What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[Darwock]

On 08/03/2022 at 08:54, Darwock said:

My first of the year:

 

08/03 : Valkyria Chronicles (PS4)

 

Played to the platinum trophy, but still have the expert hard skirmishes and DLC content to have a go at. Loved it from start to finish.

I subsequently realized the above was not true - I finished Astro’s Playroom first this year. I guess because I never ‘bought’ it I didn’t count it somehow. Anyway got a couple more to add.

 

14/02 Astro’s Playroom

08/03 Valkyria Chronicles

 

10/03 Tetris Effect

No, you can’t complete Tetris, but I did get the platinum trophy and have beaten the level 5 boss in connected mode, so technically all challenges are complete. The most mentally demanding platinum I’ve ever done.

 

31/03 Superhot VR

Also done to platinum. To go with the previous, this was undoubtedly the most physically demanding. I’m in the spring holidays so was giving it about hour a day, and my body is still feeling the pain. Just an incredible game though, the most perfect ‘sci-fi but real’ use of VR that it is possible to imagine. I’m so lucky to have experienced it.

[Captain Kelsten]

On 22/03/2022 at 23:42, Doctor Shark said:

Elden Ring - 22/03/22

Took 107 hours on my main save, but I put probably another 10-15 in just dicking about with other characters. Even with the various flaws and issues I had with the game, it still balances out as a 10/10 experience. I mean, it's the only game I've actually finished in over two years, so it must be good, right?

 

Edit: Wait, that's not entirely true, I also finished the Return of the Obra Dinn last year. One game a year! Not bad

Dark Souls 2

Tried it on release, didn’t get on with it. 
 

Bought Scholar of the First Sin edition in 2015, put 62 hours in but didn’t finish and basically forgot everything about the game (including the fact I’d played it so much - I thought I’d only played for about 3 hours!) 
 

After Elden Ring I fancied more FromSoft but not necessarily more Elden Ring, so decided to do Dark Souls 2, 3 and Bloodborne, none of which I’d previously finished (I really didn’t gel with Sekiro at all so not going to bother with that). 
 

Anyway, went sorcerer and then Hexer, something else I’ve never done in these games, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Dark Souls 2 gets a bad rap, mostly cus it’s not dark souls 1 and dared to try to be different. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t but, overall, it’s still a phenomenal game and a worthy successor. Loved it. 

[Jammy]

Red Dead Redemption 2, including epilogue. Am currently just mucking about being a rancher with occasional gunplay. Oh, and AC Odyssey.

[JoeK]

Zelda:BotW.

 

Well, I say completed, but with well over half the shrines still to uncover and untold hundreds of little leaf folk still hidden away there's plenty to warrant a return trip.

 

Still processing my thoughts on the game, but suffice to say it's an astonishing one. 

 

You know when you've just finished a really, really good game and you kind of feel a bit 'empty'? That's how I feel at the moment! 

 

I'm glad to have that feeling, mind.

[Quest]

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

 

 

It's a bit good, innit? I started this months ago but decided it was finally time to get the last few battles done.

 

Too much fantasy waffling for my liking but the core game is so delicious it hardly matters, and you end up making your own little stories of your favourite characters narrowly evading permadeath anyway. Poor Donnel made it so far but fell right at the last hurdle. 

 

Previous:

Spoiler

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

[Unofficial Who]

Apr

 

08/04 Slay the Spire (PC) After giving away a copy to a friend recently I thought I'd better check out the copy I was given from someone from here and it's really good! I don't like deck builders generally preferring the old way I'd play Magic the Gathering with friends with random drops. This has the best of both worlds with the deck building happening during your rogue like journey up the Spire. It didn't take me too long to "complete" a run and get to the end credits using the Ironclad but now I'm hooked on trying to complete a run using one of the other characters. Even played the Playstation version to find that it plays just as well with a pad as it does with a mouse. Highly recommended and I'm a fool for sleeping on this for a couple of years.

 

 

03/04 Tunic (PC) I've been debating whether or not to count this as "complete" as there's still so much I have to do to find alternate endings and secrets but I've decided to list this as it might prompt others to try it. Tunic is a fantastic game that's been described as Zelda meets Fez and that's a really good way to describe it. I don't want to say too much more except to add that it also has engaging Dark Souls style combat which is great for those who love that sort of challenge. BUT, if like me you find yourself struggling you can turn off stamina and even make yourself invincible which I ended up doing five hours in. And for people like me who aren't engaged in the excellent combat but are instead drawn to the exploration, puzzles and mystery there's still loads here to love. It's on Gamepass and if you have access to that you need to try this. I'd love to wax lyrical about everything I loved but I don't want to spoil this for you. Play it, track down the pages in game and resist looking at faqs, it really is the closest experience I've had to playing old C64 games with missing or damaged instructions. Contender for Game of the Year for me.

 

 

02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC) I bounced off previous iterations of this but giving this a quick try soon turned into marathon sessions, it's the perfect game when you're feeling under the weather like I was as you can ride to what you want built, let your villagers go at it and move on. It's very much like Populous in that respect. Also much like Populous things usually go great, until they don't. I found the balance to be 75% chill and relaxing and 25% infuriating. Not a bad way to spend the week.

 

 

Earlier this year

 

Spoiler

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

19/03 Narita Boy

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

 

 

[Gambit]

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

 

Not finished anything in two months! I blame Apex Legends and starting a load of long open worls games at the same time.

 

Anyway, this is the DLC for Lost Judgment. It's always good being back in Kamarocho, seeing the sights and battering people on the streets. Liked the new story and characters. Not much in the way of new gameplay though, it's very much more of the same with Kaito instead of Yagami. And could've done without the overly long tailing section in the middle.

 

7/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)

 

 

12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
This is one of the earliest TT games and it really shows. Graphics and animation are basic and it's pretty ugly TBH, the UI is unresponsive, the input system is a mess and there are plenty of graphical glitches, visible transparencies and straight-up missing graphics at times.

The story is set just after the events of Part 2 and seemingly everything our duo attempt to do backfires, creating alternate timelines al over the shop. It's serviceable though I probably wouldn't care about this had it not been attached to this licence. Vice acting is surprisingly decent with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Doc and a really good soundalike as Marty.

I'm just chipping away at this for my daily achievement as it's pretty low-effort. There's a really robust hint system which ranges from a subtle nudge to telling you the solution which I appreciate. I'll keep playing, but I'd find it hard to recommend to anyone bar the biggest BttF fans.

[Vorgot]

Only finished 2 so far this year, been spreading myself too thin over games

 

March : The Turing Test PS4

Enjoyed this. Bit Portal like with a ton of levels and an engaging story. Thought the difficulty ramped up for the last few levels too much, had to use a guide for a couple, but I enjoyed the game and the satisfaction at figuring out a puzzle is great. Reminds me that I need to get back to the Talos Principle.

 

April : Kirby and the Forgotten Land

I say finished, I've seen the credits, but there is still a ton to do in this game. I'll be dipping into it for ages to get all the missions, challenges and the post game levels done. Never mind the gacha and photo collecting. Just a lovely game, not too challenging unless you want to go for the top times on the challenges, but it also doesn't lock anything off behind those toughies, they are just there to challenge yourself. Really enjoyed this, was a blast start to finish. 

[instasis]

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

 

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

 

This was a weird one. It was so wonderfully average and yet surprisingly engaging. It was brief, but that was to its advantage. The combat was shit, but it rarely happened. The companions were good, I liked them, and there's more for me to explore if I ever bother to go back to it (I won't). I accidentally ended up genociding an entire colony, which was awks, and you can almost pinpoint the exact moment in the game development where they ran out of money for writing more quests.

 

I enjoyed it, and it made me laugh a few times. Decent.

[Captain Kelsten]

On 31/03/2022 at 20:07, Doctor Shark said:

Dark Souls 2

Tried it on release, didn’t get on with it. 
 

Bought Scholar of the First Sin edition in 2015, put 62 hours in but didn’t finish and basically forgot everything about the game (including the fact I’d played it so much - I thought I’d only played for about 3 hours!) 
 

After Elden Ring I fancied more FromSoft but not necessarily more Elden Ring, so decided to do Dark Souls 2, 3 and Bloodborne, none of which I’d previously finished (I really didn’t gel with Sekiro at all so not going to bother with that). 
 

Anyway, went sorcerer and then Hexer, something else I’ve never done in these games, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Dark Souls 2 gets a bad rap, mostly cus it’s not dark souls 1 and dared to try to be different. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t but, overall, it’s still a phenomenal game and a worthy successor. Loved it. 

 

Dark Souls 3!

I think Dark Souls 3 is the natural progression of what came in Dark Souls, whereas Dark Souls 2 felt more experimental in a lot of ways. 3 at times feels like it's playing it too safe and can often feel like a bit of a gauntlet as you desperately run to try and find safety or a bonfire with extremely fast, aggressive and numerous enemies. After playing so many hours of DS2, 3 at first felt like everything was on double speed but you soon get used to it. There are a number of times where if an enemy catches you with the first hit of a combo, you're gonna eat the whole thing, such as the ninja corvians in the Painted World DLC, but overall the game isn't overly difficult. None of the bosses gave me any trouble outside of the last few (Nameless King, Soul of Cinder and then Sister Friede), which all took a good number of attempts, but there are definitely some of the strongest bosses on display in From games, with some real standouts.

 

I think overall I might just prefer DS2, which I felt I connected with more and was more engaged in due to its esoteric systems, story and bold decisions - those that worked, anyway - some of which I was sad to see completely abandoned in 3. As I said, 3 feels more like a direct sequel to 1 a lot of the time, for better or worse.

 

Interestingly, I think DS1 has a great 2/3rds and a very poor final 3rd, DS2 has a poor first 3rd but an increasingly great back 2/3rds and DS3 is....okay, overall. Some cracking zones (Ilithyll and Illithyll Dungeon stood out in particular for me), some pretty crappy ones (Undead Settlement, Cathedral of the Deep I wasn't overly keen on) and a lot of middling ones that just sort of exist to stitch the world together. I felt the Painted World of Ariandel DLC was almost like DS3 condensed - some great bits, some fucking horrible bits but overall came out as a net positive. I'll get round to the Ringed City DLC soon, but I need a bit of a break! 

 

 

 

 

[CurryKitten]

4/4/2022 - Resident Evil 7 (PSVR)

 

This was quite a struggle and its a game I started several years ago when I first got VR for my PS4, but I had the VR sickness to go with it, but I decided to give it another go with my PS5 as this should give PS4 Pro like experience and hopefully any little boost in frame rate etc should help.  I also was careful not to try and push the limits.  So I still felt "odd" while playing, but not feeling like I was going to die.  I limited my play sessions to around 30 minutes but sometimes went into the hour mark.  Anyway, I survived and glad I stuck it out in VR.

 

I enjoyed the game, but it genuinely made me jump and possible give a little bit of me shouting "arrghh" at one point.  It does jump scares quite well.  I've just started playing the free Chris Redfield DLC for it as well.

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)

 

 

14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
My launch Switch got banned because I decided to see what hacking it was all about and well... you live and learn. This wouldn't have been an issue had Nintendo decided to disable cloud saving for a game I'd spent literally hundreds of hours on. Just blitzed through the story (for the THIRD time) with a Lv100 starter and I'm slowly transferring my shiny and buffed Pokémon across using the LAN mode so I can run my digital copy on the two Switches simultaneously.

I just have to say, GF really love stretching a bad story out with far too many AHA! moments , surprise battle sand more battles with a few extra battles, something which Arceus seemed to dispense with, thankfully. I hope the upcoming Scarlet/Violet is closer to the latter, as opposed to the bloat of previous entries.
 

[gossi the dog]

20/02 - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS5) - I think this is my favourite Uncharted. It's not too long, it has what feels like more focus on exploration and slightly less on cover shooting than earlier games in the series and in my opinion is better for it. The train yard section is however absolutely awful.

 

10/03 - Hashihime of the Old Book Town (Switch) - what is known in the trade as a Boy's Love Mystery or BLM for short. In other words a dating visual novel. Set in the Taisho era of Japan you follow the protagonist Tamamori who moved to Tokyo to enroll at the University, failed his entrance his exam, loses his motivation to live and ends up living in a fantasy world. This is a strange game, where it's difficult to know what's real and what's fantasy, in places it's quite dark, and is set against a very grey exterior (it's set during the rainy season, so no blue skies gaming) meant that at times it felt hard going. I completed the first story arc and seeing the end credits thus counting as completed, but will probably return to it at some point to see some of the other endings. 

 

 

Previously:

Spoiler

01. 02/01 - Death Come True (PS4)

02. 04/01 - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (PS4)

03. 11/01 - Song of Memories (PS4)

04. 20/01 - Vostok Inc (PS4)

05. 25/01 - Steins Gate 0 (PS4)

06. 31/01 - Punch Line (PS4) 

07. 04/01 - Uncharted 4 (PS5)

08. 11/02 - Raging Loop (PS4) 

09. 17/02 - World End Syndrome (PS4)

 

[Quest]

05/04 - Bujingai: Swordmaster/The Forsaken City (PS2)

 

 

A brilliant but flawed gem of a PS2 action game. A stubborn camera and the occasional difficulty spike aren't enough to spoil my enjoyment of wuxia-gliding across a cliffside monastery to smack some jiangshi around with a magic rainbow sword.  

 

Some pretty solid erhu action on the soundtrack n'all.

 

 

Previous: 

Spoiler

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[CurryKitten]

5/4/2022 - Not a Hero DLC for RE7 (PSVR)

 

Not really a game in itself as it's just a piece of DLC and took just under 2 hours to complete.  Pretty good though, and it's free so the price is right.

[cassidy]

Spoiler

06/01/22

 

1. Yakuza 3 remastered -(series X)

 

26/01/22

 

2. Yakuza 4 remastered - (series X) 

 

27/01/22

 

3. Nobody saves the world - (Series X)

 

16/02/22

 

4. Infernax - (series X)

 

17/02/22

 

5. Dreamscaper - (series X) 

 

17/03/2022

 

6. Young Souls - (Series X) 

7. A Memoir Blue - (Series X)

 

A game I doubt I'd try if not for Gamepass. Short tale with not a lot of gameplay tbh but it's tale is told well enough. 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

[Darwock]

On 31/03/2022 at 15:22, Darwock said:

1: 14/02 Astro’s Playroom

2: 08/03 Valkyria Chronicles

3: 10/03 Tetris Effect

4: 31/03 Superhot VR

5: 08/04 Lumines Remastered

 

Another one that you don’t technically finish, but I’ve 100%ed everything, unlocked all the skins and got the platinum trophy. It took just under a week. Uptake on this game seems remarkably low, either they didn’t advertise it well or people were just bored of Lumines. On the plus side it means my global time attack/score rankings look really good, lol.

 

edit - or possibly not global, as the three regional variations of this title count as separate games, so maybe the scoreboards are not combined.

[instasis]

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

 

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

 

From a narrative perspective, the first 2/3rds of this are better than both Man Of Medan and (the dire) Little Hope. In terms of how it plays, it's ok I guess? It seems that Supermassive are so desperate to make a horror film and to make shorter games than Until Dawn, they're just slowly figuring out how to get rid of interactivity to achieve both goals.

 

But, overall, this was another miss for me, because

 

Spoiler

 

was such a huge misstep for me in the final third. It removed all of the tension and horror - and infact, there was hardly any anyway in that act. I kinda liked what it had been riffing on up to that point, but it just nosedived.

 

So, The Dark Pictures Anthology has, for me, been an almost compete bust. Medan was dull, and the resolution sucked. Little Hope was just rubbish, and the resolution sucked. House Of Ashes was fun for the first two acts, but then the resolution sucked.

 

I'm worried about The Quarry, it looks higher quality, but they also just announced it literally has a movie mode. I'm beginning to think Until Dawn was either a fluke, or had someone else involved reminding them a) to make a game and b) how to write an ending.

[Gambit]

10/04 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Switch)

 

I owned this originally on the original Xbox but never finished it. I got upto a point about halfway through that I just couldn't get past, and idiot, younger me saw knocking the difficulty down to anything other than "Normal" as a weakness. Thankfully I outgrew that and whacked this on Easy so I could experience the story and what people say is one of the best Star Wars games ever made. Cracks are beginning to show in regards to the combat and mechanics, but as a huge Mass Effect fan this really does pave the way for that series. A gang of misfits, your own ship, story choices. I enjoyed it most of the way through, aside from one point on Kashyyyk where I broke a quest sequence and had too restart an older save.

 

Looking forward to what they do with the remake now.

 

8/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

 

[strawdonkey]

On 26/03/2022 at 17:21, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

12. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

13. Solitarica

14. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

15. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

16. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

17. Higrashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

 

Zenohell is an extremely budget vertical shmup that I will definitely never have the patience to get good at. It's rock-hard, everything moves at lightning speed, there's way too much stuff going on to keep track of, and there's tons of occasions where enemies are firing at you as soon as any part of them enters the screen, which leads to a hail of extremely fast bullets coming from seemingly nowhere. I'm sure it is very learnable but, to be honest, I don't want to, it's definitely way too much for me.

 

--

 

At the end of each chapter of Higurashi When They Cry, there's a behind-the-scenes with all the cast where they discuss the events of each chapter, but also in this one one of the characters thanks you for playing the games, mentions that it's bascially not a game, but the interaction you have with it comes from your theories and thoughts on what actually happened, along with the discussions you have with others, which is a nice touch.

 

Spoiler

Story spoilers within!

 

Spoiler

Chapter 4 takes a deviation from the main cast members that the previous three chapters revolve around, and focuses on a country-wide police investigation of a kidnapping several years earlier, from the perspective of a police investigator dispatched to Hinamizawa to gather evidence on whether the village has anything to do with it. You spend most of your time with the local police officer, and with it being held before the dam project was shut down, the atmosphere of the village is combative and threatening.

 

You eventually meet Rika (one of the students from the other games) who eventually opens up and reveals that she has full, advance knowledge of the next five years of serial murders, which will ultimately end in her own; though she does not have knowledge of the gas disaster that eventually wiped 95% of the village's population out at the end of Chapter 3.

 

The kidnapped party is eventually found and rescued in the even-more-remote abandoned village behind Hinamizawa, and right at the end of the game the two officers collaborate on a book on the serial murder cases and other strange incidents, aptly named "Higurashi When They Cry". It's suggested that there is a possibility that the swamp where the gas eruption takes place is connected to other bodies of water underground, and the gas explosion was engineered deliberately from elsewhere.

 

The big discussion or disagreement focuses on whether this was the act of humans, nature or whether there was some kind of spiritual involvement - with the village long believing in its guardian deity. I'm struggling to reach a useful conclusion since there's just so many open threads still, but am leaning towards thinking there is something spiritual in play, but there are too many instances where human-engineered events happen so it's likely to be a combination of the two.

 

Naturally, because we've had these suggestions it's likely to be something ridiculous that hasn't been considered. I hope it's not aliens. That would be really disappointing.

 

The last four games are considered the "Answer Arc" so am looking forward to things being explained soon as I'm very confused

 

 

[Quest]

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

 

 

A big chewy slab of Japanese action RPG. The story is a garbled mess of exposition dumps, plot holes and anime nonsense, and the Persona-ish social bonds system falls flat, but it's difficult not to admire the ambition. I'd be interested in a sequel where they illustrate the world they've built with more clarity, as the core combat is enjoyably chaotic, escalating to the point where you're easily tearing apart dozens of house-sized mutants whilst flinging a bulldozer at them.

 

It's your standard 7/10 material for me, though I suspect others might not be as forgiving.

 

Spoiler

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[ImmaculateClump]

2 hours ago, strawdonkey said:

Zenohell is an extremely budget vertical shmup that I will definitely never have the patience to get good at. It's rock-hard, everything moves at lightning speed

 

When I first got it, I bounced off it pretty hard, I don't think I was ready for it at my current skill level.

Do make sure you revisit it in the future, hopefully you'll feel different about it, like I did!

 

Use the XOP Ultra ship.
It's honestly not a memoriser. You have to know a couple of the boss patterns so you're ready for them coming, but it's mostly just keeping your eyes wide and reacting.
Took me about 16 hours.

I'd recomend working your way through the series backwards, as this first game in the trilogy is easily the hardest. The other games will ease you in more gently and get you used to the bullet speed.

Last game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/761920/Zenodeath/

Second game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/466820/Zenodyne_R/

 

Jet Buster would also be a great primer - https://store.steampowered.com/app/618070/Jet_Buster/

 

They all go for pennies in the sales if you don't already have them. Jet Buster is fantastic!

 

You will get used to the bullet speed. It's just something you're not used to. Zenohell is brilliant, there's something very pure and primal about the thing. Great game.

[strawdonkey]

Interestingly enough, after credit feeding it, I'm not sure if it's just my perception or if there was an actual bug with the game, but all the bullets appear to be moving at half the speed now, so I went from "oh god this is utterly impossible" to half way through the third stage and 29 million points. So yeah it seems a little more manageable now! 

 

I do like that the ship you have recommended me has "skill required to use" set at the lowest possible star rating 👀

[strawdonkey]

7 hours ago, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

12. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

13. Solitarica

14. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

15. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

16. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

17. Higrashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

15a. ZeroRanger - Green Orange Mode 1-ALL (354k, Type-C)

 

I have been fighting against this game for a few weeks now and the sense of inner peace and sheer relief having finally put together a consistent run is indescribable. I've been at the stage where I can confidently tackle any section in the game without taking a hit, but trying to string it all together was just proving too much. And then, I pissed through the final section with five lives left and it's almost unclear what the issue was all along. (Spoiler: it's that I'm Bad At Shmups and very inconsistent)

 

There's a second loop; I will be playing some of it to see the end but I'm not sure I have it in me to try and grind through, though while the second loop is a nightmare version of the first, it doesn't feel much more difficult despite how much more difficult it appears. All that said, this run eventually ended at the boss of 2-2 and there is a lot of game left yet.

 

There's been a ton of fuss surrounding this game and it has continued to grow on me as I've been playing it (14 hours in now). At first it felt solid, but as I've started to properly understand the build I like to use, where I will have trouble and where I'll be able to spawn the bonus enemies by clearing a wave quickly, it's really started to open up how well-designed and intelligent the game is, though I could quite happily go without many of the callbacks/homages to older shmups. Some of them work better than others and there's one specific one that is not only extremely frustrating, but just doesn't really mesh with the rest of the game mechanically or as part of the game's story or world.

 

It also helps that the difficulty is pitched really well, while I've been struggling with it, it's been a me problem rather than a game-too-difficult problem. Getting the 1-ALL felt like a when, rather than an if, and at the point I'm up to, the second loop feels aspirational rather than hopeless. I'm not generally one for lists, but as far as all the indie Shmups I've played recently goes, I'd probably put this one a close third behind Crimzon Clover and Blue Revolver, I think they're all fantastic and to be honest we are absolutely spoiled rotten with the number of amazing examples of the genre that are floating around.

 

[edit] Can't remember if I mentioned this in my last post on the game or not, but this is an absolute masterclass in how to make something look amazing with an extremely limited colour palette. Everything's either green, orange, or a variant on those colours and it is both extremely stylish and also it's always crystal clear what is going to kill you and therefore should be avoided.

 

There's also a third selectable mode in the main menu that I've not yet unlocked, so chances are I need to get through the second loop to see what that's all about.

[ImmaculateClump]

1 hour ago, strawdonkey said:

I do like that the ship you have recommended me has "skill required to use" set at the lowest possible star rating 👀

 

Haha! It's the ship I use, no shade throwing here. That game ain't easy

 

  

1 hour ago, strawdonkey said:

There's also a third selectable mode in the main menu that I've not yet unlocked, so chances are I need to get through the second loop to see what that's all about.

 

That's the hard mode that they've been working on that'll come in a free update.

I'm assuming once that's in they'll port the game to consoles and finally start making some well deserved money!

 

Totally agree with you about the limited colour palette thing. It looks great, very stylish, and like you say, despite the limitations, the game is perfectly readable when it could so easily have gotten messy.

[CurryKitten]

8/4/22 - Paper Beast (PSVR)

One of the giveaways from playstation during lockdown, I finally got around to looking at this.  It's only around 3-4 hours in length... and is weird.  I kind of liked the weirdness at first.  Not knowing what to do or where to go, but aside from getting the general idea about what to do and where to go, nothing much really happened or got explained so left me feeling a bit meh about the whole experience.  It's very pretty and an easy going experience, but just as well it was free.

 

9/4/22 - Kingdom Hearts (PS2)

I've had this for ages but I got stuck.  I got to the island at the End of the Word stage, but then couldn't do the seemingly unending boss rush - this annoyed the hell out of me from the hours put in it so far, especially as it seemed like such a massive spike in difficulty.  I'm not proud, but I downloaded an Action Replay disk and boosted my health/magic just to finish it off.  The ending was quite a disappointment after all that

[JamesC]

11/04/22

 

I've finally finished Days Gone which I've been playing through since January.
I really enjoyed it.

 

I generally like open world games as long as they adhere to my golden rules:
-it shouldn't take too long to get from one place to another.
-traversal should be fun.
-there should always be side activities which take no longer than 15-20 mins to complete.

 

All this means that I can continue with the game even when I'm fairly busy and only have half an hour or so after work.

This game ticked all the boxes and it was always fun to hare around on the motorbike burning out zombie nests or taking down camps of marauders.

 

The game's big feature is the zombie horde. I actually found the hordes the least enjoyable part of the game. The system was really well implemented, I just enjoyed exploring and playing around in the open world, so when these big set-piece fights cropped  up it felt like a chore.

 

The story is nothing special but the characters and acting are great and I was always interested to see what happened to them.

 

I think this game was a bit of a flop, which seems a shame. I suppose zombies have been done to death and maybe gamers just don't like Hell's Angels.

To be honest though, I think it works really well as a stand alone adventure and doesn't really feel like it needs a sequel.

Anyway, if you like the idea of spending 40odd hours as a zombie fighting biker I'd definitely recommend it - especially as you can pick it up pretty cheap.