Board 8 > The Great 2021 Video Game Challenge

(+) Yeah! (+)

7. Beat a game in a series you've already played some of

Trails In The Sky The 3rd. Least favorite one story-wise but offers the most variety in terms of combat and party composition. The series in general is great!

3/50

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I still need to finish SC...

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23. Beat a sports game
NBA 2K19

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6. Beat a game in a completely new series
Etrian Odyssey

1/52

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

Bastion

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28. Beat a game with the supernatural as a central theme

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Think I might try to play the Mother series for this. Mother 3 is one of my favorite games but Mother 1 kicked my ass right away and I couldn't figure out how to get through Earthbound.

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35. Beat a game with a lead that's from a fictional species
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

2/52

Started playing the first Mother, don't know that I'm feeling it though. I wandered around a bunch and got to Magicant but it doesn't seem like I can do much there until the end of the game. Not sure where else I should be going, most of the overworld looks the same.

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43. Beat a game based on licensed stories/characters

Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match

4/50

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46. Beat a game you received for free or through a paid subscription service
Overcooked! 2

Played it through PS Now. Played the first one just over a year ago. It didn't seem too much different but I don't think it really needed to be. It's a fun game and good palette cleanser. It's more fun co-op but playing single player is a good time, too.

4/50

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29. Beat a game with comedy as a central theme

Donut County

46. Beat a game you received for free or through a paid subscription service

Sea of Solitude

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37. Beat a game you'd dropped or had a long hold on
Gas Guzzlers Extreme (PC)

Got halfway through in 2015, didn't finish it then for some reason.
3/57

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19. Beat a platformer

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

13. Beat a WRPG

Fallout 4

I don't think very highly of Fallout 4, but I've played it enough now that it must be doing something right. Not the main story, though. I probably would have skipped replaying that to the end if not for this topic.

5/50

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49. Choose a random page on TVTropes and beat something from the video game section
Video Game 3D Leap -> Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Tried a randomizer run this time. It was a lot of fun, but I think OoT is too long for it to be something I play more than occasionally.

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21. Beat a strategy game

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia

I played the original Brigandine and Grand Edition an obscene amount, and so far it's looking like that'll be happening again.

6/50

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

NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2007

Technically it happened weeks ago... And it's happened several times since.

50. Beat three games in a series

Donkey Kong Land 2

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here a bit, but I've already decided to play two more DK games this year. Did the first three last year and doing this DKC3 and DKL3 this. I've beaten the Country games many times before, but hadn't touched a Land game since I played the original 25 years ago. It's a slightly wonky game, but worthwhile I guess since it's kinda distinct from the SNES original... DKL2 however... This was my first time through it and it's just a strait downgrade of DKC2 really. At release it had an existential purpose I guess, but at this point there's no point in playing this over DKC2... Even if you've played through DKC2 50 times... It's not a bad game, but at no point are you not wishing you were playing the SNES game instead.
DKC3 is next, which is a game I really like. I have no problems with Kiddy Kong...

1.33/50

29. Beat a game with comedy as a central theme

Ninja Baseball Bat Man

Or could this be considered a sports game. I mean, the theming here is pretty damn strong after all... Also it's nuts... I imagine this is what happens when you combine a weekend of binge watching baseball with lots and lots of LSD... As a brawler it's perfectly serviceable too..

13. Beat a WRPG

Mass Effect: Andromeda. A subpar ME game but really not that bad, and I only had to reload checkpoints 3 times total due to glitches.

50. Beat three games in a series

Final Fantasy VI (Advance). Maybe I'm putting this here too early but I'm pretty sure I'll play at least 3 FFs this year!

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7. Beat a game in a series you've already played some of
Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival

This series of games get progressively grindier while not being any more enjoyable.
4/57


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33. Beat a game with a robot/artificial lead

Mega Man X2

Not the first time through, probably won't be the last. Personally it's the weakest of the first 4 X games, I know it's not the popular opinion but it feels a bit uneven to me. Still an very good game though. Like I said, I'm sure I'll go back to it again...

3.33/50

1. Beat a game released before 1991
Mega Man

33. Beat a game with a robot/artificial lead
Mega Man 2

38. Finish a game in one day
Mega Man 3

50. Beat three games in a series (#1)
Mega Man 4

51. Beat three games in a series (#2)
Mega Man 5

52. Beat three games in a series (#3)
Mega Man 6

8/52

Thank you Legacy Collection

8. Beat a spin-off or a game that rebooted a franchise
Hitman

I can use this for like a dozen categories, so that will be a nice one to suffle around if needed

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50,51,52. Beat three games in a series
Eventide: Slavic Fable
Eventide 2: Sorceror's Mirror
Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends

This series of HOG's got progressively worse with each game.
7/57

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

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

5/50

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31. Beat a game with a child lead

Illusion of Gaia

I've never played a game that needed a retranslation more. It's just a mess. First of all the tone is all over the place. Half the time the story seem like something from a book for toddlers, and then it's like "how about some scenes about child slave trafficking and the source of human suffering". I mean, having played Soul Blazer before, I'm pretty sure I understand the tone they're going for, it's just not working with this translation.
The scenes are also never developed enough. All the more serious themes are introduced out of the blue and later dropped just as quickly. There's very little in the way of resolution and any resolution we do get is glossed over very briefly.
And dialogue is even worse. It's sometimes completely incoherent with characters saying sentences taken out of thin air relating to absolutely nothing. Sometimes they refer to themselves as "you" and at other times they have intense arguments with themselves. It really feels like whoever translated this had no idea what they were translating, the context of what was being translated, who said what and how anything fit together. If I didn't know better I'd say it was google translated... Except it was released in 1994 so ehum... What? Besides, Google Translate has been more coherent than this for many years now.

The gameplay is fine though...

15. Beat a puzzle game
Hexologic

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38. Finish a game in one day

Kirby's Dream Land

If this was released today it'll be hard for them justify even charging $5 for it... But it's of course totally charming and adorable and I love it in all of its simplicity. Of course not my first time through, but I'm enjoying replaying old classics these days so yeah...

30. Beat a game with a female lead

What Never Was. Short free game on Steam

4/50

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9. Beat a remake or enhanced port
Horizon Chase Turbo

Counting this beaten after getting 100% in World Tour. Lots of unlocked content but i consider those bonuses.
I think it qualifies as a remake/enhancement as it's paying tribute to classic racers like Outrun and Lotus Turbo Challenge.

8/57

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That's not what a remake or port is or basically every game qualifies since they were inspired by games that came before it, but nobody is going to police you on how you categorize things.

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KCF0107 posted...

That's not what a remake or port is or basically every game qualifies since they were inspired by games that came before it, but nobody is going to police you on how you categorize things.

I know. But if it were called Lotus Turbo Reboot or Outrun 2020, nothing in the game would need to be changed. So it qualifies as a remake for me.

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38. Finish a game in one day
Rusty Lake Hotel

One sitting.
9/57


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30. Beat a game with a female lead

Perfect Dark (XBLA)

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9. Beat a remake or enhanced port
Final Fantasy

9/52

GBA version for those who care

20. Beat an action game

Comix Zone

Any rhythm game recs? I barely play those but I'm open to trying something out.

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BIT TRIP RUNNER games

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8. Beat a spin-off or a game that rebooted a franchise
Hitman
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32. Beat a game with a non-white lead

Grim Fandango

Despite Manny physically being white, I think this still counts

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Shonen_Bat posted...

Any rhythm game recs? I barely play those but I'm open to trying something out.

Tadpole Treble, super underrated and just got a remaster for Switch.

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31. Beat a game with a child lead
Song of the Deep

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Been playing Celeste for a while, I guess technically it's already cleared but I'd like to do the B-Sides and maybe the C-Sides before calling it. Probably not chapter 9, that's a bit much for me.

I'll check out those rhythm games soon, thanks.

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43. Beat a game based on licensed stories/characters
Tales from the Borderlands

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28. Beat a game with the supernatural as a central theme
Rusty Lake Roots

27. Beat a game with mystery as a central theme
Rusty Lake Paradise

Roots is more supernatural while Paradise is more mysterious! While Paradise did depict a child in several scenes, i think they were flashbacks so can't classify it as a child lead, sadly (although the game wasn't particularly clear about this). If i get really stuck later in the year, maybe i'll conveniently adjust this view.
11/57

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25. Beat a game with horror as a central theme

Omori

Hey, if you want to be completely fucking emotionally devastated by a game that spends a majority of it's time being a happy, fluffy Earthbound style game, play Omori! I had things to say about the art style, the music, the gameplay mechanics, but all I can think of now are the last few hours of the game. To be clear, I played this because I wanted exactly that, and was very impressed by it!

7/50

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6. Beat a game in a completely new series

Nier: Automata. Wow, what a beautiful game. Will definitely have to pick up Replicant and Gestalt later this year

5/50

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25. Beat a game with horror as a central theme
Cube Escape Paradox

11. Beat a game made by a developer you like
The White Door

Aaaand i'm done with the Rusty Lake series!

13/57

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42. Beat another user's favorite game
Persona 4 Golden

Considering this is Board 8, several users probably have Persona 4 as their favorite game, including Janus5k on the spreadsheet. I'm going to go ahead and count Golden as the same game!

4/50

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40. Beat a game with a Metascore below 70
Pokmon Rumble Blast

10/52

30. Beat a game with a female lead
Control

9. Beat a remake or enhanced port
Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Almost didn't get this, so glad I did. Haven't played the series since Pikmin 2 first came out, forgot how much I loved it)

5. Beat a game released in 2021
Cyber Shadow

All good games!

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46. Beat a game you received for free or through a paid subscription service

Kirby's Adventure

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