Games Completed 2023

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markfm007
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by markfm007 »

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January 5th - Final Fantasy VII
January 22nd - Death's Door
January 25th - Citizen Sleeper
January 31st - Dead Space (2008)
February 5th - Dead Space 2
February 18th - Hi-Fi Rush
Feb 24th - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Mar 3rd - Gears of War 2
Mar 8th - Gears of War 3


I’ve been on a bit of a Gears binge recently. Again I have to sing the praises of Game Pass and its back catalogue. Each game has fps boost, and only 2 is missing HDR. I played a fair bit of 1 back when it came out, with the rest of the series passing me by, due to not having an Xbox. I have strong memories of the berserker and train sections of 1, thinking ‘I can’t believe a game looks this good!’

They’re really easy games to revisit. Each is split into five acts, each about two hours at most. Almost tailor made to pick up and put down in an evening, blast away and have some fun. It all feels as finely tuned and fun as I remember, and each game evolves from the last, adding new enemy types, vehicles, crazy action sequences and the like.

Along with 1, which has a nice visual upgrade in the Ultimate Edition, I was very impressed with 2 and 3, with 2 just about winning as my favourite. Its invasion narrative, starting with the excellent siege and pushing through to the heart of the Locust, had a great mix of action, humour and drama. I was really impressed with how the scope increases from game to game. 3 is great too, adds new characters and expands on the history of the war and some personal stories. Honestly I’d have loved to see the series lean into story more. It feels like a lot of it is in background notes and comics, and what is there is generally done well. I might come back to the later games at some point, but I’m done for now. Feel like I need a breather.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Truk_Kurt »

markfm007 wrote: March 8th, 2023, 9:15 pm
Spoiler: show
January 5th - Final Fantasy VII
January 22nd - Death's Door
January 25th - Citizen Sleeper
January 31st - Dead Space (2008)
February 5th - Dead Space 2
February 18th - Hi-Fi Rush
Feb 24th - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
Mar 3rd - Gears of War 2
Mar 8th - Gears of War 3


I’ve been on a bit of a Gears binge recently. Again I have to sing the praises of Game Pass and its back catalogue. Each game has fps boost, and only 2 is missing HDR. I played a fair bit of 1 back when it came out, with the rest of the series passing me by, due to not having an Xbox. I have strong memories of the berserker and train sections of 1, thinking ‘I can’t believe a game looks this good!’

They’re really easy games to revisit. Each is split into five acts, each about two hours at most. Almost tailor made to pick up and put down in an evening, blast away and have some fun. It all feels as finely tuned and fun as I remember, and each game evolves from the last, adding new enemy types, vehicles, crazy action sequences and the like.

Along with 1, which has a nice visual upgrade in the Ultimate Edition, I was very impressed with 2 and 3, with 2 just about winning as my favourite. Its invasion narrative, starting with the excellent siege and pushing through to the heart of the Locust, had a great mix of action, humour and drama. I was really impressed with how the scope increases from game to game. 3 is great too, adds new characters and expands on the history of the war and some personal stories. Honestly I’d have loved to see the series lean into story more. It feels like a lot of it is in background notes and comics, and what is there is generally done well. I might come back to the later games at some point, but I’m done for now. Feel like I need a breather.
Do you have plans to play Gears Tactics? That's legit my favourite Gears game.
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markfm007
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by markfm007 »

Truk_Kurt wrote: March 9th, 2023, 8:58 am Do you have plans to play Gears Tactics? That's legit my favourite Gears game.
Might give it a try when I come back to the other games. I'm lukewarm on tactics games, but it does look good.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Alex79 »

I played the first Gears last year via the remastered one, and got halfway through the second game when rumours about a remastered collection along the same lines as the Master Chief collection for Halo surfaced, so held off playing any more. That rumoured collection never got announced though so I will have to go back to the originals at some point. I only ever played 1 and 2 back in the day.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Scrustle »

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03/01 - The Last Campfire
05/01 - Splatoon 3
17/01 - Wolfenstein (2009)
22/01 - Fragments of Euclid
02/02 - Postmouse
08/02 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Kung Lao)
26/02 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
06/03 - Omensight: The Definitive Edition
09/03 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

As I’ve had my eye out for lesser known action games lately, this one popped up on my radar again. It’s also another one of these movie licensed games that are supposed to be much better than they have any right to be. Turns out that it is indeed pretty enjoyable, but it’s dumb as rocks. There’s also some eyebrow-raising elements that probably wouldn’t fly if this game was made today.

The core combat is quite fun and decently polished, but it doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of depth. It feels good on a base level, with tight controls and well-animated, expressive moves that have a nice impact to them. There are also some special moves on a cooldown that are especially satisfying to pull off, and also a basic parry system. It effectively delivers on the visceral experience of tearing through enemies with sheer chaotic violence. But it doesn’t really have anything beyond that. You can’t do much to apply any higher level technique to be more effective or creative. What it looks like is basically all it is. And that’s still fun, and it’s a pretty well made version of that. But it’s not really hiding anything more interesting like Ghost Rider was, despite having a higher level of spectacle and seemingly a higher budget. And even though most of the controls feel good and responsive, the dodge is a bit clumsy. At least enemies are animated well so that you have a generous signal of when to move or parry. There is also a move that lets you leap towards enemies from a very long distance away, which helps alleviate an issue that other similar games have. Many hack-and-slash games set in a modern time period tend to have a lot of enemies with guns, and that can introduce the problem of fights being little more than chasing down these boring enemies that just chip down your health from afar. In this game you can just close the gap near instantly.

The game’s story feels like an afterthought that exists only as a hasty explanation for the visual style of the environment you’re in. I don’t know how closely this follows the movie since I haven’t seen it, but I have heard it takes a lot of liberties. One thing it does do is that it has two parallel story threads going on, as it alternates between current day and a flashback to previous events. The modern day stuff being tracking down and taking revenge on characters from the flashback, in which you learn why you’re going after them in the first place. Said flashbacks take place in a military expedition in the nebulously described “Africa”, and the way it frames all that feels kind of insensitive. It treats the setting almost like it’s a dangerous fantasy world. While obviously you’re working for the bad guys in those sequences, and it’s clearly going for something like a Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now feel, it doesn’t do anything to actually examine the morality of what’s going on beyond the barely existent relationships between the main cast. These parts are actually the better half of the game in some respects though, as they have much more visually interesting locations, and enemies are more varied and more frequently melee focused. But at the same time, that also feels a bit suspicious, as said locations are framed as these ominous, mysterious places, with the enemies mixing modern militia members with completely unexplained magical beings that use tribal warrior weapons and dress. As if the local landscape and culture is analogous to some dark fantasy realm where there’s little difference between human inhabitants and monsters. And doing all this while you play as a white character ripping through exclusively black characters as a central part of its power fantasy is… not a good look. The game feels like it hasn’t considered the implications of any of this at all though, so I can’t honestly put it down to malice, but that’s definitely not a reason to not call it out. It's careless.

Something related to this game, which has been on my mind for a little while now, is the whole subject of these “God of War clones”. I’ve played a few of them somewhat recently, seeking out ones I haven’t played before. And I realised I don’t think there’s actually that many of them, despite how much you used to hear people talking about how oversaturated they were. Not only that, but they weren’t really around for very long and died out very suddenly. It stands out in contrast to games inspired by DMC, which never really died out thanks to Platinum, and have been experiencing something of a revival in the indie space in the years following the release of DMC5. But as for GoW-like games, they seem to be almost completely confined to the 7th generation era, with a few stragglers on either side. Obviously the original God of War being a later PS2 game, it took developers a few years to pick up on that. But that whole scene seemed to decline pretty quickly towards the end of the 360/PS3 era. The latest game I can think of in that mould is Lords of Shadow 2, which came out at the start of 2014, but still on those old consoles. And even then I would say that’s doing more than just being a straightforward clone. But it makes me wonder what a new game in this style would look like.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Jobobonobo »

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Jan 8: Densetsu no Stafy
Jan 10: Parodius 2: Fantastic Journey
Jan 26: Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy
Jan 28: Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius
Feb 19: Metroid Zero Mission
Feb 21: Kirby’s Dreamland
Mar 6: Yakuza 5

Finally managed to finish this off before the episode this weekend, nice! Very solid entry, enjoyed it much more than Yakuza 3 and 4. It really smoothed over any cracks that were present in those prior two titles and delivered a super ambitious and fun experience. Absolutely the best of the PS3 era Yakuza titles hands down.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#5 - Scars Above (2023, PS5)

Oh my GODS, what a freaking fantastic game this was!!!

Let's start with the Metacritic score, because some of you may look it up after this. It has a 65. That score is objectively wrong. IGN gave it a 5/10, and another outlet scored it a 1/5. Both of these scores are utterly asinine. The game looks amazing, I had far fewer technical issues on PS5 than most AAA games, and it's an absolute blast to play. Sometimes critics don't match the popular opinion, but this is a case where the negative reviews are so ludicrously out-to-lunch that I had to start with that. Like it's just frustrating, to see a great game overlooked because of some bad takes.

So what IS Scars Above? It's a AA sci-fi horror third-person shooter released on Feb 28 from Serbian game developers Mad Head Games for the budget price of $40CDN. Some outlets have characterized this game as a "Soulslike", and while it does have some of those elements, I'd say it has more in common with the linear single-player campaigns of the PS2 and PS3 days. You play as a scientist stranded on an alien planet after her and her crew were teleported there after attempting to interact with a giant, inverted pyramid orbiting the Earth.

And this alien world... By golly, this is some of the absolute best art design I have seen in games. It looks AMAZING. I'm sure the pixels are not as detailed as a FromSoft or Sony game, and fair enough. But in terms of sheer creativity and atmosphere building, this game is, in my opinion, a master class. Some of the monster designs are great too. The only real knock to the visuals is the human facial animations, which are... Not great. They are definitely not mo-capped, but as this is a budget title with otherwise fantastic visuals, I honestly don't care.

The gameplay is where I really got hooked on this one though. You have a single weapon - an improvised welding tool which, as the game progresses, will have 4 different elemental weapons - a bolt-action rifle style electric weapon, a grenade launcher-like fire weapon, an acid shotgun, and a Splatoon-like ice weapon that splorts ice in a wide radius. All four of these weapons can deal environmental and/or status effects, and even combine for specific reactions - for instance, freezing an enemy before pelting it with electric bolts will do massive damage. Paired with some really great controls, a reliable dodge roll, and a whole bunch of gadgets and supportive items crafted from common pools (battery power and fibre, respectively), this game was just a TON of fun to play. I found the game to be Soulsborne hard at first, but as I learned the mechanics and figured out some of the combo effects, I was breezing through by the end - and having genuine FUN.

It has a ton of really, really memorable moments too. I don't really wanna spoil anything, but there was one level in particular that my friend and I were calling the "Meat Cave" during my playthrough, and it was genuinely unsettling - appropriately so, for what this game is going for. The game runs about 6-10 hours, and the pacing feels exactly right. It didn't overstay its welcome, nor did it feel like it was over before it could say its piece.

I say without hyperbole, this game hit so many of the right notes for me that it's going to be tough to top for GOTY 2023. That could just be a me thing - I'm not saying this game is a masterpiece that will please everyone. But if it does seem like your jam, check out some videos and consider giving this one a shot. Mark my words, this will be a hidden gem one day, and Metal Jesus Jr. will be singing its praises. XD

&iso2023
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2023

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Magical_Isopod wrote: March 12th, 2023, 4:29 am #5 - Scars Above (2023, PS5)

Oh my GODS, what a freaking fantastic game this was!!!
Hmm, I'd never heard of it but the trailer certainly looks interesting (wonky dialogue aside!) Looks to have something of a Souls/Monster Hunter thing going for it with a hint of Kojima.

Will definitely keep an eye out for a sale or Gamepass.

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Re: Games Completed 2023

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Alex79 wrote: January 14th, 2023, 12:34 amJAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)

I really enjoyed this. I could have sworn I'd finished this game back on original hardware but playing it now I didn't remember the ending at all, so maybe not! I enjoyed this game more than A Link To The Past, which I also really liked for the first time a couple of years back. I think it looks incredible for a GBA game, really nice style and so colourful. The shrinking mechanic was fun, as were all the gadgets you unlock. Took me 20 hours and 26 minutes to beat (12 minutes shorter than ALTTP!) although I didn't get every last collectable. I think this is my favourite 2D Zelda, although I've not played the 3DS ones, and I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed A Link To The Past.
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
(Jan) Warhammer: Chaosbane SE - Series X.
(Feb) Evil West - Series X.
(Mar) God of War Ragnarok - PS5.
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Michiel K
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Michiel K »

March 12th: Yakuza 5

Again, for the podcast.... that we recorded just a few hours after I got to the credit roll. My thoughts on that pod, but it was a bit of a marathon to complete, with 44 hours on the clock, played through in 2 weeks that were already incredibly busy for me. Phew!
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Alex79 wrote: March 12th, 2023, 11:21 am
Alex79 wrote: January 14th, 2023, 12:34 amJAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)

I really enjoyed this. I could have sworn I'd finished this game back on original hardware but playing it now I didn't remember the ending at all, so maybe not! I enjoyed this game more than A Link To The Past, which I also really liked for the first time a couple of years back. I think it looks incredible for a GBA game, really nice style and so colourful. The shrinking mechanic was fun, as were all the gadgets you unlock. Took me 20 hours and 26 minutes to beat (12 minutes shorter than ALTTP!) although I didn't get every last collectable. I think this is my favourite 2D Zelda, although I've not played the 3DS ones, and I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed A Link To The Past.
I'm currently playing A Link to the Past and finding it a chore if I'm honest. I just find it too obtuse with where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do to progress outside the dungeons. I do like the dungeon designs and have had fun in them, but everything else I don't know how people manage it without a guide. I have resorted to having the guide open on my phone next to me when I'm in the overworld as I got fed up of having not idea what I'm supposed to be doing. To be honest I would have stopped playing by now had it not been a stubborn desire to finish every Zelda game. The only other 2D zeldas I have played are phantom hourglass and the Links Awakening remake on Switch. I had similar problems with Links Awakening which in the end I didn't enjoy either, but I didn't find it being as bad with Phantom Hourglass which wasn't as bad for the obtuseness. It's not something I have a problem with in any of the 3D Zeldas I have played which is odd.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by ColinAlonso »

I always found the game worlds small enough in 2D Zeldas that even if I didn't know where exactly to go, I knew the general area and would find it quickly. Ah well, these things can land differently for different people.

I like Minish Cap but it is actually one of my less favourite 2D Zeldas. With that said, the clouds and the dungeon up there is one of my favourite sections in any of these games.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

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Alex79 wrote: January 14th, 2023, 12:34 amJAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)
JAN - The Witcher 2 (Xbox)
JAN - Ori And The Blind Forest (Switch)
JAN - Shinobi III (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Sonic Spinball (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Super Fantasy Zone - 1cc (Megadrive on Switch)
JAN - Death's Door (Switch)
JAN - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES on Switch)
JAN - Final Fight (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - The King Of Dragons (Arcade on Switch)
JAN - Yakuza 3 (Xbox)
FEB - Goldeneye 007 (N64 on Switch)
FEB - Starfox (SNES on Switch)
FEB - Mafia 2: Remastered (Xbox)
FEB - As Dusk Falls (Xbox)
MAR - Grand Theft Auto 3: Definitive Edition (Switch)
MAR - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA on Switch)
MAR - Pentiment (Xbox)

This was absolutely incredible. There are a handful of games where the story has left me feeling... I don't know what, but feeling in a specific way, like I've just experienced something on another level to most things. Gone Home is an example of a game I still think about the story, and how it was delivered, many years later. I might have only just finished Pentiment but I already know this is one that'll stick with me for a long time to come.

I've read a lot of opinion pieces about Act 3 being boring or overlong. I did not find this at all. I think the entire game is perfectly paced, and the story remained utterly captivating throughout. The characters felt like real people from history, and I felt like the game was a real window in to the lives of this community over the course of a couple of decades. The game kept me guessing throughout and I didn't see the ending coming at all. I am so glad this game exists, and I played it. There wasn't a single aspect of the game that leaves the player wanting more, or something different. This was magnificent.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by MattL »

Spoiler: show
Jan. 5: Streets of Rage 4 Anniversary Edition (PS4)
Jan. 22: Star Wars Jedi - Fallen Order (PS5)
Jan. 28: Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5)
Jan. 30: Disney Classic Collection (PS4)
Feb. 12: Sekiro - Shadows Die Twice (PS5)
Mar. 20: The Last of Us Part 2 (PS5): Gameplay-wise, I loved it. It took what worked in TLOU1 and just refined it and I'm happy for that because the story did not work for me on many levels.

TLOU2 is supposed to be about the character drama, much like the original, but Part 2 unfortunately fails to follow the rule of "show, don't tell." So much time is spent bouncing back and forth among different characters, that I don't feel like you ever get to know these characters and instead have to be told who these characters are and what their emotional and relationship statuses are. The game has to tell, instead of show and what little it does show, paints the characters in a very bad lights. The game either needed a longer run time to flesh out all these new characters or just needed fewer characters.

I can't explain my issues with this game in more detail without spoilers, so I'm spoiler marking the rest.
Spoiler: show
Overall Story/Ellie: Ellie felt like Ellie from Part 1, so no complaints there. I get her overall motivations. She's seeking revenge because she hasn't dealt with her grief after Joel's death and rather than deal with her own depression, she's projecting it onto the outside world, namely Abby and the WLF. I initially wrote off the game as "Revenge is Bad: The Game," and it's slightly more complicated than that, but not much more. It's more like "Revenge is Bad and Grief Can Make You Do Bad Things: The Game," but that's still such a simple, boring story, after coming from a much more emotional and complex story. The story of Part 1 was morally grey and the story of Part 2 is very much morally black and white.

Dina: I don't really get why she and Ellie are in a relationship, because I know very little about her as a character. I never got to see her personality and what made her attractive to Ellie. Instead, we're told that every guy in Jackson thinks she's attractive and children like her. But, why? What made her so special? I never got it. For me personally, she was bordering on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope; everybody likes her... because... everybody likes her! The only bit of character that I saw in game was that she broke up with her boyfriend and the following day she was immediately publicly pursuing a relationship with their mutual friend for him to see. I'm sorry, but you don't do that to people. It was trashy and disrespectful of both Ellie and Dina to do that to Jesse and I had an immediate dislike for Dina, and Ellie frankly, for this reason.

Jesse: I didn't get enough time with him to know or care about him. When you meet Jesse, he, Dina, and Ellie are in this very weird love triangle. We're told they're all friends, but I never felt that they were friends because of the awkwardness of the love triangle. The closest bit of character we see from him is that he pursued Dina and Ellie to help them after they left Jackson, which is an attempt to show how much he cares for both as friends, but again their actual dialog just felt weird and awkward because of the love triangle.

Abby: You only get one chance to make a first impression. I had a very hard time connecting with Abby. Logically, I get why she wanted revenge and I don't blame her for it, but emotionally I could not ever get behind her. I get the narrative purpose of Abby. She and Ellie are living parallel lives. They're both in awkward weird love triangles. They both lost their father figures. They're both obsessing over their grief. They're both out for revenge. They both need a reason to continue living. Abby just finds that reason for living first and is likewise the first to realize revenge won't help her grief. But when the FIRST thing you learn about a character is that they're willing to brutalize, torture, and kill another human being who literally saved their life just moments prior, it's hard to feel sympathy for that character. I questioned every one of Abby's actions and motivations for the entire game because of this. I never trusted her. I never liked her. I wanted her dead literally up until I found her crucified on the beach. At that point, I was like. Fine. Go. Not because I forgive you. Not because you deserve it. But because Lev is innocent in all this. Maybe had we played as Abby first and then she killed Joel later in the game, I might have felt more conflicted about her, but starting with torture meant she was never going to have my support.

Owen: If Abby is Ellie's parallel, Owen is Dina's parallel and similar to Dina, I didn't learn enough about him. I don't really know why Abby is attracted to him, or vice versa. All I saw in game was that he was an indecisive piece of shit, who was clearly infatuated with his ex while his current girlfriend was pregnant with his child. Asshole.

Mel: And here we have Jesse's parallel. Mel is just about the only sympathetic character in the game for me because she immediately regretted Joel's murder and her boyfriend was an asshole. But again, I don't really know much more about her beyond those two defining traits. That being said, the WLF decided it was a good idea to put a pregnant woman on the front lines of a war against a crazy religious cult during the middle of a zombie apocalypse? What?

Manny: He's horny, funny (allegedly), and Latino. That's literally all we learn about him.

Lev: He's pessimistic, spiritual, and transgender. That's literally all we learn about him. He's also very lucky that he met Abby when she randomly and without motivation decided she needed to care for someone.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Scrustle »

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03/01 - The Last Campfire
05/01 - Splatoon 3
17/01 - Wolfenstein (2009)
22/01 - Fragments of Euclid
02/02 - Postmouse
08/02 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Kung Lao)
26/02 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
06/03 - Omensight: The Definitive Edition
09/03 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
21/03 - Forza Horizon 2 (first finale)

This is the first time I’ve played this game from scratch since it first came out. It’s been so long I couldn’t quite remember exactly what this experience was like. It’s a bit different to doing this with the first game, as I’ve started a new file on that one quite a few times, even if I often didn’t completely follow through with it. That first game does definitely feel more appealing to replay than any of the later games though.

One thing I have heard people say about the first Horizon game in comparison to the later ones is how it has a much better progression system than the others, and that’s something I never disagreed with. It’s always been clear that the series has got less structured with its career mode as it has gone on. But the difference does feel more sudden than I remember it. Perhaps that’s because when this game was new, it what still pretty fresh with its more undirected design. It feels different coming back to it after three more games after it that also did something similar.

But there’s also the aspect that progression and structure don’t necessarily mean the same thing. It’s true that this game has a bit more structure than the later games, but it definitely lacks a feeling of progression compared to the first. It’s been so long since I’ve gone through this that I didn’t quite remember how it worked, but it turns out it’s not dissimilar from how the game ends up being in the post-game. While the career is split in to road trips that send you to different championships at specific locations that you don’t have a say over, you do get to choose what specific championship you participate in, and thus what type of car you drive. So when it comes to the speed/difficulty of the events you do, there is no pattern to it and you can just do whatever you want. There’s no pre-determined escalation to climb up through. The only thing limiting you is what cars you can afford. The game gives you a high class car pretty quickly, and it’s not long before you can afford a car from the highest class either.

I was doing this with less money than on my original file too. The game used to have a pretty generous loyalty reward system, which is no longer functional, so I was actually curious to see how the game’s economy is balanced without being showered in free stuff. I’ve definitely had a lot less cash than I did first time around, but I never felt like I didn’t have enough for what I need. I did have to be more picky about what I bought, but I was never at a point where I had to grind or couldn’t get something I really wanted. I was able to buy a new car for every single championship I entered as well.

This career ended up being shorter than I remember it too. Or at least for how long it takes to hit the finale for the first time. I had gotten used to making slow progress in my push for 100%, so it’s weird how different it is just finishing it “normally”. It takes completing less than 10% of the total championships in order to reach the end. I worked out that in my biggest push towards 100%, I was doing enough to finish this amount of the game once every two and a half sittings. I was taking things a bit more leisurely this time though, as there’s side content and messing about in the open world to do as well. But the shorter length does also help the game avoid getting stale with this loose structure, although it does also make the experience feel somewhat samey, and like there isn’t really any substantial difference between the main career and the post-game grind. So it feels like there’s far less of a reason to replay compared to FH1. I guess that last point is only relevant to a weirdo like me who would bother to exhaust all of that stuff in the first place.

I don’t feel like there’s much reason to talk much about the game itself, since I’ve done it time and time again on these forums. Still a really good time though. Cars feel great to drive, although a bit unruly in this version of the engine. Less of a problem if you avoid overpowering your car or once you work out how to tune a differential though. Visually it’s still fantastic. These days you can nitpick out little flaws in the minute details, but generally it’s a real looker with some brilliant lighting and overall atmosphere.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Alex79 »

I never came to the Horizon series till 5, and although I've also played 4 on Gamepass I wish 1-3 were still available digitally. I'll try to grab them on disc at some point in the future in case my next Xbox has a disc drive, but it's a shame they're all removed from digital stores now.
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
(Jan) Warhammer: Chaosbane SE - Series X.
(Feb) Evil West - Series X.
(Mar) God of War Ragnarok - PS5.
(Mar) Dead Space(2023) - Series X.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show

03/01 - The Last Campfire
05/01 - Splatoon 3
17/01 - Wolfenstein (2009)
22/01 - Fragments of Euclid
02/02 - Postmouse
08/02 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Kung Lao)
26/02 - F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
06/03 - Omensight: The Definitive Edition
09/03 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
21/03 - Forza Horizon 2 (first finale)
25/03 - Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom

This was a pretty enjoyable game, which takes a lot of inspiration from many other games that I also like a lot. So it’s not much of a surprise I would appreciate it. But at the same time, those comparisons that are so easy to make don’t reflect especially well on this one.

The central conceit of the growing partnership between the small weak character you control and the large, strong companion with magical powers feels taken right out of the Team Ico playbook. I like it in concept, and it definitely gives this game an interesting hook in that it’s a different developer’s take on that idea. It doesn’t really land here anywhere near as well as in Ico or The Last Guardian however. The relationship between the characters doesn’t feel it changes much across the story, as they both trust each other pretty much from the very start. Mechanically it works a bit better, but it’s still got problems. Puzzles that require you to command the Majin are fairly straightforward, but usually decent. Combat on the other hand is not very good. Controls in general are pretty bad, and given Majin is the one with all the power and special abilities, you’re often relying on its inconsistent AI to get by in fights. It’s easy for it to just get stun-locked and there’s little you can do about it. But you also have co-operative finishing moves you can do on a vulnerable enemy, and those are pretty rewarding to pull off. The bosses that work like puzzles that you need to coordinate through are pretty good as well.

The game has a pretty nice aesthetic to it. It’s got a whimsical fairytale tone with visuals that match. The world is full of bright colours and fanciful designs for everything. Each area of the world has a different visual theme, and they all have their own filter on the screen that has particle effects which compliment the setting. It’s a nice little touch that adds a bit of extra flavour. But it feels a bit lacking in some ways too. Like for all the efforts they made, it doesn’t quite come together as a cohesive whole. Some areas feel less inspired than others, and some rough edges can spoil the illusion a bit. The game has some very noticeable pop-in, and some of the effects/shaders and textures look a bit unappealing. Folklore, which is by the same developer, is a better example of this same kind of aesthetic. It has that intricate fairytale look, but with more originality, and a bit of a darker edge to it as well thanks to its more mature themes. I also feel like Folklore had a more consistent presentation on a technical level. Fewer obvious flaws. But it has been a long time since I played it, so that might just be me forgetting the little details.

The level design is somewhat Zelda inspired, but not exactly. The entire game world is like one large dungeon, but every room is strung together in a big loop. Each room feels like a room in a Zelda dungeon, with a small number of puzzles or combat arenas compartmentalised in to it. There’s almost never any alternate routes between rooms, and they don’t affect each other in any way. It’s not necessarily a bad way to do things, and it fits its purpose just fine, but it does lack the interconnectedness that you can find in a good Zelda dungeon, or a well designed Metroidvania world. I guess you could also compare it to Ico or TLG again, but without the labyrinthine layout those games have. It’s not a badly constructed world or anything, but it’s just hard to not feel like there’s some missing potential here.

There’s more I could probably go on about, but I think doing so would end up getting too repetitive. Basically everything can be boiled down to it being good, but clearly derivative of superior games. I don’t want to be too negative though, since I did still like it on the whole.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Spoiler: show
1. Mario & Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
2. Dead Space Remake
3. God of War: Ragnarok
First off I thoroughly enjoyed it, the combat was superb and the majority of the boss battles were excellent, some of them my favourites of all time. However I didn’t enjoy it as much as 2018, this was due to the pacing and story. The story isn’t bad by any stretch but it didn’t grab me as much as 2018s did which I liked as it was just a more straightforward story with a clear objective and just a few characters to focus on. Ragnorak I thought had too many characters to the point that I didn’t really care about what was happening to any of them and so when big story beats hit in their own plot lines, I didn’t really care as I hadn’t built up that much of a relationship with any of them as none of them were in the game long enough to do so. The paving was my biggest issue though in a game which felt far too long, I can think of many parts that could have been cut out. Overall though I enjoyed it and would highly recommend it if you liked the 2018 game. I’d give it 8/10
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