Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2020 Edition Part II

(+) Yeah! (+)

Kentucky Route Zero (PC)

I really liked the beginning of the game. The atmosphere, the characters, the exploration, and the melancholy. Around the end of Act III and beginning of Act IV though my enjoyment took a deep dive.

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Fire Emblem (GBA)

Yes, as in Blazing Blade as the localization is named. I wanted to try a mounted unit only run, it was fun. I'll keep messing with these sorts of challenge runs for the games I've beaten, and then at some point try to beat the games I've played but haven't beaten. But those won't be posted this year.

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ViolentAbacus posted...

Kentucky Route Zero (PC)

I really liked the beginning of the game. The atmosphere, the characters, the exploration, and the melancholy. Around the end of Act III and beginning of Act IV though my enjoyment took a deep dive.

Was it because of how that trucker was slowly being moved into the sidelines? I'm also playing it and was wondering because I'm in the middle of Act III and I'm 50/50 on this now

Also do you have the edition with all the middle stuff in between episodes

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Manifold Garden (PC)

Antichamber's distant cousin. Very beautiful. Puzzle-wise, if it was just all those cube puzzles, it would get boring and tedious fast. Honestly reminded me of the sour taste The Turing Test gave me, offering a "story" as something to motivate you through mundane looking puzzles. Instead here, the motivation is through the bottomless mandala rooms that are more aesthetic than environmental tbh. I always wanted to see what beautiful thing was gonna happen. The progression and the challenges felt right and despite the vastness of it, I was able to know where to go next easily...

...which is why to my utter surprise, I was taken aback when I was told that there were actually secret paths in this game. Hidden in the endless environments were doors that required backtracking and masterful knowledge of mechanics you would be encountering ahead of time. The knowledge of this 2nd path and its possible shortcuts amazes me which I'm not even going to try. The current puzzles were mindfuck enough for me. Never resorted to guides like some infamously hard games like Talos Principle, but this was more of difficulty understanding spatial structure that required me to step back and muddle over it a bit.

Minor gripe, a little annoying that when idle calming zen music starts to play only to disappear when you're moving again, letting you act in silence. Ugh. Luckily I didn't have to do this alot and the game flowed really smooth right up until the drug-induced ending.

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Simoun posted...

Was it because of how that trucker was slowly being moved into the sidelines? I'm also playing it and was wondering because I'm in the middle of Act III and I'm 50/50 on this now

Also do you have the edition with all the middle stuff in between episodes

Pretty much yeah. As it became less about Conway's journey I sort of lost interest. It was also a very peculiar direction to take him, especially after all my previous conversations. Plus things in Act 4 and 5 I didn't care a whole lot for.

Yeah, I had all of the interludes. It was the version on GOG.

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Highpoint of Kentucky Route Zero will forever be the song though, I can forgive pretty much all of its faults for that moment.

Pool Nation FX (XBO)

I enjoyed my time with it, but was also happy to be done with it near the end. It's got your typical sports games bullshit that just drove me insane. I also didn't know anything about pool before starting so I put it on easy. Seeing as how I struggled at times, I wonder if that was for the best or if would have gotten more enjoyment out of it if wins felt more rewarding. Ah well.

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The Blind Prophet (PC)

Regardless of whether or not its a good pt-click, the art is great. Honestly, I'd read this if it were actually a graphic novel. It was ambitious for what it was---the kickstarter raised a total of 15,000 usd. It sort of petered out by the end there, but the ending was adequate. I hope they get to do a sequel sometime. It's so weird playing another indie game with a priest protagonist this year. The Apostle kinda acts and sounds like the Witcher.

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Cooking Mama: Cookstar (Switch)

I bought it for the bitcoin miner potential. It's just your stereotypical Cooking Mama game.

Salad Bar Tycoon (Switch)

Yes. I played another food tycoon game.
Yes. I had fun with it.
And if another one is made down the road, will I buy it?
...
Yes.

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Doom Eternal (PC)

Overall I really enjoyed this one, maybe more than Doom (2016)? The game was overall a lot more difficult and it felt like it threw a ton at you, but you also felt a ton more mobile and had a lot more options. My biggest complaint was the length of the levels. Some went on entirely too long (like 90+ minutes).

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Kentucky Route Zero (PC)

I distinctly remember ICON telling me years ago that he was certain that I would love this game. He was wrong.
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Beyond Good & Evil HD (PS3)

So recently I made an inventory of my backlog in a word file and I had so many games left to beat. I categorised them in green (definitely want to play), yellow (might still play but not sure) and red (practically no interest in anymore). This one I put on the green list, so I decided to finally play it.

Yeah, I don't know how well I feel it holds up today. Controls were a bit awkward sometimes and especially the camera was just plain bad (could just be this version, I don't know). Story and characters are good and fun, but underdeveloped. Gameplay tries a lot of things, but never really expands upon what it introduces (combat, puzzles, stealth and vehicle control all kind of stagnate at some point). Stealth sections were really annoying sometimes. Still, I did enjoy a lot of it. I guess it's more than the sum of its parts, but even then, I feel like this game was definitely a game for 2003 more than it is a real timeless classic. For the 3 euros I paid for it, great investment though!

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Gears of War 4 (XB1)

It's kind of tame, especially in scope, compared to earlier entries, but it definitely had some high-octane unique segments and tense fights. I can just never get into its multiplayer though, at least the standard stuff. Maybe I should try Horde.
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Jettomero (PS4)

It's repetitive and shallow, but I can't help but have fun going around galaxies/solar systems/whatever trying to "save humanity" with this dopey robot that I gave a potbelly, chainsaws for arms, high heels, and a pumpkin head.
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The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC)

Thank you for opening my eyes on the uselessness of books
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Grim Fandango (PC)

I would like to make the comment that Manny is an idiot for literally waiting in the second town for a year for a girl walking alone in a deadly forest. That is all.

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Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (PS4)

A trip through memory lane for those who played the other games... but not me, who did not. Instead I played this because of its similarity to Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call, my favorite 3DS game. It certainly did not disappoint on that front, and I enjoyed going through the entirety of the storyline. Collected half of the trophies doing that, and I will definitely go for the platinum later on.

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Shantae and the Seven Sirens (PC)

Was decent. Standard Shantae quality. Felt more like a Metroidvania this time around which is a good thing. Suffers a lot from long load times between big areas (something like 15 seconds) which doesn't sound like a lot on paper, but when you consider that this is just a 2D platformer, meant to be beaten fast and jump a lot from location to location, those loading times are painful and easily take off 2 points from the final score

Beat it 100% (and all cards) but did not go for all achievements. Can't be bothered with New Game Plus or speedruns

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A Short Hike (PC)
A cute game. I was worried at first that my poor sense of direction would make it difficult to handle but you can continuously find new stuff just by wandering. So I got to the end, which isn't clearly marked but does seem like an end. Incidentally the mechanics and the fact that you're climbing a mountain remind me of Celeste, but the similarities are limited.

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Rex: Another Island (PC)

A thoroughly solid open-world platformer. The only thing missing was a map.
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Death Come True (PS4)

A short live-action adventure game written by the Danganronpa author, and definitely shares some similar themes as those games. it's around only two to three hours long even when getting all the trophies. I also watched all of the behind the scenes footage that they included which had some pretty funny scenes in it.

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Mighty Gunvolt (PC)

For me, the game is mostly known as "the game people praised that it was ironic how a cheap/free short spinoff game is better than the game it was trying to promote"
For years I thought it was because this game is actually good and people wanted to praise it. Sadly, it's not. Those people were just mocking Mighty No 9. And I am sad to say that although Mighty No 9 was not a good game, this game is fucking garbage and even worse than it in every way.

Levels are generic and simple. Even levels with gimmicks are barely utilized. Enemy variety is low. No powerups or things to collect. Every character has a special attack and none of them worth using. At least the bosses were good (feels like this is Inti Creates best department)

The DLC stages are a bit better but still mediocre
And they have 2 of the hardest and most bullshit boss fights I have seen recently. And no way to make those fights easier (no special weapons, sub tanks and the like) so it's pretty much just "git gud" but it feels like more bullshit than skill

I also had some weird bug that my keyboard is getting randomally frozen and I have to unplug it and connect again. Happened like 30 times in those 5 hours I played. so that added even more for my hatred towards this game

So overall I did not enjoy this. Completed all 9 levels with all 3 characters but suffered almost every minute in it. 2/10 game at best

I just hope Burst is better

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Ratchet: Gladiator HD (PS3)

Or "Deadlocked", if you will. Going through my PS3 backlog and that's another game beaten. Surprisingly, still super fun to play despite being entirely combat-focused. Still probably my least favorite because I still prefer the main games, and this one does get a little repetitive, but R&C's super smooth controls + the awesome weapons make any game fun. Single player was surprisingly long and meaty considering the kind of game it is and I love how you can just adjust the difficulty as you like, so anyone can get enjoyment out of it.

Next up might be Rayman Origins. Not sure yet.

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13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4)

Also got the platinum (very easy since it's almost a VN)

Very good game!

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Hypnospace Outlaw (XB1)

It was really cool to mess around in, but the second half of the game was disappointingly rough.
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Coffee Talk (XB1)

In some regards, I like this more than VA-11 HALL-A. It has excellent pacing, the drink preparation is much more fun, and having virtually every character interact with one another enhances the macro and micro plotlines. While it took me weeks, maybe even months to finish VA-11 HALL-A, I finished this within three days.
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Mighty Gunvolt Burst (PC)

Nanis23 posted...

I just hope Burst is better

Holy shit
Worlds can't describe just how much better MGB is. Like, years apart. This game is great!
They improved the level design by a lot. Enemy variety exists, bossess are still good, there are now collectibles and character customization. It's really really fun!
I went for the achievements only, there are 6 more DLC characters and in order to really 100% this game it would require having a 100% save file with each of them, and each playthrough requires you to replay a stage at least 3 times...so as much as I liked this game, enough is enough!

I recommend it. Not many people played this and I can tell by the lack of discussion/videoes on the Internet. This is a hidden gem and if you want some more Mega Man type game, this is as good as it gets

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Xeno Crisis (XB1)

It took me four runs, including one where they just killed me without allowing me to fight the final boss for whatever reason. I also had no idea that the default difficulty was on hard. Anyway, this is a cool retro-based arena shooter that was fun to play for the day.
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Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (Switch)

Beat Arcade Mode with Evil Ryu.
So yeah...same ol' Super Turbo with simpler inputs (kids today won't know what a true Tiger Knee motion is like) along with the addition of Evil Ryu and Violent Ken added into the game. Both of those characters are nuts.

With Evil Ryu, Medium Hurricane Kick > Medium Hurricane Kick > Dragon Punch feels outright illegal.

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Slay the Spire (PC)

I beat it for the first time with the Ironclad. It's an alright game, not a huge fan of rogue-like games where your progress resets, but it goes by pretty quick and I'm a sucker for card games.

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Monster World IV (360)

Man, I can't imagine playing this without save states because the spacing between save spots and health machines is awful. Anyway, I was going through some of the older Monster World games, and none held my interest for long except this one. Pretty neat for its time, though it could stand to shorten its dungeons a bit.
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Poi: Explorer's Edition (Switch)

Overall it was an okay platformer. The final boss added a random new mechanic that you never once used the rest of the game which was weird. Actually, the bosses were definitely the weakest part overall.

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Outer Wilds (XB1)

I started playing this on May 30th, 2019, or at least I think that is the day it landed on Game Pass. There were time where I got heavily into it made great progress filling out the the ship log. There were also times where I just had no idea where to go to move things forward. There was also a stretch or two of 3-5 months where I didn't pick up the game at all. At one point, I hit a wall that I had assumed I would never get past (avoiding all those angler fish on Dark Bramble when going down the rabbit hole following the distress signal). Just a few days ago, I tried again, and somehow things worked out. This prompted me to give it a final push to finish the game, and I just accomplished that. There are a few things that I thought could be alterted, implemented, or left out entirely that I think would make it a better experience, but it definitely is a rewarding one.
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@KCF0107 i was just thinking of buying this for PS4 last night. Maybe Ill wait and see if it makes it to PSNow.

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I'm not familiar with PS Now, but does Sony have a close relationship with Mobius Digital or Annapurna Interactive to where the odds are good it will show up there?
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Yeah, a few Annapurna games are on there. I have a $20 credit burning a hole in my pocket, but lll probably try to wait.

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Oniken (Switch)

This game is awesome. It's modeled after the 8-Bit games from the NES era. It was styled after the likes of Ninja Gaiden, Strider, Shatterhand, Kabuki Quantum Fighter, Vice: Project Doom with a touch of Contra.

You are Zaku (who looks to be inspired by Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star), a legendary mercenary ninja with an unknown past who joins up with a resistance to put a stop to the Oniken.

The game controls really good and the game does it's job well with it's overall presentation with some cool looking cutscenes that gives off the Ninja Gaiden vibes.

You run, jump, hack n' slash, toss grenades (very useful sub weapn!) climb bars/pipes, ride vehicles while shooting. You also have a mechanic where you can power up your sword for more damage/range and should you choose to, you can use a temporary berzerk state for temporary invincibility that also powers you up. You'll revert back to your normal sword if you decide to do it. It's usually worth to go in the berzerk state provide you don't get hit in the first place when you get the sword power up.

Game is a little on the short side and it can be challenging in some parts but very satisfying when you pass them. It has some nice unlockable extras after you beat the game. The game was so good I had an urge to play it again.

I recommend it!

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Oh, you are probably referring to The Unfinished Swan and the thatgamecompany titles. Sony used to fund the latter before that went independent while I believe Sony paid for exclusivity for the former.
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Sakura Wars (PS4)

I wasn't entirely sure I would like the reboot due to the strategy RPG battles being replaced with action-based musou combat, but it ended up not really being a big deal - though the combat was pretty much fully developed at the very beginning and by the end the battle system had already bored me. The character development and interaction is what the series is known for, and that definitely shines here. Plot is pretty much a basic shonen anime, and it isn't trying to hide it at all. Overall, I think it's a solid title, but there are better ones out there. It's certainly better than the other Sakura Wars title we got over here, at least!

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KCF0107 posted...

Oh, you are probably referring to The Unfinished Swan and the thatgamecompany titles. Sony used to fund the latter before that went independent while I believe Sony paid for exclusivity for the former.

Ah, gotcha. Yes thats exactly to what I was referring!

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Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered (PS5)

I liked it! It reminded me of Arkham City except actually good. The combat (and particularly the combat-heavy side objectives) really started to wear on me as the game went on, though in fairness I was trying to do all of them. I also found it impossible to care about almost the entire second act, and I was completely done with the stealth sections by act 3. I guess it's a good thing if most of my biggest complaints with a game are "there was too much of this thing I liked initially" though.

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New Super Lucky's Tale (XB1)

I'm trying to think of all the games that I have gone through multiple times from what I guess is now last gen. I can only recall Ori and the Blind Forest, Minit, AER: Memories of Old, the Princess Remedy games, and...this. Five games that I hold in very high regard, and one that I think is serviceable. The main reason I wanted to go through it again is that the New version had all the DLC included, and I guess that all or most of the levels were altered. I also just learned that the original version did not have a fully rotatable camera. I only beat it last year, and I guess I totally forgot about that. This isn't exactly a memorable game, so I guess that it understandable.
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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Switch)
Nice! I hope there's more to do still, just not too much pure grinding.

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Metal gear solid 4 Guns of the Patriots

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Spyro the Dragon (PS4)

It loses a little charm from the original game, but this is a great remaster!
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Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

Another long time coming. Great game, a step harder than the rest of the series too, but beatable. Not sure if I'm gonna try all the temple levels, that's a bit too much of trial and error gameplay I guess.

Blaster Master Zero (PC)
Hmm it's ok
I don't really have anything bad to say about, it's just average.
There are DLC characters to buy like Shantae and Shovel Knight but that means playing the game again and I don't really want to
Also one achievement requires playing it in hard mode so I won't bother..and the other one I miss is a boss rush and I beat all of it besides one boss that I tried for an hour and it's impossible so I give up

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New Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One | Gamepass)

Overall it was pretty decent, though a tad too easy. I still need to do the post-game world. Liked how it blended the different styles of platformers together with the different levels.

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Red Faction: Armageddon + Path to War DLC (PC)

And with this I'm done with the franchise. I know, it will never beat Guerilla. But Guerilla from experience was overrated. The sandbox was good for what it is but the game itself was stupid. Does that make this one better? Eh, so-so. It was clearly trying to cash in on Gears of War which would have been popular at the time. It's a shame though as it wasn't sophisticated enough to have a more mature plot. Probably the most annoying thing is that the protagonist has a nano repair thing and absolutely nobody bats an eyelash vying for it, much less that it could've solved the problem of the first level ages ago.

The physics from Guerilla are here as well and its still fun but nowhere near as fun as the last one.

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Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4) + Platinum
Weird abrupt overhaul to the series formula just as they were about to change whole genres and main characters with 7. The combat isn't exactly bad, and I actually bothered to get 100%.

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