Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
Mana is a series that saw its fortunes fall during the PS2 era, with the only recent (non-mobile) successes being rereleases of the classic games and the Trials remake. But hot on the heels of the Trials remake comes Visions of Mana, the first new mainline game in almost two decades. And how does it do? In a word, fantastically.
Visions of Mana is set in a world where the power of Mana is on the brink; every four years it must be replenished through the sacrifice of a person from every one of the elementally aligned settlements. Failure to send this alm (miko in the Japanese script) will cause that particular element's power to fall too low for its protection to be maintained. It is once again time to choose the alms and send them to the Mana Tree under the protection of their soul guardian. Said soul guardian is our main protagonist, and the rest of his party are the various alms, including his childhood best friend.
From a gameplay perspective, Visions builds on the systems we saw in the Trials remake. You have decently sized areas to explore, with some of the outdoor areas approaching the size of a small open world zone. There's treasure to collect and monsters to battle, but you always have one path forward from one zone to the next at any given story beat. Engaging with a monster will draw an arena to fight in using the series-standard real time battle system. You have light and heavy attacks, a dodge, and you can pull up the ring menu to use items and utilize any number of abilities. There's also a couple of long cooldown super abilities.
Character development utilizes a class system based around the eight elements. As you go through the game you will unlock a vessel of each element. This will provide some out-of-combat mobility options, an in combat cooldown move, and the ability to embody a class belonging to that element. Each class is tailored to the character using it; one character's wind element is a two-handed sword user who throws out sword magic, while another character becomes a debuff tank utilizing fans. Once in a class you can spend a resource to advance in it; advancement in a class is linear, but there are two kinds of nodes. One node gives you an active ability that can be sent to your ring menu (a max of eight), and these can be used by any class. The other node type is a passive that is only active while using that class. Each elemental vessel can only be used by a single character at a time, so figuring out which passives you want is crucial.
The story isn't revolutionary by any means. The thing that will stand out the most is the general lack of angst about the whole "eight people need to sacrifice themselves" thing. While other JRPGs have dealt with themes of sacrifice before, this game presents a world where it is so common and has been going on for so long that everyone has adapted to it. The contrast to how we think we would act in that situation does make for some interesting scenarios, but more could have been done with the setup.
Overall, this is a return to form for the series, finally stating that Mana is again a series that can put out solid new titles worth your time. It's incredibly unfortunate that the entire dev team got axed the day after release due to shenanigans around the parent and changes in the nature of foreign investment. I can only hope that the spirit can live on in revitalizing the series.
Games Beaten 2024
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2024
1. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (SNES)
2. OutRun 2 SP (PS2)
3. Dynamite Cop (DC)*
4. Soul Calibur (DC)*
5. Melfand Stories (SFC)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
7. Dynamite Cop (Arcade)*
8. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2)
9. Kishin Douji Zenki FX: Vajra Fight (PC-FX)
10. Wild Arms (PS1)
11. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
12. Lucky & Wild (Arcade)
13. Ico (PS2)
14. Champions of Norrath (PS2)
15. OutRunners (GEN)
While visiting a friend in CT, we checked out a game store and they happened to have a really nice copy of OutRunners on the Genesis. I'm a big fan of OutRun on the console and have been curious about this game for quite some time. I've heard mixed things about it, but because of my love for OutRun, I figured I might like this one as well.
OutRunners was originally a System 32 arcade game developed by AM1 and released in the summer of 1993. From my understanding, it was mostly released as a two-player sit down cab with the ability to link two cabinets together, for up to four players. The Genesis port was the only one released, and hit the US and JP markets. It's really too bad this game never made it to the Saturn, as I think that console could have done a better job replicating the look of the arcade version.
Gameplay wise, the controls are very similar to the original OutRun. However there are some differences here, including the ability to choose between shifting automatic or manually. In the original game, this was always manually done by the player. You also have a selection of eight different vehicles, with different attributes. And you have the ability to play this game with two players, which is a nice addition. For my playthrough I chose the "Speed Buster", which is basically the Ferrari Testarossa featured in the first game. OutRunners features a total of 31 different stages. After the first segment, you can choose to go West or East, which will then break down to a choice of 15 stages on that side. The crashes in the game seem to be more forgiving, with less time being taken off the clock in comparison to the original.
The Genesis version's graphics are really scaled back from the arcade, however, I think they still look good for the console. The real issue with the visuals here is the constant split-screen and the amount of text and items on the user display. I found the amount of text in this area of the screen to be off-putting and I wish this was simplified. I'm appreciative that you can play the game with two players, but I think for single player, it would have been a better experience to remove the split screen and simplify the UI. The constant split-screen also takes away from the player's ability to enjoy the varied and unique backgrounds.
Regarding the sound, the music here is impressive as the game contains a selection of songs from the original OutRun along with new tunes. You're able to change the song playing on your vehicle's radio at any point during the game with the use of the A button, which is a nice addition. The new music included here does have some catchy choices, with my favorite being titled "Blow Your Cool."
Overall, if you can get past the split-screen issue with the Genesis port, I think OutRunners offers a lot of fun, especially if you plan to play it with a friend. For anyone that's a fan of the original game, I recommend checking this one out!
2. OutRun 2 SP (PS2)
3. Dynamite Cop (DC)*
4. Soul Calibur (DC)*
5. Melfand Stories (SFC)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
7. Dynamite Cop (Arcade)*
8. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2)
9. Kishin Douji Zenki FX: Vajra Fight (PC-FX)
10. Wild Arms (PS1)
11. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
12. Lucky & Wild (Arcade)
13. Ico (PS2)
14. Champions of Norrath (PS2)
15. OutRunners (GEN)
While visiting a friend in CT, we checked out a game store and they happened to have a really nice copy of OutRunners on the Genesis. I'm a big fan of OutRun on the console and have been curious about this game for quite some time. I've heard mixed things about it, but because of my love for OutRun, I figured I might like this one as well.
OutRunners was originally a System 32 arcade game developed by AM1 and released in the summer of 1993. From my understanding, it was mostly released as a two-player sit down cab with the ability to link two cabinets together, for up to four players. The Genesis port was the only one released, and hit the US and JP markets. It's really too bad this game never made it to the Saturn, as I think that console could have done a better job replicating the look of the arcade version.
Gameplay wise, the controls are very similar to the original OutRun. However there are some differences here, including the ability to choose between shifting automatic or manually. In the original game, this was always manually done by the player. You also have a selection of eight different vehicles, with different attributes. And you have the ability to play this game with two players, which is a nice addition. For my playthrough I chose the "Speed Buster", which is basically the Ferrari Testarossa featured in the first game. OutRunners features a total of 31 different stages. After the first segment, you can choose to go West or East, which will then break down to a choice of 15 stages on that side. The crashes in the game seem to be more forgiving, with less time being taken off the clock in comparison to the original.
The Genesis version's graphics are really scaled back from the arcade, however, I think they still look good for the console. The real issue with the visuals here is the constant split-screen and the amount of text and items on the user display. I found the amount of text in this area of the screen to be off-putting and I wish this was simplified. I'm appreciative that you can play the game with two players, but I think for single player, it would have been a better experience to remove the split screen and simplify the UI. The constant split-screen also takes away from the player's ability to enjoy the varied and unique backgrounds.
Regarding the sound, the music here is impressive as the game contains a selection of songs from the original OutRun along with new tunes. You're able to change the song playing on your vehicle's radio at any point during the game with the use of the A button, which is a nice addition. The new music included here does have some catchy choices, with my favorite being titled "Blow Your Cool."
Overall, if you can get past the split-screen issue with the Genesis port, I think OutRunners offers a lot of fun, especially if you plan to play it with a friend. For anyone that's a fan of the original game, I recommend checking this one out!
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
Minstrel Song is a 3D remake of the original Romancing SaGa from the SFC. It expands on the original by taking the prototype systems it created and taking the learnings of several other SaGa games to have something more streamlined. Not streamlined; this is SaGa after all. But it doesn't have some of the needless complexity like weapon skills being tied to one specific weapon (so get an upgrade? gotta learn it all again). The remaster takes the PS2 original, puts it on modern systems, and adds some quality of life tweaks.
Romancing SaGa is the single most open of the SaGa games. And at times, this is to its detriment. You don't really have any real plan until the late stages of the game's progression when the monsters start to unite behind the final boss. Instead, you just wander around, find random quests, find random characters, and get annoyed every time you have to do a field progression between towns, when it only happens a handful of times.
You start by picking one of eight characters; this defines your opening scenario and the initial characters you have access to. That initial scenario will be your introduction to the game, and the end of it will encourage you to go wander the world. From this point, you will want to talk to everyone you can encounter, including recruiting characters (and potentially dismissing them to recruit others). All of this will unlock travel points. Unlike a Final Fantasy, here the world map is a menu. You can only travel to locations you know of that have been added to the menu. Most of the time you directly travel from your current location to the new one. Sometimes, there is a required field section where you go through a monster infested area. You will need to do this every time when traveling along this particular path, and it gets old (especially in one case where depending on the order you go through towns, you can directly travel vs. getting forced through a field).
Combat is turn based, and if you've played other SaGa games will be quite familiar. You have up to five characters in your party, each of which can be in one of three row positions. The row position will affect things like your defense and attack abilities. A sword needs to be in the front, while a bow can't attack in the front and needs to be in the rear. You usually have an option to be in one of two rows, depending on how you want to prioritize offense vs. defense. Monsters are encountered wandering, and getting in their back vs. your back will add a turn order modifier to the first turn. For each character, you can attack with one of their equipped weapons, use a skill from one of their weapons, or cast some magic they know. This is all controlled by your system of BP, or battle points. You start with a fixed percentage of your max and gain a fixed number per turn (different per character). So you need to manage using your good moves vs. having to use your basic weak attacks because you're out of BP. Additionally, some skills might require a second resource. For weapons, this resource is weapon durability. For martial arts and spells, this is your life points (which, if you run out, means a forced party dismissal or game over if its your main character). The durability/LP usage can be reduced by being more skilled in the particular weapon/magic type, as well as knowing a bunch of weapon skills/magic spells. Managing these combat resources is important.
You gain weapon skills randomly through attacking, a familiar system for SaGa fans. However, this game has a bunch of other random elements. Characters acting in sequence using certain move types (none of which is apparent to the player) can trigger combos, which deal bonus damage on top of the existing skills. Sometimes, these combos can trigger a special combo attack, which is even more damage. Some skills can randomly upgrade for one attack only; usually this is a straight upgrade, but other times it can actually mess up something you were trying to do (the self heal + regen martial arts ability turns into a hit all that heals for damage dealt, but no regen). Characters can randomly block or defend against attacks and can randomly do so for party members. And the game refuses to give you any knowledge of how to maximize any of these chances.
The final thing that will definitely throw a new player is the event rank system. This finally gets exposed to the player in the remaster through a graphic in the menu; in previous iterations you needed to track certain things in game that indirectly told you about it. This is a system that determines the slow march to the end game. It is increased when you do quests and fight monsters. That second part is important; if you decide to grind you will raise your event rank faster than you might expect, which causes harder monsters to spawn and can put you in a bad spot (as much of your power is through equipment, and the game is an exercise in poverty and you don't get much in the way of good treasures for gear like a Final Fantasy would). Also, many quests will be locked off if your event rank gets too high. And quests tend to lead to other quests, so not triggering something early will lock you out of a significant amount of content. This is a game intended to be beaten several times with different protags.
Overall, Minstrel Song serves as a cleaned-up version of a prototypical game that would be greatly improved with its sequels. The systems are obtuse and the overall directionless nature of the game can be a major turn off. The other Romancing SaGa games have a fair amount of free roam, but they also have told you about the overarching story and give some level of direction. I would not recommend Minstrel Song as your first SaGa game; you probably won't gel with it due to how much gets tossed at you. Start either with the Game Boy stuff, SaGa Frontier, or othe other Romancing SaGa games.
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
Minstrel Song is a 3D remake of the original Romancing SaGa from the SFC. It expands on the original by taking the prototype systems it created and taking the learnings of several other SaGa games to have something more streamlined. Not streamlined; this is SaGa after all. But it doesn't have some of the needless complexity like weapon skills being tied to one specific weapon (so get an upgrade? gotta learn it all again). The remaster takes the PS2 original, puts it on modern systems, and adds some quality of life tweaks.
Romancing SaGa is the single most open of the SaGa games. And at times, this is to its detriment. You don't really have any real plan until the late stages of the game's progression when the monsters start to unite behind the final boss. Instead, you just wander around, find random quests, find random characters, and get annoyed every time you have to do a field progression between towns, when it only happens a handful of times.
You start by picking one of eight characters; this defines your opening scenario and the initial characters you have access to. That initial scenario will be your introduction to the game, and the end of it will encourage you to go wander the world. From this point, you will want to talk to everyone you can encounter, including recruiting characters (and potentially dismissing them to recruit others). All of this will unlock travel points. Unlike a Final Fantasy, here the world map is a menu. You can only travel to locations you know of that have been added to the menu. Most of the time you directly travel from your current location to the new one. Sometimes, there is a required field section where you go through a monster infested area. You will need to do this every time when traveling along this particular path, and it gets old (especially in one case where depending on the order you go through towns, you can directly travel vs. getting forced through a field).
Combat is turn based, and if you've played other SaGa games will be quite familiar. You have up to five characters in your party, each of which can be in one of three row positions. The row position will affect things like your defense and attack abilities. A sword needs to be in the front, while a bow can't attack in the front and needs to be in the rear. You usually have an option to be in one of two rows, depending on how you want to prioritize offense vs. defense. Monsters are encountered wandering, and getting in their back vs. your back will add a turn order modifier to the first turn. For each character, you can attack with one of their equipped weapons, use a skill from one of their weapons, or cast some magic they know. This is all controlled by your system of BP, or battle points. You start with a fixed percentage of your max and gain a fixed number per turn (different per character). So you need to manage using your good moves vs. having to use your basic weak attacks because you're out of BP. Additionally, some skills might require a second resource. For weapons, this resource is weapon durability. For martial arts and spells, this is your life points (which, if you run out, means a forced party dismissal or game over if its your main character). The durability/LP usage can be reduced by being more skilled in the particular weapon/magic type, as well as knowing a bunch of weapon skills/magic spells. Managing these combat resources is important.
You gain weapon skills randomly through attacking, a familiar system for SaGa fans. However, this game has a bunch of other random elements. Characters acting in sequence using certain move types (none of which is apparent to the player) can trigger combos, which deal bonus damage on top of the existing skills. Sometimes, these combos can trigger a special combo attack, which is even more damage. Some skills can randomly upgrade for one attack only; usually this is a straight upgrade, but other times it can actually mess up something you were trying to do (the self heal + regen martial arts ability turns into a hit all that heals for damage dealt, but no regen). Characters can randomly block or defend against attacks and can randomly do so for party members. And the game refuses to give you any knowledge of how to maximize any of these chances.
The final thing that will definitely throw a new player is the event rank system. This finally gets exposed to the player in the remaster through a graphic in the menu; in previous iterations you needed to track certain things in game that indirectly told you about it. This is a system that determines the slow march to the end game. It is increased when you do quests and fight monsters. That second part is important; if you decide to grind you will raise your event rank faster than you might expect, which causes harder monsters to spawn and can put you in a bad spot (as much of your power is through equipment, and the game is an exercise in poverty and you don't get much in the way of good treasures for gear like a Final Fantasy would). Also, many quests will be locked off if your event rank gets too high. And quests tend to lead to other quests, so not triggering something early will lock you out of a significant amount of content. This is a game intended to be beaten several times with different protags.
Overall, Minstrel Song serves as a cleaned-up version of a prototypical game that would be greatly improved with its sequels. The systems are obtuse and the overall directionless nature of the game can be a major turn off. The other Romancing SaGa games have a fair amount of free roam, but they also have told you about the overarching story and give some level of direction. I would not recommend Minstrel Song as your first SaGa game; you probably won't gel with it due to how much gets tossed at you. Start either with the Game Boy stuff, SaGa Frontier, or othe other Romancing SaGa games.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
46. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 - PC
Space Marine 2 is the follow up to the first game, putting us once again in the ceramite boots of Titus, finally rejoining the Ultramarines after a century with the Deathwatch after the events of the first game. The big new thing is the three player co-op. Also, instead of fighting Orks you're up against Tyranids, though the forces of Chaos will show up before the end. At this point, I'm convinced that Games Workshop requires Chaos to show up in every game, as if they don't think the other factions are enough of a draw.
The game is a third person shooter that plays basically like the first game. As a space marine you do not move fast like the Doom Slayer. You do have a dodge, and it very much behooves you to use it, as enemy attacks can be fast and furious. But often, the best strategy is to rush them down. You are equipped with a primary weapon, a pistol, and a melee weapon. You can change them mid-mission, and it is often prudent to do so, as different situations are best served with different weapons (though the thunder hammer is always the correct choice once you finally get it). You can also toss grenades. Each character has a very long cooldown bonus ability that provides some solid benefit; don't waste these, but definitely make use of them. Should one of you fall, another of your squad can get you back on your feet. But you only have so many chances; the game will inform you when you're on your last life, so don't think you can just let the CPU keep bringing you back up.
Speaking of the CPU, let's talk more about the co-op. The game was designed with it first and foremost, and this is apparent in the nature of the combat arenas. While the first game tended to have more corridors that funneled you to each encounter, here you have lots of open arenas with waves of enemies that are designed to make use of you having multiple sets of eyes to track everything. They even have a series of gimmick sections in the second mission where one of you can take a flamethrower and keep away the little bugs that will swarm you otherwise. And this is where the weakness of the co-op is put on full display. See, the friendly AI is kinda dogshit. It has no sense of priority, and it will never grab that flamethrower. It doesn't understand high priority targets like monsters that buff enemies, or the enemies swarming a mission objective whose health is rapidly dropping. You have to do everything yourself, and this becomes especially tense in the flamethrower sections. I actually ended up skipping it for several of them, relying on brute forcing the triggers (plus a convenient checkpoint) because the AI wasn't going to be able to take out the required enemies on its own. It gets worse the further you go, as the priority targets are more prominent while your squad keeps doing a poor job. At least at the end of the game there are a few sections where you are finally reinforced, and the friendlies are designed to mow down the enemy; a bit of catharsis after babysitting. It doesn't help that enemy AI massively prioritizes you.
AI issues aside, the game nails the same power fantasy as the first one. I imagine if you're actually doing co-op it ends up being even more fun than the first game but going solo your fantasy is hampered by the essentially 3:1 odds against you. I recommend going down a difficulty level from whatever your natural instinct is to account for the bad partner AI. That will preserve the feeling the game wants to evoke in the player.
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
46. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 - PC
Space Marine 2 is the follow up to the first game, putting us once again in the ceramite boots of Titus, finally rejoining the Ultramarines after a century with the Deathwatch after the events of the first game. The big new thing is the three player co-op. Also, instead of fighting Orks you're up against Tyranids, though the forces of Chaos will show up before the end. At this point, I'm convinced that Games Workshop requires Chaos to show up in every game, as if they don't think the other factions are enough of a draw.
The game is a third person shooter that plays basically like the first game. As a space marine you do not move fast like the Doom Slayer. You do have a dodge, and it very much behooves you to use it, as enemy attacks can be fast and furious. But often, the best strategy is to rush them down. You are equipped with a primary weapon, a pistol, and a melee weapon. You can change them mid-mission, and it is often prudent to do so, as different situations are best served with different weapons (though the thunder hammer is always the correct choice once you finally get it). You can also toss grenades. Each character has a very long cooldown bonus ability that provides some solid benefit; don't waste these, but definitely make use of them. Should one of you fall, another of your squad can get you back on your feet. But you only have so many chances; the game will inform you when you're on your last life, so don't think you can just let the CPU keep bringing you back up.
Speaking of the CPU, let's talk more about the co-op. The game was designed with it first and foremost, and this is apparent in the nature of the combat arenas. While the first game tended to have more corridors that funneled you to each encounter, here you have lots of open arenas with waves of enemies that are designed to make use of you having multiple sets of eyes to track everything. They even have a series of gimmick sections in the second mission where one of you can take a flamethrower and keep away the little bugs that will swarm you otherwise. And this is where the weakness of the co-op is put on full display. See, the friendly AI is kinda dogshit. It has no sense of priority, and it will never grab that flamethrower. It doesn't understand high priority targets like monsters that buff enemies, or the enemies swarming a mission objective whose health is rapidly dropping. You have to do everything yourself, and this becomes especially tense in the flamethrower sections. I actually ended up skipping it for several of them, relying on brute forcing the triggers (plus a convenient checkpoint) because the AI wasn't going to be able to take out the required enemies on its own. It gets worse the further you go, as the priority targets are more prominent while your squad keeps doing a poor job. At least at the end of the game there are a few sections where you are finally reinforced, and the friendlies are designed to mow down the enemy; a bit of catharsis after babysitting. It doesn't help that enemy AI massively prioritizes you.
AI issues aside, the game nails the same power fantasy as the first one. I imagine if you're actually doing co-op it ends up being even more fun than the first game but going solo your fantasy is hampered by the essentially 3:1 odds against you. I recommend going down a difficulty level from whatever your natural instinct is to account for the bad partner AI. That will preserve the feeling the game wants to evoke in the player.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
-
prfsnl_gmr
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 12305
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:26 pm
- Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Re: Games Beaten 2024
1. Chico and The Magic Orchard DX (Switch)
2. Dusk ‘82 (Switch)
3. Dusk (Switch)
4. Rock Boshers DX (Switch)
5. Metal Slug 4 (Neo Geo)
6. Bleed 2 (Switch)
7. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)
8. Mighty Gunvolt Burst (3DS)
9. Love 3 (Switch)
10. Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge (3DS)
11. Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)
12. Mother 3 (GBA)
13. Princess Peach: Showtime! (Switch)
14. Avenging Spirit (Arcade)
15. Blossom Tales II (Switch)
16. The Fall of Elena Temple (Switch)
17. Finding Teddy II (Switch)
18. Animal Well (Switch)
19. Runner 3 (Switch)
20. Master Key (Switch)
21. Gargoyle’s Quest II - The Demon Darkness (NES)
22. Gargoyle’s Quest II - The Demon Darkness (GB)
23. Demon’s Crest (SNES)
24. Master Key Picross (Switch)
25. Prince of Persia (SNES)
26. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure (Switch)
I haven’t updated this thread in a long time, but that’s OK because I haven’t beaten that many games!
Prince of Persia is a stone-cold classic, and it is the only game I beat for the year’s Summer Games Challenge. It is also, really, really, really hard and frustrating, reminding me consistently why I’d never beaten it, and it was more than enough for me this year!
In it, you play as the titular Prince of Persia, seeking to escape the Sultan’s dungeon and defeat the villainous Vizier before he usurps the throne by marrying your beloved princess. In most versions of the game, you have 60 minutes to escape the dungeon, but since the SNES version, you have a full two hours due to all the additional content. (HG101 noted that the SNES version is, basically, the “director’s cut” of the game, and recommends that if you play only one version - and I’m definitely not playing this again! - that you play the SNES version.)
Prince of Persia is the original cinematic-platformer, featuring fluid, rotoscoped sprite work that was really impressive in its day. The Prince moves like an actual human, turning slowly, and jumping awkwardly to navigate all the traps in the Sultan’s dungeon. This looks cool, but it adds some delay to the Prince’s movements, and it took me a very long time to get used to the controls. (Later cinematic platformers, like Another World and Flashback, smoothed this out a bit.) The dungeons are riddled with instant-death traps, and the there is no scrolling, meaning that you must proceed very, very cautiously to advance. As a result, the game is brutally difficult and, frequently, incredibly frustrating. Still, it’s never unfair, and although I frequently hated my time with the game - and while I’ll never beat it again - I respect it immensely. Anyone who’s interested in the history of video games should play it, at least a little bit, and I’m glad I finally managed to get through the whole thing.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventurehas been bandied about as a potential GOTY contender, but I just don’t see it. As the name implies, Arranger is a puzzle game. The central mechanic is that, as you I’ve across its grid-based world, the world moves with you. As a result, you have to approach almost everything indirectly, and it takes a while to get used to the movement. You push and pull objects to solve puzzles and otherwise advance through the game, and the game throws new mechanics at you with a frequency that keeps the gameplay fresh through its roughly 4-6 hour runtime. The whole thing is tied together with a twee story, and the art direction is consistently solid. (It is illustrated by the same person who illustrated Braid.) Finally, the puzzles are consistently challenging, but never so hard as to be frustrating.
In short, Arranger has everything an indie game needs to be very good, but I found the whole experience very, very mid. The game was painfully linear, and after a few hours, I had to force myself to finish it. Mostly, I’m just frustrated that such a safe, by-the-numbers, and all around “safe” indie game is getting so much attention and rave reviews, while another, truly outstanding indie game <cough, cough> Master Key <cough, cough> is basically ignored by the gaming press. Hesitantly recommended.
2. Dusk ‘82 (Switch)
3. Dusk (Switch)
4. Rock Boshers DX (Switch)
5. Metal Slug 4 (Neo Geo)
6. Bleed 2 (Switch)
7. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)
8. Mighty Gunvolt Burst (3DS)
9. Love 3 (Switch)
10. Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge (3DS)
11. Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch)
12. Mother 3 (GBA)
13. Princess Peach: Showtime! (Switch)
14. Avenging Spirit (Arcade)
15. Blossom Tales II (Switch)
16. The Fall of Elena Temple (Switch)
17. Finding Teddy II (Switch)
18. Animal Well (Switch)
19. Runner 3 (Switch)
20. Master Key (Switch)
21. Gargoyle’s Quest II - The Demon Darkness (NES)
22. Gargoyle’s Quest II - The Demon Darkness (GB)
23. Demon’s Crest (SNES)
24. Master Key Picross (Switch)
25. Prince of Persia (SNES)
26. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure (Switch)
I haven’t updated this thread in a long time, but that’s OK because I haven’t beaten that many games!
Prince of Persia is a stone-cold classic, and it is the only game I beat for the year’s Summer Games Challenge. It is also, really, really, really hard and frustrating, reminding me consistently why I’d never beaten it, and it was more than enough for me this year!
In it, you play as the titular Prince of Persia, seeking to escape the Sultan’s dungeon and defeat the villainous Vizier before he usurps the throne by marrying your beloved princess. In most versions of the game, you have 60 minutes to escape the dungeon, but since the SNES version, you have a full two hours due to all the additional content. (HG101 noted that the SNES version is, basically, the “director’s cut” of the game, and recommends that if you play only one version - and I’m definitely not playing this again! - that you play the SNES version.)
Prince of Persia is the original cinematic-platformer, featuring fluid, rotoscoped sprite work that was really impressive in its day. The Prince moves like an actual human, turning slowly, and jumping awkwardly to navigate all the traps in the Sultan’s dungeon. This looks cool, but it adds some delay to the Prince’s movements, and it took me a very long time to get used to the controls. (Later cinematic platformers, like Another World and Flashback, smoothed this out a bit.) The dungeons are riddled with instant-death traps, and the there is no scrolling, meaning that you must proceed very, very cautiously to advance. As a result, the game is brutally difficult and, frequently, incredibly frustrating. Still, it’s never unfair, and although I frequently hated my time with the game - and while I’ll never beat it again - I respect it immensely. Anyone who’s interested in the history of video games should play it, at least a little bit, and I’m glad I finally managed to get through the whole thing.
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventurehas been bandied about as a potential GOTY contender, but I just don’t see it. As the name implies, Arranger is a puzzle game. The central mechanic is that, as you I’ve across its grid-based world, the world moves with you. As a result, you have to approach almost everything indirectly, and it takes a while to get used to the movement. You push and pull objects to solve puzzles and otherwise advance through the game, and the game throws new mechanics at you with a frequency that keeps the gameplay fresh through its roughly 4-6 hour runtime. The whole thing is tied together with a twee story, and the art direction is consistently solid. (It is illustrated by the same person who illustrated Braid.) Finally, the puzzles are consistently challenging, but never so hard as to be frustrating.
In short, Arranger has everything an indie game needs to be very good, but I found the whole experience very, very mid. The game was painfully linear, and after a few hours, I had to force myself to finish it. Mostly, I’m just frustrated that such a safe, by-the-numbers, and all around “safe” indie game is getting so much attention and rave reviews, while another, truly outstanding indie game <cough, cough> Master Key <cough, cough> is basically ignored by the gaming press. Hesitantly recommended.
Last edited by prfsnl_gmr on Sat Oct 12, 2024 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Markies
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 1520
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:29 pm
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Markies' Games Beat List Of 2024!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***
1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Jackal (NES)
***3. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)***
4. Skies Of Arcadia Legends (GCN)
5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
6. Sunset Riders (GEN)
***7. Tactics Ogre (PS1)***
***8. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)***
9. Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
***10. Darkstalkers (PS1)***
***11. Splatoon (WiiU)***
12. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (NSW)
***13. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)***
14. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
***15. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)***
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
17. Steel Empire (GEN)
***18. Super Mario Strikers (GCN)***
19. Evolution 2: Far Off Promise (SDC)
20. The King Of Fighters '95 (PS1)
21. Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice (PS3)
22. Jade Empire: Limited Edition (XBOX)
23. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
24. Super Smash Bros. For WiiU (WiiU)
***25. Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2)***
***26. Ducktales 2 (NES)***
27. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
28. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
***29. Valkyrie Profile (PS1)***
***30. Destruction Derby 64 (N64)***
31. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (NSW)
I beat Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on the Nintendo Switch this afternoon!
Almost 20 years ago, I got my PS2 and I discovered a love for RPG's. Right after going through the Final Fantasy series, I went straight ahead into the Suikoden series. In a just few short years, I went through the entire franchise and I loved all of them. Unfortunately, with them being owned by Konami, they died with a whimper. After many years, the founding members turned to Kickstarter and created their own spiritual sequel. Thanks to the generosity and the insistence of my friend, I was gifted a copy of the game and we played through it together.
It was quick and apparent that the game is a send up to the PS1/PS2 era of RPGs and were made by the people who made the Suikoden. It feels like that era with turn based battles, long dungeons with save points and a story structure just in the Suikoden games. It was like a warm blanket of nostalgia and it was quite beautiful to experience. They did add just some modern touches like quality of life improvements and a Quick-Save, but this old school through and through. Also, they had some beautiful pixel art and lovely looking game throughout the entire experience. When you build up your town, you have this addictive quality of watching it grow in a Sphere Grid kind of way that I loved. With an engaging story, a wonderful battle system and some wonderfully creative characters, the whole experience was like a warm nostalgia trip with a modern shine.
Unfortunately, modern problems crept in as well. I played the Switch version and I continuously ran into problems. The game would freeze after boss fights, so I would have to do them again. Characters wouldn't appear, so I couldn't talk to them to advance the story. The game crashed a few times, so I would have to restart. These weren't rare occurrences as they happened almost once an hour. Also, even though I love the battle system, the enemy AI can be quite mean. They loved to focus their attacks on your weakest characters over and over again.
Overall, despite all the technical issues, I still loved Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. My friend played through on Steam and he only ran into one issue, so I'm assuming its just the Switch version. I hope they release a patch because I would love to replay the game minus the frustrations. But, either way, anybody that loves the Suikoden series or traditional RPG's, this is a must play!
***Denotes Replay For Completion***
1. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
2. Jackal (NES)
***3. Evolution: The World Of Sacred Device (SDC)***
4. Skies Of Arcadia Legends (GCN)
5. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2)
6. Sunset Riders (GEN)
***7. Tactics Ogre (PS1)***
***8. Forza Motorsport (XBOX)***
9. Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
***10. Darkstalkers (PS1)***
***11. Splatoon (WiiU)***
12. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (NSW)
***13. Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball (NES)***
14. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
***15. Puzzle Kingdoms (Wii)***
16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
17. Steel Empire (GEN)
***18. Super Mario Strikers (GCN)***
19. Evolution 2: Far Off Promise (SDC)
20. The King Of Fighters '95 (PS1)
21. Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice (PS3)
22. Jade Empire: Limited Edition (XBOX)
23. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
24. Super Smash Bros. For WiiU (WiiU)
***25. Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2)***
***26. Ducktales 2 (NES)***
27. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
28. Super Paper Mario (Wii)
***29. Valkyrie Profile (PS1)***
***30. Destruction Derby 64 (N64)***
31. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (NSW)
I beat Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on the Nintendo Switch this afternoon!
Almost 20 years ago, I got my PS2 and I discovered a love for RPG's. Right after going through the Final Fantasy series, I went straight ahead into the Suikoden series. In a just few short years, I went through the entire franchise and I loved all of them. Unfortunately, with them being owned by Konami, they died with a whimper. After many years, the founding members turned to Kickstarter and created their own spiritual sequel. Thanks to the generosity and the insistence of my friend, I was gifted a copy of the game and we played through it together.
It was quick and apparent that the game is a send up to the PS1/PS2 era of RPGs and were made by the people who made the Suikoden. It feels like that era with turn based battles, long dungeons with save points and a story structure just in the Suikoden games. It was like a warm blanket of nostalgia and it was quite beautiful to experience. They did add just some modern touches like quality of life improvements and a Quick-Save, but this old school through and through. Also, they had some beautiful pixel art and lovely looking game throughout the entire experience. When you build up your town, you have this addictive quality of watching it grow in a Sphere Grid kind of way that I loved. With an engaging story, a wonderful battle system and some wonderfully creative characters, the whole experience was like a warm nostalgia trip with a modern shine.
Unfortunately, modern problems crept in as well. I played the Switch version and I continuously ran into problems. The game would freeze after boss fights, so I would have to do them again. Characters wouldn't appear, so I couldn't talk to them to advance the story. The game crashed a few times, so I would have to restart. These weren't rare occurrences as they happened almost once an hour. Also, even though I love the battle system, the enemy AI can be quite mean. They loved to focus their attacks on your weakest characters over and over again.
Overall, despite all the technical issues, I still loved Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. My friend played through on Steam and he only ran into one issue, so I'm assuming its just the Switch version. I hope they release a patch because I would love to replay the game minus the frustrations. But, either way, anybody that loves the Suikoden series or traditional RPG's, this is a must play!
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
46. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 - PC
47. Doom 2: TNT Evilution - PC
TNT Evilution is an after-market map pack for Doom 2 that originally was going to be a free release before id offered them a deal to sell it as part of what would become Final Doom. As a full replacement it's 30 maps plus two secrets, just like the base game, and needing to fill in that many maps has led to inconsistent quality. While it's leaps and bounds past Master Levels, it still shows its amateur basis in some of the design.
One very notable thing is how much effort was spent in making more realistic props in the Doom engine. While base Doom tends to be pretty abstract, TNT Evilution creates various super chunky things like chairs and tables using different floor heights. It's definitely primitive compared to what they did in Legacy of Rust, but it's fun they made the effort.
Aside from being harder than the base game (as expected), what stands out is the way it's harder. There are basically two tricks it likes to use. The first is various forms of monster closets with chaingunners, especially double closets forward and backward so you're taking damage no matter what. The second is an overreliance on darkness that must have given John Carmack the idea for Doom 3's aesthetic. Since the Doom engine lacks any real way of getting lighting into dark areas (you get extremely brief flashes on the chaingun, but it has almost no range), you basically just have to spam shots when you hear noises and hope for the best. You'll take a lot of damage unnecessarily.
Overall, it's a decent effort that's worth a playthrough. The inconsistent difficulty (and infuriatingly inconsistent damage floor texture choices) bring it down, but it doesn't have too much in the way of major dick moves.
1. Tormented Souls - Switch
2. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II - PC
3. Fantasy Empires - PC
4. Vagrant Story - PS1
5. Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor - PC
6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Switch
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES
8. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - PS5
9. Tomb Raider Remastered - PC
10. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth - PS5
11. Unicorn Overlord - Switch
12. Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries: Solaris Showdown - PC
13. Princess Peach: Showtime - Switch
14. Fida Puti Samurai - PC
15. Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money - PC
16. Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts - PC
17. Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues - PC
18. Wrath: Aeon of Ruin - PC
19. Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road - PC
20. Super Buff HD - PC
21. SaGa Emerald Beyond - Switch
22. Blasphemous 2 - Switch
23. Trepang2 - PC
24. Homeworld 3 - PC
25. Blood West - PC
26. Marathon - PC
27. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord - PC
28. Little Kitty, Big City - PC
29. Dread Delusion - PC
30. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs - PC
31. PO'ed: Definitive Edition - PC
32. Space Cats Tactics - PC
33. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - PS5
34. Balatro - PC
35. Afterimage - Switch
36. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak - PS5
37. Lords of Exile - Switch
38. Infernax - Switch
39. Gravity Circuit - Switch
40. Doom 2: No Rest for the Living - PC
41. Doom 2: Legacy of Rust - PC
42. Doom 2: Master Levels - PC
43. The Lost Vikings 2 - PC
44. Visions of Mana - PS5
45. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered - Switch
46. Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2 - PC
47. Doom 2: TNT Evilution - PC
TNT Evilution is an after-market map pack for Doom 2 that originally was going to be a free release before id offered them a deal to sell it as part of what would become Final Doom. As a full replacement it's 30 maps plus two secrets, just like the base game, and needing to fill in that many maps has led to inconsistent quality. While it's leaps and bounds past Master Levels, it still shows its amateur basis in some of the design.
One very notable thing is how much effort was spent in making more realistic props in the Doom engine. While base Doom tends to be pretty abstract, TNT Evilution creates various super chunky things like chairs and tables using different floor heights. It's definitely primitive compared to what they did in Legacy of Rust, but it's fun they made the effort.
Aside from being harder than the base game (as expected), what stands out is the way it's harder. There are basically two tricks it likes to use. The first is various forms of monster closets with chaingunners, especially double closets forward and backward so you're taking damage no matter what. The second is an overreliance on darkness that must have given John Carmack the idea for Doom 3's aesthetic. Since the Doom engine lacks any real way of getting lighting into dark areas (you get extremely brief flashes on the chaingun, but it has almost no range), you basically just have to spam shots when you hear noises and hope for the best. You'll take a lot of damage unnecessarily.
Overall, it's a decent effort that's worth a playthrough. The inconsistent difficulty (and infuriatingly inconsistent damage floor texture choices) bring it down, but it doesn't have too much in the way of major dick moves.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Happy to hear you ended up liking Eiyuden, Markies. I was a backer for the game on Kickstarter, and some of my feelings about it are potentially tied up in how relatively shitty the backer experience has been. I also got a little overly excited by the demo with some expectations that might not have been realistic. When I got to the end, my suspicions that Komuta (director of Suikoden Tierkries--a game I can't stand) did actually direct Eiyuden, and Murayama (original director of Suikoden 1, 2, and technically 3) filled the Horii Yuji position of scenario writer/game designer. I thought the last quarter of the game was pretty rough, and didn't care for the focus on all of the mini games and secondary systems, personally.
Anyway, the Switch version is a bit of a mess, by all accounts. There've been a number of patches for it already, but they still haven't been able to address all of the instability. It's technically better than it was, though, I guess. I played on PC, so I didn't experience any issues, but I keep an eye on the discord for backer related info, and have seen a lot of the discussion about the Switch version there.
_____________________________________
Steam (and other) keys for trade/free: viewtopic.php?p=1189267#p1189267
B/S/T Thread: viewtopic.php?p=1188724#p1188724
Steam (and other) keys for trade/free: viewtopic.php?p=1189267#p1189267
B/S/T Thread: viewtopic.php?p=1188724#p1188724
-
Markies
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 1520
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:29 pm
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri
- Contact:
Re: Games Beaten 2024
Yeah, I played with a friend of mine and he played on Steam. He ran into one issue while playing, but that was about it. So, I'm thinking its only the Switch, which is a real same.
But, we were joking about the mini-games especially at the beginning. It felt like the developers put in an Anime/TV Show trope they enjoyed and just threw it in as a mini-game. The Suikoden games always had a bit of silliness in them, but this even felt a bit too much.
My friend was also a backer and that is how he got his copy. So, I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with it.
But, we were joking about the mini-games especially at the beginning. It felt like the developers put in an Anime/TV Show trope they enjoyed and just threw it in as a mini-game. The Suikoden games always had a bit of silliness in them, but this even felt a bit too much.
My friend was also a backer and that is how he got his copy. So, I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with it.
Re: Games Beaten 2024
1. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom (SNES)
2. OutRun 2 SP (PS2)
3. Dynamite Cop (DC)*
4. Soul Calibur (DC)*
5. Melfand Stories (SFC)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
7. Dynamite Cop (Arcade)*
8. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2)
9. Kishin Douji Zenki FX: Vajra Fight (PC-FX)
10. Wild Arms (PS1)
11. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
12. Lucky & Wild (Arcade)
13. Ico (PS2)
14. Champions of Norrath (PS2)
15. OutRunners (GEN)
16. Final Fantasy Adventure (GB)
Final Fantasy Adventure was one of the first games I ever owned, as it was gifted to me with my original Game Boy handheld. Over the years, I had played through portions of the game, but never seriously sat down to try and beat it. With a new backlit GBA SP, courtesy of Anapan, I wanted to tackle some of the GB games I had around, so FFA was added to my Summer Games Challenge list.
Final Fantasy Adventure is actually the first game of the Mana series, and the game contains some of the attributes the Mana series would come to be known for, such as NPC party members that fight alongside you and access to a wide range of weapons and abilities. Regarding the games ties to the Final Fantasy universe, you do get access to chocobos here and moogles make an appearance as a form of status ailment.
Final Fantasy Adventure draws a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, with a top down viewpoint and the world divided up into a grid of a map. There are also various dungeons here and some light puzzles to be found throughout. For the controls, the B button is mapped to either an item or magic spell and the A button is used to attack with your equipped weapon. Later in the game, different enemies will only be able to be damaged by certain weapons or spells, so there's a lot of switching to be done in the item or equipment menu. Also, in regards to attacking, there's a recharging bar at the bottom of the screen. Once the bar is full, you'll be able to use a more powerful attack. This is a useful mechanic especially in boss fights, when you have a weapon with an increased range when the bar is full. The other feature I really appreciated was the ability to save anywhere.
For a GameBoy title, I found the graphics to be pretty impressive. The enemies and main character sprites are all fairly detailed. The backgrounds are also nicely done for the console. I especially liked the look of the final sequences of the game when you reach the rumored Tree of Mana. The soundtrack is also up to the task, with a good mix of atmospheric tunes. The only song I didn't care for in the game was the short tune that played when you were turned into a moogle by an enemy.
I only have a few criticisms of the game. The first regarding how dialogue works, where if you run into a character, you'll automatically start chatting with them. It's not too bad, but I found this to be a nuisance sometimes when just trying to get through a town. The other critique is about the key system used in the game. For each dungeon, you'll need a certain amount of keys in your inventory to get through locked doors, and there are instances where you could potentially get stuck in a dungeon without access to a key, if you didn't already buy a supply beforehand. I was in a close call towards the end of the game, but luckily there was an area where enemies had the potential to drop a key and I was able to move along. However, I've read about other gamers having to either restart from the beginning or go back to an older save file because they got stuck.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy Adventure. I think it holds up well to this day, and the ability to save anywhere is a nice QOL feature. This was a bucket list game for me, and I'm happy to finally finish one of the first games I ever owned after all this time. I've already finished Secret of Mana on the SNES, so the next game in the series I'd like to beat is the SNES version of Seiken Densetsu 3 / Trials of Mana. I'd recommend this to anyone that's a fan of action RPGs!
2. OutRun 2 SP (PS2)
3. Dynamite Cop (DC)*
4. Soul Calibur (DC)*
5. Melfand Stories (SFC)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
7. Dynamite Cop (Arcade)*
8. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (PS2)
9. Kishin Douji Zenki FX: Vajra Fight (PC-FX)
10. Wild Arms (PS1)
11. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
12. Lucky & Wild (Arcade)
13. Ico (PS2)
14. Champions of Norrath (PS2)
15. OutRunners (GEN)
16. Final Fantasy Adventure (GB)
Final Fantasy Adventure was one of the first games I ever owned, as it was gifted to me with my original Game Boy handheld. Over the years, I had played through portions of the game, but never seriously sat down to try and beat it. With a new backlit GBA SP, courtesy of Anapan, I wanted to tackle some of the GB games I had around, so FFA was added to my Summer Games Challenge list.
Final Fantasy Adventure is actually the first game of the Mana series, and the game contains some of the attributes the Mana series would come to be known for, such as NPC party members that fight alongside you and access to a wide range of weapons and abilities. Regarding the games ties to the Final Fantasy universe, you do get access to chocobos here and moogles make an appearance as a form of status ailment.
Final Fantasy Adventure draws a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, with a top down viewpoint and the world divided up into a grid of a map. There are also various dungeons here and some light puzzles to be found throughout. For the controls, the B button is mapped to either an item or magic spell and the A button is used to attack with your equipped weapon. Later in the game, different enemies will only be able to be damaged by certain weapons or spells, so there's a lot of switching to be done in the item or equipment menu. Also, in regards to attacking, there's a recharging bar at the bottom of the screen. Once the bar is full, you'll be able to use a more powerful attack. This is a useful mechanic especially in boss fights, when you have a weapon with an increased range when the bar is full. The other feature I really appreciated was the ability to save anywhere.
For a GameBoy title, I found the graphics to be pretty impressive. The enemies and main character sprites are all fairly detailed. The backgrounds are also nicely done for the console. I especially liked the look of the final sequences of the game when you reach the rumored Tree of Mana. The soundtrack is also up to the task, with a good mix of atmospheric tunes. The only song I didn't care for in the game was the short tune that played when you were turned into a moogle by an enemy.
I only have a few criticisms of the game. The first regarding how dialogue works, where if you run into a character, you'll automatically start chatting with them. It's not too bad, but I found this to be a nuisance sometimes when just trying to get through a town. The other critique is about the key system used in the game. For each dungeon, you'll need a certain amount of keys in your inventory to get through locked doors, and there are instances where you could potentially get stuck in a dungeon without access to a key, if you didn't already buy a supply beforehand. I was in a close call towards the end of the game, but luckily there was an area where enemies had the potential to drop a key and I was able to move along. However, I've read about other gamers having to either restart from the beginning or go back to an older save file because they got stuck.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy Adventure. I think it holds up well to this day, and the ability to save anywhere is a nice QOL feature. This was a bucket list game for me, and I'm happy to finally finish one of the first games I ever owned after all this time. I've already finished Secret of Mana on the SNES, so the next game in the series I'd like to beat is the SNES version of Seiken Densetsu 3 / Trials of Mana. I'd recommend this to anyone that's a fan of action RPGs!