Games Completed 2018

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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Simonsloth »

Spoiler: show
January 2018:
Bleed
Crackdown
Rez Infinite
Resident evil directors cut
Bioshock
Resident evil 2
Bioshock 2
Resident evil 3:Nemesis

Feb 2018:
Bioshock infinite
Def Jam: fight for Ny
Zone of The Enders
Resident Evil:code Veronica
Resident evil zero
Hyper light drifter
Braid
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Resident evil 4

March:
resident evil 5
resident evil 6
Lostwinds
lost winds 2
Ico 3D
Dead space
Dead space 2
Heavenly Sword

May:
Horizon Zero Dawn plus Frozen Wilds
Enslaved
Dmc

13/05
Steinsgate 0

I really enjoyed the original but this seemed overly long with little interaction on the way to the end. The unfortunate thing is sandwiched in between hours of conversation about cosplay and maid cafes is an excellent narrative which gets lost in the mire. Too much fluff and filler for me on this occasion.
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AndrewBrown
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by AndrewBrown »

Spoiler: show
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PlayStation 4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PlayStation 4]

Much has been made of the supposed-necessity of this remake, with the original being a veritable genre classic and freely available through Virtual Console, SNES Classic, and mobile ports. I liked the look of the updated graphics (an opinion I seem to be in the minority on), so I decided to give it a look. The updated graphics are quite good, adding a lot of substance and personality that the original didn't possess. The trio gathering at Inns to discuss the events of the plot also adds a lot to their characterization that was absent in the original. Some quality-of-life additions, most notably the ability to hotkey two spells, are also welcome sights.

But everything else about the Secret of Mana remake has been a crushing disappointment.

The original Secret of Mana is a sonic masterpiece. From the moment the game turns on and you hear the whale-like cries of the Mana Beasts over the Square-Enix logo, fading into the title screen where a song plays that's frankly difficult to believe is coming out of the SNES hardware, you know you're in for something special. My expectation—and isn't it always the case that it's our own expectations that are most likely to predict our enjoyment of something—was I would get the same soundtrack, reorchestrated with live instrumentation. I imagined it as the kind of soundtrack I might listen to at a night out at one of those touring orchestras that specializes in videogame soundtracks. What I discovered was the orchestra is being conducted by Skrillex, who has replaced most of the live instruments with synthesizers, and he's been listening to a lot of metal and 80s pop music lately. The Secret of Mana soundtrack should be one of Square-Enix's mostly closely-guarded treasures, and I can't fully put into words my frustration with how they've treated it in this production.

The remake should've been an opportunity to overcome many of the weaknesses of the original, and it does attempt to fix some: The trio are no longer required to stay on the screen, which does reduce the frustration of having to hold their hand through some sequences, but the pathing hasn't been improved at all so sometimes you need backup from a character only to discover they're too far away. The combat has been "updated," which means you can attack from any radial direction now. This makes hitting enemies with ranged weapons much harder. Some enemies, especially in the final hours of the game, seem to have monstrously high evasion ratings that result in less than half my physicals attacks connecting. I have no memory of this happening in the original release; the result is Popoi, the offensive magic-using Sprite, becoming even more of a crutch than they already were in the original title.

On more powerful hardware, one of the original's biggest problems should've been fixed, but wasn't: While a character is acting (usually, attacking), they cannot be interacted with or commanded. This means when the computer is doing its job of fighting enemies, you may need to fire off a spell, only to find that you can't access their menu. This means opening the menu, finding you can't access the character and closing it again, waiting for them to finish their action, and trying again. This was a headache in the original game. On the PS4 and Vita, it should be conceivable for actions to be queued. You can't. It's the exact same headache-inducing system as in the original.

The game crashed at least once an hour while I was playing it. The only thing that made this tolerable was a generous autosave system; if the game retained its original save system, I would have given up long before beating it. I got the physical edition from Gamestop, so it's possible this issue is exclusive to the disc version of the game, or unique to my console.

Playing the Secret of Mana Remake has had the worst possible result: Making me question my love for the original, which I credit, along with Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy Adventure, with getting me into RPGs at all. I haven't played it in almost fifteen years; is it possible I remember incorrectly and the combat in that was just as tedious as I found it here, with my supposed-legendary warriors whiffing 50% of their attacks against monsters three times their size? I don't know. Some day, I will tackle Secret of Mana on my SNES Classic free of the nostalgia filter.

But not any time soon.
kintaris

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by kintaris »

I finally finished Firewatch. It was a very touching examination of strange fleeting relationships with the landscape and each other, and one of the finer depictions of a blossoming relationship between older adults that I've seen in gaming.

However that was partly ruined by the torturous and mostly unnecessary trudging back and forth through the same bloody areas in increasingly tiresome circumstances. By Day 79 I just desperately wanted out, but I was so irritated and blinded by the environment that I accidentally walked to the opposite side of the map.

Such a shame that the narrative design wasn't as tight and economic as the narrative itself.
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Chopper »

That's an interesting response, in that I don't remember the game being flabby like that. I'll have to keep an eye out if I manage to replay it. I think it plays into Flabyo's theory of a vast spectrum of tipping points for these games, where you break violently one way or the other due to amorphous personal bias. I'm blaming Flabyo for it anyway.

I had the same response to Everybody's Gone to the Rapture (well, that was one of many complaints); directionless trudging is the worst.
deacon05oc

Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by deacon05oc »

Completed Bayonetta 2 on 5/13/18. Man I loved this. And while I thought the story in the first game was kinda standard, but the game was insanely fun, this sequel is even better. I got a little down at completion because it improves on the previous game so much. I want Bayonetta 3 asap!
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AndrewBrown
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by AndrewBrown »

Spoiler: show
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]

I played this a lot in the week following its release, making it all the way to the first boss of the final world... and then I stopped playing and didn't come back to it until last night. This is a frequent experience I have with this "genre" (which is to say it's a frequent experienced I have with XCOM) and I don't really have an explanation for my lackadaisical approach. I adore these videogames but I have difficulty keeping my attention on them.

I struggled in the first half of Mario + Rabbids because its unique mechanics hadn't quite clicked with me yet. I was trying to play it like XCOM: Slowly and carefully penetrate the map, taking advantage of cover to avoid fire and tactically eliminate the enemy from a distance. Mario + Rabbids is a very different game from that; it wants you to be hard, aggressive, and in-your-face with the Rabbid enemies Mario and Co. face.

While you can shoot enemies to eliminate them, you can also use melee attacks. Each character has a Slide melee attack when they come in contact with enemies, and this ability is particularly powerful with some of your Rabbid teammates. Others can also boost off a teammate to perform a crushing jump attack on enemies. Mario + Rabbids doesn't particularly care how much you move in each character's grid, so it's entirely possible for a character with maxed out Slide and Jump Attack stats to slide into two enemies in range, leap off an ally onto the head of a third, rebound from that attack into cover, and finish with a shot from their gun. It's a genius combination of platforming concepts applied to tactical game design. When I finally grasped this system is when Mario + Rabbids' finally "clicked" with me (much too late in the game, sadly) and I started to trash the regular levels. I only encountered difficulty on the bosses, which are invulnerable to melee attacks and force the player to fall back on hide-and-gun tactics. While the bosses are challenging and clever, I found them to be less enjoyable as a result.

Once I got over Mario + Rabbids' superficial resemblance to XCOM and quit trying to play it like it's XCOM, I had a really great time with it. Obliterating a tightly-packed group of enemy Rabbids with copious application of Slides and Jump Attacks made me feel like a invulnerable genius, but not at the expense of the game's challenge. One wrong move, and I knew I would pay for it dearly.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Simonsloth »

Spoiler: show
January 2018:
Bleed
Crackdown
Rez Infinite
Resident evil directors cut
Bioshock
Resident evil 2
Bioshock 2
Resident evil 3:Nemesis

Feb 2018:
Bioshock infinite
Def Jam: fight for Ny
Zone of The Enders
Resident Evil:code Veronica
Resident evil zero
Hyper light drifter
Braid
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Resident evil 4

March:
resident evil 5
resident evil 6
Lostwinds
lost winds 2
Ico 3D
Dead space
Dead space 2
Heavenly Sword

May:
Horizon Zero Dawn plus Frozen Wilds
Enslaved
Dmc
Steinsgate 0
16/05
Hellblade

I’m going to save my thoughts for the podcast but I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone who is a fan of narrative driven games to play this. Actually anyone who is a fan of the medium should play this.
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Flabyo
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Flabyo »

Flabyo wrote: May 7th, 2018, 6:23 pm 7th Jan - Mafia 3 (XBO)
29th Jan - Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (XBO)
31st Jan - The Room: Old Sins (iOS)
20th Feb - Celeste (XBO)
12th Mar - Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (PS4)
2nd Apr - Prey (2017) (XBO)
29th Apr - Dynasty Warriors 9 (XBO)
7th May - Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4)
17th May - Shadow Warrior (XBO)

Another game with gold cleared from the backlog. Entertaining FPS with melee combat leanings. Quite old school in its design sensibilities, don’t be expecting things like climbing, ladders, destructible environments, or indeed most of the trappings of a modern FPS.

What it is though is fun, if somewhat silly, and apart from an awful mushy jumping section and some special moves that don’t seem to come out as consistently as I suspect they do on the pc version (seriously, double tapping a direction on a stick is super inconsistent), well worth a play if you downloaded it.
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Combine Hunter »

Spoiler: show
10/02 - Final Fantasy II (PS Vita)
04/30 - Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)
10/03 - Celeste (Switch)
10/03 - Monster Hunter World (PS4)
13/03 - Bioshock: Infinite - Burial at Sea Episode 2
17/03 - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PS Vita)
13/04 - Final Fantasy III (PS Vita)
23/04 - God of War (PS4)
02/05 - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (PC)
13/05 - Into the Breach (PC)
17/05 - Yakuza 0 (PS4)

Very good, but not sure I'm hungry for the rest of the series
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by ReprobateGamer »

Spoiler: show
Jan - The Turing Test (Xbox One)
Feb - Split Second/Velocity (Xbox 360)
Feb - Tales From The Borderlands (Xbox One)
Apr - Lego Harry Potter Years 1 - 4 (Xbox 360)
May 12th - Lego City: Undercover (Xbox One)

If you read through my last posting in this thread you may have guessed this one was coming ...

Another story completion (which in my case is 25% of the total game, or so it tells me) with my daughters doing a noticeable amount of the work. Unlike Lego Harry Potter, this game is fun to play. The story is reasonably generic undercover cop looking for redemption but as it's Lego you get to visit area's that you wouldn't normally get in other games (from a Pig Farm to a Space themed level) and it's telling that you can feel the developers were able to flex more than in the games licenced from other franchises.
I liked as well that it references the Lego City animation shorts but doesn't feel like it's constrained by them
It plays as a kid-friendly GTA clone (you don't steal cars - you borrow them as a police officer and so on) and my youngest takes great delight in making the biggest traffic jam she can manage, ideally on a bridge or in a narrow street.

I'm starting to wonder if I'll like a Lego game based solely if it has the option to sky-dive ... though that said, the final 'sky-dive' is a genuinely exciting moment in the game and wouldn't have been out of place in any action AAA title (complete with a literal last second save again from the youngest ...)

This game I do recommend for anyone looking for something light-hearted. There are the usual things in a open-world lego game so I accept that anyone who doesn't like games with collectibles, or the obvious item gating until an ability (disguise in this instance) is earned/unlocked/found randomly but this feels a return to form and a good addition to the franchise
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Simonsloth »

Spoiler: show
January 2018:
Bleed
Crackdown
Rez Infinite
Resident evil directors cut
Bioshock
Resident evil 2
Bioshock 2
Resident evil 3:Nemesis

Feb 2018:
Bioshock infinite
Def Jam: fight for Ny
Zone of The Enders
Resident Evil:code Veronica
Resident evil zero
Hyper light drifter
Braid
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Resident evil 4

March:
resident evil 5
resident evil 6
Lostwinds
lost winds 2
Ico 3D
Dead space
Dead space 2
Heavenly Sword

May:
Horizon Zero Dawn plus Frozen Wilds
Enslaved
Dmc
Steinsgate 0
Hellblade
20/05
Bayonetta

I might be the only person in the universe that doesn’t like bayonetta. I just can’t seem to get into it. Having just played and finished DMC I much preferred that. With bayonetta the game makes you look flashy even if you button mash whereas DMC seemed much more considered and (dare I say it) skill dependent.

This is the second time I’ve played it and I liked it even less this time around.

I’ve never played the sequel but have it sitting on the shelf. I think I’ll leave it for a bit to avoid any other unfavourable comparisons.
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Hunter30 »

January - Jade Empire: Special Edition (PC)
February - Resident Evil HD Remaster, Jill playthrough (PC)
February - Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (PC)
February - Super Metroid (SNES Classic Mini)
February - Resident Evil HD Remaster, Chris playthrough (PC)
March - The Walking Dead: Michonne (PC)
March - Tomb Raider: Legend (PS3)

May - Resident Evil 4 HD (PC)
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by ratsoalbion »

06 Jan: Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PAL PS1 on PS3)
09 Feb: Final Fantasy II (GBA)
16 Feb: Resident Evil 2 (NTSC PS1 on PS3)
26 Feb: Yoshi's Woolly World (WU)
09 Mar: BioShock Infinite (PC)
10 Mar: BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode One (PC)
12 Mar: BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode Two (PC)
18 Mar: Shadow Complex Remastered (PC)
19 Mar: Splatoon (WU)
29 Mar: Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (NTSC PS1 on PS3)
06 Apr: Actual Sunlight (Vita)
08 Apr: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PS4)
27 Apr: God of War (PS4)
07 May: Resident Evil - CODE: Veronica X HD (PS3)
20 May: Pikmin (Wii on WU)
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Stanshall
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Stanshall »

Simonsloth wrote: May 20th, 2018, 9:33 pm
Spoiler: show
January 2018:
Bleed
Crackdown
Rez Infinite
Resident evil directors cut
Bioshock
Resident evil 2
Bioshock 2
Resident evil 3:Nemesis

Feb 2018:
Bioshock infinite
Def Jam: fight for Ny
Zone of The Enders
Resident Evil:code Veronica
Resident evil zero
Hyper light drifter
Braid
Yoshi’s Woolly World
Resident evil 4

March:
resident evil 5
resident evil 6
Lostwinds
lost winds 2
Ico 3D
Dead space
Dead space 2
Heavenly Sword

May:
Horizon Zero Dawn plus Frozen Wilds
Enslaved
Dmc
Steinsgate 0
Hellblade
20/05
Bayonetta

I might be the only person in the universe that doesn’t like bayonetta. I just can’t seem to get into it. Having just played and finished DMC I much preferred that. With bayonetta the game makes you look flashy even if you button mash whereas DMC seemed much more considered and (dare I say it) skill dependent.

This is the second time I’ve played it and I liked it even less this time around.

I’ve never played the sequel but have it sitting on the shelf. I think I’ll leave it for a bit to avoid any other unfavourable comparisons.
Having just listened to the recent Watch Out For Fireballs, I'm sure you're not alone. In terms of skill ceiling, though, I would disagree pretty strongly. The first time I played it, I absolutely rinsed it on Normal with a bit of dodge timing, situational awareness and some knowledge of what combos might produce the best finishers for the situation.

I had absolutely no idea that Dodge Offset even existed, nor that you can slow down and extend combos by holding the button. This is how it's 'meant' to be played and when I went back with that knowledge, it became a different game with a very different rhythm, much more mechanically challenging but now with a dizzying amount of destructive combat options and variables. No longer was I rushing to execute finishers, I was teasing enemies and keeping them hanging on, staggered by bullets and phases of combos before twatting them good and proper with a finisher. At least, that's when I managed to pull stuff off. The rest of the time, I was slogging away feeling completely incapable and falling back on the mash mash mash
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by AndrewBrown »

Spoiler: show
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]
19/05: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition [Switch]

Way back in Episode 7 of Switch Focus Podcast, I expressed a desire for this game to exist (prompted by a question from our own CraigedyCraig, no less), so I claim responsibility for all sense of joy that this joyous game creates.

I could cramp my fingers with a frenzy of words in defense of Hyrule Warriors, but I'm not going to bother. You either like this game or you don't. I will say this: I skipped the Wii U release because I was put off by the reviews, but I took a chance on the Legends release on 3DS and loved it--so much so that I went out and bought the Wii U version the very next day. Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition is getting similarly-middling reviews. If you love Zelda, take a chance on this. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Musou is often described as repetitive and button-mashy, and maybe that's true of many Musou, but I think it's a complete misreading of Hyrule Warriors. There are few combos, yes, but every character's combo and mechanics are distinct, moving the onus from memorizing complicated combo inputs to knowing what character's combos should be used in the specific situation you're currently in. Past the moment-to-moment gameplay, the broader goal of each map and challenge is to keep more and more plates spinning that are further and further afield as the difficulty increases, faced with tougher and tougher monsters the deeper in you get. Hyrule Warriors is a strategy game, but not in the usual sense of videogame strategy, but in the sense of time management: Do I Have Time To Do Thing Without Other Thing Failing is the question lurking in the background of every decision made in all modes. Getting top ranks on some of the hardest missions requires executing the perfect route through the chaotic scenarios, and with heaps of new characters, new weapons, heart pieces and containers, gold skulltulas, and companion fairy and fairy accessories, Hyrule Warriors rewards you well for earning those top ranks.

Legend Mode is adequate, providing a no-frills Musou campaign with hidden heart pieces and gold skulltulas on each map to give some Zelda flavor. The real core of the game is Adventure Mode, which adapt the overworld maps of Zelda titles from across the franchise into a challenge mode, each square on the map representing a challenge that can have one or more rewards available in it for one or more characters. One Adventure Map would be a satisfactory videogame unto itself; Definitive Edition has almost a dozen.

If you love The Legend of Zelda and want to experience a celebration of the series, and if you're looking for a game with a truly astonishing amount of Content™, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is a great value.
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Scrustle »

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04/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Normal)
05/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Jetstream Sam DLC (Normal)
06/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Blade Wolf DLC (Normal)
10/01 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hard)
14/01 - Killer Is Dead (Hard)
18/01 - Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut
20/02 - Okamiden
23/02 - Bayonetta 2 (Normal)
27/02 - Shadow of the Colossus
02/03 - Monster Hunter World
06/03 - Snake Pass
08/03 - Deus Ex: The Fall
10/03 - Bayonetta 2 (Hard)
22/03 - Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
28/04 - Warden: Melody of the Undergrowth
03/05 - Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
05/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Nero/Dante - Devil Hunter)
08/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Vergil - Devil Hunter)
12/05 - Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
13/05 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Lady/Trish - Devil Hunter)
21/05 - Omensight

A pretty good, albeit extremely similar follow up the Stories: The Path of Destinies. Enjoyed it overall, but has some strengths and flaws in comparison to its predecessor.

The combat is basically identical in terms of mechanics, but this time it's faster and snappier. It definitely makes it feel more exciting and less clunky, but it's still far from the best system. Targeting specific enemies can be pretty annoying, given the game likes to fling you around the battlefield in less than useful directions. It's especially annoying when you come across enemies who throw poison bombs that leave a cloud of gas behind. Often times you'll find yourself being drawn in to the cloud, or unable to escape it, when you're trying desperately to avoid it. Even so, I think it's a better system overall. Stories had its fair share of problems too, and I would say it was probably the weakest part of the game. Here it's relatively fun, just still not spectacular.

The story was pretty good, but I think Stories has it beat on this one. While you're doing a similar thing of replaying through events from different perspectives, changing things each time you go through it, the conceit here is slightly different. Instead of trying to find the right way forward, you're working backwards trying to piece things together. There's a lot of interesting twists and turns, with some cool revelations to come across along the way. The characters are pretty good, with a range of personalities that you get to see different sides of. But what this game lacks is the comedic charm of Stories. Not that there's no comedy to it, and that wasn't the direction it was going for anyway. But still, that gave Stories a unique twist to its narrative and characterisation. Here it's a fairly standard fantasy "end of the world" scenario. Although it was done fairly well. It just doesn't quite stand out as well as the previous game.

I suppose there is one important thing that this game does better than Stories, which you could fit in either gameplay or narrative. In this one, it gives you the option to skip parts of a level you have already done if you're going back to it to take another route. Definitely a welcome change.

There was something which I found pretty odd by the end. As you play through different routes, it adds new pieces of information to each character's story, which is recorded on a screen that keeps track of your overall progress. Near the end of the game, it tells you when you've seen everything a certain story path has to offer, pointing you towards the end of the game. Before facing the final boss, I went back to make sure I had seen everything in each route. Yet by the time the game told me I had, I still had some missing story points on that progress screen. There was one plot point in particular that the game brought up, which I knew wasn't resolved, yet I somehow wasn't able to see it. So I don't know what's going on there.
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MajorGamer
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by MajorGamer »

Spoiler: show
Jan 1 - Neon Chrome (PC)
Jan 2 - Dispersio (PC)
Jan 9 - Numbus (PC)
Jan 11 - Hero Siege (PC)
Jan 14 - Castle of no Escape 2 (PC)
Jan 20 - Toy Odyssey (PC)
Jan 23 - 20XX (PC)
Jan 25 - Battle Chef Brigade (Switch)
Jan 29 - Kamiko (Switch)
Feb 1 - Guild of Dungeoneering (PC)
Feb 3 - KByte (PC)
Feb 7 - Cat Quest (Switch)
Feb 11 - DYE (PC)
Mar 7 - The End is Nigh (Switch)
Mar 10 - Shadow Warrior 2 (PC)
Mar 16 - The Keep (PC)
Mar 17 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd (PC)
Mar 18 - Hue (PC)
Mar 22 - Song of the Deep (PC)
Mar 28 - Metro: 2033 Redux (PC)
Apr 4 - Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King (Switch)
Apr 6 - Xeodrifter (Switch)
Apr 8 - Has-Been Heroes (Switch)
Apr 14 - Slime-san (Switch)
Apr 20 - ReThink (PC)
Apr 22 - Little King's Story (PC)
Apr 24 - Headlander (PC)
Apr 28 - Dex (PC)
Apr 30 - SUPERHOT (PC)
May 6 - Azure Striker Gunvolt (Switch)

As a Mega Man fan, this seemed like an easy pick. Its main mechanic, though, is very different. Your gun is mostly used to tag enemies which lets you use your forcefield to damage them regardless of your location. This drains your energy which is also used to absorb the damage you take. It makes for a nice trade off but I have one big problem with it. The forcefield itself is huge so it easily obscures what is happening on screen. The story of the game occurs in text across the bottom of the screen during the stages and boss fights (no pausing). There is a significant amount of text, sometimes lasting longer than the boss fight itself. This further blocks the real estate of the screen.

How well you do in each stage is contingent on the score attack nature of the game. You get bonus points depending on how you kill enemies and how long you keep a streak going without getting hit. This gets complicated when I have no idea how you are supposed to dodge a couple of the bosses' attacks, losing your score bonus. The score you do get let you get more crafting items. Sadly, what you get is pure RNG so getting exactly what you want comes down to grinding.

There is a solid game under there and I can only hope the second goes into resolving these.

May 7 - The Ball (PC)

This is a first person puzzle game with a gun that came out around the same time as Portal. There is a reason why you don't hear about this one. The puzzles are fairly basic and requires bringing the proverbial ball with you the entire game. The ball is larger than your character. The most bizarre parts of the game involve combat. It is mostly just slamming the ball into enemies. I think it would have been better if the combat was removed so more focus could be put into improving the puzzles.
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Sinclair Gregstrum »

Feb – Destiny 2 (Xbox One X)
Feb – Snake Pass (Switch)
Mar – NBA Playgrounds (Switch)
Apr – Assassin’s Creed Origins (Xbox One X)

May - The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter (PS4 Pro)

Like an open world, point and click adventure, Ethan Carter is a deliberately paced, unsettling tale that makes up for in tone and atmosphere what it lacks in narrative nuance and character development. Overall an intriguing yarn that's worth a look, but ultimately I found it unfulfilling.

May - Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare (PS4 Pro)

With some people up in arms about the lack of a campaign in the latest COD, I realised it's so long since I played one that while I felt it was a shame I didn't really have a valid opinion. So i dug out a brand new copy of Infinite War that I picked on impulse for about £7 last year, and gave it a whirl.

It's exactly the big dumb shooting gallery I expected from previous games, with incredible spectacle and solid mechanics experienced through characters and a story so generic it's astonishing just how middle of the road they've managed to make it. Being this bland must take a lot of effort!

Overall a fun blast while it lasted, and it would be shame if these well built, blockbuster theme park rides died out. Maybe one every couple of years though rather than every year? That would do me anyway.
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AndrewBrown
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by AndrewBrown »

Spoiler: show
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]
19/05: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition [Switch]
22/05: Shadow of the Colossus (2018) [PS4]

I would've rated the original Shadow of the Colossus as a shoo-in for one my favorite videogames of all time, so I'm disappointed to have revisited it through the remake and find my reaction muted and deflated.

This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy my return to the game. What Shadow of the Colossus does well, it still does really well; the narrative ambiguity is still top-notch, providing few answers in a medium whose artists are often obsessed with providing too many. The effort and artistry that went into crafting a huge sandbox with really not much in it is impressive, and somehow I don't resent that emptiness at all. I've complained in the past on this forum about the "Empty Sandbox Syndrome" that plagues modern AAA design, but I don't resent it in Shadow at all. The emptiness serves a purpose beyond padding; it creates a palpable sense of mystery and stillness to what is repeatedly referred to as a "cursed land." There's still no sandbox quite like it; it's not a videogame environment to be explored, it's a landscape painting to be experienced, suffused with serenity and atmosphere. I was a bit let down by the HD update to this land; some of the vistas are breathtaking, but I can't help but feel that bolder use of color might have helped the world to stand out a little more rather than once again going all-in on Real Is Brown.

The updated graphics do a much better job of selling the Colossi, given the expected texture and detail improvements. Their sound design is also impressive, their roars equally primal and mournful, and against the later Colossi, filled with rage. But, again, nothing about these updates surprised me and, looking back on my experience with this HD update, I find it largely indistinguishable from my memories of the PlayStation 2 game. Maybe this is a compliment, the highest praise that can be leveled at a faithful remake, or maybe it's a testament to the incredible visual design of the original game. Or maybe the only reason to play this PS4 remake over the original is for the improved framerate.

But when I speak to disappointment with this remake, I speak of the feeling the original evoked which this one decidedly hasn't, a feeling of timelessness and of experiencing something impactful and truly unique. Maybe it's my familiarity with the original which has left this feeling like an also-ran, faithful remake though it is. Maybe it's the legacy the original has created; clambering up giants to strike at their squishy bits had never been seen before in 2005, but has been iterated on repeatedly since, and a seemingly-barren sandbox filled with hidden secrets for those curious enough to find them has practically become a genre unto itself. Maybe what I didn't want to admit before now is that Shadow of the Colossus has been outdone by its successors and I never noticed.

This will be the second PS4 remake of what I would have unhesistantly referred to as an all-time favorite which has left me with a sense of ennui (and, interestingly, both February releases which I didn't get around to playing until May). Maybe you really can't ever go back. Or maybe the games didn't change; maybe I did.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2018

Post by Simonsloth »

AndrewBrown wrote: May 22nd, 2018, 7:28 pm
Spoiler: show
02/01: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES Classic]
04/01: Oxenfree [Switch]
13/01: Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition [Switch]
14/01: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Switch]
15/01: Super Mario World [SNES Classic]
20/01: BioShock Infinite [360]
23/01: The Fall [PSN]
26/01: Celeste [Switch]
31/01: Super One More Jump [Switch]
05/02: Night in the Woods [Switch]
08/02: Dandara [Switch]
14/02: Dragon Quest Builders [Switch]
20/02: Bayonetta [Switch]
21/02: Puzzle Puppers [Switch]
23/02: Fe [Switch]
24/02: Old Man's Journey [Switch]
26/02: Portal Knights [Switch]
28/02: Bayonetta 2 [Switch]
07/03: Subsurface Circular [Switch]
14/03: Coffin Dodgers [Switch]
15/03: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth [Switch]
18/03: Tesla vs. Lovecraft [Switch]
22/03: Fear Effect Sedna [Switch]
23/03: Destiny 2 [PS4]
31/03: Devious Dungeon [Switch]
31/03: Warp Shift [Switch]
01/04: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap [Switch]
02/04: Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Devastated [Switch]
09/04: Attack on Titan 2 [Switch]
11/04: The Bunker [Switch]
14/04: Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe [Switch]
16/04: Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut [Switch]
18/04: L.A. Noire [Switch]
23/04: Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition [Switch]
01/05: Saturday Morning RPG [Switch]
05/05: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [Switch]
06/05: God of War (2018) [PS4]
13/05: Secret of Mana (2018) [PS4]
15/05: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle [Switch]
19/05: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition [Switch]
22/05: Shadow of the Colossus (2018) [PS4]

I would've rated the original Shadow of the Colossus as a shoo-in for one my favorite videogames of all time, so I'm disappointed to have revisited it through the remake and find my reaction muted and deflated.

This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy my return to the game. What Shadow of the Colossus does well, it still does really well; the narrative ambiguity is still top-notch, providing few answers in a medium whose artists are often obsessed with providing too many. The effort and artistry that went into crafting a huge sandbox with really not much in it is impressive, and somehow I don't resent that emptiness at all. I've complained in the past on this forum about the "Empty Sandbox Syndrome" that plagues modern AAA design, but I don't resent it in Shadow at all. The emptiness serves a purpose beyond padding; it creates a palpable sense of mystery and stillness to what is repeatedly referred to as a "cursed land." There's still no sandbox quite like it; it's not a videogame environment to be explored, it's a landscape painting to be experienced, suffused with serenity and atmosphere. I was a bit let down by the HD update to this land; some of the vistas are breathtaking, but I can't help but feel that bolder use of color might have helped the world to stand out a little more rather than once again going all-in on Real Is Brown.

The updated graphics do a much better job of selling the Colossi, given the expected texture and detail improvements. Their sound design is also impressive, their roars equally primal and mournful, and against the later Colossi, filled with rage. But, again, nothing about these updates surprised me and, looking back on my experience with this HD update, I find it largely indistinguishable from my memories of the PlayStation 2 game. Maybe this is a compliment, the highest praise that can be leveled at a faithful remake, or maybe it's a testament to the incredible visual design of the original game. Or maybe the only reason to play this PS4 remake over the original is for the improved framerate.

But when I speak to disappointment with this remake, I speak of the feeling the original evoked which this one decidedly hasn't, a feeling of timelessness and of experiencing something impactful and truly unique. Maybe it's my familiarity with the original which has left this feeling like an also-ran, faithful remake though it is. Maybe it's the legacy the original has created; clambering up giants to strike at their squishy bits had never been seen before in 2005, but has been iterated on repeatedly since, and a seemingly-barren sandbox filled with hidden secrets for those curious enough to find them has practically become a genre unto itself. Maybe what I didn't want to admit before now is that Shadow of the Colossus has been outdone by its successors and I never noticed.

This will be the second PS4 remake of what I would have unhesistantly referred to as an all-time favorite which has left me with a sense of ennui (and, interestingly, both February releases which I didn't get around to playing until May). Maybe you really can't ever go back. Or maybe the games didn't change; maybe I did.
Haha you beat me to it!

I just finished this too. Agree with all you said.
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