Games Completed 2021

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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Magical_Isopod »

Alex79 wrote: November 21st, 2021, 12:53 pm Yeah I've been tempted by this, despite actively disliking Radiohead.

Hoping they do a Nine Inch Nails one - but won't hold my breath :lol:
Why not ABBA?
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Scrustle wrote: November 21st, 2021, 7:10 pm There was a little fad in the 90s when CDs started becoming popular and PCs began showing up in homes a lot more widely, of music artists putting together some weird project taking advantage of this new frontier of technology. Queen had one, Prince had one. This Radiohead thing reminds me of those things. Might be cool to see that trend come back with more up to date tech.
Yeah I remember having a Coldcut CD back in the day that had all this cool interactive stuff on. Trent Reznor went through a phase of releasing the multitracks to certain songs packaged with a couple of NIN albums so fans could remix them and stuff. Even dedicated an entire website to it where people could upload them and stuff. I remember Marilyn Manson having some really weird interactive CD come with (I think...) Mechanical Animals years back too. It's a shame most of that stuff just doesn't really happen any more.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ratsoalbion »

Surely Brian Eno has dabbled in this arena.
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OneCreditBen
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by OneCreditBen »

ratsoalbion wrote: November 20th, 2021, 4:58 pm Oh yeah, not knocking it!
Makes a nice change doesn't it haha.
Especially with games from that era.
I think long term I'd like to do a 1CC Playlist with all the characters. I think it'd be loads of fun.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
15/05 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD
24/05 - NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139... (Endings A-E)
08/06 - Final Fantasy XV (NG+)
02/07 - God of War II HD
15/07 - Scarlet Nexus (Yuito)
20/07 - TRON: Evolution
21/07 - Sky: Children of the Light
01/08 - Scarlet Nexus (Kasane, NG+)
12/08 - Forza Horizon
18/08 - A Plague Tale: Innocence
21/08 - Contrast
31/08 - Forza Motorsport 7
04/09 - No More Heroes III
13/09 - Metal Gear Solid
23/09 - Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
09/10 - Psychonauts 2
15/10 - Unsighted
17/10 - Sable
18/10 - Halo: Reach (Master Chief Collection)
23/10 - Split/Second
29/10 - Darq
11/11 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
14/11 - Darksiders II (Apocalyptic)
21/11 - Kid A Mnesia Exhibition
23/11 - Forza Horizon 5

Another Forza Horizon game under the belt then. Or at least all the main single player content anyway. Still a very fun game that does a lot way better than any competition, but one that I did end up with a long list of criticisms for.

The core mechanics are still as great as ever. Still has easily the best feeling handling of any game that is even remotely similar. It’s got that signature subtlety to it that has a feeling depth to the cars allowing you to really dig in to how they control and respond to your input. Yet it’s also approachable and forgiving enough that it encourages a playful approach that gives you a lot of room to explore and experiment with different approaches, but where you still have to be attentive of things like weight shifting, grip levels, etc. It feels more or less exactly the same as FH4, but with a few minor adjustments that are so minute it’s hard to pinpoint what the difference is. But it did take me a little while to get in to the groove of this new handling. It usually does with each new entry, but between earlier games there was always a more obvious change in physics. One thing I can point to though is that they have finally ironed out the issue of brakes locking up too easily. To be fair, 4 might have done as well, but I never tested it much there. But after finding FM7 had fixed this issue too recently it gave me the confidence to try it out here as well. And sure enough I’m back to being free from using ABS. It’s definitely an improvement and gives back that extra layer of interactivity.

There’s been a few small additions relevant to drifting which are rather interesting too. They added more car upgrades specifically for this purpose, and they go even further than the drift suspension in 4 at making building a drift car approachable. But it’s not quite as clear cut as these new parts simply being the go-to for all drift builds. The new drift tyres work well, but I found they are somewhat limited in how much power they can handle. They’re good for low to medium powered builds, but if you want to make something that can hit those long wide corners, you’ll still need the semi-slick race tyres to handle the necessary power. Then there’s the drift differential too. I’m not sure it’s actually a unique upgrade though, and instead it’s just the normal race diff that comes with a drift appropriate tune setting. I still generally felt like it needed changing from that setting though, for how I like my cars to feel anyway. Another thing relevant to drifting is that it feels like they have put a bit of extra effort in to making roads in the open world that work well for it. One of course being the volcano road drift zone. 4 had a similar road in one of the expansions, but I think this one has it beat, and it’s cool to see it as part of the base game too. The thickness of the tyre smoke is also much improved in this game too, which is a nice little bonus.

Speaking of the world, that’s another thing this game still hits it out of the park on. The setting is a really enjoyable place to explore around. Unlike 4 there’s lots of unique and interesting things to see, both natural and man-made. The swampy areas with the hazy mist and mangrove trees, the valley up in the north with the unusual rock faces and impressive vistas, the old airstrip with broken plane parts being engulfed by the jungle, the ancient temples, and the colourful dense city are all really cool places to be in and poke around. Graphically it’s very nice too, with great lighting and volumetrics that give atmosphere to the world. Although if I’m completely honest, I’m not entirely sure it has the third game beat on aesthetics. And as much as I like the look of the city, I’m not really a huge fan of racing around it. The roads are very narrow and windy, with loads of drastic elevation changes. Usually in this series the urban area is one where I spent a huge chunk of time, but here it’s not really as enjoyable to drive around. But when there’s so much else in the world that is so good, it’s hard to hold it against the game.

One thing that is yet to be seen when it comes to the world design that 4 might have over this game however is how the seasons change things. It seems safe to say that it might not be quite as impressive, since Mexico has far less variation in weather between the seasons, but it hasn’t yet been long enough to see the full seasonal cycle and how everything changes. The two seasons that the game has gone through so far have been extremely similar though, and there’s not going to be anything like full snow coverage or foliage completely changing colour in the seasons we haven’t seen either. But that’s just the nature of the setting, and for what it may lack it has other qualities that stand out.

One more little thing that might be worth mentioning is the improved sound effects for engines too. 4 got a lot of flak for subpar engine audio on some pretty prominent cars, and while the problems were perhaps a bit overstated, it was definitely true the game was slightly lacking on the audio front, and a step down from previous games. They have more or less fixed that here. All the engines that sounded bad before at least sound good, and there’s more nuances to the effects now too, with how different upgrades alter the sound in appropriate ways. It’s a small thing in the grand scheme, but it’s good that it wasn’t forgotten and a problem that could have easily been glossed over was given the care it needed.

So there’s a lot to like about the game. In many of the important areas it’s still a banger. Driving feels great, and the places you drive through are also great. That goes a long way. But there are quite a few things that feel a bit lacking that I can’t ignore. Most of these are actually problems that have been creeping in to the series for a long time, almost even from the start, so they’re not exactly unique to this game either. But in earlier entries I could overlook them to a degree, here it feels like they have reached a point where they can no longer be brushed aside as niggling issues.

The biggest issue being the extremely loose structure to the career mode. It can barely be called a “career” if we’re being totally honest. It has little to no feeling of meaningful progression or advancement to it. No difficulty curve, no milestones, and the only thing resembling a final goal is completely undermined by the way you unlock new events through the Horizon Adventure system. There’s an overwhelming abundance of content that gets dumped on you very rapidly without any sense of pacing. For a very long time I felt like I was barely making any progress as I was trying to chip away at this huge mountain of stuff that just kept getting bigger. I spent most of the career with 9+ unspent tokens for the Horizon Adventure screen as I was trying to do something to space out the game more appropriately. It felt like the game was fighting against that. And of course there are the races themselves, which are a sea of individual events with nothing stringing them together or any order to them. No championships outside the seasonal content, with every race allowing any type of car to be used, so not providing any kind of progression in what you drive. Again, most of this could be said about the previous games, but when there’s just so many races that all unlock at once, and how it keeps throwing more on the pile, it tips over in to something that makes the experience noticeably worse.

The Stories that are also a part of the career mode have a much bigger emphasis now too. Or at least more than 4 did at launch. I’m not sure why they decided to go so hard with these this time, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say they are particularly fond of them. Again they suffer from an overabundance issue, and individual experiences they are hit and miss. They’re never especially interesting, and often feel quite underwhelming and short. Sometimes they send you to a cool part of the world you haven’t seen before, or they set up some custom environment to mess around in for a bit, and that can be fun. But they’re frequently accompanied by some awful grating dialogue. Characters that put on very fake sounding over-enthusiasm for everything, and seem to draw out the line delivery despite nothing of value being said. It also makes replaying these missions pretty unappealing since you can’t skip the intro dialogue. It’s strange they still don’t allow that when it should have seemed like an obvious glaring issue in the last game.

These issues with the career are hard to compare exactly against 4 though, since a lot of this stuff was added in to that game over the years post-launch. It doesn’t seem to bad having a new thing to do every now and then when it’s spread over the months. I can see a new player coming to 4 being overwhelmed with it these days too. But 4 also had a long intro sequence where it got you through a whole four season cycle quickly first, before dropping you in the deep end. While perhaps that intro took too long in retrospect, going so hard in the opposite direction was clearly not the answer. It ended up making other issues that 4 had much worse, instead of fixing that one minor problem of a slow start.

The Showcase events are another aspect that feels like it has reached a kind of tipping point too. Unlike with the Stories, there seems to be less emphasis on them this time around. They’ve always been very obviously staged set pieces, but now the strings that hold them together look more obvious than ever. In practically all of them your opponent is always just ahead of you for the whole event, without you being able to catch up. They obviously rubber band and get tons of speed out of nowhere to leap in front of you, but never too far. Then when you reach the finish line they very conspicuously slow down suddenly to let you pass in the last second. While they always did that to an extent, it feels much more aggressively noticeable now than ever before. And this is just from playing them once, not over and over again like 4 had you doing. Perhaps they will be repeated again here with upcoming seasonal content, but as part of the base content of the game, they feel almost more an obligation than the big show pieces they used to be. Like they’re here because the series has always done them, now lacking purpose as being a career milestone, they simply exist.

Another disappointing thing is the soundtrack. Music used to be core to the identity of this series, especially early on, and it’s sad to see that declining over the years. It was a big part of the summery party atmosphere, and added a sense of energy to races or just driving around. The games haven’t really had an outstanding soundtrack since 2, and after a while I almost entirely stopped listening to the radio at all in 4. I turned it off much quicker this time around. There’s very few songs that are above mediocrity, and zero bangers whatsoever. I think a significant part of it is down to the split of Fred V and Grafix as a duo making music together. They made a lot of the best music in the games from 2 to 4, and even composed the opening tracks used in the initial drive sequence specifically for the games. It was often some of the best music on the soundtracks, but they split up shortly after 4 launched. Their music is still in 5, as separate artists, but it’s nowhere near as good as what they contributed to older games. No other artist has been able to step up and take their place either. It’s something of a shame, because that guitar piece used on the start screen isn’t bad, and when I heard that for the first time I was imagining hearing that evolve in to some awesome DnB remix after a build-up, fleshing it out around that instrument and melody. But it never happens. I’d love to see someone make that a reality though.

The game also has some technical issues, at this early stage at least. And while I’m a little hesitant to be too harsh on this as some of this is definitely down to my own ageing PC struggling to keep up, other parts are not. None of the stuff that isn’t on my end is a huge game breaking problem or anything, but it does feel unusually unpolished for this series. Things that I can blame on my own hardware are stuff like the game world failing to load in as I’m driving fast, lighting looking wrong when entering a tunnel or cave, and audio not loading. Things like connection issues seem to be common for everyone though, including that bug of your car just stopping dead in place. Some of that has been fixed already, and even my issue of world streaming has been reduced a little. But I’m still getting jarring slowdown and even lock-ups randomly in free roam, and the game still running (uncontrollably) for a second whenever I enter or exit photo mode. I don’t think those issues are on my end. The former I think is another network issue, and the latter only happens in certain situations that don’t seem to have anything to do with hardware limitations. I guess a lot of this can be blamed on covid, as well as building a huge cross-generational game at the same time as constantly updating the last one, so Playground probably had a lot on their plate when making this.

All in all, I still like the game a lot, and it still delivers on most of the things I really like the series for. It has that quality of always making you want to play more and more, drawing you in for hours at a time longer than you planned. But there’s too much about it that I’m not really keen on. Things that have been a growing issue over time, and if you’ve been playing these games for a while come as no surprise. But now it has reached a point where it can’t be waved away as just a nitpick that doesn’t impact the wider experience. It’s a great game and I love messing around in it, but I think we’re starting to need someone to come along to challenge this series for its crown, and make up on the things this game lacks.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Simonsloth »

Spoiler: show
Jan 2021:
Get Even via PS Now
Last Story Wii
Warioware GBA
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Celeste
Doom Eternal
Demon's Souls

Feb:
Super Mario 64 (switch)
Duke 3D
Sea of Thieves (Tall Tales)
Super Mario World 2

March:
Hitman
Hitman 2
Black: The Fall
Bradwell Conspiracy
Fifa 18: The Journey
Donut County

April:
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Life is Strange 2
Trinity (Pc)
Gorogoa
Super Mario Sunshine

May-June:
Drakengard 2
Koudelka
Max Payne 3
Castlevania

July:
Alpha protocol
Persona 5
They breathe
Super mario galaxy
Battlefield 1
Yakuza dead souls

August:

Call of duty 4: Modern Warfare
Phoenix Wright trials and tribulations
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 5
428 Shibuya Scramble
Amnesia machine for pigs
Another world
Condemned
Conker’s Bad Fur Day

September:

Modern warfare 2
Soma
Drakengard 3
October:
Layers of Fear 2
Plague Tale Innocence
Mega Man 2

November:
Dark Souls 2

In all honesty Dark Souls 2 may well be the best game I have ever played. It brings with it all the things I loved about the first game but introduced quality of life improvements such as bonfire warping from the start and enemies disappearing after 12 or so runs. So even if (like me) you’re a bit rubbish you’ll make it though eventually.

My son watched me play (with blood off) and we delighted in every new creature we came across and whenever I was going to give up I had him saying “you can do it Daddy”. Was a beautiful bonding experience and the only way I can move on after defeating every single boss and sun bro-ing until I had all the Loyce souls and sunlight medals was to jump straight into the third game.

We’ve bought the art books, strategy guides and even a crystal lizard night light. Hook, line and sinker! I’m in love.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Simonsloth wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 7:59 pm
Spoiler: show
Jan 2021:
Get Even via PS Now
Last Story Wii
Warioware GBA
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Celeste
Doom Eternal
Demon's Souls

Feb:
Super Mario 64 (switch)
Duke 3D
Sea of Thieves (Tall Tales)
Super Mario World 2

March:
Hitman
Hitman 2
Black: The Fall
Bradwell Conspiracy
Fifa 18: The Journey
Donut County

April:
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Life is Strange 2
Trinity (Pc)
Gorogoa
Super Mario Sunshine

May-June:
Drakengard 2
Koudelka
Max Payne 3
Castlevania

July:
Alpha protocol
Persona 5
They breathe
Super mario galaxy
Battlefield 1
Yakuza dead souls

August:

Call of duty 4: Modern Warfare
Phoenix Wright trials and tribulations
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 5
428 Shibuya Scramble
Amnesia machine for pigs
Another world
Condemned
Conker’s Bad Fur Day

September:

Modern warfare 2
Soma
Drakengard 3
October:
Layers of Fear 2
Plague Tale Innocence
Mega Man 2

November:
Dark Souls 2

In all honesty Dark Souls 2 may well be the best game I have ever played. It brings with it all the things I loved about the first game but introduced quality of life improvements such as bonfire warping from the start and enemies disappearing after 12 or so runs. So even if (like me) you’re a bit rubbish you’ll make it though eventually.

My son watched me play (with blood off) and we delighted in every new creature we came across and whenever I was going to give up I had him saying “you can do it Daddy”. Was a beautiful bonding experience and the only way I can move on after defeating every single boss and sun bro-ing until I had all the Loyce souls and sunlight medals was to jump straight into the third game.

We’ve bought the art books, strategy guides and even a crystal lizard night light. Hook, line and sinker! I’m in love.
So good to see the love for Dark Souls 2! It's my favourite of the trilogy on most days. Dark, beautiful, endlessly rewarding and mysterious to lose yourself in. Lovely to read about how you're bonding with your little one playing it :)
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Simonsloth »

Haha my wife calls it questionable parenting!

I mainly play as a mage/melee hybrid so anything vaguely human looking gets lightning in their face and the monsters get the mace. With the blood off and monsters turning to dust when they are defeated it’s all very PG.

Towards the end I was struggling with Darklurker and the frigid outskirts so I was sunbro-ing the DLC to level up and got 30+ players through their boss encounters. It was exhilarating! Clearly some of them were struggling to get through so it must have been their Nth time so the emotes at me were thick and fast!

We started dark souls 3 last night and it strikes me as a step back towards ds1 which is both good and bad. I miss Majula though!
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

There is nowhere quite like Majula is there. I've never known a hub in a game world that is so comforting but also melancholy in that way. Just love gathering all my weird forgetful friends together there throughout the game.

Sunbro'ing is great fun isn't it! I think DS2 players will appreciate it too as I feel it's a bit quieter online than the other games.

Dark Souls and parenting are connected for me too, I replayed 1&2 with my daughter asleep on my lap a year ago just after she was born. I can't wait until she's old enough to enjoy them too.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Writing about this here as I played 50 hours of this game but won't be beating the final 3-4 hours as life is too short. I will watch the final cutscene on YouTube.

I played this as despite the change in combat mechanics it seemed like a good on-boarding point for the series, as the alternatives are go back to a remaster of a very old game and play through dozens of hours of sequels, go straight in with Yakuza 6 and not get the optimal narrative experience, or start with Judgment. Honestly that would have been a good option but I just liked the sound of Kasuga as a character.

First, the positives. This is a wonderful introduction to the world of Ryu ga Gatoku for someone playing for the first time like me. Yokohama is a great setting, it looks fantastic, the eating spots, side quests and mini games are all top quality.

Best of all are the characters. Kasuga Ichiban shot straight to the list of my favourite characters in video games. He's hilarious, heartfelt, sweet, stands up for what he believes in and is all-round a good dude and a solid bro. Literally love him to bits. Adachi, Saeko, Nanba and even the later party members are really well written and performed too. All of them shine best in the side quests, where the game sets aside its operatic crime drama main story and indulges in some honestly laugh-out-loud misadventures with the residents of Yokohama (men in nappies, super spicy kimchi to help an old lady run quick enough to cross the road before the light changes, you've seen the memes).

The combat is good too, for the most part. I haven't played many JRPGs but the mix of satisfying moves and funny animations and attack descriptions ("damage the enemy by releasing an album in CD format") makes it a joy. It's colourful with inventive effects and enemy designs, and the music is good. It was even OK for a multi-hour late-game grind necessitated by a fairly absurd difficulty spike at one of the later bosses; I put my own music on and got to battling in one of the game's self-contained areas that may as well have the words "grind here" emblazoned in neon over the entrance.

The negatives: I'm sure there are lots of people who love this game, this world and the combat enough to want to grind up to level 100, unlock everything and spend hours in literal sewers fighting the same enemy combinations time and again. But after 50 hours and reaching the final dungeon, I had already had my good times with the game. I enjoyed the ride, the stories and my memories of exploring the city with these goofballs, I felt like my party was pretty tricked out with some upgraded weapons and I was familiar with what all my party members were capable of, who to swap in at what point, the various synergies and priorities, and so on. I was ready to wrap up.

Mild spoilers:
Spoiler: show
The final dungeon was a cinch and we steamrolled everyone up to the first of (apparently?) three final bosses.
The boss is resistant to most attacks, spams a one-hit-kill move, takes ages to kill... and there is no save point in the entire dull dungeon leading up to it. The boss is boring both to look at and fight, does the same attacks over and over, but at least if there was a save point directly before it would be ... maybe tolerable if still tedious design. Note that you can mitigate the OHK. But I got killed because it didn't give me a chance to get that effect running again. There's no reality in which I use precious free time going back through the dungeon and back through this fight to possibly get OHK'd after an hour or more.
Dear video games: Just let me save. I am happy to just stop playing rather than waste time. Ya can't win.

So I loved the game and story overall but I won't finish it. Why would I bother when I have so many amazing games half-played or only partly played, and yet more unstarted or unbought?
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Truk_Kurt »

I must admit that I used a guide in LAD for the bosses if I failed after one attempt, just so I knew the best approaches to take them down. I don't particularly like doing that but they often take so long that I just wanted them done with and not have to keep playing them.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Jon Cheetham wrote: November 25th, 2021, 7:24 am Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Writing about this here as I played 50 hours of this game but won't be beating the final 3-4 hours as life is too short. I will watch the final cutscene on YouTube.

I played this as despite the change in combat mechanics it seemed like a good on-boarding point for the series, as the alternatives are go back to a remaster of a very old game and play through dozens of hours of sequels, go straight in with Yakuza 6 and not get the optimal narrative experience, or start with Judgment. Honestly that would have been a good option but I just liked the sound of Kasuga as a character.
I say play Yakuza 0, then Kiwami 1 and 2.

If you enjoy them, you have the perfectly serviceable remasters of 3, 4 and 5, but if you don't want to play them, you've still played 3 great Yakuza games that still look really good.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Simonsloth »

Alex’s advice is sound. Yakuza zero is a modern perfect jumping on point and if you don’t like that you won’t like any of them.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Truk_Kurt wrote: November 25th, 2021, 9:42 am I must admit that I used a guide in LAD for the bosses if I failed after one attempt, just so I knew the best approaches to take them down. I don't particularly like doing that but they often take so long that I just wanted them done with and not have to keep playing them.
I did check a guide after out of curiosity. Turns out the most helpful thing would have been to level up a job for Kasuga I hadn't even touched so far, haha. Quite frustrating. I usually feel that the process of reaching the final challenge should also render you prepared for it.

Alex and Simon - I forgot about Yakuza 0 when I wrote that! That is absolutely an option for next Yakuza game as well. I already know the soundtrack rules, too.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Personally at this point I would start with Judgement seeing as there are only 2 games you need to get through before you're caught up and then can play through any future releases, with it not really being linked into the Yakuza series. As much as I love Yakuza Zero I've decided against continuing with the series as I don't think I would ever catch up unless I dedicated all my gaming time to it for a year or two.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Truk_Kurt wrote: November 26th, 2021, 9:47 am Personally at this point I would start with Judgement seeing as there are only 2 games you need to get through before you're caught up and then can play through any future releases, with it not really being linked into the Yakuza series. As much as I love Yakuza Zero I've decided against continuing with the series as I don't think I would ever catch up unless I dedicated all my gaming time to it for a year or two.
Kiwami 1 and 2 are fairly short compared to Zero, and you can burn through the story fairly fast. I honestly find most the side stories kind of annoying, although I know a lot of people really enjoy them.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Call of the Sea - Series X.
(Jan) Remember Me - PS3.
(Jan) Ghostbusters Remastered - Series X
(Feb) Disney Infinity 2.0 - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Batman: Arkham Knight - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Sacred 3 - PS3.
(Feb) The Darkness II - PS3.
(Feb) The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - PS3.
(Mar) Gears 5: Hivebusters - Series X.
(Mar) Silent Hill: Downpour - PS3.
(Mar) The Medium - Series X.
(Mar) Donut County - Series X.
(Mar) Astro's Playroom - PS5.
(Apr) Outriders - Series X.
(May) Lego City Undercover - Wii U.
(May) Ghost of Tsushima - PS5.
(May) Resident Evil Village - PS5.
(May) Dantes Inferno - Series X(BC).
(May) Streets of Rage 4 - Series X.
(May) Dead Space - Series X(BC).
(June) Matterfall - PS5.
(June) Battlefield 4 - Series X.
(Aug) Metro Exodus + DLCs - Series X.
(Aug) Mass Effect 1 Legendary Edition - Series X.
(Aug) Maneater(1000GS) - Series X.
(Sept) Dead Rising 4 - Series X.
(Sept) Limbo - Series X.
(Sept) Raji: An Ancient Epic - Series X.
(Sept) The Ascent - Series X.
(Sept) The Artful Escape - Series X.
(Oct) Mighty Goose - Series X.
(Oct) Alan Wake Remastered - Series X.
(Nov) The Evil Within 2 - Series X.
(Nov) Minecraft Dungeons - Series X.
(Nov) Forza Horizon 5 - Series X.
(Nov) Unpacking - Series X.
(Nov) Totally Reliable Delivery Service - Series X.
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Angry_Kurt
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Posts: 395
Joined: May 1st, 2020, 2:53 pm

Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Angry_Kurt »

18. Paper Mario Origami King
Really funny writing and I actually quite liked the puzzle battles, especially for the boss battles. However I felt the game was a lot longer than it needed to be as towards the end some fetch quests and backtracking became a chore 7/10
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Scrustle
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Posts: 2462
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD
15/05 - God of War: Ghost of Sparta HD
24/05 - NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139... (Endings A-E)
08/06 - Final Fantasy XV (NG+)
02/07 - God of War II HD
15/07 - Scarlet Nexus (Yuito)
20/07 - TRON: Evolution
21/07 - Sky: Children of the Light
01/08 - Scarlet Nexus (Kasane, NG+)
12/08 - Forza Horizon
18/08 - A Plague Tale: Innocence
21/08 - Contrast
31/08 - Forza Motorsport 7
04/09 - No More Heroes III
13/09 - Metal Gear Solid
23/09 - Metal Gear Solid 2 HD
09/10 - Psychonauts 2
15/10 - Unsighted
17/10 - Sable
18/10 - Halo: Reach (Master Chief Collection)
23/10 - Split/Second
29/10 - Darq
11/11 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
14/11 - Darksiders II (Apocalyptic)
21/11 - Kid A Mnesia Exhibition
23/11 - Forza Horizon 5
27/11 - Exo One

Visually stunning game with some very satisfying mechanics. It really nails the mysterious, otherworldly vibe of space exploration, with the planets you explore being beautiful and surreal, but also vast and hostile. Controlling your strange transforming orb ship is a lot of fun too. Getting in to the grove of choosing when to dive and glide is very simple to understand, but takes a certain level of finesse to get the most out of. It iterates on the idea in some interesting ways too. The feeling of speed you get out of it is great as well. You can even go so fast you start seeing redshift. It's an interesting and unique way to traverse these levels. Not sure what to make of the story though. It's intentionally obtuse as it delivers fractured dialogue through indecipherable radio transmissions, and that adds to the mysterious and remote feeling of the game, but I'm not quite sure what I was supposed to get out of it. Maybe that's all they were going for.
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Alex79
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Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)
MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)
JUN - Super Mario 64 (Switch)
JUL - Silent Bomber JP (PS1 on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 (PSP on Vita)
AUG - OutRun 2 SP (PSP on Vita)
AUG - Ashen (Switch)
AUG - Papers, Please (Vita)
AUG - Scramble (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
AUG - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
AUG - Pinball FX3: Family Guy (Switch)
AUG - Shovel Knight: Shovel Of Hope (Switch)
SEP - FAR: Lone Sails (Android)
SEP - The Artful Escape (Xbox)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Portal (Switch)
SEP - Pinball FX3: Aliens vs Predator (Switch)
SEP - EA UFC 4 (Xbox)
OCT - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Xbox)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Aliens (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Alien Isolation (Switch)
OCT - Pinball FX3: Attack From Mars (Switch)
OCT - Superliminal (Xbox)
OCT - Haunted Castle (Arcade on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES on Switch)
OCT - Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox)
OCT - Castle Of Illusion (SMS on Vita)
OCT - Land Of Illusion (SMS on Vita)
OCT - Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom on Switch)
OCT - Castlevania: The Adventure (Gameboy on Switch)
OCT - Super Castlevania IV (SNES on Switch)
OCT - The Red Strings Club (Switch)
OCT - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Xbox)
NOV - Guacamelee: STC Edition (Switch)
NOV - Bastion (Switch)
NOV - The Walking Dead: Season One (Xbox)
NOV - Red Dead Redemption (Xbox)

*May be slight story spoilers*

I first played and finished this back when it was released and at the time absolutely loved the look and the atmosphere of the game, but actually found it quite a boring, repetitive slog the further I got through the game. After having finished the sequel a couple of years back, which I consider my favorite game of all time, I was keen to go back to this and take another look.

After a couple of false starts including a few hours playing the PS3 version via PS Now, and again the PS3 version actually on the console itself, I decided to wait since I was, at the time, planning on picking up an Xbox, and I knew the game had seen some serious improvements on that system with regard to resolution and FPS. I was glad I waited, because this game still looks incredible, even on a Series S. It honestly looks like a game that could have been released yesterday, and really negates much need for that much clamoured after remaster.

For whatever reason, I ended up enjoying this game a whole lot more than the first time I played it. Unlike Arthur's tale in the sequel, John's story has a real driving force behind it, and there's always an end in sight. I've always preferred Arthur as a character, but John is more interesting than I'd previously given him credit for. Towards the latter end of the game there's a definite quiet resignation about him, and especially when he sends Jack and Abigail off before the final shootout.

All in all this is still a really good game, and as worth playing now, a decade after release, as it ever was.
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