Games Beaten : 2011

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dsheinem
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by dsheinem »

GOTY so far for me is Portal 2, but I suspect Uncharted 3 will probably take the title. Rage and Resistance 3 are also high on my list of games I am psyched for, and Skyrim, MW3, and Battlefield 3 will undoubtedly get a lot of critical acclaim as well and will be worth a look...
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SwooshBear
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by SwooshBear »

Portal 2 is my GOTY so far as well, but other games like MW3, Skyward Sword and Rage are up there as well. I'll have to wait and see.
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Xeogred
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by Xeogred »

Tactics Ogre (SNES)
Ecco the Dolphin CD
Sonic CD (Japanese)
Sonic CD (US)*
Sonic & Knuckles (GEN)*
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC)
Blaster Master (NES)*
Fallout New Vegas (PC)
Duke Nukem Forever (PC)
Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SMS)
Shatterhand (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (PSP)
Thunder Force III (GEN)
Thunder Spirits (SNES)*
Final Fantasy II (PSP)

* = replay

Any long time FF fan of the old games should definitely give it a shot, if not you're really doing yourself an injustice. I had WAY more fun playing this than FFI on the PSX/GBA which I cleared both times. If the brutal NES version of FFII (from what I've heard and researched on, while you get stat increases, other stats decrease... yikes!) or the GBA/PSX version didn't do much for you, still give the PSP version a shot. The balance was perfect and by the end of the game, once again like all other FF's it was pretty dang easy. I think what this version faults at would be the amount of gil you have later on, I definitely didn't have much money early on and had to pass up on some equipment or make some thoughtful purchases, but I was literally sitting in a pool of practically infinite gil later on. Could stock up on anything whatsoever, so running through the final dungeon or bigger ones later on with 90 are so Ethers and Hi-Potions, etc, it was pretty easy. But for awhile the game definitely did not hold your hand and I liked that.

But still, the game was just really fun. The leveling system I felt got pretty addicting at times, usually early on when I was building up magic, trying to boost up HP/MP. For those of you who are concerned, no you don't really have to rely on enemies pummeling you or you beating your own characters up to increase their HP. I did do that for fun for awhile on Guy, but eventually everyone starts getting stat increases almost randomly like level ups, there'd be battles where I didn't even get hit and my stats, including HP, would go up. So the balance was definitely nice in this version. You can grind if you want, as I did probably twice at two big portions, or just skip that altogether and have a little more challenge. The early dungeons at the start were pretty intense as there are no save points in them... but then I realized you can save anywhere in this version, haha. Not that I abused that later on or anything.

The game definitely had some obvious parallels to FFIV-FFVI. Pirates, Dragoons, mysterious bad guy, people die, evil Empire has its reign over the world, etc... I loved those elements. For an NES game? Not bad at all.

The magic scroll system was very cool and gave you a lot of flexibility, along with how you want your characters stats to develop pretty much. You could say it was kind of like the Materia system or something like that and it was nice that you could buy and equip magic scrolls to anyone, so even if you had someone for purely fighting, giving them Cure, Life, Esuna, or other things like that on the side couldn't hurt at all. So I loved the customization here, along with being able to equip one or two weapons if you wanted, or could opt for a two handed bow that dealt the same damage in the back row, or a shield for more defense.

The music was very unique and pretty different for Uematsu. The whole game had kind of a downbeat bleak vibe but I liked that a lot, I mean right from the get go with the opening scene an Empire completely burns down a village your characters are from, so things are grim and the Empire has to go. Even if the GBA/PSX/PSP versions have arranged music from another composer, they did a good job at keeping Uematsu's idea's in there and expanding upon them.

A unique thing about the game I liked a lot was that most bosses were just normal enemies. So obviously later on, they'd start appearing as normal enemies themselves, but the catch here is that... unlike every other FF pretty much, in this game you could actually successfully cast status effects on bosses, absorb their MP, or abuse their elemental weaknesses big time. To top it off, a lot of the bosses were randomly generated when it came to how many of said enemies you'd fight in a battle, so I remember in one "boss fight" it generated 4 enemies for me, so it was pretty brutal. But I liked that, just another thing you don't really see in other FF's.

The openness of the game was pretty cool. I definitely wandered off too far once and got destroyed, but it's still linear just enough that you should know where to go in general. But still, it's cool that the freedom is there, kind of like the second half of FFVI or so. Especially when you get the ship, you could start doing things out of order as I did for awhile.

Anyways, just throwing down a lot of thoughts here because this game definitely seems underrated and I'm not sure why. I definitely waited too long to play it! Again, I had WAY more fun playing this than I did the two times I played the remakes of FFI, and I won't say it's better than FFIV (PSP), but it sure was nice having more challenge and customization with the characters. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of the old games. There's also a lot of extra's and bonus dungeons apparently, not sure if I'll check them out though.

That leaves FFV (which I got to the end of once!...) and FFIII of the FF's that I haven't beaten and want too. FFV is probably next for sure, might take a bit of an intermission before I play it though.
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Croooow!
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by Croooow! »

Trax for Gameboy
Super Mario RPG for SNES
Ikaruga for Gamecube
Mercs for Arcade
A Space Shooter for Two Bucks! for PSP
Psychonauts for PS2
Firemen for SFC
Crash Bandicoot for PS1
Outrun SP for PSP
Raiden II for PS1
Kirby's Adventure for NES
After Burner: Black Falcon for PSP
Yoshi's Story for N64
Metroid Fusion for GBA
Little Big Planet for PSP
Street Fighter II Champion Edition for Arcade
Burnout Legends for PSP *new* Another excellent racing game on the PSP. Not quite as addictive or adrenaline inducing as Burnout 3 but very impressive nonetheless.
Castlevania Chronicles for PS1 *new* One of my favorite linear Castlevanias. The gameplay achieved a great balance by removing the challenge destroying up whipping while retaining the down whipping to make traveling downward less cheap.
Eco Fighters for Arcade *new* I'm not a big fan of horizontal shmups but this one had me hooked. The graphics were bright and colorful and the aiming system is something I'd like to see more often.
Sonic 2 for Genesis *new* I had never played this game before (sorry Sega practically didn't exist in my hometown) but it lived up to the hype surrounding it. I wish Tails would just go away though.
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by Flake »

1/11 Guardian Heroes (SAT)
1/14 Sonic Adventure (GCN)
1/17 Marvel vs Capcom 2 (DC)
1/17 X-Men vs Street Fighter (SAT)
1/22 Dragon Ball Z Budokai (GCN)
1/24 Street Fighter III - The New Generation (DC)
1/24 Street Fighter Alpha 3 (DC)
1/25 Mega Man X (GCN)
1/26 Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure (GBA)
1/31 Tatsunoko vs Capcom (Wii)
2/1 Megaman X2 (GCN)
2/2 Marvel vs Capcom (DC)
2/3 Megaman X3 (GCN)
2/3 Megaman X4 (GCN)
2/4 Megaman X5 (GCN)
2/5 Megaman X6 (GCN)
2/7 Gundam SEED: Never Ending Tomorrow (PS2)
2/8 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (DC)
2/9 Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams (PS2)
2/9 The King of Fighters XI (PS2)
2/11 The King of Fighters '99 Dream Match (DC)
2/13 SNK Gals Fighter (NGPC)
2/16 The King of Fighters '98 (Wii)
2/17 The King of Fighters '96 (Wii)
2/17 Metal Slug (Wii)
2/17 Metal Slug 2 (Wii)
2/18 SNK vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium (NGPC)
2/19 The King of Fighters '97 (Wii)
2/19 Street Fighter II' (Wii / VC)
2/22 Metal Slug 3 (Wii)
2/25 Super Street Fighter IV (PS3)
2/27 Capcom vs SNK 2 (DC)
2/27 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
3/3 Mega Man II (GB)
3/5 Super Street Fighter II: HD Remix (PS3)
3/6 Mega Man III (GB)
3/11 Mega Man IV (GB)
3/13 Mega Man: Powered Up! (PSP)
3/14 Garou: Mark of the Wolves (DC)
3/15 Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (PS2)
3/15 Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold (PS2)
3/15 Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PS2)
3/15 Street Fighter EX 3 (PS2)
3/15 Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (PS2)
3/16 The King of Fighters R2 (NGPC)
3/16 Project Justice: Rival Schools (DC)
3/17 Capcom Fighting Evolution (PS2)
3/20 Zone of the Enders (PS2)
3/21 P.N.03 (GCN)
3/21 Super Puzzle Fighter II (GBA)
3/27 Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (3DS)
4/10 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (GCN)
4/28 Vampire Savior (SAT)
5/3 Advance Guardian Heroes (GBA)
5/7 Virtua Fighter Kids (SAT)
5/12 Soul Calibur II (GCN)
5/13 Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland (GBA)
5/14 Dead or Alive 2 (DC)
5/14 Gigawing (DC)
5/15 Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (Wii)
5/23 Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (NGPC)
5/24 Mega Man 8 (SAT)
5/27 Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
6/4 Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (GB)
6/18 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)
6/20 Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (PS3)
6/20 Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SAT)
6/20 Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dreams (GBC)
7/10 Kodou Senshi Gundam (SAT)
7/10 Super Mario Land (GB)
7/16 Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
7/18 NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
7/25 Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter (SAT)
7/26 Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team (XBLA)
7/27 The King of Dragons (PS2)
7/31 Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
8/2 The King of Fighters '99 Evolution (DC)
8/2 Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing (Wii)
8/6 Sonic Advance (GBA)

I've been working on Sonic Advance off and on for a while now, struggling with the last couple of zones where the difficulty really amped up. Now that I have finally finished it, I can say that the game is aboslutely brilliant. The visuals are colorful and dynamic, the level design is interesting and challenging, the music is VERY reminiscent of the Genesis era games, and the whole thing is just way more polished than your average GBA title.

Sonic Advance is that game that people have to try and pretend doesn't exist when they are bitching about the decline of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. This single game is just too good.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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CFFJR
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by CFFJR »

Flake wrote:I've been working on Sonic Advance off and on for a while now, struggling with the last couple of zones where the difficulty really amped up. Now that I have finally finished it, I can say that the game is aboslutely brilliant. The visuals are colorful and dynamic, the level design is interesting and challenging, the music is VERY reminiscent of the Genesis era games, and the whole thing is just way more polished than your average GBA title.

Sonic Advance is that game that people have to try and pretend doesn't exist when they are bitching about the decline of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. This single game is just too good.


Enjoy it man. Advance is indeed awesome, which makes it all the more unfortunate that Advance 2 and 3 don't hold up.

That's not to say they're bad games, but the original is the best of the three by a very wide margin.
GameSack wrote:That's right, only Sega had the skill to make a proper Nintendo game.
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Xeogred
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by Xeogred »

I'm not sure if I've played the Advance games, I didn't think Sonic Rush was all that bad though. Still not amazing, but not bad.
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CFFJR
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by CFFJR »

Xeogred wrote:I'm not sure if I've played the Advance games, I didn't think Sonic Rush was all that bad though. Still not amazing, but not bad.


They're worth checking out, particularly the first one. It really is fantastic.

I happen to think they're all better than the Rush games. :lol:
GameSack wrote:That's right, only Sega had the skill to make a proper Nintendo game.
Flake
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by Flake »

Yeah, I have stared Advance 2 and I am already noticing some serious design flaws - mostly in execution of concept. The developers seem to have got it in their heads that speed is more important than platforming - which is fun to look at but not so much fun to play.

Sonic Rush is quite good. Rush Adventure was disappointing in that oh-so-special 'Sonic Team wuz here' kinda way.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
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emwearz
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Re: Games Beaten : 2011

Post by emwearz »

Plants Vs Zombies - PC
Halo 3: ODST - 360
Enslaved: Odyssey To The West - 360
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - NDS
Unreal Tournament 3 - 360
Dead Space - 360
Harms Way - XBLA
Starfox Assault - GC
Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift - IOS
The House of the Dead: Overkill - Wii
Fallout 3 - 360
Peggle Extreme - PC
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast - PC
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 - 360
Portal - PC
The Great Gatsby - Browser
Kirby Super Star Ultra - NDS
Bulletstorm - PC
Half Life: Source - PC
Probotector - NES
Fable III - 360
Perfect Dark - N64
Crysis 2 - 360
Final Fantasy XIII - 360
Portal 2 - 360
Half Life 2 - 360
Machinarium - PC
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown (AGDInteractive Remake) - PC
Half Life 2: Episode 1 - 360
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - 360
King's Quest II: Romancing The Stones (AGDInteractive Remake) - PC
Singularity - PC
Samorost - Browser
Samorost 2 - PC
Mortal Kombat (9) - 360
Gemini Rue - PC
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - PC
Duke Nukem Forever - 360
Beneath a Steel Sky - PC
Metal Slug 5 - PS2
Prey - PC
Vanquish - 360
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 1 - PC
Child of Eden - 360
Metal Slug XX - PSP
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - 360
Who's That Flying?! - PS Mini (PSP)

Total Games for 2011: 47

Thoughts on the Game(s)


I thought WTF?! was a fun little horizontal shooter, it was pretty repetitive however, with the main enemy being the same across all levels, it uses a health system (You loose health when one of said main enemy gets past you, but as you have 50 chances on each level, you wont die often).

I did not die until the final boss, which took me a handful of tries to beat, and I myself suck as shmups.
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