Re: Games Beaten 2019
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 1:37 am
Yo, AJ! About those thoughts on Phantasy Star IV! You're right, actually. PSIV isn't especially great. It's not the best JRPG on the console, either; that would be Surging Aura. It's not even the second best JRPG for the Mega Drive; that would be Legend of Heroes. It's about as good as Legend of Heroes II, though. Unfortunately none of those are available in English, and are pretty uncommon/rare even in Japanese, so most people will probably never realize this, but I swear it's the truth. I do think it's true that PSIV fits alongside a lot of the SNES' heralded JRPGs in that I don't really care a lick about them, though.
I'm surprised that I was probably a little less sour about Landstalker than you, after I had played it. I definitely agree about its particular brand of isometric nonsense, though. Have you played Alundra before? If not, I think it feels a bit like if Landstalker had just not been an isometric game, and been more like Beyond Oasis. (I find Alundra to be the best alternative to Legend of Oasis.) The story is probably better overall in Alundra, as well. The gameplay and puzzles can still be really difficult, though, which I happen to like about both games, but I realize not everyone does. There's also the 'true' sequel in Ladystalker, which I still haven't played much of, but seems to control even worse, and removed jumping. I guess ladystalkers can't jump.
Also, Puyo Puyo Sun did start in the arcades. I happen to have it. I really enjoy puzzle games, but have always been balls at Puyo Puyo. The difficulty of the first two probably never helped matters. It sounds like I might have to try playing Sun instead. Do you have Puyo Puyo~n for anything? I now need for you to play that, and tell me what end of the Puyo difficulty spectrum it falls on.
Games Beaten List:
I guess it's been quite a while since I updated my list of beaten games. Just some quick thumbs-up/thumbs-down on most of these:
Zelda II - Am I happy to have salted this one away legit and without assistance (aside from cheesing Dark Link)? Sure. Was it worth it? Not really. Would I ever play it again? Not on your life.
Elnard - I mean, I didn't mind it for most of the game, but the final continent was a bit of a task to push through, and the ending was just complete nonsense. Even as a joke, I couldn't recommend it, but if you're a real glutton for C-tier RPGs, then sure. It's not terrible.
Actraiser - Piss off, Actraiser. Your gameplay is clunky, and not fun. Your graphics are lame, and despite a venerated VGM composer, your soundtrack is measly and uninteresting outside of the first two BGM. (I don't really love Yuzo Koshiro as a composer, but the theme for the pyramid area was as close to "bad" as I've ever felt comfortable describing his work.) The sim sections are trivial, and really don't "mix things up" in a way that I feel works with the action portions of the game. At least Quintet eventually knocked it out of the park with Soul Blazer and Terranigma, though.
Sonic Mania - Okay, this is going to sound weird, but I really didn't care for this game. It felt kind of lifeless and awkward to me. It tries as hard as it possibly can to be a 2D Sonic game, faithful to its roots, and I feel like it just misses the mark. Also, the Studiopolis Act 1 boss is the worst idea for a Sonic boss I think I've ever seen. I've been feeling like I should revisit it at some point, but it doesn't really feel worth it when I could just replay S3&K, or Sonic CD. I'm almost positive I would have a better time with either of them. It's disappointing because I really wanted to like Sonic Mania, but it feels a bit soulless, and misguided, just differently from Sonic Team's more recent attempts at continuing the 2D line of games. I do really like Studiopolis' Act 2 theme, though.
Bloodstained - Similarly, I just don't see a reason to play this game ever again. I did pretty much everything possible in the base game. About the only thing left that I could possibly do is multiple NG+ to max out a couple one-time boss drop shard grades. I just have no interest in doing that, even with DLC content or something. It does everything it possibly can to reimagine SOTN, but it's inferior in its methods in almost every respect. No, I would just replay SOTN. That would be much more worth my time. It's a fairly enjoyable game, once through, though--if you absolutely must play it.
Blazing Chrome - There's a real theme developing here: Just play Contra: Hard Corps, it does everything this game does, but way better. Blazing Chrome isn't bad, per se, but out of these three, it's the one I enjoyed playing the least; which is to say that I didn't enjoy it much at all.
ReCore - I wouldn't really recommend running out to buy it, but it's not really bad. I enjoyed it a fair amount, initially. It gets pretty stale about halfway through, and really needed some rethinking with the combat. It plays kind of rough at times on PC, also. There are some good ideas in ReCore, but they ultimately weren't executed very well.
The Outer Worlds - I enjoyed The Outer Worlds for the most part. I felt it had some issues with the narrative, and I was kind of expecting character development to be better, since I thought that was supposed to be a big thing with modern WRPGs, but it's an interesting game. I went kind of crazy, and explored the world a bit excessively for loot and stuff, so it kind of ended up feeling a bit overly repetitive, and not really worth the time investment, after a while. I'd potentially think about playing it again some day, though. Not any time soon, and I'd definitely just be doing it to explore a slightly different moral path, but it was pretty fun overall.
Shenmue II - This was a replay to refresh myself on most of the Shenmue lore for the release of Shenmue III. There's not a whole lot to say, it's still the greatest game ever made. There are some performance issues on the Dreamcast that I noticed a lot more than when I originally played it in 2001, but it was also fun to pick out some of the technical differences that were made between this one and the first game, like the sky being more natural, and all the NPCs having Ryo's model for shadows, unlike the drop shadows in the first game. Hong Kong is appropriately huge and full of personality, and both the third and fourth discs are unique, with a serious ramp up in narrative intensity. It's as much of a masterpiece now as it was almost two decades ago. I'm still going to need to replay it again, because I was kind of rushing (started on in-game Feb 15, and ended on Mar . I tried to complete a lot of things, like I actually got the gold medal this time, but I potentially missed a number of optional scenes, particularly pertaining to Fang Mei, and missed a bunch of Collection items in my clear file because I didn't play a lot of the arcade cabinets even once. That's all right, though.
Shenmue III - This was the best game I beat for the first time this year. (Sakura Taisen 3, and Shinobi III weren't too far off, though.) Somehow I always sort of expected that Yu Suzuki would be able to pick the series right back up from where it left off, but at the same time I guess I didn't really expect for it to flow quite so seamlessly together. I, presumably, did very close to everything possible in the game. The Epic Store version doesn't have any achievements like the PS4 version, so I'm not sure if I actually picked every herb possible, but I'm pretty sure I did. I know I missed more than one quest, six trade-ins for move scrolls, I didn't master every acquired move, and I only got 107 of the chobu-chan shop cards. I did, however, win at almost every smart ball and lucky drop board in the game, collect all the clothing I could find (including the kenpogi and the two trainer jacket prizes), unload all the Choubu-chan Fighter machines and play the mess out of it for prizes, completed the Rose Garden fights, and had many, many conversations with NPCs during the down times where Ryo isn't asking for directions, etc (the times where a lot of the best conversations are had). A lot of the NPC dialog is pretty great. It unfortunately gets a little repetitive at times in the first area, because the number of NPCs is a little more limited, and they don't change up what they say all that often, but I will never forget Ryo explaining the birds and the bees to a kid by reciting the beginning of the story of Momotaro, and the kid's response. Shenmue III, like the first two games, is all about how much you invest into it. The more you invest, the greater is the reward. I put a total of $600 and 106 hours into Shenmue III, and it was absolutely worth every bit of that. I'm really looking forward to the DLC that's on the way, and any other future announcements for the series.
I'm surprised that I was probably a little less sour about Landstalker than you, after I had played it. I definitely agree about its particular brand of isometric nonsense, though. Have you played Alundra before? If not, I think it feels a bit like if Landstalker had just not been an isometric game, and been more like Beyond Oasis. (I find Alundra to be the best alternative to Legend of Oasis.) The story is probably better overall in Alundra, as well. The gameplay and puzzles can still be really difficult, though, which I happen to like about both games, but I realize not everyone does. There's also the 'true' sequel in Ladystalker, which I still haven't played much of, but seems to control even worse, and removed jumping. I guess ladystalkers can't jump.
Also, Puyo Puyo Sun did start in the arcades. I happen to have it. I really enjoy puzzle games, but have always been balls at Puyo Puyo. The difficulty of the first two probably never helped matters. It sounds like I might have to try playing Sun instead. Do you have Puyo Puyo~n for anything? I now need for you to play that, and tell me what end of the Puyo difficulty spectrum it falls on.
Games Beaten List:
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure (GEN)
- The Revenge of Shinobi (GEN)
- Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (GEN)
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN)
- Go Go Ackman (SFC)
- Super Wagyan Land (SFC)
- Super Mario RPG (SFC)
- Shin Megami Tensei if... (SFC)
- Front Mission: Gun Hazard (SFC)
- Steep Slope Sliders (SAT)
- Valkyrie Profile (PS1)
- Sakura Taisen (SAT)
- Shenmue Chapter 1: Yokosuka (DC)
- Shinobi (PS2)
- Gungrave (PS2)
- Assault Suit Leynos 2 (SAT)
- Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shinitamoukoto Nakare (SAT)
- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World (PS2)
- Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu (FC)
- Ganbare Goemon 2 (FC)
- Sakura Taisen 3 ~Paris wa Moeteiru ka~ (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro (DC)
- Capcom vs SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting 2001 (DC)
- Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koi-seyo Otome~ (DC)
- Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyou-ryuu Doujou (DC)
- King of Fighters '99 Evolution (DC)
- Madou Monogatari I (MD)
- Twinkle Star Sprites (SAT)
- Madou Monogatari (SAT)
- Policenauts (SAT)
- Demon's Blazon: Makaimura Monshou-hen (SFC)
- Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (FC)
- Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun (GB)
- Red Arimer: Makaimura Gaiden (GB)
- Getsu Fuumaden (FC)
- After Armageddon Gaiden: Majuu Toushouden Eclipse (Mega CD)
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
- Elnard (SFC)
- Actraiser (SFC)
- Sonic Mania (PC)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC)
- Blazing Chrome (PC)
- ReCore - Definitive Edition (PC)
- The Outer Worlds (PC)
- Shenmue II (DC)
- Shenmue III (PC)
I guess it's been quite a while since I updated my list of beaten games. Just some quick thumbs-up/thumbs-down on most of these:
Zelda II - Am I happy to have salted this one away legit and without assistance (aside from cheesing Dark Link)? Sure. Was it worth it? Not really. Would I ever play it again? Not on your life.
Elnard - I mean, I didn't mind it for most of the game, but the final continent was a bit of a task to push through, and the ending was just complete nonsense. Even as a joke, I couldn't recommend it, but if you're a real glutton for C-tier RPGs, then sure. It's not terrible.
Actraiser - Piss off, Actraiser. Your gameplay is clunky, and not fun. Your graphics are lame, and despite a venerated VGM composer, your soundtrack is measly and uninteresting outside of the first two BGM. (I don't really love Yuzo Koshiro as a composer, but the theme for the pyramid area was as close to "bad" as I've ever felt comfortable describing his work.) The sim sections are trivial, and really don't "mix things up" in a way that I feel works with the action portions of the game. At least Quintet eventually knocked it out of the park with Soul Blazer and Terranigma, though.
Sonic Mania - Okay, this is going to sound weird, but I really didn't care for this game. It felt kind of lifeless and awkward to me. It tries as hard as it possibly can to be a 2D Sonic game, faithful to its roots, and I feel like it just misses the mark. Also, the Studiopolis Act 1 boss is the worst idea for a Sonic boss I think I've ever seen. I've been feeling like I should revisit it at some point, but it doesn't really feel worth it when I could just replay S3&K, or Sonic CD. I'm almost positive I would have a better time with either of them. It's disappointing because I really wanted to like Sonic Mania, but it feels a bit soulless, and misguided, just differently from Sonic Team's more recent attempts at continuing the 2D line of games. I do really like Studiopolis' Act 2 theme, though.
Bloodstained - Similarly, I just don't see a reason to play this game ever again. I did pretty much everything possible in the base game. About the only thing left that I could possibly do is multiple NG+ to max out a couple one-time boss drop shard grades. I just have no interest in doing that, even with DLC content or something. It does everything it possibly can to reimagine SOTN, but it's inferior in its methods in almost every respect. No, I would just replay SOTN. That would be much more worth my time. It's a fairly enjoyable game, once through, though--if you absolutely must play it.
Blazing Chrome - There's a real theme developing here: Just play Contra: Hard Corps, it does everything this game does, but way better. Blazing Chrome isn't bad, per se, but out of these three, it's the one I enjoyed playing the least; which is to say that I didn't enjoy it much at all.
ReCore - I wouldn't really recommend running out to buy it, but it's not really bad. I enjoyed it a fair amount, initially. It gets pretty stale about halfway through, and really needed some rethinking with the combat. It plays kind of rough at times on PC, also. There are some good ideas in ReCore, but they ultimately weren't executed very well.
The Outer Worlds - I enjoyed The Outer Worlds for the most part. I felt it had some issues with the narrative, and I was kind of expecting character development to be better, since I thought that was supposed to be a big thing with modern WRPGs, but it's an interesting game. I went kind of crazy, and explored the world a bit excessively for loot and stuff, so it kind of ended up feeling a bit overly repetitive, and not really worth the time investment, after a while. I'd potentially think about playing it again some day, though. Not any time soon, and I'd definitely just be doing it to explore a slightly different moral path, but it was pretty fun overall.
Shenmue II - This was a replay to refresh myself on most of the Shenmue lore for the release of Shenmue III. There's not a whole lot to say, it's still the greatest game ever made. There are some performance issues on the Dreamcast that I noticed a lot more than when I originally played it in 2001, but it was also fun to pick out some of the technical differences that were made between this one and the first game, like the sky being more natural, and all the NPCs having Ryo's model for shadows, unlike the drop shadows in the first game. Hong Kong is appropriately huge and full of personality, and both the third and fourth discs are unique, with a serious ramp up in narrative intensity. It's as much of a masterpiece now as it was almost two decades ago. I'm still going to need to replay it again, because I was kind of rushing (started on in-game Feb 15, and ended on Mar . I tried to complete a lot of things, like I actually got the gold medal this time, but I potentially missed a number of optional scenes, particularly pertaining to Fang Mei, and missed a bunch of Collection items in my clear file because I didn't play a lot of the arcade cabinets even once. That's all right, though.
Shenmue III - This was the best game I beat for the first time this year. (Sakura Taisen 3, and Shinobi III weren't too far off, though.) Somehow I always sort of expected that Yu Suzuki would be able to pick the series right back up from where it left off, but at the same time I guess I didn't really expect for it to flow quite so seamlessly together. I, presumably, did very close to everything possible in the game. The Epic Store version doesn't have any achievements like the PS4 version, so I'm not sure if I actually picked every herb possible, but I'm pretty sure I did. I know I missed more than one quest, six trade-ins for move scrolls, I didn't master every acquired move, and I only got 107 of the chobu-chan shop cards. I did, however, win at almost every smart ball and lucky drop board in the game, collect all the clothing I could find (including the kenpogi and the two trainer jacket prizes), unload all the Choubu-chan Fighter machines and play the mess out of it for prizes, completed the Rose Garden fights, and had many, many conversations with NPCs during the down times where Ryo isn't asking for directions, etc (the times where a lot of the best conversations are had). A lot of the NPC dialog is pretty great. It unfortunately gets a little repetitive at times in the first area, because the number of NPCs is a little more limited, and they don't change up what they say all that often, but I will never forget Ryo explaining the birds and the bees to a kid by reciting the beginning of the story of Momotaro, and the kid's response. Shenmue III, like the first two games, is all about how much you invest into it. The more you invest, the greater is the reward. I put a total of $600 and 106 hours into Shenmue III, and it was absolutely worth every bit of that. I'm really looking forward to the DLC that's on the way, and any other future announcements for the series.