Games Completed 2019

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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by ColinAlonso »

I know you're saving comments for the pod but my first thought was 'Did you eat the fish?' :)
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Jan 16 - Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4)
Jan 20 - FTL: Faster Than Light (PC) (Easy)
Jan 25 - Final Fantasy VIII (PSVita - PS1 Classic)
Jan 27 - Puzzle Bobble (Switch) (Difficulty Level 4 - One credit)
Feb 3 - Metal Slug 3 (PS4 - PS2 anthology version on Easy)

Fun arcade run and gun. I set it on easy and could get through the first level in one life. The remaining four levels took 39 credits (1 credit is 3 lives). Great 2D sprite work, although dated by the year 2000 as the Neo-Geo had been around for a long time at that point. Don't think the game has much of a plot, it just throws cool scenarios at the player with lots of nice variations in gameplay.
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MajorGamer
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by MajorGamer »

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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)

A pretty basic metroidvania to the point there isn't much to say about it. No interesting powerups and the only real movement one is just the morph ball equivalent. Oddly one of the hardest bosses of the game is the first one since you have such low life for it and things don't scale very well from there. The only other hard one is the true final boss but that is mainly from it having so much health it will slowly kill you from your own mistakes as it is simple otherwise.
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JadePhoenix
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by JadePhoenix »

Feb 6 - Kingdom Hearts 3

I'm still trying to organize my thoughts enough to decide how I felt about it, so I'm, just gonna start typing and see what comes out. I really like the story of the KH series, not that it isn't the mess everyone says it is, but in spite of, or possibly because it is. KH3 does deliver on the story set up by the previous games in a really satisfying way, for the most part, but the pacing isn't great, and I didn't love the ending. The gameplay was a lot of fun, but overall lacked the challenge of previous games. That's easy enough to fix by playing on a higher difficulty if you know ahead of time, but it was unexpected. My only big complaint mirrors what I've seen elsewhere, it's too short. I finished in under 30 hours, i wasn't hurrying, and almost all of the plot-relevant stuff happened in the last 5. Overall I enjoyed my experience, but it's not hard to understand why people that waited 14 years to play this game would be unhappy with just how little of it there ended up being.
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Beck
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Beck »

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January
God of War (2018)
Yoku's Island Express - Switch
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
February

A Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
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duskvstweak
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by duskvstweak »

I finished Wolfenstein: The New Order last night. A real downer of an ending. Near the end, I finally got it to the catharsis of it all, but it's still not the escapism it used to be.
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Suits
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Suits »

Beck wrote: February 7th, 2019, 12:25 pm A Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
That’s a damn good Zelda game that isn’t it.
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seansthomas
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by seansthomas »

1st February - Dark Souls
8th February - The Gardens Between

Lovely little puzzle game that asks you to bend time to allow a couple of teenagers to make it through a 3D rotating landscape of their fragmented memories. Looks incredible at almost every turn; took dozens of screenshots. Lovely sound effects and theme too.

Mostly fairly obvious stuff though I did have to resort to trial and error twice and a walkthrough once. It's short, but that didn't bother me; well worth getting in a sale and spending a few hours with.
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seansthomas
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by seansthomas »

1st February - Dark Souls
8th February - The Gardens Between

9th February - Quarantine Circular

Follow up to the great Subsurface Circular, though in truth it's just set in the same universe as opposed to a sequel.

You ask various characters questions, form your own conclusions and ultimately reach a point where you need to make a call.

Subsurface's premise was a bit simpler, as in you were a robot detective (a Tek) investigating disappearances. This time you play multiple people in an era where a plague is wiping out humanity and you have captured an alien. Some of the crew think the alien is the solution to the problem, some the cause.

There seem to be far more endings and ambiguity this time. The writing feels more complex too. It didn't work quite so well as Subsurface for me though as it asked you to briefly play the part of the alien you're questioning, meaning a big early part of the game where you're assessing his / her / it's intentions are a bit superfluous.

But as before it's incredibly well written, has its own distinctive look, makes you question your moral choices and is under £5, meaning it's a great way to spend a couple of hours.

Comes with developers commentary too which I fully intend to listen to.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Scrustle »

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25/01 - Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
31/01 - Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
01/02 - SOMA (Safe Mode)
09/02 - Shadow Warrior

Pretty good shooter overall, but with a couple of little quirks that hold it back a bit. As I mentioned in a previous post, despite this being a decent throwback shooter it can't seem to completely avoid some modern trends. While it does have an emphasis on strafing and such, aiming down sights is still a feature that a fair few number of the guns feel like they were designed for. As the game goes on it gives you more weapons that seem like they're more focused towards the strafing style, so while nearer at the start of the game it feels like it can't quite make up its mind which side of the fence it wants to land on, by the end of it it definitely feels like it's chosen the more old school side, despite not totally discarding some slower ADS mechanics. The sword is pretty fun to use as well, for first-person melee at least. Using it in combination with the magic powers you get helps it feel a bit more varied and tactical than just spamming RT in front of an enemy, even if they were a but fiddly to pull off at times. The level design had a few problems too. While overall the layout of levels were fine, being mostly linear but with a decent level of exploration too, aesthetically they're a mixed bag. Near the start and end of the game there are some really amazing looking scenes, full of wonderfully lit Japanese castles and gardens and such. But the bulk of the game between those two points is pretty much all bland industrial settings. Not very inspiring and somewhat dull. A couple of points had really bad signposting too, where I was stuck for a while because I didn't notice the tiny thing I needed to interact with to progress, because you can only see it when you're right up on it, or it's obscured in darkness or fog or something.

The writing is also incredibly dumb. Not so bad it put me off or anything though. It just didn't really have much impact on me at all. It's a bunch of really stupid jokes and cliches that were presented like they were trying to be self-aware, but didn't really do anything with them beyond repeating the cliche. Not to mention that it's sort of... racially insensitive too. I hesitate to bring that up, since I don't want to paint the game as some kind of evil toxin that must be purged, and I don't detect any kind of malice from the game in that regard. But still, it's something that you can't really avoid. I know it's supposed to be paying homage to the original game which was also in turn replicating 80s and 90s martial arts movies cliches, in what I gather was a far more insensitive way. So in a way I suppose that's a vast improvement, but it's still full of stereotypes and mixing different cultures together as if they're just one thing. I don't think it's necessarily bad to take inspiration from different cultures though, or even necessarily mix them together when creating fiction. But this doesn't come across like it's creating some fantasy world inspired by Eastern mythology, like Avatar is. But rather recycling ideas of Eastern exoticism and placing them in a semi-realistic context, as if it's trying to point at something real. Except what it's pointing at is a generalisation that can and has been used in a harmful way. I don't think this game is particularly harmful in itself, but that's a phenomenon that it exist, and this game is intentionally playing on that. It didn't really harm my experience of playing the game personally, but I think not bringing it up would be willfully ignoring the big elephant in the room.

09/02 - Mandagon

Just played through this little thing. It's another small game I've had my eye on for a while but not got around to until now. I always knew it was short, but it turns out it was only about 30 minutes long. I first got wind of this from an Extra Credits video that mentioned it, and they called it a "narrative Metroidvania", which is rather fitting. As such I wouldn't say this is exactly a "game" per se, but it was still an enjoyable time. You have a small-ish 2D platforming level that you can explore in any direction you want, with the whole thing being aligned mostly vertically. There's no enemies, hazards, or even puzzles of any kind. You jump around collecting little totems and placing them on shrines, which then opens a big door. Go through the door, and a short cutscene plays, and the experience ends. It's got a nice atmosphere and some attractive pixel art, which was one of the things that drew me to it in the first place. It seems there's some kind of underlying message of narrative to it as well. From what I could gather it's about a father who gives up his life in order to save his sick daughter, through what is suggested to be a lung transplant. They show this through various short, cryptic messages you come across, and murals that cover the environment. So that's some neat little environmental storytelling there too. According to a post on the Steam page there's a sequel on the way too, which might be worth keeping an eye out for.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 20th, 2019, 5:10 pmJAN - Super Mario Land (Nintendo Gameboy)
JAN - Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Megadrive on PS4)
FEB - Professor Layton & The Curious Village (Android)
FEB - Donkey Kong '94 (Nintendo Gameboy)

What a fantastic little game! Endlessly inventive and a lot of fun. Will post thoughts in podcast thread.
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Michiel K »

10-02 Pocket Fighter (SAT)

I don't think I ever did a full run through of this game's arcade mode. I played Morrigan and I figured out some dirty tricks for when her special moves are maxed out with gems. The AI didn't stand much of a chance after that, anymore. I think I'm finally starting to 'get' the dynamics of this one. It's really a far cry from your regular Capcom 2D fighter. Really fun, though.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by ratsoalbion »

Love Pocket Fighter!
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Michiel K »

A hard game not to love, if you ask me!
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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Simonsloth »

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January:
Tale of Tales Collection
Virginia
Gravity Rush 2
Nier Automata
10th Feb:
Wolfenstein 2: new colossus

Can’t say too much without spoiling it but really enjoyed it overall. There were a few story beats which really kickstarted the game when it was beginning to falter a little.

I’ve been dividing my time between breath of the wild, captain toad and this depending on who’s in the room and needless to say this isn’t one to play with the kids around!
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dezm0nd
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by dezm0nd »

Jan 1 - Cat Quest
Jan 3 - Nex Machina (Arcade, experienced)
Jan 4 - Celeste
Jan 10 - Yoku's Island Express
Jan 13 - Evil Within 2
Jan 14 - Pilotwings
Jan 21 - Edith Finch
Jan 26 - Resident Evil 2 (Leon A)
Jan 27 - Resident Evil 2 (Claire A)
Jan 31 - Resident Evil 2 (Leon B)

Feb 11 - Firewatch
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by ColinAlonso »

Suits wrote: February 8th, 2019, 8:48 am
Beck wrote: February 7th, 2019, 12:25 pm A Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
That’s a damn good Zelda game that isn’t it.
Wish Nintendo would go for another 2D entry before following up BotW. I' don't know what new they could do to the formula though.
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Suits
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Suits »

ColinAlonso wrote: February 11th, 2019, 9:18 pm Wish Nintendo would go for another 2D entry before following up BotW. I' don't know what new they could do to the formula though.
The supposed ‘leaked’ upcoming Nintendo Direct is to include a new 2D Zelda.

We can only imagine.
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ColinAlonso
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by ColinAlonso »

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Jan 16 - Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4)
Jan 20 - FTL: Faster Than Light (PC) (Easy)
Jan 25 - Final Fantasy VIII (PSVita - PS1 Classic)
Jan 27 - Puzzle Bobble (Switch) (Difficulty Level 4 - One credit)
Feb 3 - Metal Slug 3 (PS4 - PS2 anthology version on Easy)
Feb 8 - Puzzle Bobble 2 (Switch)(Vs Computer mode - Normal)

Wish I knew Hamster were releasing this back when they released the original. Anyway, a credit feeding run against 12 computer opponents in the 2-player style mode. Serious nostalgia. Humming along to all the music. I'm also trying to one credit clear the puzzle mode, got as far as level 26 of 30 so far.
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duskvstweak
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by duskvstweak »

I couldn't get my PS3 to stream right last week, so instead of tackling Symphony of the Night, I just jumped into DOOM (2016).
Oh boy, was that a blast. I plan on playing through it again sometime on a higher difficulty. If I have as much fun the next time as I did this go, it could easily enter my top 50 games. What a blast.
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MajorGamer
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Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by MajorGamer »

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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)

A Diablo-esque game with an obvious theme from the title. Sadly, it falls very flat. Your village gets ransacked so you need to build it up using resources throughout the game. Doing so lets you buy higher level items but the items have level requirements to them that are often higher than when you upgrade the store making it feel like a pointless resource sink.

There are skill trees where each one specializes in each weapon type (dual wield, bow, 2-handed, etc) but the problem is they are mostly passives and they only work when you are using that weapon type. This means you are stuck with one weapon type for the entire game and if you chose a poorly at the start of the game, tough. Even looking at all of them, they are all fairly boring stuff.

Further not helped is the enemies of the game will out-level you without grinding and the monsters are tuned that you are at their level. If you are underleveled, things do massive amounts of damage to you even on the easier difficulties. On the hardest, things would regularly do over half my life in a single hit. There is a dodge roll but the hit boxes of the attacks aren't great. Too many times an attack would visually miss by a fair margin yet still hit and since this isn't online, lag isn't an excuse.
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