Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2021 Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

Serious Sam 4 (PC)

I knew this game was in the making but I didn't expect it to come out so soon. I guess it has been awhile. SS4 is basically a more polished SS3; that is, it takes the modern shooter and gives it that retro shine. It fixes all the complaints from the terrible transition to modern the last game did, but also added quite alot and unlike the direction Doom Eternal went, the changes here served to make things a little more arcadey if not upbeat. Having played this, I don't think I can go back to Second Encounter. It was fun mowing hoards in the 2000s, but this has a bit more style going to it.

SS4 brings alot to the table and I was surprised my machine could handle literal hoards of enemies. I don't know how they did it, because Warriors Orochi 4 was impossible to run on my end and yet in this game thousands upon thousands of High-Quality mooks were popping up very smooth and that's not even including all the gibs and explosions. There was even 2 maps set in the French Countryside that had you driving around vast environments with an equally vast number of enemies to destroy. I always thought to myself playing The Talos Principle, wouldn't it be great if Serious Sam had these graphics and NOT set itself in Egypt all the time? This is that dream come true!

I can't believe the game has 15 levels. Like I swear I was only playing 8-10 of them. Now I want more. They just *have* to release a map editor/custom levels/workshop. It would make this game last longer just as Second Encounter did in the 2000s. I also like the fact that its set before SS3, aka when humanity was still present. You actually get to talk to people in this game and though they have shallow personalities and tired jokes, this isn't really a serious game ironically so thats fine. And finally being a prequel's prequel, you actually do get to win the war this time. Without knowing humanity's fate in the end, you know this game has you setback Mental's forces.

A couple of things though: Most of the secrets require some really good acrobatics which would be fine if the physics weren't so jank. And even at that, you'll usually just find the health (and later revival) gadget which is great but there are like 5+ gadgets in the game and they're all very cool; something this shooter sorely needed was options! Why couldn't gadgets be a common (but rare/paced) drop. You got a Black Hole, a thingie that slows down time and makes you faster, Rage Juice, Drone Helpers...and none of those come into play in the final act. Seriously.

Definitely a fun run and gunner and in 2021 of all things. Better with friends!

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Super Mario 3D World (Switch)

The last time I played this was on the Wii U and it was worth getting again.

Online multiplayer with more than 4 players is sadly not that good. I tried to play with 3 players and we all live in the same region. It was unplayable with the lag spikes.

2 players online on the other hand was acceptable but far from perfect.

Maybe in the next 20 or so years Nintendo will get online right.

Online aside, still a great game to play. One of the best Mario games around.

Bowser's Fury (Switch)

Fury Bowser coming into play was very 50/50. It was fun avoiding him and having to fight him but there were times
where it was a bit much and an inconvenience for when he did happen to appear when you're trying to go for some Cat Shines but I guess that's ok given how it was designed.
It was still fun with the whole open world thing and very much worth the time to play it.


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Blaster Master Zero (Steam) 3/10/21

Fun 2D oldschool game. Under 6 hours, perfect length for me.
Says I saw the normal ending. It's also weird how 33% beat the last boss but only 22% saw the normal ending. Guess they didn't stay the credits?


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Kenri posted...

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (via Spyro Reignited Trilogy, PS4)

So this game sucks. Spyro 1 felt awesome and timeless. This feels like something made a decade later by a lesser team that fails to understand why the original was good. I kind of can't believe this was the direct, immediate sequel to Spyro 1. I'd rather play Spyro on the GBA!

Also, not really a knock on its quality but even as someone who likes (prefers, maybe) all-ages games, this just felt like a kid's game. Between the slapstick "humor" and the dumbass NPCs it was almost embarrassing to play.

I was planning to 100% this whole trilogy but I'm definitely not 100%ing this game. I think I could tolerate getting all gems/orbs and all achievements, but the skill points are too much for a game I don't like. We'll see how Spyro 3 is, whenever I decide to get to it. Sorry if I'm bashing anyone's favorite game here!

I couldn't disagree more, I thought Spyro 2 was a huge improvement over Spyro 1, having just played both within this topic as well.

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I'm glad you liked it more than I did! I definitely went in hoping to be impressed (because I liked Spyro 1 so much) but that didn't last long. The hockey minigame in Colossus was about when I turned against it.

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Team Sonic Racing (XB1)

Racing is tighter and better than the previous Sega racing games (though I know this one was limited to Sonic characters only). I really liked the course design here as well, though a few are too long and plain.I also really liked the concept of the team aspect, especially gifting/receiving items, but I feel like there was lost potential there, and I got tired of the AI messing up my racing lines.

Adventure mode was longer than it needed to be, but I was able to play every event, so it was a significant improvement over Racing Transformed. I don't understand the item system though, specifically the distribution odds. There were multiple items that I neither had nor saw (drill or void) during my entire time, offline or online. An additional item (laser) I had/saw for the first time in the second-to-last event.

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OneShot

cries

have heard some things about a second run having more content, and i missed a number of achievements so i'll probably do that sometime

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Rule of Rose (PS2)

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Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PS4)

Were the boss battles always a slog in the original version?

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Ittle Dew 2+ (PC)

Re-finished it, this time getting the true ending, the super duper secret remedy (where you fight That Guy from Princess Remedy) and get his skin) which had this really convoluted requirement that had you starting over a new game on hard mode just to get (I just cheated it; you were suppose to get a passcode or something). Then I finished the Bonus Content which was Dream World, at the time just released when I finished this game ages ago. I was so burnt out on the puzzling then that I just didn't bother, which is great because once I got to the final dungeon of Dream World, I was suuuuuper stumped for awhile. I would say on par with late-game Baba is You.

I will say thought that there was a room in Dream World I dub the trash puzzle, because it had every puzzle element in the game: Buttons, Blocks, Switches, Numbered Blocks, Gates. And I was in there for HOURS until I couldn't take it and looking online, the solution was Dead Simple. What a troll!

That said, this is still one of my favorites. I can't go wrong with Ludosity it seems and one of my favorite devs is in it (Daniel Remar of Iji fame). Its just a shame this game doesn't get more recognition than it deserves despite it being ported all over.

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Mainlining (PC)

I had this game ages ago but the final 2 cases weren't made yet. But now its done and playing it all over, I appreciate the tactileness of inputting IP Addresses to "hack" people. The game looks beautiful in its endless parody but is a definitely linear experience. If they had more time I suppose they could come up with a Hypnospace Outlaw-like universe but as it is, the ride was great.

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Mario's Super Picross (Switch)

It's picross. Upon trying it, you generally either won't get the appeal at all or you'll get hooked, and I've fallen into the latter group ever since I played Picross 3D almost a decade ago. That made it very satisfying to return to picross after almost as long holding onto nothing more than my memories. Speaking of satisfying, there's the measured, yet visceral simplicity of smashing one block at a time, a process perhaps only a picross fan would enjoy, and I was pleasantly surprised to keep unlocking more puzzles every time I thought I might have reached their end. In fact, I still haven't started the Special puzzles over 50 hours in, but it felt safe to count those as post-game content. It's also perfectly playable without knowing any Japanese, as I can attest to - though I recommend choosing the right/second option upon starting Mario puzzles.

All in all, probably my favorite game I've beaten this year to date, though it's hard for me to distinguish any of the four as ones I definitively prefer to any of the others.

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Moons of Madness (PC)

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Control: Ultimate Edition (PC)

Decided to just re-play the whole game again when initially I was just waiting for the AWE DLC to drop. I was very very excited for it and I'm super glad that it (other game spoilers) decided to canon-weld Alan Wake and put him in the spotlight this time. Previously, he was just slyly referenced little by little. Alot of my appreciation for the AWE DLC is because of my love for Alan Wake, which is why I played all of its games in anticipation last year. I'm not really too happy about Ultimate's integration because the DLC has unique powerups and mods strictly only for the floor you explore in. It would've been nice to have them throughout the whole game as playing it now expertly, it would've greatly helped with balance; the monsters and fights got way too easy less than halfway in and all I had to do was pump the TK/Launch Skill. Bosses that I would have a hard time repeating over and over before, are suddenly trivialized because I threw 3 forklifts at it (exaggerating, but it is possible). There were fights that I absolutely dreaded not repeating only to be surprised that it was done in 30 seconds or less. I completely abandoned using guns late-game.

But now I'm back to gush about Alan Wake. God. The universe fits so well and I'm so glad Remedy decided not to forget about their other franchise. I was honestly expecting Alan to finally escape the darkness, but then I realized what with how Control is framed, Alan's entire existence within the darkness is now a much better element than if it were a story about him escaping.

They put in alot of breadcrumbs that answer some of the unanswered mysteries in the form of how the government agency is seeing it. And I'm satisfied and impressed about it. I also got to fight and defeat Hartman, who if you know you're Alan Wake, is an asshole who you didn't get to directly deal with before. And by the end of it, of course they make it all open ended and hint that something AW-related is going to 'return'. I'm all for that honestly, but they better make good on that promise. It's been way too long.

Maybe they can integrate Max Payne too, lol.

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Spyro: Year of the Dragon (via Spyro Reignited Trilogy, PS4)

Definitely better than Spyro 2, definitely still has a lot of the same issues where it pauses the actually fun gameplay to make you play some shitty minigame/vehicle segment. At least the Sparx/Agent 9 levels were decent. I did 100% this one but it was right on the edge of being not good enough for me to bother; the awful skateboard sections alone nearly made it not worth it.

Overall I'd say:

Spyro 1: 9/10
Spyro 2: 4/10
Spyro 3: 7/10

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Journey to the Savage Planet (XB1)

I've played a surprisingly amount of games that are truly funny this year, and you can add this to the list.

It definitely was inspired by Metroid Prime, and at its best, it matches the platforming heights that the series achieved. Aesthetically and structurally, I loved the planet too.

The game really needed a map though. There were a healthy amount of transporters, but it was easy to get lost or lose track of something that you didn't have the gear/ammo the first time you came across it. Additionally, combat was a big disappointement. Like the MP series, it was pretty barebones, but unlike MP, it was implemented well. It hamstrung by a small gun clip/longer reload speed, a finicky lock-on system, and inconsistent AI that often made dodging a virtual coin flip.

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Far Cry Primal (XB1)

I know this was considered to be an afterthought to fellow fans of the series, but I was impressed with this, and mostly because tamed beasts are amazing, making me wish that they were in 4. I ended up taming everything except for low-tier wolf/dhole varieties, so I abused their generous system to call upon black jaguars, sabretooths, and bears to tear up the world.

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Alternate Jake Hunter: DAEDALUS The Awakening of Golden Jazz (PS4)

As a fan of the franchise, I have to say that I ultimately found this underwhelming. The presentation of a fully-movable 360 camera with visual quirks to make it seem more realistic (peripheral vision, more blurry the faster you move it, etc...), but that is obviously just a minor aspect.

The story on paper was cool, but it was wasted on a mostly nothing cast. The pacing always felt off thanks to so much waste and repetition. They would refresh the scene constantly because a character "left." They would have the main character comment every time they went to a location, even if you had been there five times before, and they didn't bother to automatically put you inside of the building, meaning you got another loading screen and monologue text box. There's more, but those were what stood out to me the most.

I will still probably buy any more Jake Hunter games that release out west, but if that was the final one, I regret that the final one that I played wasn't Ghost of the Dusk.

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Hedon (PC)

I love this retroshooter. Yeah it was made in GZDOOM but it's very polished. It starts out all metal and stuff and the trailer will have you believe this is another one of those frantic ultraviolent 1 vs Many romps. But I was surprised to find that while the levels did have huge setpieces, most of them were spent exploring, learning the lore and appreciating the worldbuilding.

But probably my favorite design choice is the puzzle solving. There is a more creative thematic bent to what are essentially key and button hunts. Instead of telling you to get the red key to fit the red door to press the button that makes a sound to hint you of a door opening closeby, you're given a setpiece; a mansion in the woods. How do I get in? Maybe a tunnel in a lake. Maybe through the front or the side. I honestly thought this game was made by the Build engine with the sheer amount of creativity going into the level structure and the way the enemies gibbed and some of the weapons and playstyles actually reminded me of Blood.

And I think this is why Hedon is such a hard sell for anyone looking for another Dusk or Amid Evil. Because its not. You are a gun-toting thicc half-orc looking for some payback, but there's more to it. You're in a war. You've lost your memories. Your sisters are out there somewhere and these cultists; how could they have gotten in despite everything? All this intrigued me up until the end. By the way, there's barely any metal in this game nor are there roomful of monsters to face up until maybe the last 2 levels. All the monster placements were very careful and calculated and the pacing was very different.

I can't wait for episode 2.

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Cyber Hook (PC)

That's some good stuff. not perfect- some levels get extremely precise and require mechanics that weren't already taught, but it's pretty much what i want video games to be. captures that feeling of motion

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Kenri posted...

Spyro: Year of the Dragon (via Spyro Reignited Trilogy, PS4)

Definitely better than Spyro 2, definitely still has a lot of the same issues where it pauses the actually fun gameplay to make you play some shitty minigame/vehicle segment. At least the Sparx/Agent 9 levels were decent. I did 100% this one but it was right on the edge of being not good enough for me to bother; the awful skateboard sections alone nearly made it not worth it.

Overall I'd say:

Spyro 1: 9/10
Spyro 2: 4/10
Spyro 3: 7/10

Always interesting to see the variety in rankings for OG Spyro. I've always been very firmly on the side that thinks they improved with every release, with 3 being among my very favorite games. But I understand why some folks don't care for it as much.

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I'm actually slighted that people hate Spyro 2. Spyro 2 is the one that put it on the map for me. And I treat all of the original 3 with a higher regard than any of the trash that followed.

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Bayonetta (Wii U)
Bought this (with Bayonetta 2, obviously) on launch date back on October 24, 2014. I apparently played up to Chapter 6 back then. Finally went back to play through the game once and for all, since I have had my Wii U hooked up. So let's talk about it, huh?

Wow. To say that I was even remotely good at this game would be giving my self infinitely more credit than I deserved. I was awful. I died constantly. I had to use items constantly (beginning in Chapter 5 when I figured out how to use them). I got almost all stone awards, with three bronzes and a silver in the prologue. While I definitely figured out some good techniques and combos, a lot of the time I felt like I was just mindlessly mashing buttons. I was very thankful that they offered checkpoints even on the bosses. I don't think I ever would have beaten a couple of them without them, like the final Jeanne battle. And that final boss? I cursed up an absolute storm on that thing I died so many times (I found it very difficult to dodge the attack that turned you into the baby). Frankly, going in I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to finish. My history with finishing games, especially ones known for above-average difficulty, is pretty poor. But hey, I beat it, right? Somehow, someway, I mustered it up and finished it up. Surprisingly my time was almost right on par (HowLongToBeat suggests about 12 hours for a standard first-time playthrough, I was just under 13 hours). But enough about how much I suck as a gamer. How was the game?

Well it was quite fun! I really enjoyed the nonstop battles with very little cooldown time (basically just enough to get to a slightly new location). It was a thrill each time I dodged perfectly to get Witch Time so I could go kick the crap out of the thing I just dodged. I really enjoyed the big, nasty, ugly-as-sin and unrelenting bosses. It was a joy to destroy them with a climax and watch them get ultra-violently sent back to hell where they belong.

I loved the visuals (and I DON'T just mean Bayonetta). I actually thought the scenery and level design was really great. The characters were mostly pretty great. Bayonetta, Jeanne and Luka were fantastic, and I really liked the writing for all three. Actually the writing and humor in general was pretty good. Loved all the sexual innuendos. Crazy to think this is basically a Nintendo series now, huh? The villain was eh and the baby got annoying at times. I was disappointed that Enzo and Rodin didn't have larger roles.

I'm generally not a fan of boss rushes near the end of games. They feel kinda lazy, redundant, and particularly frustrating if there's a boss you struggle with and now have to face it all over again. And it wasn't any better than usual in this one. Specifically, I despised the part with the falling tiles. That was torture, especially since my worst boss (save the two endgame bosses I mentioned in the second paragraph) was at the top with no checkpoint before the fight. So that's a complaint.

But minor complaints and my lack of gaming skills aside, the game was great. I'm glad I finally played through it and it feels like a very satisfying win. Although I want to take a break with some different games, I will absolutely be playing Bayonetta 2 (and 3 when it comes out).

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The Mystery of the Druids (PC)

Finally got to play this memetically terrible game. It's a terrible adventure game and has one of the dumbest protagonists in history. I will say thought that this is the first adventure game where every person in Detective Halligan's life acknowledges that he is in fact an Adventure Game protagonist, and such all of his acts of klepto and jerkassery have consequences. It's a wonder how he's even a Scotland Yard detective in the first place.

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Superliminal (PC)

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Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. (Game & Watch/NES)

This is a neat little novelty.
It also includes Lost Levels and Ball.
Controls are very responsive on the Game & Watch. Screen is a little tiny but it's definitely playable
Has a bunch of nice little easter eggs in it.
I'm glad I own it.

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The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
It's nice to play a Zelda game that's just good without any weird gimmicks from the Wii/DS era. The verticality and the wall-merge mechanic are great. Buyable tools don't matter much in practice but it's a nice twist that sets it apart.
Rance Quest Magnum (PC)
Figured I'd wait for the true ending. I really do love these characters and want to spend more time with them, including the new ones.

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Concrete Genie (PS4)

Wanted a quick and easy game to play and this was free on PS+. Was pretty much exactly the kind of game I was looking for. I liked the art style of the game and was generally impressed with the game. It was kinda fun because at the beginning I thought that the game played like an action adventure game with all the climbing and running even though it was an art game. The gameplay twist near the end was cool.

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Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones (GBA)

Continued my mounted unit run from what I did with FE7, although it's kind of a joke in Sacred Stones. At least it was just for the fun of doing it. I'll be back on 7 shortly thanks to something a few friends and I are doing.

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Shantae and the Seven Sirens (Switch)

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Hollow Knight (PS4)

This was a replay, I've already beaten the game (and done nearly everything in it) on Switch. I think I prefer that version just because the PS5 controller's d-pad isn't great. Nice to pick up some trophies here though, I guess.

Despite a few flaws, Hollow Knight remains one of my favorite games.

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Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure 1 (Switch)

The first half of the Rhythmic Adventure Pack, this has the two drums traveling through different time periods to collect the pieces of a clock that is able to change the past and future. This isn't actually the first Taiko RPG I've played - the Vita version also had one, though it wasn't as expansive at this one - the Vita version was just menus and had reused art from Tales games for equipment. This game has its own unique equipment for Don-chan and exploration through the different time periods. It's weird only playing a part of many songs since the battles will almost never last the full length of a song, but you get used to it after a while. I'll be trying to get more of the stamps in the regular Taiko mode before moving on to Rhythmic Adventure 2.

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3)

I didn't have a great time with this. I felt the game was very overwhelming at first; it throws a lot of moves and mechanics at you and it was only over halfway through the game that I really started to get a hang of combos and using magic. Even then, I often felt that shadow magic and a lot of the items and skills were just more trouble than they're worth and as much as I tried to vary it up, I really stuck with a set number of moves. This definitely got me in trouble a couple of times because variation is what makes enemies spew magic orbs, so I didn't get enough of those and I was also terrible at blocking, a skill I really only started to use near the end of the game.

Storywise the game didn't really do anything too much; they kept building Gabriel as this big bad, but I felt like all his evil was basically contained to the end of chapter II or III and none of the other things he did were really all that bad. The game also didn't have a whole lot of cutscenes, only to give me a half-hour one before the final boss, and it was a total "hey here's the plot" which felt kinda jarring.

ALSO on the level of gameplay, I think I just don't really like these types of games? Apparently it's very similar to God of War which I've never played, but the locked camera felt kinda uncomfortable at times and a lot of the QTEs felt unnecessary and very...random? Like I was always super tense in combat because whenever they'd pop up I'd be caught by surprise, also because sometimes it was generous timing, brutal timing, or button-mashing. There were also a lot of game mechanics that felt like padding, like all the chupacabra moments and some of the Titan fights.

A positive I'll definitely give this game is on a visual level. I was kinda surprised by the fact it was a 2010 game and not just the visuals but the overall design I really loved. I was very happily surprised by the wide variety of locales, from dreary villages to tropical temple ruins to snowy mountains,...there was a bit of everything.

This post is very negative; I don't think it's a bad game in and of itself, I just think maybe it's not really for me.

Also lol at the post-credits ending.

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Butterfly Soup
way too short :( maybe my favorite short indie vn now though

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Touhou Luna Nights (Switch)

I started out really loving this game, but it ended up just being okay. It's pretty short and not much of a Metroidvania (though it's all technically one interconnected world, it's broken up into fairly linear stages). I think the obvious comparison is Timespinner, another Metroidvania with time stopping powers. At its best (which is mostly the boss fights), Luna Nights is better -- it uses the time stopping gimmick more often and to better effect. On the whole I think Timespinner is a better game, though.

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Double Dragon (PC/Arcade)
Double Dragon II: The Revenge (PC/Arcade)
Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (PC/Arcade)

I played all three of these on PC via the Double Dragon Trilogy collection..
Playing all three of these games in 60 FPS slightly gave these games a breath of fresh air. OG Double Dragon's speed is pretty slow in this day and age.

Double Dragon III port doesn't seem right. When you enter the shops, you can't make multiple purchases. There's no way to "insert more coins" to even make purchases. You can only purchase one of each of moves/power ups/weapons etc.

Another odd bug I encountered was when I played this online with a friend. After we beat Willy, we get to fight each other to see who gets the girl (Marian). For whatever reason, we had infinite health and couldn't properly settle things so my friend instead just jumped into the pit of spikes instead to end it.

Overall, it's a so so collection and not bad to add into your beat em' up collection.


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Given this was part of a Sony program, I'm sure Sony paid some amount to Thekla to have The Witness included. This isn't like last year when games like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 and LEGO Ninjago were given away on all platforms.

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Nioh: Complete Edition

Did not expect the game to be this long. I don't think I've ever played a more frustrating game that I just kept playing anyway. I was expecting something Dark Soulsy yeah, but there was so much theorycrafting that ultimately it had me mentally stressed as I had to keep track of so many little mechanics the game was tossing my way. I also didn't like the mission based structure of it and would have preferred a consistent persistent world like in DS.

Also, definitely don't play it for the garbage story. It would've been fine but I wish the game was more about yokai hunting rather than the historical reliving of the Sengoku era all over again. It was kind of like enjoying Jojo 1 and 2 then suddenly everyone has a Stand now and you start acquiring them like Megaman powerups. It is a Capcom game after all. Still, this game is pretty much a spiritual successor to not only the Onimusha series (which I just beat recently) but Genji as well.

I *might* go on and play the sequel but I think I'm gonna take a rest from here for awhile.

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Bravely Default II (Switch)

Well, that was a game. It took me around 65 hours to do everything. What I liked about it were Chapter 3 and the fact that for once I managed to figure out overpowered Job/Active Ability/Passive Ability combo's by myself instead of happening upon them online, trivialising any remaining Asterisk group rebattles and the final boss. Other than that, overall a very meh game. Story, characters and worldbuilding were mostly bland and very underdeveloped. Weird exclusion of many quality of life elements that made the other two entries so playable. Sidequests were really lame most of the time. I don't know. I enjoyed my time with it, but I wouldn't say it's great, probably the weakest Bravely game for me personally. Game was clearly unfinished in a lot of ways despite being a fairly long experience nevertheless. The towns look pretty though, and some of the music is nice (not any track related to Wiswald though).

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Mega Man Zero (Switch)

Beat this in a day. Already beat it before the normal way, but now I beat it again on the Zero/ZX Legacy Collection with save assist on. That definitely helped a lot to make it less tedious, because there is so much trial and error and stuff flying in your screen in attack mode. Boss patterns can be very tricky so with the normal lives system it was quite frustrating. This way it was more fun for me (although I'm sure some people will consider it lame to use save assist). It does kind of make the stages a joke since you have so many checkpoints, but whatever. MMZ at the very least is so much more fun when it comes to boss battles vs. the stages imo that it didn't bother me.

Now onto MMZ2!

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This will be my first time posting here!

Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen (PC)

I've had my eyes on this one for a while now. A few years back I saw one of the later games over at a GameStop, and I nearly grabbed it then because it looked interesting. Turns out, several people here on B8 are pretty big into this series, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Not too long ago, this first entry into the series got released onto Steam, so I figured now would be as good of a time as any.

Overall, I enjoyed it. "Historical" fantasy settings with a lot of political intrigue have always been my thing, and the cast is pretty fun (especially the really cool protagonist and his badass looking mask). The game wasn't without its issues though. The screen resolution is locked in to what it was on console (even though the game is no longer available on PS4) and the camera is set to an awkward angle during the battle portions of the game. The in-game artwork doesn't really know whether it wants to use the original artwork or the updated artwork, so it kinda just switches between the two at random. The game is kind of a weird mix between a tactical RPG and a VN, and I feel like it could've done a better job selling the story if it just stuck to one. It was originally an eroge, but for the re-release they decided to just cut out the 18+ content, but it feels like they just ripped it out haphazardly keeping everything else in tact (although from what I could gather, the cut content wasn't all that great, digging a bit deeper it feels like sort of a Fate/Stay Night situation where removing the H-scenes actually improved the story >_>). The story took a really weird, out-of-place turn at the very end that doesn't really fit all that well with the rest of the story.

I picked this one up because a lot of people compare it and its worldbuilding to the Trails series (another one I've recently played thanks to B8's suggestions). It uhhh, didn't really live up to that level of expectation, but the Sky trilogy is a perfect 10/10 for me. This game is still like a solid 7.5/10 so I'll be picking up the sequel next time it goes on sale on Steam.

Touka is best girl

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Spyro trilogy is all great but 1 is clearly the standout to me.

While I never hated the minigames I find the uninterrupted stream of gameplay in 1 is perfect.

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Yoku's Island Express (XB1)

Everything about this is great except for the map and to a lesser extent traveling the world. That's a shame too because I would want to go for 100% completion if not for it.

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Mega Man Zero 2 (Switch)

Wow, didn't expect to beat this already today, but that's how short it was. Another fine game, but it's barely different from MMZ, in fact it recycles a lot of elements (even bosses and boss weaknesses). Then again, Mega Man games have done this every single time. I do like that it's a little more forgiving (not necessarily easier) and that it's easier to use elves. The stages are also a bit longer than MMZ1's. Final boss was definitely easier though. Overall, it was a fraction better than Z1 (mostly due to the QoL changes), but again, the difference is small. Excited to see what Zero 3 will bring.

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Simoun posted...

Nioh: Complete Edition

Did not expect the game to be this long. I don't think I've ever played a more frustrating game that I just kept playing anyway. I was expecting something Dark Soulsy yeah, but there was so much theorycrafting that ultimately it had me mentally stressed as I had to keep track of so many little mechanics the game was tossing my way. I also didn't like the mission based structure of it and would have preferred a consistent persistent world like in DS.

Also, definitely don't play it for the garbage story. It would've been fine but I wish the game was more about yokai hunting rather than the historical reliving of the Sengoku era all over again. It was kind of like enjoying Jojo 1 and 2 then suddenly everyone has a Stand now and you start acquiring them like Megaman powerups. It is a Capcom game after all. Still, this game is pretty much a spiritual successor to not only the Onimusha series (which I just beat recently) but Genji as well.

I *might* go on and play the sequel but I think I'm gonna take a rest from here for awhile.

The sequel is a lot of the same, BUT it's better at everything. The story in the first game is garbage, but great in the second game. The gameplay keeps all the same mechanics, but you get more weapons to play with and a new mechanic where you turn into a Yokai.

I thought the original was like a 7 and the sequel was a 9 despite being largely the same in structure. So take that as you will. I recommend you give the second game a fair shot but definitely give it a while to wash the bad taste of the first game out of your mouth.

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Solioxrz362 posted...

The sequel is a lot of the same, BUT it's better at everything. The story in the first game is garbage, but great in the second game. The gameplay keeps all the same mechanics, but you get more weapons to play with and a new mechanic where you turn into a Yokai.

I thought the original was like a 7 and the sequel was a 9 despite being largely the same in structure. So take that as you will. I recommend you give the second game a fair shot but definitely give it a while to wash the bad taste of the first game out of your mouth.

That's very nice to know. But yeah you're right. This game left me very drained and I need something fun and exploitable that doesn't let me think much about builds or crafting or what have you. Diablo mechanics in a Dark Souls game is a weird unsafe design.

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Infectornator 3: Apocalypse (Android)

Maybe you'll remember this title from the Flash games of the past. The 3rd one is surprisingly solid as it does not have IAPs for one which is just great. This one improves the visuals a whole lot albeit I do miss the pixelized art style. It throws alot of new mechanics and encourages you to use items more as this time they are easier to refill and easier to use all at once.

The difficulty curve flattens immediately right after the halfway point and while there are many paths towards your ultimate world domination goal, the game forces you to make a beeline towards a lab in some country across the world that's making the cure. The repetitive nature of the game does not lose its flair for a long time as you unlock newer and more kinds of zombies than the last two games combined but it does eventually peter out and you will have to trudge in the last moments of the game as you have to darken every single continent to win.

It's got that fun cannot-put-it-down nature but after finishing it the first time, it leaves a sort of feeling where your zombie girlfriend just ravished you leaving you broken and undone. However if you are an optimization fiend, there are leaderboards for attempting this repetitive exercise in as few days as possible. Fun? Eh.

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I don't wanna start fights but imo its 2>1>3

The minigames are fine. It was the first implementation of such design in an Insomniac game that you would see later on in Ratchet and Clank so I can forgive some of it for being dastardly. Despite that, they still aren't impossible. Although I gotta be honest, playing re-ignited on the PC is very cathartic because the mouse is mapped to right analog stick and it basically trivializes almost all the minigames.

The first Spyro was a magical trip, but it was just too basic in hindsight. It started the collectathon genre for me that wouldn't be perfected until Psychonauts. And it showcased Insomniac's ability to make great music and worlds. But it was mostly an exercise in run jump glide and didn't have a personality of its own. I would still play it, moreover the remake. But I would def play 2 more.

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