Games Completed 2019

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
Locked
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by duskvstweak »

I just completed the three campaigns in Shovel Knight. What a game. I enjoyed every minute of it, enough so that I played those levels and boss fights three times, with varying degrees of difference. I actually had a lot of fun with Specter Knight. I love a good wall jump.
I'm glad the game lived up to it's reputation.
User avatar
Simonsloth
Member
Posts: 1639
Joined: November 22nd, 2017, 7:17 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Simonsloth »

duskvstweak wrote: April 3rd, 2019, 6:25 pm I just completed the three campaigns in Shovel Knight. What a game. I enjoyed every minute of it, enough so that I played those levels and boss fights three times, with varying degrees of difference. I actually had a lot of fun with Specter Knight. I love a good wall jump.
I'm glad the game lived up to it's reputation.
I’m struggling a bit at the beginning of the plague knight campaign. It’s odd how simple enemies and platforming are trickier but bosses are a cakewalk.
User avatar
duskvstweak
Member
Posts: 1123
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 6:40 pm
Location: North Carolina
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by duskvstweak »

Simonsloth wrote: April 3rd, 2019, 6:41 pm
duskvstweak wrote: April 3rd, 2019, 6:25 pm I just completed the three campaigns in Shovel Knight. What a game. I enjoyed every minute of it, enough so that I played those levels and boss fights three times, with varying degrees of difference. I actually had a lot of fun with Specter Knight. I love a good wall jump.
I'm glad the game lived up to it's reputation.
I’m struggling a bit at the beginning of the plague knight campaign. It’s odd how simple enemies and platforming are trickier but bosses are a cakewalk.
I had the same feeling. Plague Knight feels so much more slippery but you just demolish the bosses. You get used to it, but it's a strange rebalance.
User avatar
delb2k
Member
Posts: 211
Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 11:35 pm

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by delb2k »

Jan:

Moss - PSVR
Bound - PS4
The Force Unleashed - Xbox 360 (Back Compat)
Yakuza Kiwami - PS4

Feb:

Resident Evil 2 - Leon A - PS1
Resident Evil 2 Remake - Leon A - X1
Resident Evil 2 Remake - Claire B - XB1
Bury Me My Love - Switch
Yoku Island Express - XB1
Crackdown 3 - XB1
Abzu - XB1

Mar:

>Observer - XB1

Will put more detailed thoughts in the podcast topic, I have to admit I found this interesting, disturbing, clever, provoking and enthralling while also getting annoyed at the horrendous performance on the X. I would recommend it if you enjoy pychologically affecting titles, or are at least interested in that sort of horror architype.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - XB1

I enjoyed the first two titles a lot and this does not rock the boat too much in terms of how it presents and dresses up the action in front of you. As Flbyo mentioned previously the introduction of side quests and way it creates a large pause in the
flow of the game does not help at all, and it just creates an odd change of pace that does not benefit the pace. I cannot fault the developers for trying something new however and while this was the wrong choice I hope they find some way to examine this and continue the series after a little break.

Hellblade - Senua Sacrifice - XB1

I really enjoyed how the team had crafted a title that felt wholly and utterly comitted to a style and direction and, for the most part, managed to effectively convey the feeling of confusion, fear, desire and determination of the main character through oth clever visual technology and audio craftmanship. My only issue, only real annoyance was with some of the later sections that plunged you into complete darkness and at points relied more on trial and error than exploration and manipulation of the environment. While I know why they did what they did it did not quite hit the mark for me.

Tearaway Unfolded - PS4

I have a lot of fond memories of the Vita title, how it manipulated the device to create something that felt very personal. Hell it was my first ever platinum. So I wanted to see what they would do with a larger version and how they would utilise the PS4 for this. Unfortunately it does not have quite the same impact and while they use the controller in clever ways, especially in regards to the lightbar and touchpad, it struggles to feel as good as the smaller brother. To be honest I was happy when it finished as any longer would have felt like outstaying it's welcome.
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Finally finished another game! (While I dart between games, completion isn't the highest priority)

I am going to bite my tongue about Anthem being a dumb/odd/vague name for a game, because I completed Muv Luv Extra (Vita)! All endings, all done.

As a visual novel, it doesn't reinvent the wheel - it's just a well made wheel. Turns as it should.

It's the first in a trilogy, which the critical consensus being that the third game in the series -Alternative - is the best (cross that bridge when I get to it). Extra is quite low key in stakes - basically a series of high school romances - no wars, no apocalypse. I found it to be pretty charming and funny.

The first couple of endings are pretty easy to reach, but I did consult a walkthrough for some of the more obscure endings. Some forks in the narrative road seem innocuous and arbitrary - not unusal for the genre.

After reaching the last ending, I went right into the second game - Muv Luv Unlimited - and... hmm... the thick plottens... :geek:
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2425
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
25/01 - Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
31/01 - Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas
01/02 - SOMA (Safe Mode)
09/02 - Shadow Warrior
18/02 - Mulaka
26/02 - NieR: Automata - 3C3C1D119440927 DLC
02/03 - Race Driver: GRID
04/03 - Bladed Fury
10/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Devil Hunter)
13/03 - AER: Memories of Old
17/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Son of Sparda)
20/03 - Devil May Cry 5 (Human)
05/04 - God of War III Remastered

I was somewhat surprised to find how well this stands up from a gameplay perspective. Combat definitely feels a lot better here than it does in Ascension. More responsive and with a far better sense of variety. While I did say before that combat does feel like it has a decent sense of impact, after getting deeper in to the game I have to say that only applies to half the weapons. The default Blades of Exile and the Nemean Cestus feel fairly good, but the Claws of Hades and Nemesis Whip feel a bit weak and underwhelming. The old problem of these games struggling with kinaesthetics rearing its head again. I still don't really like how similar the Claws and Whip feel compared to the Blades too. But the stuff that feels good is satisfying enough to carry the combat and make it entertaining on that front.

And while playing it originally I didn't quite like how in this game they take away what was an attack button in earlier games to now being a weapon switch, this time around I think I learned to appreciate it more. That move also acts as an attack itself, and encourages you to use the full range of your weapons more, by making switching between them feel fluid and fit in to combos naturally. So I like it now from that perspective. I just wish the weapons you swapped between were more distinct and felt better to use. They also tie your magic spells to each weapon too, which feels somewhat limiting, but I suppose that's just another reason to keep switching things up.

I also found the final boss to be much better than how I remembered it too. I used to think that was kind of a let-down for a final boss, but it turns out I somehow completely forgot an entire phase, and misremembered another as being much worse than it actually was. Unless they changed that in this version of the game and I didn't hear about it. Either way, it made for a more satisfying climax to the gameplay than I was expecting.

The story is still pretty much as awful as I remember it being though. Kratos is still an irredeemable ding dong with zero depth and is totally unsympathetic. He's terrible to everyone he meets, and doesn't deserve the lame attempt at hopeful redemption they try to give him at the end. Maybe that's why I remember the final boss being bad. After the actual real fight you go through a nonsensical sequence where they try to somehow redeem Kratos that falls so totally flat, before then immediately going back to him being a rage-filled monster who learns nothing from his action and lands the finishing blow in a clunky and gruesome QTE sequence. I'm fine with a bit of the old ultra-violence (this is God of War after all), but at least do it well, and own what you're doing. This is the sort of thing that necessitated a reboot of the series, and thankfully what they managed to fix so well in Dad of War.

Despite that I have to say I did like revisiting this. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course the narrative stuff isn't a revelation, but after the huge shift the series has taken since, and the absolute failure of Ascension, it was nice to go back to this and be re-affirmed that actually, it's still not bad.
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Scrustle wrote: April 5th, 2019, 5:12 pm The story is still pretty much as awful as I remember it being though. Kratos is still an irredeemable ding dong with zero depth and is totally unsympathetic. He's terrible to everyone he meets, and doesn't deserve the lame attempt at hopeful redemption they try to give him at the end. Maybe that's why I remember the final boss being bad. After the actual real fight you go through a nonsensical sequence where they try to somehow redeem Kratos that falls so totally flat, before then immediately going back to him being a rage-filled monster who learns nothing from his action
Pointing to Kratos being an irredeemable scumbag as evidence of the GoW story being bad is one criticism that I've never been able to comprehend. He is a perfect example of a Villain Protagonist as far as I'm concerned. That's not automatically a bad thing. He's not supposed to be relatable. He's never meant to be the "Good Guy". Literature and cinema have plenty of examples of similar characters. I think that, after decades of video games and Hollywood movies led by virtuous heroes (Link, Aragorn) and grumpy, somewhat less virtuous "anti-heroes" (Cloud, Han Solo), a lot of players were just taken by surprise by the sudden inherent dissonance between audience and protagonist and dismissed the entire concept as a result.

I for one was rooting against Kratos since the beginning of the very first GoW while enjoying the spectacle and thought the experience was all the more interesting and subversive because of it. Not every character needs to be a self-insert or a moral anchor.

But I also agree that the half-baked and tonally inconsistent attempt at a redemption arc in the final hour of GoW3 is by far the dumbest story moment of the entire trilogy. It falls completely flat and is incompatible with everything that happens before and after it. I think Stig Asmussen just had a fundamentally misunderstanding of who Kratos is and that he tried to shoe-horn in a "conventional" character arc resolution at the last minute. There is a video in the bonus features that shows the moment when he explained this idea to the rest of the team - if I read the room correctly, it certainly seems like everybody thought it was stupid but were too polite to say anything. That's a shame, it really brings the entire game down.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2425
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Scrustle »

KSubzero1000 wrote: April 5th, 2019, 5:49 pm snip
You actually bring up what would be my counterpoint to that. Kratos isn't a bad character just because he's a bad person, and that can and has been done better. I agree that GoW1 actually did it fairly well. That was a nice (mostly) self-contained story that fit the game's inspiration in being somewhat like a Greek tragedy. His rage and anguish has an understandable reason behind it, and there's even some pathos there in the end when he vanquishes his foes and becomes a god, yet doesn't actually get what he wants and is just as miserable as when he started. The moral being that through not learning to be better, the same rage that lead him to kill his family also lead him to be deceived by the gods in to believing that his violent quest for revenge would actually work.

But in subsequent games that theme was pretty much thrown out the window, or watered down to the point where it forgot the point it was trying to make. Kratos remains incessantly angry and violent, no longer without any relatable reason or goal. Still failing to learn, he is just reduced to a petulant monster who tantrums his way to destroying the world, and anyone who gets in his way.
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Scrustle wrote: April 5th, 2019, 6:04 pm But in subsequent games that theme was pretty much thrown out the window, or watered down to the point where it forgot the point it was trying to make. Kratos remains incessantly angry and violent, no longer without any relatable reason or goal. Still failing to learn, he is just reduced to a petulant monster who tantrums his way to destroying the world, and anyone who gets in his way.
Yes, and I honestly think that's actually kind of cool in a way. I'm not trying to contradict you on purpose, but it's one of the reasons I have such a soft spot for these games. How unapologetic they are about the primal barbarity of their protagonist. He's incapable of learning or progressing as a human being because he's the thoughtless embodiment of his environment. The complete opposite of somebody like Kazuma Kiryu who stays a righteous figure trapped in unfortunate circumstances his entire life. The GoW games as envisioned by Jaffe and Barlog are about "The End of Myth". About the self-destructive nature of the Ancient World. Kratos is a mindless beast with delusions of civilization created by other similar beasts who is destined to end them and himself in the process. As a metaphor, I think it's rather powerful. GoW2 and 3 in particular work a lot better for me when viewing them as the tragic stories of Athena / Gaia / Zeus trying to stop this madman by any means necessary.

I get your point about the first game being the best self-contained story in the series and that the sequels have a tendency to put the spectacle in the forefront and rehash a lot of the arcs and inter-personal dynamics. I just think it's an issue that the majority of long-lasting video game series with static protagonists run into at some point.

The reboot is so much more palatable and easily digestible in comparison. It certainly helped the game's popularity and the franchise's respectability among the broader audience to tell a simple story about an old warrior connecting with his son. I just think there's also a little bit that has been lost in translation.

Norse Kratos is basically Logan. Greek Kratos is basically Sauron.
User avatar
Scrustle
Member
Posts: 2425
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Scrustle »

KSubzero1000 wrote: April 5th, 2019, 6:33 pm The GoW games as envisioned by Jaffe and Barlog are about "The End of Myth". About the self-destructive nature of the Ancient World. Kratos is a mindless beast with delusions of civilization created by other similar beasts who is destined to end them and himself in the process. As a metaphor, I think it's rather powerful. GoW2 and 3 in particular work a lot better for me when viewing them as the tragic stories of Athena / Gaia / Zeus trying to stop this madman by any means necessary.
That's an interesting point, especially about looking at it from other characters' perspectives. Something to mull over.

And despite not really being fond of the story past the first game, I have a soft spot for these games too. For as awful a person as Kratos is, it is pretty cathartic to get to be him for a bit. It's not like the story offends me with how bad it is either. I just think it's a bit crass. And I've always liked the scale and bombast they present the world of Greek myth with too.
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Scrustle wrote: April 5th, 2019, 6:42 pm I've always liked the scale and bombast they present the world of Greek myth with too.
Same here. The perfect mixture of awe and repulsion.

The stories can definitely be crass at times. But I'm personally more likely to look past awkward or unrefined executions in stories that are based on interesting concepts or themes. The best vocal performances in the business can only do so much for me when the script is all safe and boring.

Maybe one of the reasons I have such a soft spot for GoW is because I like ancient mythologies in general. And the actual details of the plot and the moment-to-moment behavior of mythological characters are rarely that important. It's what they represent that matters the most. I know they've enjoyed some very flattering PR in recent years (300), but the Iron Age Spartans were monstrous, tyrannical warmongers, fueled by the type of ideology that is completely incompatible with civilization at large. Even without going into too many gory details, Kratos fits like a glove as a representation of that ideology.

I think these games are better conceptualized than many give them credit for. But they do require an unconventional headspace in order to be fully appreciated. Going in while expecting the usual "Hero fights Villain and wins at the end" isn't going to work out.

One last point I'd like to raise has to do with the logo of the very first game:

Image

Omega. The last letter of the greek alphabet. The End. Death and Destruction were always in the cards. Classic Kratos is meant to be a world-ending cataclysm through and through.
User avatar
Indiana747
Member
Posts: 1009
Joined: September 3rd, 2012, 5:17 pm

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Starlink :Battle for Atlas - PS4.
(Jan) Far Cry 5 - PS4.
(Jan) Resident Evil 2(2019) - PS4.
(Jan) Shadow of the Tomb Raider - XB1X.
(Feb) Metro Exodus - XB1X.
(Mar) Marvel's Spiderman - PS4.
(Apr) The Division 2 - XB1X.
User avatar
Chopper
Member
Posts: 1405
Joined: April 16th, 2013, 6:35 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Chopper »

KSubzero1000 wrote: April 5th, 2019, 7:23 pm Omega. The last letter of the greek alphabet. The End.
I was driving home one night a few years ago when a neon sign rose up out of the inky blackness like the motel sign in Psycho. The Omega Retirement Home. :shock:

The existential horror was strong that night.
Indiana747 wrote: April 6th, 2019, 4:05 am (Jan) Starlink :Battle for Atlas - PS4.
(Jan) Far Cry 5 - PS4.
(Jan) Resident Evil 2(2019) - PS4.
(Jan) Shadow of the Tomb Raider - XB1X.
(Feb) Metro Exodus - XB1X.
(Mar) Marvel's Spiderman - PS4.
(Apr) The Division 2 - XB1X.
A serious diet of open-worlders there in Q1 2019 :D
User avatar
KSubzero1000
Member
Posts: 3365
Joined: August 26th, 2015, 9:56 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Devil May Cry 5 - DMD/HAH all S ranks (Platinum Trophy)

Took me almost an entire month to nail this sucker, I think I'm losing my (Force) Edge. Must be all the gout and cataracts finally kicking in.


Not sure what to play next - my nervous system needs to convalesce for now, so Sekiro has been postponed. If I start NieR now, I'm bound to have even less patience than usual when dealing with its low-tier combat system in direct comparison to DMC's binary coded ambrosia. Dangerous Driving arrives soon, but in tandem to that...

...Zelda, maaaaaybe? :roll:
User avatar
Stanshall
Member
Posts: 2370
Joined: January 31st, 2016, 6:45 am

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Stanshall »

Go Zelda, mate. What it does, nothing else does as well.
User avatar
ratsoalbion
Admin
Posts: 7918
Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
Location: Brighton, England
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by ratsoalbion »

24 Jan: Florence (iOS)
03 Feb: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch)
03 Feb: NieR:Automata (PS4)
10 Mar: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U)
16 Mar: This War of Mine: The Little Ones (PS4)
07 Apr: Pilotwings (Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES)
Joshihatsumitsu

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Nier Automata! Ending W!

That was a quick game!
User avatar
hazeredmist
Member
Posts: 1709
Joined: June 25th, 2013, 12:45 pm
Location: The DMZ
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by hazeredmist »

Streets of Rage 1, 2 and Bare Knuckle 3 (Megadrive Classics, Switch)

It was on the gaming bucket list to complete these as I realised I'd only ever actually finished SoR 2. Played on the Megadrive Classics compilation on the Switch which was largely bought for this purpose (cheaper than the 3DS option). Not much I can say that hasn't been said already but I do believe these games are just as playable today as they were back in the 90's, they have aged impeccably and I've still played nothing approaching the quality of SoR 2 in the brawler category. I've got my money's worth just out of these games alone but I do intend to keep going with the list of games in the collection. The modern conveniences of save states and the rewind feature make it far more achievable for an older more time-constrained gamer to see these games in their entirety :D
User avatar
MajorGamer
Member
Posts: 135
Joined: October 14th, 2016, 6:33 am
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)

I'll most likely write a full thing up on the podcast topic. For here I'll just do a short summary of things. Enjoyed the gameplay changes, especially having all party members swappable in combat for free. Really wish they all got experience without having to do an action, though. Summons being more of a combat thing than in past games is cool even if I mostly used them as a meat shield for big boss attacks. Had a good time with the story.

Didn't like how cutscene heavy things are as well as how the entire game is almost a straight line. All of the side-content felt designed around wasting your time (capturing 10 of each monster only available near the end of the game, a race that is very RNG, massive grinding) and didn't feel worth it at all. Blocking off previous areas with super bosses is just bad, forcing you to go through it if you happened to miss something there. The one mandatory blitzball match was enough for me to never touch it again.
User avatar
Alex79
Member
Posts: 8423
Joined: September 2nd, 2012, 12:36 pm
Location: Walsall, UK.
Contact:

Re: Games Completed 2019

Post by Alex79 »

Ha yeah, I never went back to Blitzball either. Just never really got to grips with understanding how it worked, nor enjoyed the match I played. Your thoughts pretty much echo exactly how I felt about the game overall.
Locked