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Game 24: Analogue: A Hate Story | 2016-04-11 | - | 4 hours | ★★★★☆

Been playing a lot of visual novels/text adventures lately, and this is one of my favorites.


Game 25: Dark Souls III | 2016-04-21 | - | 81 hours | ★★★★☆

I think this is the weakest of the three Dark Souls games, but I still enjoyed it a lot and can't wait for the DLC to hit. Playing through the game I couldn't help feeling that everything was a retread of old ideas. Some people have described this game as a "best of" Soulsborne and I'd agree with that – nothing ever really felt surprising or new and while almost every single aspect of the game is of high quality there is a certain sense of creative bankruptcy. Some aspects of the world design and story decisions feel like pure fan service, and it feels like the pandering to fans of the first game stopped Miyazaki and his team from breaking new ground.

I also felt that the lack of variety in the world design/biomes made for a less interesting game. The return of a somewhat interconnected world made up for this to a degree, but it never reached the heights of the original Dark Souls. This felt like a bunch of maze-like levels stitched together with an entrance and an exit connecting them, whereas Dark Souls 1 had massive areas twirling around each other, creating a sense of Euclidian disruption.

Still, the art design is top notch and the visuals are gorgeous on a technical level. I liked the changes to the combat as well and some of the bosses are absolutely fantastic. Played through it again just after beating it the first time, but still only counting one playthrough for the purpose of this list.



Game 26: Capsule | 2016-04-25 | - | 1 hour | ★★☆☆☆

A very short, atmospheric game somewhat ruined by the game mechanics. I enjoyed the claustrophobic tension but found myself pulled out of it every time I died and had to start over. The later levels became a chore and reduced everything to a numbers game, which is a shame.


Game 27: Firewatch | 2016-05-18 | - | 4 hours | ★★★★☆

An arrestingly beautiful game. I loved spending time in the wilderness of Wyoming just as much as I loved spending time with the games two stars, Henry and Delilah. Their unfolding relationship is a fascinating thing to follow and I loved how the game had the balls not to resort to Hollywood cliches in terms of how things were resolved between them.

Unfortunately, not the same restraint was shown when it came to the games mystery and its resolution. I was on board right up until the end, and I actually really liked that it boiled down to


Game 28: Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin | 2016-06-03 | - | 51 hours | ★★★★★

I had only played vanilla DSII (and the DLC) and found Scholar of the First Sin on the cheap a while ago. Having played through Dark Souls III and still itching for more souls, this was a perfect choice. I loved the original game and found all the changes pretty enjoyable in this update. The addition of Aldia was great and so was the expanded lore. DSII has the best story and most interesting characters of all the souls games and I was glad to return to it with a few new twists.



Game 29: Shadow Warrior | 2016-06-12 | - | 12 hours | ★★★☆☆

A fun and stupid action game that could have used a bit more variety in its level design.



Game 30: Tales From the Borderlands | 2016-06-16 | - | 9 hours | ★★☆☆☆

I was prepared to love this game. I've enjoyed all the Telltale games that I've played up until this one. And here I was expecting something truly great, seeing how good the reviews have been and word of mouth here on GAF and elsewhere. But man, what a let down.

I hated the characters. I could not stand them from the first minute and they became worse as the game went on. Rhys was especially bad, being inconsistently portrayed and never having any kind of firm personality or moral compass. I felt that I could make dialogue choices that would define Rhys as one thing only to have the game make hime act like the complete opposite 5 minutes later. Maybe the other games have suffered this as well and I haven't been sensitive to it, but here it was really off putting.

The humor never clicked with me either, ranging from groan inducingly terrible to mildly amusing at best.

Still, the presentation was pretty good most of the time and the camera work and cinematography was a step up from previous efforts. Too bad it was wasted on such a bad script.



Game 31: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor | 2016-06-25 | - | 20 hours | ★★★☆☆

Came in with low expectations and enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. The open world design follows the standard template mandated by every AAA game and while that can be a bit tiring, the addition of the Nemesis system does spice it up a bit. I'm also a sucker for Arkham style combat and found myself enjoying that aspect quite a bit.



Game 32: Day of the Tentacle Remastered | 2016-06-26 | - | 6 hours | ★★★★★

The best adventure game of all time, perfectly remastered while still having the option to play the original version. No complaints here. The visuals are faithfully recreated and the updated score is fantastic.

DoTT still has some of the best adventure game design ever and while it is usually praised for its funny script and visual gags (deservedly so!), I think the game shines brightest in its puzzle design.



Game 32: A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build | 2016-06-27 | - | 3 hours | ★★★☆☆

A deceptively simple and charming puzzle game.


Currently playing: DOOM baby!

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Game #112: The Typing of the Dead: Overkill (PC) - ★★★★★★★★★★

For someone like me who has some mad typing skills, this game was a heck of a lot easier than The House of the Dead: Overkill, but it was a lot of fun, both in terms of its themes and its gameplay. It has me tempted to pull out the Wii game and finish that. My absolute favorite part would have to be though the I'm super glad they did that, because it took me by surprise so damn much.

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Game #113: Rhythm Heaven Megamix (3DS) - ★★★★★★★★★★

I was expecting something along the lines of Rhythm Heaven on DS quality-wise, but ultimately it turned out to be one of my favorite Rhythm Heaven games (if not my favorite). Its only real flaw that I have with the game (aside from Rhythm Rally and Cosmic Rally) are that none of the Remixes from previous games were brought back. Even with ones like Remix 8 from Fever (my favorite in the series), all of the games seen in the remix are present in this game, so there's no barrier for that. Oh, and I guess that the lack of toys and endless games is pretty disappointing. Otherwise, they brought back some of the best games from the original, and almost every new game is -really- good.

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Game #114: Ittle Dew (PC) - ★★★★★★★★★☆

I saw some mixed reviews for this game, so it had me slightly apprehensive to whether I would enjoy it much or not. When I picked it up, I found myself enjoying pretty much every aspect of the game. The puzzles were devilishly challenging and fun, I LOVED the enemy designs and general art style, and the world design is just fantastic. At times I found myself feeling a bit frustrated with the puzzles, but the experience was ultimately a positive one. I just feel bad that I wasn't able to do the final post-game challenge dungeon.

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Game #115: Picross DS (DS) - ★★★★★★★★★★

Playing through this game again, it's not quite as good as I remember it. Not to say that my fond memories are nostalgia, I think I legitimately found it to be pretty great; however, the Picross e games (despite having some faults of their own) made me notice some of the stuff that was wrong with it; what really slightly soured things was that in the later levels, I consistently struggled to complete certain levels without using the "Try It Out" mode, and I even made -super- certain that said level I wasn't fucking about. I'd love to see a more elaborate Picross game with a lot of what Picross DS did, like different music and visual themes.

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Game #116: Monument Valley (Android) - ★★★★★★★★☆☆

I certainly cannot fault this game for a lack of visual and mechanical creativity. The first part does a good job of ensuring that the game doesn't wear on you, and ends quickly enough that everything feels fresh. I especially like your totem sidekick who likes to show up here and there throughout. The game does unfortunately drag somewhat in the second part. It's a shame too, because some of the stuff in the seventh and eighth levels were pretty cool and neat. It also had my totem buddy, so that's always great.

19:18h. Around 98% of the map discovered. This is the first Vita game I ever bought and I didn't get around to completing it until yesterday, for some reason. And it's sort of a pity because the game is good. Graphics are nice and functional, the story is very reminiscent of Super Nintendo RPGs, and the action is frenetic and relies mostly in button mashing, but team composition and dodging/blocking become a fundamental part of the hardest fights. So all in all, a solid aRPG.

The downsides - the game was a tad easy on Normal, and also a bit short for a RPG. But since it's "short and sweet" it's a minor sin.

Updated OP

Game 37: Devil May Cry 3 - 9:03 (Finished on 6/5)

Whoa. After the lethargy inducing DMC2, DMC3 did a complete 183° rotation. The combat was fun, the bosses and enemies proved challenging and the cheesiness in the cutscenes reached levels I previously thought to be unreachable. The different fighting styles were pretty neat, though I would have liked the option to switch between all of them at will. I haven’t played many games in the cuhrazy stylish character spectacle action slice ‘em up genre, but DMC3 is definitely up there from what I have played.

Game 38: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (Finished on 6/6)

First time playing Castlevania, and by extension, classic Castlevania. After adjusting to the limited mobility, one direction whip, and situational backflip, I rather enjoyed myself. The levels are sprinkled with secrets and branching paths, encouraging replays. They have a good length to them too, not depressingly short or overly long, but just right. Also I experienced a lot of death. Embarrassing death, accidental death, rage-inducing death. The game challenged me a lot, with its relentless enemies and bosses. Even outside of the branching levels, the game has a lot of content, with the both the original Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night being unlockables—essentially making Dracula X Chronicles 3 games in 1. Sweet deal.

Game 39: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 8:23:04 (Finished on 6/9)

Alucard, the protagonist of Symphony of the Night, may very well have the smoothest running animation I've witnessed (both in media and real life). I was deeply saddened upon realizing backdashing was the faster form of locomotion. My lamentations about running animations aside, this game was really great! I jumped in after unlocking it in the main portion of Dracula X Chronicles. Seeing the map getting filled in as you backdash from room to room while leveling up after slaying grotesque enemies is very addicting. It's one of those games that just feels good to control, likely helped by the aforementioned movement animations. My only gripes were that at times the RPG elements seemed to clash with the exploration, such as defeating a boss, or reaching a hidden area, only to be rewarded with equipment that is weaker than what you already had. I also felt that the game was bit unintuitive at times when finding a new powerup and figuring out what to do/where to go with it. Otherwise, this is a game I look forward to replaying over the years.

Game 40: Mega Man X - (Finished on 6/11)

I've mingled a bit with the classic Mega Man series, so I decided I'd give the X series a go. It was here where I learned the true terror of enemies that respawn instantly when the screen briefly shifts away from them. That vertical corridor partway through Sigma Stage 1... It bums me out just thinking about how much pain and suffering I felt there. Like sleep paralysis—you know you'll be able to move eventually, but you still struggle to move anyway. Solid game otherwise, I'll need to check out the sequels at some point.

Game 41: Super Mario World - (Finished on 6/12)

I’m pretty disappointed in myself. This is my favorite 2D Mario, and I’ve played it many times over the years, and even now—finally beating it for the first time—I still haven’t found the red, green and blue switch palaces.

Game 42: EarthBound - (Finished on 6/19)

Having played EarthBound Beginnings earlier this year I decided I would replay one of my all time favorites. EarthBound still holds up quite well, aside from the painful inventory management. The battle system is simple, but the rolling HP counters add a neat layer of urgency when navigating through battle menus. I'd actually forgotten how difficult certain portions of the game were, such as the opening area where the enemies attack in groups and do tons of damage while you're limited in resources at that point in time. I first played EarthBound when I was quite young, so I find myself appreciating a lot more of the game's ridiculous dialogue now that I'm older. Now that I can compare it to the first game, it's interesting to note how similar the two are—to the point where EarthBound almost feels like a retelling of EarthBound Beginnings. Also, one day I will obtain the Sword of Kings. One day.

Game 43: VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - 17:20 (Finished on 6/25)

The year is 207X. Corrupt corporations and criminal gangs are at the top of the food chain in Glitch City—a dystopia where brutality reigns supreme, where the rift between the fortunate and the poor grows larger every passing day, where all individuals are kept under control by nanomachines, and where the integration of artificial life into society is progressing the quickest. None of this is really a big deal though, since you're in control of Jill, a simple bartender at the titular bar, VA-11 Hall-A, or just Valhalla. This game essentially plays like visual novel, only instead of making choices at set points, the events that occur are instead dictated by how well you serve drinks to clients. Successfully fulfilling their orders will lead to Jill receiving more money in her paychecks and in turn, being able to pay her bills. The game is very charming, with an aesthetic evocative of that seen on the PC-98. Then there's the dialogue, which often flip-flops between thought-provoking and salacious. Characters always have interesting things to say, and give valuable insight to both the game's setting and other characters, which builds up the world nicely. The game's charismatic characters actually contrast quite well with the bleak setting. And of course, the game has the quintessential nighttime soundtrack full of crystalline synths, dreamy pianos, dope guitars, smooth basslines, and electrifying beats. One of my favorite games I've played this year.

Game 44: LIMBO - 3 hours (Finished on 6/30)

A bit mixed on this one. The artstyle, along with the sense of isolation in a hostile environment, ambient soundtrack and gruesome deaths creates a beautifully surreal and eerie atmosphere. But the gameplay doesn’t really hold up as well as the former aspects as the game presses on. The controls don’t feel solid enough when tackling some of the later precision based puzzles/areas, and the puzzles themselves go from fun distractions to sometimes frustrating episodes with obtuse solutions. It's on the short side, so my gripes didn't detract too much from the overall game.

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Main post #1 (Games 1-26)

Master Post

the ps1 crash games are getting a remaster, it isn't coming out this year so I'll just play all the games again WHOA

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Game 37: [Replay] Crash Bandicoot (PS1) | ~4 Hours | 06/26/16 | 3/5

The first game in the series is the one that has aged the most. Crash Bandicoot has a lot here that you don't really see in the later games. The next Crash games never do certain Level designs like the vertical based rainy castle levels and the foggy bridge levels, probably for good reason. This is the hardest game of the trilogy, generally due to the aforementioned levels coupled with Crash controlling poorly compared to later games. Not to mention the terrible save system I'll probably never go for 100% due to the fact they thought boxes respawning after death was a good idea. Hopefully the remaster fixes some of the dumb shit I guess.

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Game 38: [Replay] Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1) | ~6 Hours | 06/27/16 | 5/5

The fact that this shit came out one year after Crash 1 and turning out the way it did is nothing short of magic. The leap here is fucking insane, and even not accounting that, it's my favourite game of the franchise and one of my favourite games of all time. The graphics are considerably better, to the point where I feel it's aged better than most games have of this era. Crash's game feel is also dramatically improved, the addition of the slide alone is a huge leap. This isn't even going into certain speedrunning tactics like slide spinning and spin jumping that makes it just so fun to move through levels.

Most of Crash 1's egregious level design was flushed down the toilet, in favour of a more polished take of what already worked. You can really see it with Crash 1's Upstream levels versus Crash 2's 'Plant Food' levels. The one hog level turned into a series of cute polar bear levels, letting you even ride it during a boulder chase level (Unbearable is one of the more memorable levels of the game, especially for its multiple secrets.) The only iffy levels are the jetpack ones, which kinda bog down the last 'world' so to speak and make the final boss rather anticlimactic.

Overall, this game is fucking great. Went for 100% for a second time and it was better than the first. Best control, best soundtrack, best level balance, best best best. Best.

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Game 39: [Replay] Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PS1) | ~3 Hours | 06/29/16 | 4.5/5

Crash 3 doesn't change much from Crash 2. Core gameplay is still intact and still has aged just as well. The problem with Warped is the gimmick levels. There's always 2 or 3 per world and some of them just aren't good. Underwater levels are good, 3's variation on the hog/polar levels are good, then it's all downhill from there. Motorcycle levels are mediocre, it doesn't control that well but they don't take too long. The Jetski levels, on the other hand, can be fine if you're just gunning it to the end of can be total slogs if you're going for the box gems. The worst are the plane levels, flying around shooting tiny pellets at blimps and shit while enemy gunfire melts you're health faster than all hell. I blazed through this one because I had no intention of getting 100% due to relic runs being necessary. Relic runs are a very good addition to the game, but doing them for the gimmick levels suuuuucks. As an aside, they removed slide spinning from Crash 2, which made you go much faster, and going from Crash 2 to 3 right after, that sucked.

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Game 40: [Replay] Crash Team Racing (PS1) | 2+ Hours | 06/29/16 | 5/5

Another one of my favourite games to play, Crash Team Racing is a sublime kart racer. I quickly went through the adventure mode due to already having fully completed it, and the second I started going I instantly felt the rush of love and joy that I get from this game. The game is super fast paced with a heavy emphasis on boosts and drifting. (CTR still sports the best drifting boost system for a kart racer to date, imo) Lots of memorable levels are in the game, from the large jumps and sneaky spiders of Cortex Castle to the giant crushing waste barrels of Sewer Speedway. The game sports plently of content as well, from the aforementioned adventure mode, to the cups you can play solo or with a friend, to the N. Tropy unlocking time trials, there's plenty to do. I didn't unlock N. Tropy on my Vita game so I plan to revisit it and do that, because I love this shit and will play it and hope for a remaster 5ever.

OP

22. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)

What a fantastic conclusion. I thought the pacing was overly slow at times but in terms of storytelling, writing and production values this is just as good as it gets in video games. Also played a lot better than any of ND's previous work and is probably the best looking video game I have ever played.

23. Limbo (Xbox One)

Downloaded it for free during E3 and finally played it after seeing the reviews for Inside. I liked it but some of the puzzles tested my patience for trial and error gameplay a little too much, partly because of the floaty controls. But it does have a great look to it and oozes atmosphere. I'm about halfway through Inside as of this post and I'm loving it way more.

24. Overwatch (Xbox One)

This is the reason I haven't really 'completed' anything since Uncharted, so I'm gonna put it on here. Have sunk more hours into this than any other game this year so far and is the most fun I've had with an online shooter since the Modern Warfare/Halo 3 heyday. Probably my GOTY.

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Game 49: INSIDE - XO - 7/3 - 03:30 - 90%

Game 50: THE WALKING DEAD: MICHONNE - PC - 7/4 - 03:30 - 70%

Game 51: STREET FIGHTER V - STORY MODE - PS4 - 7/4 - 03:00 - 60%

Game 52: STEINS;GATE - PSV - 7/11 - 24:10 - 90%

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Game 28 & 29: Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast || Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

As a bit of a palette cleanser after the lengthy Skyrim and ongoing Warlords of Draenor, I decided to for a more concise and cleanly limited experience next. I got my fix in the form of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. I played of them back-to-back over the past 3 days, and many of my points are valid or both, so I decided to combine them in a single post.

Nowadays, it can be quite difficult to get a fix for the need for decent Star Wars games. Even as the movie license is being revived yet again, games are still few and far between, with the exception of the LEGO games and DICE's Battlefront (which I'm not hugely fond of because of the heavy focus on online multiplayer). It seems all the more strange then, that in the late 90s and early 2000s, there was almost an overabundance of Star Wars themed games in many different genres - Jedi Knight, Battlefront, KotOR, Rogue Squadron (just to name a few). Other than them being really fun games even without the license, a big part of why I like to go back and play these is simply because there are not enough alternatives today.

Still, although Outcast and Academy look quite similar on the surface, they're really vastly different games. Outcast is much closer to Dark Forces and its sequel, and in many respects feels like a DOOM-esque FPS with optional melee combat. Even after , the level design still very much reflects this, albeit with the balance tilted somewhat towards platforming puzzles that reflect the basic force powers (and outside of a handful of sabre duels, you can just as easily keep using your regular weapons). Overall, I feel this makes Outcast a lot more intimidating. It's not always clear how you're supposed to progress through a level (despite the fact that they're fairly linear), and the first time playing through it, it took a decent amount of exploring to get to the goal.

Academy, on the other hand, puts a lot of emphasis on sabre combat by giving you an extended array of attacks, more flexibility in terms of force power progression, sabre customisation and of course the eventual choice between single sabre, dual-wielded sabres, and double-bladed sabre. Meanwhile, at the outset of each mission, you're limited to just two heavy weapons and one explosive (although you can obtain the rest quickly after the start of each mission). In fact, outside of a few instances, and most notably , there is close to no incentive to using ranged weaponry. I think this would all be a big problem if the melee combat wasn't so fun. On the higher difficulties, it feels oddly rewarding to duel a dark Jedi, and on the lower settings, its arcade-y execution gives it an almost hack-and-slash feel. The end result is that mowing down storm troopers is just as enjoyable as dashing around and slashing at force users.

Visually, the two look quite similar, although animations are a bit more fluent in Academy and overall, I think the locations feel more interesting in Outcast (despite the fact that Academy has more level diversity). Both benefit from John Williams' sublime OT scores, which are heavily featured. Lastly, even though I appreciate the option to customise my player character, Kyle Katarn is a vastly more exciting protagonist than Jaden Korr could ever hope to be, in part because the need for character flexibility brings with it a distinct lack of intrinsic characterisation. What this all amounts to is that if I was to look for a short session, Academy works better, because I can just jump in and mess around with the sabre combat for a bit. On the other hand, if I could only play through one of them, I'd almost certainly go for Outcast, because I feel it is a more carefully crafted package.

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Game 20 - Zero Escape - Zero Time Dilemma [Vita] ★★★
I'm a little torn on this because on the one hand I'm glad it exists, but on the other I'm disappointed that it exists in this form. The Zero Escape series has been one of the best groups of visual novels out there, mixing a mindbending multi-timeline storyline with some satisfying puzzling. It used the mechanics of save scumming as a narrative device in such a way that even replaying the same scenes you've already seen can be surprising. Virtue's Last Reward took players deep down the rabbit hole, and Zero Time Dilemma just picks it up from there. It rests upon the bed of insane logic and silly sci-fi time-travel bollocks the series has constructed, but doesn't really push it further than that (thankfully), instead trying to tie up the loose ends and conclude the story. It's hard to tell if it was successful, because to keep track all the narrative threads in this series is an impossible task, but on the surface it seems like it pulled it off, and did so pretty well. It's much less twist-heavy and that could be disappointing to some, but I feel it's the more sensible approach. The real shortcomings are in the actual presentation of the story, which is unfortunately a critical component of the genre. The constrained budget really shows, with the ambitious cinematic presentation really suffering. Characters are barely animated at all, and what little animation they do have is utterly shoddy. And I don't know if the amount of puzzle rooms is more or less what was in the previous games, but it's definitely missing a finale for the gameplay side of the game. It's a shame that it couldn't hit the level of polish that the previous games did, but it's still a good conclusion to a brilliant series.

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Game 32: Radiant Historia (DS) - 28 hours

I'm not a fan of SRPGs, so it was refreshing to play a JRPG that tackles military and politics in its story in a focused manner. It doesn't exactly have mindblowing twists, but engaging writing and characters that keep you hooked. On top of that, the battle system is equally encouraging. Each battle is like a small puzzle, which makes mindless grinds impossible, even for smaller foes. Ultimately, only the time travel mechanics fall a little flat. It's pretty straight forward and only offers two separate histories. However, the constant possibility of character deaths makes the story more believable. It loses a little steam during the finale, but doesn't overstay its welcome either.



Game 33: Zero Time Dilemma (3DS) - 24 hours

The initial hours of the latest Zero Escape game were sorely disappointing. The game lacked the kind of mystery which the previous games were known for. Its predecessors were building up all these secrets about not only each death game, but also the context in general, while each eventual murder was also dealt like a big question mark in the story.
Yet ZTD starts off as a kind of random gore-fest, ultimately lacking substance and tension. Which made the low budget presentation even more striking early on - the narrative wasn't strong enough to overcome it.

As it went on, however, I started to warm up with it. The endings improved, I liked the ways certain new story elements had to be unlocked and I started to feel the characters more, in particular when they started to see more profound endings. There were some great scenes that will certainly stick with me for a while. The twists, scifi and certain narrative tricks toying with metalevels ultimately returned and constituted a great homestretch. On top of that, the puzzle sections were the most engaging in the series and remained great throughout the entire experience.

Unfortunately, the ending itself just threw me back to my ambivalency. It felt like the team suddely was either out of time, budget or ideas. As a standalone title, the story would have been more than sufficient and make for a great game. However, as the conclusion to the trilogy it ultimately fell flat, leaving me with mixed feelings.

Original Post

For June I completed 10 games.

My Current progress for this challenge is 41/52

1. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward – Finished on June 6 – 44 hours
After finishing 999, this was the next logical step. This game was every bit as good as 999 to me. I still enjoy the first game slightly more, but this was an awesome thrill ride. There is a GAF replays thread here and I would post my thoughts after getting a few endings on what I thought was going on. I was right about some things and that felt good. Some of the puzzles in this game kicked my ass though. I felt some were harder than 999 but it felt really good to get through an entire escape room without once not knowing what to do next. Cannot wait for ZTD in a few weeks!

2. Mario Kart 8 – Finished on June 7 – 25+ hours
I got all stamps, beat all cups, but did not really play online. I originally played this game a bit on just the gamepad. I bought a new TV and decided to play it on that for the first time this week and it looks amazing. Dare I say this is the best Mario Kart ever and sets the bar higher for the next entry in the series. The DLC was also robust and very fun. This is a title I'll always come back to whenever I'm bored or want to play with friends.

3. Mega Man 5 – Finished on June 8 – 3 hours, 50 minutes
Lag frames: the game. Seriously lag caused me so many issues. Certain jumps or boss fights were made infinitely more difficult based on the amount of crap on screen to cause slowdown. I breezed through the first four games but this game sucked. The eight robot master stages were not bad and even a few of the Wily stages were not bad. Some of the later boss fights were just exercises in frustration. Not even really difficulty. I knew what to do. It was just so laggy in certain points that it was hard. The boss of Wily 2 I had to use save states. It was just an unfun experience and I am glad it is over. I did get all eight letters for Beat on the first try though. Play time inflated slightly because I farmed enemies for weapon energy and health drops a few times. Ended up not using my M-Tank though.

4. New Super Mario Bros 2 – Finished on June 12 – 5 hours, 57 minutes
I seem to replay this game every year. I enjoy it that much. This year is no different. It has become maybe my go to Summer is here game. This time I got all star coins for the first 8 worlds and have unlocked the final world. Will probably go through and beat all the stages. The final castle has a really annoying coin or two to get that I may skip. I've beaten this game probably half a dozen times now and I enjoy it every time. Some of the Koopaling battles are really fun. Not as good as the Wii U NSMB game but still fun.

5. Animal Crossing amiibo Festival – Finished on June 15 – 4 hours
I tried to give this game an honest effort. I wanted to level up my full fleet of Animal Crossing amiibo quickly. I had planned to give each month a go and just relax while trying to play. It was very boring. There is little substance. I'm a huge Animal Crossing fan and avid amiibo enthusiast and I just could not get into the game. It was fun getting a card and being able to use it perfectly to go where I wanted and sell turnips for a high price or getting the right or wrong fortune and having the rolls swing one way and having one player getting a ton of bells and happy points for those rolls. Those moments were way too few though. Something cool and Animal Crossing related should be happening on every turn. It is basically a reading simulator for many turns. If it had online where I could chill with friends and enjoy it more I would do that. But playing alone it is boring. I opened the game and physically put it in my Wii U and gave it my best effort. Even with my very low standards of gaming, I just couldn't stand to play the game any longer. I'd rather be playing almost anything else I own.

6. Kirby Planet Robobot – Finished on June 20 – 10 hours, 58 minutes
This game was a joy to play from start to finish. Kirby games are always easy but the gameplay and cuteness factor of Kirby has always more than made up for that. This game made great use of the 3D as always. Playing around in the mech felt so much better than Hypernova from the first game, which itself had some pretty cool uses and clever puzzles. I collected all cubes and all rare stickers but still need to either grind or use play coins for the final 30 or so common stickers. Also did the RPG mini game but not the 3D mini game. As a fan of 2D platforming, this game was awesome. Combined with Triple Deluxe it gives the 3DS a couple great Kirby platformers.

7. Onimusha Warlords – Finished on June 21 – 3 hours, 20 minutes
Classic PS2 game played today because I finally hooked my old CRT up. I had wanted to play something else but settled on this. The controls are wonky and sometimes things hit you from off screen and you have no chance to react. The overall gameplay is still really fun and it is incredibly satisfying to issen enemies to kill them. I opted not to do the extra realm to get the super overpowered sword since it is basically pointless anyway. The final boss is easy enough on any difficulty and you basically only get to use it on him. I do believe I will play the second and third games again eventually.

8. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny – Finished on June 25 – 7 hours, 55 minutes
Second in the trilogy. You play as Jubei Yagyu in this game. Gameplay is similar but the story seems deeper. There are four characters that you can give gifts to and at certain points they show up to help you and have their own side stories and motivations for things. Getting some items from them is completely random and some good items can only be had this way. Overall the game is really fun and it still has that satisfying combat from the first game. You aren't able to control the camera in this game so sometimes you are getting hit by things from offscreen and it gets really frustrating, especially when you play as someone other than Jubei and their health bar and survivability is considerably lower. I also felt the boss fights in this game were generally annoying. Not even really well balanced to be tough but fair, just designed to be as annoying as possible. Things like bosses being well out of melee range or having an entire phase out of melee range where it is a game of patience and dodging to hit them again to bosses having unblockable attacks to certain attacks from bosses being able to chain you into several hits (you get hit, get back up, and are immediately vulnerable to the continuing boss attack). This happened to me a few times and I always felt like it was a little unfair.

9. New Super Mario Bros U – Finished on June 28 – 8 hours, 50 minutes
This game was perhaps the best of the New Super Mario Bros lot. I feel like the world design and the level design were pretty good and it actually got tough toward the end of the game. I got most star coins and all but a couple regular exits. The game was really fun. Before finishing this time I had played to about halfway a couple times. The last three worlds were completely new to me. I found myself caring less and less about star coins as time went on. Once I decided to basically stop caring about them I enjoyed the game a lot more. I've been on a sort of 2D platformer kick lately so it felt good to be able to finish this game finally.

10. Fire Emblem Fates (Birthright) – Finished on June 29 – 47 hours, 10 minutes
I enjoyed this one a lot. Gameplay has improved quite a bit from Awakening. Even though Birthright is supposed to be the easier game I found a few of the maps challenging in certain ways. I enjoy the switch of not having weapons break. I feel like only having one or two weapons really good for tacking armored units was a nice change. I enjoyed this path even though I knew from the start I would like the Nohr royalty more. I made the mistake of not planning out pairings and not really doing much in the way of supports for half the game so I had an interlude where I got everyone to S rank to unlock paralogues and it kinda killed the pace of the game but that is totally my fault. I played on Classic and for some reason it took me like two or three times of seeing Hana basically get one shot to realize her defenses were abysmal. She was a true glass cannon. MVPs of this run have to go first to Takumi. I even made the joke that this game was Takumi Emblem and not Ryoma Emblem like all the jokes I've seen. Other MVPs have to be Ryoma for always being strong and sturdy in battle, Rinkah for some wicked Killer Axe and Hammer uses, and Silas for being the young Cavalier of this game and a solid, dependable unit all game long.

Dougalism - Progress 30/52

Game 27: .Hack //GU// Vol 2: Reminisce (PS2) - 11/6
I enjoyed it more than any other of the .Hack games even in spite of the peak anime story.

Game 28: .Hack //GU// Vol 3: Redemption (PS2) - 27/6
Probably shouldn't have played 2 of these back to back.

Game 29: Game Of Thrones (PS4) - 28/6
Not nearly as bad as people make out but conversely not nearly as good as Walking Dead S1 or TWAU.

Game 30: Everybody's Gone to The Rapture (PS4) - 30/6
It really captured the feeling of a rural English village, reminded me of where I grew up.

Game #30 - Ghost 1.0
Time: 11 hours

another excellent metroidvania from the maker of UnEpic, even if its a shorter game than its predecessor (by alot), its a much more polished and refined experience. Neat sotry, great level design, tons of weapons, tons of secrets, decent voice acting, and he reigned in the meme-style humour of UnEpic. Great game all around, I wish there was some sort of "interted castle", only because I wanted more of it, its that good.


Game #31 - Overwatch
Time: 100 hours

While I will probably play more eventually, since im taking a extended break and dont really feel like playing it anymore at the time, I feel like its a good time to add it to the list. Amazing team-based shooter thant unfortunately like all multiplayer games is heavily dependant on other people, and thus your experience will wildly fluctuate. The new ranked mode isnt exaclty what I wanted and it seems they are adjusting it, but the time I spent with it was great. After about 800 matches tho I started to feel the burn a bit. Great graphics, amazing sound design and the traditional blizzard polish make for a great package, one that I will hopefully return to now and then when they add heroes and maps.

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I actually finished #19 on Saturday but I got banned and had to wait to post this XD

#19: Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars: 28 hours

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It’s a turn-based strategy game somewhere between Fire Emblem and Advances Wars, set in the Ghost Recon universe. It’s also way better than it has any right to be.

Each character has a completely linear upgrade tree that you can assign points to after eac mission and unlocks new passive skills and weapons for them to use. The classes can choose between two types of primary and secondary weapons for each mission, and while a lot of them have pretty basic rifles as their first option the classes are on the whole very diverse. My favorite being the engineer who can deploy a drone or turrent and also choose between a rifle and an EMP pistol that can’t return fire when attacked but causes drones, vehicles and turrets to lose their next turn. Runner up is the hilariously overpowered recon specialist who has a combat knife that can one shot almost any unit in the game, which charges her super meter 50%.

Speaking of, there’s a few super mechanics in the game. Each character gains power points for dealing damage, taking damage, getting kills or performing class specific tasks (the last two being the most productive by far). Once you fill the meter you can use a more powerful version of an attack, which for rifles (and the combat knife) usually means doing extra damage and getting to move again, for grenades increases damage and area of effect and for heavier weapons just gives a massive damage boost. In addition there are capture points scattering around most maps that will give you a command point each at the start of the turn, which can be used to grant additional turns to units or call in airstrikes.

The main theme is great but the music and sound is otherwise forgettable. There are a few too many filler missions but otherwise they’re pretty varied in layout if not objective. Story is pretty standard fare, attempting to prevent a Russian coup and its ultimately not important. Play the game if you want to have fun with turn-based strategy for a bit.


#20: Super Mario Land: 2 hours

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This game takes me back. A friend of the family owned it and I played it a bunch of times at their house in my early teens. I never finished it though, and with Super Mario Land 2 being a My Nintendo reward now seemed like a good time to correct that.

It’s not only a solid game on its own merits but it’s fascinating to see how the designers tried to cope with an early understand of the Gameboy hardware. It’s kind of oddball and weird because of it, but I think they also just wanted to make a weird game at the same time. It’s all weird bugs and aliens and Moai and Egypt. So the whole thing is a little surreal which works really well for it. Even though it’s severely hampered by the limitations of early Gameboy software it manages to both be distinctly Mario and carve out its own identity. That said there's a lot of repeated segments in the levels which gets a little confusing and annoying.



Preview: Playing Crypt of the Necrodancer on PC, which I just beat the first story of three in, and BoxBoxBoy! on 3DS

OT

Got 2 games done over the long weekend. First up me and the GF beat the story mode which is just fantastic. Then we have been playing a ton of Vs. matched against each other. Not much else to say about this except its more MK which is always a great thing!

Finished up Kirby: Robobot and it was just as easy but also just as fun as Triple Deluxe. The robot gimmick was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. The ability to use the enemy ability while being a robot was cool and the ability's where different from the ones you got as OG Kirby. All in all it was a fun game. Highly recommend it.

Done replaying the third Pokémon Ranger game! Gotta love that lil ukelele Pichu!

Games Beaten: 36 / 52
Total Playtime: 643:59:53
01 - 27
28 - ??

12. SOMA - 20ish hours

This game was amazing, it really got pushed to the side due to a heavy year of releases and good games. This game had such a great story, really gets you to think and I was really aching to hear more. The horror part was pretty good, less jump scares more just straight up horror. An amazing game all around in my opinion, one of the best from last year.

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5/5

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13. Zero Escape Time Dilemma - 19 hours

I was a huge fan of the past Zero Escape games (999 and VLR). Personally thought VLR was better than 999, and was certainly not expecting them to make a third game. Time Dilemma was pretty good, but I think it fell short with some things, the animation was weirdly lagging and bad, the story wasn't as big of a surprise or twist as the past were, etc. Though, it still had great characters, a story that rolls real fucking dark, and overall was a good end to the series.

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4/5

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OP

Not sure what's next really...may hit up some of my back log or something. I'd really like to hit the 20 or 25 mark before the end of the summer but.

Game #32 - 10000000
Time: 6 hours (3 on pc + 3 on mobile)

After getting into You Must Build a Boat on PC I decided to play the original 10000000 on my phone as a time waster at work. Either the game is much shorter than the sequel, or just plainly easier to play on a phone because sliding the tiles with your finger is much faster than with a mouse. Either way, its a great match 3 type game with a ridiculous amount of "just one more run" syndrome. Cute pixel art (which again looks better on a small screen), fun meta progression system, just a fun and addicting game all around. Ill probably start up I Must Build a Boat on my phone at work now also even tho Im playing it on PC heh.

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Game 30: The Sims 3

I'm currently going through a bit of a transitional period in my life (both socially and professionally), so it was nice to go through (virtual) life with a bit more control.

As usual, I started with only one or two sims on an empty plot. To save myself some early woes, I more or less created a duo destined for each other, so I could immediately focus on two separate careers and not have to worry about children until the household finances were in order.

Over the past few days, I've been advancing these two lives in 1-2 hour sessions, climbing the career ladder, getting married, having children, seeing them grow up and move out / get married, retire, and finally die. Since I opted for the longer life (around 190 in-game days), that took a while, and I usually don't stick around long enough for my first generation to pass on (I'm mostly interested in the building aspect, and the slow progression from nothing to the top). Now, that having occurred, and the next generation firmly established, I feel comfortable moving on.

I just wanted to make a few additional notes. The original Sims left a huge impression on me, which is probably why I stuck with the series for as long as I did, sinking hours upon hours into various families, and buying countless expansion packs. Going from the first game to the second felt like a huge leap, whereas the third part is more an evolution bringing with it a large number of quality of life improvements (like flexible work progression, more sim autonomy, more interaction methods, and more building options). However, not owning any of the Sims 3 expansions, I do feel like a lot of the original catalogue is missing, and thus the main game feels a bit barren in terms of furniture options.

Still, I don't think I'd be willing to jump in and buy any of the expansions now, let alone go for the less illustrious store purchases. I never even bought the fourth game, despite the fact that I was actually looking forward to it ahead of its release. I believe the general conduct of Maxis and EA in general a few years ago soured me on many of their products, especially those with a heavier focus on online, be it through competitive multiplayer, or even just in the form of creation sharing. Either that, or maybe my taste in games just changed. At any rate, even if I'm no longer committed to the current / recent content, I have fond memories of the earlier titles, and it was definitely nice to go back and mess around with this one for a bit.

Game #33 - You Must Build a Boat
Time: 12 hours (7 on mobile + 5 on PC)

The sequel to 10000000 and a much better game overall. The campaign is twice as long, the meta is better with more upgrades and stuff to do, even for future playthroughs, the setting is cooler, just overall a better game. Still super fun and addictive also.

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Game 12 - Gone Home - 4 hours

I can understand, now that I've played it, how this game was so decorated. It tells an excellent story with several interconnected narratives- although you're tracking Sam's story, and only her story has voice over, you also track the stories of your parents (and even, to a certain extent, that of a grandfather, mother, and uncle). I found the game to be incredibly immersive in terms of atmosphere, as there were a few minutes where I was creeped out (and even one or two jump scares) despite the fact that the game is set in our ordinary reality. I mean, I don't enjoy going down dark basement stairs in real life, and Fullbright was able to tap into that same reticence. It also had what I regard as essential in narrative games, in that I regularly attempted to guess the next step in the story and was led in different directions, or to keep different possibilities open. The story ended well, and I would recommend that just about everyone give this one a play.

That said, man is that a gimmicky trophy list. I played for the story, and won't be going back for many of those. Somehow, I missed a voice log or two- those might cause me to dive back in and search.

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40. Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book (PS4, 2016) - 46:59
Completed on Normal difficulty.

Two years ago, I put Atelier Escha & Logy on my GOTY list with the caveat that the franchise was so reliably good year in and year out that it almost wasn't worth putting the games on GOTY lists anymore. Atelier games were the Free Space on my GOTY bingo card. But then last year, we got Atelier Shallie, and we finally got to see what a subpar entry in the franchise looked like. Shallie wasn't an awful game, but nevertheless it was an underwhelming way to end the Dusk trilogy. Worse, when Sophie was first announced, it looked kind of generic--Sophie herself seemed unremarkable, and when the first pictures of Plachta were released it seemed like the Atelier franchise had finally gone all-in on the sexy fanservice. Dark days for the series, those.

The good news is, Sophie is actually a return to form. The combat is less interesting and less complex than in Escha & Logy or Shallie, and the character designs have the occasional thoughtless sexiness thrown in that feel like half-hearted pandering (more on that later). But besides that, Sophie does a fantastic job of streamlining the gameplay of previous trilogies while retaining the freedom from time limits that Shallie introduced.

At first glance, Sophie seems to be missing several series trademarks. Besides the obvious lack of deadlines, the game also lacks a new game plus feature. It also goes one further than Shallie in the endings department--whereas that game only had three endings to speak of, Sophie has just a single ending. No character endings or special unlocks based on meeting various conditions. Look closer, though, and you can see much of the spirit behind those features still intact. Take time management, for example. While the game has no deadlines of any sort, you do still have to be mindful of the time of day and week. Sophie introduces the concept of a five-day week, with two days reserved for weekends. Weekends are where the majority of the character-related events happen, so it's incentive to put aside your work for a while and catch up with Sophie's friends and neighbours. Furthermore, each day is split into four sections, with both your hometown and the surrounding dungeons changing depending on the time of day. The net effect is to give you the feel of juggling multiple priorities like in previous games, but without the actual pressure to do everything before a strict cutoff date. This is a lot better than Shallie's system, where progress was harshly gated by arbitrary transitions between story mode and free mode.

Sophie doesn't lock away character endings anymore, but the spirit behind them still exists. You still have friendship levels with all of your party members, and they all still have important life events you get to be a part of. Really the only major difference now is that character endings don't actually come at the end of the game anymore; as soon as you've met the conditions that would net you an ending in a previous game, Sophie just shows you the final friend scene and gives you the trophy immediately. This makes sense, given that Sophie is the first Atelier game to keep going after you beat the final boss. This probably also explains the lack of a new game plus feature; if you can keep unlocking friendship scenes and crafting better weapons and armor to take on the optional end-game bosses well past the end of the campaign, why bother restarting the game at all?

So let's talk about those downsides. First, combat. The six-character rotation from Escha & Logy, along with the support and chaining systems, have been overhauled. Now we're back to four party members in every battle with no one able to rotate in or out of play. The order of play has changed as well; instead of the player selecting each party member's actions as they come up in the rotation, Sophie asks the player to give commands to the entire party at once, and then plays out a single turn for all of them. Supports have been simplified; instead of choosing which character to guard or attack with, the game asks you to set a stance on each character every turn and then support actions play out automatically (and somewhat randomly). It's a system that evolves over the course of the game, but you never feel as involved in fights as in previous games; it's far too easy to mindlessly mash the X button to get everyone to attack, especially on low-level mobs you've long since outclassed.

Second, fanservice. The Dusk trilogy was very good for the most part about rolling back some of the more egregious pandering from the Arland trilogy. Ayesha didn't even have a stereotypical hot springs scene with the entire female cast shown mostly naked except for strategically placed water splashes. To its credit, Sophie doesn't have a hot springs scene either. In fact, the mere concept of sex almost never gets mentioned in the game. That makes some of the costume decisions even more baffling. Why does Plachta have such a revealing default costume? Why is one of her alternate costumes a barely-there swimsuit? Why does Leon have an underboob window on her outfit big enough to drive a truck through? None of the many female characters in the game are set up to be particularly sexy (except Tess, whose outfit is actually kind of restrained compared to Plachta's), so it's especially weird that so many of them get costumes you'd be embarrassed to show your mother.

But as criticisms go, these are relatively minor. As a blueprint for the new Atelier trilogy, Sophie is a success. There are obvious places where tweaks can and should be made, but if prior games are any indication, Gust is more than up to the challenge. And compared to the initial reveal for Sophie, the first images and notes we have for Atelier Firis are very encouraging. The future seems bright for the franchise.

Waited a while for GAF to approve my account, about 6 months(6 MONTHS!?!?!??! ). All this time I have been biting my lip to be apart of this challenge and have kept record of my own bidding and now I will finally share with all what I have done. Take note, I wrote comments during or soon after each game so some of these comments may be outdated but I still read and edited each to the best I could to make it seem relevant upon the day of posting them. This 52 game challenge is awesome, glad to take part of it but I still have ways to go!

(Will put name of game, console played on and dates I completed since not all games are friendly with the time of game played tracker or the fact I use the bathroom or chat with friends/family during a game!)

10 games per post rather than just overwhelming everything all in one post.



1) Conker’s Bad Fur Day [REVISIT](XB1) 12/2-1/1

(That 1/1 cheese to give me a game to use for this year's challenge. No shame at all)

A game that I loved for years for its sheer multiplayer, I of course remember watching my friend playing this years ago as far as single player goes so nothing caught me by surprise with how the game turned out to be but this was a game I juggled around throughout weekends which would explain why it took me almost a month to beat. Very good game, had got some laughs and smiles out of me for its sheer nostalgia, the game had a very solid amount of variety for it to be very enjoyable. The only gripes I can honestly think of is the fall damage is ridiculous where you barely fall yet you lose a chocolate bar and the cameras can be frustrating. Also some parts in the game focus on the whole “1 hit KO” type of bullshit that I am finding more and more games do very frustrating. The Saving Private Ryan end game was a major culprit of this, fortunately the checkpoint was very forgiving in this regard.

Thanks to Rare Replay, I was able to give this game a go and I found myself very much enjoying the single player.



2) Shantae: Risky’s Revenge Director’s Cut(PS4)- 1/2 – 1/3


Very short game, caught me by surprise by how short it was but it was a game I maybe paid a couple of bucks for at best so I can’t complain too much. Gameplay was very standard Metroidvania, wish there was more level design choices that may have separated itself from each level. The concept of revisiting places with the obtaining of new levels was neat. Story was simple enough, nothing too memorable though the font and texture I thought looked very out of place for the game. Game lasted me under 5 hours and I spent about 1-1/2 hours on just trying to retrace my place to visit some new places before opting to put the game down rather than go for more of the secrets left in the game.

I never played a Shantae game though I have heard nothing but great things so I totally see the appeal based off this game alone for plenty. That being said, it is a forgettable game but by no means is it a bad game, just not something you are missing out on if you never play it. I got it for 2 bucks I think on a PSN sale which I feel like should be the price for this. Very good game for this challenge though!



3) Tomb Raider Definitive Edition(PS4)- 1/3 – 1/11

After 2-3 years of just not getting a good enough price on the game or finding the time to go through this, I finally got to try this game out early in the year, as a means to prepare myself for my inevitable purchase of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Got a good online deal for this game so I treated myself to this game. I actually really enjoyed the game, maybe because I didn’t end up taking the game too seriously and allowed myself to just enjoy some over the top fun. I don’t get some of the complaints at all about this game, especially the one “controversial” scene that I vaguely remembering being a bigger deal back in the day. What the heck do you expect, Croft to be invincible and not be in pain or on the verge of death? I do agree with the consensus feeling that the side characters are average at best. I wish there had been maybe more tombs to go towards but there was far more good than bad out of this game. I gave the multiplayer a whirl but I figure since it is “outdated” that I wasn’t going to enjoy it and I didn’t. Very basic multiplayer mode.

I do wish the enemy dialogue sequences were done better, few times where I waited for the full dialogue to finish that I got spotted and shot to death. Absolute nitpicking but the subtitles seem kind of poor from a design point of view and the graphics aren't THAT great on the Definitive Edition. I can see why it was not a big upgrade at all for people who played this game on the PS3/XBOX360.

The subtitles seem very not so well done, especially for a definitive edition. Its sequel didn't do much to solve this matter, the font seemed rather uninspired but this is nitpicky since you can you know actually read the text which some games later on fail to somehow do.



4) Sunset Overdrive 1/12-1/16

An absolutely unexpected blast of a time, this might be right behind Bloodborne as far as my most enjoyed game on this current gen as of January 2016 which says quite a lot. Case can be made for this and 2 other games on my list upcoming that I have beaten. The humor is either hit or miss but for me, I found it corny and silly enough to like it and the characters didn’t make me grind my teeth.

Where this game shines most is the gameplay, the constant need to bounce around back and forth with grinding, it is a game that you will get punished for staying still. I do wish this game incorporated the air dash much sooner because once you got that, the game and better yet the movement around the city just got plain ol’ fun. Can’t say I went and got every single collectable in the game as that got too overwhelming but I found the missions didn’t get all too repetitive with maybe the exception of the defend the base from mutants. Game really encourages button mashing to keep your style points which can really go both ways from how you look at it, it could be good for some since it is pretty damn fun to fool around on fun but it could also turn people away since it is pretty mindless to mash buttons to keep your style up to do more mayhem.

My favorite weapons have to be

1) Roman Candles(Level 5 this bad boy motherfuckers)
2) TNTeddy
3) Hair Spray Bombs

So good, I never gave the multiplayer a try but have seen footage of what it is like and I don't think I would necessarily jump in, especially since I don't know how many people are still playing this game online.



5) Ratchet & Clank: Into The Nexus 1/18-1/20

This game served solely on getting me warmed up for the Ratchet and Clank game I played in April and while short, the game was still solid enough to enjoy it for the few hours I did get to play it. I spent much of MLKJr day playing Ratchet and Clank: Into The Nexus to get a R&C game in the system before the big release of the R&C reboot in less than 3 months. I actually thought I might be able to finish it in one day but I think I am in the half way point of the game. I knew going in it was a very short game but I decided to put it on legend mode right off the bat and it has paid off. Not too much ammo in certain parts, very little health restoration crates and a few good shots can kill you. It has led to a few deaths but I was able to beat some of the bosses on my 1st if not 2nd try. Weapons have been hit or miss, I like the ability to power up these weapons in a sphere grid sort of style. Not going to get too crazy with the story, I have missed 1-2 of the PS3 R&C games and I am taking this game follows everything in order, making it sequential to play each in order. I take it with the reboot coming that Into the Nexus is sort of a final chapter of the original R&C series. It's an alright game altogether, not too much funny sequences for me thus far which is surprising given how light hearted the game tends to be. I got a glitch that forced me to restart a checkpoint about 15 minutes in which is always good

Outside of 1 missing gold bolt and 1 Ryno VII part, I did everything and on the toughest difficulty too. I thought the story was pretty weak but I admittedly was out of the loop with a fair amount of the series as a late PS3 owner so I won't hold it against the game. Some parts of the game I enjoyed like the Clank rift missions(I felt Clank was underutilized in this game sadly) and I thought there was a fair amount of weapons, encountered 2 glitches that made me restart to the previous checkpoint which was annoying. Game went longer than I expected, think I only spent 7 or so hours on the game, heard it was at best a 6 hour game and I didn't even max out the weapons or get the final gold bolt or Ryno VII. It was an alright game but it served it's purpose for the reboot in mid April.




6) Banjo Tooie 1/17-1/30

One of the very few games I can truly say that I should not have played again and a game better left off in my nostalgia view mirror. Unlike with Banjo Kazooie that I replayed back in December 2015, Tooie felt very paddy where it didn’t mesh so well with what its previous entry did. With Tooie, it is the definition of where too much of something just gets overwhelmingly frustrating. Banjo Tooie I think is a game that is better left off in the nostalgia archives personally speaking, had better thoughts of the game when playing as a kid compared to me playing it in 2016. That Gruntilda battle was just awful, who the hell decides to have a First Person Shooter feature in a platforming game for the final boss? Especially when the boss' hitbox is so small and attempting to aim is so frustrating. I don't know how I did it but it took me a good hour and 15 minutes to beat her. Got all the jiggies and cheatos besides the awful Canary Mary minigame that is another awful decision to be there. Tried that a few times, hurt my thumbs and said screw it and I am missing that lone jiggy from 100% the game.

I didn’t remember Tooie being this frustrating but I took 13 days to beat this game for a reason, at least 2-3 of those days I didn’t touch the game which hurts me to say. As a impressionable 9-10 year old, this game kicked ass. 16 or so years later, not so much



7) Gears of War: Ultimate Edition 1/24-2/2

1st play of Gears of War as a new XBOX1 owner back in November(Never owned an XBOX ever) so Gears of War Ultimate Edition and the offer of all the other games was very enticing, game came with the system!

The game was a tale of two halves for me, so I will let both my thoughts 1st half and 2nd half tell the tale:

I do not understand the Gears of War love. Playing the 1st and I do not get the praise. The AI system is awful(If I say regroup and to stick close, why the fuck would you run off 2 seconds later to get killed? So you have unresponsive AI too that go against your orders, that's great), the lack of ammunition has happened quite a few times, the damage done is inconsistent(I shoot upclose with a shotgun or magnum and it does not kill an enemy, they do the same to me and it's a 1 shot kill), the Khryll are inconsistent with their attacks(I shoot a tank, I expect that to be safe haven from their assault...NOPE they come out of nowhere and kill me). I think with a co op partner the game might be salvageable but it should not come to that, the game should be playable alone. Playing on the 2nd hardest difficulty, it should not be this wonky. The checkpoint system isn't the greatest either but i have seen worse so I won't get too crazy on that. I don't even know if I will finish this game, I am not impressed with this game at all. There are a few technical issues with this Ultimate Edition but again, I have seen worse. That isn't my major gripe, the other issues are. There's also so much micromanaging in combat....load up the ammo and time that right, command your dumbass AI, try and shoot enemies that are bullet sponges, navigate through the sometimes unresponsive cover system(I press A and Fenix lunges over cover and gets wiped out, cmon), switch weapons since you only can hold one heavy and one light weapon.

Am I missing something? Am I not doing it right? I really want to enjoy this game but it hasn't done anything for me.

2nd half:

Beat Glitches of War just now, the last few segments honestly tested my patience. I think if you play this game with a co-op partner, you will love it but this is a game that punishes you for playing it solo. The last few parts were in definite need of playing with a co-op, whether it's facing the Brumak, or the chain gun sequence or the final boss. You don't know how much frustration Dom caused me throughout the game, I don't think there's a single worse co op partner than him, he is easily THE worst co-op partner I have ever had to play with. He makes RE4 Ashley look like Tails from Sonic no lies. Dies in 5 seconds, doesn't do what is told to him, runs up to enemies and gets destroyed.....and even gets glitched up and is useless. He did carry my ass in 1 train sequence in fairness. I actually got off my ass, paused the game and gave a standing ovation for saving me from dying. Took about 10 hours to contribute.

I think it's fitting that the final boss of this game stood there after my 8th attempt vs the boss and just stood there and took my combo of bow/lancet to the face without doing anything significant. Supposedly this was a well known glitch to exploit, I honestly had no idea what was going on, I was legit laughing seeing this in action. I think the credit sequence even got glitched, it repeated the same 2 songs and I think ran through the credits twice in a row and now the music went to a complete haul, hopefully it registers what I did but I just don't know. That final boss fight had me frustrated until seeing the boss just stand there, repeat his one sequence of shot and not provide any kind of harm. I was due for some kind of a miracle.

Story was kind of all over the place and some of the sequences I didn't care for but I think the game was alright. I don't know if anyone can really have faith in The Coalition making a new Glitches of War, especially if this remaster is the end result. I really am curious if the Master Chief Collection was worse than this as far as glitches go, I wonder if XBOX/Phil Spencer are going to be careful moving forward in this regard.

Some good, some bad altogether. The AI really was awful though, and there were a few very annoying bugs all around. The exclusive boss fight added in this was frustrating in large part because of the AI. If you want to do yourself a favor when playing this game, find someone to play Dom.

I am a sucker though and will try and plow through all of the Gears games in prep for GOW4 though. Why? Because I am a glutton of pain & punishment.

It is one of those games that the promise is so good and when it is done right, it's really fun! But when it's not, its just mind numbing in the worst ways



8) Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune 2/3-2/6(REVISIT)

Outside of the aiming system where you have no idea if the gun is pointing at the enemy far away or not, Uncharted 1 is just so, so, so good. Yeah the random hoards of enemies can be a bit silly but the action sequences, the dialogue, the game even looks nice(I remember this being my 1st PS3 game that I played and being blown away, 4 years later I don't know about that but the game looks nifty). Really enjoying the revisit back into it.

Some parts towards the end got frustrating until I did what wasn't intended and went back a screen for better cover against the hoards of enemies. I forgot how short of a game UC1 was, kinda surprised I totaled it the way I did. I wanted to go and revisit this series in the efforts to prepare myself for May’s Uncharted 4 so nothing surprised me with the story but I thought that was very well done. The boat scenes weren’t even that bad, I played on the 2nd hardest difficulty as I always do with the UC games.




9) Gravity Rush Remastered: 2/6-2/13

After the first initial hour or two, I was getting worried about how much of a fetchquest this game was turning out to be but this game really picked itself up today for me. Beat 4 bosses all today after none yesterday What a fun, and cool game this has been thus far. Great decision by Sony to not only price this at 30 bucks(And give a physical copy albeit its Amazon exclusive) but to have Bluepoint do the remaster as they are fantastic with remasters.

I am wondering how much further I have with the game but the lone real lowpoint for me with this game is the challenges being somewhat brutal with their gold medal requirements, it takes an insane time or score to get to those so going for the platinum trophy seems pretty tough. The side challenges haven't been all that great, been more like "How many enemies can you kill in a certain time" or "Can you beat the clock and hit each checkpoint?". Seems kind of repetitive to me but thankfully these aren't mandatory. I'll try and finish all of these missions but if I only get a bronze, that's fine with me.

I really enjoyed the game, Gravity Rush 2 is now 100% going to be a Day 1 purchase for me. Felt the game had enough content to make it respectable enough length wise, game got a bit easy once you powered up but there was one DLC mission that was awful but besides that the missions DLC and main story I enjoyed. It was weird because the first 2-3 hours, I was wondering "Where are the bosses" and then one after another after another after another they kept coming Pacing felt a bit off in that regard where the bosses started to come in surpluses. I did everything DLC and the main story and got Gold medals in some of the challenges, some of the other challenges seemed a bit harsh as far as what score or time they wanted, not sure if I want to try and do that just for a platnium trophy. I hope they fix that up a bit in the sequel, I get getting gold is suppose to be challenging but I think the scoring is a little too much. Story was pretty cool, a bit out there but I liked it. It gave off a real Studio Ghibli vibe too it, felt like a nice foreign cartoon from presentation to story telling. I think for the 30 dollars it cost, the game gave me much more than what was expected and I can see why people really love the Kat character. Some of the characters got annoying and I didn't care for but Kat and Dusty weren't either ones.



10) Uncharted 2: 2/13-2/15(REVISIT)

I forget how long this game is but I also remember that the end tallies off with an unsatisfying death of a piece of shit(Fact that this person goes out their way and nearly kills off a inaugural part of the team still irks me but I guess that's the point of the character, you hate the person so much that you hate that they got to go out that way), and a lousy final boss battle(Too much run and gun but it's been 4 years to be fair, I just remember how bad of a boss battle it was). I also remember the OP mythical dudes.....they are bullet sponges even with those badass far range weapons.

The train level was so, so good. The tank was insane though it sucks when the RPG falls off the map leaving you basically fucked over, the action scenes this game has is second to none and of course the dialogue and voice acting has been excellent. The final boss wasn't as bad was I thought, took a few tries but it's just starting over from the 1st part which I remember was annoying. Overall a fantastic game, I really enjoyed it.

What a blast of a game. I really hope Naughty Dog examines what they did right with UC2 and takes it to the next level in UC4.


(Will edit and skim through entries 11-20 and put that sometime within the coming days while I work on this challenge some more by putting hours of gameplay!)

Original post


41. Ys: Memories of Celceta (Vita, 2013) - 34:02
Completed on Normal difficulty. All sidequests completed. 100% map coverage.

I know other people will tell you that earlier Ys games are better, that they don't like being able to play as multiple party members, that the games are easier now. All these things are probably true; I wouldn't know because my first Ys game was Seven for the PSP. What I can tell you is that Celceta is very much patterned after Seven, so if you weren't a fan of the new Ys formula before, Celceta certainly wouldn't change your mind.

My most vivid memory of Ys Seven was the game's very first boss, a giant beast you encounter less than an hour into the game. It wrecked me completely and repeatedly, like no enemy ever has before or since. I put the game down for maybe a month after I finally beat the monster; if this was the very first boss, I wondered, how much worse would the game get for me? In hindsight, I wonder if that first boss is designed to be a wake-up call for newcomers like me. This is a game that doesn't mess around, it says. Figure out how to play or be utterly annihilated.

Celceta doesn't feel like it has anything like that, but that might just be because I know the Ys formula better now. Every enemy has a pattern, and with the right set of dodges and blocks you can take down nearly anyone. Elementary stuff for most action RPGs, but a lesson I sorely needed back then. Celceta, like Seven, is difficult at times but never unfair. It does feel like Celceta's easier than previous games, though; maybe a concession to changing times.

Not much disappoints about Celceta, but it's worth mentioning the sub-par visuals and performance. This is a game that seems to push the Vita, with framerates dropping at times despite Celceta obviously running at below-native resolution. Ultimately, it doesn't make Celceta a bad game, and in the heat of battle you don't really notice. But it is a step below the usually crisp images the Vita normally puts out, which is kind of a shame.

21:17h. Platinum. I was really really hyped for ZTD and well, you know what happens on these cases - your impossibly high expectations are not met. However, I had a blast with this game all the same. It's grittier, bloodier, and much more cinematic (think a Walking Dead-esque western-style VN) but every bit as mindfucky.

Without spoiling anything, though, I thought the ending was bland, and some of the final twists (GIGANTIC SPOILER: ) were firmly in "Haha WHAT?" territory. But this sort of honest-to-God campiness has always been part of the Zero Escape series charm, and somehow... it works. I just wish they change their mind a make a Zero Escape 4 to tie loose ends.

Updated OP

Main post

20. Zero Time Dilemma
★★★☆☆ - 19 hours - Completed 7/4/2016
I can't remember the last time I was this disappointed by a game. ZTD's narrative left me so astoundingly unsatisfied, and the game's fragmented structure did the experience no favors. 999 and VLR deserved a much better follow-up to conclude the series.

21. Limbo
★★★☆☆ - 3 hours - Completed 7/5/2016
Some neat ideas buried in a tedious slog of trial-and-error.

22. Inside
★★★★☆ - 3 hours - Completed 7/7/2016
Thankfully, Inside does away with Limbo's dependence on trial-and-error and instead delivers a well-crafted, engaging puzzle-platforming experience from beginning to end. Some truly original ideas here - the final 20 minutes in particular are seriously mind-blowing.

23. Furi
★★★☆☆ - 5 hours - Completed 7/9/2016
Solid combat mechanics, mediocre presentation. Unremarkable outside of a few fun boss fights.

Index

25. Shelter 2 (Steam, 2016/05/28, 2 hours)

The wild life cycle simulator is back. This game plays more in the middle of the food chain. You start off as a Lynx mom, your four cubs, with all the trials and joys of parenthood. Keeping the cubs fed requires hunting. Food isn't plentiful in the cold tundra. It's a balance act of not losing them to other predators, hazards or hunger while straying away for hunting. The play through ends once the cubs grew up to independent wild cats. The journey takes roughly 90 minutes, which sounds brief. This is by design, it's not possible to see everything in one cycle. Here comes the main menu's family tree option into play. You can resume in NG+ as one of the, now grown up, cubs from a previous completion. The presentation, music and art direction is as stellar as in the first Shelter game. Engine, visuals and effects got massively improved. The progression isn't linear anymore and switched from traditional levels to a semi open world. Unfortunately the actual gameplay is the weakest part of the experience and only serviceable: the hunting is very basic, the camera loves to freak out when stuck between objects like rocks and trees, the Lynx fails at jumping or climbing up the smallest rock formation. Still a lovely game and I'll be back for a few more generations.

26. Sky Force Anniversary (Steam, 2016/06/20, 6 hours)

This wonderful Euro-SHMUP represents a decade of refinement. Its visual are stunningly lush, crisp and got that nice HD pop. The soundtrack is so Amiga, the nostalgia almost hurts. Lots of arcade pedigree, the gameplay reminds me a lot of Capcom's "1944 - The Loop Master" with the super-deformed military cute of Irem's "In the Hunt" or SNK's "Metal Slug" series. The STG part of the gameplay is pure arcade, but the level progression very "home" style. The play through involves unlocking levels, upgrading you fighter jet, which enables you to complete challenges, that again unlocks levels. There is some need for replaying missions and depending on your skill level also a need to grind for upgrades. I was never annoyed by replaying a few levels since the game is so much fun and acing the challenges very satisfying. The SHMUP style is more geared towards accuracy than dodging bullets, definitely more relaxing than constant peak focus. Nvidia user pro tip, Unity engine and the custom anti aliasing flag 0x004000C1 works perfectly for SGSSAA (read: impeccable picture quality).

27. Amaranthine (Steam, 2016/06/25, 2 hours)

I cleared this horizontal SHMUP in one go on normal difficulty, very addictive game. Amaranthine is intriguingly different: you control your space freighter with the mouse as freely as your mouse cursor and there's weapon loot. You're on a rescue mission, flying through warp, each level comes with procedural waves of enemies. They drop weapons and dark matter. The difficulty ramps up with each level, but building up your vessel with looted weapons and upgrades helps to keep up. Once you collected 100% dark matter you can either trigger the end game or just endlessly continue the "beat levels / upgrade" loop. Good sprite work and catchy soundtrack just add to the already fun game.

28. Dying Light (Steam, 2016/07/10, 45 hours)

The definitive zombie game, every trope, every cliche, every genre stereotype, it's all in Dying Light and then some. It's rather impressive how ambitious the whole design is and how well everything is coming together. Open world with day/night cycles, day being "easy" mode, night being xp boosting risk-reward freak show, competent parkour traversal, satisfying melee combat, rich crafting system, RPG leveling, skill trees, tons of loot, all this in a with details over-saturated world of urban decay and hundreds of zombies. I really enjoyed the progression from zero to hero, from dreading every single hostile encounter to slaying 50 zombies under 30 seconds. The story felt more like the first book of a trilogy, but managed to provide a bit of closure to some of its meta plots while being open for more. Techland did well, Dying Light is their best game so far.

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Game 41: Street Fighter V (PS4) |10+ Hours | 07/01/16 | 4/5

I've had this game since it came out, but chose to record it now due to its story mode out and having completed it. Game plays great and is fun to play. At this point, single player content is fine for me. Character stories being only a couple of fights doesn't make them an endless slog to get through like the usual Arcade mode, and the general story is a decent length. Combo trials are, personally, always fun and this game is no exception. Survival is fucking trash and having it gate colours, seperately for costumes no less, is nonsensical. When online works, it works great and when it doesn't, it really doesn't. I'll keep coming back to this game and I'll keep having fun with it.

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Game 42: Nihilumbra (Vita) | ~2 Hours | 07/04/16 | 3/5

Nice little puzzle platformer. Not a lot to talk about really, just a little pleasant experience. I think I got it on PS+ months ago. I don't remember, I just drew lines to things while some disembodied voice talked shit in the background. What a name, what a game.

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Game 43: VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (PC) | 6 Hours | 07/06/16 | 4/5

Great visual novel with a fun concept. Mixing drinks is fun, and in certain parts of the game where you can make certain drinks that change the direction of the story. The visuals are great, character design is good and the game really has a good sense of style. The soundtrack sets the mood and compliments the visuals nicely. The writing is solid, some of the more internet related references become a bit much, but the writing takes on mature subject matter and does it rather well. Overall, it's fantastic and I'll be completing the alternate story routes and endings.

updated post

Game #37: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (PC) - 10 Hours
Thought it was a decent WWII shooter that still holds up in some places, but doesn't in other places. I really enjoyed how you can give orders to your squadmates and even if you don't give any orders, your squad mates will adapt to your actions. Also thought it was neat that your squadmates will point out where the enemy is hiding if you can't find them. Having a limited amount of health packs instead of finding them in the field made the game a bit more challenging. Biggest annoyance is the hitboxes of obstacles, sometimes I will have a clear shot at the enemy's head, but the shot won't hit because the hitboxes on the obstacles are too big.

Game #38: Zero Time Dilemma (PS Vita) - 21 Hours
What a wild ride, had to play a Decision Game of my own when Gamestop told me I wasn't going to get my game that day because they only had pre-order copies for people who pre-ordered the standard edition and they weren't allowed to give the game separately for limited edition pre-orders (which is what I pre-ordered). The only way i was getting the game was paying extra for one of their extra copies. Ended up canceling my pre-order since i had another one with Amazon, and buying the extra copy.

Anyways on to the game itself, still on the fence on whether or not I think this game was the weakest entry in the series, but still a solid game by itself. The puzzle rooms were pretty good, only had the hardest time with Q-Team's rooms. I wasn't too thrilled about the story being divided up into random segments (sort of like Her Story) and having to piece the story together on your own. I just wished it flowed like VLR. For the most part I really enjoyed the story, but the ending felt pretty rushed. I personally didn't enjoy it as much as the other games (but only by a small bit), but I think it was still a decent game to conclude the trilogy.

Now Playing:

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE- Really enjoying this game so far. I thought Atlus and Intelligent Systems did a good job combining aspects of SMT and Fire Emblem into one game.

Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation- Probably at the halfway point now, getting a little burned out on FE Fates at this point so im just trying to get through this game in smaller chunks.

blackMamba1187

original post

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Game 34: Odin Sphere Leifthrasir (PS3) - 35 hours

Needless to say, this game is an audiovisual treat, even more so in HD. It captures the feeling of playing a fairytale perfectly and only stumbles in its slow way of presenting the story. The actual gameplay on the other hand offers some of the best fast paced 2D combat one could think of and remains highly addictive for quite a while. On top of that, mild exploration and, more importantly, alchemy and RPG mechanics make this an deeper experience than your average brawler. Unfortunately, the balancing is a bit off. Normal difficulty is too easy and on hard difficulty, unpredictable 1 hit KOs can be frustrating every now and then. Despite its uplifting, this remake still needed to cut some fat though. It's fun for a dozen of hours or two and probably even until the end, but by then you'll feel burnt out. At the very least, it offers a satisfying story climax that is neither too sappy nor cheery.

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Game 35: Condemned: Criminal Origins (PC) - 7 hours

The setting for this horror title is pretty interesting, as you follow a detective going through run-down districts inhabited by psychopaths. Some light exploration is mixed with 1st person brawling combat, which unfortunately is a little janky and quite frustrating by the end. Still, the idea of picking up random objects to defend yourself adds to the atmosphere and eventually finding a couple of bullets feels very satisfying. Sadly, the story kind of goes nowhere and the setup isn't properly explained. Combat becomes tedious towards the end and while the environments are small, it's too easy to get lost, since everything looks similar. This doesn't add tension however, but tedium.

Also, the PC port is kind of a mess. Especially if you want to use a controller. There's a bug hiding the control options to begin with and the button customization couldn't be more convoluted. A few key actions have to remain with keyboard/mouse altogether.

Main Post

33. Limbo - XB1
Completed Main Story - 7/3/16
Time: 3 hours
Rating: 4/5

Had always heard about this game, but never played it. Since it was free during E3, decided to try it to see if Inside might be worth the hype. Really good game, the artwork and atmosphere setting was great. Some of the puzzles were a little frustrating due to the "try and die" nature until you find the trick. Perfect length too for a game of this nature

34. Dark Souls 3 - XB1
Completed Main Story - 7/7/16
Time: ~30 hours
Rating: 5/5

Another Souls game. Another great adventure. My favorite of the three in the Dark Souls trilogy - but I still like Bloodborne more. I find it amusing how much flak DS2 gets on here and for design designs and blame it on the "B" team, yet I noticed more than 1 element from that game make it over to the 3rd game and it appears to me that it doesn't get the same amount of flak. That aside, still a great game and will be happy when the DLC hits.

35. Portal - Mac
Completed Main Story - 7/7/16
Time: 2-3 hours
Rating: 4/5

Another older game I had never played before. Really good mechanics to the game esp for as old as it is. The Glados dialogue was well-done and made me laugh a few times. Another game that I enjoyed it, but also really appreciate that they kept it concise without fluffing it up with too much content that would bore me.

36. Inside - XB1
Completed Main Story - 7/10/16
Time: 3.5 hours
Rating: 4.5/5

Since I enjoyed my time in Limbo, I went ahead and bought this. Really glad I did. They took the gameplay/concept of Limbo and really improved on it. The artwork, atmosphere setting, etc is also fantastic. Great game

37. Knight Squad - XB1
Completed all challenges + Extra games played - 7/11/16
Time: 2.5 hours
Rating: 3.5/5

So got this with GwG but had never played it. Was looking through my XB1 library and even though I had a lot of storage space, was going to remove some games that I wasn't planning on playing in order to remove some tiles in the library. Hit the wrong button and this launched. Thought what the hell and started playing it. Was really surprised by it. Reminds me so much of Gauntlet (which I'm assuming was their inspiration) from back in the day. Had a blast playing it, and with co-op mode, am able to play it with my sons.

Archive Post


Game 21 - Flywrench [PC] ★★★
I'm cheating a little with this in that I haven't actually beaten the whole game, but I have certainly seen as much of it as I am ever going to. Flywrench was, for the most part, an excellent twitch obstacle course. It demands quick thinking and even quicker reactions, with a novel flight mechanic and super tight controls. You start at Pluto and work your way through the planets (dwarf or otherwise) until you reach the Sun. Each planet consists of about 20 levels based on one concept it introduced, and the progressive layering of these concepts gets pretty crazy. You don't get a second to rest, so I couldn't really stomach any more than an hour at a time at such intensity. And it was great, until I reached Mercury, where the game raises the difficulty so fiercely it could give you whiplash. It makes a switch from requiring you to have great dexterity and timing, to requiring you to be able to punch through everything at the fastest speed possible. There's a time trial mode already, which I wouldn't have touched, so the final group of levels requiring full throttle speed and perfect lines to even beat seems almost invasive. I had an excellent time with the rest of the game, but that final chapter is just fucking obscene.

Master post.

June

Game 21 - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition

There's not much to say here, really. It's Gears, and I love me some Gears. I played it solo but I enjoyed it as much as I figured I would, and the additional chapters from the PC version were a nice surprise. Graphically, you can still tell it's an old 360 game but it does look a lot better than I imagine playing the original would now. Now I want them to remaster Gears 2 and 3 because, well...they're better.

July

Game 22 - Zero Escape 3: Zero Time Dilemma - Around 25 hours

Euuuuuurgh. I don't even want to talk about this. It's inferior in every way to Virtue's Last Reward. I was disappointed in the story, the twists, the voice acting, the presentation, the FREAKIN' fragments, the puzzles....bluergh. I mean it's not terrible. It had some high points that I did enjoy, and I'm still glad it was made, I guess, but as a sequel to VLR is completely falls flat.

There were so many "WOAAAH" moments in 999 and VLR, and by the end of both I was dumbfounded and what I'd just experienced. The twists were fantastic and made wonderful use of the medium (even if VLR did require quite a bit of suspension of disbelief), I'd never been disappointed in either of them. And then...ZTD comes along. I'm still thinking about it, sure, but only because of how utterly disappointed I am. In the last few scenes of the game I was thinking "well this next hour or so better be pretty damn good if they want to save this" and then it just ended. Cut to black, out of nowhere. I couldn't believe it.

VLR is still king.

*

Wow I am slacking recently. 2 games in 2 months is an extremely poor show. I guess that's what I get for playing so much FFXIV with some WoW on the side. I have so many games I could beat if I just gave them a few more hours...I have a feeling the bulk of my completions will come at the tail end of the year. Whelp, back to games!

And... I am done! Whew! Still have plenty of the year left to go, though my only goal is to just stay in the positive with the Backlog Blitz

gaiages said:

My Backloggery page
My HowLongToBeat page
Backlog Blitz 2016

Beaten [52/52]
Game 1: King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Final Edition - 43m
# Great fighter, SNK boss syndrome besides.
Game 2: Bayonetta - 7h25m
# Really awesome
Game 3: King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match - 23m
# I'm honestly quite surprised I beat Arcade Mode in one shot
Game 4: Tales from the Borderlands Episode 4: Escape Plan Bravo - 1h50m
# I want to be as great of an accountant as the ones on Hyperion
Game 5: Tales from the Borderlands Episode 5: Vault of the Traveller - 2h
# That was amazing
Game 6: King of Fighters 2000 - 55m
# Not really as fun as 2002 or '98, honestly. Does some weird stuff.
Game 7: Mighty Switch Force: Academy - 2h42m
# Unbalanced as heck, especially on the final Course. Kinda ruined the fun. Play the 'main' entries over this one.
Game 8: The Typing of the Dead: Overkill - 23h30m
# That was just awesome. Shows me how much I suck at accurate typing, though.
Game 9: Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers - 32m
# This actually aged really well.
Game 10: fault milestone two side: above - 5h
# So fantastic. Can't wait for the next one!
Game 11: Hitman GO - ~6hr
# Pretty good.
Game 12: The 39 Steps - 3h32m
# It looked great, but the story itself really lacked tension and ended up being boring.
Game 13: Hexcells Plus - 6h50m
# Not as good as the original, had too much going on.
Game 14: The Last Blade - 25m
# Wow, that was actually great! Unlike Samurai Shodown >.>
Game 15: Gunman Clive - 34m
# Really good, actually.
Game 16: Sonic CD - ~2h
# This was weird, to be honest.
Game 17: Papers, Please - ~3h30m
# Got four endings. Interesting, but at the same time, kinda... bleh.
Game 18: Twinkle Star Sprites - 20m
# What an unique game.
Game 19: Metal Slug - 36m
# I died. A lot.
Game 20: Metal Slug X - 51m
# I died even more. This felt better mechanics wise.
Game 21: Ironclad - 41m
# Alright shmup.
Game 22: Blazing Star - ~45m
# Better than Pulstar I guess, but bland except for me being mocked every time I died. :/
Game 23: Metal Slug 3 - 55m
# Fun.
Game 24: Sengoku 3 - ~1h25m
# That really wasn't a fun beat-em-up.
Game 25: Katamari Forever - ~8hr
# I guess the 'Forever' is from how long this game lasts :/
Game 26: Sorcery! - 1h20m
# Neat little choose your own adventure game. Glad I didn't pay $5 on mobile for it, though.
Game 27: Shock Troopers - 35m
# Pretty fun!
Game 28: Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad - 38m
# Honestly preferred the first game.
Game 29: The Awakened Fate Ultimatum - ~22h
# I was on the final mission for a year, finally completed it, lol. It's not bad.
Game 30: Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 31h59m
# Not a perfect game, but still enjoyable.
Game 31: Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale - 12h49m
# Mainly just a palette cleanser type game.
Game 32: Mighty Switch Force: Hose It Down! - 1h7m
# All the normal stages complete.
Game 33: 3D Gunstar Heroes - 1h31m
# Very awesome
Game 34: Atelier Merurru: The Apprentice of Arland - 25h22m
# I liked this one a lot. Also the time mechanic felt way more balanced that Rorona or Totori.
Game 35: My Nintendo Picross - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - 7h07m
# Majorly addicting.
Game 36: Amplitude - ~2h
# It's still Amplitude.
Game 37: Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code - 35m
# Beat Arcade Mode. Such a satisfying game.
Game 38: Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk - 25h40m
# Alright, particularly plot wise, but not as good as Meruru.
Game 39: Corpse Party - ~9h
# Alright, but honestly the PC version isn't nearly as good as the PSP version.
Game 40: BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Extend - ~10h
# The story is terribly paced, to be honest.
Game 41: Runbow - 2h35m
# I do like how if you're stuck on a level, you can go to another and try to take different routes to Satura.
Game 42: Moco Moco Friends - 18h33m
# Pretty unremarkable.
Game 43: Super Mario Galaxy - ~8h
# Really great.
Game 44: The Legend of Zelda - ~5h
# Didn't age as badly as I thought it would.
Game 45: Root Double: Before Crime * After Days - ~35h
# Drags a little bit, but overall quite good.
Game 46: Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- - ~10h
# :>
Game 47: Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star - 3h42m
# Emotions D:
Game 48: Soft Body - 1h47m
# Interesting, but to be honest in the end it's a little unremarkable.
Game 49: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - ~60h
# Great
Game 50: Kirby's Adventure - 3h8m
# One of my favorite Kirby games.
Game 51: Cibele - 55m
# Nice story, I just wish they would have bothered to make the game bits less janky.
Game 52: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - 5h2m
# Fun!

Clear formatted game entry thing to make my life easier:
Game x: x - xhxm
# words

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Done with .hack//Outbreak! Sure are a ton fewer Data Bugs when you're not doing optional dungeons!


Games Beaten: 37 / 52
Total Playtime: 648:32:00
01 - 27
28 - ??

I'm so behind. Spent all of June playing an MMO again when I have a bunch of single player games I could be playing..
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Game 17: Zero Time Dilemma | 20 hours | Finished July 5th
Now that I've had time to think about, I kinda didn't like the game. Not the best in the series but I'm still glad it happened at least. Hope it isn't the last game of it's kind though. Don't care much for the storyline for this specific series anymore but another game with escape room mechanics and a different story and characters would be great.
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Game 18: Warframe | too many hours | Finished July 12th
Probably the last MMO I'll play, honest. they're just sucking up my life and I'm not getting much enjoyment out of them. This one in particular is another grindfest in the end.

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Original Post - Part 1
Original Post - Part 2

#21: Crypt of the Necrodancer: 19.5(+) hours

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I've been stuck on the first level of the 3rd story mode for days and I called it quits a long time ago, but I just keep coming back and sinking more time into it. This game is great, the soundtrack(s) are great, I love it.

Gameplay is fairly standard rougelike fare, but more akin to a classic roguelike than a modern roguelite game. The game is turn-based, but the turns tick by to the beat whether you take an action on them or not. The enemies all move in predictable patterns but their patterns are different enough and you have so little time to think that a room full of enemies can easily overwhelm you because you can't think it through (that's a good thing). There's a good variety of weapon types, and some interesting items. The 4 zones are also pretty distinct from each other as are the boss battles.

I will probably keep coming back to this and hopefully one day I'll finish the story.

#22: BOXBOXBOY!: 8.5 hours

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Not a whole lot to say about it. It's BOXBOY! but you can use two sets of boxes at once. That means that the puzzles are all a bit more interesting and complex, but the elements are all carried over from the first game with no new ones. The levels are all still pretty focused on a single puzzle element which was a huge criticism of the first game,

In general it feels like an expansion pack, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but at the end of the day it's more of the same with all of the pros and cons BOXBOY! already had.

Preview: Playing Amensia: A Machine for Pigs on PC, I'll probably start Link's Awakening on 3DS

Game #3: Gone Home Console Edition

I actually beat this game a few weeks ago, but went back last night to get the 100%. I really liked it, but had a lot more appreciation for it after listening to the commentary while working on the commentary mode trophy.

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OP

Game 40: Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma (PC) 30/06/16 - 05/07/16 20 Hours
This is the final game of the Zero Escape trilogy and was my most anticipated game of the year because I've been waiting years for it to come out and for it to answer some of the mysteries of the Zero Escape universe. With all that being said, I was kinda disappointed with the game but it doesn't mean it was a bad game at all, it just didn't live up to my expectations. I still had my mind blown playing the game but it was just the end of the game that I felt was pretty weak compared to 999 and VLR IMO, also it didn't manage to answer everything that was unsolved in VLR which was disappointing because this is supposed to be the final game. If I was to rank the 3 games in the trilogy, it would be 999 > VLR > ZTD. I look forward to the 999 remaster being ported to PC in the near future and eventually VLR being ported to PC, so I'll have the complete collection on Steam.

Game 41: Battle Cats POP! (3DS) 30/06/16 - 11/07/16 22 Hours
Battle Cats POP is essentially a 2D side scrolling tower defense game which was originally a mobile game but ported to the 3DS. The game is simple, you deploy cats towards the enemy base and try to destroy it while battling enemies trying to destroy your base. This was like the perfect game to pick up and play but instead, I got pretty addicted to it whenever I wasn't gaming on my PC, which is most of the time.

Game 42: Samorost 3 (PC) 09/07/16 - 14/07/16 4.5 Hours
A short but sweet adventure in a universe filled with amazing unique characters that you meet along the way in your journey to stop the bad guy. A charming adventure point and click puzzle by Amanita Design who also made Machinarium which was also a bit similar to this game. I have nothing but praise for this game, everything about it was good. The music was easily my favorite as you use your magical flute to solve puzzles or perform different feats in your adventure. It is a MUST play for those who love point and click adventures.

Monster Hunter Generations comes out tomorrow and I'll probably put in at least 300 hours into that game and that will put my backlog on hold for a bit.

I just have five left.

I hope to get to 52 soon, but have had a hard time finding the interest in gaming these days.

Game 34
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
Wii U, 80 hours
OMG. I love this game so fucking much, the presentation, the music, the characters, the fanservice. I fucking adored this game and hope NInty and Atlus make it a franchise.

Game 35
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
SNES, 12-13 hours
Played through it for fun, with my kid, it is still so damn good in every way,

Game 36
Mighty No. 9
PC
Completed the campaign and the Ray DLC. It was fun, highly flawed, and ugly. Felt like a PS/Saturn game. Not worth the wait, but not as bad as some say

Game 37
Metroid II
Game Boy, 4.5 hours
God damn Metroid 2 is so fucking good. I played this via a Super Game Boy on my SNES. This game feels so good and I love the mechanics so much. It deserves a remake though.

Game 38
Halo 5
XBox One, 7 or so hours.
Played this while the game was free of 4th of July weekend. I kinda dug the campaign. I like where it is going for sure.

Game 39
Virtua Fighter 2
Saturn, 5 or 6 hours
COmpleted Expert mode with all the characters. God dammit I love VF2 so much. There's nothing else I can really say about it, but I got a new Saturn so I started playing VF2 for fun for the first time in years and ended up going through every character.

Game 40
Street FIghter: The Movie: The Game
Saturn, 2 hours
Completed movie mode. A little more in depth than most fighter story modes at teh time, there are some options Cammy gets you. The game isnt as bad as its rep, it's like a super simplified version of SSF2's mechanics, but with the animation being so janky it's hard to frame count. The weirdest fucking thing was that beating it it ended with this fucking music video that I can only assume is a song from the movie, but the video had nothing to do with street fighter, just an asian dude singing.

Game 41
Doom 64
Nintendo 64, 8ish hours
Holy shit this game is good. So forgotten and underrated, this is the true Doom 3. ANd playing after Doom 4, the ending really showed that as at the end of the game, Doomguy decided to stay in hell and kill all the demons. But yeah, the level design is great, and it is brutal. Great little graphical upgrade too.

Game 42
Sonic Chaos
Game Gear, about an hour
Decent little Sonic game. Very short, but the animation was actually really good and I enjoyed the level design. The game gear is so underrated.

Yooo progress.

Sendou said:

Previous years: 2014 // 52 games ||| 2015 // 16 games

80 Days June 30th

Ventured around the world in co-op with someone. Nothing quite like this out there. I really liked the concept of being able to choose your own route around the globe and found out that it also works rather well in co-op. Presentation is very minimalistic and it's hard to recommend this game if you are afraid of text. During the longer trips the game tells you mini stories that we found out are often not relevant at all and feel like a chore. The overarching story on the other hand felt a lot more solid very largely thanks to the original novel I think. The steampunk twist was interesting from time to time but it didn't add overly much it felt like. Extra mention for being one of the only games in existence where you can visit Finland!

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D July 4th

A game that took me over a year to complete. Also the last 3D Zelda game I hadn't played! Not your average Nintendo game. It felt like developers gained unrestricted freedom to take-off from usual conventions and put whatever crazy ideas they had into the game. The story itself is a lot darker than what I have come to expect from Zelda games. It was so refreshing to play a Nintendo game like this. I wish one day we can have another bigger budget title from Nintendo with a similiar darker atmosphere.

Especially with the remake the actual game holds up well being over 15 years old with some exceptions. I think Nintendo didn't quite have the budget to spare to make Majora's Mask a full game and compensated the lack of lenght with designing the game in a way that encourages replaying content. Can't say I'm a fan of that at all. Also the much talked about side quests were somewhat of a disappointed. I'm sure at the time they were revolutionary but they felt hopelessly outdated by today's standards.

Overwatch July 7th

Something I'll be playing long into the future if Blizzard's post-launch support is even half of what I've heard. Of course the game itself feels heavily inspired by Team Fortress 2 among other titles but the level of polish here is just on another level. Heroes all feel fun to play on their own ways and are very varied. Visual and sound design are also on a level I'm only used to finding in Nintendo games. Certainly it's not a game that's perfectly realized how it is now but the potential is big. At its best with a good group it's one of my favorite multiplayer games ever.

Grand Theft Auto V July 15th

It's easy to see why GTA V is one of the most expensive games made to date. The scale in this game is quite spectacular. That said there's a lot of content that I didn't really feel like doing even if it was there. Lots of different kind of collectables apparently to act as filler. It's kind of a shame since while I wanted to experience all the stories I didn't want it enough to go on a massive collectable hunt. They also make you drive a lot apparently mostly to add in artificial length to the story mode. I liked the writing even if dialling it back just a bit would have helped give the game some variability.

I really like what they did with 3 main characters. It makes a lot of sense for a game like this. I hope other developers take lessons. They also managed to make all 3 of them distinct and interesting. No complaints as far as graphics and soundtrack is concerned. Good stuff all around. It was also my pleasure to find out that after the turd that was GTA IV on PC the port was a lot more solid this time around.

BOXBOY! July 16th

Nintendo games don't get much more simplistic from this. It has its charm but I found the actual gameplay lacking. Now I'm not the biggest puzzle game fan in the world so I might be biased. In my personal experience like 3/4th of the puzzles in the game were no-brainers and the rest didn't test your wits in an interesting way. The game encourages trial & error in a way that doesn't feel rewarding. Presentation was mediocre. Nothing offensively bad but nothing good either. Kind of rushed it towards the end just to finish it and that usually tells everything you need to know about the experience you had. Not going to play the sequel.

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The Master Post

It's been a long time since I've had time to post about "completing" anything, here's my progress over the last few months:

Game 09: Kuru Kuru Kururin

This is a game which kept me distracted during basically every car/bus/train journey for a month after it first came out, it's been a real treat going back and remembering just how awful I truly was at this. The game lures you in with it's colourful aesthetic and dis-proportionally easy first few levels, before whacking you over the back of the head with one of the cruellest second halves I've ever experienced in a level based game such as this. The spinning gimmick is so simple but allows for so much complexity which only outstays it's welcome on a few of the more grating levels.

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Game 10: Warioware Touched!

My foray into the world of handheld bitesized games continued with a title I got free from the new My Nintendo scheme. I've only ever had the chance to play Smooth Moves in the Warioware series, and found the gameplay suits a portable platform much more naturally. Whilst limiting each different character level to a separate control functionality was always going to leave some levels a little lacking (Mike the Robot being a real stand-out in this regard), it's a fantastic game in the short bursts it was designed for, allowing you to play many different microgames without every feeling overwhelmed, and none of the games hang around too long for you to get bored by their simplicity. I look forward to the inevitable Warioware mobile title.

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Game 11: Monument Valley

Monument Valley was the first "Mobile darling" I gave a fair shake, and I was glad I did. The gameplay was reminiscent of Echochrome with a much more fully realised art style, and while the story didn't really do anything for me, I found the world layed out by the game to be enjoyable.

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Game 12: Overwatch

I will never "complete" Overwatch, I could tell from my first few matches during the beta this would be a game that was going to grip me for years. Each character offers such a greatly different play style from every other character, and with so many to choose some I've really felt spoilt for choice discovering which characters suit me (Symmetra, Lucio and Junkrat, it turns out). Reaching Level 25 in both versions I own has earned me the status of "completed", but I've still got hundreds of hours left to sink in. Not since TF2 has a game struck me so very quickly.

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Original Post

37) Quantum Break - 12 hours - 17
I'm really surprised this game hasn't sold more or received more attention with how good it was. Great story and some fantastic characters that I got invested in. The show aspect was much better than I thought it would be since it fleshed out some of the secondary characters and what was happening behind the scenes.

Master Post


Game 33: Overwatch - 37 hours - July 18th, 2016
Does one ever really finish Overwatch? If you love the game as much as I do, then probably not. I decided a while back that once I hit level 50, halfway to prestige, I'd enter Overwatch into my log for the year. There isn't much that I can say that hasn't already been said about it. It's a brilliant game, through and through.
Should I play Overwatch? Yes, especially if you can bring some friends along.

Game 45: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight - 4 hours (Finished on 7/4)

Beneath the cute aesthetic, is not a particularly cute game. Atmospherically, Momodora is brooding, dreary, somber and melancholy. In that order. The game follows Kaho, a priestess—armed with a leaf and a bow—seeking audience with the queen of Karst, in hopes of dispelling a curse looming over the land. Gameplay wise, it’s very reminiscent of Castlevania, with a big interconnected map filling in as it’s explored and finding powerups to gain access to previously unreachable areas. The game has a bit of a sharp difficulty curve at the start due to limited resources that have to be managed carefully, and learning to believe in rolling, which grants invincibility frames. The tough times smooth out pretty quickly as progress is made however. As already stated, the game has a bleak setting full of hopeless NPCs and showcases a decaying land full of little environmental touches that reinforce how dire things have become. It’s a really nice looking game with great pixel art and cool boss fights. Radical game overall.

Game 46: Hotline Miami - 4 hours (Finished on 7/5)

I was overwhelmed. Suddenly thrown into exuberantly colored levels with dozens of dudes lusting for my death as violence is spraying everywhere while accompanied by sick jams was quite something. I was impressed by how well the game managed to straddle the line between frustration and elation. One moment I'm endlessly dying and restarting a section, and In the next moment, I've entered a state of flow—easily shooting and smashing through a section. Overcoming a level after tons of deaths always proved satisfying. Of course, the constant feeling of death lurking at every corner when a level is almost completed has probably taken a few seconds off of my actual life.

Game 47: Shovel Knight - 4:23:10 (Finished on 7/6)

While Shovel Knight proudly flaunts its classic platforming roots, it still manages to feel unique—namely in using the shovel bounce as both a means of offense and traversal, along with twists such as the ability to destroy checkpoints in exchange for currency. With plenty of charm in its lighthearted and silly dialogue and solid level design, I’d say it was an excellent game.

Game 48: Portal - 3 hours (Finished on 7/6)

Finally, I've been meaning to get around to this game for almost 10 years now. Pretty fun game with mildly challenging puzzles, entertaining dialogue and a great final stretch.

Game 49: To The Moon - 4 hours (Finished on 7/7)

I cried.

Game 50: Flower - (Finished on 7/8)

Nice grass. Soothing music. Smooth controls. Nice grass. Pleasing visuals. Great sense of speed. Positive vibes.

Game 51: Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden* - (Finished on 7/9)

Putting aside the beautifully absurd premise for a moment, Shut Up and Jam has a really neat battle system. Reminiscent of action commands seen in the Mario RPGs, each character's standard attacks have specific inputs to maximize damage, such as releasing the button at the height of Barkley's jump shot. It was engaging enough to ward off that "going through the motions" sensation often felt while playing RPGs. Despite the game’s parodic nature, I found it to strangely compelling. I mean, there's nothing quite like traversing in a post basketball ban world as Charles Barkley, up against antagonists such as Michael Jordan. Though some of the game's humor feels antiquated or falls flat at times. Otherwise, it's perfectly competent game, and nicely paced at about 4-5 hours long.

(*this game is canon by the way. A must if you have ever seen Space Jam.)

Game 52: Mother 3 - (Finished on 7/13)

Phantasmagoria is a word I learned playing this game many years ago when it was first translated. It's an admirable word. I think it's phonetically pleasing and it looks cool. Mother 3 certainly feels like being entangled in a long dream that abruptly rotates between serene, humorous, poignant and nightmarish. It's a game that stuck with me because of its constant shifts in tone, evoking smiles and tears in quick succession. As the conclusion to the Mother saga, I like how it differentiates itself from its predecessors with a more personal narrative, in addition to fostering a greater intimacy with the setting, which feels like a character itself. At the same time, it still retains that undeniably charming self-awareness the series is known for. Then there's the activation of the hidden link between video games and auxiliary human interaction—or just simply head bobbing to keep in tune with the rhythm game portions of battles. I enjoyed those a lot. I'm not really sure how to wrap this up other than a quote following a battle with a Mystery Metal Monkey:

"It was a good experience!"

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Main post #1 (Games 1-26)

Master Post


Game 34: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 42 hours, 56 minutes - July 18th, 2016
I played TW3 last year and just absolutely loved it. I had bought the season pass recently, and wanted to get back into the game, and I decided to do a quick NG+ run of the story before hopping into the DLC. Of course a "quick" run of this game ended up being right around 43 hours, even though I was skipping through much of the story (in fairness a good deal of those 43 hours was me trying to get the Gwent trophies). The amount of content here is just staggering, and hat impressed me the most was that even on a second playthrough, I was still finding new secrets, new locales, new monsters, etc. The game is the gift that just keeps on giving. I can't wait to see what the DLC has in store.
Should I play The Witcher 3? Without a shadow of a doubt.

Original Post - Part 1
Original Post - Part 2

#23: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs: 3.6 hours

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I think the backlash for this is somewhat undeserved. Yes the game is incredibly simple and linear. Yes the game is light on mechanics. Yes it's not as scary as the first Amnesia, especially near the end.

But I still find it a reasonably worth sequel because it does still manage to craft an intriguing mystery and Lovecraftian atmosphere. As you delve deeper into the titular machine it does feel like you're disturbing some sort of unknowable horror. That said by the end of the game the veneer of scariness wears off as you learn what's going off and you realise that the enemies can barely harm you.

Preview: Playing Link's Awakening on 3DS, I'm currently between the 2nd and 3rd dungeons