Games Beaten 2014

[prfsnl_gmr]

First 25

1. Hotline Miami (PS3)
2. Boulder Dash XL 3D (3DS)
3. Mirror's Edge (PS3)
4. Orcs & Elves (DS)
5. 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
6. Justice League Heroes: The Flash (GBA)
7. Metal Gear (MSX/PS2)
8. Wario Land: Shake It! (WII)
9. LittleBigPlanet: Game of the Year Edition (PS3)
10. Drill Dozer (GBA)
11. LittleBigPlanet 2: Special Edition (PS3)
12. South Park: The Stick of Truth (PS3)
13. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (PS3)
14: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
15. Angry Birds: Star Wars (3DS)
16. Nervous Brickdown (DS)
17. Dragon's Lair (ARCADE/DS)
18. Flashback: The Quest for Identity (GEN)
19. Jumping Flash! 2 (PS1)
20. Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB)
21. Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (PS3)
22. Nectaris: Military Madness (PS1)
23. Military Madness (TG16/PS1)
24. Thomas Was Alone (PS3)
25. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (SNES)

26. Alien Chaos 3D (3DS)
27. Return Fire (3DO/PS1)
28. Puppeteer (PS3)
29. Giana Sisters DS (DS)
30. Street of Rage 2 (GEN)
31. Halo 2 (XBOX)
32. OutRun (ARCADE/GBA)
33. Dig Dug (ARCADE/GBA)
34. Tron (ARCADE/GBA)
35. Spider Man (2600)
36. One-on-One Basketball (7800)
37. Jak & Daxter (PS2/PS3)
38. Front Line (ARCADE/PS2)
39. DuckTales Remastered (PS3)
40. Donkey Kong Country Returns (WII)
41. Barbie & The Three Musketeers (WII)
42. Ghostbusters: The Video Game (PS3)
43. Wendy: Every Witch Way (GBC)
44. Track & Field (ARCADE/DS)
45. Guitar Hero (PS2)
46. Devil May Cry (PS2/PS3)
47. The Wolf Among Us (PS3)
48. Mega Man X4 (PS1)
49. Dino Strike (Wii)
50. Final Fantasy II: Soul of Rebirth (GBA)

Final Fantasy II: Sould of Rebirth is a full-featured "bonus" game included with recent Final Fantasy II ports. In it, you assemble a party consisting of several characters who "died" during the main quest. One of the characters (i.e., Scott) was not playable during the main quest. The other three (i.e., Minwu, Josef, and Ricard) were playable, however, and they start the game with the same stats and equipment they had when they "died" during the main quest. After assembling the party, you equip and train each party member to tackle one exceptionally long and difficult dungeon.

Since my characters were severely underpowered, it took me approximately 10 hours to train them and conquer the final dungeon. My party was annihilated many, many times, and the "bonus" game was certainly much more difficult than the main quest. I did enjoy the challenge, however, and my party was over-powered when I finally destroyed the Emperor of Heaven (i.e., the final boss). I also appear to be the only person in the world who really likes Final Fantasy II's unique levelling system; so, I really did not mind grinding for several hours before tackling the final dungeon. That said, the "bonus" game is not for everyone, and it is especially unsuitable for people that do not like Final Fantasy II's main quest. Accordingly - and while I enjoyed it very much - I recommend Final Fantasy II: Soul of Rebirth to only the most dedicated Final Fantasy players.

.....

Also, 50 games!

7. Resident Evil 4 (Wii)

I love this game so much, and I am glad that you enjoyed it. IMO, it is one of the best games in any genre on any system.

Beat Otogi last night; 8/10

Keep up the good work! I very much enjoy your reviews, and I am going to try to spend some more time with my Xbox next year.

[MrPopo]

Just beat Dragon Age: Inquisition. Only thing I'm annoyed about is, like in my first playthrough of DA2, I screwed up the romances and so I wasn't able to seal the deal with Sera before the end. The lack of a numeric approval meter really hurt things, in my opinion. I think I missed out on a few personal quests for the same reasons. When I did a second playthrough of DA2 to have a "perfect" file for import into DA:I (before they revealed the Keep system) I was able to manipulate the relationship values much more easily so I was able to do all the personal quests and romance Merril. I may have to do a second DA:I playthrough in a year to fix the stuff I didn't do to my satisfaction.

But other than that it was a marvelous journey. The world is huge and expansive and there's room to do as much or as little sidequests as you want. I liked how the characters were realized, and Bioware continues to show the strength of their character writing. Another arc has been finished in the DA storyline. But there's certainly more on the horizon. I'm really enjoying the universe they've created and I look forward to more.

[Exhuminator]

Keep up the good work! I very much enjoy your reviews, and I am going to try to spend some more time with my Xbox next year.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I am taking a break from my Xbox for a minute though. Going to give the rather disputed Dawn of Mana a go next.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Mana series really took a dump after part 3. Not surprising, given the developer.

[Exhuminator]

Mana series really took a dump after part 3.

From a classic design standpoint I can understand where you're coming from with that. But I'm one of those weirdos who enjoyed Legend of Mana.

[Xeogred]

Legend looks gorgeous... but had a different composer (Hiroki Kikuta is so underrated), and I really disliked how they ditched some of the RPG elements of the SNES titles. Wasn't there no EXP? And only two playable characters this time? It's been years, but I remember it felt like a big downgrade from the SNES ones.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Legend is bad.

I actually do enjoy Children. Nice simple dungeon crawler. That's the best in the series since SD3.

[Flake]

Legend is bad.

I actually do enjoy Children. Nice simple dungeon crawler. That's the best in the series since SD3.

I just don't understand this. Legend had a truly epic story line, loads of secrets, and a fully customizable main character. Children was a derivative Gauntlet clone minus the fun.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I found Legend to be slow and bloated.

Children may be generic, yes. But it's streamlined and fast and smooth and tons of fun to play. The perfect game to play when you're just looking to vegetate on the couch for an hour or so at a time. Nice and straightforward hack 'n' slash action.

[noiseredux]

so speaking of episodic games, I just finished ep1 of The Wolf Among us. I'm really really glad that it was free on my Shield, as I was putting off otherwise. For whatever reason the concept seemed less cool to me than the Walking Dead games. Now I adored Walking Dead Season 1, and I liked Season 2 a lot, but after just one episode I feel like The Wolf Among Us is a far more interesting story with far more compelling characters than WD Season 2.