Games Completed 2023

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Scrustle
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Games Completed 2023

Post by Scrustle »

Guess it falls to me to kick this year's thread off.

03/01 - The Last Campfire

Very cute little game. Very nice aesthetic, and some fun puzzles. It's a bit twee, but it gets away with it. It deals a lot with themes of finding hope and a reason to go on in times when it feels like those things are lost. It's a sweet message, and takes the time to deal with nuances like acknowledging that sometimes people aren't ready to move on and can't be fixed like a puzzle. So it feels sincere. Although it can a bit scattershot. Like the messaging comes through via very small isolated moments that don't really connect to the overall plot in any way, and are often presented in a way that lacks context. I guess it works though, as you're on a journey through this world, meeting other people along the way. Everyone is a traveller, so you only get to see a small bit of their life and troubles. Fits with the game's ephemeral feel.

The puzzles themselves are pretty good too. Conceptually it's fairly simple stuff. A lot of variations on familiar block puzzle design, and other things in that style. But they are still fun regardless. Some of the later ones I particularly liked, where you have to move around a snake statue that is made up of a string of blocks chained together. So you have to plan your movements a bit with those. Some of them also had the neat twist that you could stack one snake on top of another, and carry them around. In terms of difficulty it's generally on the easy side, ranging from puzzles that are so obvious they barely qualify as such, to some that are moderately taxing, but nothing that will get you stuck for more than a few minutes.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Alex79 »

Ah nice, glad you enjoyed this. I really liked it towards the end of last year (I think it was the last game I completed) and felt it was a shame it's gone so overlooked. Really nice few hours, that I'd probably put alongside something like A Short Hike.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Magical_Isopod »

#1 - Tekken 7 (2017, XB1)

You know what's a wonderful feeling? When you can pick up the character you got really good with in college, and a whole decade later, without having touched the series, still remember some of his combos and specials. (Hworang, in my case. Hworang is my guy.)

Yeah, I haven't really played Tekken since I played Tekken 6 and got damn close to getting the Platinum. Somehow. I grew up with the demo of 3, and put tons and tons of hours into Tekken Tag (which is still the best one, IMHO), did lots of Tekken 6... But I'm not really a fighting game fan. Tekken, though, is fun. It doesn't require the super finicky button combos of Street Fighter, each face button controls a limb. Even if you don't know all the combos, a sharp eye and quick reflexes can be enough to succeed. Plus Tekken just had a great roster of characters.

I completed the story mode and the accompanying character side stories, and I honestly really, really like that structure of single player campaign. It had some problems - waaaaaay too much Akuma, being the chief concern - but I had a really good time with its very stupid story nonetheless. Akuma feels so weirdly out of place in this game, and he still controls like a Street Fighter character... Weird decisions. Oh well.

Thus marks my first game completed of 2023. And it even came with a voucher for Tekken 6! Maybe I'll chase that trophy again...

&iso2023
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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

Originally I was planning to spread this out a bit more, so when I came to post this I would have a more comprehensive experience with more multiplayer under my belt as well as the campaign. But then I saw AGDQ is starting soon and this game is the first one they're running, so I didn't want to miss out on that for spoilers. I thought it was happening today, but turns out I was wrong and it's not for a few more days after all... Oh well, I still have played a hefty chunk of multiplayer, and even if I did leave it until later, I would be talking more about this game in the future either way.

This campaign was a lot of fun. While it's still not clearly the focus of the experience, it's really imaginative and enjoyable on its own, and is a more substantial experience than the previous iterations. There's more to do in the hub areas now, and the upgrade tree is more in-depth than before. They've shifted the location of upgrades/collectibles exclusively to the hub areas now, so the levels themselves can be focused just on the mechanical challenge rather than having to stop all the time to search every tiny corner.

I remember hearing that this campaign was heavily inspired by the Octo Expansion, and that actually made me a bit wary of what this would be like. While that DLC had a lot of cool stuff, the difficulty balancing was pretty awful and it was full of a lot of frustrating hyper-specific gimmick levels that were very punishing. Thankfully that's not a problem here. The structure is more similar to the other main campaigns, and while some levels do feel kind of similar in their very specific theming, the difficulty is far more reasonable. There were a few levels later on that I didn't really care for, but generally they were very good.

The ending was really cool as well. I was a bit underwhelmed with the finale of 2's campaign, but not necessarily because it wasn't fun. But it felt like a repeat of the first game too much. The original's ending felt really exciting, and I remember thinking the final boss had an almost Platinum-esque sense of escalation and joyfulness to it. That feeling has definitely returned for 3, and the comparison seems even more fitting given that it ends up doing several things that Platinum has done multiple times in their finales almost exactly. The whole ending sequence actually feels more inspired by Octo Expansion than the rest of the campaign too, having a linear gauntlet of levels before the final boss. Again, it's done much better here by not having any frustrating roadblocks.

As for multiplayer, I'm enjoying it a whole lot and will definitely be sticking with it for a long time. It's still early days but I have a few more thoughts beyond my first impressions. The new movement abilities are interesting, but I still haven't got used to them yet. Haven't properly integrated them in to my play style so far. But it seems like there is a lot of potential there for some crazy stuff when combined with the existing mobility options of the Dualies class, which were already the main weapon class I've been using for ages. I've found myself gravitating towards the Dualie Squelchers this time, and not getting on with my old mains, the Dapples. I much prefer the range the Squelchers have, and the new sub/special kit of the Dapples didn't do it for me. I haven't really tried anything else yet though. I have dabbled with the Ink Brush, but mostly it seems I'm stuck in this Dualie niche that I settled in to in the last game. So I haven't tried any of the new weapons. From using them in the campaign, I can maybe see myself trying a Splatana at some point, since they're pretty close to the brush, but not any of the Stringers. But even if I'm not using these weapons myself, their existence in multiplayer does still make the game more interesting by providing a new play style to counter, even if I'm not using it myself.

I've found myself exclusively drawn to the ranked modes yet again. They haven't changed much, but there are a few things to mention. Rainmaker has changed to now have checkpoints similar to Tower Control. So you don't go right for the goal as soon as you pick the Rainmaker up, but instead have to aim for a midway point first. It does a good job of slowing down the game a bit without taking away the stuff that makes it exciting. It helps aid the issue of matches that last seconds when one team managed to steamroll the other and slip by right at the start. Often there is more than one checkpoint, but you only have to go to one of them. So that also adds a layer of strategy and choice to what route you take. I think it's still my favourite mode. I had a really rough time with Clam Blitz though. This mode has always divided opinions, but I liked it previously, even if it wasn't among my favourites. I found myself struggling a lot with it this time though, just getting obliterated from all sides, unable to make anything happen. After suffering through some losses I did seem to be making some improvements at it though. So weird to have such a hard time with a mode I was okay with before, especially when every other mode was no issue to pick back up again.

I forgot to mention in my last post that now you have a single rank across all modes this time, back to how the first game did it, instead of separating them out as 2 did. Not sure I like this idea. Obviously most people aren't going to be equally good at all modes, so I can see it leading to the situation where you will end up having a really easy time in modes you're better at, and a bad time in the ones you're not so good in. I figured that might be the case for me when it came to Clam Blitz, but hopefully I'm starting to pick that back up. It could also lead to the issue of making people avoiding a certain mode entirely to protect their rank, and missing out on what it has to offer.

The ranking system in general is really convoluted in this game too. Not really a criticism, but an observation of an odd quirk. You have multiple overlapping and parallel scoring systems, tiers with different rules of how they work, and rank decay that has its own complicated set of rules. Maybe it's not that unusual, since I barely play any competitive online stuff. But from what I have played and heard people talk about, I can't think of anything that has such a complex rank system. At least when it comes to player-facing information. It's possible to have a situation where you're S+26 rank with a score of 572 in that bracket, but also have an X Power of 2053 which puts you at 825th in the world on the seasonal leaderboard at the same time. Those numbers aren't accurate, but you get the idea. The ranking system of this series has always been a bit strange and messy, and it only seems to get more so as time has gone on. It used to seem like it worked in this odd way because they were changing and adjusting how it all worked post-release, having to add new systems on top of old ones. But surely when a new entry comes out, that should be an opportunity to reset things and make a cleaner system from scratch. Instead they've done the opposite, with both sequels.

Oh, and a general thing that has bothered me somewhat. I've noticed this game is not very good at making it visually clear what vertical surfaces can and cannot be inked. In the previous games it was always very obvious; glass or glossy plastics means something could not be inked. In 3 it seems a lot more arbitrary, and doesn't follow those rules. The only way to know sometimes is to try it out and see. It's not really a big deal, as soon you've tried it once and seen the result, you'll know from then on. But it still feels like an odd oversight and an issue that was already solved smartly before.

But anyway, I love the game. It's so good to be back in this world and having fun with this gameplay that is so creative and unique, but also intense and nuanced. The whole vibe of the game is great too. Really nice and distinct art design, fun characters, banger soundtrack. When I stopped playing 2 I was a bit burnt out on that game. I still adored it, but I was getting a bit exhausted. That was quite a while ago now. I've been late picking up 3 as I didn't have a chance to get my hands on it before Christmas, and even felt pretty sad when it released and everyone was having fun with it and I couldn't join in. But now I'm back, and it's been great finally feel the joy I used to have with this series all over again.
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MattL
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by MattL »

Jan. 5: Streets of Rage 4 Anniversary Edition (PS4)

I absolutely loved this game. It was a retro game done right. It stayed true to the originals with relatively simple controls to make it super friendly to newbies, but added just enough new tweaks to make it fresh, like combos, wall bounces, and juggling to entice more experienced gamers. Can we get a Streets of Rage 5, please?
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markfm007
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by markfm007 »

January 5th - Final Fantasy VII

I’ve been meaning to complete FFVII for longer than I can remember. One of those that I played with friends, stopping and started over the years, but always found myself gravitating away from. After playing through some other final fantasies I decided I really need to get it done.

To make it easy for myself and make sure I stick to it, I used a walkthrough and toggled the cheats on for levelling and to avoid too many random battles. Do a story focused play through, that way I can come back to it in the future and take my time doing everything if I want to.

I really enjoyed it. It was a very warm, relaxing game to play over the Christmas break, enjoy the excellent nostalgic soundtrack and the story. I like the combat too when it isn’t popping up in my face every three steps. Materia and limit breaks are my favourite way of handling character abilities in the FF games I’ve played.

The story and characters reminded me a lot of IX, only I have a bit more familiarity and attachment with VII. There were lots of moments that jogged memories of forgotten times. It was satisfying playing it through and piecing everything together properly.

Like IX I was impressed with how well the game gives each character their own story, and manages to make them resonate emotionally despite how simplistic the characters look and move. It adds to the charm, and leaves you very attached to the party as a whole. The grand, sometimes silly story doesn’t lose sight of its characters or humour, and generally is paced very well when you focus on it. The telling of Cloud’s story was my favourite part, and reminded me a bit of Vivi in IX, both learning to understand who they are over the course of the game.

Overall, great game despite working around some of the gameplay stuff. And for me Final Fantasy VII is now definitely a Christmas game.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Jobobonobo »

Jan 8: Densetsu no Stafy

This was a nice competent platformer which somehow never made it outside of Japan. It is basically Kirby in that is cute and not too hard but with a more heavy emphasis on dialogue and puzzle solving. One amusing factor is that since much of the game takes place underwater, your movement is quite nice and nifty and getting around is pleasant. But the land segments your movements are much more restricted and your jump is pretty limited so it can be a tad frustrating at times. Not game breaking but it is pretty ironic that the underwater segments are the best parts and the land segments are a bit frustrating. There was actually four of these games released before its first appearance overseas on the DS. If there has been a translation patch, I might give them a go as it is a bit more dialogue heavy than most in its genre. Good but not great.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Weird West (Series X, Game Pass) - 8th January

This is a really effective isometric take on the immersive sim genre from the creative brains behind Dishonored and Prey! A horror infused romp through an almost lawless version of the Wild Wild West where sheriffs and outlaws are as common as werewolves, wraiths, witches and pigmen.

Moment to moment you’re in a twin stick shooter where booting a barrel of TNT round a corner then blowing it up when a hapless guard investigates is often the simplest and most effective way to present your credentials. Although you’ll be going loud more often than not there are lots of opportunities to creep around estates, haciendas, brothels and mines thinning out the enemy numbers until you fancy your odds in a firefight. There was one pure stealth side mission as well which was delightful.

You get to have a posse with two NPCs joining you, so you can cause mischief across the ever unfogging map with a couple of hired guns at your back - then when you send them on your way they’ll still be friends for life and might turn up to save your bacon later. Meanwhile enemies will develop vendettas against you if you kill their buddies or their boss, so you’re constantly tugging at a network of cause and effect societal consequences throughout the game world. A reputation system adds spice to this, as does a light layer of procgen adding random elements to quests like locations and characters that make them different on every run. This also means you’ll always have a supply of bounty hunts and therefore a source of income and fun for as long as you want to continue playing with a particular character.

There’s also abilities, some of which adapted from the likes of Dishonored and Prey. There’s upgrade trees, a crafting system, there’s a lot of systems in this game but many of which you can just engage with when you want - they feel like extra bonuses rather than crucial to progress which is nice.

The story and characters are excellent, with an anthology approach where you play as five different characters whose stories sometimes interweave - something you can have a major effect on yourself, based on your actions. The writing across the board is terrific and I would say the game quickly establishes a firm sense of both its tone and stakes. While I enjoyed some of the character arcs more than others the way they played off each other was always fascinating.

While the move away from first person does mean you can’t manipulate the physics systems to as fine a degree and you do feel a bit more removed from the world, the interplay of systems is still rich and it’s one of the best uses of social systems I’ve seen in an 0451 type game. The way the conversations, allegiances, companion characters, bounty hunting side quests, various world state effects that can happen and the overarching narrative are all playing together is nothing short of impressive.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Alex79 »

Always meant to go back to this. I played it when it first came out, but it was patched quite significantly a few weeks after release which overhauled the controls quite a bit.
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Indiana747 wrote: January 9th, 2023, 9:20 pm (Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
How did you find it? I really enjoyed it
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Rhaegyr
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Rhaegyr »

Indiana747 wrote: January 9th, 2023, 9:20 pm (Jan) Death's Door - Series X.
I need to get back into this - how did you find it?

I really like both this and Tunic but I struggle in making a mental map when it comes to isometric games and if I leave the game for a week or so I'm completely lost :(
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Indiana747 »

Really loved Death's Door, i went back to it last week after initially dropping off after a few hours. Got my head round its battle mechanics & puzzle system then just couldnt put it down. Put 22hrs+ into it in the end, but that incorporated going for all the weapons, utility upgrades & shards which isnt really necessary to complete the story. Amazing game when it gets under your skin, had a few late nights on it thats for sure.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Truk_Kurt »

I had a infuriating glitch on the last boss when there were no checkpoints in the run up to the boss, it nearly stopped me playing but I got through it in the end but I nearly through my Switch across the room on multiple occassions :D
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Indiana747 »

No glitches thankfully, that would have seen me fucking it in the bin for sure. Stuff like that totally destroys a game. I ran into a similar glitch with the end boss in Trek to Yomi, had to fight the boss with the loadout & health that i started the game with, made the last boss impossible, so that got fitb😅
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Jobobonobo »

Spoiler: show
Jan 8: Densetsu no Stafy
Jan 10: Parodius 2: Fantastic Journey

Only realised later on that this is the second game of the Parodius trilogy that released on the Super Famicom. This is a silly but challenging shooter which I had a lot of trouble with at the beginning but when I got around to understanding the mechanics, was really enjoying it. I admittedly save-scummed quite a bit but my character was super powered up and I did not want to miss whatever came next. This game goes from a stressful experience surviving everything to you feeling like an agent of destruction as you are sending shots every which way and destroying all before you. This is actually the first schmup I completed and makes me want to try some more entries in this series. It is a shame Konami does not do daft stuff like this anymore, they really were a powerhouse of a studio during the 90s.
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seansthomas
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by seansthomas »

Jan 13th - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)

I've always been curious to play this one, as the series gets a lot of jokes thrown its way for launching in the same week as BOTW and Elden Ring; which many people, in my view rightly (certainly in the formers case) changed the open world 'formula'). Equally I know reviewers and have friends who absolutely adore it, putting it up there with Sony's finest efforts for story, exploration and action. So I wanted to see for myself.

Overall, I had a good time. I mainlined it and only did a couple of side missions and optional quests, but I really enjoyed the two Crucibles I beat and figuring out how to get up all the Tall Necks. It's very fluid to play and easy to pick up. For a game with a lot more crafting and busy menu work than I'd normally enjoy, I didn't find it overwhelming and I definitely spent more time fighting and exploring than doing admin.

Combat wise, I never quite mastered it but I had fun. I always struggle 'reaction and accuracy wise' with bullet time cover shooter games, but I loved the systems and thought you had to put into disarming the mechs. The bow felt great but I never got to grips with the other tools.

It looks gorgeous for a game half a decade old. Some of the snow fields really look stunning and the cut scenes show off pretty impressive character work.

Story wise I enjoyed it, it was solid. But as I've gotten older, I don't want story games to interrupt the gameplay constantly with cut scenes, showing me a decentish story but an average one by modern TV standards. I like games that either don't bother with much narrative, that leave it for you to delve into if you care (Metroid Prime, Dark Souls) or tell it through aspects of the gameplay (Outer Wilds, Portal, The Last Guardian). It's probably why I'm generally less into the flagship Sony titles, and I don't think the narrative here is as strong as The Last of Us or God of War.

Being good, but not quite as good, as another title, was probably how I'd sum up Horizon. I liked the aesthetic and vibe, but I feel like Enslaved was more original. I like the crafting and combat, but preferred it in Tomb Raider. The exploration and freedom was good, but BOTW changed everything for me. The writing and story was woven into the game well, but Witcher 3 did it better. I liked taking out hideouts and scaling heights to unlock the map, but Far Cry 3 had more tension.

As an almagamation of many of the last generations best games, Horizon is really commendable, super slick and very enjoyable. But it feels like it's the end point of a formula that I'm personally happy to now move on from.
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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.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by Alex79 »

JAN - Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur's Story (Xbox)

I decided a while back I wanted to replay this, and it's only cemented the fact this is my favourite game ever. I just love the world so much. The story, the characters, everything about it. There has never been a game, for me, that made you feel such a sense of belonging to a group, where you'd ride home after a day or two away and join the camp party or play some poker and help with the chores whilst talking to people. This is further reinforced when the group starts to fall apart, and what seemed like a familiar, comfortable life starts to feel uneasy and camp becomes less friendly. The feelings carried over in to real life, and I really felt what Arthur felt.

I've written before about how incredibly immersive the world is, but when trying to complete the various hunting challenges this time around it's been even more so. There have been evenings where I've not done a single mission and have spent three hours walking on foot through the forests and along the beach looking for particular animals. And I've loved it.

I've only split this up because I intend to uninstall it for a while now whilst I catch up on some other stuff, but I'll be returning for the epilogue and to try to 100% the game later on. This is a world I could spend forever in, and I'm well over 100 hours just on the main story.

I'd forgotten parts of the story, and it struck me tonight just how perfect and bittersweet the ending of the main game is. It's difficult to explain just how much I love this game, and often games lose a little something on subsequent playthroughs, but this didn't at all. Perfect, to me.
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Re: Games Completed 2023

Post by dezm0nd »

I had a sick day last Saturday and for the first time in what feels like forever I did nothing but play a game.

Cult of the Lamb is very good, scratching a binding of isaac itch I've been having again lately. I ended up finishing it on my sick day after about 6 hours of non stop game time.

Very more-ish roguelike/town builder. It can get a bit overwhelming at a certain point but once you take the time to learn everything which goes on in town you realise it all slots together nicely and isn't that much of a chore as it first appears.
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