Games completed 2017

[dezm0nd]

Jan 2 - Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition (Xbox One)
Jan 8 - The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Wii U VC)

[dezm0nd]

Jan 2 - Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition (Xbox One)
Jan 8 - The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Wii U VC)
Jan 9 - Chibi Robo (GCN via Dolphin emulator)

Finally managed to do the last bit of Chibi Robo but still got plenty of side stuff to do. I'll have a little dabble with it before we record the podcast!

[gallo_pinto]

Jan - Cave Story (3DS)

First completion of the year! I played the 3DS port of Cave Story (not Cave Story 3D). I'm currently listening to the Cane and Rinse episode on it to help me clarify my thoughts. Cave Story falls into the "I respected it more than I enjoyed it" category of games for me. If I had played it closer to release, before the explosion of smaller games with singular visions, I probably would have enjoyed it more.

I liked the mechanic of powering up your weapons and how you wanted to avoid taking damage both because it took away health and weakened your weapons. I also liked the strange sadness of the story and the character designs were certainly memorable.

A point Leon made on the podcast about having trouble identifying exactly what the story was trying to say resonated with me. I appreciate that vaguely told stories allow the player to fill in the background with their imagination, but I would have liked this game more had there been a clearer theme or point of view.

Lastly, it's completely possible I'm just bad at video games, but the final boss (at least for the normal ending) was a huge difficulty spike for me. It took me a lot of tries to beat that final stretch of four different bosses. By that time I just wanted to wrap up my time with the game, so it was really frustrating to not be able to put that boss away. There was some really cool stuff in this game (doubly so considering it's from 2004), but I wasn't able to fully embrace it the way most people seem to.

[Alex79]

Really wish they'd pull their finger out and finally get round to releasing this for Vita. I've got the homebrew version on PSP, but would much prefer a native Vita port with trophies etc.

[gallo_pinto]

Really wish they'd pull their finger out and finally get round to releasing this for Vita. I've got the homebrew version on PSP, but would much prefer a native Vita port with trophies etc.

Yeah, for as many platforms as it's been released on, it's a bit surprising it never made it over to Vita.

[MagicianArcana]

Jan 6th - Kentucky Route Zero Act IV

I finally got around playing Act IV. It wasn't my favorite act, but I really enjoyed it. It still had some standout moments for me. I'm really looking forward to the fifth and final act.

[ColinAlonso]

Jan 2 - Everybody's Gone To The Rapture (PS4)

Jan 11 - very DOOM (PS4)
I played it on easy as I don't play many first person shooters and if I kept dying I'd just get frustrated.

The dichotomy between the stillness when wandering around and then the chaos as you start running, jumping and shooting at anything that moves is brilliant. The feeling of being this all powerful instrument of demon death in those moments is fantastic, although that could just have been the difficulty level. Sure it doesn't have the most varied locales or visuals but its not a major complaint for this game. All in all, good fun.

[seansthomas]

5th January - Arkham Origins (Wii U)
12th January - The End of the World (Android)


Heard about this via ThirdMan. Not really a game as such, more a stroll through the world of a dejected man reminiscing about a lost love. Loved how the art style and subtle shifts in musical tone go from cold to warm.

Strange little experience but its free, commendable and over in 20 minutes. Worth a look...

[Alex79]

JAN - Little Big Planet Vita (PS Vita)
JAN - Everybody's Gone To The Rapture (PS4)

JAN - Day Of The Tentacle Remastered (PS Vita)

Still my favorite point and click adventure. I've played it loads of times over the years, on PC and a whole host of other systems using the SCUMMVM emulator. When the remaster was announced I was so excited for it, then for whatever reason just never bought it when it was finally released. So I was over the moon about it coming to PS+ this month. Despite numerous playthroughs before there were still some puzzles that tripped me up for a while! It's a genuine classic LucasArts adventure - if you liked Monkey Island and you've not played this yet, there's no excuse, it only takes about 5-6 hours. Go and do it now! Really looking forward to the Full Throttle remake now. Next to play is Grim Fandango though. Bought it on PC years back and never got past year 1, so excited to give it a proper go at last.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

Started end of last year, finished yesterday: Corpse Party (3DS).

Without spoiling anything, I will say that the story more than anything pulled me through to the end. It's one of those games that when you get a game over, you reload the last save, sit through a ton of dialogue again, make a different decision, fail again, reload, sit through dialogue, hope you succeed... it doesn't happen a lot, but when it happens it's a bit of a sticking point.

But yeah, I'm super glad I finally got to play it. It was not released in Australia on PSP when it originally got ported, and because I couldn't be bothered jumping through the hoops of setting up a US account, etc, I just had to miss out. The graphics have been updated a bit for the 3DS, and the voice acting and sound design is pretty damn good. It's mostly crying, screams of pain, more sadness, scraping, more weeping... but it adds to the atmosphere, and juxtaposed with the simplistic art design it all comes together very well.

It's amazing how this games roots started in RPG maker, and over the years got rerelease dang polished over the years, but still maintains that humble feel, of a small team making a game more for passion than profit. It's not for everyone, but then what is?

[hazeredmist]

Steins;Gate (Vita)

I can't overstate how good this game is if you're into the whole visual novel thing. Utterly superb. Twists and turns, dark storylines and the building of a pretty believable out-there concept in a perfectly realised world, with multiple endings well worth pursuing. I've done all six possible endings. Highly recommended.

[Michiel K]

Jan 12th - Super Contra (XBLA port of the arcade game)

Once again, done within the enforced 3 credit limit. I cranked up the lives to 7 per credit though as I found it quite a bit harder. Maybe because it lacks familiarity to me, unlike the original Contra. I'll probably go back to it before the podcast recording to try and clear it on the default settings.

[skidoosh]

Inside (100% both endings). Um. Yeah.

[Combine Hunter]

Spoiler: show

02/01 - Hyper Light Drifter (PC)

014/01 - The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)

[skidoosh]

Spoiler: show

Inside (100% both endings). Um. Yeah.

Gone Home

[Alex79]

What did you think?

[gallo_pinto]

Spoiler: show

Jan - Cave Story (3DS)

It was a really busy week and I didn't have much time to play any games. When Saturday rolled around I spent all of it on the couch playing games and knocked off a few (very!) short games.

Jan - Hidden my game by mom (iPhone)
Jan - Hidden my game by mom 2 (iPhone)

I saw Patrick Klepek from Waypoint talking about these two jokey hidden object games. They were both funny and an enjoyable way to pass an hour. Both are free.

Jan - Frog Fractions (Mac)

This was a replay. I played it after hearing about it on Giantbomb a few years back. With all of the news about Frog Fractions 2, I wanted to return to the original before buying Glitterman Grove. I think I enjoyed it more the first time around. I still find it funny, but it's not really a game that should be overhyped.

Jan - The End of the World (iPhone)

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I picked up this one on iOS after seeing seansthomas and ThirdMan talking about it here. It's really interesting. It wasn't really clicking with me, but the ending hit harder than I expected.

[skidoosh]

What did you think?

Sorry dude was that to me?

[Alex79]

What did you think?

Sorry dude was that to me?

Yeah just wondered if you liked Gone Home.

[skidoosh]

What did you think?

Sorry dude was that to me?

Yeah just wondered if you liked Gone Home.

Gone Home spoilers:

Spoiler: show

I did. The anticlimax after reading the "note" from Oscar kind of hit me hard at the start. But I'm an 80s kid so thinking back I remember just how stigmatised the topic it was covering was back then. Well, still is really. And Portland as far as I can tell is in or just on the fringes of the bible belt so that adds a little. I remember it was about that time 93-94 when I was living in Liverpool that some of my sisters friends were going on about how a group of them would go "gay bashing" in Otterspool Park. At the time the attitude was that was perfectly acceptable.

I wish they'd done a text overlay for some of the handwritten notes like in SOMA though. It was like they'd gotten a different GP to write each one. I just gave up ion some of them in the end.