Games Completed 2019

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KSubzero1000
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by KSubzero1000 »

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I'm currently seeing the credits roll on Halo 3 (Heroic).

It's been a while since I revisited the series so I thought I'd pop this one back in for a quick playthrough.

First off, the gameplay is really good. Maybe people just took it for granted back when the series was on everyone's mind, but I would argue that the core gameplay loop of this game/series stands heads and shoulders above that of most other FPSs that are about quick aiming and little else. Halo is a lot more layered and fluid than that, and I find it unfortunate that the gaming world at large only seems to have blindly copy/pasted its shield regeneration mechanic and ignored all the rest it has to offer. First off, the gun/grenade/melee triangle is very polished and the fantastic weapon/vehicle variety alone puts 99% of the genre to shame.

Enemy variety is something that I like to mention a lot because I think it is in many ways the secret sauce that elevates great action games from ordinary ones, and this is a perfect example of that: 5 basic Covenant enemy types (not including sub-types) + all sorts of Flood variations + all the different vehicles. Each with their own AI, weaponry, positioning, sub-routines, threat level, weak spot, damage modifier, etc... Which means that every encounter plays out differently from the last one and I think it's a fantastic quality to have in any sort of action game. Compare that to Modern Warfare's Bad Guy #1 (Color Palette A) + Bad Guy #2 (Color Palette B) and it's night and day, really.

The campaign's tight pacing must be praised as well. Every mission has its own little details and sense of purpose with little repetition and even the atrocious Cortana isn't enough to bring the entire game down with it, thankfully. The aerial dogfights of The Covenant alone are worth the price of admission. I also think the Scarab fights are a good compromise between regular gunplay and spectacular set-piece considering the mixed reception of Halo 2's more restrictive and conventional boss fights.

I found myself enjoying the story as well. It's basic, but it works. Conflicts between multiple factions are always a plus in my book to change from the constant and simplistic Good Side™ VS. Bad Side™-type narrative. Thel 'Vadam is the best part of every scene he's in and my favorite Halo character overall, I can only wish he had his own playable chapters in this one like he does in Halo 2.

Soundtrack... obviously sublime. Proper headphones required for maximum enjoyment.

Much has been said about this game's low-detail textures and ugly character models, and for good reason. But I also think this is a very beautiful game in many ways, from the rich color palette of the environments to the excellent cutscene direction. Great use of contrast and camera angles in particular shows the designers really made the best out of the material they had at their disposal.

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God knows how easy it is to be cynical about AAA games in general, but here is an example of a record-breaking bestselling game that sports some of the highest production values of its time but still has very much an identity and design philosophy of its own. It doesn't spread itself too thin (thank GOD there are no shoe-horned RPG mechanics and such) and excels at what it sets out to do. Fantastic overall package and one of my favorite FPSs ever (along with DOOM 2016 and the other Halo games, of course).


"Were it so easy..."
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MajorGamer
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Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by MajorGamer »

Spoiler: show
Jan 2 - War for the Overworld (PC)
Jan 13 - Pyre (PC)
Jan 16 - Heroes of Hammerwatch (PC)
Jan 17 - Mega Man 11 (Switch)
Jan 20 - ReThink | Evolved (PC)
Jan 20 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)
Jan 22 - Ruzar - The Life Stone (PC)
Jan 27 - After Death (PC)
Feb 6 - Vikings - Wolves of Midgard (PC)
Feb 21 - Loyalty and Blood: Viktor Origins (PC)

Feb 27 - Book of Demons (PC)
Mar 4 - Vaporum (PC)
Mar 5 - Frost (Switch)
Mar 9 - DarkMaus (PC)
Mar 10 - Octopath Traveler (Switch)
Mar 31 - Final Fantasy X (PC)
Apr 5 - Treasure Adventure World (PC)
Apr 15 - Greedy Guns (PC)
Apr 23 - ChromaGun (PC)
Apr 27 - The Quest (PC)

May 1 - Skautfold: Usurper (PC)
May 7 - Alwa's Awakening (PC)
May 9 - OneShot (PC)
May 13 - Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition (Switch)
May 27 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (PC)
May 29 - Styx: Shards of Darkness (PC)
Jun 5 - The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians (PC)
Jun 5 - Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom (Switch)
Jun 11 - Yoku's Island Express (Switch)
Jun 17 - LISA (PC)

Jun 18 - Heroes of the Monkey Tavern (PC)
Jun 24 - Halcyon 6 (PC)
Jun 29 - Fox n Forests (PC)
Jul 4 - Battle Princess Madelyn (Switch)
Jul 14 - Dustforce (PC)
Jul 26 - Ambition of the Slimes (Switch)
July 29 - Final Fantasy X-2 (PC)
July 31 - Epistory - Typing Chronicles (PC)
Aug 2 - Moonlighter (Switch)
Aug 6 - Seasons After Fall (PC)

Aug 10 - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
Aug 12 - ReThink | Evolved 2 (PC)
Aug 21 - Shadows: Awakening (PC)
Aug 24 - Singularity (PC)
Aug 26 - Typoman (PC)
Sep 4 - Mercenaries Saga: Will of the White Lions (Switch)
Sep 4 - The Surge (PC)
Sep 6 - Rise & Shine (PC)
Sep 14 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
Sep 15 - -KLAUS- (PC)

Sep 22 - MagiCat (Switch)
Oct 3 - Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (PC)
Oct 9 - Serious Sam 2 (PC)
Oct 22 - Cosmic Star Heroine (Switch)
Oct 25 - Gato Roboto (Switch)
Oct 26 - Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (Switch)
Oct 28 - Full Bore (PC)
Oct 31 - Anodyne (Switch)
Nov 1 - Ticket to Earth (PC)
Nov 7 - The House of Da Vinci (PC)

Nov 20 - Planescape: Torment (PC)
Nov 25 - Wuppo (PC)
Nov 27 - Archaica: The Path of Light (PC)
Dec 3 - City of Brass (PC)
Dec 3 - Celeste (Switch)
Dec 6 - Immortal Planet (PC)
Dec 9 - Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Switch)
Dec 10 - A Robot Named Fight (Switch)
Dec 12 - Anomaly Defenders (PC)

This is the last game in a reverse tower defense series. You normally play as the units being sent out and you need to get past all the towers. This game, though, is just a normal tower defense game. Bit of an odd choice to remove what made this a unique series. With that gone, it's fine on its own but doesn't do much beyond that. Thankfully there is a speed up option because the normal speed is incredibly slow. The other two are worth playing but I'd give this one a pass.

Dec 20 - Shovel Knight: King of Cards (PC)

The last campaign for Shovel Knight, this time with a Wario spin. King Knight's main attack is a dash that turns into a spin after he hits something. Spin jumping off of stuff will let you do the dash again and so forth. It makes for some good platforming. The stages here are shorter than the other campaigns but there are a bunch more stages. You even get to choose what stages to go through unlike the others. You are only required to fight one other knight to finish the game instead of all of them. I'll be interested what Yacht Club makes from here.

Dec 22 - Shovel Knight: Showdown (PC)

Okay, maybe slightly cheating on counting this since it is predominately meant for multiplayer, but there is a singleplayer to go through which is mainly AI matches with a boss at the end. It's impressive how many characters they put in and their moves are all based on what they do in the main game. How balanced it all is, I have no idea. It could be good multiplayer fun but won't be playing it myself. The singleplayer is fine for what it is. If, for some reason, you are buying the Shovel Knight stuff separately, this is the only one I'd skip over.
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Beck
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Beck »

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God of War (2018)
Yoku's Island Express - Switch
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
A Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Tetris 99
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Resident Evil 2 - Lean side A
Divinity Original Sin 2
Zelda - Breath of the Wild
Uncharted 4
Batman Arkham Asylum
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Dante's Inferno - PS3
Ni No Kuni 2 - PS4
WoW Classic
Dead Cells
Slay the Spire
Super Mario Odyssey
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Mortal Kombat 11
Star Wars Jedi : Fallen Order
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Gears 4
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Michiel K »

There goes KSubzero making me want to prioritise my series playthrough of the Bungie Halo games.
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OldBailey
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by OldBailey »

Michiel K wrote: December 31st, 2019, 9:22 am There goes KSubzero making me want to prioritise my series playthrough of the Bungie Halo games.
I second this motion and it would make for a great stream ;). One to consider after you wipe the floor with Double Dragon 3 this Friday?
I replayed Halo 1-3 myself this year and they still feel lightyears ahead of many modern shooters in terms of the complexity and flexibility of it's sandbox style approach to combat.
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Magical_Isopod
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Location: London, ON, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I think I may try and squeeze Halo 1 into my 52 Game Challenge this year. I have the Master Chef Collection through Game Pass, so I'll give 'er a go. Probably on easy mode because I remember hitting a difficulty spike early on in the XB original. Life's too short for smashing your head into a brick wall sometimes - hence why I can't deal with modern FromSoft games.
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fieldy
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Posts: 110
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Location: London

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by fieldy »

So my completed list for this year is as follows:

- Dark Souls Remastered
- Prey
- Nier: Automata
- Dark souls 2
- Dark souls 3
- Tangle tower (Apple Arcade)
- Sayonara wild hearts (Apple Arcade)

It was my gaming resolution of last year to complete all DS games after initially bouncing off the first game way back when it released and this year it turned out being one of my favourite games of all time!
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stvnorman
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by stvnorman »

Illness slowed me down a bit this month, but I did manage to get my physical PS4 backlog out of the way and sold on eBay, which helped pay for F-Zero GX and Wind Waker, which I finally got for a decent price, transferring my backlog to GameCube for the start of 2020!
Spoiler: show
1 Jan: Lego Marvel Super Heroes (PS4)
12 Jan: LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4)
27 Jan: Raging Justice (Switch)
7 Feb: Mega Man 4 - Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)
7 Mar: Trials Fusion (PS4)
15 Mar: Cursed Castilla EX (Switch)
22 Mar: The Witness (PS4)
27 Mar: Call of Duty - Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4)
19 Apr: Resident Evil Remastered (PS4)
20 Apr: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES on Switch)
25 Apr: Moonlighter (Switch)
26 Apr: Sega Ages Out Run (Switch)
6 May: Mega Man 5 - Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)
7 May: What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4)
10 May: Mortal Kombat X (PS4)
23 May: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS4)
24 May: Kid Dracula - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
8 June: Cuphead (Switch)
10 June: Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
14 June: Pilotwings (SNES on 3DS)
16 June: Final Fantasy 7 (Switch)
17 June: Castlevania - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
26 June: Kid Icarus (NES on Switch)
26 June: Mega Man 6 - Mega Man Legacy Collection (Switch)
27 June: Balloon Kid (Game Boy on 3DS)
29 June: Resident Evil 2 Remake (PS4)
4 July: Shovel Knight (Switch)
6 July: The Castlevania Adventure - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
8 July: Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
9 July: Night Trap - 25th Anniversary Edition (Switch)
11 July: Operation C - Contra Anniversary Collection (Switch)
23 July: Mighty Bomb Jack (NES on Switch)
3 August: Super Castlevania IV - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
6 August: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
7 August: Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (Japanese version) - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
9 August: Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (English version) - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
11 August: Castlevania Bloodlines - Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch)
14 August: Bruce Lee - Return of the Legend (Game Boy Advance)
21 August: Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! (Switch)
27 August: Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy)
4 September: Castlevania - Symphony of the Night (PS4)
10 September: Sega Ages Virtua Racing (Switch)
21 September: Super Mario World (SNES on Switch)
27 September: Assemble With Care (Apple Arcade on iPad)
1 October: Super Metroid (SNES on Switch)
4 October: Possessions (Apple Arcade on iPad)
6 October: The Pinball Wizard (Apple Arcade on iPad)
8 October: Sayonara Wild Hearts (Apple Arcade on iPad)
9 October: Pilgrims (Apple Arcade on iPad)
9 October: Cricket Through the Ages (Apple Arcade on iPad)
10 October: What the Golf? (Apple Arcade on iPad)
13 October: Where Cards Fall (Apple Arcade on iPad)
22 October: Mutazione (Apple Arcade on iPad)
23 October: Agent Intercept (Apple Arcade on iPad)
24 October: The Legend of Zelda - Link’s Awakening DX (Game Boy Colour on 3DS)
25 October: Bleak Sword (Apple Arcade on iPad)
27 October: Resident Evil 2 Remake - 2nd Story (PS4)
30 October: Speed Demons (Apple Arcade on iPad)
31 October: Star Fox (SNES on Switch)
3 November: Uncharted 3 - Drake’s Deception (PS4)
5 November: Neo Cab (Apple Arcade on iPad)
7 November: Lifelike - Chapter One (Apple Arcade on iPad)
9 November: Garou - Mark of the Wolves (iPad)
12 November: Joe & Mac 2 - Lost in the Tropics (SNES on Switch)
16 November: Uncharted 4 - A Thief’s End (PS4)
17 November: Sneaky Sasquatch (Apple Arcade on iPad)
26 November: Over the Alps (Apple Arcade on iPad)
27 November: Batman - Arkham Asylum (PS4)
1 December: Mega Man 11 (PS4)
8 December: Batman - Arkham City (PS4)
14 December: Titanfall 2 (PS4)
21 December: Saboteur (Switch)
29 December: Lifeline (iPhone)
31 December: Starlink - Battle For Atlas (Switch)
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MajorGamer
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Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by MajorGamer »

Spoiler: show
Jan 2 - War for the Overworld (PC)
Jan 13 - Pyre (PC)
Jan 16 - Heroes of Hammerwatch (PC)
Jan 17 - Mega Man 11 (Switch)
Jan 20 - ReThink | Evolved (PC)
Jan 20 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)
Jan 22 - Ruzar - The Life Stone (PC)
Jan 27 - After Death (PC)
Feb 6 - Vikings - Wolves of Midgard (PC)
Feb 21 - Loyalty and Blood: Viktor Origins (PC)

Feb 27 - Book of Demons (PC)
Mar 4 - Vaporum (PC)
Mar 5 - Frost (Switch)
Mar 9 - DarkMaus (PC)
Mar 10 - Octopath Traveler (Switch)
Mar 31 - Final Fantasy X (PC)
Apr 5 - Treasure Adventure World (PC)
Apr 15 - Greedy Guns (PC)
Apr 23 - ChromaGun (PC)
Apr 27 - The Quest (PC)

May 1 - Skautfold: Usurper (PC)
May 7 - Alwa's Awakening (PC)
May 9 - OneShot (PC)
May 13 - Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition (Switch)
May 27 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (PC)
May 29 - Styx: Shards of Darkness (PC)
Jun 5 - The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians (PC)
Jun 5 - Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom (Switch)
Jun 11 - Yoku's Island Express (Switch)
Jun 17 - LISA (PC)

Jun 18 - Heroes of the Monkey Tavern (PC)
Jun 24 - Halcyon 6 (PC)
Jun 29 - Fox n Forests (PC)
Jul 4 - Battle Princess Madelyn (Switch)
Jul 14 - Dustforce (PC)
Jul 26 - Ambition of the Slimes (Switch)
July 29 - Final Fantasy X-2 (PC)
July 31 - Epistory - Typing Chronicles (PC)
Aug 2 - Moonlighter (Switch)
Aug 6 - Seasons After Fall (PC)

Aug 10 - Bayonetta 2 (Switch)
Aug 12 - ReThink | Evolved 2 (PC)
Aug 21 - Shadows: Awakening (PC)
Aug 24 - Singularity (PC)
Aug 26 - Typoman (PC)
Sep 4 - Mercenaries Saga: Will of the White Lions (Switch)
Sep 4 - The Surge (PC)
Sep 6 - Rise & Shine (PC)
Sep 14 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
Sep 15 - -KLAUS- (PC)

Sep 22 - MagiCat (Switch)
Oct 3 - Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (PC)
Oct 9 - Serious Sam 2 (PC)
Oct 22 - Cosmic Star Heroine (Switch)
Oct 25 - Gato Roboto (Switch)
Oct 26 - Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (Switch)
Oct 28 - Full Bore (PC)
Oct 31 - Anodyne (Switch)
Nov 1 - Ticket to Earth (PC)
Nov 7 - The House of Da Vinci (PC)

Nov 20 - Planescape: Torment (PC)
Nov 25 - Wuppo (PC)
Nov 27 - Archaica: The Path of Light (PC)
Dec 3 - City of Brass (PC)
Dec 3 - Celeste (Switch)
Dec 6 - Immortal Planet (PC)
Dec 9 - Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Switch)
Dec 10 - A Robot Named Fight (Switch)
Dec 12 - Anomaly Defenders (PC)
Dec 20 - Shovel Knight: King of Cards (PC)

Dec 22 - Shovel Knight: Showdown (PC)
Dec 31 - Light Fall (Switch)

A simple platformer with an interesting gimmick that gets underused. You can create blocks either under you or to the side to grab on to. Up to three can be made and no more until you land on a solid surface. You can also move a block when you are standing on the ground that's only used to block some lasers. You also get a blast that use up one of your three blocks and removes any current ones placed that is rarely needed. Most of the time you need three blocks only for height to make it over some spiked wall. Otherwise, less works so there is tons of room for error. It makes things fairly easy. That is, until the final area that has a wall of death following you and it is ridiculously strict in its timing. That and the obstacles you need to pass aren't synced to anything so doing the same thing will have different results. Sometimes you are forced to wait for too long and it simply makes it impossible so the only choice is to die and hope to get things synced up better. It's fine but needed more polish.

Dec 31 - Puzzle Dimension (PC)

I've been playing this on and off for three years now. You play as a ball rolling around each grid-based level to collect the flowers and get to the exit. Each of the first five worlds introduces a new mechanic, such as ice and sand, to put a wrinkle in getting to the objectives. The last five worlds combines all these things to make things very challenging to work out how to get everything. There is a bit of a control issue where if you jump too soon, you'll jump in the direction you are currently moving instead of the direction you are pressing which is very likely to force a restart on the level. It takes the timing on that awhile to get used to and even then I'd regularly screw it up. Still a good little puzzle game.

73 games for the year. Not as much as last year, but I'll take it.
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Michiel K »

BaileyBoy wrote: December 31st, 2019, 2:11 pm I second this motion and it would make for a great stream ;). One to consider after you wipe the floor with Double Dragon 3 this Friday?
Yes, definitely a good suggestion and it's on my short list! But vol. 9 of Cane and Rinse is calling and there are a few games I need to get on, as well.

I do expect to get to Halo on in 2020 my own Twitch channel though, as I'm just focusing on my backlog and shamefully unplayed and underplayed games there.
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