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15. Dishonored 2 - 44 hours
Did 2 playthroughs on low and high chaos, and while this game is definitely something special, i can't say that it's perfect. Level design is godlike, it's fun to play both stealth and action, artsyle and atmosphere is amazing, but engine is mess and technical issues are just depressing for such well-designed game. Also, original was more advanced in difference between low and high chaos walktroughs. My more detailed take about D2 issues is here.

original post

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Game 14: Yakuza 0 (PS4) - 50 hours

aka the ultimate "wandering the earth"-simulator. Not in a long time has there been a game with such well made sidecontent, despite its size being shrunk compared to previous Yakuza titles. Yet even in those there wasn't the quests in the streets of Tokyo's redlight districts haven't been this overwhelmingly charming. The world is far from big, but anywhere you go, you'll encounter wonderfully absurd, ironic and well written stories. As your character gets to learn a plethora of life lessons, you meet tons of characters who are memorable even with their low budget presentation.
Overall, the game also offers the most coherent Yakuza experience to date, since its overarching theme of money and wealth holds the entire content together. Money not only buys you items, but also serves as exp and more. Plus, for anything you do, from dining restaurants to playing darts, you get special points to improve your character. There's also two significantly bigger side stories in which all of your previous acquaintances and experiences come into play, as you try to build new night life empires. There though, there's also one of the game's few downsides. In these stories you must regurarely buy new property, yet it is too convoluted to find out which one is available.

The occassionally cliched main story can't quite keep up with all the other content, but it's still good enough so that the strikingly long cutscenes aren't at all distracting. And thankfully, beating up the main villains has never felt this good in Yakuza. The combat is the most refined in the series, despite starting out a tad too easy. The usual shortcomings, i.e. mainly invisible walls and stiff controls near obstacles, are still present but are easily adaptable. Even more so since all the other aspects, not to forget a great soundtrack, make more than up for it.

Now this was a fun little shooter. It is a combination of on-rails shooter+shooting gallery where you move the cursor to fire at enemies with the A button, throw a grenade with the B button and use the C button to run and perform a dodge roll.
The trick to mastering the game is using the C button to properly move around dodging enemy bullets and bombs.
I had made it to the final boss buuuuuuuuuut apparently you can't continue if u die at him, which resulted in me getting the bad ending :V
Non the less I do hope to someday beat this and get the true ending.

All in all a very satisfying shooter where skill is key to excelling in it despite it's simple concept.

This is an indie 2D Shooting Metroidvania-like game from the creators of Unepic.
It has a neat little upgrade system where you can get around 15 or so upgrade points and decide what buffs you want to use, such as making enemies stronger or improving your allies' hacking to help you during combat sections.
The game has some neat bosses too. My one gripe with the game is that early on it can be quite tough as your stronger upgrades don't show up until you start the 2nd area in the game.
All in all though it is a nice game and has some good voice acting, esp. from the main character, Ghost.

1. the order 1886 -
2. Dragon Quest Heroes - 75 hours

February

No Games Finished!

March

22. Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 66 hours

This is a good game, but not a great one for me. 7-8/10. It's just not that fun. I know this is an extreme outlier, but whatever. May not make my top ten with how strong this year is.

23. Hollow Knight - 36 hours

On the other hand this game is one of the best metroidvania's of all time. This will be contending for the top spot of my list.

April

24. Horizon Zero Dawn - 44 hours

I thought this was pretty fantastic, though I was slightly underwhelmed ultimately. The open world didn't click for me.

25. Deadly Tower of Monsters - 6 hours

This is not very good, really. I like the aesthetic. Podcast game.

26. Persona 5 - 100 hrs

Fantastic entry in the series, fighting for GOTY.

27. Lumo - 6 hrs

Not very good at all, another podcast game.

28. What Remains of Edith Finch - 2 hrs

Amazing experience, I loved it.

29. Thimbleweed Park - 14 hrs

I also loved this far beyond what I thought I would. Out of all the adventure game resurrections, this is the king. Shows even more how lame Broken Age was.

30. Snake Pass - 8 hrs

I really enjoyed this. I wish I didn't have to regather the gems and beat the stage to go back and collect what I missed, otherwise I would. I would be in for another game of this with some new mechanics.

31. The Last Tinker: City of Colors - 6 hrs

Pretty mediocre. Podcast game.

31 games / 410 hrs

#42 Bioshock Infinite ★★★ PS3 - April 24th - 7 hours
It was okay, the combat encounters felt like a step down from the other games with big wide areas that encourage you to snipe from a distance. Elizabeth aside from giving you ammo might as well not exist, which she doesn't according to the enemies who ignore her completely. Skyhooks were cool.


#43 Dark Souls III ★★★★ PS4 - April 28th - 20 hours
Excellent as you except from Dark Souls but definitley shorter than I expected, did all the optional bosses and never had much trouble aside from the NK. Maybe the pacing was a bit off as it didn't seem to have a clear mid point like the others.

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16. Full Throttle Remastered - 3.5 hours
Remaster is nice, but some of redrawn art and 3D models are questionable. But outside some rare weird moments, it's a nice rework, most of redrawn art are good, sound was rerecorded and improved, achievements after all. Can't say it's worth to get it for full price, depends on your personal level of nostalgia.

Original Post

Forza Horizon 3: Blizzard Mountain - 8 hours - 4/28
This expansion was an absolute blast and it was so much fun to jump back into Horizon 3. Can't wait for the Hot Wheels expansion.

Original post

16. Infinipicross. Not a very good game as far as Picross games go, but doing that 99X50 puzzle was an experience.

61:23h. 51% completion (Whew lad). Did both the Real Estate Royale and the Cabaret Club Czar substories. 51 substories completed with Kiryu, 28 with Majima.

Yakuza 0 is a game about love. Love for money. Love for your family. Love for yourself. Love for those weaker than you. Trying to juggle all that love can get you in trouble.

Yakuza 0 is also a game about money. Money can buy love. It can buy loyalty. It can improve yourself. It can protect the weak. But handling large amounts of money will eventually get you in trouble.

There's a lot of trouble to be found in Yakuza 0: the storyline is one of the darkest of the saga, with lots of blood and death abound (probably to justify most of the characters not being around in the later games). And still, it's kind of endearing to see how Majima and Kiryu started: our favourite crazy mobster as a straight-edged businessman, and our gentle retired thug as a hotheaded, violent youngster with a heart of gold.

Gameplay wise, the game has only two locations, but they're full of life - and while some beloved minigames are gone (Dating with hostesses, for example) the rest are really great, with the telephone club and Majima's Cabaret deserving special mentions. I was going to give it my first 5 Shooting Stars this year, but the fact that there's a bit too much padding means that it's going to have to settle for 5 "regular" Stars. Still, it's probably my GOTY for now - at least until I finish Persona 5.

My Score: ★★★★★

Original Post

Decided to revisit one of my fav. games from the past few years.
This is an FMV Adventure game where you play as Detective Inspector Jenks who is investigating the death of a young woman in a British Village. The gameplay is mainly about moving to the areas in the village and talking with characters and finding contradictions to their statements.
Eventually you will acummulate dozens of statements but usually to clear a chapter you only need to highlight 2 or 3 contradictions per character to progress.

The game has very good voice acting and characters and is a light fun ride, although I wish we'd get more of Jenks in the future.

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#22 Outlast 2 (PC) - 6 hours


Seems like I accidentally got the alternate ending but no clue how I did it.

1: Last Guardian - 11 hours
Hated the game in the beginning but ended up loving it!
7.5/10

2: Fire Emblem Fates Birthright- 13 hours
Awesome game play but horrible story.
5.5/10

3: Yakuza 0 - 40 hours
My first ever Yakuza! I bought this game since I heard many awesome things about the franchise, and it surpassed my expectation! Open world is kind of lame but the story and game play was fun!
8.510

4.Gravity Rush 2 - 40 hours
Great sequel! I really loved how they ended the story, and nearly every aspect of the game has been improved (game play, graphics). However, two new additional abilities were superfluous, and hated some of the side missions.
7.8/10

5.Shantae Half-Genie Hero - 15 hours
One of the best 2D platformers I've recently played! This was my first Shantae game and now I'm excited to play other Shantae games as well!
8.2/10

6.Fire Emblem Heroes - 20 hours
It's a fun time waster. I don't like the original characters or the story.
5/10

7.Nier Automata - 40 hours
My 2nd favorite PS4 game of all time! Game play is superb, music is spectacular and the story is awesome! However, the world is really empty and the game had too many bugs when I played.
9/10

8.The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild - 85 hours
My favorite game of all time. Dungeons were bit short but it was still fine.
9.8/10

9.Zero Escape : 9 Doors 9 Persons 9 Hours - 15 hours
How did I not know about this series? This game is everything I've wanted in video game.
9/10

10.Shovel Knight Specter of Torment - 6 hours
Great addition to already perfect game.
9/10

11.Puyo Puyo Tetris - 5 hours
Never thought I would like puzzle game this much!
7.5/10

12.Persona 5 - 70 hours
My favorite PS4 game and the best Jrpg I've ever played alongside Xenoblade Chronicles and Pokemon S/M. I like everything about this game.
9.3/10

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11 | NieR: Automata | PC
Time: 30 hours
Score: 6/10

For me NieR was a combination of hit and miss. The music is wonderful and I really like the two main characters and the gradual unlayering of the world and the story. The combat on the other hand fell flat for me and the games is a bit too easy. The world is lifeless (not in the apocalyptic kind of way) and doesn't seem to serve any purpose. Add to that the frustrating prologue and some annoying bugs and I felt no desire to continue after reaching ending B. Which makes me quite sad because I have heard a lot of good stuff about ending C.

OP

GAME #20 - Kamiko - 2 hours - 6/10 - 4/29

Beat the game with each of the three characters. It's a VERY short game, meant to be played over and over to improve your completion times. Blue girl (I can't remember their names, so I'm going with their primary colors) was the worst to play as, because she only has a melee weapon, while the other two can fight at range.

A lot of people compared this to Hyper Light Drifter, mostly because of the artstyle, but make no mistake, it's no Hyper Light Drifter. Not even close. The combat lacks depth, and the game really lacks the exploration aspect that HLD has. And the spritework isn't nearly as good. It's only similar on the most superficial levels. I feel like this game got a lot of praise based off of the screenshots and the fact that it's a Switch exclusive, because honestly it's not that good. If this was on PC only, it'd get buried by the number of high quality indie titles out there.

18. Squarecells - 4,1 Hours



Platform: PC (Steam)
Completed On: 28.4.2017
Rating: 6 / 10

A fun little puzzle game, but not as good or addictive as Hexcells.
Got all 108 Stars and all achievments.

Forth update for April. Not as much to report this month.

Main post|Backlog Blitz main post


Game Nine
What Remains of Edith Finch (PlayStation 4) - April 27
★★★★ (4)

What an incredible game. The way the game told the story of the Finch family not only made it feel like an anthology series, but the way they told each story was just creatively sound and brilliant. If this was any other year, this'd be easily top three so far, but the amount of incredible games keeps it in the top five at least, such is the quality of this year.

But I definitely don't forsee this falling out of my top ten. That's for sure. Don't miss out on this, especially if you're into walking simulators (which we really need to find a new name for).

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#23 Titanfall 2 (PC) - 4 hours


I really enjoyed playing the campaign and ill surely check out the multiplayer a bit. I just hope there's people that actually still play this game online on pc.

Master post (WP)

31. Sonic & Knuckles (~4 1/2 hours)
This is a good Sonic, but not as good as Sonic 3. If I had to order the Genesis era games (now that I’ve played them all), it would go Sonic CD, Sonic 3, Sonic 2, Sonic & Knuckles, and last, Sonic 1. I’m going to keep the review short because again, if you’ve played Sonic, you know what to expect. Something neat about this one is there’s a boss at the end of each act. Playing through Lava Reef Zone is fun if you have the fire power-up, cause the lava can’t hurt you. Also, Sky Sanctuary Zone brings back some classic Sonic boss fights. The Knuckles adventure is very similar to the Sonic one, so don’t feel obligated to play it.
4/5

Master post

One game managed to take the bulk of my time this month, so I followed it up with some short and sweet games.


Horizon Zero Dawn: March 25-April 3
It's hard not to compare Horizon to Breath of the Wild due to the many similarities and timing. I found myself wanting to climb all the obstacles but couldn't. Horizon is slow going at first thanks to early game hell and not knowing what you can do, but then it picks up. The weapon “variety” is a bit laughable in a game like this, where there are straight upgrades that are obtainable fairly early on. To me, this game is an acquired taste that gets much better once you figure out all the tricks. It has a surprisingly good story with a lot of depth. I'm totally OK with this becoming a series.


Persona 5: April 4-21
I'm sure I had a few complaints about Persona 5 not wowing me as much as the series had in the past, but I've long since forgotten about that. This game's definitely the best yet. There are improvements in all areas: social, battle, writing, dungeon design, soundtrack, characters, etc. I could rave about specifics, but I'm lazy. I just wish that 75% of game wasn't so easy.


Yooka-Laylee: April 21-26
Decent. Has a number of small quirks that add up. Controls sometimes just don't cooperate. The camera can be your enemy. While the writing is funny, it gets to be a bit “us gamers huh” at some points. The core gameplay is fun for the most part, and that's really it. Yooka-Laylee is a solid average game. Certainly no Banjo-Kazooie. I'm sure Playtonic can do better next time.


Poi: April 26-28
I supported this a couple years ago, completely forgot about it, then recently learned that it released. In my time playing it, I found Poi to be a perfectly serviceable Super Mario 64 clone. Certainly better than I expected. The SM64 physics truly are the gold standard for 3D platforming. Poi has good level design and gameplay, but they aren't of the depth that you would find in SM64. Still, this game does well to satisfy that craving.


Kathy Rain: April 28-30
I'm surprised at how this game fell through the cracks. It feels just like any classic 90s point-n-click but modern at the same time. The writing is good. There's a good mix of serious and funny. The characters are written well. The world has layers to it. The voice acting is solid. I miss these types of games, and sadly this one's invisibility shows that they're a dying breed.

Pretty good month. Finished the last games on the NES and I am almost done with Game Boy too.
I really should update more often so I don't have to cram ten games into the same post tho.



Castlevania - NES - Completed April 1



Metroid Prime - GameCube - Beaten April 4



Metroid - NES - Completed April 5



Metroid II: Return of Samus - Game Boy - Completed April 6



Project Zero - PlayStation 2 - Completed April 10



Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly - PlayStation 2 - Completed April 13



Project Zero III: The Tormented - PlayStation 2 - Completed April 16



Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 - Game Boy Color - Completed April 20



Drakengard - PlayStation 2 - Completed April 25



Uncharted: Golden Abyss - PS Vita - Beaten April 30



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Master Post

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April was a slow month for me. I had to travel a bunch and didn't get much finished.

Completed

16: Snakepass - 11 Hours


The controls in Snakepass made it feel like a truly 100% new take on a platformer and the satisfaction from mastering them was immense. I loved the game but if I had one wish for something to be changed, it would have been for greater visual variety in the levels. The first two worlds in particular felt very samey, and it was a shame to finish half of the game before coming across levels with a bit more variety.
9/10

17: The Disney Afternoon Collection - 5 hours


This was a collection of 6 NES games but I'm counting it as one game because it feels like it matches the spirit of this challenge better. I had played most of these as a kid, but had definitely never beaten any of them besides Ducktales 1. Most of them haven’t aged particularly well, but the last two (Ducktales 2 and Chip and Dale 2) were 100% new to me and I loved both. It was really interesting to see how much design and visual evolution they accomplished over the lifespan of a single console generation. The presentation of the collection was also fantastic.
8/10

18: Yooka Laylee - 21 Hours


I backed this on PS4 and was very disappointed by the performance and how it impacted the feel of movement in the game. I decided to buy it on PC and see how much that helped, and it felt like a completely different game. They pitched it as a modern refresh of the Rare 3D platformers people loved from yesteryear, and for me it met that goal admirably. I hope it does well enough for a sequel, as I’d love to see more.
9/10

Sadly, I also need to add another title to my abandoned list for the year.

Abandoned:

4: Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate - 4 hours


Too quickly this devolved into an Inventory Management game. Every 5-6 minutes I'd have to go back into menus, delete or consume 5-10 things I didn't have a pressing need for, and then return to the game. Only to run out of space and be in the exact same issue minutes later. I don't mind limited inventory space, but managing it can't become the single core activity that I spend time doing when I play something. It's a shame because I had been looking forward to trying this series out for years, but I can't see myself ever returning to it.
No Rating (did not feel like I played enough to rate it)

OP --> http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=553

15. Mass Effect: Andromeda
~45 Hours
After around 18 hours my quest log showed me that I was about to finish this game having arrived at the last main story mission. I took it upon myself to go to Gaf and rant about the bland and unexciting campaign, but also making the promise (more to myself than anyone else) to give this game another chance tackling the remaining side content.
After now 45 hours I have indeed finished the campaign and overall it was a great experience and I am way less inclined to throw Andromeda in the trash as a uniquely failed attempt by BioWare to recapture the magic of the original trilogy.

+ There are several quest types – I mostly focused on the Allies and Relationship, Campaign and Viability-missions, which are by all accounts the meat of the game. So-called Tasks are time-wasters and can be easily ignored, while side missions are more typical and worthwhile, but still not the highlight of Andromeda by any stretch. Just doing what I did nets you around a playtime of 45 hours which is in my estimation a perfect time for a ME-game and as such much closer to the experience of a more linear ME-game. If you dread Bioware's new found love of open world-ish design, you might give the game another try based on this self-imposed restrictions.

+ The different zones vary in quality. I haven't any one of them overly egrigious, but also not very exciting either. As I didn't treat any given zone as a checklist, neither one overstayed their welcome. It was brought up that the planets are to lived in for a game all about exploration of the unknown and this so true. You land on the first planet, Eos and not only are there already outposts built there, no there are fences everywhere shielding you from radiation and whatnot, restricting you from accessing the rest of the zone. While a nice effort to circumvent the Hinterlands-problem and funneling you through early progression, it also runs counter to the game's themes in my mind and thus souring my first few hours in a neatless and frustrating way.

+ The combat is entertaining, but doesn't always shine in the way it should. Random encounters in the open world are bland and busy-work, with enemy patroul ships appearing at every corner in boring and same-y environments. In main missions and such, loyalty missions and what have you, it plays great though. I am a bit hesitant on the boost and jetpack mechanic, but overall it fits Andromeda.

+ Your crew is great. Mostly... Yeah, Liam sucks man. Why they always have to give at least one waster of space, I don't know. Especially Dracks is awesome though and clearly the standout among a pretty solid cast. Bummer though, you can't customize them in anyway, very weird omission.

+ The writing in the beginning is a bit freak-ish and the animations in a lot of cases even more so; especially when the game tries to be funny it almost always falls completely flat and embarrassingly so. Ugh. Overall the writing was solid enough though – or at least what you would expect. You might have to dig a bit though, as I said, the campaign is a bit bland and feels repetitive.

+ I never went into my inventory. Not once. It is garbage as always, but at least I didn't have to bother, so...good job, I guess? Crafting is weird, bothersome so I again mostly ignored it. Why this stuff has to be so bad, I don't know.

All in all Mass Effect: Andromeda is a super weird game, that can shine when you submit to its design or at least dug long enough for the content that seems worth it to you. If all else fails, at the combat is fun and should give you some entertainment through the short campaign and various loyalty missions and such. Opposed to what the general consensus seems to be and what the critical (and to a point commercial) reception suggest, I would love for Bioware to continue on what they have started here. My opinion on hour count 18 compared to hour count 45 changed a lot and I am glad I stayed with the game and its frustrating parts.
3/5

16. Disc Jam
~?? hours
It's a fun Plus title, but I wouldn't stick with it over the long haul. Can't really say much more about it. When the developers keep updating it, I'm sure it could have a nice following.
3/5


Plan for the Future in the next few month
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy XV (NEW)
Nier: Automata
Yakuza Kiwami

Still working on
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VII
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Danganronpa 1 & 2 Reload
Persona 5 (NEW)

Full list.

23. The Last Guardian - ★★★★
Didn't quite live up to my impossibly high expectations. It's rough around the edges for sure, but the good (atmosphere, puzzles, storytelling, animation) far outweighs the bad (camera, controls, framerate).

24. South Park: The Stick of Truth - ★★★
Pretty shallow game but if you like the show, you'll enjoy the humour.

25. Vagrant Story - ★★★★★
Excellent game from top to bottom. It's confusing and frustrating at first, but after you dig in a bit you find a deep and satisfying combat system. In terms of presentation, Vagrant Story was ahead of its time. I'm not sure I really understood the plot, but I was totally engaged in whatever was happening because the cutscenes are so well done. Also of note are the amazing world, soundtrack and character/creature design. Easily one of my favourite RPGs ever.

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Update for April, I only managed to finish two games in the last month due to Persona 5.

Game 20: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) - ★★★★★ - 45 hours played
Started it in March, it took a while to get into due to playing Zelda BoTW first but damn what a great game! This will most likely reach top 5 of 2017 easily for me.

Game 21: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (VITA) - ★★★ - 5 hours played
Palate cleanser while playing Persona 5, must give the VITA some love! Not a bad game, just very sterile I suppose with really weak single player content. The fighting is quite fun tho especially in 1 vs 1.

For May I hope to finish Persona 5 so that I can focus on some shorter games in my backlog.

My main post.


10 | Unravel | PS4
~6 hours | Completed Apr. 30th

This was a lovely little game! The core gameplay in itself was quite fun because of the yarn mechanics, but what really sold the game for me was the setting and the story. The game was developed in Sweden and I live in Finland (neighboring countries) so pretty much every level felt familiar and nostalgic in a way. Throughout the game I kept having blissful flashbacks to my childhood and I'm pretty sure that that was exactly what the development team was going for - and they did it damn well! The game has A+ presentation while having really solid gameplay as well and even if you didn't grow up in similar environments, it still succeeds in telling a heartwarming story through Yarny's adventures. I had a blast with the game and I would definitely recommend it, a lot of love went into making it for sure.


11 | Shank | PC
2.5 hours | Completed May 1st

Dumb beat 'em up game I played while listening to podcasts, didn't really like it. I didn't really pay attention to the story and I sort of hated the exaggerated, almost caricatural, character design from the get-go. There was also constant screen tearing which annoyed me. I guess the combat was alright. Overall a pretty dull game. I might check out the sequel, it looks a bit more polished.

6. Gears of War 4

I distinctly remember saying to myself after Gears of War 3 that I was done playing Gears of War games and the generic formula of kill rooms with obvious cover points etc. I skipped Judgement but thought the time was right for jumping back in but I must remember to trust my own memory. It's not that the game is bad, if you aren't sick of this style of game then you'll probably love it. If not, the overlong story and bullshit deaths will probably make this something for you to avoid.

7. ABZU

I needed something to kickstart me back again and Abzu was the weapon of choice. I thought I'd love it but I didn't really. I like doing it but thematically and design wise it was pretty much an identikit game to Flower. This simple truth stole a lot of the game's beauty from my eyes. It's short ending ugh that I could still recommend it. Austin Wintory's music was a particular highlight.

8. Paint it Back

Ill never do all the puzzles Aster but I'm happy. To complete the puzzles on Pro and leave it there. Anything else and it becomes frustrating which defeats the purpose of the game. Really enjoyed it though.

Working on:
Breath of the Wild - slow going as I can't stop just wandering about. Sometimes I get through entire play session achieving very little. No doubt it's a wonderful game though.
Horizon: Zero Dawn - I love Far Cry games and this is definitely one of those. I like the encounters where I can carefully plan out my attacks. When this is taken away from me I'm not as fussed about the combat as much. It is eating up a lot of my time and I'm still enjoying it immensely but Guerrillas effort in creating a massive playroom has led to a somewhat disconnected world where environment has little impact on play style.
I am Alive - why don't Ubisoft release these smaller games anymore? They have a really good track record with these. Enjoying it, although the combat feels unsatisfying in a modern context. Feels very like Mirrors Edge to me.
Walking Dead Season 2 - 3 episodes down. Starting to pick up but in true Walking Dead style, they aren't half throwing the dead bodies about.

Abandoned

The Last Guardian - I just couldn't. Abandoned after 10 hours or so. The controls and AI interaction with Trico were just infuriating. I knew when I ran out of room on my hard drive from capturing my annoyance on video that it was probably not healthy to be investing that much time and energy into why I was still playing it. I was waiting for a large payoff but I just felt relief at the end of each section from battling the controls that it masked every other emotion the game was throwing at me.

Nioh - I'll come back to it later. It was a rental and it seemed to be massive to me. I need a LOT of time to get anywhere in Souls style games and it was going to cost me a lot of money just to rent. Waiting for a sale before picking up again but I like the combat a lot. It rarely feels cheap and prolonged study of patterns pays off.

Game 25 - Mr. Massagy ★★☆☆☆
A little fun quirky game that manages to got a few laughs out of me.

Game 26 - Dead Synchronicity ★★☆☆☆
A very dark point and click game that while the story is very in depth the gameplay isn't.

OP

MAY

16.
Xbox 360

My second play through with Mass Effect 2, but my first with all of the DLC. Sometimes this game can come across perfect, sometimes it comes across like a massive chore; looking at you mineral scanning. It's certainly a step up from the first, but most of the DLC is a bit naff. Lair of the Shadow Broker is great, and I was gutted when it finished so quickly. It was also nice playing as a complete ass-hat rather than your typical hero.
8/10

Back up to a decent completion rate for April, with five games completed, also serving to plug a significant gap in my gaming experience. Hopefully I can keep this rate up for May and hit the half-way point this month.



17. Ittle Dew (Steam) - 1 April 2017
Completed with 100% of achievements, which includes all collectibles. After discovering this game from a passing mention in the Steam thread, I knew that it looked like just the sort of game that I'd enjoy, being very much inspired by the puzzle elements of 2D Zelda (my favourite game series). While the puzzle mechanics that the game uses are more limited than those of Zelda, this allows each of them to be explored more deeply and there are a fair few really taxing puzzles here (I'll admit to resorting to a guide on a few occasions, especially for the 'Master Cave') - making for a very satisfying experience, with that "aha!" moment upon solving some of the more intricate rooms.



18. The Legend of Zelda (3DS VC - NES) - 14 April 2017
Much as I'm a huge fan of the Zelda series, I've never actually played fully through the original game - until now. Finally I've rectified that, having played the game through to completion, with all items collected, through both the First and Second Quests. Clearly the game's very primitive compared to where the series is now, but this was still great fun to play through. The extent to which the world hides secrets is really very impressive and the combat, while limited, still manages to bring a sense of satisfaction balanced well against the level of challenge. Overall I'm very pleased now to have this significant gap in my gaming experience plugged!



19. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - 16 April 2017
Main story quests completed with all memories restored and 120/120 shrines cleared. Clearly I don't need to sell this game's qualities give the plaudits that it's received from all sides - but suffice to say that it'll take a lot for any other game to displace this as my 2017 GotY. I'd have liked to see more extensive dungeons, but I can understand why the Divine Beasts were implemented how they were and the shrines go a long way towards making up for that; otherwise, I struggle to find any significant complaint here. With well over 100 hours logged, there's still so much more that I could be doing, but having completed all of the shrines I think that it's time for me to move on - at least for now. That said, I already have the Expansion Pass purchased so I'll definitely be coming back to this and may still try to chase that elusive 100% completion a little further in time.



20. Yooka-Laylee (PS4) - 29 April 2017
All-but 100%ed and platinumed - the only thing that I'm missing is one Pagie, following a glitch that leads to the reported count being lower than it should be (hopefully the upcoming patch will have retrospective effect).

This is the first game - or in fact, the first project of any time - that I kickstarted and, while certainly it has its fair share of flaws, I enjoyed my time with the game. It pretty much delivers exactly what was promised in being a Banjo-styled 'collectathon'; for the most part, it plays and controls well, with some imaginative worlds and well-designed characters. I'll join those who could have done without the minigames (they'd be fine if they were somewhat more forgiving) and certain other challenges were overly frustrating, but they don't mar the overall experience to that great an effect. Hopefully we'll see a sequel from Playtonic that addresses the flaws that are present here - and either way I look forward to seeing what will come from the studio in future! Oh yes, and special praise should go to Grant Kirkhope and, especially, David Wise for the excellent soundtrack here!



21. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (3DS VC - NES) - 30 April 2017
Just sneaking in to the end of the month, with this completion I've finally filled the glaring hole in my experience of Zelda games, with every main-line title now completed. I have to say that I'm very thankful for the VC functionality here, as I'll openly admit to making liberal use of save states and a guide - the game can be brutally difficult at times! While I'm glad that the series didn't follow the side-scrolling format significantly following Zelda II, it makes for an interesting change in approach that I enjoyed playing through, with the combination of overworld and 'action scenes' serving to make the game feel like it's taking place at a larger scale than other 2D instalments.

Alright. Lets do this. I think I stopped updating for some reason last year.



1. Mass Effect Andromeda
EA/Bioware
44 hours played
6/10

There have been much controversy surrounding Bioware’s new entry into the critically acclaimed Mass Effect series, Mass Effect Andromeda. I mostly tried to ignore it and didn’t watch any of the reviews, previews, or the mountains on gifs that showed off the game in a pretty negative light as I wanted to give the game a fair chance and didn’t want my opinion spoiled or influenced by the negative press it was receiving. Being a huge mass effect fan and playing through all of them multiple times with different characters, I had high expectations for the game only to be massively disappointed in what the game ended up being.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

My biggest issue with the game is Ryder. No, not the weird facial animations, or the subpar writing, or quests. It was Ryder. My main issue with Ryder was that it was Ryder’s story, not mine so I couldn't mold their backstory into whatever I wanted. While disappointing, I can still find ways to role play as long as the protagonist's story is good and compelling. The issue is Ryder’s story is boring and not worth seeing through. Basically, Ryder’s story is they thought your mom is dead but she isn’t, your dad and SAM freezed her in cryo stasis and came to Andromedia to hopefully find a cure. I have three problems with this. One, why would Alec Ryder keep this from his kids? I either have to believe that he is a shitty dad who has no bond with his own children or that or there is something that keeps him from telling them but that’s never explained in game so I guess we are stuck with option one. Alec Ryder is a shitty dad who was willing to let his kids say goodbye to their dying mother but for some reason wasn’t willing to tell them why he wanted to go to Andromedia, to save their mother in frozen cryo stasis. So for most of the game, Ryder is in Andromedia for no reason really. You get asked and all you can say is either “I like adventure”, “I like science” or “my shitty dad made me come”. These are some seriously shitty reasons to travel 2 million miles away from home with no way to get back. So Ryders motivations make no sense for being in Andromeda and I can’t role play a reason because its Ryder’s story instead of being a blank slate like Sheppard was where I could create a backstory for them to justify the reason. You also cannot be an asshole in this game. You can try but you just sound like you're being sarcastic most of the time instead of being an asshole. Basically, its an rpg with no role playing options available to the player. It makes playing the game a lot less fun since this is supposed to be an rpg.

The story in the game is actually decent I thought. Some of the main missions are actually pretty good especially some of the main ones where you go to meridian. The issue is, there really aren’t a lot of main missions. There’s only like 10 main missions making the game feel really short if you main line it. My two issues with the story is the villain who really wasn’t all that scary and the last mission you don’t even get to fight him. Its basically a horde mode where you don’t fight him. You go to three areas, hit three buttons and defend and then he dies. Wow, great boss fight Bioware. If you're going to build him up as this threat, at least let us fight him. This push three buttons and he dies stuff is lame as hell.

Somehow the UI is worse than it's ever been in a bioware game. They have always been pretty bad in the Mass Effect games but in this game, its just terrible. Your quests are separated for some reason meaning that you have to go through each and every section to check and see what the quest is instead of it just being there on one screen. I just don’t understand why its put together in such a shitty way. I mean, they could have made it so all of your quests are in one place and then you can click on them to either get more info or track them. But in ME:A you have to constantly go back and forth between screens in your journal constantly. Its infuriating. The R&D UI is just impossible to sort through because you pick up stuff that is useless but there’s no way to get rid of it. You can’t sell it, you can’t break it down so it justs sits there and as you get more stuff, the list just gets longer and longer and there’s nothing you can do about it. It's just a total mess and not fun to sort through.

LIke I said, the main quests I do think are good, but these side quests are just like the side quests in Dragon Age: Inquisition that were complained about endlessly. There are just mmo quests that have no value. They are just there to fill time. Some people who defend these quests will just say, “just skip them”. But what they don’t understand is, that is a waste of resources. Someone took hours to write and design these quests regardless of how shitty they are. People spent a serious amount of time designing it only for it to be called trash and skippable. How would you feel if someone called your work “trash” or “easily skippable”? I propose instead of putting these crappy quests in the game, make the content that is in the game better. The game could use a better UI, more main quests, better animation quality, etc instead of these quests. That is the point. Just because you make an open world, doesn’t mean you have to fill it with useless quests that add nothing to the game other than to fill time. The standards for open world quest design has been raised and having quests like this in game isn’t acceptable anymore. I did find some most of the loyalty missions to be good though I was annoyed by Phebee’s mission with constantly jumping around from world to world for one damn thing. God, so annoying.

I thought the squad members were ok Drack was awesome, liked Cora, thought Phebee was annoying, and rest were kind of forgettable.

The worlds, similar to Inquisition, were kind of barren. Not saying there weren’t things on them but you would mostly drive and see nothing and then every once and awhile you’d see a group of enemies or some mining deposits and that was it. The worlds just feel a bit lifeless.

The combat is better except for the fact that you can’t control your teammates. That is the staple of Mass Effect’s combat and here its been taken away so you can’t set up combos as effectively. So basically the only combos you can count on are your own which sucks. Also I think they may have nerfed the explosions of the combos. The explosions just don’t seem to do enough or at least they don’t do nearly as much as they did it ME3. That was the best thing about ME3. You could make a power build and not even use a pistol and be fine but I don’t think you can do that in ME:A. I guess the guns make up for it but it was more fun to just blow up a bunch of enemies in ME3. The auto stick to cover is garbage. I think its gotten me killed more than helped me since the game decides what is cover and what isn’t and sometimes Ryder will be standing up and get shot up because the game doesn’t think that this rock or building is cover and Ryder won’t stick to it. I know people have praised the combat and while it is fun, I think it takes a step back for me because of not being able to control teammates abilities, the auto cover, and the explosions doing like no damage now.

Finally, I think SAM is just way too powerful. He just does everything for Ryder. Because he’s so useful, it kind of makes the rest of his team kind of useless. He is also kind of annoying when you are out in the world and he's like “Temperatures at normal levels pathfinder”, “Temperatures dropping pathfinder”, “ You can mine this area for resources pathfinder”, “You have email pathfinder”. Like seriously would you shut the hell up? I don’t need him to tell me these things every two seconds. Its seriously annoying. There were also some odds things like who killed Jien Garson and the benefactor was were never explained. They were just dropped for no reason. Hopefully that will be explained when the dlc comes out because that was honestly the most interesting thing about the story and it goes nowhere.

I think there is a good game in here somewhere but it probably needed at least another year to fix everything and then it would’ve been a good game. I think right now, its a game you kind of forget about because it has so many issues.




2. Dark Souls 3 DLC: The Ringed City
From Software
6 hours
8/10


The bosses are fantastic generally (though I'm not fond of the old monk fight because its basically a gank fight which is annoying) and save the dlc for me or else I would think probably not like this dlc at all. Really hated the enemies designs like the angel with his machine gun laser and the swamp area where there like 4 or 5 knights and 4 or 5 big dudes all in the same area. I just run past them all because its not worth it to fight them. And two swamp areas ,and the dude who summons a bunch of archers at the ringed city to begin with and then he does it again in the swamp. Not of that was fun, just frustrating and annoying. There were some cool moments like fighting the dragonslayer armor and getting the set and patches but the boss fights really shine for me. Geal is probably one of my favorite fights in the series now. The bosses take what was probably a 6/10 for me to a 8/10 for me.




3. Prototype 2
Radical Entertainment/Activision
PS3
15 hours
6/10

Man this game is fun as hell when you do don’t actually do any of the story missions. Just running around and using your abilities is super fun. You feel like an unkillable machine. Unfortunately, this game makes you go through the story some of the most boring and laziest mission design I seen in a game. Like they are literally 3 or 4 different mission types and they are just repeated over and over again. Its always sneak into base, eat a scientist or soldier, steal some shit, and leave the base. Or its eat a dude and do an escort mission, or eat a dude and tail someone. Its just so goddamn boring and repetitive. The story was just a giant mess. I could’ve sworn Mercer was the good guy from Prototype 1 but now he’s the bad guy in Prototype 2? How?And why is he totally different? Didn’t he try and save humanity buy sacrificing himself but now he wants to end humanity? His heel turn really makes no sense. You play as James Heller, who is basically a dumb soldier dude who gets infected by Mercer and now your goal is to basically kill Mercer because the virus he unleashed killed your wife and daughter. I mean, what kind of plot is that? Kill Mercer is the plot and that’s exactly what happens. No twists or anything. I guess Heller comes off ok here but he’s so one note in everything. His response to everything is to just kill them and he’s CONSTANTLY YELLING. Like seriously, if you wanted us to like him, why would you make him so annoying with HIS CONSTANT YELLING ABOUT RIPPING PEOPLE’S HEADS OFF FOR SCREWING HIM OVER. He really just becomes annoying to listen to after a while.

The gameplay is fun as hell though. The abilities are really fun to use. My favorite is probably bio bomb. You just grab a dude and throw him into a crowd and he does a massive explosion. I think that’s probably my takeaway from the game, the story gets in the way of having fun with the game because they really don’t let you use your abilities in missions all that much. Near the end of the game, a lot of the missions you were in helicopters or tanks and defending someone. Like, why take away the funniest part of the game and put me in a damn tank or helicopter? Anyway, fun to mess around in the world with all of the powers really wish the story had any semblance of cohesion.



4. Far Cry 4
Ubisoft
PS4
20 hours
7/10

Far Cry 4 is kind of a strange game in a lot of ways. The story is kind of a mess. It tries to set up these choices but they also don't really matter in the end because it always will end the same. Its just a matter of who you want have rule the country. I think they should've given us the option of letting you become king of Kyrat. All these people in the game are assholes making the choices mean fuck all anyway and the country is fucked, so why not let the son of Mohan Ghale take over?

Gameplay wise, its basically Far Cry 3 tho it was pretty fun running around with a launcher as a sidearm. Really feel like something has to change with the formula. Its gets stale and repetitive after a while. Hopefully Far Cry 5 takes some of this stuff out because honestly most of the stuff you do in the game is busy work put it to pad out the game. Just give me my 4 weapon slots early so I can be only my way instead of running around looking for bears to kill.

Main post



12 | Night in the Woods | PC
Time: 7 hours
Score: 7/10

A cast of very likeable and funny yet also tragic characters supported by great writing makes Night in the Woods a very enjoyable experience. The game features very few actual gameplay elements and when they are implemented it is mostly for very mundane stuff like eating pizza or opening a window. A few more minigames like band practice would have been welcome. Because the game is repetitive and that is also the point of Night in the Woods. Every morning you wake up, you talk with mom, you explore the town, you go to band practice and you hang out at night with one of your friends. The finale is somewhat disappointing as it mostly drops the mundane nature of the game for some more supernatural moments. Long loading times and walking the same route every day detracts a bit from what is otherwise a very smart and unique game.

Original Post

This month I completed 5 games.

My current progress on this challenge is 42/52

1. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest – Finished on April 14 – 39 hours

This game was really hard. This wasn't my first Fire Emblem game but it was the one I struggled with the most. My team was just so unbalanced. I had one magic user, one archer, and the rest melee units, most of which were armored or cavalry or both. Also a feature of the game is that weapons and magic no longer break. This lead many times to me sticking with bronze or iron weapons instead of buying and using specialized weapons like the Armorslayer, making the game in spots much more difficult on myself. Of course on Conquest you are unable to grind, though I did use the gold farming DLC map to make sure the pairings I wanted lead to marriage and children. I didn't actually use any of the children though, besides Siegbert to support his dad and Ignatious to marry my female Corrin. The story is a solid 5/10 until the last 7 or 8 chapters or so. I wish the game would have been more of that. It took me many months to finally finish both main paths of this game and now it is on to Revelation which already has a more compelling story than either Birthright or Conquest and I have just begun it.

2. Kirby Fighters Deluxe – Finished on April 22 – 2 hours, 30 minutes

Originally a side game in Triple Deluxe, this game was expanded a bit in a standalone eShop title. For this game I beat single player mode with every copy ability, including Beetle and Bell that you unlock for having Triple Deluxe streetpass data. The game is pretty fun although it is very clear that some abilities are better than others. Playing through all stages with the Bomb ability was rough but playing with the Hammer ability I breezed through without much effort. I really would have like to see the copy abilities fleshed out a little bit more than they were. I had fun with the game for what it was. Almost makes me want to go back and play Triple Deluxe again.

3. BOXBOY! - Finished on April 23 – 7 hours, 2 minutes

This is the most chill, relaxed game ever. Frequent checkpoints, quick restarting, and short, bite-sized stages meant that I never felt frustrated or anything playing this game. I can think of only a few stages where obstacles respawned and made it so I had to restart the entire level. I solved a lot of things by trial and error and a few of them by pure dumb luck. I did grow impatient with a few parts and looked them up on YouTube but 99% of the game I played myself. I completed all main worlds with crowns and saw the end credits but I know there is so much more to the game, including five more bonus worlds and some challenge stuff that I need to unlock. I'm definitely upset that the physical cart and amiibo are not coming to North America. I would definitely double dip for these games on a cart with the amiibo.

4. God of War 2 – Finished on April 29 – 12 hours

I liked this game a lot more than the first game. The story I felt was weaker but the gameplay was much better. Much fewer segments I felt were just annoying for the sake of being annoying and unfun. I played this on Vita as well for trophies and because I didn't feel like playing it in HD again. I feel like during the course of this game Kratos goes from mad to insane. The final battle and last cutscenes basically prove that. I have not played very far into God of War 3. I only need to collect 20 cyclops eyes and beat challenge of the gods for the platinum. Really doubt I am going to be doing it as the challenges in God of War games just frustrate me a lot and I'd rather move on with my series playthrough.

5. God of War: Chains of Olympus – Finished on April 29 – 3 hours, 50 minutes

This is my favorite in the series so far. It doesn't overstay it's welcome with long, overly drawn out set pieces or dungeons. It looks really good as a PSP game and is really fun to play in HD. It has my favorite weapon with the Gauntlet of Zeus. I've beaten the game three times and each time I've done it basically in one day. I enjoy it that much. There are many, many rooms where you just get thrown in and have to fight a gauntlet. The entire last area of the game is basically a series of huge fights. I feel like the story kinda works better too. Kratos is normally known for being mad and seeking vengeance but this isn't quite like that. I won't spoil it in case anyone reading hasn't played the series yet but I thought Chains of Olympus offered some of the best of Kratos in the end that you see in the first part of the series.

Game 1-Criminal Girls 2 Party Favors-Vita-Beaten on January 2nd
-I really enjoyed the grind in this game. I usually hate grinding but this game makes it very easy to do so. Fun little game that took about 25 hours. 8/10

Game 2-Shantae Half Genie Hero-Vita-Beaten on January 6th
-This was the perfect game after the long grind of my previous game. Very light-hearted and fun! Perfect on the Vita! 8/10

Game 3-Alone With You-Vita-Beaten on January 14th
-While this adventure game wasn't great, it was very relaxing to play which is what made me enjoy it overall. 7/10

Game 4-Call of Duty Infinite Warfare-PS4-Beaten on January 15th
-I might be in the minority that only play the story mode in Call of Duty games and have to say that I never tire of them. They are like a summer blockbuster. I really liked the on ground parts of his game but didn't really like the flying portions. Still waiting for a return to WWII. 8/10

Game 5-Severed- Vita-Beaten on January 17th
-I really enjoyed this game outside of a few difficulty spikes here or there. Great atmosphere and great touch controls which I usually hate. 9/10

Game 6-Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7-Vita-Beaten on January 19th
-This was the weakest game I have played in a long time. This game was before Lego characters talked so all it is is a disjointed story with very weird grunts/sounds from the characters. I really like the Harry Potter universe but this game is just bad. At least I got it super cheap from a PSN sale. 4/10

Game 7-Neverending Nightmares-Vita-Beaten on January 21
-I really enjoyed this little (2 hours long)horror game. It had great atmosphere and sound especially with headphones on. The title explains the game perfectly as you keep repeating the same nightmare over and over again with slight differences everytime you die. The story is slight but interesting as well. 7/10

Game 8-Trails of Cold Steel 2-Vita-Beaten on February 17
-Over the last 13 months, I have beaten all four of the recent Trails games and have loved every single one of them. This one took me 50 hours which is why this is he first game I have beaten in almost a month. If you like RPG's this is one of the best. 10/10

Game 9-World of Final Fantasy-Vita-Beaten on February 25
-Where January was meant for shorter games for myself, February has been dedicated to longer RPG's. I really enjoyed this game for the most part. It was great to see all the supporting stars from previous Final Fantasy games. The story was not great but kept me interested for the most part. I finished the game with the original bad ending and then saw all that I had to do to get the good ending and just decided to call it. I watched the good ending on YouTube. I had just had enough of all the random battles at that point. 8/10

Game 10-Odin Sphere Leiftrauser-Vita-Beaten on April 1
-Wow. Where did March go? I played a lot of games in March just didn't finish any. I finally beat this game on April Fools Day and as a game, it is no joke. What a great game! I really enjoyed the gameplay and while the environments repeated themselves over and over, the gameplay made up for it. 9/10

Game 11-The Walking Dead Episode 3 Above the Law-PS4-Beaten on April 2
-I am a sucker for all these Telltale games. Can't get enough of them. If you liked the previous games, you will like this. I like how Clem is really developing as a character as she is gets older. 9/10

Game 12-Mr. Shifty-Nintends Switch-Beaten on April 22
-I really liked this game as it's like the Hotline Miami series, which I love. If it hadn't been for the slowdown in the Switch version, I think I would have liked it better than the Hotline Miami games. 8/10

Game 13-Guardians of the Galaxy The Telltale Series Episode 1-PS4-Beaten on April 29
-I feel like this was the weakest of any Telltale series game. It was boring as I had to start the game over three different times because I fell asleep. I do really like the opening song "Why Can't I Touch It" by the Buzzcocks. Hopefully the series will pick up with future episodes. 6/10

Game 14-What Remains of Edith Finch-PS4-Beaten on April 29
-Favorite game of the year so far. Great atmosphere and strange(in a good way) story. Loved the Holloween music in one of the stories! 10/10

Game 15-Full Throttle Remastered-Vita-Beaten on May 1
-I have to admit that I didn't really like this game. If it wasn't for an online guide, I would have never beaten the game. It also was very choppy(not the frame rate but the game)which I'm not sure if that was in the original game or not. 5/10

Original Post



Game #17 SUPER HOT - 3 hours, Completed on April 29th, 2017
Platform: Steam

This game was surprisingly fun. I knew the shooting mechanics would be good, but there were some unexpected twists. I wish the game was a tad longer and new gameplay elements were introduced. Still, great game. 9/10



Game #18 Zelda; Breath of the Wild - "Completed" on April 30th, 2017
Platform: Wii U

Over 100 hours.... shrines down and half of the memories checked off. This.....game....is....epic. I absolutely love this game, every hour I had with this game was a joy to play and the exploration was top notch. I was growing tired of the open level design of games...but this just takes level design to a whole knew level. I can't wait to see what they do with the next games, plenty of room for improvement and gameplay tweaks they can implement. I really hope the DLC is as good as the mainline game.

Although I want to jump back in and find the last bit of shrines and memories, I'll let this one rest for awhile. Seriously haven't had this much fun with a game since I was a kid. 10/10



Game #19: Hitman GO: Definitive Edition - Completed on February 27, 2017 8 hours?
Platform: Vita

Platinumed!!! I forgot to write about this one. I liked the game for the first 2-3 chapters, after that the game became a chore to complete all of the submissions. I was determined to platinum this game and did. Now I never want to look at Hitman's face again.

gogosox82 said:

Alright. Lets do this. I think I stopped updating for some reason last year.

1. Mass Effect Andromeda
EA/Bioware
44 hours played
6/10

There have been much controversy surrounding Bioware’s new entry into the critically acclaimed Mass Effect series, Mass Effect Andromeda. I mostly tried to ignore it and didn’t watch any of the reviews, previews, or the mountains on gifs that showed off the game in a pretty negative light as I wanted to give the game a fair chance and didn’t want my opinion spoiled or influenced by the negative press it was receiving. Being a huge mass effect fan and playing through all of them multiple times with different characters, I had high expectations for the game only to be massively disappointed in what the game ended up being.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

[snip]

Click to expand...

Dude, I know you put a spoiler warning in and it's better than nothing, but you still could have spoiler tagged it. I didn't spoil myself, but even still, it saves a bit of hassle for those looking to go past easily rather than speed past it.

Gotta say this game lives up to the hype. The humor is light and while I didn't find it too hilarious IMO, it was still enjoyable. The puzzles are also nicely designed and much of it is resolved by using Bernard and completing most of his section early on to get items to help the other 2.
Overall solid PnC Adventure game and I recommend more people to play it.

Original Post

25. Persona 5
105 hours
Rating: 10/10


I really loved the hell out of this game. I am a fan of the franchise, so I kind of knew what to expect, but the game met my expectations spectacularly. So stylish and fresh, this is definitely the best turn-based JRPG I've ever played based solely on gameplay mechanics. Plus, everything else from the music to the story to the characters is just so unique. It's my GOTY so far.

26. Dark Souls III: The Ringed City
10 hours
Rating: 9/10


As the "finale" to the Dark Souls series, this was really fitting. I think the final boss really just encompassed everything about Dark Souls in such a fantastic way and the areas leading up to it were great in very unique ways. I am curious if there will be more Soulsbourne games in the future (hopefully yes) but this was a great way to close out this subseries.

27. Inside
3 hours
Rating: 10/10


Had I played this last year, it would have been my #2 on my GOTY list. This game is really something unique as only video games can present. The puzzles were unique and fun, the story was bizarre and weird in the best way. I really loved this game, but it was sadly over too soon. Still, it's just so well-designed, I almost feel sad I waited so long to play it.

Currently Playing
I realized that I shouldn't do a "coming up" list because my interests change rapidly from one month (or week, or even day) to the next, so I'll just type down what I'm currently working on.

Tales of Berseria - ~17 hours in
Bloodborne - ~35 hours in
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters - ~10 hours in

OP

I'll go ahead and update for April. I'll go ahead and include something I beat yesterday and today as well.

Game 20: Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (3DS/Vita/PS4/PC) - 22 Hrs 46 Mins (4/11/2017)

#Having already played it before when it released, and more recently than 999, I didn't have as much of a great time replaying this than I did 999 from the Nonary Games collection. Still, this is a really great visual novel that I can recommend to those that love VNs.

Game 21: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NSW) - 6 Hrs 28 Mins (4/29/2017)

#It's Mario Kart 8 improved pretty much. The courses are still some of the best in the series and to have a game like this portable is so awesome. Improved/revamped Battle Mode is great fun and I didn't mind going through the cups again. One of my favorite kart racers got better and I'm glad I got it (helps that store credit paid it off )

Game 22: Kamiko (NSW) - 1 Hr 3 Mins (5/1/2017)

#A short, simple Zelda-like game that encourages replayability. I enjoyed it for what it was and I'll probably play through each character at some point. Pretty good experience.

Game 23: Persona 5 (PS3/PS4) - 80 Hrs 15 Mins (5/2/2017)

#Such a great game. I liked most of the dungeons and felt they were better than P3 and P4. The overall story worked with me better than those two. The overall Social Links and their perks were done better. The music and presentation was top notch and the combat system was as good as the other two with slight tweaks to make it more enjoyable. It could have been a bit harder at times (Normal), but the difficulty was a definite improvement over my time with P4G. One of my favorite games of the year and probably in my top 3 of this year so far along with Yakuza 0 and Breath of the Wild!

Currently Playing

Puyo Puyo Tetris - A bit into the story mode

Alright so I've been updating my main post regularly, but have been way behind in putting my thoughts up. Here's the first half of what I've played since I last posted/mid-February:

Game #19:
CELESTE Classic (PC) / 2.22.17 / .5 hours / 17/18 fruit

Click to expand...

CELESTE is a short, tightly designed platformer created for a fictional retro console called PICO-8, which puts harsh restrictions on developers to see what they can come up with. Because of that, the game runs poorly in-browser, but it's still very well designed with a cute art style. Played it because I got excited for the re-imagining/full game set to come out this year, and I'm a fan of Matt Thorson's (mattmakesgames) work.

Game #20:
Hollow Knight (PC) / 2.28.17 / 40 hours / 100%, full journal completion

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Featuring a massive and downright gorgeous 2D world that drowns you in its bleak yet lively atmosphere, Hollow Knight is absolutely one of the most impressive indie games I've ever played. HK is a sidescrolling adventure built upon the Metroidvania school of design but takes a differing approach in a few ways. It places strong non-linear design at the forefront with almost no hand-holding or streamlining; it's built for you to deviate from the critical path dramatically, and I think it delivers the purest form of exploration in the genre. HK makes you work for everything, whether it be finding items so you can upgrade your attack or merely acquiring a map of the current area. As you can imagine, that typically makes the game substantially more rewarding and engaging than most entries I've played in the genre.

HK also has a staggering amount of different areas with an absurd amount of enemy variety and a hefty boss/mini-boss count to back those up. Beyond that, there's tons of little secrets and mini-areas that outside of one specific thing, aren't unfairly obscure. The scale of the game and pure ambition on display is simply mind-blowing, and the core mechanics and control of the character - which are modifiable with the game's charms/item slots - are tight and satisfying. Then there's the Dream Nail, a relatively simple item that becomes incredible once you realize the level of detail and the extra layer of storytelling it unravels. I can't applaud the devs enough for putting that in the game considering the extra amount of work it requires to implement.

There are a couple areas that are spread a little thin and can hurt the pacing a bit, such as Deepnest which you can "accidentally" head to fairly early. If you're going for 100% you end up with too much currency and so it incidentally kills it as a reward, an issue tons of Metroidvanias and sidescrollers suffer from. Lastly, there are a couple needlessly tedious things such as the 3rd level of the arena which is just too damn long (although optional). Ultimately though I was totally enraptured by this game, and although I haven't played too much of what's been released this year as of this post, I imagine Hollow Knight is going to be a very strong contender for my GotY. It's phenomenal.

Game #21:
Captain Toad (Wii U) / 3.1.17 / 10.5 hours / Episodes 1-3 crowned, SM3DW bonus levels

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Captain Toad is an interesting game. It has levels structured as dioramas that can be manipulated with analog control and Wii U's touch screen, while you control a character with a gimped move set. The levels here are bursting with variety in both design and aesthetic, EAD Tokyo's creativity is at its peak here as seen in the Galaxy games or 3D World. That said, I didn't find Captain Toad very fun or memorable, to the point where it's hard to write about it. For a "puzzle" game, almost all of it revolves around timing and dodging enemies, just walking around with toad, or genuine platforming. That's all fine, but when it's set to a slow moving camera and a slow moving Toad without much thinking involved, too much of it ends up devoid of satisfaction. I don't know if a game that's fundamentally designed around fighting and restricting camera and character controls to succeed is a good thing (at least not for me), even though it's required for what they are trying to do with these weird diorama levels. I'm glad I played it because of how unique it is, but I wasn't a big fan.

Game #22:
Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (PC) / 3.8.17 / 10 hours / 100%

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A mechanically solid Metroidvania with addictive beat-em-up combat and a slick art style. Guacamelee is a fun game but I think it's overly streamlined to the point where it plays into its own detriment. It's about as brainless as it gets when it comes to the subgenre: doors that require an ability are literally giant colored blocks corresponding to colored abilities, progression is very linear, and it doesn't feel like there's much exploration in the traditional sense. The power-ups and collectibles are kind of uninspired and don't feel very rewarding when you get them, but I really like the costumes and the inclusion of little sidequests. The game is highly polished, however, and the great level design combined with the combat made it an overall positive experience.

Game #23:
Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) / 4.4.17 / 58 hours / 100%

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A graphical and technical marvel with great combat and a main quest that gets increasingly intriguing after the first act. It's good overall and I don't regret spending a couple hours a night with it over a month, but I found almost all of the side content, whether it be the stories, characters, points of interests/collectibles, the design of the Cauldrons (and all the areas like it), to be largely uninteresting and trite. Luckily Guerilla doesn't drop the ball with the promise of its central narrative, and it remains enticing despite so much of it being delivered in exposition dumps dropped in bland and repetitive interior environments. Some nights I was close to putting the game down for good, while others I was eager to see what was next or fight a new robot. Unfortunately, HZD doesn't make the cut as one of my favorite open world games.

Game #24:
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (PC) / 4.7.17 / 9.5 hours / 2 playthroughs, 100%, all challenges, climbed tower

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After playing all the Shovel Knight campaigns within the past few months, I think this is legitimately the best one. Yacht Club's level design is simply sublime here, combined with the tightly controlled and satisfying Specter Knight. Unlike Plague, the levels are radically changed, boss battles and music are remixed, the overworld is gone and in its place is a small hub that streamlines level selection for a brisk pace. My complaints are Specter Knight's diagonal slashes can be a bit finicky at times, and it suffers from the same problem as the other campaigns where you become overpowered too quickly with nothing to spend your currency on. Specter Knight is Yacht Club's best outing yet, and an excellent 2D platformer.

Main Post. Hopefully, I can get the next chunk up before finishing my next game.

My main post.


12 | Titan Souls | PC
2.5 hours | Completed May 3rd

This was a really weird game in my opinion. The areas look neat and feel pretty huge at first but the game's super short and it only consists of brutal puzzle-like boss fights. The gameplay is very trial and error because pretty much everything kills you in one hit and that put me off. This definitely wasn't my cup of tea, can't really recommend it. At least some of the bosses looked really cool.

Game 20: Feel the Magic XY/XX

System: Nintendo DS
Year: 2004
Developer: Sonic Team

Overview
This is one of those DS touch-screen minigame collections. The most notable thing about this game is that it was being developed by Sonic Team at the same time as Shadow the Hedgehog. I imagine that created an interesting work environment.

Gameplay
The game consists of about 2 dozen touch screen minigames. The minigames are usually very strange, such as during a car chase, using a slingshot to fire people at another car, or helping people escape a giant antlion.

Story
You play as a street performer who is trying to impress a girl who visits his show. As time goes on, the two of them begin to go on dates, and the player finds themselves having to save the girl from a variety of bizarre dangers.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• There's a girl in a bikini on the cover.

Cons:

• Most of the game. It's too short, the minigames aren't really that fun, and the later ones are annoyingly difficult. You can unlock a bunch of different costumes for the girl to wear, but that requires you to actually play the game a bunch.

Rating

Bad

This game has some quaint moments, and it's a unique premise, but the game really isn't that great. The main appeal is the bizarre nature of the story, but it becomes bland after a few levels. I wouldn't really recommend this game.

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For a list of the other games I've completed this year, visit my mother post here.

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Game 21: Axiom Verge

System: PC
Year: 2015
Developer: Thomas Happ Games

Overview
Someone finally decided enough was enough, and decided to make their own Metroid game, complete with creepy alien environment, settings that would fit in an Alien film, and gun shootin action.

Gameplay
The game plays much like a metroid game. You can run, jump, and shoot in 8 directions. There are a number of different weapons you can unlock and switch between, many of which are optional. You also gain different abilities that allow you to access new areas in traditional Metroid style.

Story
You play as a scientist who has been mysteriously sent to another planet following a lab accident. You meet up with giant machines who tell you you need to overthrow a powerful force in order to return home.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Great gameplay
• Excellent atmosphere

Cons:

• With the plethora of weapons, I was surprised to find I never found one I really liked. I ended up using the default weapon 90% of the time, only switching for specific enemies.

Rating

Very Good

Excellent game, highly recommended for anyone looking for a modern Metroid fix.

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For a list of the other games I've completed this year, visit my mother post here.

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17. NieR:Automata™ - 28 hours
Oh, Nier. I hate this game so much, and love it at the same time. This game is a rollercoaster, first hours was great, than i started to doing sidequests and quickly burned out. Story is interesting but i lost all my interest and was not really impressed by real ending because game is WAY too repetitive. Nier can easily won "Most unnecessary openworld in videogaming history", it really hurts narrative even if you'll ignore all sidequests, story and combat is great, but you're wasting most of your time on some unnecessary backtracking shit. Hacking was fun first 20-30 times, but it started to become repetitive very soon, even levels for boss fights were the same. Even a music, my god, i loved it at first hours, but now i can't stand those female vocal parts because they were repeated in every dramatic scene, i hear them in my nightmares now. Was it really necessary to bury all great parts of the game under endless fillers that mostly doesn't have any really interesting info to say? Also, i absolutely hate 9S, this one of the most annoying and dumb characters i've ever encountered in videogames. Seriously, this guy is always complaining and overreacting about everything, he was driving me nuts every time i was forced to see scenes with him. I wish they'd give A2 more screentime, she is so much more awesome and great character than this little prick 9S. Last thing i want to say about Nier - even if you are completionist like me, i highly recommend to ignore all sidequests and other things before finishing the game and unlocking chapter select. Just run through story and beat it as soon as possible, and then think about everything else.

A 2D PnC game following a detective who investigates a murder where the victim was tabbed in the back 14 times. The game is originally in Portuguese, however the English translation is very wonky with various grammatical errors among other things.
The gameplay is pretty simple since it mainly involves interacting with objects and characters. During key moments during the progression you get to confront suspects and provide evidence that links to the crime.
It's an overall decent PnC game and is GAFfer made.

Slow month. Away for Easter, but managed to play (and adore) 'Ori and the Blind Forest' on X1.

I've got a pile of these kind of games sitting on hard drives; Guacamelee, Strider, Axiom Verge. All unplayed, all taking their cues from my favourite game of all time (SotN) what's wrong with me???

April has been an intense month for me gaming-wise, completed lots of games, this is part one:

Game 13: Evoland II - 4/5 - 25:45 hours (09/04/2017)

100% the game with every achievement. As a sequel, Evoland II blows the first entry out of the water in terms of scope: while the first one was a nice action adventure Zelda-like, with sprinkles of other genres, this is a full-blown action RPG with a whole card mini-game in it. The game features a time-traveling gimmick and a varying structure: the first half is totally linear and definitely the less interesting one, on the opposite, during the second part the game opens up, world map and all that jazz, letting you choose among many quests. The game is ambitious, the plot sorta clichè but still interesting, there are surprises at each corner thanks to many genre switch-ups, but the length of the adventure does a disservice to the experience, making it go a little stale by the end. The game could've been much better if it adhered more to a personal style, forgoing the countless and tiring pop and game references, which are literally everywhere, and lessening the number of mini-games and genre changes. Still a pretty long and engrossing game.

This game is:

+

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Game 14: Inside - 5/5 - 6:06 hours (13/04/2017)

Got to the end of the story and found all secret rooms. A huge step up in tone and graphics from Limbo, even though the themes and the way of conveying them are similar. The animations of the boy are top notch, the world sucks you in immediately and never lets you go (I actually had to finish it in one sitting, couldn't stop), the progression in gameplay is nicely paired with a progression in the understanding of the world around you. The OST is unique, thanks to the fact it's been filtered through a human skull (!!), and definitely appropriate for this kind of misterious and low-profile adventure, where you must constantly hide. The game has many layers of interpretation and meaning, from the most face-value ones to deeper themes, and it loves to play with your expectations since the very beginning, as you think . Personally my own favourite interpretation is that the game is .

This game is:

+

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Game 15: Shovel Knight - Specter of Torment - 4/5 - 7:23 hours (17/04/2017)

Got the credits and all the collectibles, finished a few challenges. Best campaign so far in Shovel Knight from a narrative standpoint, I really felt invested in Specter Knight's story by the end of the game. The game also manages to be a breath of fresh air after the first two campaigns, because it changes the basic structure, from retreading the same overworld, to a more Megaman-like stage choice, while also being a prequel and featuring vastly different levels from those of the first two parts. The gameplay is also my favourite take so far in the series: while Shovel Knifght's controls are tight but unforgiving and Plague Knight's are kind of sloppy and less immediate to learn, Specter Knight controls like a charm, and it strikes the perfect balance between being challenging and frustrating. Moreover I appreciate that the levels are a tad shorter and toned down the collectathon that was Plague of Shadows.

This game is:

+

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Game 16: Shovel Knight - Plague of Shadows - 3/5 - 11:20 hours (17/04/2017)

Reached the ending, got all collectibles. The game is a good follow-up to the original; it's lovely how it tries to reuse what it can, while changing the way you experience it: a true exercise in style from the developer. However I feel as the game retreads too much the same ground, while offering too little new to hold your attention for the whole length of the campaign. The fact that Plague Knight is a much more complicated character than Shovel Knight gameplay-wise doesn't help: you constantly have to mess around in the menus, pausing the action, and still you never feel completely in control of the little guy; even after hours of trial and error, you almost never quite get the results you really want from the alchemical combination. Still the basis for a good game are totally there.

This game is:

+

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#44 X-Men Origins: Wolverine ★★★.5 - Xbox 360 - May 4th - 7 hours
One of the good movie based games of last gen, doesn't hold back with the violence. Tearing guys to shreds is fun but the pacing is a little off in the middle and it outstays its welcome slightly.


#45 Sly Cooper HD ★★★.5 - PS3 - May 4th - 4 hours
Loved the presentation and the style, didn't love the dodgy hit dectection or the minigames. If you don't go for 100% you can beat it in one sitting too. Did enough for me to check out the sequel though.

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20) Abzu - 2 hours - 5/3
This was a stunningly beautiful game to explore and I'm very glad I played through it, although I wish the story had been a little less nebulous.