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StarTopic The 2023 Completed Games Thread

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1. Butterfly Soup & Butterfly Soup 2 (7th January)

Two short (~3-4 hours) free VNs you can find on itch. About four LGBTQ asian-americans in their first year of high school in California. Amazing writing, legit made me laugh multiple times which is pretty hard.
 
Beat my first game yesterday for 2023.

1. Kaze and the Wild Masks (1/6/2023) - Fun but short game (100%ed it in 8 hours). Fairly reminiscent of DKC, but never quite as creative as those games. Still fairly good for indie game, and the unique transformations not from DKC were pretty fun.

Pretty much how I felt about this one, not quite on the level of DKC but a pretty solid game. And as a big DKC fan it's always nice to get more games in that style.
 
1. Mega Man Zero
2. Mega Man Zero 2
3. Mega Man Zero 3
4. Mega Man Zero 4

Probably my favorite Mega Man subseries even if I don't get what the hell they were going for with the ranking system, as they effectively ask you to first finish a stage with rank and then go explore, which goes against everything I've ever known. Rankings penalizing you for both damage and having a larger healthbar are asinine, and yet the games are still fun.

5. Contra
6. Super C

Super C is the greyest game ever made. The whole pallette is "second row of MS Paint colors". Definitely can understand why I never vibed with it as a kid even when it was one of the "forbidden" games.

7. Metal Slug
8. Metal Slug X

METAL SLUG IS SO FUCKING GOOD

9. Contra: Hard Corps

So like why is this the best Contra game? I've never heard much about it but it was so damn fun and funny. Over-the-top 100% of the time and just so imaginative

10. Castlevania
11. Gex

Decided to go back to Gex to see if it was bad, and it wasn't. Fun game, definitely could've been a cool series if they didn't go into 3D, stripping away the only sense of identity from those games aside from constant yapping of the titular lizard. Sticking to walls always feels good, and I just wish screen was zoomed out just a liiiittle bit more
 
#01 Aladdin (SNES)
#02 Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (SNES)
#03 Magical Pop'n (SNES)
#04 Bonkers (SNES)
#05 Portal (Switch)

#06 Star Fox (SNES)

Did a playthrough this morning on level 1. Yeah, I know, but it's the only one I can comfortably beat and as much fun as the game is, it's all I'm willing to invest into it. I wish the game had difficulty settings so I could see what the rest of the levels look like.

It is a lot of fun, though. It's not only extremely technically impressive, it's also a good game on its own even today. Its just really well designed. The soundtrack is badass and it's amazing how much personality they were able to imprint on all the characters, even though each of them only have like 4 or 5 lines in the whole game (it's also funny how Peppy Hare is always on the verge of dying in every single one of my playthroughs, I don't know if it's just me being bad or he was actually intended to be a jobber).
 
5. Star Fox Zero (Wii U) [8.5/10]

"The Last Wii U Game". I remember I played 64 a few years ago and thought that if they could make the All Range Mode work it would be one of the best games ever made. I kept my Wii U around to one day play Zero under the assumption that it was made more or less entirely with the intent of fixing All Range Mode. And it does!

This is a game that understandably met with a lot of ill will at launch. Everyone was completely over the Wii U at this point and this is really the type of game you ideally have within the first year or two. It sucks that it gets rid of the Assault and Command storyline and characters. That and the gyro copter which isn't very fun are understandable knocks against the game.

This reminds me of a game like New Pokémon Snap or Pikmin 3 where it feels kind of bad at first because a previous game in the series was an instant classic and a much tighter package. But once you understand that and let it go, there's really a lot to love here. I'm excited to go through all of the challenge missions and modes and unlock the medals. The controls really work well once you wrap your head around it (at least coming right off Star Fox and Star Fox 2), and most importantly the All Range Mode fights are much much much better than there were in 64 where they were the low point of that game.

My favorite parts of my first play through were realizing it wasn't a Star Fox 64 remake (it borrows a lot from Star Fox and Star Fox 2 as well) and the whole final Venom level which has maybe the best boss fights in the series. The best of both New Snap and Pikmin 3 were after the credits rolled so I'm excited to keep playing.
 
4. Xenoblade 3- I really like it but man theres so many things to do this game, I will be chipping away at hero quest and such as my backlog shrinks. I think I like 2 more overall just a tiny bit more, but the classes and battle system is fun here. But dear god why is the final boss so long
 
1. Ori and the Will of the Wisps ( 8.5/10 )

Wow. I really liked this game when I first played it, I thought it was a huge improvement over the first one which was already pretty good. Replaying it though, I think I like it even more now. Idk what it was this time, but I just felt like exploring more of the world, doing stuff which I'd glossed over in my last playthrough like spirit trials, combat shrines, finding spirit shards, doing more sidequests, etc. What I think the biggest improvement is over the first Ori, even more than the combat and the bosses, is just how fully realized the world is. These are all characters I just want to talk with, listen to what they have to say, see how they evolve with the story. I think this is a great example of how something completely non-gameplay related can elevate a game so much.

But yeah, aside from that, there's just so much great stuff about this game. The movement/platforming which is of course amazing just like the first one, the combat/bosses which have been hugely improved, the areas which overall seem more diverse than Ori 1, and the music which also, I think is overall even more memorable than the first one, which already had some really good music. In particular, Sanctuary in the Glades really stands out to me. That whole area is just a great vibe, the music together with the characters and the overall atmosphere really gives the feeling of a warm, safe place to take a break, talk with characters, etc. A great way to just relax/chill between other areas on the adventure.

I don't think the game is completely perfect, honestly I think the story
ends a little too depressing. For one, there's Shriek, the main villain of the game, great character imo. But the way her story ends is just tragic. She essentially lived a whole life of misery and ended in the same way, without any positive turn. The resolution, or really lack of resolution, for her just doesn't feel right to me. Also, Ori itself passes away, changing to a spirit tree. Ngl, the way the spirit tree was basically instructing Ori to take its place kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Ori was pretty accepting of it, but honestly it just feels too sad to me, for Ori to pass away like that. And making it even more sad, the end does a time lapse kind of thing where Naru and Gumo grow old and pass away. I suppose the endings of Ori/Naru/Gumo can also be seen as bittersweet, and emotionally affecting, which they are, but at the same time it also feels too sad to me. It also gives the whole game a kind of "end of journey" feeling, which I suppose could be seen as a positive for the emotion it brings, but I also see it as, yeah, sad. Also, I think the Moki side quest in Silent Woods was too sad/depressing, I don't think it was necessary to include that. Well anyway, the ending does seem to imply though that a new creature like Ori will come from the tree, renewing the cycle essentially. Whether this is a reincarnation of Ori itself, or a different creature of the same species as Ori, I'm not sure, it doesn't say directly.

Overall though, although I wished they took the story in some different directions, there's still so much good in the game. Not only is it one of those games that just feels great to play, honestly I can lose track of time because of just how fun it is to move around/platform, but it also brings in an emotional aspect, with characters and a story that I really care about. It's for sure a top 10 game contender for me.
 
Here we go, my first game of the year!

1) Super Metroid (NSW)

This was my second time playing Super. This time I managed to beat it without looking things up, and without abusing rewind or save states (except for saving outside boss rooms, eff those runbacks). I played with the SNES NSO controller and it was perfect; I didn’t even change the default controls. The first time around I swapped the item select to L, but the Select button on the SNES controller is big enough and placed well enough to not be an issue.

Super isn’t my favorite Metroid, but it’s very good. It deserves its status as one of the greatest games ever made.
 
My first completion of the year is indeed Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion on the Switch. Actually ended up having a really good time with this one, better than I remember having on PSP back in the day. Really fun and fast paced action-RPG - I did about 30% of the missions and had absolutely broken my character for the story battles by the end I was so strong. Not sure if I'll play more but giving it a solid 8/10.

Mulled over my next game a bit over the weekend and settled on Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, on sale for $10. Doubt I'll finish it before Fire Emblem is out but looking forward to diving into it, another game I played a lot back in 2007 but haven't touched since. Never finished it back then.
 
Lots of people off to a prolific start this year! Here are my first few:

01. Melatonin
A Rhythm Heaven-like that does a great job coming up with a cohesive theme and striking look, and the stages themselves are enjoyable enough to learn and vibe to. The real misstep for me is that basically every song is a laid back, lo-fi affair. In the end I didn’t find any of them to be memorable or get stuck in my head, which to me is where all of the drive to keep playing and improving in this sort of game comes from. I cleared the game, did a few levels on the harder difficulty and called it there. [VERDICT — Moody But Forgettable Out of Ten]

02. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
It’s super cute. If you ask me, it’s one of the best-looking games on the Switch. Poking around its lovingly crafted world feels satisfying. It’s a good game! I just couldn’t help but feel like it was holding out on me.

For example: One challenge area for the needle has you picking up junk with your spikes, building momentum toward an enemy and then retracting the spikes to lob that junk at them. Very cool little idea! Literally of no use anywhere else in the game, be it combat or traversal. The game is full of untapped potential like this, and the idea of a lot of interesting mechanics being reserved for underwhelming challenge areas is…not ideal, especially when the core levels are so beautifully made and inviting to explore.

I get that Kirby isn’t meant to be a hard game, and I wouldn’t want it to be! But I have to admit that despite the seemingly endless charm on hand, I was yearning for things to ramp up a lot of the time. [VERDICT — Good But Wish It Went Further Out of Ten]

03. Pentiment
I started out loving this game; the 16th century setting and gorgeous artwork immediately drew me in, and a lot of period research is cleverly worked into dialogue and observation in ways that feel organic. I still loved it for those reasons in the end. But I’d be remiss not to say that my investment had dwindled quite a bit by that point.

Without giving any plot details away, I’ll just say that what I thought may be the ending of the game was actually just the first act. The second act attempts to build on the first in ways that don’t really feel earned, and that makes the resulting plot and character revelations feel a bit hollow. The game tries to pull that trick again, and at that point I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a show that had an awesome first season but fell apart as the narrative stretched on. [VERDICT — Impeccably Presented But Loses A Lot of Steam Out of Ten]
 
3. Mighty Gunvolt Burst: Finished the Gunvolt route (played it around 2020 with Beck) and overall it's a great platformer, getting some decent MM vibes here. I did forgot the customization was on the heavy side and they should be ways to simplify that menu, but still was worth it as you can become a monster with some of the upgrades. It also helps it's a very quick game. Gonna try later some of the DLC characters.


1. SAMURAI MAIDEN
2. Legend of Zelda
 
Here we go! Hoping to clear out some of the backlog before Octopath II hits.

January
1. Skyward Sword HD [NSW]
2. Captaid Toad: Treasure Tracker: Special Episode (DLC) [NSW]
3. Final Fantasy VII [NSW]


Currently playing with some decent progress in all of them
  • Professor Layton and the Lost Future [DS]
  • Suduko #1 [NSW]
  • The Last Campfire [NSW]

In the waiting pipeline:
  • Immortals Fenyx Rising [XSX]

Upcoming day 1 games:
  • Octopath Traveler II

3. Final Fantasy VII [NSW]

It is done - I've started it over and over and over multiple times over the years just to give up and let it go. This time I decided to just go through it, using the Switch 'cheats' to actually see the ending. I cant say I enjoyed it much, hated the characters and the story was confusing at best. But still, pleased to have a classic in the bank and I can now go on with my life :p I do intend to watch a lot of videos on the game though to get some better understanding to the story and some day play the remake and closer to now also play Crisis Core.

So if anyone has a good video on the original game - please share!

5/10
 
Ok everything I finished in 2022 and a a couple of comments.

Dusk: One of the best fps ever made. The king of boomer shooters. 10/10
Steamworld Heist: A 2D X-Com style strategy game where you can control projectiles' angles as well. Fantastic game. 9/10
Paradise Killer: Really perplexed on that one. Not sure if I really liked or hated it. 6/10
Turing Test: Portal/Talos Principle style puzzle. Good but short and kinda easy. 6,5/10
Bastion: It was disappointing? Very short and simple, I feel the narrator gimmick carried the game further than it deserves. 5.5/10
Yoku's Island Express: Metroidvania meets pinball. And yes it works. 8/10
Horizon Chase Turbo: Fantastic old school racer with plenty of content and addictive gameplay. 8/10
Outlast: It was ok. 6/10
Goblin Sword: Nice platformer, relaxing and with great content for its price. 7/10
Beautiful Desolation: Isometric point and click from the creators of Stasis. Great visuals, but kind of a chore. 6/10
Guacamelee 2: Amazing metroidvania with great challenges, puzzles and combat. Funny as well. 9/10
Astral Chain: Great combat, the detective parts were kind of basic. Nice story. 8/10
Grim Legends 3: The usual hidden object adventure game. Nice for relaxing. 5/10
Archaica-The Path Of Light: Pretty standard puzzle game. 5/10
Transistor: I feel the narrator got old pretty fast and the game ended before the gameplay became interesting. Style over substance even more than Bastion. 4.5/10
Enigmatis 3: See Grim Legends 5/10
Ion Fury: A worthy successor to Duke Nukem 3D. And long as well. 8.5/10
Broken Sword 5: More of a chore than an adventure. Eh 5/10
Iconoclasts: Nice art, but stupidly story heavy for a metroidvania. Plus the level design was pretty meh. 5/10
Alwa's Legacy: Nice little metroidvania. Pretty good. 7/10
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: The best Xeno? Could be. They are all fantastic after all. 10/10
Inside: Insane animation, nice puzzles, interesting narrative, but too short. 7/10
Toki Tori 2: One of the most ingenious puzzles/metroidvanias ever. Absolute mindbender. 9.5/10
Paratopic: One hour long experimental walking simuIator I guess? Kind of Lynchian. 5/10
Fatum Betula: Feels like LSD simulator for psone, but less interesting than it sounds/looks. 4/10
Vigil The Longenst Night: Apparently souls like metroidvania, but apart from the art direction not much souls. Very rewarding exploration and nice combat. Graphics are both great and bad. 7.5/10
Call of Juarez-Gunslinger: Really fun, arcadey fps. 7/10
Inside A: Escape Room. Relaxing. 6/10
Supraland: Insane 3D metroidvania. An absolute joy to play. 9.5/10
Golf Story: Finally finished it. Pretty great. 8/10
Abzu: Literally a swimming simulation. Could easily be a video. Relaxing sure, but you merely do anything at all. 4.5/10
Doom Eternal: One of the greats. Story wise was whatever, but gameplay is king. Unfortunately the last two bosses were hot garbage. 9/10
The Last Campfire: Very easy, very short, with an annoying narrator that thankfully you can mute. Bad Switch port as well. Disappointing. 4.5/10

Edit: Holy crap! I thought it was the 2022 thread. Sorry for that.
 
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3. Final Fantasy VII [NSW]

It is done - I've started it over and over and over multiple times over the years just to give up and let it go. This time I decided to just go through it, using the Switch 'cheats' to actually see the ending. I cant say I enjoyed it much, hated the characters and the story was confusing at best. But still, pleased to have a classic in the bank and I can now go on with my life :p I do intend to watch a lot of videos on the game though to get some better understanding to the story and some day play the remake and closer to now also play Crisis Core.

So if anyone has a good video on the original game - please share!

5/10
oh god, guess I won't be doing that then! That sounds miserable. I'm just gonna skip actually playing the game with the cheats and jump straight to the video summaries. I really just want to play FF7R anyway.
 
oh god, guess I won't be doing that then! That sounds miserable. I'm just gonna skip actually playing the game with the cheats and jump straight to the video summaries. I really just want to play FF7R anyway.

Oh dont let my opinion be the truth, it's just how I feel about it =) Though, I do know you were in a similar position as I was in in regards to the game..
 
3. Final Fantasy VII [NSW]

It is done - I've started it over and over and over multiple times over the years just to give up and let it go. This time I decided to just go through it, using the Switch 'cheats' to actually see the ending. I cant say I enjoyed it much, hated the characters and the story was confusing at best. But still, pleased to have a classic in the bank and I can now go on with my life :p I do intend to watch a lot of videos on the game though to get some better understanding to the story and some day play the remake and closer to now also play Crisis Core.

So if anyone has a good video on the original game - please share!

5/10

I think Final Fantasy VII is an amazing game up during the Midgar section. The plot is simple and easy to follow but it works and keeps you invested, the pace is terrific and the game is really tightly design. I love all the characters as tropey as they are, it just works, fuck capitalism, let's save the planet, Red XIII is such a good doggo how could you bastards treat him bad, and Sephiroth is super cool, he's just a very strong guy obsessed over the wrong things and his theme song is really cool.

Then you leave Midgar and it just... Turns kind of into nothing. I mean, not nothing, it basically completely abandons the whole plot from Midgar that I was invested into and replaces it with the weird Square shenanigans that never make sense to me. Everyone is everyone's clone, no one is really who you thought they were and the reasons why you grew to love these character never actually happened, you never actually interacted with Sephiroth and he's now just a guy trapped into ice somewhere and Capitalism is now totally fine but there's also a meteor coming. That's what I gather from FF7's plot.

And the game just feels very aimless now compared to the great pacing before. I don't know, I'm not a fan of Square's world maps, they're just extremely ugly, slow and tedious for me to want to explore, so I vastly prefer when they make more linear games. Another game very similar to FF7 is 13, it starts very linear and fast paced and it's awesome and I can follow the plot, and then it opens up and it becomes slow as fuck and the plot doesn't make sense anymore and I just want it to end.

Anyway, I'm rambling a lot, but just wanted to say that FF7 is very influential but I agree it's not that great of a game, it's too uneven and there's a lot of wasted potential because Square is obsessed with their plots needing to be deeper than they actually are. Honestly that could be said about most FF games.
 
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Honestly that could be said about most FF games
Yeah. I hate to add to the pile, but I feel like Final Fantasy has always been a video game series propped up on production values more than anything. They’re competent RPGs, that’s about it.
 
1.) Death's Door [Switch] - I am completely smitten with this game. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but I think it does enough to forge its own identity. The narrative is a little more grim than the typical Zelda, though it does pepper in just enough comic lines for welcome levity. The art direction is cutesy, kind of like some of the more cartoonish Zelda games, and glossed over with a healthy dimmer switch (and it looks fantastic on an OLED screen). The music is...well, I don't know, I'm not a music guy. It sounds like Zelda by way of Shadow of the Colossus? Maybe? Again, not a music guy. As far as the game itself goes, the combat and puzzles are all pretty simple. There are some difficult encounters to be sure, but I always felt like I had enough tools at my disposal to make relatively quick work of even the toughest bosses. Props to the developers for including power-ups that all work and meaningfully improve your arsenal!

Anyways, I just want to reiterate that I think this game is fantastic. It's probably my favorite of the many games that have tried to ape Zelda in the past several years. Had I played this when it launched, I would have placed this very highly on my GOTY list.
 
1. Desperados III [ PC ] - 9

Mimimi productions, you got a fan, Shadow Tactics and this game have been some really pleasant surprises for me, how much they maximize making a strategy game without much progression in terms of the characters available and create an incredibly compelling game with a handful of characters, mix and matching them for continuously more complex scenarios each mission is quite great. Find the story to be better than ST, but the characters weaker, music better, but the environments I feel the other game had more distinct ones, gameplay wise they are just as good, but is less novel than ST for the most part due to the characters not being that different besides one of them, still more of this style of game is nice either way.

2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path ( Replay ) [ DS*] - 10

Investigations 2 shattered all my expectations when I first played it a couple of years ago, it was just perfect, the AA team at its best, and it remains true after a second look, honestly in some ways better than I remember. Every single case fires on all cylinders, consistently some of the best mysteries in the entire series, propped up by a great theme to its story and a fantastically realized cast of characters. Turning up the complexity from the get go with the first case and the game never really stopping throwing a barrage of intrigue and emotion, each case managing being better than the last all tied across this grand narrative, its just so beautiful. Peak gaming.
 
oh god, guess I won't be doing that then! That sounds miserable. I'm just gonna skip actually playing the game with the cheats and jump straight to the video summaries. I really just want to play FF7R anyway.
Not sure why the previous user had SUCH a miserable time with FF7. If you don't like FF7's characters, I doubt you're going to like FF7R. I thought FF7 was by no means a perfect game, it was pretty interesting and I liked it. Played it for the 1st time in 2021. Loved the Midgar part, the backstory afterwards was pretty interesting. It gets a little lost when the world opens up, but the story gets good again at various points. It's not my favorite FF game (that'd be 4), but it's still pretty solid (I've only played 4, 6 & 7).
 
Not sure why the previous user had SUCH a miserable time with FF7. If you don't like FF7's characters, I doubt you're going to like FF7R. I thought FF7 was by no means a perfect game, it was pretty interesting and I liked it. Played it for the 1st time in 2021. Loved the Midgar part, the backstory afterwards was pretty interesting. It gets a little lost when the world opens up, but the story gets good again at various points. It's not my favorite FF game (that'd be 4), but it's still pretty solid (I've only played 4, 6 & 7).
I think both @Mbolibombo and I both started FF7 late last year with the intention of experiencing it so we could have the proper context going into FF7R. We both made it out of Midgar and a little ways into the world map before falling off for a few weeks due to lack of interest, and other games taking our attention away.

I have no doubt that FF7 is good. From what I played, I enjoyed. But I found that the cheats available in the modern versions ruined the game for me, and made the whole thing not engaging, but they were so easy to use that I wasn’t able to not use them. That’s the main reason I fell off.

Eventually I would love to play the game legit and see it through to the end.
 
1) The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) - playing through a bunch of the PS4 games on PS5 since I never had one. Might make my own LTTP thread as a a rolling journal for these backlog games this year. Fantastic experience overall. Best part of the game is the character portrayals and the atmosphere/sound design. Actually like the strict linearity in this day and age of open world everything. Could guess the plot points for the over arching story from the very beginning but some of the interspersed vignettes along the way were exceptional. Probably will play Left Behind this week to finish the experience. Not sure I can play the sequel for a while though since I need something a little less intense for a bit.
 
1) The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) - playing through a bunch of the PS4 games on PS5 since I never had one. Might make my own LTTP thread as a a rolling journal for these backlog games this year. Fantastic experience overall. Best part of the game is the character portrayals and the atmosphere/sound design. Actually like the strict linearity in this day and age of open world everything. Could guess the plot points for the over arching story from the very beginning but some of the interspersed vignettes along the way were exceptional. Probably will play Left Behind this week to finish the experience. Not sure I can play the sequel for a while though since I need something a little less intense for a bit.
Do you feel like you missed out on anything by playing the PS4 version over the PS5 version? If and when I decide to try TLOU I’ll probably go with the PS4, because it’s hard to beat $free vs $70.
 
Do you feel like you missed out on anything by playing the PS4 version over the PS5 version? If and when I decide to try TLOU I’ll probably go with the PS4, because it’s hard to beat $free vs $70.
Not that I can tell. But I really don’t know having not really followed the remake that closely. I do think that it might be worth it if graphical fidelity is super important. I also wonder if the sound has been updated for 3D audio. Can’t speak to any accessibility additions as I don’t think I needed any of those, but could be good if you needed any of those options. I have never been that big into graphics over performance, but you do get to choose 1080/60 or 4k/30 for the PS4 version on PS5. I honestly think the higher fidelity version might scare the shit out of me at some points. So I, don’t think I missed out, especially with the additional cost.
 
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I think both @Mbolibombo and I both started FF7 late last year with the intention of experiencing it so we could have the proper context going into FF7R. We both made it out of Midgar and a little ways into the world map before falling off for a few weeks due to lack of interest, and other games taking our attention away.

I have no doubt that FF7 is good. From what I played, I enjoyed. But I found that the cheats available in the modern versions ruined the game for me, and made the whole thing not engaging, but they were so easy to use that I wasn’t able to not use them. That’s the main reason I fell off.

Eventually I would love to play the game legit and see it through to the end.

I think the game might just have become the most you had to be there game for me. I was probably in the right age to play FF7 when it released and I'm sure it would have stuck with me a lot better if I did play it at the time. But I did not and now there's plenty of games that do FF7 better than FF7 do FF7 if that make any sense hah.
 
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If and when I decide to try TLOU I’ll probably go with the PS4, because it’s hard to beat $free vs $70.
Main advantage I think for the PS4 remaster of TLOU is that the Left Behind DLC is included with it.

The PS5 remake of TLOU Part I has all the graphical, audio and gameplay enhancements of TLOU Part II, but the story remains mostly the same. I honestly wouldn't pay 70 bucks to get the bells and whistles, but I would suggest looking at a graphics comparison to see if it's gonna be worth your money.
 
1.) Death's Door [Switch] - I am completely smitten with this game. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but I think it does enough to forge its own identity. The narrative is a little more grim than the typical Zelda, though it does pepper in just enough comic lines for welcome levity. The art direction is cutesy, kind of like some of the more cartoonish Zelda games, and glossed over with a healthy dimmer switch (and it looks fantastic on an OLED screen). The music is...well, I don't know, I'm not a music guy. It sounds like Zelda by way of Shadow of the Colossus? Maybe? Again, not a music guy. As far as the game itself goes, the combat and puzzles are all pretty simple. There are some difficult encounters to be sure, but I always felt like I had enough tools at my disposal to make relatively quick work of even the toughest bosses. Props to the developers for including power-ups that all work and meaningfully improve your arsenal!

Anyways, I just want to reiterate that I think this game is fantastic. It's probably my favorite of the many games that have tried to ape Zelda in the past several years. Had I played this when it launched, I would have placed this very highly on my GOTY list.
I felt exactly the same when I played it last Autumn. Such an elegant game that finishes long before it runs out of steam with a final boss battle that wraps it all up as a summary of what you’ve learned. Great stuff.
 
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#1. Wave Race 64

As part of my project to play NSO games, I got to finally try Wave Race 64. As most know, it's a jet ski racing game. I have a lot of experience with other racing games but this one plays completely differently to anything I've played before so it took some time to adjust, but it plays great. It doesn't have much content though, I beat the Championship mode on Normal and Hard and decided to call it quits since Expert is just way too tough and I don't really want to grind it for days...

Overall, I enjoyed my time with it. It's a fun racer that's nice as part of a big package like NSO but would be a hard sell for me otherwise since it doesn't have that much to do.
 
Jan 2023 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Jan 2023 - Miracle Snack Shop (Korean Philia route)

I think I figured out how I'm going to try clearing my backlog. Major game. Short (probably indie) game as a palette cleanser.
Then back to major game. At least, till TOTK hits and I drop everything to play THAT.

So Miracle Snack Shop. I got it because of the waifu. There, I said it.

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Philia is a top tier waifu. The artworks of the game is great. Very spicy artworks to be unlocked. I am glad that this is a romance visual novel between adults in the late twenties/early thirties. I thought the Korean dub was quite sweet. Hearing the Japanese dub of the website, Japanese Philia definitely has a very different flavor profile.

But... that's really all to it. Philia is a sweet character but the story writing for her initial route is really plain, just revolving around her fish out of water reverse-isekai experience. The romance just kind of happened. The protagonist (you... urgh) isn't very interesting or charismatic. The main reason to pick a positive Philia route is because the Philia alone bad-ending is just so bitter. All the endings were really abrupt too. Leaves a 'that's it?!' and a bad after-taste in the mouth. No dramatic build-up towards a crisis and the resolution. Very tasteless.

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The after story (a DLC in the original release) saved the flavorless story via the multiple timeline solution while establishing one of the many initial options as the best ending. Ironically, it's the one that didn't have that spicy ending CG in the initial story. It gave both the protagonist and Philia much more depth to their characters and explore a little more into their past. The marketing strategy for the cafe became more outlandish and funny. The implications of the original bad end also became very very grim...

Basically in the original bad end timeline, after getting separated from each other via time and space, Philia sacrifices her entire kingdom just so that she can spend a couple extra days with the protagonist in his death bed. Damn. That's some FMA Philosopher stone human sacrifice grim ending.

There's another heroine route in the game but... I think I'm done with the story. I am satisfied with what I've already read but there is not enough flavor to keep me craving for more.

NEXT!
 
Heyo, I played Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars

Refreshing. Despite the card theme, this is a traditional RPG that gets back to the roots of the genre, reminding you why you loved early Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and the like. In that regard, it's also quite easy, but I feel that goes well with the relaxing, almost-audiobook experience that the whole game has. All that, and the game only runs for about 10 hours, wrapping up nicely.

This was also my first "Yoko Taro game", but I'm not necessarily sure what that means. The art direction was excellent, as was the music (that main theme!), and the characters, even though they intentionally fall under typical archetypes, quickly capture your heart. So maybe that should be reason for me to check out some Nier and Drakengard as well. Onto the next game!
 
1. Midnight Suns

Pretty damn good strategy RPG. Firaxis continues to be one of the best triple A studios out there. Very excited for the DLC characters and missions
 
1.) Death's Door [Switch] - I am completely smitten with this game. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve, but I think it does enough to forge its own identity. The narrative is a little more grim than the typical Zelda, though it does pepper in just enough comic lines for welcome levity. The art direction is cutesy, kind of like some of the more cartoonish Zelda games, and glossed over with a healthy dimmer switch (and it looks fantastic on an OLED screen). The music is...well, I don't know, I'm not a music guy. It sounds like Zelda by way of Shadow of the Colossus? Maybe? Again, not a music guy. As far as the game itself goes, the combat and puzzles are all pretty simple. There are some difficult encounters to be sure, but I always felt like I had enough tools at my disposal to make relatively quick work of even the toughest bosses. Props to the developers for including power-ups that all work and meaningfully improve your arsenal!

Anyways, I just want to reiterate that I think this game is fantastic. It's probably my favorite of the many games that have tried to ape Zelda in the past several years. Had I played this when it launched, I would have placed this very highly on my GOTY list.
That’s curious, I played through Death’s Door recently and didn’t get Zelda vibes at all from it. To me it clearly seemed to be inspired by Dark Souls/Hollow Knight, especially the level design and the NPCs.

I agree that it’s a wonderful game tho.
 
That’s curious, I played through Death’s Door recently and didn’t get Zelda vibes at all from it. To me it clearly seemed to be inspired by Dark Souls/Hollow Knight, especially the level design and the NPCs.

I agree that it’s a wonderful game tho.
Similar in the sense that you go to dungeons, get abilities from said dungeons that are useful against their bosses, collect 4 pieces of X to upgrade your character, etc. It definitely borrows some from Dark Souls and/or Hollow Knight, particularly with the way you upgrade the main four attributes.

I guess this just speaks to how nebulous "Zelda-like" can be since elements of the series are everywhere.
 
Heyo, I played Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
One thing I should add is this plays nicely on Switch! It's actually one of the more unique ports I've seen on the system with a few graphics options and a healthy resolution boost when playing docked (at least from my eyes). The framerate can be a little erratic in moments but mostly keeps 60. Of course it's a turn-based game so it hardly matters, but the whole cards setup is surprisingly heavy and the game clearly had a lot effort put into it's presentation.

Sometimes it's hard to know what performance you're going to get when booting up a lesser known switch port... Honestly that's an entire topic I might make a thread about, but at least here I was satisfied and feel good going into the rest of the series on Switch.
 
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Started Before 2023, Beat in 2023 #1: Sonic Frontiers (PS5)

I posted about this one in the ST, so I'll keep it brief here - I like Sonic Frontiers, even 100% completed the game, but I did not love it like some fans do. It's compelling to run around open areas with Sonic, and the writing's the best it's been...probably ever, but Cyber Space levels/controls are weak compared to other boost-era Sonic games, there are perhaps too many collectibles to go after, and I wish more of the platforming was focused on more naturalistic set pieces built into the areas rather than high tech floating platforms with all the speed boosters, springs, and homing attack chains you would come to expect by now. I'm hoping the next Sonic game can go in a more freeform direction away from some of the automation. Open Zone is good conceptually, but it needs some iteration to be as sharp as the writing is!
 
I bought 35 Switch games in 2022, only beat 11 of them.
The backlog is growing and growing! I am scared and stressful.
Since I buy games digitally, so many times, I'm thinking a new account to get rid of all this and have a new start.
I am so prompt to get rid of the Switch and move on to a new generation these days.
Here are games I beat on Switch in 2022.
1) AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES ---15hours
2) AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative ---12hours
---Nothing much to say about these two games, it's is what it is on the Internet. And I won't play the third one. This series is dead to me now.
3) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & Torna ~ The Golden Country ---85hours
---I gotta to admit, I won't believe I would beat XC2 in 2022. And turns out, I really enjoy 2 the most out of three XC games. Here is the thing, I enjoy XC back in the Wii. When XC2 announced in 2017, I was deeply disappointed because the character designs. When XC3 was announced in Feb. 2022 direct, XC series regain my love, so in Apr. 2022 I want myself to be ready for XC3 and play XC2. Really love XC2.
4) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ---75hours
---Sadly I don't have much to say about this highly anticipated game of 2022. But I will be aware and keep my expectation in check when developers claims the game is "Synthesis of the Series", like Elden Ring, XC3.
5) Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak ---80hours
---A very forgettable MH games. Recalling in Jan. 2023, I remember nothing.
6) Splatoon 3 ---180hours
---I don't know why I keep playing salmon run. Other parts of this game, meh~
7) Pokémon Legends: Arceus ---35hours
8) Pokémon Scarlet ---25hours
9) Pokémon Violet ---35hours
---All nice Pokemon games, but I don't play them hundreds hours nowadays, and I am still figuring out why.
10) Little Noah: Scion of Paradise ---25hours
---Cute charming rogue LITE game. I 100% it and come back some times.
11) Blasphemous ---25hours
---man! the graphics and setting! man! the graphics and setting! I am waiting this game to be more polished. I don't know if the waiting was worthy or not, but I really enjoy it in 2022. So good!

In 2023, with 1.2 updates in, I maybe finally beat Bayonetta 3 and say what a bad 3rd game.
 
1) Super Metroid (NSW)

2) Metroid Fusion (Wii U)

My second time going through Fusion. I'm struck by just how good this game feels to play. The game piles on the atmosphere in such an effective way, from how cold and mechanical a lot of the station is, to the eerie music, to gameplay elements like just how weak Samus is here. It makes for a very engaging, tense experience. I was surprised to find that it wasn't as difficult the second time around as it was the first time, probably because I had a much better idea of where to go, and I knew the strategies for the bosses. Yakuza for example was a cakewalk this time, whereas before it was one of the hardest fights. Nightmare still sucks though.
 
5. Bayonetta 3- I wasn't feeling this at the very start, but once you unlock some skills for your demons it's amazing. Whenever I wasn't playing it I just wanted to play it. While I do miss some things from 2, I feel like this is the one where I will go deep into, just again once I kill some of this backlog. lol I mainly miss how colorful 2 was. Readabiltly sometimes was a bit hard to see with the huge ass demons or some enemies just blending into the background during witch time. I didn't have an issue with Viola since I played after the update and most of the minigames/side stuff were alright in this one. Bayonetta parts were still easily the best. Again though, easily one of the games I can't wait to get back to and I can't wait to see where they take the series.

Part of the last fight detail is in here and a demon form, so don't click if you don't want to know.
This game has a fucking train demon and I loved using the hell out of that thing whenever I could. Also thought it was cool as hell when the other Bayos showed up in the final fight and it had the old combo bar and music. Such a cool moment
 
4. Funky Kong Country Tropical Freeze: I was cleaning the room and while organizing the games decide to give DKCTF a second replay and remember that I actually never played Funky mode (I never played the original one and wanted to see how it was). What a difference, Funky is a cool Kong and honestly make the game more fun. I even finished the level 7 worlds I never unlocked in my original gameplay.

1. SAMURAI MAIDEN
2. Legend of Zelda
3. Mighty Gunvolt Burst
 
Replay #2: Heart Star (PC)

So this wasn't how I intended to spend tonight.

As you may know if you frequent the general thread, I was building a computer a few weeks ago. While the build gave me some trouble, I had help figuring out the problem and now I have a decent rig for 1440p gaming at high frame rates. I also had some time off, so I thought I'd get to test this thing's gaming capabilities. That was unfortunately not to be. In terms of games, I spent my break finishing Sonic Frontiers and finishing my Pokedex/shiny hunting in Pokémon Scarlet. So with my time with my PC coming to a close, I wanted to play something short. Something kinda garbage. In a Sonic mood thanks to Frontiers, I planned on playing Sonic 4: Episode 1.

...and it didn't work. I don't know why, but I couldn't play it. Sonic 4: Episode 2 loaded just fine, but I wasn't gonna play the sequel first. So I gave up on that idea and instead revisited a game I originally played many years ago on mobile.

Heart Star is a remake of a flash game that originated from the Ludum Dare game jam. It's a very simple yet cute game with a neat gimmick - you control two characters, and each character exists in a different "world" with their own color-coded platforms - red for Heart and blue for Star - alongside purple platforms shared between the two. Switching between characters switches the world you are in. You need to get both to the goal by solving little puzzles or navigating the two characters, oftentimes using one character to guide another and vice versa.

There's some pretty neat puzzles and challenges to be had, whether it's mastering the timing of switching characters or figuring out how to use Heart to get Star further and then returning the favor for Heart. And the game throws in new mechanics every few levels to keep things fresh. Some of the levels do end up turning into doing the same thing twice, once with Heart helping Star and then with Star helping Heart, and these are some of the game's weaker aspects. But even so, I enjoyed revisiting this one. It's a very "what you see is what you get" experience. Simple puzzles, cute aesthetic, and a sub-hour runtime. It won't blow you away, but you'll have some fun for a bit. It did stick with me enough to want to rebuy it on the Steam sale and replay it in the first place, which I'd say is a good sign that it did something right.

What helps is that this game is pretty dang cheap on Steam and free on mobile. I even saw the game playable in browser. So not much harm in trying it for yourself!
 
Here we go! Hoping to clear out some of the backlog before Octopath II hits.

January
1. Skyward Sword HD [NSW]
2. Captaid Toad: Treasure Tracker: Special Episode (DLC) [NSW]
3. Final Fantasy VII [NSW]
4. The Last Campfire [NSW]


Professor Layton and the Lost Future [DS]
Suduko #1 [NSW]

Immortals Fenyx Rising [XSX]
Ringfit Adventures [NSW]
Bayonetta 3 [NSW]
The World Ends With You: Final Remix [NSW]
Katamari Damacy: Reroll [NSW]

Octopath Traveler II [NSW]

Axiom Verge
Stardew Valley
Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Halo

4. The Last Campfire [NSW]

Another game I bought more than a year ago that's just been sitting installed with no love - it was a 4-5 hour cute and kinda emotional puzzle game that I beat in 3 sittings or so right before I went to bed - puzzles arent that hard but they're pretty neat. Defintely recommend, It's often on a deep discount on the e-shop and I think it was at like 3-4$ just previous week. Should come again soon.
 
Finally finished Celeste! It was the first Switch game I ever bought, but I hadn't finished it until now. 9/10, will be sticking around to work on post game content!
 
Beat Pokemon Scarlet, but the final stretch left me in too much bliss to pass judgement on the whole game right now, so instead here's two little sweeties, both by way of the Cowabunga Collection and both in their Arcade version:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has so much in common with Turtles in Time that I questioned myself repeatedly whether the foggy childhood memory I have of playing a TMNT beat 'em up on Super Nintendo wasn't in fact me playing on a friend's NES. Only unlimited credits made playing this tolerable. Given those, however, it was surprising how despite the hard-to-intuit controls, frustrating hit boxes, putrid boss patterns and "super armor on attacks for me but not for thee" enemy design there was a fun, fast, unforgettable romp underneath that'd be satisfying to get good at, warts and eccentricities and all.

Turtles in Time, again, reminded me more of the original than I was prepared for. The resemblance was close enough some levels could pass for remasters rather than sequels. Unexpectedly, for such a lauded classic, the similarities included the bad parts mentioned above. Although I feel like I would be ready to forgive those instantly if I ever figured out how to get the dive kick out consistently. Is it height of the jump? Is it directional input? There were strings of half a dozen dive kicks in a row where I thought I had nailed it down and was on the way to cheesing an encounter and then, suddenly, half a dozen limp floaty kicks ruin the streak of being untouchable.

Next up are the Game Boy games to see if I can identify which of the first two I owned as a kid.
 
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Beat my first game yesterday for 2023.

1. Kaze and the Wild Masks (1/6/2023) - Fun but short game (100%ed it in 8 hours). Fairly reminiscent of DKC, but never quite as creative as those games. Still fairly good for indie game, and the unique transformations not from DKC were pretty fun.
2. Panzer Dragoon Remake (1/14/2023) - Pretty short game and fine but nothing amazing. I frankly could barely tell what was going on in the story. The game is somewhat pretty (in like an older gen style way) and the shooting seems alright. I only got better at the game once I switched to a mouse. For some reason the controller on Steam worked the first day and then never worked after that. Trying to play this with a trackpad was way too hard. Thankfully the mouse was much better.


Pretty much how I felt about this one, not quite on the level of DKC but a pretty solid game. And as a big DKC fan it's always nice to get more games in that style.
Yeh agreed it's cool to get more DKC like games. I haven't played Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair but might give that a shot next.
 
Yeh agreed it's cool to get more DKC like games. I haven't played Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair but might give that a shot next.

Cool, I played Impossible Lair too. Overall it was probably around the same level as Kaze for me, while I think Kaze has better gameplay I think Impossible Lair has more interesting world/characters. Def looking forward to more games from both studios, and more DKC-like games in general.
 
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Yesterday i finished my first game of 2023

Ace Attorney: Justice for All

I'll preface my opinion by saying that while this is the first time i play this one, i have gone through PW:AA enough times to almos being able to speedrun it, if such thing is possible with these games.

So i went into JFA with very high expectations. The first Ace Attorney has, after all, amazing characters, music and story, it was clearly going to be a one and done thing and the developers did their very best. Compared to it Justice for All kinda... falls flat.

My main issue with the game is the music, tbh, each and every theme is pretty mediocre compared with its PWAA counterparts, some feel like elevator music while others try way too hard. The best musical moments come when we hear pieces from the first one (Like Happy People)

A secondary issue comes with the story. Unlike in PW, in this game every case is a self contained story with a central theme (Should a deffense attorney blindly trust in their client?) that ends up leading up to the final case where Wright's faith on his concept of a lawyer is harshly tested.

All that said, the good points are VERY good. Unlike the general opinion out there, i didn't hate neither The forgotten turnabout nor Turnabout big top. For the first, i found the mistery well enough built and it was harder than The first turnabout, and for Big Top, i found the characters' quirkiness to pose a very different challenge, making the interrogations and cross-examinations very different than usual.

As for the final case, i feel like Farewell my turnabout is, directly, one of the highest point in gaming. Having to get a complete acquittal at the first day and then having to make the trial as long as possible during the second day or
Maya would die at the hands of De Killer
was masterful, all combined with how everything unravels, making Wright aware of the inevitable truth, that
Matt Engarde is indeed guilty, and a bad person to boot
and with the cathartic final moments,
making De Killer turn agaisnt Engarde and being given the freedom to declare him Guilty or not Guilty

All in all, i enjoyed it and the final case was such a rush, but it wasn't as round as a game as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is. Soundtrack was particularly dissapointing!
 
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