Games Beaten 2017

[isiolia]

Overall, top notch stuff and if it looks enticing to you and you enjoy a good overhead Zelda-esque kind of thing you will probably dig it. I don't see a lot of people here on my Steam list that own it, but maybe some of you played it on other platforms.

I have it on PS4, but I've generally found the difficulty to be off-putting (same with Salt & Sanctuary). Have chipped away at both of them a little, but just kind of in between other games.

[Xeogred]

I didn't struggle too much, knocked it out in 8 and a half hours. I guess most people take over 10 hours or so. Not sure I can offer any tips... the shotgun up close is devastating and the charged sword attack is great. But yeah I still died a LOT. I was suprised after awhile that you never get any health upgrades, just a few more estus flasks to use. The delay in using the healing items pissed me off the most haha, but then always cracked me up since it's a lot like Dark Souls.

[Exhuminator]

Awesome job beating Exile II, Bone. I'm well aware how difficult the USA version is. Respect to your skills. I'm very interested in seeing what you think of Brandish, and how you'd review it after finishing it.

[fastbilly1]

1. Day of the Tentacle Remastered - PC
2. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide - PC

3. Final Fantasy VII - PSX

It only took me 20 years with a calamity of errors, but I finally finished the game. It was Saturday morning, after I hit mile 4 on the treadmill when it happened.

I have a long history with the game going back to the original PC launch. Marred with software and hardware failure, dying memory cards, and the game glitching crazily at some points. This time I played on my phone, through retroarch, with nightly backups of savestate and memory card files. Even with that it screwed up once and I lost a night of chocobo breeding.

I ran through the game quickly, some of the side quests that I had stopped on in the past, no Yuffie, no Vincent. I did go get Knights of the Round and mime though. I had to trivialize the final battle since it took so long to get to. I enjoyed my time with Emo Popeye, but I am glad it is finally over.

Now to find another jrpg to play on my phone with an xp modifier.

[noiseredux]

wow, congrats Fast.

"Watching" you play, I have considered getting the Android version and giving it yet another go sometime soon. Maybe playing portable will make the difference...

[alienjesus]

I ran through the game quickly, some of the side quests that I had stopped on in the past, no Yuffie, no Vincent. I did go get Knights of the Round and mime though. I had to trivialize the final battle since it took so long to get to. I enjoyed my time with Emo Popeye, but I am glad it is finally over.

I trivialised the final battle without having to deal with the awful Chocobo breeding. I used Yuffie's ultimate weapon with Mug + Added Attack. Did 19998 damage of his 40000 per hit. I didn't even have to grind.

[fastbilly1]

I ran through the game quickly, some of the side quests that I had stopped on in the past, no Yuffie, no Vincent. I did go get Knights of the Round and mime though. I had to trivialize the final battle since it took so long to get to. I enjoyed my time with Emo Popeye, but I am glad it is finally over.

I trivialised the final battle without having to deal with the awful Chocobo breeding. I used Yuffie's ultimate weapon with Mug + Added Attack. Did 19998 damage of his 40000 per hit. I didn't even have to grind.

In the past Wutai caused me to have issues with the save, so I was gunshy to even touch Yuffie.

[isiolia]

1. DKC Returns (3DS)
2. √ Letter (PS4)
3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC)
4. Spec Ops: The Line (PC)

While I don't think it has been here, Spec Ops: The Line is an easy game to overlook. On the surface, it's yet another military shooter. It pretty much plays like Gears of War, only with a more grounded (albeit still clearly fictional) modern setting. Purely on those merits, it's...okay. Occasional use of sand as an environmental hazard aside (which I think was novel at the time), it's a thoroughly competent cover shooter.


...and Anakin thought Tatooine had a sand problem.

Thing is, the gameplay is more a means to an end. There's a reason that scarcely an article about the current Kickstarter for an Apocalypse Now game has failed to mention Spec Ops: The Line. Both adapt Heart of Darkness into a contemporary military stories. Ones that don't glamorize war, or end happily.



Telling this kind of story via a game actually works pretty well. You aren't just watching hard decisions get made, but are fairly effectively driven to them yourself. Granted, given that it is a game, the full spectrum of choices aren't made available. Within the relatively narrow scope of gaming narrative though, there were some pretty smart design choices made. Especially given that this is a game driven solely by action, not navigating through dialog trees.
In that respect, I actually think that the fairly generic gameplay works in favor of the story and general themes. It makes it very easy to draw parallels to other games, and maybe rethink your virtual actions in other titles - something that might well have been intended.



Reviews, at least at time of release, seem to be a bit mixed - and sales apparently were not that awesome. In the years since, Spec Ops: The Line seems to have developed more of a hidden gem reputation, including (offhand) from other writeups I've seen in games beaten threads here. I'd say it's deserving of that, as it's a stab at interactive storytelling comparable to the likes of Bioshock or SOMA.
It's not a long game - How Long to Beat claims 6 hours or so, Steam says I played it for 7 (attributable to repeating a handful of sections a lot due to not being very good at video games). It's not a rare or expensive game - the PS3 or 360 versions are currently haunting the $10 and under preowned bins at Gamestop, the PC version is $8.99 on Amazon (or often hits that or less during Steam sales). So, it's an easy recommendation for fans of gaming narrative.

[Blu]

1. Runbow - Wii U
2. Battlefield 1 - Xbox One
3. Until Dawn - PS4
4. Super Mario Sunshine - Gamecube
5. Titanfall 2 - Xbox One
6. Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ - Gamecube

I had some time this weekend to play through some games with my family. We had a blast with the Wario Ware on Gamecube. I forgot how funny, wild, and random the Wario Ware series can be. My family hadn't really ever explored the series and so the GameCube version definitely stacks above the Wii version in my opinion, since everyone can use their own controller, and you're not passing around a single Wiimote. The game is pretty affordable and if you're looking for a quick game to play with some small amounts of downtime, or lots of replayability with the modes offered, give Wario Ware a shot on the GameCube.

[Juan Aguacate]

I've been watching a few Let's Plays of RE 7. I have the game, but I'm still in the midst of playing other stuff and I think also I'm bit too scared to play it just yet LOL

The Let's Plays I have seen have been immensely entertaining though and I really do feel that RE 7 is a return to form for the series. And people seem to like FF XV too, so it's nice to see these two classic franchises that are such a big part of gaming history and fixtures of Japanese gaming have finally gotten their shit together.

Might wanna skim through the FFXV thread here.

I'm gonna have to sit down and play that game so I can throw my opinion into the mix LOL

I got so distracted by A King's Tale, which is so damned good, that I never actually played the main game LOL