Board 8 > July Game of the Month Club ft. The Council, Metroid Fusion, and Mario Golf

(+) Yeah! (+)

Julys Games:
The Council (PC/XB1/PS4)
Metroid Fusion (GBA/3DS/Wii U)
Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch)

What is Game of the Month Club?
Game of the Month is a community project open to all B8ers where users share, discover, play and/or discuss a select few games every month. The games featured each month are chosen by YOU the users (and Lady Luck)

The Basics
- Each month will usually feature three games that were chosen via a random drawing from a pool of games that users nominated
- For each game you beat, you get a cool point on our just-for-fun standings as well as a nomination for next month's randomized drawing
- In order to receive the point and nomination, you must beat said game within the calendar month
- If you beat one of the current month's games in the previous month, you can apply for a "recently beaten waiver," but you will only receive a point and no nomination should you do so
- Drawing for next month's games is around a week before the end of the month
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every selected game that you beat
- Each game you nominate has to be unique from all other nominations and cannot include a game that has already been selected for GotM
- Each game must be a standalone game that can be acquired and played on its own (aka cannot be DLC/expansion that requires the base game)
- Nominations only carry over if you beat a selected game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
- As a special feature for 2021, you have 11 supports you can use throughout the year. Your only limitations are that you can't support your own nomination, and you can only use one support per game per month
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Just-for-Fun Top 20 Standings
KCF - 132
gameking - 116
ArkOfTurus - 75
Mr Crispy - 74
Lolo Guru - 63
Cody - 37
KnightOfNee - 35
MegamanX - 28
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
Wickle - 21
Fenny - 16
darkx - 14
GreatPaul - 14
tazzyboy - 14
Robazoid - 13
Suprak the Stud - 13
MZero - 12
FakeAccount - 11
Shonen Bat - 11

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
Abacus - 1
KCF - 1
Lolo - 1
MZero - 1
Paul - 1
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Should you wish to try it out first, the first episode of The Council should be free on all applicable platforms.

In addition, the remaining episodes are on sale for $6.24 USD for PC via Steam in the Steam Summer Sale until July 8th:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/287630/The_Council/
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Im going to try to play Metroid Fusion this month, but not sure if Ill be able to get around to it.

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I did pick up Super Rush as I said I would. And will probably also play Fusion.
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I'll probably try The Council. Might replay Metroid Fusion, too.

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Also going to go ahead and nominate

The Great Ace Attorney

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Started Metroid Zero Mission

i'm going to try to play through 2 and Super as well before Fusion depending on time

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Planning on doing the single player mode of Super Rush. We shall see though.

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I'm going to nominate the first game in series that I may or may not want to nominate their sequels in the future.

Aragami
Cat Quest
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I watched a let's play of The Council as it was releasing and it was very interesting. Worth checking out

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Played the first bit of fusion, up to first reaching area 1. I forgot how text-heavy the game is compared to most other 2d Metroid games; between elevator monologues and the ship's computer....
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Planning on starting Fusion tomorrow or Monday.

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I will start The Council soon and hopefully be introduced to George Washington on this fine day.
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Alright, started Metroid Fusion. Though brought out the old GBA and whew the screen is dark. Really hoping I can find my DS charger.

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Started Metroid Fusion, made it up to Sector 4. Will probably not play any more of it today.

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Played through the first quest of The Council. You can tell the game didn't have a high budget to match its ambition, but I'm having a great time with how intriguing the systems and situations are. It can be a bit overwhelming to where I constantly question if a decision I make will come back to haunt me, but I suppose I will just have to accept the consequences.

Oh, and I chose to be an occultist. I wish they gave you info on what all of the skills meant before you had to make a choice, so I just went with my gut on how useful they sounded when choosing my profession or whatever they called it.
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Continued playing Fusion today.

Got the Viara Suit and entered Sector 5. Once I get through this sector it will be the furthest I ever made it in this game. I'm a little surprised I ever made it this far because I can't believe I would have made it through a couple of these fights when I was younger.

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I completed the first episode of The Council. They don't keep a record of your branching decisions, but here is what I did that stood out to me:

Stayed with George Washington at the fireplace
Did not open Guiseppe's letter
Helped George Washington distract Elizabeth
Confronted Jacques Peru
Followed Elizabeth
Told Elizabeth she should flee from the island

I did minor research beforehand, specifically about how to allocate points, and everywhere I looked said to make everything level 1 first. I have everything but I believe just Politics and maybe Linquistics at level 1.

Anyway, other than some gripes with voice acting and, sometimes related, jarring escalation during dialogues, I find this very compelling. I'm torn between wanting to savor it and giving into being hooked and blitz through it.
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Started up Mario Golf this week, played a lot of multiplayer before diving into the story. Dug out my Wii U for Metroid Fusion as well, I'm ready to learn about the food chain based on the backstory in the manual.

I'll also support The Great Ace Attorney.
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Fusion update.

I guess I made it a lot further in the past than I thought, because I just played a ton and am STILL not quite to where I am in my furthest save file. I don't think it was my brother's, because I do remember some of this stuff. That being said, I just got to a point where I have to go through a fairly lengthy segment with no saving and at the end is a boss that absolutely destroyed me, so I'm a little frustrated right now.

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Underleveled posted...

Fusion update.

I guess I made it a lot further in the past than I thought, because I just played a ton and am STILL not quite to where I am in my furthest save file. I don't think it was my brother's, because I do remember some of this stuff. That being said, I just got to a point where I have to go through a fairly lengthy segment with no saving and at the end is a boss that absolutely destroyed me, so I'm a little frustrated right now.

Update...

I've lost to this motherfucker four times now and I've about had it with this game.

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Which boss is it, underleveled?
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The spider, when the power is out.

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I've now lost to it twice more, albeit getting further into the fight than I had before.

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Ugh. 11th try I finally beat it. That's entirely too many for a not-final boss. I'm putting this away for at least a few days.

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Episode 2 of The Council seemed to be over rather quickly even though I did it over two days. I'm not really sure what might have been major decisions during that episode. I was cleared of suspicion for Elizabeth's disapperance, found out that Vollner works for Sir Holm, and I chose to find Sarah over following Guiseppe and Vollner. The episode's ending of Sarah appearing did surprise me. I figured we wouldn't find here for another episode or two, and not only that, she clearly didn't recognize her own son, so I'm wondering if that moment was real.
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Just a reminder that the Steam sale ends in less than 24 hours if anyone was considering buying The Council for PC
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Metroid Fusion beat!

Clear time 3:46

Rate for collecting items: 70%

See you next mission!

So... Since it appears quite a bit is locked up by the final mission (til you beat the game), wonder what the actual possible item % is without booting it up after finishing.

I apparently have 6 tanks, 6 missiles, and 18 power bombs to find if I wanted to it
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Underleveled posted...

Ugh. 11th try I finally beat it. That's entirely too many for a not-final boss. I'm putting this away for at least a few days.

I'm getting my crack at the boss you were struggling against, finally got something of a plan for phase 1 after my... 4th death. 6th try will be tomorrow.

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Played the first episode of the Council. Enjoyable enough, but not sure I'm going to buy the rest of it.

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I'm on Episode 4 on The Council now. Man, the revelation in introduced early in the third episode is a doozy. I'm not sure how many people would initially react positively, but I kind of laughed in a neutral manner at it.

I'm starting to come around to the how demon thing and how I/Louis am apparently one too. I knew there had to be some explanation for the visions/body swapping and how Sir Holm knew when I was present. I think that I have become more accepting of it because I don't feel, unlike many confrontations, it they are being overdramatic or force so many contrived situations. I think they in an overarching sense, the game is kind of nailing it, which is mighty impressive given how ambitious the game is. I was agonizing over choosing Mortimer or Sir Holm's side before, but now I wonder if that even matters now. There's still a lot of questions about this demon business and how this alleged dispute between Mortimer/Holm fits into it.
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Forgot to say this the osther day when I actually beat the boss (on that 6th try I mentioned) but whew, that part of the game is brutal. With that boss being followed up by the first real encounter of SA-X (and by real I mean you can survive it, but it's hard). Outside of that, I beat Nightmare last time I played.

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KCF has beaten The Council

I feel like I made some bad decisions because well things got out of hand in the final episode. The conclusion ended up being a little underwhelming but perhaps a good outcome all things considered.

Holm died
Mortimer, well he didn't die but something happened to him
Louis inherited the island and all of Mortimer's assets or something?

Anyway, I really enjoyed this game even with all its faults given the near impossibility of a small independent studio being able to fully realize such an ambitious project. Going in, I was told that the voice acting was on the weak side, but other than Godoy, Peru, and sometimes Louis, I actually thought it was pretty good.
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For my final nom, I will do The Banner Saga
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Fusion

Made it past the SA-X chase. That was intense. Now I'm in a room where I keep dying almost immediately because I keep getting knocked into these stupid flowers that just suck your health until you die and no matter what I do I can't get out of them once i get knocked in.

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What the God damn fucking fuck

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Hokay, I made it to Nightmare and apparently that's where I gave up last time and I can see why. That thing is brutal and I won't be surprised st allvif it takes me like 20+ tries.

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Monthly Progress
Council - KCF
Metroid - Lolo
Golf -

Nominations
Ark - Great Ace Attorney: Adventures
KCF - Aragami, Cat Quest, Banner Saga

Supports
Cody - Ace Attorney
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I'll support the Banner Saga as my brother's been talking this one up.

And yea, Nightmare is a very tough boss and the main reason I'll never try to do a low% run of Fusion. (also he killed me twice on my run, which were my only deaths.)

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Made it pretty far in Fusion tonight.

I made it back to the secret section of Sector 1 after destroying the Metroid lab and discovering that there are multiple SA-Xs on board.

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Final Fusion update for tonight:

I made it to SA-X, but I have very little faith I will ever beat it.

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I've played a bit of Super Rush's story mode and... It's not really doing anything for me so we'll see if I end up beating it or not..

Regardless, Support Banner Saga. That's been on my radar for quite some time

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Fuck the shit out of this game.

Finally beat the God damn SA-X and then there's another final boss without saving and I can't even get a single hit on it.

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You're holding the L key to aim diagonally, right?
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Well, some of you might have caught a glimpse of my deteriorating mental health there. Nevertheless, persistence prevailed.

darkx has beaten Metroid Fusion

CLEAR TIME:
4:12

YOUR RATE FOR COLLECTING ITEMS IS:
46%

Weird, I thought I had a lot more stuff than that.

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Metroid Fusion having just the gigantic "nope" to exploration after some points of the game really sucks. They make you want to wait on exploration then they lock you out of it.

Sucks for me as someone who wanted to collect all items. Maybe a randomizer sometime. But first I'll have to beat SA-X and the Omega Metroid. I beat the former once but then died to OM, oops.

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I lost to Omega three times. SA-X was a bitch at first but after a while it became pretty routine.

I still say either Nightmare or the spider thing was the hardest because those are the two I have the least faith I could repeat my success with.

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For noms, I'll go with two that I've nominated multiple times in the past and continue to hope for success:

The Last of Us, Part II
Punch-Out!! (2009)

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