

I definitely didn't spend the last third of the playthrough getting destroyed by the final boss, nope.
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43. Beat another user's favorite game

Muv-Luv Alternative

It's definitely up there with Steins;Gate as one of the best VNs I've read, though it does require a full playthrough through both Extra and Unlimited to get the full effect.

27/50
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21. Beat a strategy game
Plants vs. Zombies

18/50
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Storyboarding was being annoying, so started a cover-ish page instead.
<img src="http://img.imgcake.com/RoboBen/comcov1jpgup.jpg" alt="external image"/>

1. Beat a game released before 1990

Contra

There are a bunch of Contra games I like better than the original now, but it's still such a fantastic game for its time. Still don't like the camera behind the back sections, though.

48/50
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33. Beat a game with a robot/artificial lead

Detroit: Become Human

All lead categories finished

Female - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Child - RiME
Non-White - Virginia
Robot - Detroit: Become Human
Animal - Hollow Knight
Fictional Species - Cuphead
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also changing Jazzpunk to 48. Beat a game that starts with the first letter of your username because I'm probably not gonna have another chance at that this year
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28. Beat a game with the supernatural as a central theme
Thimbleweed Park

19/50
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By middle I mean the direct stretch from the 1-hour special through Kefla.

Kefla arc is the highlight of the whole series. As tired as I've been on the overuse of Goku for most of the ToP, it was nice seeing actual personality come out through that fight which let me enjoy the whole set, and then the last episode capped it off with animation bliss.

Cauli best character
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13. Beat a WRPG

Fallout 3

Surprised I still had a ton of fun playing this. It's one of the few games I got every achievement on and I still had a blast with it.
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8. Beat a spin-off or a game that rebooted a franchise

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

I feel like this had a real potential to be a fun cult classic. There's definitely some fun stuff about it, I found the concept to be fun in super edgy way. The gameplay worked pretty well too. As far as the story goes I thought Shelke was pretty cool and the new villains were okay, nothing bad, but they're nothing close to the main series villains. Overall the plot was a bit messy though, the first half was interesting with the sort of war. I also liked Vincent struggling with his inner demon. What I didnt like was the overconvulted mess that was the final act of the game. I honestly stopped caring at a certain point.

My only other big complaint was the bosses. They were nothing but bullet sponges, like the fact that most bosses have shops in them to restock is a huge problem to me.

Anyway definitely in contention for my least favorite game of the challenge, but I need to take some time to think on it.
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Oh hey I finally beat another video game:

40. Finish a game that took you at least twenty-five hours to beat

Spider-Man

I'm not even sure what I can say about this one. It'd be hard to rank it, but I can safely say that this is one of the best games I've ever played.

36/50
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23. Beat a sports game

Pyre

One of the most promising beginning few hours of a game I've ever played. Unfortunately, the gameplay never really evolved, and the plot never lived up to the amazing world-building. I still enjoyed playing it to the end, but what I thought might end up being one of my favorites ever ended up being merely good instead.

49/50
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14. Beat a JRPG
Persona 4 Golden
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32. Beat a game with a non-white lead

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

38/50
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This topic needs more pictures in general!

9. Beat a remake or enhanced port

Deemo: The Last Recital

28/50
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Wouldn't that mean X-Men goes back to Marvel?

6. Beat a game in a completely new series
What Remains of Edith Finch

20/50
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48. Beat a game that starts with the first letter of your username

Banjo-Tooie

I feel like Tooie isnt as revered as Kazooie and to be honest I dont really get why. While I wouldn't say it was a good as Kazooie I do think it definitely expanded upon Kazooie's smaller scope. I think the biggest upgrade was in the world building, not only does the hub world feel alive due to more cutscene and plot, but I loved that all the worlds were interconnected and it actually made me feel like I was playing in a real world.

Sure I think some of the gameplay became unnecessarily tedious especially in later levels. With level exploration limited by split up pads and specific transformations. It felt very frustrating to be exploring a level then hit a brick wall, because you didnt choose to split up first, or because Mumbo didnt use a spell yet.

Regardless I do think Rare was onto something amazing, if Banjo-Threeie had actually come out, I think they could have taken the best part of both games ironed out the flaws and could've made the definitive 3D platformer, it's a shame we'll like never see it as a Banjo game. But who knows maybe Playtonic will pull off a great sequel to Yooka-Laylee
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10. Beat a game made by a director/composer/artist/etc that you like

Touhou 16.5: Violet Detector

This was a horrible pain train from start to finish and I'll be glad to never play it again, it was fun sometimes though.
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Fuck you you're going to make me keep this topic alive until I see it aren't you?

Just keep quiet and do your job, bump bot.
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31. Beat a game with a child lead

The Walking Dead: Season 2

R.I.P. Telltale
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45. Beat a game that's been adapted into another medium
Detective Pikachu
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43. Beat another user's favorite game

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
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yay im crazy again

kateee would never say something suggestive like that
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43. Beat another user's favorite game
Spyro the Dragon
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21. Beat a strategy game
Into the Breach
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18. Beat a third-person shooter

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Wasn't really feeling like playing Vanquish (or any Third Person Shooter, really.), so I just picked the shortest game I could find. It certainly fit the bill. One day I'll get to the actual MGS5 (although probably not until I get to MGS4)

50/50

Started a second just list for fun (although the first list was just for fun, too. Just for extra fun?)

5. Beat a game released in 2018

428 Shibuya Scramble (Very good. Dunno if I'd call it one of my favorite VNs, but it isn't too far off.)

15. Beat a puzzle game

Reigns (Extremely simple, but enjoyable enough)

22. Beat a fighting game

One Strike (Like Divekick, but a lot worse. Was worth the 18 cents I paid for it, though!)

29. Beat a game with comedy as a central theme

Warioware Gold (Yep, Warioware is still fun. Unfotunately the touch screen on my 3DS is inaccurate, so 1/3 of the game isn't nearly as enjoyable as it should be)

47. Play a game that's technically unbeatable for at least six hours

One Piece Treasure Cruise (I stopped playing this, but I certainly played it for more than six hours before I did.)

5/50
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27. Beat a game with mystery as a central theme
The Sexy Brutale

11. Beat a game made by a developer you like
Tacoma
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Salty right now. I "beat" Shadow Of The Tomb Raider but the game froze during the ending. Combined with flat out not getting the reward for beating a side mission I think I'll wait for the next patch before giving it another go.
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3. Beat a game released between 2000-2009

Metroid Fusion

It got ridiculously hand-holdy a few times but other than that I enjoyed the gameplay and writing.

It had way more out-of-the-way items than I expected from how linear it was, I only got half of them.

20/50
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5. Beat a game released in 2018
Warhammer: Vermintide II
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yeh looks like Locke's out

Gonna move some stuff around

40. Finish a game that took you at least twenty-five hours to beat
Cuphead

My Xbox says I played 31 hours, and while I definitely played some after beating it. I do think I sunk at least 25 into beating it with how freaking hard it is.

35. Beat a game with a lead that's from a fictional species
Unravel Two

Then add

19. Beat a platformer
Sonic Generations
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21. Beat a strategy game

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)

Fun X-COM lite game. It did get a bit repetitive at the end, but it was a cool experience overall.

37/50
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blame the internet!

23. Beat a sports game

Golf Story

probably the only year I'll beat this category
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29. Beat a game with comedy as a central theme

Portal: Still Alive

So when I beat Pokemon Stadium I figured beating the Gym Leader Castle was beating the game, but I've come to realize you can fight Mewtwo after clearing all the cups. So I dont feel comfortable saying its beaten and removing it from my list.
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Moved Final Fantasy X to 37. Backlog

14. Beat a JRPG

Dragon Quest XI

- Holy hell. First off, congrats KCF and ArkOfTurus! Wish I kept up my pace in the first half of the year so I could second list with ya, Ark (39/52 in July, three months later it's 43/52).

Dragon Quest XI is an amazing game with a rich story and fun as hell sidestuff. If I didn't spend 60% of my time forging endlessly, fighting over and over for rare loot, and actually pushing forward with the actual game - for purposes of this list - I'd likely have finished... two weeks ago? 176 hours logged. That's not necessary, especially with this challenge happening and a large desire to play again with the challenges turned on.

However, it was totally worth it. I'm screaming at myself to go and finish some other games, but all I want to do is play the post-game content and enjoy this comfy but brilliant RPG. Highly recommended, especially for any fans of the series.

I also need to quit playing HotS for a bit. Those hours are eating up time playing other games. I don't have the ten-week cushion I had like back in July.
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Move Ringside Hero to 22. Fighting.

23. Beat a sports game

Mario Superstar Baseball

- Wish I had my old save cartridge nearby to load up the file on the hardest difficulty with at least 70% of the stars gotten, but alas. Beat it on Easy, didn't even really dilly around for stars and characters gets, just go in and take out Bowser and win.

If I did have a cartridge with some save space available, I may have gone searching for Home Run King from 2003 and tried for the full 162 game season. I fondly remember getting to about July once and Troy Clark of all people was my best player with a batting average around .650.
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26. Beat a game with revenge as a central theme

Doki Doki Literature Club

- Third game of the day! I meant to finish it quite some time ago, but didn't get around to it. Load it up, and like West of Loathing, was a lot closer to the very end than I had realized. Loaded in, Monika was deleted, and the endgame scenes happened until final deletion. First got onto Doki Doki from watching a Twitch streamer narrating it as it happened, and now want to watch her stuff again.

10. Beat a game made by a director/composer/artist/etc that you like

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

- Summer sale purchase for two reasons: fun RPG with fishing minigame & Joe Madrueira. I grew up in the 90s, and I was into comics at exactly the time Joey Mad was drawing Uncanny X-Men. I still remember his drawings super fondly. I love his cartoonishly exaggerated slightly Anime-ish bodies especially with the advent of digital coloring and the bright flashy colors of the X-Men, and just remember lots of his things as some of my definitive X-Men looks. I still wish there was more short hair Storm with the two long white bangs and her purple uniform. I want more Joseph and Rogue and Gambit. He made noseless Wolverine actually cool kind of.

But about the game, it was a lot of fun. There's a cool amount of strategy in combat and who you bring to fights, and plenty of puzzles in dungeons and out that actually require pen and paper to keep track of which is fun. The rewards for doing sidestuff are excellent, and the characters have a great camaraderie. Also, fishing is so much fun. I didn't need to do it, but I spent too much time fishing instead of advancing the plot which is a problem I have (as seen with Dragon Quest XI with forging and bestiary and equipment book). I'm glad I've put it off for a few months or else I'd still be running around collecting everything when the end came rather quickly.

I will say this as a mark against it. End of game spoilers: As difficult as the final boss wanted to be if I weren't max level with way too many perk points, I was disappointed with the final dungeon literally being a long hallway, a boss battle, end credits, and a future game tease with the real final boss I was expecting to fight right after.

Maybe I got spoiled by DQXI SPOILERS Mordegon's gauntlet.

Four games down, one day, six spots left to fill.
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I should check to see how close I would be if I did a second list. According to the posting topic Google doc, I do have 101 games beaten on the year (in my defense, like 80% were sub-10 hours and many that went over were mostly or partially finished in 2017).

However, I know that it is a big struggle for me to have the desire to start and finish time-consuming games, so I would probably have to intentionally go for the 25+ hour or skip it outright and go for genres I seldom play like fighting and rhythm.
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34. Beat a game with an animal lead

Pyre

Wow, fantastic game. I remember Giant Bomb talked about it last year, and the idea of Supergiant Games + sports ball definitely piqued my interest. I finally got around to it and was blown away. The sports style gameplay was right up my alley and a bunch of fun, and the other parts of the game were equally as good. I came away from it wanting more, which doesn't happen very often.

The game also had standings and teams and stats, which as a sports fanatic, was everything I didn't know I wanted. Give me more of this type of genre.

38/50
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