Game 31: Wages of Sin - 3 hours, Sept 24th
A solid expansion pack, I think I prefer it over the original. Although most (all) of the humour is quite juvenile, it managed to put a smile on my face in a few spots. I like the new weapons it adds too, even though the SMG is still the go to weapon for most of the game.

Game 25: Long Live The Queen - September 24th, 2014 - 2.5 hours

"Anime fanservice bullshit." I remember that was what TotalBiscuit thought this game was when he started doing his livestream research video. When I saw the the store listing the first time, I too thought the same thing. But like TB, I quickly discovered that the game has...no fan service! Like they say, don't judge a book by its cover!

The anime-style graphics immediately bias one to think that it's going to be full of tentacle monsters, pantsu shots and all other kinds of nonsense. But there's almost none of that to be found! I would attribute that in part to the fact that Hanako Games, the publishing company, is in fact an American company run by a woman. How refreshing to see an "anime" game that didn't fall prey to overused and irritating tropes.

As for the game itself, it's a great effort by Hanako. One criticism I have is that the game seems very trial and error based. Once I figured out a pattern, it was pretty easy to figure out how to survive. Dying felt more less like my own fault than the game not telling me anything relevant to surviving. A second criticism I have is that this game kind of markets itself as a Visual Novel. It's hardly one at all, at least in the modern vein of text heavy VNs. It's more of a "character management" or "life sim" titles. I would love to see less trial/error based gameplay and more "novel" in the next Hanako title.

All those complaints aside, the game is competent and pretty enjoyable. Considering it's $10 on Steam, and currently $6.69 as of the time I write this recap, it's worth the money to mess around with. I like to employ the "movie ticket test," which means a game should try to equal or surpass the entertainment value a movie ticket provides ($10 for roughly two hours). Long Live The Queen does that, even if I managed to beat it once. I can tell from looking at the "checklist" and achievement list that there are many alternative ways to die and complete the game. Considering how quick the game boots up, I'll probably go back and mess around with those at some point as well.

Game 26: Hearthstone - September 24th, 2014 - 20-25+ hours.

I was going to wait until the end of the year to write this recap, but I just want to stick it in now before I forget.

Hearthstone is a game that has sucked considerable amounts of my time. I wrote 20+ hours, but that's a low estimate, and it could easily be over 30+ at this point. I've invested time because it is a F2P title that never truly feels "pay to win." Sure, people who buy oodles of cards may have an advantage with great legendaries and such. But really, as with any TCG, a competent deck and a competent player still wins more often than not, even when "out-classed" in card quality.

Besides the excellent payment model and balance, it's just plain fun. I've invested a lot of time and money into other TCGs (Magic/Yu-Gi-Oh), but this one has never made me feel bad about spending habits. I can just boot it up on my computer or iPad before bed, play a few matches and be done. No planning, shuffling, going to stores to buy packs, fighting with friends, or anything like that. It's just plain multiplayer fun. I can't wait for the first real card-based expansion to come out and make this game even better!

Part One
Part Two

Game 32: Quake - 4 hours, Sept 25th
Like a lot of people I mostly played the shareware version of Quake back in the day, so it was fun to play the other three episodes. Quake is a weird game, it mixes space marines with Cthulhu inspired creatures and throws medieval fantasy in the mix too. I suppose it works better than you would expect, but I think it also contributes to Quake being sort of a forgotten game. Sure, people know the name, but the game itself is not nearly as iconic as Wolfenstein, Doom or even Duke 3D. It's still a blast to play though and it's got a very unique feel since the mechanics are tuned more for the multiplayer. Getting the quad and just gibbing stuff with the super shotgun never gets old. The exploding things in the last episode are rather annoying, but aside from them it's great all the way through.

edit: oops double post sorry about that.

Game 33: Quake: Scourge of Armagon - 2.5 hours, Sept 26th
For the most part the level design in this mission pack simply isn't up to the quality of the original game. They tend to be a lot longer and be more complicated to navigate. There were some bigger levels in Quake too, but my favourites are the compact ones. Some levels also go for a less abstract setting, in the first level you blow up some kid of pump for example. It's like something out of Quake II and doesn't feel like it belongs. This mission pack is also a lot stingier about ammo than the original Quake, while often spamming the toughest enemies. At one point you fight three Shamblers, and there were probably twice as many of them as compared to Quake, despite this being a shorter game. Some of the encounter design comes off as amateurish compared to Quake's. Two of the new weapons are all right, except that they use the LG ammo which is very scarce. The new enemies don't add much, however I swear the Gremlins make the same sound as Mimics in Dark Souls. It's crazy and it really freaked me out.

Game 51: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon - 48 hours

A huge improvement over the first game in almost every area. The combat is leaps and bounds better than Devil Summoner 1, and the addition of Case File sidequests for small, bitesized detective adventures was nice, as it let you go more in depth into old Tokyo. If I had to criticize it, it's that the story isn't as interesting as the first game, and demon conversations flow like granite into combat, putting the brakes on gameplay while you try to pique the demon's interests. I usually like demon conversations in SMT, but here they just got in the way. Smacking the demon's weakness and jamming them into your demon tubes was better for an action game.

Well, one more game and I'm done.

Previous update

Abandoned: PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate (Vita) - 10th July - approx. 4 hours
Gave up on Episode 4 after getting the Hungry Suit. I hated it; I felt it really went against the fluid controls and gameplay flow of the other levels. I've tried to push through a couple of times, but I find it chronically unenjoyable and I no longer care to revisit it.

17. Tearaway (Platinumed) - 23rd July - approx. 15 (?) hours
I finished this game when it came out late last year, but I went back to finish up. Absolutely adored pretty much everything, it may well be the cutest and most likeable game I've ever played and I'll probably double dip on the PS4 remix. Easily one of the best Vita games. 9/10

18. Grand Theft Auto V (PS3) - 29th July - approx. 35 hours
I was apprehensive over this as I didn't really enjoy IV, but it was amazing in almost every regard and improved on its predecessor in almost every meaningful way. The biggest star for me was the amazing gameworld and the physics which help it feel so grounded and fun. An astonishing achievement that really raises the bar for its genre. 9/10

19. Rogue Legacy (Vita) - 13th August - approx. 20 hours
A disclaimer; I got to the final boss but couldn't quite beat it and have probably lost the enthusiasm to revisit the game and finish up now. Regardless, I really enjoyed the game, with butter smooth controls, an excellent character progression system, fun combat and enemies and great presentation. Probably the best Roguelike I've played. 8/10

20. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) - 17th September - approx. 10 hours
I'm not a big fan of the typical modern war FPS, but this exceeded all my expectations. The campaign was open enough to feel dynamic yet straightforward enough to feel purposeful, and I thought the characters were fun and likeable without being obnoxious. Controls were great, level design was excellent and there's a lot of variety to the mission design. I played maybe a couple of hours of the multiplayer as well which was a lot of fun even though one of the game modes seems to go on forever. But it's fast and fun and the demolition really makes it feel open-ended, and as a noob in online MP I found a fair amount of success. A really strong FPS in almost every regard. 8/10

21. Aliens: Colonial Marines (PS3) - 24th September - approx. 8 hours
I had pretty low expectations for this, but it honestly wasn't as bad as I expected. I thought they nailed a lot of the aesthetics, atmosphere and feel of the film, but it was sloppy execution and weird design decisions that dragged the whole game down. I couldn't get a multiplayer game on the couple of times I tried, so can't comment on that, but honestly on the whole this was merely average and not as bad as I'd been led to believe. 5/10

22. Tekken Revolution (PS3) - 24th September - approx. 4 hours
I haven't 'finished' this so to speak, but I doubt I'll play it again. Played the single player Arcade mode a bunch of times, and had a few fights online. It's pretty decent for an F2P game, and the amount of content is not bad, although £4 per character is pretty absurd and I probably would have put a bit of money into it had it been cheaper. I'm not a big fighting game fan, but this was pretty generous for free. 7/10

23. Murasaki Baby - 27th September - approx. 3 hours
I'll C&P a post I made in the game's OT: Finished it now, a really nice little game with some great ideas and neat puzzles, but I didn't always feel as in control as I would have liked. In fact, my favourite section might have been the tentacle pram, because it's the only place in the game I was genuinely in full control, rather than having to use the front or rear touch screens. Great ending song too. I give this wonderful little oddity two tentacle masks out of purple. (also known as 8/10)

48: Velocity 2X (PSV) - 7h (09/15/14 - 09/27/14)

Velocity Ultra was one of my favorite games of last year, but I was not as much a fan of 2X - the on-foot segments were really not my thing, and the long levels dragged on far too long. Still worth a play, though, especially at the price of a month's PS+ subscription.

Game 34: Quake: Dissolution of Eternity - 3 hours, Sept 27th
This one was more to my taste than the first mission pack. The new ammo types it adds are fun to use, although somewhat overpowered. It also has more (and better) new enemies than the first mission pack. There were quite a few levels that I really enjoyed and the encounter design was much tighter than in SoA, even though it did get a little predictable at times. For the most part it's also a lot brighter than Quake, doesn't have quite the same atmosphere.

Warning: weak shit detected

Game #37: Lethal League - 20 hours (Finished)
Beat Challenge mode with everybody and got 77% of the achievements. Playing with the computer is no fun after playing online. That's why this took so long. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing with balls. The roster could use some fattening up though.

Game #38: Retro/Grade (PS3) - around 3 hours (Finished)
Beat the campaign on Pro, planned on doing Challenge mode but stopped. It was neat for the first hour or so, but as the levels went by I realized that although I was getting accuracy ratings of 97% and up on the first go, it didn't feel like I was. The game lacks the feedback necessary for a rhythm game to feel like you're doing something. Getting a note perfectly timed and getting a note well timed feel pretty much the same as the game doesn't tell or show you until you're done. Taking damage doesn't seem to mean anything; I died once but I just rewound and tried again, never using the rewind again for the remainder. The parts where you dodge obstacles aren't rhythm-based at all and end up being boring as a result. And a challenge mode isn't exactly a good idea when many of the challenges take the same amount of time as a normal playthrough of a level. I'll give it props: the music was pretty good and the graphics were nice.

OP

43) Rune Factory 4

Outside of some of the tedious tasks in this game I really enjoyed it. Hopefully we will one day see a RF5. Put a bunch of time into this one and I think I am ready to move on.

WOOOOOOP, I MADE IT!


Game 51: GTA 5 on X360
Wanted to wait for the PC release, but couldn't hold on any longer and traded in some games for the x360 version.
Man, with Mods, this would be the second best GTA game after SanAndreas. But nothing can top that.

Game 52: CookieClicker
Okay, ye, ik, this isn't a "real" game. But damn, I spent more time on this than I did on studying the past 3 months, so it counts!
Made 71.474 trillion cookies so far, and unlocked over 50% of all achievements, with some requiring resetting the game and losing everything.

Game 35: Half-Life - 5 hours, Sept 28th
After playing through so many 90's shooters it seemed like a good idea to replay HL. It is rather astonishing how much better it does almost everything than the games that came before it. It released one year after Quake II but it's like it's from another universe of game design. Even things like the pacing, that FPSes before it barely considered, it nails better than most modern shooters, it's nuts. I love the combat too, the arsenal you get is so diverse yet useful and it's just a ton of fun to experiment with. Bring back Satchel Charges, Tripmines and Snarks for HL3.

First: Games 1-26 and 27-52.

Alright then, time for OVERTIME

Game 53 - DanganRonpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Vita) - 28:54 - COMPLETED September 28
I'm not sure I like some of the changes they made to the trial minigames--the Rebuttal Showdown in particular is hateful--but holy crap, what they do with the story. Up until the last chapter I was pretty sure I would end up liking the first game slightly more, but the finish is insane.

Game 54 - Defense Grid 2 (PC) - 10:33 - COMPLETED October 4
A fine tower defense game. The Defense Grid campaigns have always felt like polished, high-production affairs that expose you to a variety of situations, and Defense Grid 2 continues the tradition. Though there's fewer "build your own maze" levels here, there's a number of new features that make things interesting--additional bits of the level you can activate, different powers for your orbital laser, and permanent upgrades for your towers that unlock at random. It's not exactly a Kickstarter game, but chalk up another KS success nonetheless.

Game 55 - Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3) - 9:57 - COMPLETED October 5
Finished both the P4 and P3 episodes 100%. It's a weird story--even more so than the first Arena, Ultimax really feels like it should be labelled a Persona 3 offshoot rather than a Persona 4 one. I'm still a horrible scrub when it comes to fighting games, but I'll probably try a few of the other non-online modes before I put this back on the shelf.

Game 56 - Forza Motorsport 5 (XB1) - 54:45 - COMPLETED October 6
I didn't win golds on every single race, nor did I win every single championship; at some point you have to grind out the cash necessary to buy the cars eligible for the race-car championships at the end, and that's several bridges too far for me. So instead I made it to Driver Level 100 and called it a day. In some ways, Forza 5 is the best Forza yet--I like the career mode better than the too-streamlined versions in Forza 3 and 4, and the drivatar system adds much-needed character to the racing. But ultimately, Forza is hurt by a lack of content. Tracks repeat too early and too often, while inexplicably locking away the Nurburgring Nordschleife and the full Circuit de la Sarthe until you reach the R-Class Championship. There's also very few event variations, and some of them are pure garbage (mostly anything to do with the Top Gear test track).

Game 57 - Costume Quest 2 (PC) - 6:23 - COMPLETED October 11
Yup, it's definitely a Costume Quest game. The added complexity in the game mechanics is welcome, though everything still boils down to "tap buttons with the right timing to execute attacks and blocks." It's also just as adorable as the first game, if not more so. There were a few spots, especially at the beginning, where I died from the awesomeness ( ). Also, you guys. CANDY CORN. The best character, or the bestest character?

Game 58 - Elite Beat Agents (DS) - 2:18 - COMPLETED October 13
I did not expect the game to be so short. Even after finishing half the episodes on Cruisin' and starting over from scratch on Breezin' (because I am not good/this game is haaaaaard), it took me just over two hours. As rhythm games go, I can see why people like it, but something about the way the patterns are programmed feel weird to me--beats aren't where I expect them sometimes and I found it hard to get into a natural rhythm versus other games like DJMAX or Rock Band. I might try to finish up Cruisin' and figure out where the three other hidden tracks are, but I have no interest trying to push for harder difficulties.

Game 59 - Hard Reset (PC) - 7:53 - COMPLETED October 18
Hard Reset is one of the more difficult shooters I've ever had to play, and for most of the main campaign on Bezoar, it danced right on the edge between difficult and unfair, which is a pretty good place to be for a game like this. The Exile DLC falls into unfair territory a lot more, though. It's also a strange addition to the game--a different narrative style, a new faction you know nothing about, and generally a big stylistic shift from the urban cyberpunk of the original campaign. I'd stopped after the first Exile chapter because of the difficulty, but I did come back and finish the whole thing so no more asterisk on this one.

Game 60 - Little Racers Street (PC) - 7:31 - COMPLETED October 23
Little Racers Street has a lot to recommend it, especially given its bargain price--the racing is shockingly addictive, the upgrades and new cars are compelling enough to make money important, and the many challenges always give you something to shoot for even if you're not winning every race. The only issue is the game starts to fall apart at the end, when all the little annoyances of the game become major problems (getting stuck on tiny bits of geometry, damage reducing the performance of your car drastically in higher classes, etc.). Eventually I had to switch the camera angle from top-down isometric to a more traditional chase cam to finally take the championship. It gets repetitive, yes, but the racing is so enjoyable I barely minded.

Game 61 - Bayonetta 2 (Wii U) - 10:29 - COMPLETED November 13
I don't know how Platinum manages to make action games that seem ridiculously hard yet allow peons like me to figure out how to do at least okay in them. In a darker timeline, Bayonetta 2 would never have been made, so all credit to Nintendo for bankrolling a fantastic sequel. And though I'm still not sure if Bayonetta is a feminist idol, an objectified sex symbol, or some odd combination of the above, I do think the second game treats both its protagonist and the world she inhabits with the right amount of levity and a great deal of care. I'd even go so far as to say sentimentality? But maybe I've said too much...

Game 62 - Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC) - 68:46 - COMPLETED December 15
I don't know if Inquisition is the best game of the year; it has many faults and arguably goes on too long. It's almost certainly the biggest game of the year, though. The only other game I can even imagine matching it in scope is Divinity: Original Sin, and that's based solely on its status as another highly acclaimed CRPG released this year. It feels simultaneously like the sequel we should have gotten to Dragon Age: Origins and the final curtain on an era. Having explored much of Thedas in at least some detail, it's hard to imagine where Bioware will go next. I, for one, hope they drop the space/fantasy-Jesus progression of their two main franchises and forge a new path. Not that I would turn down another Dragon Age, but I don't need it anytime soon.

Game 63 - Transistor (PS4) - 7:10 - COMPLETED December 30
Heavily conflicted about this game. On the one hand, the gameplay mechanics are wonderful in how they encourage you to mix up functions to create serendipitous effects. It's a much more satisfying game to play than Supergiant's previous game, Bastion. On the other hand, the story never quite came together for me; it felt like you got the thinnest of narrative threads to help you understand the world and your predicament. Then you get to the ending, which for me is this year's version of The Last of Us: an ending I can respect, but disagree with on an emotional level. Still, it's tempting to go back and start recursion.

CURRENTLY PLAYING
Valkyria Chronicles (PC) - 4:12
Valkyria Chronicles 3: Unrecorded Chronicles (PSP) - 24:50
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (XB1) - 2:39
Persona Q: Shadows of the Labryinth (3DS) - 31:28
Elite: Dangerous (PC) - 14:55
Euro Truck Simulator 2 (PC) - 9:03 (14:56 played in 2013)
Call of Duty: Ghosts (XB1) - 0:58

PURGATORY
Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PS2) - 4:06
The Longest Journey (PC) - 4:09
Rune Factory 4 (3DS) - 38:30
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f (Vita) - 1:38
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC) - 5:56
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PS4) - 3:39
Half-Life 2 (PC) - 2:26

Congrats Phxxbullet!

Congratulations, Minishdriveby, chrominance, and phxxBullet!

Made it to 40!

Game #39: Toki Tori 2+ - 13 hours (Finished)
Chirped my way to the credits. Don't let the look fool you, this game prides itself on letting you figure out as much as you can on your own, and I respect it for that. But then again Miiverse is a thing, so resisting the urge is tough. My time played might be a bit too much.

Game #40: Fez (PC) - 4 hours (Finished)
For a game with such limited mechanics, the sense of exploration and discovery is top notch. Knowing nothing about the game except who made it and its gimmick, this surprised me. Its length didn't bother me either since there wasn't much to do with said gimmick. The ending was...something. The added ability in NG+ is solely for the curious. I don't know if there's anything else you get, but I would hope so. If the sequel got made I wouldn't be in any hurry to play it unless there were more movement options.

Games 1-53
Games 54-81

August

82. Final Fantasy VII(PC) - August 11th - 41.6hrs
This is actually the first time I've ever played what some will consider the best JRPG of all time, and I can definitely see why, the combat is fun and the game is a joy to play, AND MY GOD THAT FINAL FIGHT WAS INTENSE(at least until I grinded to the point where everyone had 9999 HP, then it was pretty easy)

83. InJustice: Gods Among Us(PC) - August 17th - 3.7hrs
I've now finished this game on PC, PS4 and WiiU in a single year, I quite enjoy this game.
84. Battlefield 4(PS4) - August 17th - 5-6hrs(?)
As expected, the battlefield campaigns are pretty dumb, they look kinda pretty, but that's about it, the game has a focus on set pieces which would be cool if the set pieces actually changed anything about how you play the game, but they don't, they're just there to look pretty.
85. Hitman: Absolution(PC) - August 24th - 14.2hrs
Decent Stealth game that reminded me a lot of Deus Ex Human Revolution(mechanics wise) But fuck that target range mission, god that thing gave me so much trouble.
86. The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 5(PC) - August 27th - 93 minutes
Let me walk around!!! I counted, it took THIRTY MINUTES until I was given control of Clem, and then after that I went straight back into cutscenes until another 30 minutes had passed! and then it was the end of the game, I want to explore! slow down a bit game, these environments look kinda pretty and kinda expensive let me look at them or something.
87. Viktor(PC) - August 30th - 3.7hrs
It's an okay action platformer, doesnt do anything new or special, but hey it's there.
88. Ratchet and Clank 1 HD - August 31st - 7hrs 5m
First time I've ever finished Ratchet and Clank, pretty fun game, but the PS3 port is a bit iffy since there are some framerate drops and since the speed of the gameworld is tied to animations when the FPS drops, the world enters slow motion, which can be reaaaalllllyyy annoying.

September

89. Ratchet and Clank 1 HD - September 10th - 5.5hrs-ish
Played through it again for a lets play I recorded.
90. Torchlight 2 - September 16th - 20hrs
Finished this game and now I can safely say I really don't enjoy these types of games where the main reason you play them is to get better and better loot with no real story reasoning or anything like that.
91. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - September 22nd - 68.7hrs
First time I've played an Elder Scrolls game that I didn't rent, and MAAAAN, this game is good.
I do kinda dislike how often dungeons seem to have a convenient exit that leads to the start of the dungeon, but I did enjoy the combat and the world.
92. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood - September 26th - 10hrs
Replayed it for a lets play, I stated my thoughts on it earlier this year so if you want to see that check the links at the top of this page.
93. Metro 2033 Redux - September 27th - 7.9hrs
Enjoyable game, super atmosphere, but with a lot of bad russian accents.
The Redux version really improves the game a lot over the original metro 2033 version, the cutscenes always being in first person is a great change that I approve of 100%

October

94. Killer is Dead - October 3rd - 5hrs
Fun game, whacky world, would recommend.
95. Half Life 2: Episode 1 - October 9th - 2.7hrs
Neat game, bit too similar to the original HL2 tho
96. Half Life 2: Episode 2 - October 11th - 3.7hrs
Where's HL3 volvo ;-;
97. Assassin’s Creed: Liberation - October 19th - 8.6hrs
Really enjoyed my time with this, probably gonna reinstall ACIV one of these days to play the Aveline missions in those.
98. The Legend of Korra - October 23rd - 3.7hrs
See next entry
99. The Legend of Korra(EXTREME Difficulty) - October 26th - 5.2hrs
Really fun game, but it most certainly shines on extreme difficulty.
100. Shadow of the Colossus HD - October 31st - 8hrs
The last Team ICO game to be released, it's an amazing game, it really is, and the feel of taking down the colossi really breaks my heart while also feeling great, lots of conflicting emotions, damn, this game is rad.

101. Pokémon Black 2 - October 31st - 16hrs 28m
It's an alright game, but I think I'm rather pokemon'd out, also I somewhat cheated the last bit of it since I have a LVL 100 shiny giratina I got from Nintendo and I used that to wreck the Elite Four, lol.

November

102. Shank - 1st - 1hr 58m
Fun beat 'em up, super simple and over the top.
103. Wolfenstein The New Order - 2nd - 10hrs
The quality of the writing in this game really caught me off guard, I had heard about how good the gunplay and map design was, but damn, this game tackled racial issues way better than something like Bioshock Infinite and this game has nazi's on the moon!!!
104. Kane and Lynch: Dead Men - 5th - 3.9hrs
Really uninteresting third person cover based shooter, I can handle generic/dull gameplay if it's got a good story to back it up(something like spec ops the line for example) but this game...Doesn't. I got the "bad ending" in my playthrough but when I looked up the alternate ending on YouTube I realised the other ending was just as bad and that it's not the ending that were bad, it was the entire game. Not recommended.
105. SteamWorld Dig - 5th - 3.5hrs
Fun little game that I lost hours to. Would like if you had the ability to take back your ladders, choose which teleporter you want to teleport to, mine in mid-air and if it had coop, but still pree nice.
106. Hyrule Warriors - 8th - 9hrs 53m
Daaammn, what a great game this is, I've not played a Dynasty Warriors game before so this type of gameplay is all new to me, and I loved all of it, OH AND THE MUSIC.
MY GOODNESS, THE MUSIC, it's sooo fantastic, the remixes are great and so are the original compositions, really recommend WiiU owners give this a look.
107. Transformers: War for Cybertron - 10th - 7hrs
A pretty basic third person shooter, I didn't find much wrong with it, although that is AFTER I had to download a mod to uncap the framerate from 30FPS to let it go to 60FPS, felt much better at 60FPS.
I'm not a big fan of transformers so that's probably why I don't care too much about this game, I'm told it's pretty faithful to transformers but I don't know my starscreams from my ultratrons so eh, it's not for me.
108. The Legend of Zelda: The WindWaker HD - 12th - 21hrs
After playing some Hyrule Warriors I wanted to play some more Legend of Zelda, and thankfully my brother got this for free when he purchased Mario Kart 8.
I got the original windwaker wwaaayy back in the day for christmas along with a GameCube, but I never did finish it, I've thankfully managed to fix that now, and it's a really fun game, aside from the treasure shard hunting, I hear it was waayyy worse in the original game, but I still don't like it in here, they didn't fix it enough!

But aside from that the game holds up really well, although I remember it being WAY tougher when I was younger, I didn't die once during this playthrough, perhaps it's because now I know to always have a bottle of soup and a fairy on hand.
109. Devil May Cry 1 - 16th - 4.1hrs
Going back to the original Devil May Cry sure does feel weird, taunts don't increase my style ranking? I can get an S with just pistols and devil trigger?
WHERE ARE MY STYLES? WHY CAN'T I SWAP WEAPONS ON THE FLY?!

It's a very average game nowadays, if it released today I probably wouldn't give it a second look, but I can definitely see the groundwork it laid, and for that I think the game is rad.
110. Devil May Cry 4 - 19th - 6.5hrs
Oh there you are styles, weapon swapping and actual style decay
<3
What an awesome game this is, I just wish there was more time spent with Dante!
On the fly style switching, multiple weapons being able to swap between them at any time during combos, OH AND TAUNTING INCREASES THE STYLE METER
What a fucking fantastic combat system.

Although it's a shame there's not more original content to it, replaying the Nero missions as Dante isn't that fun, and I would've liked to see more bosses, AND LESS OF THAT STUPID DICE THING, FUCK THAT.
Great game tho, definitely a must buy for fans of action games.
111.Batman: Arkham Asylum - 27th - 12hrs~
I really enjoy Arkham Asylum and I managed to platinum it in one day >>;;
112.Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 28th - 2.1hrs
Dumb, fun game with nice reload animations.

First half of the September games I've finished, more to come.

Game 20: Kid Icarus: Uprising - 8,5/10
Completed story mode, got lots of challenges done, obtained lots of weapons and played online a good amount of time. The controls weren't a problem for me, but the hand cramps definitely were, didn't find the included stand all that useful. I loved the simple but very well thought plot, and the vast number of well characterized cast members; the voice work was amazing, some of the best and most convincing I've ever heard in a game, the interactions between characters were so good, they became one of the things driving you to play more. The game's choke full of content, and the story mode itself is quite long and replayable, always throwing something new your way. The gameplay and the graphics are top notch, in both flight and ground mode: one of the best games to show the 3DS capabilities.

Game 21: New Super Mario Bros. U - 8/10
Completed the game with all the stars, still have to complete the challenges. Even though the game's fun, it's a little bit formulaic at this point, and the series should probably take a well derserved rest for now. Nabbit is fine, but nothing earthshattering, especially when you consider they didn't put in the effort to create original levels for the chases, unlike what Rayman Origins did. The huge Super Mario World-like world map is one of the best new features, just like the secret passages, but not enough to elevate this "new" iteration above the recurring mechanics and gameplay the series is known from.

Game 22: Antichamber - 9/10
Completed every room but one, due to low framerate being an issue to enter it. Everything about this game resonates with me: minimal and very clean graphics, amazing puzzle design, the feeling of discovery you won't find in modern games, secrets everywhere, that moment of satisfaction due to having solved a hard puzzle that had you stuck for a long time, multiple ways to solve the puzzles and to reach your goals, the "life lessons" hints you find scattered throughout the game, the aura of mystery encompassing everything. It's only a shame that the ending is kind of underwhelming and that there are some optional but unfinished puzzles in the game. One of the best indie games ever made, go play it!

Yasawas said:

How is the difficulty? I like the odd JRPG and I'm in the mood to start this but I'm not good at them and rarely finish them. I did complete Persona 4 sand Bravely Default as they were pretty easy and idiot-friendly.

Click to expand...

Sheesh I'm super late on this post. Maybe about 5 difficult fights in the whole thing, mostly from being underleveled. FFXIV plays just like it, so if you can understand having a tank, healer, and damage dealer and how to balance hate between each character you'll enjoy it a lot.

Continuation from this post...

Game #10 - Walking Dead: Season 2

I actually finished this August 26th but forgot to post. I think Season 1 was a lot better than Season 2, but Season 2 ended up being pretty thrilling toward the end compared to the beginning. I think the middle of the season was pretty stale.

Game #11 - Destiny

I don't remember the exact date of beating it, I think it was September 10th. I've honestly haven't played it since. I already get burnt out on FPSs pretty easily and it usually takes a really good FPS to keep me satisfied. I think the most recent FPS I put a lot of time in was Borderlands 2, so I thought this game would keep me into it, but it just hasn't.

The OP

Game #31: Skullgirls - 6 hours

After playing Persona 4 Arena earlier this year, I decided to get back to this game. I played it when it got released last year, but at the time I wasn't really that into fighting games and pretty much just button spammed my way through the story mode. This time though, keeping in mind what I had learned from P4A, which is an excellent start btw, I tried to refrain from button mashing and try to play it like "it's supposed" to. Though it wasn't that much of a challenge, except for that cheap-ass boss, I feel like the game left a better impression with me. One of the things I did have a bit of problems with was how much the different characters differed from each other. I feel like in P4A every character pretty much had the same "fundamentals" and then some specific characterics for that character. In Skullgirls I found that there was a much starker contrast between characters, which is not really a bad thing, but it makes it so that I only end up using one character when I do something else than story.

The thing I really liked the first time I played it and which was even what made me get the game in the first place even though I had never played a fighting game, was the style it has. And, well, that has not changed, hehe, the game is stunning. Also wished there were a bit more characters, but atleast there are no clone characters, right?

7.5/10

Game #32: Dead Rising 3 - 37 hours

First Dead Rising game I played and I loved it. It's pretty straightforward, make some crazy stuff and kill a shitload of zombies. I would have enjoyed it so much more if Capcom actually had put effort into this port. At first, when the news hit how horrible the port was, I wanted to wait and see what would happen. Maybe Capcom would release some patches or maybe someone could mod it. Then I noticed that Playfire had around 5 pound of rewards for this game and decided to play it anyway, if it wasn't for that it would probably stay unplayed in my steam library (maybe forever).

The framerate was absolutely horrible and a lot of times it dipped below 30. If this was a good port I think it would stand firmly in my top 3 of the year, alongside Danganronpa 2 and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, but right now I doubt if it will even make the top 10.

7/10

Game #33: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 65 hours

Took everything the first game did and well... matched it and made it slightly better. There were a lot of things this game borrowed from the first Danganronpa and of course, that's a bit of a shame. There's very little new music and the visuals were exactly the same. Some people might call this a bad thing, but I really didn't mind. The few extra songs were good additions to the already excellent Danganronpa 1 music. Everything should point to Danganronpa 1 being the better game, the plot is better, the twist is better, it's more fresh and original, the mini-games are less horrible and yet I still think Danganronpa 2 is the better of the two. Danganronpa isn't a game I play for the "mind-blowing" final twist (which I find lacking in both games, though is better in the first one), but for the characters, the crazy shit that happens and the trials. I found all three of these things to be better in Danganronpa 2, which is of course subjective. I can see how people like the first game's cast more, but I found this cast to be more appealing. The thing that really pushed it over Danganronpa 1 were the trials and the crazy stuff that happend during them, I found them to be much more enjoyable.

8.5/10

Game #34: Phenomeno - 3 hours

Yearly replay, I love this game. This was the third time I played it and each time I enjoyed just as much as the first time. There is just something special about this game. It has beautifull art, the music is amazing, the story is awesome, the atmosphere is superb and I could go on and on about how much I love this game. Only thing of note could be the translation which is a bit shoddy from time to time, but this was done by one Russian guy and I should thank him for translating it instead of criticising him. The true horror of this game is that every time I finish it, I wish a full length version is in development, because it has so much potential

Click to expand...

9.5/10

OP

Game 63: Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut (PS3) - 26 hrs 1 min
So great to finally play a story based horror game with an open world. Greenvale is easily one of my favorite settings in video games. It felt pretty close to Majora's Mask at times with the time mechanics and everyone in the town having their own routines/schedules. While the gameplay is not technically good by any means, the story and characters really made this for me. This is one of the few recent games where side quests weren't a chore for me to do. It's a bit early but I'd actually put this in my top 10 games based on overall enjoyment. Sequel/spiritual successor please!

Will definitely be watching Twin Peaks as soon as possible.

Game 42: Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition - 25 hours
So much fun. The original Diablo III sucked so bad compared to this version. Got a Demon Hunter to level 70 and did some of the higher tier rifts.

Game 43: Destiny - 20 hours
The gameplay is good and everything else seriously needs work, but I still find it pretty addicting.

Game 44: Theatrhythm: Curtain Call - 30 hours+
This is the game I really wanted the original to be. Everything feels better and it's still really fun to play.

Game 27: Katawa Shoujo - September 30th, 2014 - Around 5 hours

I finished this game in the wee hours of the morning and have been debating all day whether to add it onto my list. I only finished one route, and have no intention, at least for the moment, of going back to the game. But it's been on my mind enough that I feel compelled to write something.

When I first heard about the game, I remember rolling my eyes at the "disability girls" theme. When I turned the game on for the first time yesterday, I still found myself rolling my eyes even more actually. A bunch of conventionally attractive "animu" style girls that have various disabilities? Oh boy. But as I read through the story, I found myself fairly compelled by the characters. And that was a great message. I ended up on Emi's route, purely by accident. And I actually really ended up liking her story and the way Hisao and her developed. Incidentally, the bad ending really reminded me of one of my past relationships where I believe (in retrospect) that I tried to hard to "help" or "fix" her problems for her. So that completely stuck with me once I finished. In fact, I've been dwelling on it all day.

Overall, the message that I took away from it was to not look at these girls as needing help, but to see them as normal human beings. And that was pretty powerful. I don't think it was revolutionary for my thought process, but it was a nice reminder that we all have problems. Just because a person is disabled or hurting doesn't mean they need a white knight swooping in to help. However, unlike many people, I didn't feel like I was on some massive feels trip. Nor did I feel that the writing was some kind of masterpiece. But the whole package was fairly compelling.

My major complaint regarding the title is the same as most VNs: the sex. Maybe I'm just a prude, but to some extent, the raunchy scenes just felt forced and out of place. I think a true masterpiece could have told the girls' stories without detailed and deeply erotic sex scenes. But I feel the same way about stuff like Game of Thrones. I think the game could have been just as compelling, if not more compelling with "fade to black" sex. To some extent like with the route I played, I get that the sexuality plays into the story. I understand that Emi's rampant sexuality is actually a facade behind which she hides her inner turmoil. And that's fine. But I didn't want three extremely graphic and detailed sex scenes in three hours. I guess that's to be expected, but for myself, it completely broke the immersion for me.

Overall, I enjoyed it. But like I said, I have no real intent of returning. At least not for a very long time.

Part One
Part Two

67. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
I won't say this lived up to all my expectations, because my expectations were sky high. But it was a step in the right direction. Love the atmosphere and the graphics. Can't wait for whatevers next from these guys.

68. Wasteland 2

Overall fantastic game. I was fortunate not to run into too many bugs that couldn't be overlooked or overcome. Well, besides the one I got right at the end, but I'll have to ask in the main thread about that one. I really think the second half of the game was a huge improvement on the first half.

Game 25- Dead Space 3 (PS3)- 20ish Hours?
As much as I loved Dead Space 1, I was never even remotely interested in the sequels. Dead Space 2 seemed too action for what I wanted from the series based on the demo and marketing, so I safely ignored it, and three actively grossed me out ahead of time, with human enemies and extended shooter sequences, microtransactions, online pass co-op and more of EA's awful homogenization of all their games. It was free on PS Plus, so I figured I'd at least trod through it and see if it was as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up hating it about as much as I thought I would- every single character is an unlikable piece of shit, the Necromorphs no longer feel like a threat, the gun crafting trivialized combat for the whole game and I never once had to worry about fighting anything or scrounging for ammo, the new Necromorph designs were super boring, and it seemed to trudge on forever. The big ending twist is stupid enough to be hilarious though, so I'll give it that.

Game 26- Dragon Age: Origins (360)- 73:03:12
I'm excited to get burned by another modern Bioware game with Inquisition near the end of the year, so I'm playing through the rest of the series beforehand like I did pre-ME3. Because that ended so well. I like Dragon Age way more though, so surely this is going to go great. Anyway, I read through The Stolen Prince before this (which was also actually my 20th playthrough of the game), and once again enjoyed it immensely. It's pretty easily my game of the last generation, despite its faults and some of the console port problems.

Choices I Made for the import:

Game 27- Dragon Age Origins: Awakening (360)- 40ish hours?
As soon as Origins was over again, went back for a new game of Awakening. I still really like the game, but think that there's really not enough time to develop the cast. The Origins party is probably my favorite ensemble of characters in any game, but Oghren was probably the least interesting of them, and having him back in this game was meh- the rest are all over the place. Anders and Justice are fantastic, Sigrun and Nathaniel were pretty cool and Velanna was terrible. Overall it was really good, and I just wish it was a few quests longer.

Choices imported into the next game:

Game 28- Persona 4: Golden (Vita)- 80 something hours?
Spent all year needling away at this game slowly chipping it. I played through Persona 4 already, but Golden's new additions were too good to ignore- the new shuffle time, the upgraded fuse system, the new powers and S-Link rewards, the new dungeon, I thought Marie was fantastic, and overall, it just seemed like the definitive version of one of the best games I've had the pleasure of experiencing in the genre.

Time for my monthly (Sept) update and this month was a bit slow as I played a bunch of games, but only beat 6 (well technically 4, but I did hit/exceed the 10 hour marks for SSF IV AE and Mortal Kombat 9 this month) which is a bit disappointing as I was hoping to get in at least 8 to 10 games. Hopefully next month (Oct) will be a different story as I plan on participating in this year's iteration of the Gaf Plays 31 Nights of Halloween Horrors thread.


64. Mighty Gunvolt (Finished 9/1/14 &#8211; total playtime 30 mins) Got this game free with Azure Striker Gunvolt and man I gotta say this game was really short, I can&#8217;t believe I zipped through it in half an hour......I expected it to last an hour, hour and half at least, which is just disappointing as it's a fairly fun 8 bit Mega Man clone.

65. Azure Striker Gunvolt (Finished 9/9/14 &#8211; total playtime 4 hrs 30 mins) Got this game cause I heard a lot of good things about, also lately I&#8217;ve been a sucker for a Mega Man esque game and this game kinda fit the bill. Storywise it wasn't really much to write home about, but I did enjoy the game's mission based structure and the challenge medals some of which are really difficult. My only disappointment with this game is that you have to manually save your game cause the game doesn't save your game for you (it sucks forgetting to save after making a lot of progress and cutting off/closing the game then starting it back up to find out you gotta do it all over again) which to be honest in this day in time is a bit of head scratcher.

66. Deadlight (Finished 9/11/14 &#8211; total playtime 5 hrs 20 mins) Won this game through a raffle about a month ago (thanks Backlogger!) on the Steam thread and I gotta say this game was kind of interesting. When I first started the game it gave me a little bit of a LIMBO vib, due to the art style and trial & error component of some of the puzzles/encounters which could at times be annoying especially towards the end of the game.

67. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition ( "Finished" 9/25/14 - estimated play time 11 hrs) I got this game a few months back as part of Games with Gold even though I've previously owned the last two iterations of Street Fighter IV (my favorite is the first release as it's the only version that had a theater mode that let you watch all the cutscenes) and while it's not my favorite iteration of Street Fighter IV the core game is still pretty solid.

68. Sonic the Hedgehog 3D Classics (Finished 9/27/14 &#8211; playtime 4hrs 14min) I got this game when it came out last year cause I was curious how the game would look with the new 3D effects and play with the addition of the Spin Dash move from Sonic 2. All in all I was really impressed with the level of detail M2 put into the game (my only complaint was that some of the sound effects, especially in Marble Labyrinth, weren&#8217;t quite right cause they used the sound effects from the International & Japanese model 1 Genesis and there was no option for the NA model 1 Genesis sound effects) I decided to take my time playing the game from the beginning and to avoid using the Special menu (which can be toggled on/off in this version) where you can select which Zone/Act you want to start on.

69. Mortal Kombat 9 ("Finished" 9/28/14 - estimated playtime 12 hrs) This is by far my favorite Mortal Kombat game since Mortal Kombat 2 (Ultimate 3 is also a personal favorite) and I make it a point to play it at least once a year (I'll do at least one ladder tournament on hard difficulty as Cyrax and try to get through it without losing a match as well as end each match with a Fatality), though up until this year I hadn't put in more than 5 hrs into it (other than the year it came out when I put in at least 50 hrs..especially when I was trying to complete the Challenge tower, which I've done on the 360 version but not the PS3 version) each year. This year though I found myself playing it a lot more due in part to my local mom & pop game store beginning to hold MK 9 tournaments (at least once a month) earlier this year, which I started participating in back in March.


Note: I'll be updating the playtime for MK9 and SSF IV AE in this post (as well as in my stats post) as the year goes on since I plan on playing both games some more. Now the reason I've included them here instead of waiting til the end of the year is because this was the month where I hit the bare minimum playtime requirement (10 hrs) for non traditional story based games....also my CRS might kick in (which is plausible since I still have a sizable backlog that I'm playing through) by then and I'd forget that I'd even put in 10 + hrs into either of these games.

Haven't updated all month

Game 65: Joe Danger (Vita) - 6 Hours
(Started 9/2/14 / Finished 9/4//14)
I played the sequel last year and thought it was a neat idea, but the original gets boring very fast and it lasts seemingly forever. Not an enjoyable game to me.

Game 66: Knightmare Tower (PC) - 3 Hours
(Started & Finished 9/9/14)
This is an endless runner with an ending and it takes a different approach to it giving the player a lot more control without focusing on twitch reactions or instant loss. Very good game.

Game 67: Mega Man 2 Via The Wily Wars (Genesis) - 2 Hours
(Started & Finished 9/14/14)
Imagine Mega Man 2 looking better on the Genesis!

Game 68: Mega Man 3 Via The Wily Wars (Genesis) - 2 Hours
(Started & Finished 9/16/14)
Imagine Mega Man 3 where Hard Knuckle is useless!

Game 69: Mega Man Wily Tower Via The Wily Wars (Genesis) - 2 Hours
(Started & Finished 9/16/14)
This was an interesting take on a mini Mega Man title but the bosses are pretty meh. Did like that you pick what equipment you want to take into stages from MM1-3

Game 70: Kid Klown in Crazy Chase (SNES) - An Hour
(Started & Finished 9/16/14)
Had this as a kid, finally beat it. Not a great game but interesting.

Game 71: Capcom Fighting Evolution (PS2) - An Hour
(Started & Finished 9/17/14)
Boy this defines lazy copy and pasting. Do like that Karin from SFA3 is in the game and Alex from SF3!

Game 72: Kickle Cubicle (NES) - 6 Hours
(Started 2014 / Finished 9/19/14)
Used to hate these games as a kid but XBLA has kinda beat me into understanding these kinda puzzlers.

Game 73: Dragon Ball Z III - Ressen Jinzou Ningen (NES) - 4 Hours
(Started & Finished 9/28/14)
This is a weird one. Its a DBZ Card based turn based rpg that takes place between the end of the Namek Saga (after Frieza fight instead of during it like you'd guess) and the game ends after Piccolo first fights Imperfect Cell. Weird huh?

Game 74: South Park: The Stick of Truth (X360) - 60 Hours
I was very careful, took my time, looked around, used a guide and still missed a collectible. That pissed me off but the game itself was hilarious and a blast. A great game to anyone that is a fan of the show or a fan of how dumb society can get!

49: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3) - 6h (09/28/14 - 10/01/14)

Well, it exists.

The story spending time with the P3 side of the cast was pretty nice, but the P4 characters felt very unenthusiastically treated.

Let's see what I've done so far this year...

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3)
2. Persona 3 Portable (PSP)
3. Kirby Super Star (SNES)
4. Pullblox (3DS)
5. inFamous (PS3)
6. Demon's Souls (PS3)
7. Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)
8. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
9. inFamous 2 (PS3)
10. Super Mario 3D World (WiiU)
11. Catherine (PS3)
12. Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (PS3)
13. Guacamelee! (PS3)
14. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
15. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
16. Devil May Cry (PS2)
17. Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
18. Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise (Wii)
19. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GCN)
20. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
21. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)
22. Hohokum (PS4)
23. inFamous: Second Son (PS4)
24. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4)
25. Earthbound (SNES)
26. Hyrule Warriors (WiiU)

I'm not liking my chances.

I could add 10 or so to that quickly if I force myself to stick to the games I've started recently and stopped halfway.
But then I wanted to play Persona 4 which will take a good month of my time...

Finished!

Game 52: Resident Evil 4 - 18 hours

RE4 is one of those games that's so good, you're forced to look past any of its flaws. Yeah it's totally not scary compared to the REmake but it's still tense, whether you're being swarmed by Ganado with the roar of a chainsaw looming over you or desperately running around picking shots at Regenerators. The story and dialogue was, as always, absurd, but it felt deliberate this time, with scenes like Leon howling in rage at the death of the helicopter pilot he just met, or throwing a knife through the hand of a villainous little person while he monologues. Gameplay was phenomenal and showed off plenty of at-the-time revolutionary features, like enemies who would act around the environment, or being able to incapacitate them by shooting them in the knees. It's an amazing, haunting, and viscerally gory game filled with insane monsters, gigantic bossfights, and some of the sillier pieces of dialogue ever seen in a video game, and I loved every minute of it.

I'll put together a complete list soon.

Congratulations, Weiss!

Thanks.

I'd say I should take a break from gaming, go read a book or something, but Smash is coming out tomorrow.

Congrats Weiss on finishing your 52nd game of the year!

Weiss said:

Thanks.

I'd say I should take a break from gaming, go read a book or something, but Smash is coming out tomorrow.

Click to expand...

Finishing 52 games (i.e. taking a big bite out of your backlog) is what allows you to go spend 100 hours in Smash until Wii U version comes out. ;p

The really sad part is that I still have stuff in my backlog even now. Everything I played this year was a backlog game or something I bought

OP

44) Ar Tonelico Qoga 40H

I wanted to finish this before I eventually move on to the Ar Nosurge game that just came out. Luckily the new Ar game seems to have a much better battle system than Qoga did. And I have no idea what it is with games and having a blaring siren going off during a boss fight over the OST. As far as audio goes, that might be the most annoying thing to me.

Getting kind of close, and with classes starting we'll see how this goes...

Game 27: Blackwell Convergence - 2 hours, finished September 25, PC
Sort of disappointed with this one, shorter than the preceding ones and way too easy. There were challenges (as in achievements) to move on with the story in a particularly good way, but I would have preferred something that actually moved the story. Then the story itself seems more about setting the scene for the following games.

Game 28: Assassin's Creed 2 - 27 hours, finished October 2, PC
I'm really glad I gave this series a try, because I'm really enjoying it. Also, can't believe how well it looks even with my crappy video card. A bonus for me was that I could switch to Italian, I discovered it after the first 3-4 hours, and it made things even better.
Still not a fan of the collectibles, so feathers and treasures were only about halfway done by the end of it. I might have done feathers if there were a map for them, an as for treasures, there was a map but then again I had half a million from the villa, opening boxes for 100-500 wasn't very rewarding, not to mention I didn't have anything to use the money on anyway.
Glad that I had the deluxe edition with the two chapters that were originally missing, Bonfire of the Vanities was equally frustrating and awesome.

Game 29: Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space (aka Season 2) - 15 hours, finished October 2, PC
The middle episodes were my favourite ones, but overall the whole thing was really enjoyable. It's not something I can marathon through though, I started the first chapter somewhere mid-September. I actually appreciated the hints, moving in this game is still kind of slow and I hate going back and forth being lost.

full list

Game 28: Gravity Rush - October 4th, 2014 - 6 hours, 27 minutes

I'm a huge baby and love to whine, so I'm going to complain a bit to start off. First, I understand that this is an open world game, but by God if some of the loading screens aren't terrible. I actually put the game down for a number of months because I kept dying on one section and the the loading was turning me off. Second, still understanding this is an open world game on portable, dear God, some of the textures are disgustingly bad. Third, the "costume" feature was transparently built for DLC. I understand Sony wanted to make some money off the costume packs, but it would have been nice to get more than two costumes without paying for DLC. Fourth, on the same note, it's disappointing that the cutscenes aren't real-time rendered. So even when you put a costume on, it jarringly disappears when you enter cutscenes. Sixth, what the hell was that ending? Seventh and finally, no new game plus. Boo. Give me a new difficulty challenge!

After all that complaining, it might seem like I hated the game. Quite the contrary, I loved it. One of the best things I've played this year, up there with Velocity 2X. The combat could be frustrating, but the gravity mechanic was just such a fun twist on everything that the game felt fresh. The RPG elements were honestly laughably simple, but just enough to feel like you had some control. The story wasn't particularly interesting until some twists , but those twists more than made up for a pretty average start. The pretty average beginnings were also helped out by Kat's solid character. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the heavily female cast. It was a nice change of pace and the characters were very nicely presented. I personally adored the cel-shaded "comic-book" panel style scenes at the start of chapters. It made a great use of the touchscreen and also looked really nice. The general cel-shaded aesthetic for the game was an excellent choice.

The real MVP however, is the music. So. So. So good. It sets the tone throughout the whole game and draws you in perfectly. I can't say enough about it. I'm listening to it right now because it's just that good. Somewhat related to this on a sound design level, I loved the pseudo-French/Japanese dialogue. It's a shame there wasn't more of it because it was calming and neat to listen to.


I guess now I'll join the ranks of people waiting for GR2. I honestly still hope it makes it way to Vita. I enjoyed the portability, touchscreen and motion controls too much to want to see it move platforms. But I guess I'll take it however I can get it! Probably going to replay the game actually since I want to find the rest of that disappearing location.
Part One
Part Two

50: Gunpoint (PC) - 2h (10/03/14 - 10/04/14)

The writing was funny and a couple of the puzzles were clever, but I'm not sure whether the puzzles being generally simple was a function of the game's brevity or of the design mechanics. Worth a play, although I definitely don't regret waiting for a Humble Bundle.

Here's my complete list. I won't make individual comments, though, since I did that when I made each post.

Game 1: Jet Force Gemini - 24 Hours - Completed: January 2nd, 2014

Game 2: Jumping Flash - 6 hours - Completed: January 5th, 2014

Game 3: Dragon's Crown - 13 Hours - Completed: January 5th, 2014

Game 4: Fire Emblem Awakening - 45 Hours - Completed: January 14th, 2014

Game 5: Kingdom Hearts - 40 hours - Completed: January 17th, 2014

Game 6: Metal Gear Solid - 18 hours - Completed: January 22nd, 2014

Game 7: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - 13 hours - Completed: January 29th, 2014

Game 8: The World Ends With You - 30 hours - Completed: February 1st, 2014

Game 9: Zone of the Enders - 5 hours - Completed: February 3rd, 2014

Game 10: Zone of the Enders the 2nd Runner - 11 hours - Completed: February 5th, 2014

Game 11: Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus - 7 hours - Completed: February 6th, 2014

Game 12: Bravely Default - 80 Hours - Completed: February 25th, 2014

Game 13: Devil May Cry - 6 hours - Completed: February 26th, 2014

Game 14: Metal Gear Solid 2 - 14 hours - Completed: March 6th, 2014

Game 15: Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance - 21 hours - Completed: March 11th, 2014

Game 16: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - 50 hours - Completed: March 18th, 2014

Game 17: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 - 40 hours - Completed: March 27th, 2014

Game 18: Infamous - 15 hours - Completed: April 2nd, 2014

Game 19: Oddworld Stranger's Wrath HD - 15 hours - Completed: April 7th, 2014

Game 20: Link's Awakening - 20 hours - Completed: April 21th, 2014

Game 21: Infamous 2 - 15 hours - Completed: April 23rd, 2014

Game 22: Valkyrie Profile - 22 hours - Completed: April 24th, 2014

Game 23: Illusion of Gaia - 16 hours - Completed: April 27th, 2014

Game 24: Devil May Cry 3 - 15 hours - Competed: April 29th, 2014

Game 25: Tales of Eternia - 35 hours - Completed: May 4th, 2014

Game 26: Resident Evil Revelations - 10 hours - Completed: May 6th, 2014

Game 27: Resistance 3 - 10 hours - Completed: May 15th, 2014

Game 28: Mega Man Zero 3 - 2 hours - Completed: May 16th, 2014

Game 29: Silent Hill 2 - 13 hours - Completed: May 17th, 2014

Game 30: Mega Man Zero 4 - 6 hours - Completed: May 18th, 2014

Game 31: 3D Dot Game Heroes - 30 hours - Completed: May 24th, 2014

Game 32: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - 9 hours - Completed: May 28th, 2014

Game 33: Final Fantasy Tactics - 43 hours - Completed: June 9th, 2014

Game 34: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - 22 hours - Completed: June 15th, 2014

Game 35: Secret of Mana - 25 hours - Completed: June 26th, 2014

Game 36: Devil May Cry 4 - 16 hours - Completed: July 1st, 2014

Game 37: Pokemon SoulSilver - 50 hours - Completed: July 13th, 3014

Game 38: Tenchu Stealth Assassins - 5 hours - Completed: July 16th, 2014

Game 39: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons - 22 hours - Completed: July 29th, 2014

Game 40: Skies of Arcadia - 50 hours - Completed: August 5th, 2014

Game 41: Thomas was Alone - 3 hours - Completed: August 10th, 2014

Game 42: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - 5 hours - Completed: August 17th, 2014

Game 43: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 25 hours - Completed: August 20th, 2014

Game 44: Dishonored - 20 hours - Completed: August 24th, 2014

Game 45: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army - 30 hours - Completed: August 27th, 2014

Game 46: Resident Evil Remake - 15 hours - Completed: August 30th, 2014

Game 47: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - 20 hours - Completed: September 1st, 2014

Game 48: Azure Striker Gunvolt - 8 hours - Completed: September 2nd, 2014

Game 49: Shovel Knight - 6 hours - Completed: September 7th, 2014

Game 50: Tales of Xillia - 35 hours - Completed: September 8th, 2014

Game 51: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon - 48 hours - Completed: September 27th, 2014

Game 52: Resident Evil 4 - 18 hours - Completed: October 2nd, 2014

Total playtime: 1141 hours

Playing catch up here... but will be fun.

I am just going to count Steam games since I can track them by date. I am currently trying to max out achieves on Dark Souls 2 (2 left!) but after that I expect to start banging through this list.

In reality, I have a shit ton of great games ahead of me that I have never played!

Game 1: Bioshock - 11 Hours
Completed on 01/11/2014

Game 2: Bioshock 2 - 8 Hours
Completed on 01/19/2014

Game 3: South Park: The Stick of Truth - 14 Hours
Completed on 04/13/2014

Game 4: Bioshock Infinite - 16 Hours
Completed on 04/20/2014

Game 5: Max Payne 3 - 12 Hours
Completed on 04/27/2014

Game 6: Dishonored - 27 Hours
Completed on 05/25/2014

Game 7: Dark Souls 2 - 236 Hours
Completed on 08/25/2014

Currently Installed and/or playing...

Assassin's Creed
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Call of Duty 4
Divinity: Original Sin
Dragon Age Origins
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Far Cry 3
Fez
Just Cause 2
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
L.A. Noire
Lego Harry Potter
Medal of Honor
Metro 2033
Mirror's Edge
Outlast
Path of Exile
Peggle Deluxe
Portal 2
RAGE
Sleeping Dogs
Thief
Tomb Raider
The Witcher
The Witcher 2

Games waiting in the wings, so currently not installed...

Alan Wake
Assassin's Creed 2
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed Revelations
Assassin's Creed 3
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Origins
Battleblock Theater
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
Dead Island: Epidemic
Fable - The Lost Chapters
The Last Re,mamy
Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7
Lego Lord of the Rings
Marlow Briggs

Wow so many more people have finished since I've been gone! Good playing!

Now that I've got electricity again I dove back into Water Level: The Game aka Starfy! Just 10 more ta go!


Games Beaten: 42 / 52
Total Playtime: 547 hours, 41 minutes



01 - 33!
34 - ??!

Weiss said:

The really sad part is that I still have stuff in my backlog even now. Everything I played this year was a backlog game or something I bought

Click to expand...

Nearing 100 games (several of those replays, though) this year, and still have ~20 games or so in the backlog + a bunch of replays I want to do, because I have more breathing room to. It never ends ...

1) Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
This is the first VN I've ever played. Went in completely blind, loved every minute of it. Can't wait for tuesday.

2) Infamous: Second Son
Smaller scale than I would've liked (especially after the collossal scale of The Beast and the threat he presented), but still a good game.

3) Wolfenstein The New Order
Tied with Danganronpa for my GOTY so far. Got the platinum trophy in 3 days, kept playing even when I had it.

4) The Last of Us
I don't know if this counts, but I did a 5th playthrough of this just before the DLC came out. Still an amazing game, can't wait to try the remaster some day.

5) Watch_Dogs
Pretty underwhelming to be perfectly honest. I still enjoyed it though.

6) Fallout New Vegas
I did a 4th playthrough in hardcore mode. That game is still super fun.

7) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
This was my 3rd attempt at playing it. First two times I quit out of boredom, but this time I loved it. One of my favorite Zelda games now.

8) Diablo 3
Really addictive. I just started RoS, and that just made it 10x better.

9) Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified
Yeaaaaah, not the best game ever, but it's decent for what it is.

10) Trials Fusion
Beating this was the first time I've ever wanted to break a controller. The later tracks are infuriating.

11) Mortal Kombat (VITA)
I've never been huge into fighting games, but this one really did it for me. It also led me to play the next game on my list...

12) Injustice: Gods Among Us (VITA)
Really solid fighting game. I loved the story mode.

13) Gunpoint
Everyone should play this game. It's funny, it's smart, it's fun... Be right back, gotta go play Gunpoint.

14) MGSV Ground Zeroes
An excellent game, regardless of length. Can't wait for TPP.

15) Call of Juarez Gunslinger
A step in the right direction for a floudering franchise.

16) Darksiders 2
Did a second and final playthrough to get the platinum. Do right by this franchise, Nordic!

17) The Wolf Among Us
I loved everything about this game. The ending was a bit less than I had hoped for, but it was still an excellent game overall.

18) Monument Valley
Best mobile game I've ever played

19) Wolfenstein 2009
Very underrated.

20) Civilization V
I played a few complete games of Civ V for the first time around the time of one of my Westen Civ exams. Aced the exam, beat the game.

21) Bioshock 2
Finally got around to playing this, and it's actually a good game!

22) Tearaway
Really great game, almost made me tear up towards the end for no apparent reason. Can't wait for the PS4 version.

23) Mario Golf (3DS)
Tiger Woods ain't got nuthin' on this.

24) DayZ
30+ hours, I think that can count as a completed game, no? Not that I'm done with it or anything...

25) Antichamber
This game is really clever, definitely a must play for fans of Portal and the like.

26) Metro 2033 Redux
I just finished this today and OH MY GOD it's amazing. Probably one of my favorite games now. Can't wait to get back to LL (I already started it a while ago, got about 4 hours in).

27) Destiny
I finished the main story (if you can call it that) missions, hit level 20 and never looked back.

28) The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
This game is so damn good. Go. Buy it. Now.

29) Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Just finished it today. It actually exceeded my expectations, and the Nemesis system set up some cool moments.

30) Rust
Same situation as DayZ; you can't really finished it, but I put a hell of a lot of time into it (and plan on more...)

I'm getting there!

Sendou said:

Ran out of space in my original post (24776 characters and counting) so here's a new one.

Weeks gone 39. Games beaten 44.

My Darkadia account.

Game 41: Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition - 7 hours 37 minutes
# Story beaten on normal. Didn't go for achievements because challenges started really frustrate me. What a game. From art to gameplay this game is a real gem. Didn't have a dull moment with it. That mexican/luchador theme is so perfect yet never seen in video games. Music goes well with it. Obviously the game owes a lot to the classics but still manages to have an identity of its own and bring along bunch of new ideas. It's not the perfect platformer or brawler but then again it's pretty unreasonable to assume it would be. What we have here is a package of fun. Exactly what I'm looking for from video games.

Game 42: SteamWorld Dig - 5 hours 30 minutes
# Reached the credits. I really enjoyed my time with this game. I'm so glad the devs had the sense to keep this focused enough. Often with games you see that developers try doing too many things ending up with a product where nothing is really good. Other thing I liked is lenght. I felt it was pretty much perfect. Otherwise everything seemed to come together nicely. Digging your own tunnels is a very cool concept and it was well executed here. Beautiful artstyle that translated well to the big screen. Extra props to the developers considering the origins!

Game 43: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair! - About 40 hours
# Reached the credits. Good follow up to Danganronpa. Kind of cool to play these rather closely to each other. The game kept getting better ending up with quite the rollercoaster. I really enjoy the absolutely crazy story in this game. Monokuma is such a brilliant character. Music is once again good. Huge negative about this game is the actual gameplay. The minigames that form trials are just simply bad. They weren't fun to play in the least. Really made me feel despair more than once. Not enough to ruin the game for me but I still have to wonder just how exactly did they let these make their way into the final product.

Game 44: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - 19 hours 30 minutes
# Reached the credits and did a bunch of the side content as well. Shadow of Mordor is a curious game. The first quarter of the game just simply feels awesome. While not everything feels fresh it's all crafted so well that you can't help but admire the result. After a while you start getting less and less of those "wow" moments. There's plenty to do for sure but it's just that a lot of that just feels like a simple copy-paste job. The game is uncannily similiar to Batman: Arkham series at times. This includes the combat system, bosses and other minor stuff. I don't think they improved from that series either. Both Monolith and Rocksteady act under the same WB Games umbrella here but it was still disappointing to see how this was handled. The similiarities were even more striking since I played Batman: Arkham Asylum very recently and it's one of my favorite games that I have finished many times.

Nemesis system which is basically procederally generated bosses has been receiving a lot of praise. I found out that it totally deserves that too. What Monolith achieved here is unbelievable. The orcs generated by the system actually feel like inviduals rather than clones with small differences. I'm sure at some point you'll start seeing more and more of samey orcs but for the 20 hours I played I think they did a pretty good job of avoiding that. It really manages to achieve that "nemesis" feeling too when a lowly soldier kills you and rises through the ranks avoiding your blade. Writers did a good job with the orcs. Listening to their banter is entertaining. This also does a lot to bring Nemesis system alive. Sadly the Nemesis system loses meaning as the game progresses. Defeating any enemy including bosses after you receive end-game abilities feels too easy. This hurts nemesis system a lot too.

There's some discrepancy going on with the missions. Main missions are by large fun and varied. Side missions not so much. That's not to say there aren't fun side missions. It's just that they seem to be hidden under piles of uninteresting and recycled content. For example one subset of 20 missions consist of only doing the same task in different environments. I just don't find that something I would want to do. It doesn't help that quickly you stop caring about the potential rewards since you're so powerful you have little use with them.

I really enjoyed my time with Shadow of Mordor. It just got old fast.

Click to expand...

Lindsay said:

Wow so many more people have finished since I've been gone! Good playing!

Now that I've got electricity again I dove back into Water Level: The Game aka Starfy! Just 10 more ta go!


Games Beaten: 42 / 52
Total Playtime: 547 hours, 41 minutes

01 - 33!
34 - ??!

Click to expand...

How are you enjoying Starfy? I really loved the game. I still need to 100% it which is pretty tough!

Game 36: Dishonored: Brigmore Witches - 3.5 hours, Oct 5th
Probably my favourite piece of Dishonored. It's the best mechanically, a big improvement over the base game for non-lethal play. Because you have more tools and are more empowered in general there's less tedious waiting on guard patterns just so you can choke them out when no one sees. The missions themselves were better than in the previous DLC and the area surrounding the manor is easily the best looking environment they've done. I haven't cared much about the narrative in these games, but I think Brigmore Witches was the best in that aspect too. Although the very last scene could've been executed better.

OP

45) Velocity 2X 10H
Didn't enjoy the 5+ minute levels. Other than that, it was everything I liked about the first game plus more. I actually liked the human parts, and thought it was a nice break from the regular portions of the game.

Hands down, my favorite game mode is still Critical Urgency. I have yet to pick up the DLC, but I probably will at one point. This game deserves the support.