Games 01-26

Completed 52/52:

Game 27: The Witcher (PC) - 57h
#I only played it this much to see what my friend saw in it. I didn't find it. Played a bit of 2 to see the combat system was better, thank God, but this title... I don't get the hype, I don't. Story is legit. Geralt is a total manwhore. Sex "scenes" are mediocre.

Game 28: Her Story (PC) - 2.8h
#Certainly not a game I'm used to, a VN of sorts. I've never played anything like it. At first, I was skeptical, unsure of whether I would enjoy it or not. I was so quickly sucked in. As it's new, my impressions will be kept in spoiler tags for anyone who's planning on taking it. This game is something of a mystery, there's two different takes on what the ending can mean

Spoiler

twins versus split personality

, following the murder of Simon Smith through his wife (Hannah's) police interviews. It sucks you in. 10/10, would play again after I've forgotten near every detail.

Game 29: Hexcells Infinite (PC) - 3.6h
#Last installment of the Hexcells games. A zen puzzler that, for the first game was phenomenal, sort of lost that charm once you got the fundamentals down pact. I'd recommend them all, especially this one simply because of the additional deal of infinite levels, or building your own custom level, but it's in no way difficult once you've understood it.

Game 30: The Last Of Us (PS3) - 10.5h
# This was a replay, and I left with... the same thoughts as the first. Except, I played in a harder difficulty so it certainly amped up the survival horror slot for it. The story fell, in my eyes; had it kept up that same emotional impact as the start, it'd have been a lot more interesting. Still, a solid game and a grand exclusive for Sony. I enjoyed it more this time around, without having "listening" as a crutch, which certainly made the whole sections involving clickers a lot longer. Overall? Enjoyment.

Game 31: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 1 (PC) -1h
#Look to episode 5 for full review.

Game 32: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 2 (PC) -2h
#Look to episode 5 for full review.

Game 33: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 3 (PC) -2.5h
#Look to episode 5 for full review.

Game 34: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 4 (PC) -2.4h
#Look to episode 5 for full review.

Game 35: The Wolf Among Us - Episode 5 (PC) -2h
#This game started out incredibly slow. When I say incredibly slow, I mean it. As a person who isn't huge on the explorative portions of a game without real motivation by story - a story that drives the want rather than necessity of search, I struggled a lot at first. Episode 2 is when things started to change for me, between the disappearance of

Spoiler

Snow,

and

Spoiler

Lilly's

death, as well as Faith. The story of this game got a solid 9/10 from me. It helped me overlook janky animations and poor controls (still better than Walking Dead controls, imo) because I felt genuine attachment to the characters. The progression was great from then, it wasn't entirely predictable. It hardly was, actually, not for me. There was enough action to keep my interest between the necessary looking around so frequently. Would recommend for a decent Telltale experience, the experience I've yet to get in Walking Dead and didn't witness in GoT.

Game 36: Game of Thrones - Episode 2 (PC) -2h
#Look to episode 5 for full review insofar.

Game 37: Game of Thrones- Episode 3 (PC) -3h
#Look to episode 5 for full review insofar.

Game 38: Gears of War 2 (360) - 14h
#An old favourite. In fact, one of the first games I added to my 360 collection, after its predecessors. One that comes out on top play through after play through for me in its particular generation. I was a shooter fanatic then, TPS, FPS, it hardly mattered. Now, not so much, but the charm stays with me for this should have been the end title. I'll keep my disagreement with the addition of Gears 3 and Judgement to a minimal here. I played this in coop mode with my brother, and I forgot just how much timing/skill became a factor when it was an intense "boss" and one or more of you was down for the count and slowly fading out. The thing I love about it most, though, is the character dynamic. You have your favourites, those you hate, and without that, what investment can you have in a game with a story that isn't some RPG-esque, 20 + hour game? It doesn't boast the challenge of the first, or the gritty graphics thanks to UE3, but it doesn't completely abandon those textures like Gears of War's re-release on X1 has.

Game 39: Game of Thrones- Episode 4 (PC) -2.5h
#Look to episode 5 for full review insofar.

Game 40: Game of Thrones- Episode 5 (PC) -3h
#This game can be played by someone who isn't huge on the universe of GoT, because there isn't a strong focus on the primary houses of the books/show. The Forresters. I couldn't have told you much about them before I played this, but I didn't like this title anyway. Telltale games are totally about the choices you have, but what I've found is that it's more of an allusion of choice. There is no choice. Just like TWAU, you could go through in silence and watch it like a movie with the exception of the QTEs. For example, like I illustrated in my little comment for episode 1 (I think), I played it through multiple times with some things not changing at all no matter what options I chose. "Choices." It's alright, though. I like when you leave

Spoiler

Westeros

to find

Spoiler

Asher

. Those are good times. ****Not enough violence or sex to accurately portray Game of Thrones as it should be, js.****

Game 41: Hatoful Boyfriend PC) -0.8h
#I only got to one of the endings, and plan on continuing onto the others. This is one of those games that can't be reviewed well - it'd ruin the surprises. I'd just buy it on sale if I were you, or in a bundle, anything cheaper than full price.

Game 42: Life is Strange - Episode 1 (PC) -1.5h
#Time is relative, and Warren is an okay dude. 10/10. GOTY material.

Game 43: Life is Strange - Episode 2(PC) -1.9h
#Frank Bowers, screw you. Also, this power. And the train? Man. NTS: not a game you can marathon, so I'm taking a break.

Game 44: The Walking Dead: Season 1 - Episode 1 (PC) -2.1h
#The controls are more awkward than the other Telltale games, but it's grown on me really quickly. Lee and Clem are likable.

Spoiler

Larry's a bit of a cunt, though, like wtf.

. I made some questionable decisions, but since I never watched the show I don't know what the hell is canon. Saving

Spoiler

Duck over the Hershel's son,

or saving

Spoiler

Carly over Doug,

. The second one just made more sense to me.

Spoiler

Carly's a better shot.

The illusion of choice hasn't been so apparent in this as the other games, so far.

Game 45: The Walking Dead: Season 2 - Episode 1 (PC) -1.1h
#What a warped episode and story. Between the dairy farm's closed barn door, the

Spoiler

bookshelf? PLS. NOT HUMAN MEAT, WHY

, Mark's

Spoiler

"death," well, I guess it does become a genuine death,

, and the batteries in the abandoned car showing

Spoiler

what's on the camcorder that Lee found when he went into the woods with Danny.

Has me fucked up. 10/10 interest factor, 10/10 disgusted and disturbed.

Game 46: Life is Strange - Episode 3(PC) -1.8h
# #TeamWarren

Game 47: Life is Strange - Episode 4(PC) -2.3h
# You know when everything you've done comes rushing back to you, hits you like a tonne of bricks in the face? That's what my decisions in episodes 1-3 did to me here. RIP.

Game 48: The Walking Dead: Season 1 - Episode 3 (PC) - 2.7h
#Self destruction and suspenseful endings. Was a fairly slow one action wise - character progression, changes in dynamic, some revelations. Tiring. I find these games tiring, and I'll always regret buying this over Tales from Borderlands in the End of Summer Telltale Humble Bundle.

Game 49: Life is Strange - Episode 5(PC) -2.8h
#Season 2. Season 2. Season 2. Season 2. I didn't like this episode as much as I enjoyed the others. Not that it's less stellar, but it had a guided direction, reminding me more and more of a Telltale game than it already does in the sense that we're dictated to the same final setting of the season. Still, looking back at this season just pulls right on the heart strings. GOTY list for sure.

Game 50: The Walking Dead: Season 1 - Episode 4 (PC) - 2.9h
#The suspense of that ending. The mysterious voice makes a real return, except this time with promise of surfacing in episode 5. Clementine, noooo. Lee, nooo. Ben, noooo. Enjoyed this ep toward the ending, especially the portions in Crawford and following.

Game 51: The Walking Dead: Season 1 - Episode 5 (PC) - 2.5h
#If an ending ever made up for a game, TWD did it. I found myself bored throughout majority of it, maybe because of a lack of attachment to the story since I don't follow The Walking dead or really care for most zombie narratives (with the exception of movies), but it redeemed itself with heart wrenching choices, difficult ones at that, which pulled me right in like I wished to be from the start.

Game 52: Uncharted (PS4) - 6.2h
#I'm extremely LTTP. But this Black Friday I picked up the Uncharted Collection PS4 bundle, and I immediately set out to play the first title of the three out. Pleasantly surprised. I've found in recent years, every action adventure type I've played has bored me. The first Uncharted didn't do that, even past the half way mark. The story is fairly interesting, the characters even more so. The dynamic of Nate and Elena is phenomenal, they grew on me quickly. Sully was notable for his dry moments (the cigar coming in use). Even the villains are entertaining.The mechanics are terrible in true Naughty Dog fashion, the jumping from building to building/part of a building certainly isn't as smooth as an Assassins Creed title since you can't catch something on your fall. Not to mention the controls while on a speedboat. Ridiculous. It's movie style story telling isn't as much of a pain as I heard people whine about for years, it certainly isn't at MGS4 levels of gameplay obstruction. Fun title.

original post

40. Journey (PS3 replay) - 1 hour;

So apparently you can skip quite a junk of the early locations, huh. Man, I've (heavily) overpaid for the Journey collection back in the day and it bugs me ever since. I still try to enjoy it on its own, but this fact is always bothering me in the back of my mind. Especially since this title really isn't that much more than a nice looking screensaver.

Update: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=150899273&postcount=983

Looper Mobile 1 hour
Endless runner that boils down the genre to its most simple form and manages to create something amusing even with the lack of content that other runners offer. It even lacks music, which given its aesthetic would have been perfectly matched with some trippy music. It's free so nothing to lose by trying it out.

TT Game of Thrones Episodes 1-5 One 5-8 Hours
Morally grey is the best way to describe this game. Almost to the fault of trying too hard. While I enjoyed it overall, it is seriously flawed. Can't wait to see the conclusion given how Nest of Vipers ended.

Warframe One 25 hours
Tedious. The fun that I derive from this game comes from using a bow and arrow like a badass. Tons of grinding to get anywhere in this game, either that or pay. Screw both of those, just going to mess around with it every once and a while.

19/52

#34. Mega Man X4 (PS1) -- August 19 -- 4:30:00 -- ★★☆☆☆
It's definitely a Mega Man game. I know it's a series staple, but I've never liked how bosses go from difficult to trivial provided you have the right weapon. It seems like a boring solution to a problem. Level design in this game is nothing special, but it's not bad. The visuals are okay. There are some nice sprites, but I think the foregrounds are a little unsightly. The core gameplay of Mega Man will always be fun, so it has that going for it. I was going to give this a ★★★☆☆, but the frustrating difficulty of the final boss dropped it to a ★★☆☆☆.


#35. Mega Man X5 (PS1) -- August 20 -- 3:16:50 -- ★★☆☆☆
Mega Man X5 doesn't think very highly of you. Control is constantly surrendered in order to educate your feeble human brain. Don't get crushed by those falling spikes! The platform you're standing on is exploding! Jump off the platform before it explodes! Don't touch lava! It's a shame, because the game is otherwise pretty good. Compared to X4, I think the level design, music, and bosses have all been improved. Nothing amazing, but all solid. At least the tutorial messages don't show up during the final gauntlet (which no one who actually needs those messages would ever be able to beat).

31:07h. Platinum. The best thing about Steins;Gate is that avoids falling in most of the pitfalls of time-travel related stories, and tells an interesting story, with likeable characters and real tension. However, during the last part of the game (particularly the True Ending) falls a bit into the Timey-Wimey Ball Syndrome and starts becoming a bit ridiculous. But by that time, you're already trapped by Hououin Kyouma and his minions! MUAHAHAHA!


Updated OP

LGom09 said:

#35. Mega Man X5 (PS1) -- August 20 -- 3:16:50 -- ★★☆☆☆
Mega Man X5 doesn't think very highly of you. Control is constantly surrendered in order to educate your feeble human brain. Don't get crushed by those falling spikes! The platform you're standing on is exploding! Jump off the platform before it explodes! Don't touch lava! It's a shame, because the game is otherwise pretty good. Compared to X4, I think the level design, music, and bosses have all been improved. Nothing amazing, but all solid. At least the tutorial messages don't show up during the final gauntlet (which no one who actually needs those messages would ever be able to beat).

Click to expand...

I'm actually playing X5 myself right now, and yeah, damn, those tutorials are trash. I guess that's the trade-off we must perform in order to have 2D Mega Mans on PS1.

Aaanyway!



11. Her Story - A really inventive game, great story. It's super cheap and comes super highly recommended! 9/10, took about five hours (took somewhat longer because I was trying for 100% completion).



12. Achievement Unlocked 2 - I wouldn't normally count browser flash games, but these are sequels to games I enjoyed so! This one is pretty fun as far as flash games go, I think I'd consider it the best of the three Achievement Unlocked games. It's ironically the least linear of the series. 8/10, took about 45 minutes or so.



13. Achievement Unlocked 3 - Not nearly as good. Still sort of fun, but it feels kind of disorganized without also letting you have more freedom. 6/10, about an hour.



14. Upgrade Complete 2 - I enjoy the idea behind this series. Gameplay is a little mindless, but I can't claim that there isn't plenty of value in getting things piece-by-piece. 7/10, an hour about.

.hack//G.U. Vol.2 makes this years list! Sadly Vol.3 doesn't have NG+ so I'll have to put quite abit more time into than these previous two!


Games Beaten: 34 / 52
Total Playtime: 270 hours, 05 minutes

01 - 26
27 - ??

8h-ish. Platinum. Once the initial shock of "lol it's an otome game with pigeons" has worn off, Hatoful Boyfriend becomes a pretty standard, if somewhat boring, dating sim. The choices are pretty much clear-cut and the endings range from "...so that's it?" ( ) to "WTF did I just watch" ( ). The Torimi Cafe endings deserve to be treated differently, as they're simply cute and somewhat refreshing.

Then the BBL/Hurtful Boyfriend route comes and turns inside out everything you thought you knew about the game, transforming it into , where you learn everybirdie's backstory and you go through some heartwrenching moments. And the game, suddendly, becomes quite good. And you're glad you took the time to go through the boring ren'ai routes as everything starts making sense. If they somehow integrated the romance subplots in the BBL story and made it a full-length feature game, I would rebuy it in a heartbeat.


Updated OP

Orginal Post

Update after a very long time, so I will keep it quick.My next updates will be more frequently and with commentary.
Finshed
16. Valkyria Chronicles

17. Bloodborne (New game+)

18. The Witcher 3

19. Joe Danger 2

20. Her Story

21. Dark Souls 2

22. Dark Souls 2 DLC's

23.Kid Icarus: Uprising

24. Lords of the Fallen

25. Skylanders Spyro's Adventure

26. Hearthstone : Blackrock Mountain

27. Ironcast

28. The Lost Vikings

Currently playing:
29. Punch Out!! (Wii) :Title Defense Mode

30. Abyss Odyssey

31. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

32. Folklore

33. Skylanders Giants

Game #29 : Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: PS3 | Beaten: 15/08/2015 | Time: 05:24 h

Finished last part of Modern Warfare trilogy. I am not a big FPS fan, but I like MW series. Great action, great audio-visual and great fun. I regret that these games aren't much longer.

Original Post

List of completed games

Game 29: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate- ~90h

Game 30: planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~- ~3h

Game 31: Long Live The Queen- ~3h

Game 32: Diadra Empty- ~3h

Game 33: Saviors- ~1h

Game 34: The Last of Us- ~14h

Game 35: Rosenkreuzstilette- ~3h

Game 36: Kirby: Power Paintbrush- ~4h

Game 37: Project Zero 2: Wii Edition- ~12h

Game 38: Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy- ~5h

Game 39: Elite Beat Agents- ~4h

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Game #52: Picross e6: 25.2 hours

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More Picross! If you didn't like the other Picross e games you won't like this because little has changed. The most notable change is that all of the 5x5, 10x10 and 15x15 puzzles are duplicated between the Picross and Mega Picross modes. It's nice to have both variations available but at the same time having to go through each puzzle twice kind of sucks.

And done!

Game #51: Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (PC) - 39 Hours

100% Complete. This game pretty much gave me almost every reason to stop playing: the dull combat, the tedious driving where the faster cars could easily flip over or do an instant 180, and the terrible sound mixing. But, I never really minded those imperfections. The experience I got from the story and the characters was so incredible that it easily makes it worth the trouble. Even when I already watched an LP of it, it was still great to finally experience it first hand. Sure it rips off Twin Peaks a lot, but I feel that this game has plenty of its own moments to make it feel original.

Game #52: One Piece: Unlimited World Red (Vita) - 12 Hours

After playing One Piece: Romance Dawn, this game was a breath of (much needed) fresh air. The combat is fairly simple, two attack buttons with a dodge button. Its a much more relaxing action game as the combos never get too complicated. Being able to bring two other character along helps add a little more gameplay variety as I went through the lengthy stages. Outside of the main game, there's side quest you can tackle in a Monster Hunter style which features bosses that are not included in the main game. I also had a lot of fun building the main town and making the place feel more lively and bigger to roam around. Can't tell you how amusing it is to just use Gum Gum Rocket all over the place. I haven't spent much time in the Coliseum mode yet, but I plan to do so as I wait for Steins;Gate to come out.

Original Post

LGom09 said:

#34. Mega Man X4 (PS1) -- August 19 -- 4:30:00 -- ★★☆☆☆
It's definitely a Mega Man game. I know it's a series staple, but I've never liked how bosses go from difficult to trivial provided you have the right weapon. It seems like a boring solution to a problem. Level design in this game is nothing special, but it's not bad. The visuals are okay. There are some nice sprites, but I think the foregrounds are a little unsightly. The core gameplay of Mega Man will always be fun, so it has that going for it. I was going to give this a ★★★☆☆, but the frustrating difficulty of the final boss dropped it to a ★★☆☆☆.

#35. Mega Man X5 (PS1) -- August 20 -- 3:16:50 -- ★★☆☆☆
Mega Man X5 doesn't think very highly of you. Control is constantly surrendered in order to educate your feeble human brain. Don't get crushed by those falling spikes! The platform you're standing on is exploding! Jump off the platform before it explodes! Don't touch lava! It's a shame, because the game is otherwise pretty good. Compared to X4, I think the level design, music, and bosses have all been improved. Nothing amazing, but all solid. At least the tutorial messages don't show up during the final gauntlet (which no one who actually needs those messages would ever be able to beat).

Click to expand...

If you've played one Megaman game you've played them all. That was my take away from my time with Megaman X4 and the beginning of Megaman X5.

Minishdriveby said:

If you've played one Megaman game you've played them all. That was my take away from my time with Megaman X4 and the beginning of Megaman X5.

Click to expand...

At least one from each series, yeah. Probably why 2 and X1 are still widely considered the best Mega Man games.

GLuigi said:

And done!

Game #51: Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (PC) - 39 Hours

100% Complete. This game pretty much gave me almost every reason to stop playing: the dull combat, the tedious driving where the faster cars could easily flip over or do an instant 180, and the terrible sound mixing. But, I never really minded those imperfections. The experience I got from the story and the characters was so incredible that it easily makes it worth the trouble. Even when I already watched an LP of it, it was still great to finally experience it first hand. Sure it rips off Twin Peaks a lot, but I feel that this game has plenty of its own moments to make it feel original.

Game #52: One Piece: Unlimited World Red (Vita) - 12 Hours

After playing One Piece: Romance Dawn, this game was a breath of (much needed) fresh air. The combat is fairly simple, two attack buttons with a dodge button. Its a much more relaxing action game as the combos never get too complicated. Being able to bring two other character along helps add a little more gameplay variety as I went through the lengthy stages. Outside of the main game, there's side quest you can tackle in a Monster Hunter style which features bosses that are not included in the main game. I also had a lot of fun building the main town and making the place feel more lively and bigger to roam around. Can't tell you how amusing it is to just use Gum Gum Rocket all over the place. I haven't spent much time in the Coliseum mode yet, but I plan to do so as I wait for Steins;Gate to come out.

Original Post

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Congrats.

I'm 20 games in. Things are looking bleak.

Codeblue said:

Congrats.

I'm 20 games in. Things are looking bleak.

Click to expand...

You're not alone. 10 here.

also, update:

Dryk


GLuigi

#8 - Warioware Touched (DS VC on WIi U) (04:12:00) - All microgames unlocked and played, and both Toy Rooms filled. All that's missing are the individual microgames challenges but I won't bother with that, so this is beaten. Proof.

Original Post.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Game #53: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: 9.9 hours

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Enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would based on the way people talk about it. The platforming is great and the combat mechanics are good but the encounters drag on for waaaay longer than they need to and its tedious as hell. The last platforming segment is really frustrating too because they take away your rewind ability and space the checkpoints out a lot. I also had some control problems but that might be PC specific.


Game #54: Grand Theft Auto III: 21 hours

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Finally got around to playing this and while it definitely shows its age I had fun with it. The beginning and ending are pretty rough, especially the difficulty and requirements for some of the last missions, but overall it hasn't aged quite as badly as it originally seemed (though it is pretty bad in parts).

There's a lot not to like about it though. There's a huge difficulty spike in the last part, the combat sucks, what little story there is is a little all over the place, you have to grind to access the final mission, and some areas of the map become nigh-inaccessible because the streets are lined with goons that can blow up a car in under a second. Also this seems to be only a problem with the PC version, but the car physics don't handle jerky digital inputs very well so it can be a bit of a pain to control at times.

The soundtrack (and especially Flashback FM) is amazing though and overall I enjoyed myself. I'm looking forward to getting to the later games from the sub-series one day and seeing how things improved.

Game #55: Puzzle & Dragons Z: 113.7 hours

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I've never played the mobile game before, but judging from this the concept is great. It's a bit grindy though, especially when it comes to the rare eggs you need to get from the Gatchapon. There's a ton of content too, about 150 monsters to acquire and 12 worlds of dungeons (6 of which make up an insanely huge post-game).


Game #56: Star Wars: Dark Forces: 11.3 hours

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Well this was a pleasant surprise. I know that shooters from this era tend to hold up after playing Doom and Wolfenstein but since it comes from the end of the era this one is the most refined I've played. It's not perfect, the auto-aim can be a bit inconsistent and look up/down are on buttons by default but it plays really well.

Graphics are about as clean as a sprite based FPS can be, most of the enemy types are different colours so it's easy to tell them apart from a distance. Sound design is great and even though the music is just MIDI versions of the Star Wars soundtrack that goes a long way. Level design is overall good, there's a lot of stuff going on and each of the 14 odd levels is pretty unique even if some of them are a pain in the butt to navigate. There are a few spots where cheap platforming sections killing me and forcing me to start the level over got on my nerves but those largely disappear by the end of the game so my final impressions were good.

Weapon variety is... interesting. Overall the weapons (of which there are 10 including melee) are very good for reasons I'll get into a second but there's a lot of redundancy. The mines and grenade launcher are limited only really useful for fighting Dark Troopers (think Terminators) and there's several different kinds of blaster weapon with two ammo pools between them that aren't all that different from each other. Also what at first glance appears to be a sniper rifle fires shots that produce a giant blue anti-personnel explosion and uses the same ammo pool as some of the blasters again, so once you obtain the plasma gun with a rocket launcher secondary fire it can be a bit redundant.

Mostly I just stuck with the standard blaster rifle which stays strong enough to carry you through the whole game and what quickly became my favourite: the thermal detonators. The grenades in this game are better than I ever expected from a game this old. The blast radius and damage are solid, you can hold the button down for throwing distance ranging from carefully tossing it slightly in-front of you (or down a pit) to ditching them across a cavern and they have both timed and impact detonation modes making them very versatile. The best part though, is that they give you plenty of them on most levels, and you can carry FIFTY at a time. There's one level mostly populated by the Gran grenadier enemies which very quickly devolves into nothing but grenade fights as you run out of ammo for everything else it's amazing.

Game #57: Batman: Arkham Asylum: 13.3 hours

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At the start I was worried I wasn't going to like this, I was walking past so many things that I obviously needed to come back later with another upgrade to do, and there's an intimidatingly large number of collectibles. Once I unlocked most of the gadgets though and started settling into the gameplay a bit that feeling went away and I really started enjoying myself.

The combat system everyone's always raving about it is good, but I think it's a bit wasted here. There's more sections that just dump you in a room with 8 dudes standing in a circle, whereas the real fun with enemies comes from sneaking around and picking them off one or two at a time. Generally moving around and using your gadgets is also really enjoyable.

Not really feeling the character design though. Batman's proportions are weird, comic booky I know but it looks kind of weird in 3D. Also detective vision is really useful but a bit misguided considering you just keep it on most of the time.

Game #58: Saira: 4.2 hours

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A charming little non-linear 2D puzzle-platformer with a nice artstyle and great soundtrack. There are seven stars for you to visit with one or two planets/points-of-interest each. Each star system is a self-contained set of puzzles, using clues from around the system figure out how to get to the items located on the main planet (the game tells you how many there are). Then find the ship battery charger in it to give your ship enough power to move to another one. There are three different kinds of items you need to find, one of each is enough to finish the game but you need the best three to get the good ending. All up there are six different endings, most of them bad or bittersweet but the way they're presented makes a lot of sense.

I have some things to say that aren't really criticisms because I didn't mind them, but I did see some people that have complained about them so it's probably worth mentioning. The resolution is stuck at a boxed or windowed 480 and there's a lot of timed platforming challenges in the game.

Game #59: Freedom Force: 21.8 hours

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Simple, colorful and cheesy as hell. This was a comic-book ass comic-book game for better or worse. The characters and missions were varied enough to keep me engaged which was good because it does not run well on modern systems. A lot of the time the levels will load with a broken and barely useable cursor and horrible collision/pathfinding bugs, but if you quit out of the game and restart it a few times you can get it working fine.

Bonus Game #2: Metal Drift: 5.9 hours

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The second in my "Old Dead Multiplayer Games" series is Metal Drift. At first glance it appeared to be a lot like Rocket League, futuristic sport, driving a vehicle, balls, goals. However once you start playing the comparisons prove to be superficial. The ball can be thrown, but has to be carried onto the goal to score, and the hover tanks used handle completely differently to the Rocket League cars. Your boost power can also be used to supercharge your weapons, and only through powered up shots can most weapons kill enemies without a lengthy reload which creates a long time-to-kill which is an interesting dynamic. Weapon variety is good, and so are the equippable powers. Overall it was fun for what it was.

The AI is also competent enough that I still had fun even though I couldn't get the game online, which is always a bonus when discovering dead games in your library.

Game #61: Rome: Total War: Gold Edition: 60.3 hours

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This was my first experience with Total War and I have to say it was a very good one. The campaign is long, but managed to easily keep me engaged for at least 50 of the 60 hours it took me to finish. After it was done the game unlocked a bunch of extra factions to play as but I've had my fill for a while so I didn't jump back in.

I really like the game systems, especially the careful interplay between defenders, attackers and reinforcements during sieges. With defenders able to cede their defenses and ride out to fight off the attackers before they starve them out, and attackers able to just sit there and wait but tempt an attack from behind.

The combat system is really interesting and works really well, organising troops on the battlefield then watching everything devolve into chaos is really fun.

I also spent a few hours checking out the Barbarian Invasion expansion. The playable factions are all new or heavily tweaked, the victory conditions relaxed and some new factions can uproot their empire and go mobile to recieve bonus powerful troops. But I didn't make it that far because I really am done with the game at this point. I'll have a look at the second expansion this time next year maybe.

Game #62: Undertale: 7.9 hours

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There's not a whole lot to say about Undertale that hasn't already been said. The humour is pretty on point, there are so many Easter eggs in the game that I apparently missed it's insane, and the music is amazing.

Something I find interesting about this game is that it presents you with a choice of how to play it but unlike a lot of other RPGs it makes the two paths play very differently. It's also interesting to note that the good path is clearly the right one, it's more fun and the game encourages you to do it. The ending for that path manages to out Earthbound Earthbound's ending in my opinion too.

Game #63: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney: 12.4 hours

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And so my Ace Attorney adventures for 2015 come to a close with Apollo Justice. Apollo is an interesting character, willing to start flinging accusations around the courtroom due to unwavering conviction instead of Phoenix's desperation. Trucy is a cool and competent assistant and the new prosecutor is a lot more helpful than you'd first expect.

Forensics make a return, and while interesting they still don't really add anything to the game. The new mechanic, where you can focus on a person's tells to find a weak point to badger them on is a cool idea. In practice though it's too clunky, slow and annoying to leave that good an impression. There's usually 5 statements to check and 2 or more may seem like the one you need to perceive. Once you do that you can only really watch 20% of the person at once so you have to watch the dialogue scroll past over and over. Didn't like it but there's potential for improvement.

32: Godzilla - 10+ hours - PS4

Saw/cleared all stages/paths in God of Destruction mode. Got the "true" ending, too. Looooong grind for the Platinum, though. Not sure I'm up for it at the moment.

33: Super Mario Land - one short sitting - eShop/Game Boy - REPLAY

Felt like playing this again and finished it in a sitting. Such a weird, but cool Mario game.

Game 27: Limbo



Duration - 4 hours
Completed at 11:28pm on Wednesday 5/8/15 and reached the credits.


Game 28: Journey



Duration - 2 hours
Completed at 3:58pm on Monday 10/8/15 and reached the credits.


Game 29: Bloodborne



Duration - 50 hours and 22 minutes
Completed at 3:05pm on Monday 17/8/15 and reached the credits with the Yharnam Sunrise ending.


Game 30: Destiny: The Dark Below & House of Wolves



Duration - 17 hours and 48 minutes
Completed at 4am on Wednesday 19/8/15, playing through Destiny Year One DLC 1 and 2 including Prison of Elders and Crucible. Ranked up to level 32 in anticipation for The Taken King.


Game 31: Sound Shapes



Duration - 3 hours and 30 minutes
Completed at 4:30am on Friday 21/8/15 and completed the campaign.

Original post.

Original post

#45 - Pikmin



The beginning of the game is really confusing and the time limitation is so annoying at first, but after a few days (in-game), I got to understand the mechanics better and so I progressed smoothly for the remaining of the game. Until the last boss, who isn't exactly hard, but I lacked the patience to try keeping the Pikmin fellows alive, so I lost... many of them during the fight. RIP, little folks. Anyways, the game is incredible and I am going to start playing Pikmin 2 as soon as possible.

August is proving to be a productive month for the challenge, thanks to my vacation from work, especially since many games I started a month or more ago are reaching their conclusion. I'l talk about those later on, for now here's the last game of July and first of August:

Game 31: The Legend of Zelda - 3,5/5 - around 10 hours (27/07/15)

Beaten the first quest. The game holds up magnificently and you can clearly see the foundations of the series laid in it. The sense of actual adventure, of being lost in a big world with barely any idea about what you have to do, lingers throughout the whole game: something you can't really say about most of the latest games in the series. The perfect balance between mystery and being able to proceed without being frustrated is sadly broken by some cryptic shit: how would I know which wall to bomb among hundreds to get a piece of heart? How would I know which bush/tree to burn down to find the 8th dungeon? Hints are there, but you have to find and make sense of them first, not an easy task considering the somewhat lousy translation. The dungeons are cool but repetitive after a while, same goes for the enemies and combat; the items are great and numerous, but many end up underused (flute/raft/wand/silver arrows). All in all it's an incredible game, which stands the test of time: no wonder the series ended up so awesome starting from such a solid first entry.

This game is:

+

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Game 32: Hexcells Infinite - 3,5/5 - 17:06 hours (04/08/2015)

Perfected every stage and played some randomly generated stages. It's basically more of the same, with no actual innovation in gameplay, but there's a new infinite mode, where you can play randomly generated levels: the mode kinda falls flat because the randomness makes the stages pretty easy and uninsteresting, not even remotely as good as the hand-made ones.

This game is:

+

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Fist post here
(exceeded the character limit on GAF)

Game 45: Ys 1 Chronicles+ | PC Steam | Completed Aug 23rd, 2015
Definitely not the best Ys game. There was a lot of stuff I liked about it, such as the various items, the story, and the goofy achievements. But a lot of stuff came up short - basically the cap on level 10 kinda "ruined" the Ys experience of grinding (as I reached level 10 about half way through the game) and gold was essentially worthless about half way through also. And the final boss fight was total bullshit - I might have spent more time trying to beat him than the whole rest of the game. Anyway, that's my third Ys game in a row that I've beaten, and I'm actually looking forward to Ys 2 Chronicles+, so here goes nothing.

Game 46: Crimsonland | Playstation 4 | Completed Aug 28th, 2015
I took a break from Ys to play Crimsonland in local co-op mode with my son, and had an absolute blast with the game. I loved the combination of twin-stick shooter with psuedo-RPG elements. Once we beat all six worlds, we went on to try out the survival mode and others that were unlocked along the way. Overall a really solid experience.

Game 47: Ys 2 Chronicles+ | PC Steam | Completed Sept 2nd, 2015
This game was much better than the first Ys game! The inclusion of magic abilities made it really much more tactically diverse, and the seemingly non-existent level cap was very appreciated over the first game's 10th level max. I reached level 53 by the end boss. I completed all the optional achievements as well which padded out the playtime on this game by a few hours. I just played on "normal" so I didn't unlock the nightmare mode achievement, and I didn't do the time trial mode so at least I'll have something to work towards the next time I play.

Game 48: Hero of the Kingdom II | PC Steam | Completed Sept 6th, 2015
I loved the first game and I thought this one was also pretty damn great. The game itself is a cross between a hidden object game and a resource management game. Buy shovel for X gold, use it to dig up treasure which you then sell for more gold than you paid for the shovel, that sort of thing. While it sounds really very tedious, it's incredibly addicting. The game is also set in a medieval fantasy world (this time with pirates YAR!) and the game has some pretty awesome "old school" pixel art that always reminded me of Age of Empires II. Anyway, great game and also easy to earn all of the achievements. Took me about 5 hours.

Game 49: Diablo 3 - Repaer of Souls | PC | Completed Sept 7th, 2015
This game has improved SO much since it was first released, it's almost like it's a completely different game. The newest season (Season 4) got me sucked in again, with their new tiered rewards quest completion system. I'm about half way through the second tier, but I completed all five acts of the game and watched the credits roll so I'm calling this one "Complete" even though I'm sure I'll be going back and playing some more of this game later.

Game 50: Until Dawn | Playstation 4 | Completed Sept 20th, 2015
I thought this game was pretty fantastic. I know it gets a lot of criticism for being an "interactive movie", but I thought it had a great story, characters, and atmosphere. My only complaint is that the game was too short, which I think is everyone's complaint that's finished it. I rented the game (something I haven't done since the SNES era) but I'm planning on buying it when the price goes down - like most people, I think this should have been a $40 game at most. However, I also understand that the game has a massive script and actual movie/tv stars voicing and providing mocap, so I guess I can understand the $60 price tag. Either way, this game was a great experience and I'm looking forward to doing more playthroughs sometime down the line.

Game 51: Transformers Devastation | Playstation 4 | Completed Oct 6th, 2015
Another short game that necessitated a Redbox rental - this game was about 5 hours of pure unadulterated goodness. I'm a huge fan of the Transformers cartoons, not the Micheal Bay movies, and this game delivered nostalgia in spades. Platinum also did a great job of building interesting combat mechanics as they usually do. The game also had a surprisingly alright story and a string of epic boss battles involving characters from the old show. The ending even had a Marvel-esque after-credits cliffhanger that left me wanting more. It's been a very long time since I beat a game the day it came out, but honestly this one was too much fun to turn off.

Game 52: Contradiction | PC Steam | Completed Oct 9th, 2015
And with that, my journey to 52 games this year is complete. Contradiction was a great game to meet this goal with too, I loved every second of it. You get clues and question witnesses about these clues - then you have to try to catch the witnesses in a lie to advance to the next part of the story. The microcosm of puzzle solving in that sense is broadened to the overall story arc (which was great). This is a full FMV game, and the acting was actually really top notch. The main character was extremely animated and sometimes over-the-top and that worked really well in this role. The game was definitely quirky but also really intriguing. It flew under a lot of people's radars, but it's definitely something you don't want to miss.

Game 53: Uncharted Drake's Fortune | Playstation 4 | Completed Oct 17th, 2015
This game was surprisingly alright, I guess I can finally say I know what all the fuss is about. I played Uncharted 1 from the "Nathan Drake Collection" on the PS4. The game had a fun mix of action (shootybangs) and story, but honestly even playing on easy mode was a bit difficult. I think I am alright at these types of games, but I kept running up against enemies that could 1-hit kill my character, so I thought those parts of the game were pretty lame. Otherwise I enjoyed the story and finding the various collectibles. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it enough to jump straight into Uncharted 2, but we'll see what happens.

Game 54: Life is Strange | PC Steam | Completed Oct 19th, 2015
This game is easily one of the best video games I've played in 2015, and was such a refreshing surprise hit in the adventure genre. I started playing when the first episode released in January, and I've been patiently waiting on the edge of my seat every few months as a new episode was released. While the ending certainly didn't have the same "wow" factor as many of the episodic cliffhangers in the game, I really enjoyed the story overall. It helps that I live in a real-life version of Arcadia Bay (the city that the developers took the inspiration from) so I caught a lot of extra details that other people may have normally missed. At nearly 20 hours long for my playthrough of all 5 episodes, it's also pretty beefy for a game in this genre. Anyway, the game is absolutely brilliant and I'm looking forward to what comes next: either for Life is Strange (are we getting a "Season 2"?) or Dontnod.

Game 55: Tales from the Borderlands | PC Steam | Completed Oct 22nd, 2015
Easily the best game to come out of the Borderlands universe. The voice acting talent was certainly the star of the show here, with the music coming in a close second. The story was fun and engaging, and the game had a sense of constant action that built up right until the end. The best part: Claptrap wasn't anywhere in sight. The ending sequence and last chapter were by far the best part of the game. Overall, really well done, especially for a Telltale game.

Game 56: Dragon Quest Heroes - The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below | Playstation 4 | Completed Oct 27th, 2015
What's not to love when Koei teams up with Square Enix to make an Action-RPG / Musou based on Dragon Quest? For me, I was loving every minute of it. The game is a wonderful mix of action, RPG, and strategy. There is even a little bit of the tower defense genre thrown in for good measure. It took me about 35 hours to complete, and I did most of the optional quests and things. Will probably spend another 10-15 mopping everything up for that sweet sweet platinum trophy. Easily one of my favorite PS4 games of the year.

Game 57: Assassin's Creed Syndicate | Playstation 4 | Completed Nov 11th, 2015
This game really sucked me in like no other Assassin's Creed game (or really, any game this year) has. The game had a good combination of exploration and fun missions, bundled with the fact that most of the missions were actually difficult to fail but equally difficult to master. I had a lot of fun with the game and ended up getting about 78% sync after beating the main bad guy which was enough for me to call it a day on this one. I didn't really understand what was happening with all the "present day" stuff, but I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm actually looking forward to the game's next incarnation.

Game 58: Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell | PC Steam | Completed Nov 21st, 2015
I started this game during my Extra Life stream earlier this month, but I really loved the atmosphere and the quirky characters and simply had to continue. I'm not sure if I've played a game before that was interrupted by a musical number half way through! Even though the game was short (about 3-4 hours long) the side content and stuff to do in hell was pretty varied and a lot of fun. Although I only unlocked 31% of the achievements, I'm not sure if I'll be returning for the rest which are basically just "level grinding" stuff. Either way, the game was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Game 59: Fallout 4 | Playstation 4 | Completed Nov 22nd, 2015
I really loved this game, and even pre-ordered it twice and pre-ordered the season pass (I may have problems). Great open world environment, pretty good story, and a graphical upgrade to Fallout 3 which is honestly all I was looking for. The end-game was pretty anti-climactic and the crafting/building system is kinda worthless, but other than that I have no complaints. I'm looking forward to seeing what the season pass has in store for me, and will also probably do another playthrough in a few months and make different faction choices. Ended the game at level 35, so I guess there's room for growth there too. Overall a really excellent experience.

Game 60: Final Fantasy V | PC Steam | Completed Nov 27th, 2015
Well it took me about 40 hours, but I finished Final Fantasy V on PC. This is still one of the best games in the series, even if some people were upset that the Steam release was a port of the mobile version. The job system was great (as always) and I even grinded out all of the "everyone masters X job" achievements before finishing the final boss (without anyone getting killed!). I unlocked 80% of the game's achievements, and I'll likely dive in to get the other 20% as well as killing the optional bosses and getting the Necromancer class which I've never bothered with.

Game 61: Starcraft II - Legacy of the Void | PC | Completed Nov 28th, 2015
This game was a pretty great conclusion to the Starcraft II story arc. I played the campaign mode (I'm not much for multiplayer) and I thought it was really well done. The Protoss were a fun race to be in charge of, and I thought that the power-ups provided by the Spear of Adun were all pretty great. The ability to warp in pylons and such was a great way to make the usually slow Protoss quite a bit faster. I know this is the conclusion of Starcraft II and it wrapped the story up pretty nicely, but hopefully we'll see Starcraft III sometime in the near future.

Game 62: Her Story | PC Steam | Completed Dec 5th, 2015
This game was short but well worth the $4 price tag. The game plays like an old Windows 3.1 PC that's been recovered from police records from the mid-90s. Your task is to enter certain keywords into the search to find the relevant information that will bring up videos which you can then cross reference with other videos in order to learn the entire story. The story is pretty great, although it's mostly just what you make of it (and what you can remember). However, I thought the database system was incredibly easy to "hack" so that you could easily play all of the tapes in chronological order. Still, the game was absolutely amazing and a refreshing surprise.

Game 63: Shadow Complex Remastered | PC | Completed Dec 5th, 2015
Shadow Complex Remastered was announced at the Video Game Awards a few nights ago, and the best part was it's being offered for free on PC. I'm a long-time fan of the game (and book series by Orson Scott Card) and it's been several years since I've played the game. It holds up amazingly well. This is probably my third favorite Metroid-vania game of all time, behind Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night - absolutely incredible game. Finished in about 3 hours, though I only picked up about 60% of the game's items. I'll probably do another, more complete playthrough next year when the game is launched on consoles and (hopefully) Steam.

Game 64: Tomb Raider - Definitive Edition | Playstation 4 | Completed Dec 12th, 2015
I originally played this game on PC when it was first released back in 2013 and I actually really liked it. The game is still really great and I enjoyed my time with it on the PS4 as well. The only thing I didn't like is that the camera was really jerky during cutscenes, but other than that the game is great. This time around I was sure to pick up and read all of the documents as well as the relics and GPS caches. I love the sense of exploration this game provides, as well as the idea that your character is actually "growing" as the adventure plays on. I don't own an Xbox One, but I plan on and am looking forward to playing Rise of the Tomb Raider now more than ever.

Game 65: Gauntlet - Slayer Edition | Playstation 4 | Completed Dec 14th, 2015
My wife and I played through Gauntlet on PS4 mainly because of the local couch coop and the fact that the game was free as part of Playstation Plus. We had played some of the (non-Slayer) game on PC but found it to be a frustrating experience. I'm happy to report that the new and improved Slayer Edition is a completely worthy upgrade for the game and brings it back in line closer to how the game used to play back in the day. The last boss was some pure bullshit and had a huge difficulty spike, but other than that the game was a joy to play. For the record, I played as the Warrior and my wife played as the Valkyrie and the combination of the two worked out pretty decently.

Game 66: Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Jack the Ripper | Playstation 4 | Completed Dec 19th, 2015
I felt like there was enough here to consider this it's own entry - the DLC was pretty beefy though the majority of the content was side missions and collecting. Overall I thought it was pretty great but unlike the base game I found it to be incredibly buggy. I had the game crash back to the dashboard about 16 times total and I'm surprised I stuck with it considering it takes about 5 minutes to re-open completely (due to loading... loading... loading...). I liked the idea that you could use "fear tools" such as bombs and spikes and such to scare enemies away rather than fighting them, and it made some of the game's stealth portions that much more bearable. It took me about 9 hours to get 100% completion.

Game 67: Aviary Attorney | PC Steam | Complted Dec 28th, 2015
This game started out amazing - an Ace Attorney clone with fictional anthropomorphic animals that's high on dry humor and charm, with amazing artwork that looks like it's straight out of an old pen drawing. The characters are all great and the humor had me laughing out loud on a few occasions. The soundtrack is nothing short of excellent. So what happened? The first two "acts" of the game were incredible. And then in act three the whole thing fell apart, quite literally. When I got to the end of the third act (not even as good as the first two) I was greeted with a splash screen that apologized that the rest of the game wasn't finished yet. I was a little shocked, since this isn't an Early Access title. The splash screen said to wait 2 days (presumably from launch day) and it would be finished. The game launched a week ago and it's still incomplete. I can forgive them somewhat since this last week had Christmas, but I'm a bit upset that they even released the game like this in the first place. This may be the last game I play in 2015 and if it would have ended after Act 2 it might have been one of my favorite games. Instead, I'll likely be finishing 2015 on a low note. So sad.

Game 16 – Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Completed first and second quest without warps.
After the Nintendo World Championships I got so excited for Super Mario Maker that I decided to re-complete, and in some cases, complete for the first time the four featured Mario games. As the release approaches I think I'm unlikely to replay NSMBU, but that's okay, it isn't that long since I completed that one.
So I started from the beginning. I've completed this game numerous times but I've never played through both quests without warps.
What else can I say? Playing this game reminds me of Tetris in its perfect simplicity. It's always a joy and I can't wait until September 11th to give me another reason to play in this world.


Game 17 – Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
Completed campaign levels to see credits.
I wanted to flesh out my Wii U collection a little more and had heard this game was actually pretty decent. I've probably only played about half of the Zelda games so I feel like some of the references might have been lost on me but I still found the game to be pretty enjoyable. It's obvious that the is a lot of content in this game which is great for people who love it but I ultimately found it a little too repetitive to carry on shortly after completing the campaign.

Updated OP

Original Post

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Game 15: Batman: Arkham Knight (August 17th) PS4
Time played: 12h47

What a disappointment, the Batmobile totally ruined the game for me, way to repetitive and frequent, it looked like 80% of the main story was involving the Batmobile in some capacity and the fact that some (all?) of the Riddler challenge also features it throw me off doing some side quests. It's a shame because the gameplay is near perfect for me but it's underused in this iteration. The lack of challenge maps is a huge deal breaker for me too.

12/20

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Game 16: Infamous First Light (August 21st) PS4

A bit more repetitive then Second Son but way more focused. I liked the fact that we only got 1 type of power (the best one) and that it was a bit more in depth; the story was interesting and the "Battle arena" was quite fun. I enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it.

13/20

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Game 17: Shadowrun Hong Kong (August 23rd) PC
Time Played: 16h

I just finished my first playtrough and absolutely loved it, Harebrained Schemes just earned my full support for their upcoming games. After the Shadowrun trilogy (I really hope there's more) they cemented their place as some of the very best RPgs studio. The cast was really interesting and the writing was fairly great too, I didn't do a lot of side quest, only all the run available by Kindly Cheng and IsObel personal quest but I got my money's worth and then some with all of that. There's still some little things that need fixing (I experience some delay in the matrix) but all in all to was a near perfect experience for me.

17/20

Original Post

Batman: Arkham Origins

Criteria: Full game completion, including all Riddler trophies, side quests, Cold Cold Heart DLC etc.
Time played: 33 hours

I was surprised by this, as I'd always heard that it was the weakest of the three initial Arkham games. I actually found that I enjoyed it a good amount more than Arkham City. Along with having what I felt was the strongest story out of the three Arkham games I've played, it also did a much better job than the previous two in portraying most of the villains. The annoyance I felt in Arkham City constantly gliding back and forth for each mission was mitigated by the addition of a fast travel, which I made extensive use of.

I also played through the Initiation DLC campaign challenges (which were pretty rubbish), and the Cold Cold Heart DLC (which was pretty good). So I'm now finally up to date on all the Arkham stuff, and have purchased Arkham Knight, ready to give that a playthrough. I will say though, that I am worried I'll be as disappointed by it as many other people on here seem to be (Mass_Pincup's post above definitely hasn't helped instill any confidence, lol).

original post

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41. No More Heroes (Wii replay) - 10 hours;

I think this is one of my more replayed games (not quite sure why though). Still fun, despite the jank (which only strikingly shows on the world map). It doesn't have the deepest combat system, but it's still decent enough, especially with motion controls and good to great (challenging) boss fights. Even the minigames (and general variety) are okay enough, only the grinding for money at the end is always tedious. The OST is still so good also and I watched the entire story again.

Synth said:

Original Post

Batman: Arkham Origins

Criteria: Full game completion, including all Riddler trophies, side quests, Cold Cold Heart DLC etc.
Time played: 33 hours

I was surprised by this, as I'd always heard that it was the weakest of the three initial Arkham games. I actually found that I enjoyed it a good amount more than Arkham City. Along with having what I felt was the strongest story out of the three Arkham games I've played, it also did a much better job than the previous two in portraying most of the villains. The annoyance I felt in Arkham City constantly gliding back and forth for each mission was mitigated by the addition of a fast travel, which I made extensive use of.

I also played through the Initiation DLC campaign challenges (which were pretty rubbish), and the Cold Cold Heart DLC (which was pretty good). So I'm now finally up to date on all the Arkham stuff, and have purchased Arkham Knight, ready to give that a playthrough. I will say though, that I am worried I'll be as disappointed by it as many other people on here seem to be (Mass_Pincup's post above definitely hasn't helped instill any confidence, lol).

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There were several times I was close to picking this up because it's dirt cheap, but I feared I'd feel burnt out, especially since I also still need to get Arkham Knight. Plus because I was a little put off by the fact that it just recycles most of the map of AC (which I just replayed last year), except that it looks more lifeless now? How much does this actually play into the experience?

Syrus said:

Update 3:

Game 6: Wolfenstein The New Order

goddamn this game is good and beautiful. A must have for any shooter fan for sure. Story is good too!

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Update 4

Game 7 Batman Arkham Knight - F the batmobile
Game 8 Fallout Shelter
Game 9 Watchdogs
Game 10 State of Decay
Game 11 FFRK android
Game 12 Chain Chronicle Android
Game 13 Boom Beach
Game 14 Dragon Blaze
Game 15 Happy Wars

Gonna write a bit extra about this one since there's a discussion about it already!


08-22-15 - Game 68: Batman: Arkham Origins - 30-ish hours
They do a bunch of things really well but then screw up stuff horribly. The traversal is much better than in City and the fast travel was a really nice QoL addition too. I loved how much more they focused on Batman being a great detective with the crime scenes. I would have loved that type of detective work but with the structure of the side missions of City ("Shot in the Dark" and "Identity Theft"), where you had a bunch of crime scenes before you found the guilty guy. Now it was just a quick scene then go beat up some guy.
I disliked the fact that there was sooo much brawling (especially in the , they could definitely have let you take two paths there, one completely sneaky!) and extremely few predator rooms. I love predator rooms! It's annoying to finish the predator challenges during a single playthrough because the rooms are so few and don't respawn at all. There isn't a single predator room after you finish the story. You pretty much have a single shot at every challenge. Really bad design there. They did have some really nice rooms the few times they had them.
The brawling felt both more and less forgiving at the same time. I got way more combos and all my hits were critical ones (and I'm pretty bad at the combat), but they could get borked by the smallest things. Batman often just refused to target the right enemy, often flying away in the opposite direction of where I was pointing him. Especially borky when countering mid-beatdown, very hard to go back to the beatdown! That was never a problem in the earlier games. The camera wasn't my friend at all in the fights either.
I don't think a single life bar was correct (the fights end before you empty the life bar) and the boss fights were all too long. Interesting fights but pretty much double the lenght I would have liked. That fight was just torture
The collectibles were mostly just sprinkled over the town and most could be gotten by hitting a single button, using the Crypto-thingie or bomb a wall. Nothing like the "puzzles" of AC. It was nice not to have to think, but why have 200 of them if you can't make it interesting at all to collect them?
The Cold, Cold Heart boss was just a worse version of the best one in the series. Still an okay fight but it felt a bit cheap. Rest of the DLC was nice.

Overall it's hard to say if I like this more than City, but I think i do. If the combat wasn't as... "buggy" and they had more predator rooms this would be far above City for me. Now it's just slightly above with clear faults.

Spieler Eins said:

There were several times I was close to picking this up because it's dirt cheap, but I feared I'd feel burnt out, especially since I also still need to get Arkham Knight. Plus because I was a little put off by the fact that it just recycles most of the map of AC (which I just replayed last year), except that it looks more lifeless now? How much does this actually play into the experience?

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I liked the map more than the City version of it. There are enough enemies to make it feel populated and christmas time with lots of snow is just my kind of setting. It was fun to "revisit" the place


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Main post 50-??

Original Post 1-21

MAY GAMES
21. GTAV (PS3) (100% + PLAT)
Day Completed: May 3
What can I say about this game. I love parts of it a lot, and I hate other parts of it equally. The story and the story related side missions are some of the best we have seen in video games ever. On the other hand there are some side stuff AND ONLINE that I really hate. Bear in mind that I plated the game before the heists were released so I had to do a lot of grinding to get the xp needed. On May 3rd I completed the heist dlc and I can say it was one of the best online experiences I've ever had.

22. That Trivia Game (PS4) (100%)
Day Completed: May 3
A very simple trivia game. It is ok when playing with others I guess. Buzz is a lot better though.

23. Teslagrad (PS4) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: May 6
Pretty good puzzle platformer. Very easy trophies (you need to find all the collectibles for plat). I really liked the amount of story the game conveyed to the player without even uttering a single word.

24. Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: May 10
I was a really big fan of the game when it first came out so many years earlier. I had to replay it and reenjoy it as I had missed it a lot. I have to say though that the "remastering" of the game seems a bit poor. Not a very big difference from the previous version.

25. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Vita) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: May 22
Hadn't played the game when it came out, so I tried it on vita. Can't say that I liked it much but maybe i didn't like it because of the bad controls. I will probably not play the other games.

26. Mortal Kombat X (PS4) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: May 23
Big MK fan since I was a kid. I (almost) always enjoy MK games and this was no exception. I really liked the various modes in the game. The story was a bit short though (comparing it to the previous game) and I really miss the tower from MK9. The new towers were ok but I prefer the mk9 one. The whole fanction war thing is a bit point less in my opinion though. Also WB did the worst dlc sins with this game: Overpriced season pass, pre-order only character that costs $5 if you don't pre-order and ridiculous dlc for easy fatalities and unlocking the whole krypt. Didn't buy the season pass and will not buy the Batman one neither (WB is the worst on dlc)

JUNE GAMES
27. Resident Evil 5 (PS3) (Plat)
Day Platinumed: June 1
I hate this game with all my heart. I have been trying of completing it for 5 years. I always hated the controls and the fact that you can not shoot and move. Also, I had never played any of the previous ones so I didn't have a "historical" interest in it. The story was boring and ridiculous. Eventually after all these years I decided to sit down and finish this cause I didn't like that I hadn't platinumed it.

28. Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse - Episode 1 (Vita) (100%)
Day Completed: June 1
I really liked the old broken sword games. Can't say I enjoyed this as much, probably because of the cliffhanger ending. The story was good though.

JULY GAMES
29. Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4) (Plat)
Day Platinumed: Jyly 13
I love Arkham games. And this was one of the best of them. I do have to admit though that it had its problems: Overuse of batmobile, non-interesting main-villain and an overpriced season pass. Not going to buy the season pass until I can get a discount!

30. Far Cry 4 (PS4) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: July 29
Pretty ok game. Very enjoyable but I think that I'm starting to grow tired of open world games with OCD stuff to do. Also, the story was kind of soulless if you know what I mean.


AUGUST GAMES
31. Dante's Inferno (PS3) (Plat)
Day Stopped Playing: August 1
Hadn't played the trials of St. Lucia and since the dlc was in offer I bought it. Can't say that I enjoyed them a lot, but I had forgotten how to be good at the game so this is the main reason I guess.

32. Batman: Arkham City (PS3) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: August 3
I had already platted the game when it came out but I hadn't completed all the dlc trials. I didn't like the fact that it was not at 100% so I did all the trials. The combat system is still pretty good and with good variation between heroes to not make it boring. The trials are a lot though.

33. Far Cry 3 (PS3) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: August 6
As far cry 4 a pretty good open-world fps game. I had finished the main story a while back but I was looking for someone to do the co-op with. Can't say I enjoyed that match (I have played far better co-op in other games) but it was ok I guess.

34. Dishonored (PS3) (Plat)
Day Stopped Playing: August 8
I loved this game when it came out and I decided to do some of the dunwall city trials dlc. Actually I played all of them at least once and got most of the trophies. The only ones remaining are the one where you have to kill every single guy yourself, the one where you have to do all the tricky jumps, and the one where you get all stars for every trial. I am positive that I will return to it at some point.

35. Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse Episode 2 (Vita) (100%)
Day Completed: August 10
Better than the first episode. Simply another broken sword game with fun puzzles and a good story. Liked it.

36. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (Vita) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: August 18
This game is ok for vita. Ok gameplay and story. What I didn't like is that I had to replay almost the exact game 3 times in order to get the plat. Should have changed it a bit between playthroughs and not change only the ending.

37. Sports Champions (PS3)
Day Stopped Playing: August 22
It's a pretty good move game I guess though not my cup of tea. I played did during a party with friends. I doubt I will ever plat this. I just can't get into seriously playing it. I can only play it casually.

38. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (PS3)
Day Stopped Playing: August 23
One of the best guitar hero games. I have not platted it but it sure is in my "to plat" list. Its pretty good for parties.

39. Aliens vs Predator (PS3)
Day Stopped Playing: August 28
I haven't gotten the platinum for this game, and I doubt I ever will. I have completed the marine and the predator campaign, and a big part of the alien campaign. Considering that I would need to play all of the campaigns in the hardest difficulty setting and also spent a week of full-time gaming on online i can't give this game this much time. I don't enjoy it that much. Mediocre at best

40. Gravity Rush (Vita) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: August 30
One of the best games vita has to offer. The story is weird in that it holds very scientific stuff, but also the protagonist is a bit stupid. I really liked it but I wish there were more answers by the end of it.

41. LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4) (Plat + 100%)
Day Completed: August 31
Had previously platted the game and played the dlc. It was ok if you like lbp (as I do).

Index

41. Killer is Dead (Steam, 2015/06/28, 10.5 hours)

I really enjoyed its basic, yet very satisfying hack'n'slash combat: attack, dodge, counter, zick zack through the room, then see 8+ enemies explode into fountains of blood and pieces. All this is happening in the style of manga or visual novels: flat shaded and highly stylized. The story and characters are so Suda51, reeking of awesome and wrong; players discretion is advised. The PC port is horrible out of the box, reproducible crashes (avoidable, so not game breaking), capped at 30 fps and no anti aliasing. Its engine Unreal3, lots of performance overhead to boot. This makes it very easy to adjust the framerate to 60+ with a minor .ini-tweak and anti-aliasing via the driver. It's unreal, what this adds to the experience (pun intended).

42. Tearaway (PSV, 2015/07/12, 6 hours)

Genius how they used flat-shaded polygons to create a paper-craft world: inexpensive rendering wise without looking cheap, perfect match for a handheld. I loved the presentation, voice acting, quirky character designs and the whole "make your own story without actually making your own story" spin. Customizing your character and pieces of the game world, while optional, was always good playful fun and carried forward through the journey in meaningful ways few games manage to archive. The gameplay had rare annoying moments when precession platforming was required, but not possible. The overall experience was overwhelmingly fun though. Lots of interesting ways to interact with the game while utilizing every possible input the Vita got to offer, but never making it feel like they're forcing gimmicks down your throat.

43. Puzzle Quest (Steam, 2015/07/18, 32 hours)

Great match3+ puzzle game with RPG elements and lengthy story. They added a lot around the core puzzle mechanic and it keeps the whole experience interesting even after endless hours of questing.

44. Grow Home (Steam, 2015/07/19, 4.2 hours)

Lots of climbing, jet-packing, hang gliding and exploring in a beautiful low-poly world: vertical journey from ground zero to the stars. Growing your skyward path is aided by collecting crystals, which in return, will improve the abilities of your little robot BUDdy. The gameplay overall is simple, but the omnipresent physics make things a bit more tricky. Like running downwards a vine, momentum galore, one miscalculated jump sends you flying and drops can be massive. Luckily it's possible to correct mishaps in many ways. Getting skilled, zipping through the game world is mega fun and super delightful. One of my most favorite games of 2015.

45. Velocity 2X (PS4, 2015/07/21, 5 hours)

Great sequel, that refined the working formula of highly responsive controls, precision execution, buttery smooth framerate and fast paced action. The newly added platforming is a welcome change to the usual shoot 'em up, path finding and racing business. The presentation, soundtrack, sound fx and art direction are all so very Euro Amiga scene, it almost hurts. The only thing I still don't like about the series is that levels have XP requirements and can require replays of previous levels to acquire enough XP in order to proceed.

46. Rocket League (PS4, 2015/07/28, 12 hours)

Best team based sports game in a while, insanely re-playable, no skill ceiling, uncomplicated gameplay with incredible depth. I did the training and went straight into MP, excellent match making and lots of fun to be had: all the thrills and drama that comes with team sports, epic comebacks, crushing defeats, glorious victories and your personal 15 seconds of fame like when scoring the deceive goal in overtime. Later on I tried the SP modes and won the championship. Ending credits were rolling, the mere reason I book this under "completed", because I'm not even close to quitting the MP. The only negatives I have to mention are A. the framerate could be much more solid on PS4, I expect the grass effect to be the culprit here (stadiums without it run way smoother) and B. the AI team players do some crazy stuff at times, the 3x3 championship felt a lot more like 1x5 at times, I had team mates run the ball through the whole stadium back into our own goal and it happened a couple of times.

47. Flying Hamster HD (PSV, 2015/08/09, 2 hours)

Well done cute 'em up with adorable designs, that could almost pass as being japanese (it's actually french). The SHMUP is very basic and not super long, 5 stages and 15-20 minutes for a run. It's possible to credit feed, but your coins are limited, so a little skill is required to clear the game. There's luckily a free play mode, that makes it possible to practice tricky sections. The story is told in between levels and surprisingly funny.

48. Snatcher (Sega-CD, 2015/08/17, 9.5 hours)

Being a massive Blade Runner fan I always wanted to play Snatcher. This text-options based visual adventure game delivered on all accounts: film noire story of detective footwork, mystery and the hunt of human like replicants in a not too distant cyberpunk future. They did a great job with the localization and english voice acting. The major part of the story was told via text, but never annoyingly so: everything was so interesting, that exhausting all text options became the compelling means to soak up, relish the universe and therefore extend the atmosphere. Kojima went all out with the references and 90s anime tropes. It all became one big melting pot of Blade Runner, Alien, Bubblegum Crisis, Terminator, etc. Definitely a timeless classic!

49. Entwined (PS4, 2015/08/17, 2 hours)

Nice visuals and music, but the gameplay got stale in record time. It seems they aimed for something like Flower, although never managed to archive any emotional impact. You race through the tunnel, go through the motions, rinse repeat. Glad it was just a PSN+ freebie.

50. Monument Valley (Android, 2015/08/24, 2 hours)

Lovely little MC Escher puzzle game, its portrait layout and touch controls perfect for mobile. Super casual, not very challenging, but more relaxing with atmospheric sound design and beautiful art direction. Just looking at the visuals made me happy.

Original post

#46 - Sonic Advance 2



I finished the game as Cream. Fun game and yet another proof that Sonic haters have no idea what they are talking about. The only bad thing about the game is the soundtrack. The music isn't on par with the usual quality of Sonic OSTs and the GBA sound chip certainly didn't help.

Game 18 – Earthbound (Wii U Virtual Console)
Beat the final boss to see credits.
Weirdly, I started this game after stumbling across the trailer for the fan-made Mother 4 game. I actually started it back in April but got a little fatigued by the slightly grindy gameplay (I'm not a big RPG guy despite some of my favourite games being RPGs).
I decided to revisit it on the night I heard about Iwata's death. The Eartbound: Beginnings launch (which I bought straight away to support the series) also pushed me back in to it.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed the game. It's certainly full of charm and I can understand why it's some people's favourite game ever but it just isn't mine. I'm glad I played though it with a guide. I have little patience for games where I don't know what I'm doing next and I felt like I was looking up what different items/moves did every 5 minutes and even that wasn't enough to stop me from throwing away the Rabbit's Foot, which I later found out is one of the best items in the game. You're just forever over-encumbered in this game!
I will get to Beginnings next.


Game 19 – Final Fantasy VII (PC)
Beat the final boss to see credits.
Despite this being one of my top 3 favourite games ever, I probably haven't played in about 10 years. I bought it on Steam ages ago during a sale with the aim of playing it through again and getting all of the achievements (I had done almost all of the achievements on the original). Of course the remake got me hyped and I jumped in.
I don't care what people say, This game is still amazing. I paid a bit more attention to localisation this time round because I know people always give the game a hard time about that but there was nothing in there that was going to ruin the game for me. That said, it's really difficult to know how much of my love for this game is just nostalgia.
I love everything about this game and that's why the remake can only disappoint. Whether the game stays the same or changes, someone's going to be upset. From the slim information we have on the game, it's becoming more apparent that it's going to be me.
I know it's unrealistic, but I basically want the same game with a graphical overhaul and no fixed camera so I can see Midgar from all angles.
I eventually got all achievements despite the last few being really grindy.


Game 20 – Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Beat the final boss to see credits.
Another game featured in Super Mario Maker and one I've actually never completed. On my first play though I found this a lot harder than SMB 1 and I started enjoying it more when I started using maps (not to mention those bullshit 'fly to a random spot at the top of the level' levels). Once I worked out all the extra life gimmicks, it seemed much easier and more enjoyable.
There's an incredible diversity of levels in this game that I feel has only recently been matched in platformers by games like Tropical Freeze and 3D World.
I went through the game again to make sure that I completed every single level and I have now moved on to World.

Updated OP

Game 32: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition



Duration - 12:42:55

Completed at 12:28am on Tuesday 25/8/15. Played this for the first time in anticipation for MGSV: TTP. Completed the campaign. I really enjoyed this one, especially the second half and I'm straight onto Peace Walker.

Original post.

23. Invisible, Inc. / 8 hrs

This is a fantastic little game. I don't completely jive with the time restrictions though.

24. Night of the Rabbit / 12 hrs

Solid adventure game. Some annoying puzzles though.

25. Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy / 12 hrs

I'm sick of Layton, basically force fed this, but it was still enjoyable.

June

26. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt / 150 hrs

Very possibly my GOTY, we'll see!

27. Assassin's Creed: Rogue / 13 hrs

My least favorite AC game, I am just sick of boat gameplay at this point. But if you're not sick of that, it's more of the same.

28. Please Don't Touch Anything / 3 hrs

Fun little time waster.

29. Her Story / 3 hrs

Liked but didn't love this....I do want more games in this vein though.

July

30. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn/Heavensward /410 hrs

This derailed my life.....I had to quit playing just to get back to other games. Fantastic experience though!

August

31. Assassin's Creed Unity/Dead KIngs DLC /40 hrs

I liked some parts of this, but I was so sick of this by the end. The enemies awareness is completely messed up and frustrating.

32. Stealth Inc 2 / 7 hrs

I ran into a game breaking bug which I've read has never been fixed on any platform, I'm unable to open the wall to get to 6-5. But I'm counting this complete....I would've completed it if I could.

33. Tengami / 1 hr

Like the idea and art style but its not very good.

34. LISA: The Painful RPG / 9 hrs

I loved this a great deal....what an unpleasant experience.

1020 hrs / 34 games

Updated Original Post:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=170721437&postcount=1889


36. Rocket League (PS4)
Completed Season Mode 7/24/15; Played Multiple Online matches: Total Playtime 7 hours
Rating 5/5
Great game. By far the best PS+ game that I've received. I'm not very good at it, but it's just so much fun to play a few matches here and there.

37. Sleeping Dogs (XB1)
Completed Main Story 8/4/15. Time 22 hours
Rating 4/5
Good game, but unfortunately like many open-world games for me anymore, I start getting a little bored with the (at least to me) repetitiveness, esp repetitive side missions.

38. Driveclub (PS4)
Won Legends Trophy 8/6/15: Time (not for sure, maybe 15-20 hours?)
Rating 4/5
I didn't pick this up until it was ~$25 dollars on sale on PSN right before the PS+ edition came out, so I missed all the launch problems with it. Great racing game. A bit of a contrast to the other racing came I wound up completing (Forza Horizon 2). I've seen the two be compared and contrasted on these forums, and I feel both are of high quality and have their own merits.

39. Halo 4 (XB1) replay
Completed main game 8/10/15: Time 5 hours
Rating 4/5
Replayed this as the hype for Halo 5 is starting to kick in for me and wanted to complete it again before the fall onslaught of MGSV, Forza, etc. kills my playing time. I enjoyed this campaign a lot more than others here. My biggest issue story-wise is I didn't like the "who the Forerunners were" retcon from what Bungie had done.

40. Forza Horizon 2 (XB1)
Completed main game 8/17/15: Time 22 hours
Rating 5/5
Fun open-world racing game. Completed the Horizon Finale, but having so much fun with it, will continue to play the other championships and got the Storm Island DLC. Was able to build my profile up to Tier 5 to get as much as I can for when Forza 6 drops.

41. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4)
Rating 3/5
Completed main game 8/18/15: Time 3 hours
Great story. Obviously this isn't going to be a game for everyone as many won't like the "gameplay" But for me it was a nice palette-cleanser and change of pace from other games that I play.

42. Jetpac - Rare Replay (XB1)
Completed all milestones and snapshots: Time 2 hours
I picked up Rare Replay on a whim and when I tried this game, I was hooked. Very fun to play.

Knocked out quite a few games this month due to most of them being of the shorter variety and also had made quite a bit of progress on Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2 already.
I'm in the final 10 games to go to reach the challenge. I now feel fairly confident I can pull it off barring any unforseen hiccups. The next month though I have a few timesinks as I picked up Gears: UE and will be playing the MP in that, along with MGSV (which sound like it has a lot more content than previous entries), Forza 6 and am finally diving into Destiny. (and am still playing through ESO slowly but surely)

56: Conception II (Vita) [6/10]
- 22/08/2015 (24:11)
- Finished the game and got all 9 endings. I wish I could give this a higher score, I like the concept of creating an army of "star children" to help save the world... I don't like the creepy touch teenage girls whilst they pose lewdly. Dungeons became nothing but avoid enemies and grind on the "Sagita" enemies that drop 10x the exp of normal enemies, really not difficult in any way as I didn't get a single game over.

57: Journey (PS4) [10/10]
- 23/08/2015 (~3:00)
- Completed the game for the first time, managed to do so with the same companion for the whole game. This is a fantastic experience, I can't believe I waited this long to play it. Worth a 10/10.

I'm currently playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3D and Tales Of Xillia 2... So I'm not expecting to update anything here for a while

Main Post

Click to expand...

Game #23. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA VC)
- Time played: 65:33 hours.
- Completion reached: Cleared the game twice (followed both twins' paths).

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is the follow-up (not sequel) to Fire Emblem 7, game that I talked about here. Most of the gameplay mechanics are kept exactly the same so I won't comment on them much. I'll note that Sacred Stones adds a few mechanics (world map and branching promotions) that I really enjoyed, even if people say the map allows you to grind.

Like FE7 before it, Sacred Stones has a medieval fantasy setting and story. This time, a war starts out of nowhere and twins Eirika and Ephraim set out to stop it. The story is shorter than the one in FE7 but I thought it was enjoyable. When you reach certain point in the game you'll have to choose between following Eirika or Ephraim and thus you only experience one part of the story in a single playthrough. While this is cool because it incentivates replays, it also makes the pacing of the story a tad weird. . The set of characters in this game is fun and varied, just like in FE7. This time the Support mechanic is better implemented and it's very fun to pair your characters and watch the hilarious conversations that ensue.

Overall, I really liked this game. It's shorter and easier than FE7 so it could be a good first experience for people that have never played FE. Story isn't very popular and it could be argued that the pacing is a bit off but I actually really liked it after playing through both paths.

Just another update

Its been a while since I last added games but school is almost here and I did the best I could. I'm probably not going to finish the challenge but I'm glad I attempted it. The backlog grows by the day and I've been playing nothing but open world games.

Original post


Game 16: Machinarium (PC) 5 hours
Just a random point and click indie game that I had from Ps plus I came around to playing it and became hooked. Its a beautifully designed game amazing art style and the puzzles were great. I got stuck at a few points in the game so cheating was my best option even with the hints. They had a cool mechanic to obtain a hint was to play a mini game. The story was also great and the whole setting and characters drew me in to see the end. Great game and I would recommend to anyone whos interested.


Game 17: Dying Light (XBONE) 24 hours
I absolutely love this game. I played most of the game in 4 player coop with some friends and It has been the most fun I had since gta 5. This game is one of the best open world games that I played this year. The game looks amazing. It has a running system like mirrors edge and combat like dead island. Put that together and you get this game. This game is huge and its always fun traversing through the world. There's a good variety of zombies during the day and then the night. The night makes this game more intense with zombies that are faster and stronger than you chase after you if you get caught. Can't wait for the dlc this year. The story on the other hand was the only bad thing about it. Its just not good that's all I need to say about it.


Game 18: Sleeping Dogs (PC) 24 hours
Playing this game was a breath of fresh air after playing GTA V. This is basically gta but in a Hong Kong setting with a undercover cop story The game looks good for a last gen game its plays great because of the amazing combat system and executions with certain objects. There's a lot of stuff to do in the game and you won't be bored if you pace it right. (Which I'm terrible at). The story was great and I can't wait to see what they do next. Haven't played the dlc but ill get back to it.

1-13
14-30



31. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (3DS VC/NES): 3:06, June 19th.
I still don't like this game that much. I appreciate some of the new features added in, like the wind gusts and spring boards, but I still hate some of the level design choices, like hiding the invisible block in 8-3. Plus a lot of the levels aren't really that memorable, but, as with most of the impressions I post here, that's completely subjective. Another minor nitpick is that I dislike the soundtrack sharing most, if not all, of its songs with the original SMB. It's a shame, as Mario games tend to have great soundtracks. It's easily my least favorite NES Mario game, including western SMB 2.



32. Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic (PC): 25:42, June 20th.
KOTOR is one of the better SW games, and is a good piece of work in the expanded universe, surprisingly enough. I was really into the expanded universe when I was younger, and a good bit of it was not great. While it doesn't the most unique story, it's still pretty good, if cliched. Travelling to different planets mentioned in other works, like Kashyyk and Korriban, along with all of the different alien species, is probably the highlight of the game for me. The party members are good, too, especially HK-47 (probably the best droid in the expanded universe) and Jolee Bindo. I really enjoyed my time with it.



33. Super Mario Bros 3 (3DS VC/NES): 5:51, June 27th.
The jump in quality between The Lost Levels and 3 is astounding. All you really need to do is compare the level variety of Lost Levels to 3 to see that. Not much really needs to be said about it, but it remains one of my favorite Mario games, and it's certainly my favorite SMB NES game.



34. Higurashi: Onikakushi (PC): 8:14, July 4th.
This is a new version of the franchise's first chapter, officially localized with a fully re-translated script. It's so much better than the first version published by manga gamer, as the translation isn't complete garbage this time. The paranoid mystery thriller portion is as good as it always was, though I forgot how long the chapter takes to really get into gear. If you like suspenseful mystery novels, you'll probably like this. Also, it's important to note that this release is easily moddable, so you can swap out the blurry backgrounds for the much better PS3 backgrounds, etc.



35. Rogue Legacy (PC): 26:19, July 5th.
Rogue Legacy is now one of my favorite rogue-lite games. I can sink so much time into just wandering around the castle and its grounds before dying and then going straight into another castle after spending coins. The grinding was so addicting that I actually over-grinded a little bit and made the third and fourth bosses extremely easy. I got to new game + 3 before finally tapping out. The soundtrack is great. As a final note, more games need air dashes.



36. Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (3DS VC/GBC): 19: 44, July 6th.
It's Panel de Pon with a Pokémon theme to it. I mainly bought the virtual console version due to nostalgia, as I played this a lot when I was much younger. It's still very enjoyable, even at the higher difficulty levels, which can sometimes be complete bullshit. It's nigh impossible to unlock some of the playable Pokémon though, which is kind of a bummer. I'm glad that gen 2 Pokémon were represented in this one, even ones that usually aren't represented well, like Sentret, are included. I'm honestly not sure how enjoyable this game would be for someone without nostalgia for both the game itself and the gen 2 games, so I would suggest looking up gameplay videos if you're unsure about buying this (for the few people that would actually consider buying it without having played it before).



37. Punch-Out!! (3DS VC/NES): 3:20, July 11th.
Another classic game that has been discussed so much that little really needs to be said. The cast is as colorful as ever and the battle theme is still one of the catchiest NES songs. I still consider it to be more of a puzzle game than a fighting game, but that's pretty much the only unique thing I can say about Punch-Out.



38. Xeodrifter (3DS): 4:03, July 16th.
Xeodrifter is a mediocre game that could have been much better than it is. It's essentially 2D Metroid without the substance of Metroid. Sure it's short, and that shouldn't be a problem, except that there doesn't feel like a whole lot of content hidden away for one to explore. You could probably finish it far faster than I did, as I ended up backtracking to fully complete all of the health upgrades. The gun customization feels pointless as you really only need to put points into two different options. The powers you can unlock are somewhat interesting and lead to new portions of old areas that you couldn't get to previously. Some of the major power-ups, however, are just retreads of power-ups from Mutant Mudds, an earlier game from Renegade Kid that should be familiar to some people. The few checkpoints in the game can make it feel slightly tedious at times. Normal enemy variety is decent, and some of them can pose a challenge to beat (mainly the fly enemy). Unfortunately, the bosses to do not share this level of variety. You basically fight the same boss seven times, with each variation gaining a new attack until you reach the final boss, which has every attack that the previous bosses had. It's boring and not creative. It's the same boss fight over and over again with a small adjustment each time you face it. The lack of variety is by far the game's greatest weakness, and hurts the game overall. If you can get it for cheap and enjoy games like it, you might as well buy it. If you don't like Metroid-style games, just avoid it.



39. 3D Classics: Excitebike (3DS): 3:21, July 27th.
After all of the time I've spent with the 3DS, this is the first game to make me realize how the 3D feature could be used to add to a game's experience. Pushing up the 3D slider and seeing the top screen pull out to reveal more of the stands and the sky was an oddly amazing experience. It really shouldn't have been, but it felt so novel to me. Yeah, that's the highlight of this one. It's good old Excitebike other than that, nothing else is all that different from before. I wish Nintendo had produced more 3D classics.



40. L.A. Noire (PC): 29:36, July 30th.
I feel like L.A. Noire is a good game that could have been far better than it was. While the gameplay certainly has its flaws, the biggest issue I have with the game is its plot. There are so many little things that could be changed to improve the game's narrative. For example, Cole Phelps' wife could have been an actual character instead of being a plot device that really only shows up twice in the entire game. And it would have been really easy to tie her into the rest of the game's plot, too. Instead of having her do nothing at all, she could have been a character that Cole talks to after each case, with each scene showing the figurative distance between Cole and his family instead of the game just telling the player that Cole no longer feels attached to his family. She could get kidnapped by the first serial killer dealt with in the game, too, as it would certainly make the final confrontation with the killer seem more important and make the killer feel more like an actual threat. Instead, the killer is just as threatening as every other two-bit gunman in the game. Really, L.A. Noire feels like a game that should have been a duology, with the first game consisting of the traffic and homicide desks and the second game featuring the vice and arson desks. Both theoretical games could have expanded on flat boring characters and turned them into interesting characters that the player could become attached to over time, and it would certainly lead to the affair having more weight to it in the potential second game.

At any rate, the game we got was still good, though the investigation gameplay was far more enjoyable than the mechanics of the chase and shooting segments. The facial movement was a great way to reveal tells to the player. The interrogations were interesting, but sometimes the three choices lead to Cole saying stuff that really didn't feel like it should belong there (most of the doubt choices seemed to lead to Cole yelling at people instead of being a little more tactful about the questioning). While the gunplay felt really limp, the chase sections were mostly pretty decent, with a few exceptions (most of which involved people kicking at Cole when you have him shimmy along pipes, while Cole has no method of fighting back). The driving was decent, but I started using fast travel when playing as the other character you get to play as later on (name withheld due to spoilers). I ended up ignoring most of the side missions towards the end of the game as well, as most of them were dull and added nothing to the game.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the game, but I constantly felt like it could have been so much more than what it was. At least the soundtrack is pretty great.



41. Secret Files: Tunguska (PC): 7:21, Aug. 2nd.
It's a bland point and click adventure game. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other towards it, though I didn't like the voice acting at all. It's not the shittest voice acting ever, but it's certainly not good; I would call it "grating" at best. The puzzles felt a little contrived at times and usually consisted of combining items to come up with a solution. They aren't the most outlandish solutions I've been subjected to in a pnc game, though. The characters and plot are largely forgettable, as is the soundtrack. There's no real reason to buy this if you haven't done so already, there are so many better pnc games out there.



42. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS): 26:29, Aug. 7th.
Majora's Mask is still one of my favorite Zelda games, and the changes made to this version make it the definitive version of the game (much like how OoT 3D is the definitive version of that game). Well, most of the changes anyway, some of the boss fights are a little weaker in terms of quality in this version. The game is far less tedious than it once was thanks to the changes, and a lot of the fat is cut off when dealing with sidequests. It's much easier to get straight to the goal in this version. The world feels so lively and is filled to the brim with stuff to do and characters to interact with, compared to other games in the series like OoT. Compared to OoT, the overall narrative is way more interesting, too. I still dislike the Great Bay dungeon, though it's more conceptually interesting than some of the other water based dungeons in the franchise. It's probably going to end up as my personal goty this year.



43. Dragon Warrior II (GBC): 3:17 in 2014, 20:38 in total, Aug. 9th.
It's definitely a step up in quality from Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest I, which is surprising considering they're both on the same cartridge. I was expecting something more archaic. While everything seems to be a step up from the first game, the game certainly has its flaws. I eventually started using a map someone put online to help figure out where I was supposed to go. There's an in game map, but you obtain it when you reach the final third of the game, give it or take, and it's classified as an item you need to carry around. Plus it's sort of useless without a second map, as it doesn't display any landmarks. Grinding is still ever-present, and battles feel slightly longer when compared to the first game, making grinding more of a chore. There are a few difficulty spikes here and there, the most noticeable of which was the Cave to Rhone and its pits of doom. There are some things that you need to do that seem completely random unless you resort to using the internet for help, like finding the sunken treasure. It's still a solid game, but I'm sure that the later games are far better.



44. Shipwreck (PC): 2:07, Aug. 9th.
It's a simplified homage to Link's Awakening, right down to the whole "waking up on beach after a shipwreck" part. It's a solid Zelda-like, and doesn't really try to do anything different or unique. It's very easy to 100% in a short amount of time, and doesn't overstay its welcome, though the final dungeon probably took up a good 45 minutes worth of play time. Nice little distraction for a very cheap price.



45. Shadowrun Returns (PC): 9:22, Aug. 13th.
This was my first experience with the franchise, and I was hooked on the Shadowrun world very early in the game. The cyberpunk atmosphere, writing, and setting are by far the best parts of the game, really helping to draw the player in. The music is good, too, and never really feels out of place. Everything else about the game is average for the most part, though. The combat is relatively easy, but mostly enjoyable, and it laid a decent foundation for the combat system in the following games. Some of the choices really don't amount to much, making the charisma dialogue options in this game feel rather useless. The world feels empty in general, as if the NPCs standing around are just there for decoration and the occasional mini-objective to complete. The lack of real sidequests is also another downside, as there's really only one true side mission in the game. While the writing is really good, the actual narrative feels a bit rushed towards the end, and most of the characters you encounter are very forgettable. I know that a lot of people have problems with the final mission and boss, but it wasn't that difficult for me at all on normal mode. I only encountered one glitch in the game, when a character couldn't move during combat, and it was easily fixed by saving, exiting, and re-launching the game, so no real progress was lost. Overall, it's a decent foundation for the later games, but it feels unpolished in comparison to both Dragonfall and Hong Kong.



46. Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC): 20:09, Aug. 21st.
Dragonfall is everything that Returns should have been. The characters are actually interesting this time, with a core party with unique personalities and backstories. The setting is still great, and the hub area is far better than the last game's. The actual combat is improved too, and there are more environment specific options than in the previous game. This game also has real sidequests, which range from decent to great in quality. Honestly, if I had played this last year, it probably would have been my personal GOTY.

The only problems that I really have with the game are its final boss and bugs. The final boss isn't really impressive, and it's just as easy, if not easier, than Returns' final boss on the game's normal difficulties. I encounter a gamebreaking bug in one of the late game missions, which made it impossible to save during the mission. I ended up losing a good hour of time due to it. Other than that, the game's fantastic.



47. Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered (PC): 7:04, Aug. 23rd.
I really don't want to go into why I don't like the game for the umpteenth time, but the basics are that I think the plot is a huge mess filled with inconsistencies and dumb, unneeded action sequences, and that parts of the game are just stolen ideas, plotlines, and characters from other forms of media (seriously, Cage just straight up lifts the name and concept of the Invisibles from Grant Morrison's comic book series of the same name). It doesn't feel or look remastered, either.



48. Shadowrun: Hong Kong (PC): 19:40, Aug. 24th.
I'm honestly not feeling up to writing longer impressions anymore. I really like Gaichu, Gobbet, and Racter, they're all great characters. Soundtrack's really good. Final boss is still disappointing.



49. Evoland (PC): 5:02, Aug. 29th.
The concept is great, but the execution is a little sloppy. It's a very simple game with little depth to it, especially during the battle segments. It's also fairly easy to fully finish, too. It doesn't really overstay its welcome, but it doesn't really do anything amazing during its stay.



50. Evoland 2 (PC): 24:41, Sept. 6th.
Way better than the first game, has far more systems going for it.



51. Fantasy Life (3DS): 8:14 in 2014, 120:33 total, Sept. 10th.
I honestly got bored about 100 hours in, but wanted to do as much as possible. It's a fun game after you get past the first 10 hours or so.



52. Dungeon of the Endless (PC): 48:01, Sept. 26th.
Addicting mixture of RTS and tower defense. I wish the music was more in the forefront. It's really fun once you get the basic mechanics down.

13:08h. Completed Campaign mode. I'm going to be blunt: completing this game was a chore. There's dated, and then there's this. The first missions were unbearably slow, but the game got slightly better after a while, graduating to "somewhat enjoyable" around 50%. I can see how this game was pivotal for the genre in consoles, but a remake would have made more sense than a remaster. Glad this is over and now can I move to the better Killzone games in my backlog.


Updated OP

Full List

Game 37: N++ (21 Hours)(PS4) – 8/2/2015

I loved this game and i despised this game. Challenging, but very rewarding to overcome a series of courses that have been giving you problems. Really enjoyed my time with it and will be returning whenever i get the mood for more.

Game 38: Halo 3: ODST (5 Hours)(XBox One) – 8/8/2015

Finally got around to playing this and think it was up there with among my favorite Halo campaigns. Nothing spectacular about it, but i enjoyed my short run through of it and was glad i got the chance to try it out.

Game 39: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (8 Hours)(PS4) – 8/15/2015

A beautiful game with unfortunately a few to many missteps. The graphics, the world, the story were all very well crafted and alone was enough to keep me going and wanting to see more. Unfortunately the way they told the story, and how it was designed into the world could get confusing and jumbled. Likewise, the movement speed was such a bummer that it made trying to explore a bit tiresome. Still an interesting experience.

Game 40: Rocket League (24 Hours)(PS4) – 8/20/2015

How pleasantly surprised i was with this game. The strategy and controls take a bit to get a handle of, but once you do it is such a rewarding experience to fly around the arena. The single player and matches against bots did grow stale fairly quickly, but the online component with friends was some of the most enjoyable experiences i have had online in quite some time.

Game 41: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (8 Hours)(XBox One) – 8/29/2015

Never played Gears of War before and when they announced this, and the eventual inclusion of the other games, i wanted to give it a go. The multiplayer unfortunately isn't for me, but i didn't expect it would be as i don't seem to enjoy most 3rd person shooter online modes. The campaign was interesting. I was surprised at how well the actual game play held up over time, and while not the best third person shooter i have played, i can see where this game set the bar and likely raised it with future games. The story was pretty average but engaging enough where i never felt it over stayed itself, and i am looking forward to working through the other campaigns when they are released for the backwards compatibility.

Previous Post: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=163336936&postcount=1634
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I haven't played anything new in ages due to getting caught up in other stuff+Monster Hunter 4U, so I guess I'll start a new post:

Game 51: Subway Adventures - All stations visited (I don't think you can "finish" this)

Free game so link here (note that it's a bit NSFW at points) . It seems to be simulating what you imagine when you see a subway map full of strange names, as you go between stations and see what's there.There's also some deeper messages and implications to various places, as increpare's games are known to have, but I need to think over it more to tell if there's an overarching message. It's certainly one of the better "explore weird shit" games I've played.

Game 52: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - Finished

Mostly a good expansion to the original. The lower budget/ambition shows relative to the original, but it's still lightyears beyond most modern FPS. The new weapons are awesome but, as the major new feature, it's unfortunate there's no variety to the supernatural beyond , due to that I felt it was at it's strongest in chapter 3/4 where you were fighting a variety of Nazi types, but it's still enjoyable enough, 3-way fights could have been played up a lot more though. It does a great job preserving the mood from New Order as well.

Game 53: Xeodrifter - Finished

A pretty good Metroid-type game. It has some issues like powerups overwriting each other too much and the bosses all being the same basic design (and actually getting easier as you get more abilities as a result). It seems like it will be tough by metroidvania standards at the start, but it gets hit by "easier as it goes along" syndrome even more than most games in the genre. The issues stop it being an excellent entry to the genre, but it does the general style well.

Game 54: La-Mulana EX - Playing

The EX version doesn't seem much different from the older versions beyond giving you second chances with a few nasty things. So, it's La-Mulana, brutally hard (albeit for exploration more than combat unless you're on hard), ridiculously obscure and convoluted, and frequently flat-out bullshit. Yet, it's also full of attention to detail in almost every screen, has obvious thought behind almost everything, backstory that's much deeper than it lets on, and a great soundtrack. Overall it's one of my favourite games ever, even if I do think it would be better if it cut back on the impossibly obscure bullshit, or at least makes that optional (and I hope the upcoming sequel finds a better balance, which the developers have suggested they are trying for).

Game 55: Bloodborne - Finished

Like I said in another thread this is the most consistent Souls games overall; I don't think it quite matches some of the highs in earlier games, but it has none of the lows too, and the base quality through it is highest. I have a hard time ranking it within the series though (that applies to every Souls game though as I like them so much). The thing is I want to leave full judgement until the DLC comes along; the big issue of the game right now is that the amount of builds is very confined; everything is technically very viable and powerful, but everything outside a balance or focus on Strength and Skill only has one or two viable options; The DLC in previous Souls games added a lot, but there weren't major playstyle holes to patch. With 10+ weapons on top of everything else the DLC here could be a legit gamechanger.

Game 56: Path of Exile - Playing

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Game 57: Witcher 3 - Playing

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Game 58: Killzone: Shadow Fall - Finished

Given the mixed reception I was pretty pleasantly surprised by this overall; it doesn't manage to pull it's interesting aspects together to become something great (which is a persistent problem the series has had), but I liked the OWL support concept, and the attempts to merge stealth into the series more (though only a few sections really have the level design to pull it off). The story didn't really come together too well, but it makes a better effort to bring the bigger universe into things than the earlier games did. Also no Rico. I'm not sure how well they did, but between this and Mercenaries I hope the Killzone series gets more chances, as I feel it's got a great game in it if they manage to pull together all the disparate strengths of the individual games.

Game 59: God of War: Ascension - Finished

Another game with a mixed reception that I enjoyed; I might even rank it over the first in the series overall, though I'd need to replay the earlier ones again to decide. It doesn't do much new but it mostly competent and preserves most of the strengths of the series (GOW is still one of the only series to do true AAA spectacle properly). The blade upgrades could be more differentiated though, and there seemed to be little reason to use anything other than the Hades blade (with occasional dips into Ares for the magic attack) which I found much better than the others. Playing on hard, the pickup weapons also seemed really underpowered outside their special discard attacks.

original post

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42. Banjo-Kazooie (N64 replay) - 12 hours;

I felt like digging up my N64 after some not very great Polygon video about B&K and Mario 64 and after realizing that I've forgotten more about the original than all the other N64 platformers.
Anyway, despite the camera being not the greatest nowadays, it's still lots of fun. Engine room, quiz and final boss are as shit as I remembered, the rest was sweet. It really feels like the title on which everything great about Rare came together. Very good level design, great art direction, music and humour, correlating like in almost no other of their titles.

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43. Super Mario Land (3DS replay) - 0h30m;

Random playthrough to fully drain my 3DS battery life. Bought it on VC back in the day solely for nostalgia purposes, other than that, it's not a good Mario game. It's cool that is different, but overall it's just a pretty generic platformer that ends with a generic shooting sequence. The amazing opening stage song still gets me though, brings back all the memories.

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44. Rayman Legends (PS3 replay);

Technically traded in the WiiU version for the PS3 one, now I could finally fully enjoy the singleplayer. Ancel did what Nintendon't basically and just made a great, inventive 2D platforming sequel while the Nintendo competition has been utterly uninspired in the last 3-4 years.
It's a little easier than Origins, but so much more fun. And even more beautiful, I also appreciate the heavy decrease of chipmunks in the OST. Still love the unconvential stage ideas like a whole James Bond world, the music stages, etc. plus the constantly fast pace. I also love how you constantly unlock shit, the new characters are great, even if only skins, plus great humour, like the French take on what made the style of Banjo-Kazooie funny. Unfortunately, it's a little short. Still, I did all the challenges and Origins levels too.

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45. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (3DS replay);

Obviously played a version with saves, it's definitely much harder than SMB1, but hence also less replayable. On the other hand, the stages are more varied, compared to often altered iterations in SMB1. Hammer Bros are still the biggest bitch in this one. Other than that, it wasn't extremely hard, after I realized that most of my previous problems could be solved by big jumps and holding against ledges to get to high places.

Game 19 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4): Story Completed on 5/6/15. 9 Hours.

Game 20 - Batman: Arkham City (PS3): Story Completed on 5/11/15. 8 Hours.

Game 21 - The Order: 1886 (PS4): Platinum Achieved on 6/5/15. 9 Hours.

Game 22 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4): Story Completed on 6/8/15. 30+ Hours.

Game 23 - Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4): Platinum Achieved on 7/5/15. 25 Hours.

Game 24 - Journey (PS4) Story Completed on 7/22/15. 1 Hour.

Game 25 - Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4) Story Completed on 8/12/15. 5 Hours.

Game 26 - Fallout 3 GOTY (PS3) Platinum Achieved on 8/17/15. 34 Hours.

Game 27 - Rocket League (PS4) Platinum Achieved on 8/24/15. 15+ Hours.

Game 28 - Halo 4 (X1) Story Completed on 8/28/15. 7 Hours.

Game 29 - Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (PS4) Story Completed on 8/28/15. 1 Hour.


Games Expected to Play and/or Complete:
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Mad Max
Fallout 4
Halo 5
Black Ops 3
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Until Dawn
Star Wars: Battlefront
Super Mario Maker
Uncharted 1 HD
Uncharted 2 HD
Uncharted 3 HD
Grow Home
Her Story
Super Time Force Ultra

300 hour mark has been crossed thanks ta finishing both Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and .hack//G.U. Vol.3: Redemption this week!


Games Beaten: 36 / 52
Total Playtime: 312 hours, 31 minutes

01 - 26
27 - ??

Original Post



Game #40 - Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (PS4) - 14/08/15

These kind of story focused adventure games are really hit or miss for me, as they're entirely dependant on the story, which even if well written, may not hook me. I can understand why a lot of people like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter but I didn't for the simple reason that the story didn't really hook me, whereas Gone Home did hook me and I loved that game. So going into Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, I was worried it'd be another Ethan Carter, as they seemed fairly similar at first glance. But it turned out that while it did fail to hook me at first, about halfway through the game it sunk its claws into me and didn't let go. One of the reasons I think it failed to initially hook me is what everyone's said, the walking speed. But I think the main one was that I've never been that great at remembering names, so when I initially played it, I had no idea who was who and as a result, had a hard time following what was going on. Once I got my head around who was who, the individual stories started coming together more and I started getting more and more interested in the characters, world and story of the game. Going through it a second time and having a much better understanding of what was going on cemented my opinion, which is that it's a pretty fantastic game.

About my only complaint was the same what everyone's said by now, the walking speed is way too slow, even with the weird run button. It was one of the reasons why I wasn't really enjoying it at first but once I got used to it, it faded more into the background. Hopefully they patch it though, so that they people who're really bothered by it can have a better experience.



Game #41 - The Legend of Korra (PS4) - 15/08/15

I'd heard a lot of bad impressions about this game, so I started it with very little expectations. I wouldn't call it a bad game, just really short and disappointing compared to Platinum's usual output, something I'd probably blame on the (probable) small budget and being rushed out for the holiday season last year. The combat doesn't have the usual depth you'd expect from a Platinum game but it's still fairly fun and makes a lot of sense given the license. The worst part was the Naga segments, which were really poorly checkpointed (way too common in most, none in another, making it the hardest part of the entire game).



Game #42 - The Swapper (PS4) - 16/08/15

An awesome little puzzle game. I managed to get through almost all of the puzzles myself but will admit I needed help on one of the early levels (as I was getting used to the mechanics and getting my head around the puzzle design) and one of the later levels (after they introduce some pretty insane puzzle designs). To my credit, I did manage to finish the puzzle I often see cited as the hardest one in the game by myself, though it took a few attempts.



Game #43 - Sacra Terra: Kiss of Death (PS3) - 19/08/15

A simple hidden object adventure game that I bought for a couple dollars last year. Very easy, especially since the game tells the player which areas they can do anything in, but I was entertained enough over the couple of days I played it. Voice acting and story were terrible but I didn't exactly expect much anyway.



Game #44 - Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2 (NDS) - 29/08/15

I got this pretty much as soon as the English fan patch was announced and while it's taken me a while to get to it, I'm really happy I did. I first have to give props to the fan translation team. They did a pretty incredible job creating a script that, as far as I can remember, fits with the official Ace Attorney scripts perfectly, including the always weird "we're in the US, honest, that's just a hotdog, not sushi" thing the series has always had.

I haven't played an Ace Attorney game for years, so I can't compare it to any of the others but I can remember the formula they use for these games and I love it as much now as I did back then. The four cases building into a fifth climactic case works on me every time. My favourite case had to be the third case, where the perspective switched between Miles and his father, Gregory, while investigating related cases. And then the way that plays into the fifth case is pretty crazy.


Currently Playing

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
• Until Dawn (PS4)

Eight more games until I've got 52. I won't be able to get there in September, as I'll mainly be focusing on MGSV, but I definitely should before the end of October.

When my daughter's a bit older I can't wait to start committing to this. I've got a backlog that just keeps growing and it's starting to get a bit overwhelming. I need more time!!!!

Just got finished going through Streets of Rage 3! Even on easy mode there's a lotta hard situations/bosses!


Games Beaten: 37 / 52
Total Playtime: 313 hours, 28 minutes

01 - 26
27 - ??