Summer Games Challenge 2014

[Sload Soap]

Yeah...

Except I had already started playing the only one I finished before this even began. I am a Cheaty McCheaterton.

Why I oughta!

[darsparx]

Yeah...

Except I had already started playing the only one I finished before this even began. I am a Cheaty McCheaterton.

Why I oughta!

You oughta what?

[noiseredux]

I started Shadow of the Colossus yesterday. I have no idea why I waited so long to play this game, I've owned it since it came out, and at the time I adored Ico (It's the reason I got this)

I ruthlessly slaughtered the first two colossi and immediately regretted it. I put it away for the time being when I couldn't figure out how to reach the third.

I'm not sure if I can finish all the games I was planning even last post. I gave myself a ridiculous deadline for a personal project that I'm not entirely sure I have the skill to pull off.

As long as you beat Shadow of the Colossus, your life will be that much better for the experience.

[Cronozilla]

As long as you beat Shadow of the Colossus, your life will be that much better for the experience.

That's the plan, it's been a long time coming.

[alienjesus]

1. Double Dragon (NES)
2. Super Aleste (SNES)
3. Perfect Dark (N64)
4. Wave Race 64 (N64)
5. Shantae (GBC via 3DS VC)
6. Ristar (MD via Wii VC)
7. Bangai-O (DC)
8. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSP)
9. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PSP)
10. Metal Gear Solid 2 (Vita)

Another one bites the dust.

Tactics Ogre is a fun enough game, but it has a few problems that can cause it to be frustrating at times and stop it going from a game I like to a game I love.

First the positives. The class system is pretty well done, and I love that you level up classes instead of characters, so if you want to add an extra archer to your team in addition to the one you have, you can throw them right in because their level will match. The ability system is nice, and I liked the use of skills to differentiate the job roles further - these are extra abilities you can use without using your turn in battle - such as stealing with a thief or generating more MP as an enchantress. I also liked the story which managed to do the morality thing in a simple but effective way, with more than a few shades of grey. Hell, the first major choice, which will be in the next spoiler, really mixes up your expectations:

So you go to 'liberate' a town of refugees under orders from your lord, but when you get there it turns out the mission is actually to slaughter all of them, including hundreds of innocents, children, the elderly, the works. This will be blamed on the enemy, inciting an uprising and helping your cause. If you choose to follow this plan, you end up on the lawful path because you followed orders, whereas trying to defend the encampment sets you on the chaotic route of the game. I played the whole game on the chaotic route.

There were a fair few niggles that I feel bought the game down though. First of all, the early game is really tough, until you start getting skills for your team. Choosing which skills are worthwhile is critical early on for two reasons - choosing the wrong ones makes the early game really hard, and certain skills level up - VERY VERY slowly. Skills I chose as my first in the game were often still only just reaching level 3 (of 8!) when I finished the game.

The pacing of the game is very slow too. Units take a long time to move, most maps have at least 20 units on including your own and there's no real way to speed things along. This seems inherent to the PSP version too, as a guide I found said most SNES version maps only had 5 or 6 on each side rather than 10 or 12. I also found that getting new classes was a pain in the ass later on as they would start at level 1 and take lots of grinding to be usable. I didn't use any classes after I unlocked Ninja and Rogue early in chapter 2 because I just couldnt be bothered with all the levelling. Other aspects of the game are slow too - crafting weapons is nice, but making one weapon can often take 20 or more individual crafting sequences later on, and you have to watch it take place EVERY time.

Lastly, the games pacing is all wrong for sidequests too. They nearly all take place in chapter 4, right before the end. This is annoying for several reasons - it slows the game pace right down, when they could've been interspersed throughout. Many sidequests offer unique unit classes which will then need stupid amounts of levelling to catch up with your late game team. It also delays the story right when the climax is coming, making it feel less significant.

This late game pacing issue extends to the final chapter in general too. The chapter is full of dungeons with multiple battles (the last dungeon can have up to 12 and can easily take 5-8 hours alone!) and the final boss is cheap and annoying too. It almost put me off the game entirely.

For all my moaning about pace (because every single problem I have with the game is generally about pace) I did like the game. I think it's exponentially better than FF Tactics: War of the Lions which is full of things I didn't like, but I still prefer the GBA and DS FF Tactics games due to the more diverse jobs and much nippier pacing of the two, despite their less interesting stories.


With that, I have just one game left on my marathon - Super Aleste. Maybe I can actually finish this this year!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Really wish I had Mega Man on NES because playing it with an Xbox controller just seems awkward. I keep hitting the shoulder buttons accidentally too, which changes your weapon. Makes me feel like a dumbass. At least I can save in this version.

[dsheinem]

Really wish I had Mega Man on NES because playing it with an Xbox controller just seems awkward. I keep hitting the shoulder buttons accidentally too, which changes your weapon. Makes me feel like a dumbass. At least I can save in this version.

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... 87a1af0029 + your PC

[laurenhiya21]

1. LoZ: Ocarina of Time (Wii VC)
2. Ico (PS2)
3. Silent Hill (PS1)
4. Super Mario 64 (Wii VC)
5. LoZ: Oracle of Ages (3DS VC)
6. Half-Life (Steam)
7. Super Punch-Out!! (Wii VC)
8. Ys I + II (Steam)
9. Gunstar Heroes (Steam)
10. Phantasy Star (GEN)

Woo beat Ocarina of Time

I was a little bit underwhelmed overall I think... I really enjoyed the first bit (up to the Forest Temple I think) but after that, the dungeons seemed to get a little too annoying for my tastes. Like running around looking for that one missing key, or having to wait for certain enemies to do their attacks (and there were other things but I can't remember all of them). I did like the characters, music (it surprised me how good it sounded tbh), and the final battle with Ganon once I figured him out, but I can't say I enjoyed it enough to want to play it again. Or at least, not all the way though again. I might just be spoiled by later Zeldas, but oh well. Not much I can do about that ha ha.

Next up, I may either try and beat ICO or Super Punch-Out!!... I want to do ICO, but I'm not 100% sure I can beat it before I leave next week for school. I mean, I could start it and beat it after I moved, but I'd rather not if I can help it. Hopefully I'll get to it either way though, as I'm curious on what I will think about it after so many people here have played it...

[CFFJR]

Next up, I may either try and beat ICO or Super Punch-Out!!... I want to do ICO, but I'm not 100% sure I can beat it before I leave next week for school. I mean, I could start it and beat it after I moved, but I'd rather not if I can help it. Hopefully I'll get to it either way though, as I'm curious on what I will think about it after so many people here have played it...

For what its worth, Ico is pretty short.

I don't know when you're leaving, but I'd say you could knock it out over this weekend.

[laurenhiya21]

Hmm, well I leave early on Wednesday (and I probably won't have any time on Mon or Tues to play), but if I can just beat it in a weekend then I might go for it...