Games Beaten 2021
Re: Games Beaten 2021
1. Banjo-Kazooie
2. Mega Man 3
3. Mega Man X
4. Donkey Kong Country 2 (102%)
5. Mega Man 2
6. Mega Man X2
All on original hardware.
2. Mega Man 3
3. Mega Man X
4. Donkey Kong Country 2 (102%)
5. Mega Man 2
6. Mega Man X2
All on original hardware.
Re: Games Beaten 2021
...I finished Dandara, a pretty interesting Metroidvania. It looks like I'll have to do it again though since some achievements failed to unlock.
- alienjesus
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8779
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
- Location: London, UK.
Re: Games Beaten 2021
AJ's Games Beaten 2021:
1. Machinarium Switch eShop
2. Pikuniku Switch eShop
3. Sonic Generations XBox 360
4. Neutopia Wii VC
5. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown PS4
6. Coca-Cola Kid Game Gear
7. Gunstar Heroes Game Gear
8. The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie SNES
9. Sonic Mania Plus Switch
10. Mickey No Tokyo Disneyland Daibōken SFC
11. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky DS
12. Yakuza 0 PS4
13. Fire Emblem: Three Houses Switch
14. Soleil Mega Drive
15. Stranded Kids GBC
16. Great Greed Game Boy
17. Crystal Warriors Game Gear
18. Madou Monogatari I: Mittsu No Madō-kyū Game Gear
19. Biomotor Unitron NGPC
20. New Pokémon Snap Switch
21. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3
22. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance PS3
23. Command & Conquer: Red Alert PS1
24. Ape Escape PS1
25. Ys Seven PSN Vita
26. Probotector NES
27. Tetris Attack SNES
28. Magical Pop’n SFC
29. Bubble Symphony Saturn
30. Sexy Parodius Saturn
31. Toree 3D Switch eShop
32. SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei Switch eShop
33. Lego Builder’s Journey Switch eShop
34. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure Switch eShop
35. Later Alligator Switch eShop
36. Mario Party 2 N64
37. Gate of Thunder PC Engine CD
38. Mushihimesama Switch eShop
Remember when I used to have time to play games and write reviews about them? That feels like a distant memory.
However, I've been keeping a record here for 10 years or more now, and I'd hate to lose that just because I don't have the time to write about them, so here's all the games I've beaten since February and some more brief than usual thoughts about them:
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Yakuza 0
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Soleil
Stranded Kids
Great Greed
Crystal Warriors
Madou Monogatari I: Mittsu No Madō-kyū
Biomotor Unitron
New Pokémon Snap
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Ape Escape
Ys Seven
Probotector
Tetris Attack
Magical Pop'n
Bubble Symphony
Sexy Parodius
Toree 3D
SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei
Lego Builder's Journey
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Later Alligator
Mario Party 2
Gate of Thunder
Mushihimesama
1. Machinarium Switch eShop
2. Pikuniku Switch eShop
3. Sonic Generations XBox 360
4. Neutopia Wii VC
5. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown PS4
6. Coca-Cola Kid Game Gear
7. Gunstar Heroes Game Gear
8. The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie SNES
9. Sonic Mania Plus Switch
10. Mickey No Tokyo Disneyland Daibōken SFC
11. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky DS
12. Yakuza 0 PS4
13. Fire Emblem: Three Houses Switch
14. Soleil Mega Drive
15. Stranded Kids GBC
16. Great Greed Game Boy
17. Crystal Warriors Game Gear
18. Madou Monogatari I: Mittsu No Madō-kyū Game Gear
19. Biomotor Unitron NGPC
20. New Pokémon Snap Switch
21. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3
22. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance PS3
23. Command & Conquer: Red Alert PS1
24. Ape Escape PS1
25. Ys Seven PSN Vita
26. Probotector NES
27. Tetris Attack SNES
28. Magical Pop’n SFC
29. Bubble Symphony Saturn
30. Sexy Parodius Saturn
31. Toree 3D Switch eShop
32. SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei Switch eShop
33. Lego Builder’s Journey Switch eShop
34. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure Switch eShop
35. Later Alligator Switch eShop
36. Mario Party 2 N64
37. Gate of Thunder PC Engine CD
38. Mushihimesama Switch eShop
Remember when I used to have time to play games and write reviews about them? That feels like a distant memory.
However, I've been keeping a record here for 10 years or more now, and I'd hate to lose that just because I don't have the time to write about them, so here's all the games I've beaten since February and some more brief than usual thoughts about them:
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Yakuza 0
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Soleil
Stranded Kids
Great Greed
Crystal Warriors
Madou Monogatari I: Mittsu No Madō-kyū
Biomotor Unitron
New Pokémon Snap
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Ape Escape
Ys Seven
Probotector
Tetris Attack
Magical Pop'n
Bubble Symphony
Sexy Parodius
Toree 3D
SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei
Lego Builder's Journey
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
Later Alligator
Mario Party 2
Gate of Thunder
Mushihimesama
Re: Games Beaten 2021
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
First 50:
51. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - Switch
52. Banner of the Maid - Switch
53. CrossCode - Switch
54. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency - PC
55. Ultima Underworld - PC
56. Betrayal at Krondor - PC
57. Assassin's Creed: Origins - PC
58. Axiom Verge 2 - Switch
59. Elderborn - PC
60. Hellbound - PC
61. Wargroove - Switch
62. Eye of the Beholder - PC
63. Quake: Dimension of the Past - PC
64. Quake: Dimension of the Machine - PC
65. Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown - Switch
66. Anopek - PC
67. Baten Kaitos - Gamecube
68. No More Heroes 3 - Switch
69. Eye of the Beholder II - PC
70. Eye of the Beholder III - PC
71. Hedon II - PC
72. Deathloop - PC
Deathloop is the latest game from Arkane, best known for Dishonored and the Prey reboot. The game builds upon things they've done in their previous works but adds a dimension that really sets it apart as a unique thing in the video game landscape. Deathloop is extremely hard to try and give a short description of; it pulls gameplay elements from Dishonored and Majora's Mask and story elements from Edge of Tomorrow and Groundhog Day, all with a 60's aesthetic that gives it a touch of panache.
The basic premise is that a tear in time space was discovered on a remote island and a group of "visionaries" figured out that they could use it to create a time loop that would keep repeating the same day over and over. You wake up inside this time loop and have the seemingly unique (with one exception) ability to maintain your memories of the previous loop (though your memories are blank prior to that first awakening). After figuring out that you're trapped in the loop you decide to try and figure out how to stop it. However, there is one other person who maintains her memories across the loop boundaries, and she is determined to stop you.
Whenever the day loops you lose all your equipment (as you didn't collect it yet) but retain all your knowledge. Thus, a code to a door you picked up in a previous iteration can be used again without having to find it. There are a handful of codes that change daily, but they are for one-and-done acquisitions. Fairly early in the plot progression you unlock the ability to attune items to you through spending a currency gained from breaking down other items or collected in the world. An item attuned to you will show up on your person when the day loops around, but an item broken down is erased from this looping and will need to be recollected and rebound (if you'd already attuned it). This provides a level of progression on top of the knowledge progression.
In order to break the loop you quickly figure out that you will need to kill all the visionaries, as the loop is attuned to them. However, at the onset this is an impossible task. The island is divided into four areas that can be visited during four times of day; morning, noon, afternoon, night. Leaving an area causes time to pass, and each area has elements that change depending on the time period; many critical things, including the locations of the visionaries, are locked to certain time periods. In fact, at the start of the game the locations of the visionaries are will include showing up in two locations at the same time period. Clearly you're going to need to find ways to manipulate their locations so you can kill them in your fixed amount of time.
The game very helpfully keeps track of all of this; you get a nice big board of various threads to follow to figure out how to achieve your goals. This frequently involves needing to loop a couple times; you might find an important NPC killed at noon so you need to visit in the morning to adjust the environment to prevent that from happening. As you piece together the final sequence of steps to win you'll also encounter various documents giving a bit more insight into how things got the way they are in the first place. Once everything is figured out you roll out on your last mission (assuming you don't mess up) to line up all the dominos and knock them all down.
Now to talk about the actual moment to moment gameplay. The baseline is your Dishonored/Prey stealth engine. Enemies can be alerted based on what goes on in the environment, and have different AI depending on if they see something bad has happened vs. seeing YOU. Enemies present a pretty strong threat, as you can quickly be overwhelmed if you go loud without a plan, but at the same time they aren't the primary focus; rather they are an obstacle to be overcome or avoided. In terms of your toolbox, you have three weapon slots, a remote hack device (great for turning turrets to your side), a multi-function grenade (grenade, proxy mine, silent tripwire killer), and three slots for your special powers. One is locked to you and gives you three chances at a level and time of day; the first two deaths will respawn you where you were a certain amount of time in the past (think Tracer's rewind from Overwatch) but the third loops the day early. The other two are selected from five options available that must be collected from killing visionaries. Each also has a series of upgrades that can be collected, again from killing the visionaries you got them from. Make sure you remember to attune those, as you'll have to recollect them if you don't. They're all fairly standard utilities powers; Dishonored's teleport, a cloak, a damage increase/reduction power for going loud, tossing dudes in the air, and linking dudes together so killing one kills them all. You also get some personal passive upgrades and passive upgrades for you gun, all of which must be attuned to persist.
There's one final element, and that's Julianna. Inspired by Dark Souls' invasion mechanic, you can experience Julianna invading your game whenever you're in the same location and time of day as a visionary. She can either be AI controlled or controlled by a human; you're free to select whether you can be invaded by humans or only the AI before every map. When she shows up she spawns an antenna that locks your access to the exit from the zone; you must hack this or be trapped forever. She only has one life, but has the advantage of not aggroing enemies and thus can pick the terms of the engagement. Killing Julianna, aside from removing the threat, can cause her to drop any of the special powers or their upgrades, as well as good guns and passive upgrades. The one thing that isn't great is that at the time I write this melee weapons are coded to be instant kill once you're in their face; the meta right now seems to be rushing them down and one shotting which isn't really fun for either side.
Overall Deathloop is an extremely well crafted game that makes you feel great as you slowly uncover all the steps to be able to set up your final murder chain. As your character learns you feel rewarded for putting pieces together, and your ability to navigate the maps improves. By the end you should be able to blaze your way through because you know where everyone is and how they tend to react. You have become the apex predator and can finally stop the loop.
First 50:
51. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - Switch
52. Banner of the Maid - Switch
53. CrossCode - Switch
54. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency - PC
55. Ultima Underworld - PC
56. Betrayal at Krondor - PC
57. Assassin's Creed: Origins - PC
58. Axiom Verge 2 - Switch
59. Elderborn - PC
60. Hellbound - PC
61. Wargroove - Switch
62. Eye of the Beholder - PC
63. Quake: Dimension of the Past - PC
64. Quake: Dimension of the Machine - PC
65. Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown - Switch
66. Anopek - PC
67. Baten Kaitos - Gamecube
68. No More Heroes 3 - Switch
69. Eye of the Beholder II - PC
70. Eye of the Beholder III - PC
71. Hedon II - PC
72. Deathloop - PC
Deathloop is the latest game from Arkane, best known for Dishonored and the Prey reboot. The game builds upon things they've done in their previous works but adds a dimension that really sets it apart as a unique thing in the video game landscape. Deathloop is extremely hard to try and give a short description of; it pulls gameplay elements from Dishonored and Majora's Mask and story elements from Edge of Tomorrow and Groundhog Day, all with a 60's aesthetic that gives it a touch of panache.
The basic premise is that a tear in time space was discovered on a remote island and a group of "visionaries" figured out that they could use it to create a time loop that would keep repeating the same day over and over. You wake up inside this time loop and have the seemingly unique (with one exception) ability to maintain your memories of the previous loop (though your memories are blank prior to that first awakening). After figuring out that you're trapped in the loop you decide to try and figure out how to stop it. However, there is one other person who maintains her memories across the loop boundaries, and she is determined to stop you.
Whenever the day loops you lose all your equipment (as you didn't collect it yet) but retain all your knowledge. Thus, a code to a door you picked up in a previous iteration can be used again without having to find it. There are a handful of codes that change daily, but they are for one-and-done acquisitions. Fairly early in the plot progression you unlock the ability to attune items to you through spending a currency gained from breaking down other items or collected in the world. An item attuned to you will show up on your person when the day loops around, but an item broken down is erased from this looping and will need to be recollected and rebound (if you'd already attuned it). This provides a level of progression on top of the knowledge progression.
In order to break the loop you quickly figure out that you will need to kill all the visionaries, as the loop is attuned to them. However, at the onset this is an impossible task. The island is divided into four areas that can be visited during four times of day; morning, noon, afternoon, night. Leaving an area causes time to pass, and each area has elements that change depending on the time period; many critical things, including the locations of the visionaries, are locked to certain time periods. In fact, at the start of the game the locations of the visionaries are will include showing up in two locations at the same time period. Clearly you're going to need to find ways to manipulate their locations so you can kill them in your fixed amount of time.
The game very helpfully keeps track of all of this; you get a nice big board of various threads to follow to figure out how to achieve your goals. This frequently involves needing to loop a couple times; you might find an important NPC killed at noon so you need to visit in the morning to adjust the environment to prevent that from happening. As you piece together the final sequence of steps to win you'll also encounter various documents giving a bit more insight into how things got the way they are in the first place. Once everything is figured out you roll out on your last mission (assuming you don't mess up) to line up all the dominos and knock them all down.
Now to talk about the actual moment to moment gameplay. The baseline is your Dishonored/Prey stealth engine. Enemies can be alerted based on what goes on in the environment, and have different AI depending on if they see something bad has happened vs. seeing YOU. Enemies present a pretty strong threat, as you can quickly be overwhelmed if you go loud without a plan, but at the same time they aren't the primary focus; rather they are an obstacle to be overcome or avoided. In terms of your toolbox, you have three weapon slots, a remote hack device (great for turning turrets to your side), a multi-function grenade (grenade, proxy mine, silent tripwire killer), and three slots for your special powers. One is locked to you and gives you three chances at a level and time of day; the first two deaths will respawn you where you were a certain amount of time in the past (think Tracer's rewind from Overwatch) but the third loops the day early. The other two are selected from five options available that must be collected from killing visionaries. Each also has a series of upgrades that can be collected, again from killing the visionaries you got them from. Make sure you remember to attune those, as you'll have to recollect them if you don't. They're all fairly standard utilities powers; Dishonored's teleport, a cloak, a damage increase/reduction power for going loud, tossing dudes in the air, and linking dudes together so killing one kills them all. You also get some personal passive upgrades and passive upgrades for you gun, all of which must be attuned to persist.
There's one final element, and that's Julianna. Inspired by Dark Souls' invasion mechanic, you can experience Julianna invading your game whenever you're in the same location and time of day as a visionary. She can either be AI controlled or controlled by a human; you're free to select whether you can be invaded by humans or only the AI before every map. When she shows up she spawns an antenna that locks your access to the exit from the zone; you must hack this or be trapped forever. She only has one life, but has the advantage of not aggroing enemies and thus can pick the terms of the engagement. Killing Julianna, aside from removing the threat, can cause her to drop any of the special powers or their upgrades, as well as good guns and passive upgrades. The one thing that isn't great is that at the time I write this melee weapons are coded to be instant kill once you're in their face; the meta right now seems to be rushing them down and one shotting which isn't really fun for either side.
Overall Deathloop is an extremely well crafted game that makes you feel great as you slowly uncover all the steps to be able to set up your final murder chain. As your character learns you feel rewarded for putting pieces together, and your ability to navigate the maps improves. By the end you should be able to blaze your way through because you know where everyone is and how they tend to react. You have become the apex predator and can finally stop the loop.
- Markies
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 1418
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:29 pm
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2021
Markies' Games Beat List Of 2021!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*
1. Midtown Madness 3 (XBOX)
2. X-Men 2: Clone Wars (GEN)
3. Sonic Adventure 2 (SDC)
4. Mega Man 7 (SNES)
5. Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (PS2)
6. Bust A Move 4 (PS1)
7. Phantasy Star IV (GEN)
8. Gunbird 2 (SDC)
***9. The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN)***
10. Fable: The Lost Chapters (XBOX)
11. Growlanser: Heritage Of War (PS2)
12. Double Dragon (NES)
13. Star Ocean (SNES)
14. Pokemon Snap (N64)
15. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GCN)
16. Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (GEN)
17. Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2)
18. Super R-Type (SNES)
19. Threads Of Fate (PS1)
20. The Bouncer (PS2)
21. Phantasy Star Online Version 2 (SDC)
22. Final Fantasy III (NES)
23. Psychonauts (XBOX)
I beat Psychonauts on the Microsoft XBOX this afternoon!
When I first bought my XBOX and went shopping for all of its games, one of the games I really wanted to buy was Psychonauts. I remember the game getting rave reviews when it came out and having a degree in Psychology, it highly interested me. However, I never found it on my initial shopping trip and throughout the years, other games began to spark my interest and it fell by the way side. Well, last year, I was looking for a new XBOX game and I wanted something a bit different. I then looked at my list and noticed Psychonauts and how it had been a while since I played a platformer. Deciding now would be a good time, I decided to pick it up and then played it just a few months later.
I must have completely forgotten about the game because when I booted it up, I was not expecting a Banjo style collect-a-thon Platformer. You sneak into a Camp that trains children to become Psychic Soldiers and help out the world. The camp is your base area that you can run around to collect items along with buying upgrades. You then go into somebody's mind for each level to help them out and fix what is wrong with them. The levels make up the bulk of the game and each of them is incredibly unique. It was very fun exploring each level as no one feels the same as any other one. Much like the levels, the characters are very unique and each one of them has its own personality. I felt a joy in helping them out and just listening them talk to you about their problems.
I enjoyed all of the characters except the main character. Maybe it is because I'm old and the Voice Actor does many kids shows, but I found him grating and annoying. Most of the bosses are fairly simple and not too much trouble. However, there is an annoying boss in the middle of the game and the final boss rush is complete B.S. You have to protect a little kid from getting beaten up and he made me miss Baby Mario in Super Mario World 2. Also, one of the final bosses is a timed platforming section that is utterly terrible.
Overall, I still enjoyed my time with Psychonauts. The final part of the game did not damper or sour my overall experience with the game. The majority of the game is a fantastic platforming experience and one that I think any fan of the genre would love. Also, the writing is quirky and funny enough that anybody enjoys a good written game would enjoy it too!
*Denotes Replay For Completion*
1. Midtown Madness 3 (XBOX)
2. X-Men 2: Clone Wars (GEN)
3. Sonic Adventure 2 (SDC)
4. Mega Man 7 (SNES)
5. Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (PS2)
6. Bust A Move 4 (PS1)
7. Phantasy Star IV (GEN)
8. Gunbird 2 (SDC)
***9. The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN)***
10. Fable: The Lost Chapters (XBOX)
11. Growlanser: Heritage Of War (PS2)
12. Double Dragon (NES)
13. Star Ocean (SNES)
14. Pokemon Snap (N64)
15. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GCN)
16. Castle Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (GEN)
17. Stella Deus: The Gate Of Eternity (PS2)
18. Super R-Type (SNES)
19. Threads Of Fate (PS1)
20. The Bouncer (PS2)
21. Phantasy Star Online Version 2 (SDC)
22. Final Fantasy III (NES)
23. Psychonauts (XBOX)
I beat Psychonauts on the Microsoft XBOX this afternoon!
When I first bought my XBOX and went shopping for all of its games, one of the games I really wanted to buy was Psychonauts. I remember the game getting rave reviews when it came out and having a degree in Psychology, it highly interested me. However, I never found it on my initial shopping trip and throughout the years, other games began to spark my interest and it fell by the way side. Well, last year, I was looking for a new XBOX game and I wanted something a bit different. I then looked at my list and noticed Psychonauts and how it had been a while since I played a platformer. Deciding now would be a good time, I decided to pick it up and then played it just a few months later.
I must have completely forgotten about the game because when I booted it up, I was not expecting a Banjo style collect-a-thon Platformer. You sneak into a Camp that trains children to become Psychic Soldiers and help out the world. The camp is your base area that you can run around to collect items along with buying upgrades. You then go into somebody's mind for each level to help them out and fix what is wrong with them. The levels make up the bulk of the game and each of them is incredibly unique. It was very fun exploring each level as no one feels the same as any other one. Much like the levels, the characters are very unique and each one of them has its own personality. I felt a joy in helping them out and just listening them talk to you about their problems.
I enjoyed all of the characters except the main character. Maybe it is because I'm old and the Voice Actor does many kids shows, but I found him grating and annoying. Most of the bosses are fairly simple and not too much trouble. However, there is an annoying boss in the middle of the game and the final boss rush is complete B.S. You have to protect a little kid from getting beaten up and he made me miss Baby Mario in Super Mario World 2. Also, one of the final bosses is a timed platforming section that is utterly terrible.
Overall, I still enjoyed my time with Psychonauts. The final part of the game did not damper or sour my overall experience with the game. The majority of the game is a fantastic platforming experience and one that I think any fan of the genre would love. Also, the writing is quirky and funny enough that anybody enjoys a good written game would enjoy it too!
- ElkinFencer10
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 8642
- Joined: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:34 pm
- Location: Henderson, North Carolina
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2021
Games Beaten in 2021 - 89
* denotes a replay
January (12 Games Beaten)
February (5 Games Beaten)
March (3 Games Beaten)
April (7 Games Beaten)
May (9 Games Beaten)
June (17 Games Beaten)
July (31 Games Beaten)
August (2 Games Beaten)
September (2 Games Beaten)
89. Empire of Angels IV - Switch - September 5
Empire of Angels IV may be the most recent entry in a series that's been around for nearly 30 years, but most of us in the West had never heard of it before this entry. Don't feel bad; while the series dates back to 1993, this is the first time it's made the jump to consoles, and if I'm not mistaken, the first time it's left China. The best way to describe Empire of Angels is Baby's First Fire Emblem made entirely out of waifus. It's a strategy RPG with (for the most part) really simple mechanics, but literally every character in the entire game is female, and while I could be mistaken, I'm pretty sure the smallest cup size in the game (according or character bios) is C. If it weren't full of fanservice for the sake of fanservice, would it really be EastAsiaSoft?
The story of the game, while nothing special, is perfectly fine. You're soldiers in an empire's army tasked with investigating why people are turning into "Namtars," darkness-touched people who become crazed and violent. From there, you meet a whole cast of waifus with diverse designs, backstories, and abilities, and while the story never gets "gripping" per se, and the ending is a bit lackluster, the interactions between the characters was enough to keep me playing. In the narrative scenes between battles, there's a very nice drawn art style used whereas in battle, a chibi style is used for the character models that reminds me a bit of a lower effort SD Gundam except with boobs instead of robots. The whole game looks a bit bland for a 2021 release, truthfully - not bad by any means but also nothing that the PS3 or Xbox 360 would have had much trouble pulling off, either.
In addition to the main missions, there are a plethora of side missions that flesh out the characters' backstories, personalities, and relationships with one another as well as unlocking their final class upgrade. There are also side quests to unlock new abilities for your summonable pet unit as well as repeatable random battles you can use to grind money or experience although there's not much need to grind either as the game's difficulty curve is pretty fair, and there are no shops in which to use gold. The exception is if you're trying to do every character's side quests; I found myself stuck with a level 20 character who had to solo a side quest with a level 50 opponent. That definitely required a lot of monotonous level grinding. Thankfully, the music is pretty great for the most part, so while the level grinding is arguably even duller than in most SRPGs since there's no benefit to racking up gold as well as experience, the nice soundtrack makes it a little more tolerable.
I do need to give a shoutout to my buddy, Joshua French, though for giving the game's script a MUCH needed retranslation before the English release. In the opening cinematic, you can see the somehow-worse-than-Google-Translate quality of the original translation since that cinematic was coded so that he couldn't fix it, but he retranslated the entire script for the rest of the game, and the difference in quality is astounding. Aside from a couple of SUPER minor issues that anyone who's not a grammar nerd wouldn't even have noticed, it reads as if it were originally written in English, not Chinese. The story may not be anything special, but you wouldn't even be able to tell what the story was supposed to be if it weren't for Joshua's hard work.
Empire of Angels IV is a solid middle-of-the-road game for the most part. It's totally playable and pretty enjoyable, but it's definitely nothing that will stand out that much. The fact that EVERY character is an anime waifu is novel, but as far as story and gameplay go, it's pretty average. The combat is fun, but it's not going to have you addicted the way Super Robot Wars, SD Gundam, and Fire Emblem will; it's the kind of game of which you'll probably play a mission or two and then switch to something else for a while. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you'll probably play this as a side game or pallet cleanser between other big, narrative driven games. It's definitely fun, though, and at just $20, I have no problem recommending this to fans of SRPGs or pointlessly big breasted anime waifus.
* denotes a replay
January (12 Games Beaten)
February (5 Games Beaten)
March (3 Games Beaten)
April (7 Games Beaten)
May (9 Games Beaten)
June (17 Games Beaten)
July (31 Games Beaten)
August (2 Games Beaten)
September (2 Games Beaten)
89. Empire of Angels IV - Switch - September 5
Empire of Angels IV may be the most recent entry in a series that's been around for nearly 30 years, but most of us in the West had never heard of it before this entry. Don't feel bad; while the series dates back to 1993, this is the first time it's made the jump to consoles, and if I'm not mistaken, the first time it's left China. The best way to describe Empire of Angels is Baby's First Fire Emblem made entirely out of waifus. It's a strategy RPG with (for the most part) really simple mechanics, but literally every character in the entire game is female, and while I could be mistaken, I'm pretty sure the smallest cup size in the game (according or character bios) is C. If it weren't full of fanservice for the sake of fanservice, would it really be EastAsiaSoft?
The story of the game, while nothing special, is perfectly fine. You're soldiers in an empire's army tasked with investigating why people are turning into "Namtars," darkness-touched people who become crazed and violent. From there, you meet a whole cast of waifus with diverse designs, backstories, and abilities, and while the story never gets "gripping" per se, and the ending is a bit lackluster, the interactions between the characters was enough to keep me playing. In the narrative scenes between battles, there's a very nice drawn art style used whereas in battle, a chibi style is used for the character models that reminds me a bit of a lower effort SD Gundam except with boobs instead of robots. The whole game looks a bit bland for a 2021 release, truthfully - not bad by any means but also nothing that the PS3 or Xbox 360 would have had much trouble pulling off, either.
In addition to the main missions, there are a plethora of side missions that flesh out the characters' backstories, personalities, and relationships with one another as well as unlocking their final class upgrade. There are also side quests to unlock new abilities for your summonable pet unit as well as repeatable random battles you can use to grind money or experience although there's not much need to grind either as the game's difficulty curve is pretty fair, and there are no shops in which to use gold. The exception is if you're trying to do every character's side quests; I found myself stuck with a level 20 character who had to solo a side quest with a level 50 opponent. That definitely required a lot of monotonous level grinding. Thankfully, the music is pretty great for the most part, so while the level grinding is arguably even duller than in most SRPGs since there's no benefit to racking up gold as well as experience, the nice soundtrack makes it a little more tolerable.
I do need to give a shoutout to my buddy, Joshua French, though for giving the game's script a MUCH needed retranslation before the English release. In the opening cinematic, you can see the somehow-worse-than-Google-Translate quality of the original translation since that cinematic was coded so that he couldn't fix it, but he retranslated the entire script for the rest of the game, and the difference in quality is astounding. Aside from a couple of SUPER minor issues that anyone who's not a grammar nerd wouldn't even have noticed, it reads as if it were originally written in English, not Chinese. The story may not be anything special, but you wouldn't even be able to tell what the story was supposed to be if it weren't for Joshua's hard work.
Empire of Angels IV is a solid middle-of-the-road game for the most part. It's totally playable and pretty enjoyable, but it's definitely nothing that will stand out that much. The fact that EVERY character is an anime waifu is novel, but as far as story and gameplay go, it's pretty average. The combat is fun, but it's not going to have you addicted the way Super Robot Wars, SD Gundam, and Fire Emblem will; it's the kind of game of which you'll probably play a mission or two and then switch to something else for a while. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you'll probably play this as a side game or pallet cleanser between other big, narrative driven games. It's definitely fun, though, and at just $20, I have no problem recommending this to fans of SRPGs or pointlessly big breasted anime waifus.
- ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2021
Games Beaten in 2021 - 90
* denotes a replay
January (12 Games Beaten)
February (5 Games Beaten)
March (3 Games Beaten)
April (7 Games Beaten)
May (9 Games Beaten)
June (17 Games Beaten)
July (31 Games Beaten)
August (2 Games Beaten)
September (3 Games Beaten)
90. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - PS4 - September 19
Atlus really excels with games that pit teenagers against Armageddon, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim from developer Vanillaware is yet another fantastic exemplar of that. The game is intentionally enigmatic at the beginning, being told from 13 different perspectives over five different eras, and that makes a bit hard to really get hooked on at the start, but if you stick with the game long enough for a single narrative to start to coalesce, you end up with a fantastic story full of plot twists, intrigue, and mysteries that don't get fully revealed until the very end.
Without going into enough detail to spoil anything, the game starts with invasions by kaiju that apparently possess the ability to travel through time, destroying one version of the same city after another in different period across time. Built to combat these kaiju are the Sentinels, giant robots that certain people can pilot. Each of the 13 characters from whose perspectives the story is told is one of those certain people (hence the title), and over the course of the story, they awaken to their potential as Sentinel pilots. I know that, just from that synopsis, it sounds *very* stereotypically anime, but like a Russian nesting doll, each time you think you've figured out what's going on, you discover that there's another layer beneath that complicates your understanding of the story and contradicts the revelations you've experienced. It's a wild trip that really challenges your understanding of reality and reinvents itself multiple times throughout the story.
13 Sentinels is main divided into two main sections, Remembrance and Destruction. Remembrance is principally a visual novel although not totally kinetic like Muv-Luv or When They Cry; you can walk around to a certain extent although the game limits that pretty strictly based on what's going on, and there's some very light puzzle solving needed to progress. There are some mild branching paths as well, but this isn't done in a player-choice way since you need to play through all of the paths to progress; it's more just different parts of that story segment. Destruction, on the other hand, is an over the top real-time strategy combat mode where you control the Sentinels in battles against the kaiju. Destruction has some RPG elements as you can accumulate "Meta-Chips" that can be spent to unlock and upgrade Sentinel weapons, unlock major combat abilities, and upgrade Sentinel stats. You'll end up bouncing back and forth between the two as there are progression requirements that need to be filled once you hit a certain point; you'll need to do a certain amount in Destruction to unlock the next part of a character's path in Remembrance or vice versa.
Because of how the storytelling is done, my interest in the game was kind of like putting a car in neutral at the top of a hill; at first, it will start rolling super slowly and just creep along, but soon there's enough momentum built up that gravity takes hold, and the car starts to roll faster and faster. That's how I was here. I was absolutely not captivated by the story for the first couple hours as I just felt lost and in the deep end, so to speak, with no clue what was going on. As I stuck with it, though, and the pieces started to fall into place, it became wildly addicting, and I just had to know what happened next and what mystery was going to be solved with the next Remembrance section. I like it when games immediately hook me, but if that's not going to happen, this is slow-but-increasingly-intense burn is definitely the way to go.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a hell of an experience, and it's definitely one that I strongly recommend. It's very anime, so if that style isn't your cup of tea, this might not be for you, but if you either like or don't mind the anime style and enjoy a good mystery that gets slowly unraveled bit by bit over time, this is absolutely a game to check out. Being an Atlus published title, it will probably rise in price physically, but if you can either find a good price on it physically or don't mind digital downloads, this is definitely a solid game that you don't want to miss.
* denotes a replay
January (12 Games Beaten)
February (5 Games Beaten)
March (3 Games Beaten)
April (7 Games Beaten)
May (9 Games Beaten)
June (17 Games Beaten)
July (31 Games Beaten)
August (2 Games Beaten)
September (3 Games Beaten)
90. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - PS4 - September 19
Atlus really excels with games that pit teenagers against Armageddon, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim from developer Vanillaware is yet another fantastic exemplar of that. The game is intentionally enigmatic at the beginning, being told from 13 different perspectives over five different eras, and that makes a bit hard to really get hooked on at the start, but if you stick with the game long enough for a single narrative to start to coalesce, you end up with a fantastic story full of plot twists, intrigue, and mysteries that don't get fully revealed until the very end.
Without going into enough detail to spoil anything, the game starts with invasions by kaiju that apparently possess the ability to travel through time, destroying one version of the same city after another in different period across time. Built to combat these kaiju are the Sentinels, giant robots that certain people can pilot. Each of the 13 characters from whose perspectives the story is told is one of those certain people (hence the title), and over the course of the story, they awaken to their potential as Sentinel pilots. I know that, just from that synopsis, it sounds *very* stereotypically anime, but like a Russian nesting doll, each time you think you've figured out what's going on, you discover that there's another layer beneath that complicates your understanding of the story and contradicts the revelations you've experienced. It's a wild trip that really challenges your understanding of reality and reinvents itself multiple times throughout the story.
13 Sentinels is main divided into two main sections, Remembrance and Destruction. Remembrance is principally a visual novel although not totally kinetic like Muv-Luv or When They Cry; you can walk around to a certain extent although the game limits that pretty strictly based on what's going on, and there's some very light puzzle solving needed to progress. There are some mild branching paths as well, but this isn't done in a player-choice way since you need to play through all of the paths to progress; it's more just different parts of that story segment. Destruction, on the other hand, is an over the top real-time strategy combat mode where you control the Sentinels in battles against the kaiju. Destruction has some RPG elements as you can accumulate "Meta-Chips" that can be spent to unlock and upgrade Sentinel weapons, unlock major combat abilities, and upgrade Sentinel stats. You'll end up bouncing back and forth between the two as there are progression requirements that need to be filled once you hit a certain point; you'll need to do a certain amount in Destruction to unlock the next part of a character's path in Remembrance or vice versa.
Because of how the storytelling is done, my interest in the game was kind of like putting a car in neutral at the top of a hill; at first, it will start rolling super slowly and just creep along, but soon there's enough momentum built up that gravity takes hold, and the car starts to roll faster and faster. That's how I was here. I was absolutely not captivated by the story for the first couple hours as I just felt lost and in the deep end, so to speak, with no clue what was going on. As I stuck with it, though, and the pieces started to fall into place, it became wildly addicting, and I just had to know what happened next and what mystery was going to be solved with the next Remembrance section. I like it when games immediately hook me, but if that's not going to happen, this is slow-but-increasingly-intense burn is definitely the way to go.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a hell of an experience, and it's definitely one that I strongly recommend. It's very anime, so if that style isn't your cup of tea, this might not be for you, but if you either like or don't mind the anime style and enjoy a good mystery that gets slowly unraveled bit by bit over time, this is absolutely a game to check out. Being an Atlus published title, it will probably rise in price physically, but if you can either find a good price on it physically or don't mind digital downloads, this is definitely a solid game that you don't want to miss.
- BoneSnapDeez
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- Location: Maine
Re: Games Beaten 2021
where's my 13 Sentinels PC port??
- ElkinFencer10
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Re: Games Beaten 2021
BoneSnapDeez wrote:where's my 13 Sentinels PC port??
Get a PS4, scrub
Re: Games Beaten 2021
ElkinFencer10 wrote:BoneSnapDeez wrote:where's my 13 Sentinels PC port??
Get a PS4, scrub