Board 8 > Aug. Game of the Month Club ft. Ace Attorney, Banner Saga, Aragami, and Quantum

(+) Yeah! (+)

Augusts Games:
The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures (PC/PS4/Switch/3DS/Android/iOS)
The Banner Saga (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch/Android/iOS)
Aragami (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch/Luna)
Quantum Conundrum (PC/360/PS3)

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 - 133
gameking - 116
ArkOfTurus - 76
Mr Crispy - 74
Lolo Guru - 65
Cody - 39
KnightOfNee - 35
MegamanX - 28
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
Wickle - 22
Fenny - 16
darkx - 15
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
Cody - 1
Lolo - 1
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Quantum Conundrum is currently on sale for PC via Steam for $1 USD
https://store.steampowered.com/app/200010/Quantum_Conundrum/

Aragami: Shadows Edition (includes DLC) is on sale for $12 USD for Switch
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/aragami-shadow-edition-switch/

Aragami: Shadows Edition is on sale for $5 USD for PS4
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1578-CUSA06168_00-SHADOWEDITION001/

The Banner Saga Trilogy (obviously contains all three games) is on sale for $20 USD for PS4
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0134-CUSA11054_00-TBSTRILOGYBUNDLE/

If you have been an XBL Gold/GPU subscriber for awhile, there's a chance you may have Aragami: Shadows Edition in your library as it was a Games with Gold title last November.

If you already have or plan to request access for Amazon Luna, a cloud gaming service, it includes Aragami.
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Will play Ace Attorney, but with it being a long game I might not end up finishing it this month.

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Played a level or two in Aragami on the Switch and the performance ain't great.

Played an hour or two of Quantum Conundrum and it seems neat, just repetitive. But I do have a soft spot for puzzle games.

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Still waiting on my copy of AA because it hasn't been shipped yet. >_>

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I haven't heard the name Quantum Conundrum in ages

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ok I got it in the mail today. Haven't finished the first case yet though.

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Nominate Life is Strange: True Colors

As long as it's allowed. It comes out September 10th, which limits it to just 21 days instead of the standard 30 but that still gives players 2/3 of the month which based on previous games in the series should be plenty of time.

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I am starting the fourth case on Great Ace Attorney. Can barely put it down.

I've been very impressed with it so far.

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I've finished Great Ace Attorney: Adventures.

I'm not going to spoiler up the topic or anything; but I already want to play more; good thing there's a second half to go on with.

I'd like to nominate Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
And I'll figure out some other nominations later.

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I should be starting Quantum and Aragami in the next day or so and Banner Saga soon after
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Started up Ace Attorney this week. Been playing a bit each night, currently in the second case. Enjoying it so far, it has been ages since I played one of these.
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ArkOfTurus has beaten the Banner Saga

Finished it on hard mode. I find I enjoy this game more each time I play it. I know the game well enough now that I was able to keep everyone I could alive. Ended up having Rook take the shot for a different TBS2/3 playthrough. Definitely intend to go through the rest of the series again.

At case 4 in Great Ace Attorney, about to start the trial. Played an hour of Quantum Conundrum, probably going to stick with it. Played the first mission of Aragami.

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I only played a few minutes of Banner Saga, but loved what I played.

Not sure if I'll dedicate time to Aragami or not, it hasn't totally captured me.

Probably save Ace Attorney for last. I will play it, but not sure if I'll have time to finish it this month.

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I have a hard time getting a sense of progression in Quantum, but according to the chapter select menu, I have completed three (out of 51!). I had an embarrassing hiccup in one puzzle, but it has been smooth sailing otherwise.

I completed the first chapter of Aragami, and other than the default movement speed, everything has been solid.
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Abacus has beat Quantum Conundrum

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I finished the last part of case 1 as well as case 2 over the weekend.

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Finished case 1 of ace attorney and Im through part 1 of case 2. Really enjoying it so far. Also this is a fun and interesting take on Holmes and I love how they work it into the gameplay

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I'm really getting the hang of Aragami after really struggling with the first area of chapter 2. I might be on Chapter 4 now? I have some scrolls saved up that I should probably start using to acquire abilities. I'm eyeballing the ability to make bodies disappear (permanently I assume?) by approaching them, but I'm hesitating because I might need to use a body to draw out someone at some point.

I'm on chapter 10 or 11 in Quantum. All the mechanics that I've come across thus far have been solid, but I'm hoping they take the next step to get me hooked on it.
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Gonna Nominate
No More Heroes III
Psychonauts 2

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Monthly Progress
Attorney - Lolo
Banner - Ark
Aragami -
Quantum - Abacus

Nominations
Abacus - No More Heroes III, Psychonauts 2
darkx - LiS: True Colors
Lolo - Bloodstained: Ritual

Supports
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Nominate Spelunky 2

Was waiting for the switch release date to nominate it.
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I'm up to Chapter 9 in Aragami, and I guess I will be doing a boss fight of sorts. We'll see how that works out. I have hardly touched the powers that have finite uses up to now. I mainly just roll with the raven keeping track of enemies and having shadows dispose of any enemy corpse. Sometimes I do use the kunai or reveal enemies through walls, but really I just stick to what has been working best for me. I had been trying to do chapters by killing everyone and not raising an alert, but I have messed those up in like three or four of the eight chapters that I have finished. I have still finished with an S or A rank on every level at least.

I'm up to what I think they refer to in the game as the yellow wing in Quantum. This new slow-down feature has already thrown me for a loop, so I can tell this wing is going to really put me to the test.
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I say that as I plow through like five or so chapters in the yellow wing before finally hitting a wall (Robot Block Party I think)
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ArkOfTurus has beaten The Great Ace Attorney

I'm glad I won't have to wait two years for the sequel to this, a large part of the game felt like set-up that won't pay off until the next game. Case 5 was fantastic, though, and I ended up liking Sholmes a lot more than I expected. Not a top tier Ace Attorney game, but still very worth playing. Looking forward to playing the next one.

Up to about the same point as KCF in Quantum Conundrum (I think Robot Block Party was the last puzzle I finished?) Really enjoying John de Lancie as the professor. Still need to pick Aragami back up.

Nominate Monster Train and Streets of Rage 4

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If I hear the word Dodecahedron four more times, I'm going to go insane.

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Going out on a limb and guessing that is from Quantum Conundrum unless it is somehow a commonly used word in Ace Attorney
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Through case 4 in Ace Attorney, thus far the game has not had a lot of dodecahedrons.
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KCF0107 posted...

Going out on a limb and guessing that is from Quantum Conundrum unless it is somehow a commonly used word in Ace Attorney

Yep.

Thankfully I only had to hear it four more times before finishing the room, so while I'm now insane, I'm not as insane as I could have been.

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ArkOfTurus has beaten Quantum Conundrum

I think? It feels like there should be another ending or something, but google seems to indicate otherwise. Maybe it's a DLC thing? Enjoyed the game, overall. Most of the difficulty came from platforming/timing rather than the puzzles being challenging to figure out, which wasn't really what I was hoping for from it. Still entertaining, though, and using the fourth dimension type to do said platforming ended up being quite fun. John De Lancie's voice acting remained enjoyable, although the game could have benefitted from preventing lines being repeated when you die (I'm still angry at the dodecahedrons.) Glad this was nominated for this topic series, don't think I ever would have played it otherwise.

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KCF has beaten Aragami

Stealth is one of my favorite genres (mostly thanks to Hitman/Splinter Cell/Sly) , and Aragami delivered. Modeled after old series like Tenchu, it is a bit basic, but good level design/enemy placements kept things fresh, and what little powers you did have I found to be fun.

If end-level seals transferred between difficulties, I would consider going after them all, but I have no intention of doing Chapter 12 on anything less than the easiest difficulty, and I don't feel like going through each level a minimum of two more times. I will probably play the DLC over the next week or so.
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As for my noms, I noticed that since I broke it down into two segments in the spreadsheet (A-M and N-Z titles) that the first segment has substantially more games, so I'm going to try to pull it closer to even.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (2017)
Wargroove
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Support Wargroove

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I guess I'll use my third nom on Startropics
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I'll also nominate

Urumangi Generation
Control

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Monthly Progress
Attorney - Lolo, Ark
Banner - Ark
Aragami - KCF
Quantum - Abacus, Ark

Nominations
Abacus - No More Heroes III, Psychonauts 2
Ark - Streets of Rage 4, Monster Train, Control, Urumangi
darkx - LiS: True Colors
KCF - Wargroove, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (2017)
Lolo - Bloodstained: Ritual, StarTropics, Spelunky 2

Supports
Ark - Wargroove

Drawing in a week
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Currently on episode 2 of Great Ace Attorney. Definitely wont be finishing it in time.

Nominate Doom (1993)

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I'm in the middle of Case 4. Hoping I can cram in the final case and a half by the end of the month.

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lol I just got to the level where they say dodecahedron four times in a sentence. Hopefully I don't perish here.
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Looking at a video of that puzzle, I found out that I was making things, like, 100 times harder on myself, so it probably won't be as much of a problem for you.

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If it was the tail end of HORSE, it took me a little while, but I finished it without dying. I'm assuming it is another level though because I feel like you would have to go out of your way to die there.
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Going out of my way was the problem, yeah. For some reason I thought I had to throw the dodecahedron into the rightmost target myself, so I stuck it on the middle platform, stuck a box and myself on the right platform, launched everything, slowed time, and made a really awkward jump to the top right area so I could run to open the middle door fast enough to activate heavy dimension. It worked, but it was obviously completely unnecessary.

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Yeah, for whatever reason, I tried using the pad for the dodecahedron on the right pad first, and since it worked, I tried it for the rest only to be met with various obstacles. I don't know the official way to solve the left and middle, but I just went on to the left platform and twice threw the dodecahedron manually into the canister things. Anyway, I stopped after that one and Google says that I am on What Goes Around.

I really need to start Banner Saga as well, but I know it is thematically heavy with dire consequences, and I want to save that for last so I can focus on it.

Speaking of which, The Banner Saga just by itself is now on sale for PS4 for $3.75 USD
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0134-CUSA02538_00-THEBANNERSAGAPS4/
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Cody has beat The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures

Good stuff, this was the first Ace Attorney game I've completed since Apollo Justice, it is good to jump back into the series. Enjoyed the characters and setting, gonna jump into the second one sooner rather than later. I'd agree this one definitely felt like a setup or origin story.
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Support Doom

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Started making some progress in Aragami. Finished chapter 4. Plan to take my time (partially due to the fact that I don't really want to have a fifth nomination,) but I should finish it by the end of the month judging by the how long to beat time. I'm enjoying it so far. Nothing about it particularly stands out to me, but everything is solid. It's easy to make a stealth game either too easy, or too frustrating to me, but so far the balance has been perfect.

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Nominate The Great Ace Attorney 2

(I'm surprised no one's nominated or supported it yet.)

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I figured people wouldn't want to wait until the end of the month to keep playing.

(I've still only barely started 2, though, so maybe not!)

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Nominate:
Coffee Talk
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
Neo Cab
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