Games Beaten 2014

[ZeroAX]

Maybe time to go for FF13, hopefully it lives up to expectations.

. That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

...Just kidding, I actually kind of liked the game. But it's still my least favorite FF. But that still puts it above X.

[wclem]

Maybe time to go for FF13, hopefully it lives up to expectations.

. That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

...Just kidding, I actually kind of liked the game. But it's still my least favorite FF. But that still puts it above X.

I take it you will not be buying the HD remake? I am picking it up simply because I think it is gonna sell in low numbers and I will be stuck later if I ever go for a complete set. (well a non sports game complete set)

[emwearz]

I thought FFXIII was okay, there was a lot of doing nothing at times, just felt like a 'walk from left to right of screen' simulator at times, but it is a long shot from being a bad game.

The time investment is massive though.

[wclem]

I thought FFXIII was okay, there was a lot of doing nothing at times, just felt like a 'walk from left to right of screen' simulator at times, but it is a long shot from being a bad game.

The time investment is massive though.

Gonna watch some anime on my laptop when it comes time to grind. I found it is a great way to spend time leveling in rpg's.

[ZeroAX]

I take it you will not be buying the HD remake? I am picking it up simply because I think it is gonna sell in low numbers and I will be stuck later if I ever go for a complete set. (well a non sports game complete set)

God no. I absolutely hated FF X. That and X-2 got me to hate the FF series. Then FF XII came out and I didn't bother with it for like 2 years. But then thankfully I tried it and loved it . To this day it remains the only game I've beaten on the PS2....and yeah, it took me around 100 hours, though I used a walkthrough for that final tower dungeon.

Gonna watch some anime on my laptop when it comes time to grind. I found it is a great way to spend time leveling in rpg's.

My kind sir.....THANK YOU.

[Luke]

Metroid Zero Mission is, without a doubt, one of the greatest games ever made.

One of the most fantastic months of gaming in my life was when I hooked up the Crube and GBPlayer and played nearly the entire Metroid series. To each his own, but I love every entry in the series.

Anyone know why Zero and Fusion weren't console releases?

[ZeroAX]

Anyone know why Zero and Fusion weren't console releases?

Till the Wii made them popular again (or just showed people that they always were popular), 2D platformers on consoles weren't making big money. Bringing back old series meant bringing them into 3D.

Also, the GBA needed to have some Metroid action too

[isiolia]

1.) Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
2.) Remember Me (PC)
3.) Mirror's Edge (PC)
4.) Jumping Flash! (PS1)
5.) Run Saber (SNES)
6.) Heavenly Sword (PS3)
7.) X-Blades (360)
8.) Blades of Time (360)
9.) Trapt (PS2)
10.) Hunted: The Demon's Forge (360)
11.) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)
12.) Venetica (PC)
13.) Metal Gear (MSX)
14.) Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
15.) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition (PS3)

Thoughts

For this month, I started on playing through (hopefully) at least the canon Metal Gear games. I played through 2 and 4 when they were new, and have played/watched some of 1 and 3 before. It’s one of those series that I figured I’d go try to play more of sometime. In general effort to just play through more games, and Together Retro being Metal Gear this month, and Ground Zeroes coming out soon…figured it was as good a time as any.

Metal Gear (MSX)
I started with the original mostly due to Together Retro. The HD collection version probably makes things easier, I’m not sure – that it refills everything if you continue a few times (without giving a choice) certainly would serve to do that.

I did appreciate that the game had a “right” solution for nearly everything, which is largely a trend that continues through the series, just not as harshly. It did seem to me like it was stingy with information, and relied a lot on backtracking to stretch out the game world. Had I not been using a FAQ, I kind of wonder how much time I would have spent wandering around aimlessly. I think for the original release, some of the information might have been on the included map (I’ve been told the NES version had one) and/or manual.

In any case, it was short, and I had fun with it, but I definitely appreciate things that later installments added.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
I wound up playing this pretty much back to back with the first one. It’s quite a difference. Quite a lot of what defines the series in general (much less that is obviously reused in MGS) can easily be traced back to this. Still had an element of finding solutions to a problem – though, again, having a FAQ meant I tended to be more prepared. Instead of running into an impasse and being given a hint as to what I should go look for, I’d already have it. There’s still a little too much running back and forth, but it’s alleviated compared to the first one.

In this game’s case, playing it probably requires some level of online resource…since it has a bit of “go check the manual” style copy protection (actually, looking it up, Konami posted the needed info in a FAQ themselves).

Still had a few hangups, like doors requiring a key card with no indication as to which, and some aspects that might have been technical, like moving one screen at a time (which made the radar –very- important). Overall though, it was great.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition (PS3)
After the MSX games, I decided to go back and follow the in-game timeline versus release timeline. Thus, MGS3.

There were a few parts I spent –way- too much time on, mostly because I was trying to play them a certain way and just couldn’t pull off. Still, that’s one of the most noteworthy aspects of this game, and really the series as it has evolved. The early titles had problems with –a- solution. MGS3 has so many things in the “I wonder what happens if I try…” that actually work.

That kind of attention to detail made me wonder why some of the other mechanics are still so clunky. Crouching, rotating when crawling, first person mode looking the wrong way so often…

I think some of it was a bit self-indulgent as well, like needing to use several items to heal wounds.

Overall, fairly minor nitpicks, or just things you have to accept from the series, like tank controls in some other games. The high points of the game just dwarfed the complaints I have with it. Most of the boss fights are unique and memorable, story and characters are well done, and most of the game has a great organic difficulty to it (which I mostly skewed to the bottom of, outside of stamina killing most of the bosses, because I suck).

[Xeogred]

Maybe time to go for FF13, hopefully it lives up to expectations.

. That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

...Just kidding, I actually kind of liked the game. But it's still my least favorite FF. But that still puts it above X.

I take it you will not be buying the HD remake? I am picking it up simply because I think it is gonna sell in low numbers and I will be stuck later if I ever go for a complete set. (well a non sports game complete set)

I hope it does well so there's a chance for FFXII HD (and that could give us the International Job system version).

Lightning Returns came out with the series lowest selling numbers its first week I think, with only a month apart it'll be interesting to see how LR and FFX HD do here.

[BogusMeatFactory]

1. We Love Katamari (PS2)
2. Major Minor's Majestic Marching Band (Wii)
3. Mario and Luigi: Dream TEam (3DS)
4. Petz: Wildlife Rescue (Wii) (Don't Ask)
5. Flow (PS3)
6. Journey (PS3)
7. Shenmue (DC) (5th completion)
8. Ben There, Dan That (PC)
9. Serena (PC)
10. Graffiti Kingdom (PS2)
11. Bushido Blade (PS1)
12. Super Bomberman (SNES)

Bushido Blade - Completed the story mode with every character, used every weapon and did a lot of practice to get used to the mechanics. First off, this game must be played with others. I wish I had someone here who would be willing to learn the game better with me as I can see how technical it really is, even though when playing against the CPU, all you need to do is attack as they do their intro. What I enjoyed the most was the practice mode as it is essentially a never ending fight.

Super Bomberman - It's bomberman for the Super Nintendo...if you do not know what Bomberman is, shame on you