Original Post
For the month of June I completed 12 games.
My progress for this game is
64/52.
1. Lego Batman 2 Finished on June 3 10 hours
This is a pretty fun game ruined by some pretty awful controls. I really wanted to do a lot more of the hub world collecting stuff but decided midway through just to focus on the main story. The flying controls with Superman are horrible. The navigation around the map is terrible. I can't tell you how many times I put a marker somewhere and the purple dots to guide me just lead me in circles. I enjoyed most of the main game. It was a bit different than the 3DS version of this game that I played last year. The platforming was also glitchy as hell. Sometimes my character would get stuck in the slide animation for no reason. Also the AI is really bad. They either get stuck on things trying to platform or stand there and get punched in the face so when you switch to them they are always near death. When you need them to cover you so you can do things they rarely do. I finished the main story with 31.9% but I know if I did a free play run and focused on collectibles I could probably get much higher. I have a few other Lego games in the pipe and I'm sure one of them will tickle my fancy enough to grind for trophies!
2. Pokemon Y Finished on June 11 24 hours
After Ultra Sun and Moon were announced I felt like showing Kalos some love and playing Gen VI again. Team of Greninja, Venusaur, Tyrantrum, Gardevoir, Absol, and Volcarona. I hatched a Larvesta early in the game and nursed it to level 59 and then it became a beast. Absol was Super Luck with nothing but high crit ratio moves and a hold item that boosted crits so every attack of his was a crit. Kalos was fun but having to go back and use HM moves after Gen VII is rough. Kalos itself I feel bad for. I still feel like it deserved a third version to tie the story together. Playing this gen a few years ago it felt absolutely groundbreaking what they had done for the series both in terms of presentation and the mega evolutions. Now I feel the same way about Gen VII.
3. Pokemon GO Finshed on June 12 - ??? hours
I've gone hardcore into Pokemon Go the past couple months, making more of an effort to hit stops and catch pokemon every day for streak bonuses. I'm even starting to fill in my pokedex and now that I'm off work for the Summer I have been walking every single day, sometimes multiple times per day, around my neighborhood and various other places to hit stops, hatch eggs, and just have fun. The pokewalker on the original Heart Gold game first got me walking many years ago and has lead to a lot of weight loss and a higher level of physical fitness. When this was first announced I thought it was really dumb but I'm having a lot of fun coupling Pokemon Go with a personal fitness challenge of getting as many steps on my 3DS as possible.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series Episode 1 Finished on June 17 1 hour, 45 minutes
For as much flack as Telltale gets these days, I really enjoyed this first episode. Like every Telltale episode 1, it starts off slow but by the end it hooks you. It helps that I care about the characters but I find the tension between some of them at least somewhat believable. The game ran fine which is not always a guarantee with a Telltale game. I like how it also doesn't try to piggy back off the movies beyond having the characters look and sort of sound like the movie versions. The story seems distinct enough for now that it isn't a straight retelling of the movie. Would definitely recommend for Telltale fans or fans of Marvel or the Guardians themselves.
5. Onimusha Warlords Finished on June 17 3 hours, 30 minutes
This has become a summertime tradition for me playing these games. I always hold out hope for an HD remaster at E3 and when it doesn't happen I just replay them on my PS2 anyway. The game itself is a very fun and cool action/hack-n-slash game featuring a samurai protagonist fighting his way through hordes of demons to stop a fictionalized version of Nobunaga Oda from becoming the rule of Japan by allying with demons. The story in the first game I feel is pretty light but the motives for revenge are there and it makes some scenes and fights very cool. Killing enemies yields souls that you can absorb in your gauntlet and use to power up weapons and enhance various collectibles like healing herbs or arrow/bullets for projectiles. The combat is very fun even though the controls for the game are straight out of 2001 with d-pad movement only. Watching the credits right now I see Inafune and Shinji Mikami both worked on this game in some capacity which I probably knew once upon a time but forgot until right now. It is my summer tradition to try and get through the original trilogy of this game to keep hope alive for an HD remaster some day.
6. Pokemon Omega Ruby Finished on June 18 22 hours, 20 minutes
As I continue the Gen VI retrospective, the Hoenn confirmed remake is up next. Hoenn is one of my favorite regions because of the water. The original Sapphire got me back into pokemon in high school after being bullied out of it during Gen II so these games and their remakes will always hold a special place in my heart. Team consisted of Blaziken, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon, and Golem. The Aqua/Magma stuff I think was well done coming off of two gens of Team Rocket seeming more inept. Depending on your version the evil team actually succeeds but the power of the ancient pokemon is much more than they realize. I'm not sure the logic behind turning the entire world to water or land but this is video games. The mega storyline continues with primal reversion. I still feel bad that Kalos did not get revisited but these games serve both as remake and continuing on the story of mega evolution that began in X and Y. It was fun to finally do a playthrough with mostly Eeveelutions but I really should have used Umbreon too. It seemed like I was always short of a dark attacker throughout the entire game. With all the dumb HM moves in this region it is extremely tough to balance six pokemon and have your designated HM pokemon too. I do not miss HM moves at all going forward in Gen VII. If Hoenn has one flaw, it is Surf, Dive, and Waterfall being needed to explore everything.
7. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward Finished on June 20 33 hours, 30 minutes
This was a replay again. I appreciate this game much more on a second playthrough. I sort of disliked the game a tiny bit based on my feelings of Zero Time Dilemma but this replay has made me like the game all over again. There are quite a few emotional moments that got me this time that didn't the first time. And the moments that got me the first time got me this time. For such a story based experience I won't say much about the game. I did get my platinum trophy for the Nonary Games release on Vita.
8. Digital: A Love Story Finished on June 21 1 hour 40 minutes
I saw a streamer I follow play this game a long time ago and ever since I wanted to play it for myself but just never did. I downloaded it a while ago and it sat on my desktop waiting to be played until I decided to tonight. It hearkens back to the old days of your local BBS. I couldn't have been older than eight or nine years old when my family got a computer and were able to access it. I was on the younger side of the users there so it was difficult for me to make friends but my older sister was able to. They were ahead of their time having like meetups at the local roller skating rink on the weekend and cool stuff like that. I think someone even organized a kind of picnic or something for people to attend. I have quite a bit of nostalgia for stuff like this so I had to play the game for myself. You basically just log on to a BBS, read and reply to messages, and keep on going from BBS to BBS until you unravel the story about how AI programs are being hunted down. It seems silly but I did become attached to the one we are trying to help. From reading her messages you get the picture of someone whose life is just in a state of disarray and in need of someone to talk to and be friends with. It was short and a couple times I got stuck on what to do but I really enjoyed the game even though it is not typically the kind of thing I would play. I just needed something relaxing and easy to work with and for a couple hours this game was it.
9. Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny Finished on June 23 7 hours, 35 minutes
This game takes what worked from the first game and expands upon it. You play as samurai Jubei Yagyu and can possibly play as four other characters that feature their own stories that intertwine with the main narrative of the game. Combat is similar but a little more refined. There are now secret techniques for each of the four main melee weapons that Jubei can use. Gone are the days of powering up the weapon and your magic separately. You just power up one thing now. Other playable characters also can absorb souls as well. There is a weird gift giving mechanic that decides who your primary best friend is. Currying favor with one will cause their rival to not like you. There are cutscenes galore for each character and getting 100% story mode progress is something I still have not done despite playing and beating this game at least five times now. Just this playthrough was the first time on this save file that I had the spearman Ekei as my primary best friend. Warlords is a great game, but Samurai's Destiny takes everything great about the original and makes it better. More weapons, better playable characters besides the primary protagonist, a deeper combat system with the secret techniques and the Oni orbs, and a deeper and better presented story.
10. Onimusha 3: Demon Siege Finished on June 25 11 hours, 14 minutes
The epic conclusion of the trilogy. For this playthrough I did all demon realms to unlock the ultimate weapons for our heroes Jacques and Samanosuke. Finally you are able to use the analog stick to control your characters! This comes with a downside that your fighter auto aims and sometimes they choose to aim at a flying enemy instead of the huge beast in front of them. This is especially punishing as Jacques because he doesn't have the bow and arrow like Samanosuke. I don't mind playing as Jacques and even the third playable character is fun to use and different. We have come along way since the Kaede sections of Warlords that is for sure. The time travel aspect of the story I'm not sure I get. I think it works in the frame of a video game and you sort of not take things too seriously. Originally playing the game back in the day I guessed the ending and was basically correct in what would happen. The gameplay of this game is still really fun and you can even unlock the weapons from Warlords to use throughout the game. This playthrough I had them but did not use them until the original three weapons from this game were maxed. It helped make the final demon realm run really smooth compared to Jacques who got bullied pretty hard a few times. His lack of real reliable range and AoE magic attack really stung. This game looks better than the previous two as well. I had a few weird audio bugs where the voice acting for certain lines was so low that I couldn't hear it but otherwise great presentation as well. You can even turn the blood to green color instead of red! Overall another fun time of romping through all three games. Now we can only sit back and hope that Capcom gets off their ass and remasters these amazing games so we can all enjoy them on modern consoles! In case you couldn't tell by how much I'm gushing over these games, they are among my favorites of all time. If you haven't played them and still own a PS2, try and find these games and give them a play.
11. Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Game Episode 2 Finished on June 26 1 hour, 30 minutes
I enjoyed this one a little more. I do feel like many of the choices you are forced to make will please one Guardian to the displeasure of another. The choices were tough but I tried to think rationally even if it meant hurting a member of the team here or there. Definitely some more emotional moments in this episode and I expect that to be the norm going forward for the rest of the series. Everything else is on par with what you'd expect from a Telltale game. I am two episodes in and haven't had a game crash or bug yet but I did somehow disconnect and didn't get to see where my choices lined up with the choices that everyone else had made during this episode. I'm also getting used to the voice acting although I probably will never get used to how canine Rocket looks. Some of the charm of Peter Quill is gone because you are choosing most of his lines and those lines just seem a little generic to me. Still had fun playing through but there is just that tiny little bit of personality that is missing from this game. A solid 8/10 experience for sure but it could have been more.
12. Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition Finished on June 28 15 hours
I decided to play this before I even knew the Necromancer was coming out so soon. I played as the Crusader and played mostly on Hard or the difficulty above that. I enjoyed roaming around and slaying demons and skeletons and reapers and all sorts of ghoulish things. Something comforting about being able to just completely liquify a horde of enemies trying to kill you. I got a few cool trophies like for picking up a certain amount of gold or killing a certain number of elites. I had a lot of fun playing but I'm not sure I'd be into playing the game in seasons mode or doing much more beyond the main story. I love action/loot games like this to just romp through the main story but grinding up good gear and equips isn't something I'm fond of really. I should have played his on hardcore mode though since I didn't die. Would have been a few more cool trophies to get. I may do a hardcore run eventually when I get that itch to play a game like this again. It felt pretty cool playing the Onimusha games and killing demons there and playing this and killing all manners of things termed as demons and then killing Diablo himself. Too bad this game only has the one expansion pack. I feel like they could have done more with the game and I would have loved it.
