Games Beaten 2015

[J T]

First you draw a circle, then you dot the eyes. Add a great big smile and presto, it's Kirby!

(つ-'_'-)つ

[MrPopo]

I've realized that Kirby is a menace to society.

In Dreamland he attacks the reigning monarch to steal the food reserves and gorge himself. Then in Adventure he unleashes Dracula and then blows a huge chunk out of the moon.

[marurun]

So you are saying that Kirby is just an SD/chibi version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?

[Ack]

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
13. A Story About My Uncle (PC)(Platformer)
14. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)(FPS)
15. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (PC)(FPS)
16. Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
17. Catacomb Abyss (PC)(FPS)
18. Catacomb Armageddon (PC)(FPS)

Another Catacomb game is down Armageddon is the second of the "Catacomb Adventure" trilogy that Softdisk released on their own after id Software moved on to other things. This version sees the hero, Petton Everhail, coming to modern times to defeat Nemesis, his clones, and his powered up army. This game is harder than the previous one in the CA trilogy, Catacomb Abyss, partly because you must contend with multiple weaker incarnations of the final boss(including one 3-on-1 fight in the final level that was the hardest part of the game), more enemies with projectiles, more enemies that cannot be hurt at first until they perform some kind of animation to activate, and even one enemy type early on that can hurt you even after it dies.

Yet I'm ok with this, because all of the high points of the first game were beefed up for the second, so everything is bigger and badder. The base gameplay is still the same, so you still have your base attack, two special spells, potions to heal, etc., but up against two-headed mutant demons, it seems like you'll need every bit of it. I had a blast with this game, plunging into beds of giant ants, watching skeletons pull themselves off the walls, fighting living statues, etc. I look forward to Catacomb Apocalypse!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Whoa nice hyperlinks guys.

[MrPopo]

So you are saying that Kirby is just an SD/chibi version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?

Yup, we look at him and we think he could never harm us. Oh how wrong we are.

[marurun]

Whoa nice hyperlinks guys.

Seconded. I'm reading a bunch of back-reviews now.

[Sarge]

Kirby's Adventure is still my favorite NES platformer. I got it for my birthday many years ago. It was rare enough to get video games as presents, so that one was particularly sweet.

I just beat a game I'd dropped for years, and decided to revisit: TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. I'd gotten about halfway through the story mode, then hit a brick wall. Guess a little time helps in that regard. I'm no FPS savant by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a fair sight better than I was then. It's a fun game, and you can feel the Goldeneye / Perfect Dark DNA in there. (Free Radical was comprised of team members from Rare that worked on those games.)

I'll probably count that as one of my summer challenge games, since it was so far back. I'm seriously considering cracking out The Sword of Hope II, another game that I've always wanted to play through, but never made much headway in.

[MrPopo]

1. Painkiller - PC
2. Front Mission 4 - PS2
3. Wasteland 2 - PC
4. Arcanum - PC
5. X-COM Terror from the Deep - PC
6. Military Madness - TurboGrafx-16
7. Unreal - PC
8. Shadowrun - SNES
9. Warcraft III - PC
10. Dungeon Keeper - PC
11. Final Fantasy X-2 HD - PS3
12. Descent - PC
13. Quake Mission Pack 2 - Dissolution of Eternity - PC
14. Quake 2 Mission Pack 2 - Ground Zero - PC
15. Sokobond - PC
16. Hybrid Heaven - N64
17. Sonic the Hedgehog - Genesis
18. Castlevania - NES
19. Super Castlevania IV - SNES
20. Castlevania III - NES
21. Castlevania II - NES
22. Castlevania Rondo of Blood - Turbo CD
23. Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders - PC
24. Fractal - PC
25. Kirby's Adventure - NES
26. Pillars of Eternity - PC

The quick summary is this is a proper successor to the Baldur's Gate series. If you liked those then go get this.

The game isn't perfect, but it's quite fun to play and I really liked the system they're using. It's definitely inspired by D&D but they were not shy about breaking from the formula when it made for better gameplay. The biggest change is that all stats are valuable for every class, so rolling a character is deciding how you want to specialize. The second change that follows from that is that every class can use every piece of equipment. If you want armor on your mage that's fine, but armor increases your cooldown period after an action. The final big thing they do is they have separate stats for evasion and damage reduction. You first apply the relevant evasion stat to every incoming hostile effect (including melee attacks), then if it lands you apply the damage reduction. Armor contributes to your damage reduction, while shields and stats apply to your evasion stats.

One interesting feature is that you can go the BG route or the IWD route in building your party. There are eight companions you can find with stories and quests, but you also have the option of hiring adventurers from any inn which are custom built by you. There's no romances as that's not really a thing Obsidian does, but I think that's fine for the story being told.

There's a fair amount of quests around if you want, or you can just power through the main story. I found that when I was doing all the quests I could find that I hit the level cap midway through the last major act. The pacing was pretty good throughout and you slowly uncover what's going on in a similar manner to BG1. It was interesting learning more about the world as you went through things.

I'm really hoping Obsidian makes another one in this universe. We got to see a very small part of the world so there's a lot of places they can go.

Edit: I just discovered I've got an extra copy of Pillars of Eternity in my Obsidian account; for either GOG or Steam (the key hasn't been generated yet). Drop me a PM if you're interested and I'll give it out to whomever is my favorite person when I get around to reading them sometime tomorrow morning.

[Exhuminator]

The Sword of Hope II

I've only played the first game, and I thought it was really interesting. I stopped playing it though because the random encounter rate was utterly insane. You would have random encounters while already in battle with a previous random encounter! Hopefully the sequel tones that aspect down.