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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 4, 2021 16:36:16 GMT -5
Cathedral (PC Windows, first time, gave up pre-emptively, about 31 hours)
I bought an IndieGala discount sale months ago just because it contained this game along other minor titles I never heard about. It's not bad at all, but it's really freaking hard and every time I drop it I come back to it but at longer and longer intervals... last time I played it, it was the end of July! So, I will pick up again but I don't think I'm going to complete it at the end of the month, especially since I want to relax from the stress of regular life and there's other games I want to complete or just start from scratch.
It's a very faithful and well-made throwback to old NES and Amiga games, and like these it's difficult and it doesn't generally hold your hand... problem is, those games lasted 3 or 4 hours at best. I'm 30+ hours in and I have yet to defeat the penultimate boss, enter the last stretch of areas and fight the final boss. And if they are increasingly difficult, I'm not sure I will have the patience to finish it before December 31st. Feels like it's overstaying its welcome just for being so unrelenting. I like retro-styled games but I feel like this is too much (sure, I played Ghostly Matter that was even longer, but it was more than 3 years ago, I don't have all that patience anymore)!
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 5, 2021 11:57:25 GMT -5
Dead Rising (Xbox 360; First Time; Gave up because I wasn't in the mood for it)
I grabbed this from a local CeX for about €2.50, since it's much cheaper than the €30 that Capcom feels compelled to sell it for on digital storefronts for some mad reason. I knew that Dead Rising is quite tough and particularly stingy about where and how often you can save, but I'm rather interested in the fact that your stats carry over between playthroughs and you can eventually make your way to being really good. I gave it a brief bash, but given there's only a month left in the year and I haven't touched it in a while, I'm gonna drop it for now. I will say, the screen-tearing is absolutely hilarious - I've never seen a seventh-gen game have it so bad!
HarmoKnight (3DS; First Time; Gave up because I didn't care for it)
One of Game Freak's non-Poké games, it's a fairly cool rhythm action game that mixes in a bit of platforming. There's something I really like about the level select screen being a world map, and how that gives me ideas for a rhythm game with more RPG-styled elements. But I find the game a bit too iffy in terms of its timing; it's one of those "all-or-nothing" games in how it registers your inputs and whether you hit enemies, but it doesn't communicate what exactly counts and what doesn't. So levels feel a bit too trial-and-error, particularly the "Simon Says" levels where you if you fail certain inputs that are meant to trigger cutscenes, you have to do the whole level over even though it doesn't tell you about this. Not for me in the slightest.
Horizon Chase Turbo (Switch; First Time; Gave up because I got overwhelmed and freaked out)
I really want to like this game. It's a very cool racing game inspired particularly by the SNES Top Gear games, it looks lovely and there's lots of races. I even planned on covering it for HG101 as it's a Brazilian developed video game, but I got too overwhelmed. Races become tricky way too quickly, with tight corners, fast racers and low fuel supplies occurring as early as the second area. I feel like I need better cars since you can't tweak stats or change upgrades, but you need to be able to win races in order to get cars and new upgrades, so I'm forever out of luck. It was such an emotional drain constantly losing out, and things got so fast that it overwhelmed me to the point of having a small panic attack. I quit and deleted the game right then and there. Sometimes, sincerely, feck video games as a mechanical medium. GUH.
Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation 1; First Time; Gave up because I lost interest)
Got about an hour into this, clearing the boss fight with Revolver Ocelot. I meant to come back to this, but two months have passed now and I'd rather start afresh at a later point in time. Pretty good from what I played though, so there's that.
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Post by dsparil on Dec 5, 2021 16:57:33 GMT -5
Grimvalor (Switch, First Time, Boring)
I had always stayed away from this as it looked like and had a title befitting the kind of western dark fantasy I find painfully bland. It was on sale recently and I liked the demo enough to give it a shot. On the one hand, it really isn't' too bad. It's basically a very shameless Dark Souls clone, but shifted onto a 2.5D action-RPG. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a proper metroidvania though. It's also not as difficult and there isn't much equipment in type or volume. I got about halfway through and didn't have the wherewithal to keep going. Maybe I'll give it another shot at some point because it isn't that long.
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Post by alexmate on Dec 13, 2021 6:52:44 GMT -5
Amnesia Dark Descent (PC) Will probably play it again sometime, but I found it boring.
Unreal Gold (PC) Been chipping away at this one, but find it hard to get into.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Gameboy) Beaten December 2021
I was doing well, but the last level took the biscuit. Rewind function. Scores: 7 Time Taken 33 minutes
Tomb Raider (Gameboy Color) Awful controls make it not worth playing.
Turok Dinosaur Hunter (GameBoy) What do you do?
Dr Franken (Gameboy) Boring.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Gameboy) Probably will come back to this, but I didn't know what to do.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 21, 2021 10:45:30 GMT -5
Deep Rune (Windows; First Time; Gave up because I got stuck and don't know how to proceed)
Earlier this year, I completed a pair of games done by JC Bailey - Myth Bearer and Holy Field. Both of them were pretty cool top down action-RPGs with a good bit of influence from the likes of King's Field, and I found myself looking forward to this next game. I had some free time a few weeks ago while staying at a hotel, so I downloaded it on my laptop and gave it a go. While all three games are open-ended, Deep Rune is considerably more open since you can pick different characters with unique traits to tackle the game, and can pick up magic spells that can drastically change how things go.
That said, because it's a lot more open, it's a much higher commitment game. Weapons can be broken and repairing them requires a limited resource, and the coinage needed to buy other such resources (including those to refill your health and MP) is pretty darn rare. It's much easier to get in a scenario where you've used up everything, you're too poor and you're not strong enough to proceed. This is likely why the game offers you ten save slots.
I got stuck in such a scenario, and I'm too far in to start over because I don't know what else I can do. So I'm gonna leave it at that. It's quite the good game, just one that's really not for me.
Devil May Cry 2 (OG on PlayStation 2, Played on Xbox 360; First Time; Gave up because it's lame)
Ended up playing the first seven or so missions of Lucia's campaign, cuz I want a DMC-styled game where you play as a lady demon hunter and this is the closest thing we've got. Unfortunately, there's a good reason that DMC2 is the one everyone ignores, and that's because it's kinda pants. There's some good ideas in here; I like how Lucia's jumps when locked-on can lead to a unique melee combo. Okay, maybe there's one good idea and everything is pretty tepid. The enemy encounters all feel the same and lack excitement, and man the game is really bad at indicating where you need to go with the camera and environmental design. I've never been lost in a DMC game before, even though this is one of the more linear ones. Decided enough was enough after an hour and chucked it like a bad jambon.
Santa Claus Jr. Advance (GBA; First Time; Gave up at the final boss because I was pretty done)
Another game I'm covering for HG101, so I won't say much apart from how the final stages got difficult enough that I started using save states. By the time I reached the final boss, I decided that was as far as I needed to go as the strategy to beating them was pretty annoying.
Sonic Robo Blast 2: Unofficial Level Design Collab: Spring 2020 (PlayStation 1; First Time; Gave up because Enby Echoes Zone is bullshit)
I gave the other ULDC map packs I mentioned in the Finish thread another shot, deciding I'd at least beat every other stage so I can see what they had to offer. I managed to beat the Autumn 2021 ULDC (which I'll write about in due time), and beat all the other levels from this map pack. All except Enby Echoes, which is an obnoxious gimmick zone where the checkpoints get too far spaced apart by the time it throws such garbage at you. Sod that entire level, especially because every other level is much better and even inspiring in some parts.
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Post by spanky on Dec 23, 2021 8:11:05 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VI T-Edition (SNES via jailbroken Super NT)
Corrupted my save file accidentally and lost about 40 hours of work. To say I'm upset would be underselling it a bit! I was really enjoying this too - possibly the hack I've ever played. It adds tons of new content and rebalances the game while upping the difficulty. For someone with my level of knowledge in the game it's damn near perfect. Boss fights in particular are thrilling and many of them come right down to the wire and force me to use tactics I would never even consider in vanilla.
I'm currently looking around to see if I can find a save game for this online. The game does have an New Game Plus feature so even something at the endgame would allow me to replay it over again and experience all the content I missed.
Thanks to Clyde Mandelin himself providing a save file for me, I think I'm back in the game baby!!
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Post by personman on Dec 28, 2021 14:24:45 GMT -5
About that time. Lets see what the damage is.
Shadow of the Colossus (PS4, replay, dropped)- For some reason I can rarely get myself to sit in front of my PS4 for too long. This port seems great and I was enjoying it as much as I remember, if not more. For whatever reason though I just decided to shelve it. I'll come back to it though.
Dark Souls II Scholar of the first sin (PS4, first time, dropped out of frustration then returned then dropped again)- This goddamn game. I could rant about this one for a while but suppose I'll save it for when I finish it. Because I will, I'm basically at the end of it now but dear god I don't think its possible for me to hate this game as much as it hates me. And everyone else, its nothing but a bundle of pure hatred.
Devil May Cry 5 (PS4, first time, burnt out on the series)- I'll get back to this one for sure. I only played the first couple levels and was already impressed with it. I think I was just a little burnt out after marathoning through DMC 2, 3, and 4 all in a row.
Mega Man Xtreme (3DS virtual console, replay, quickly lost interest)- Since I was marathoning all the Gameboy Megaman games I thought I'd do the two X games as well. It was a nice bit of nostalgia to start but after struggling to beat Spark Mandrill due to the simple fact that the X games really don't work well on the system I just moved on for the time being. Was about that time I modded my 3DS too so I had bigger fish to fry.
Dread Templar (Steam, first time, lost interest)- I'll be totally honest: I bought this solely because I really liked the music in the first stage. Plus the main weapon being dual pistols is really cool. I ended up grabbing DUSK as well since it was dirt cheap but that wall that prevents me from getting into FPS is still there. I don't know what it is but I quickly get bored of these games all the time. Gotta keep trying I guess, there MUST be a shooter out there I like besides Pain Killer.
DOOM Eternal (Steam, first time, dropped)- Same as above I guess. I had a huge gap with 2016 as well and honestly I think I liked the way that game handled ammo better since I actually got to use what I wanted most times. However I know Eternal is tighter designed though and I actually like the platforming bits. Still though after a bit I just wasn't feeling it anymore. And The music is overrated. Yeah you heard me!
Solstice(NES, emulated on 3DS, first time, controls turned me off)- I remember my brother playing this one back in the day and it left an impression on me. Finally got a chance to try it out recently and while I'm interested I just can't deal with the awkward controls. Especially since its starting to ask for precision platforming already and uh, no not in this perspective partner. I'll probably give this a crack again eventually but for now, nah.
Alien Isolation (Steam, first time, can't get past an hour)- his game is my white whale or well, one of them. I got this one in 2016 or so only went for a little bit and got wrangled into something else. Never touched it again till this year in October and thought 'Hey! Halloween game, yes.' and got to the exact same point I did last time, fell asleep and just forgot about it again. I don't know what mental block is keeping me from playing this but I'm gonna kick its ass eventually.
Silent Hill 2(PC, first time, dropped due to being too picky)- Even though I've listened to 50 video essays analyzing this game from forward to back I still want to play it real bad. Hell I want to go through the whole original series save for 4, I beat that one already. I got the PC port all patched up and even custom launching through Steam but for some dumb reason I HATE playing this kinda of game on pc. Theres no logic to it but having a controller connected to my desktop I just don't like so for now I'm shelving it.
And then the worst of all:
Metroid Dread (Switch, first time, just don't have the energy to play right now)- I was so hyped for this leading up to release. I was going Metroid crazy for a while and replayed a bunch of them but with work lately being crazy for the past three months I just don't feel like playing something both new and fairly difficult right now causing me to retreat back to old games I know well or are just simpler by nature of their age. I liked what I played a bunch. I got up to the area where you finally see some greenery and the little mid bosses were actually quite a pain. By now I have feeling I'll be thrown off if I continue where I started off and I may just start over honestly. We'll see.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 28, 2021 14:26:47 GMT -5
I give up! Time to post a few that won't be finished this year.
Bravely Default 2 NS 6 hours Still don't like the series game play
I never learn. Someday they may publish a Bravely Default that I enjoy. Oh wait they did but called it Octopath Traveler. I just don't care for the Brave/Default system. Just got bored before making it too far. The series always felt a bit soulless to me. I do really like the art style though. Music ain't bad either. I do think about coming back to this one.
Mary Skelter 2 NS 15 hours Too long clanky, too long.
Maybe I'll read through the Light Novel version. Like the story but the dungeons are too big for my liking. Made it to the fourth or fifth before switching to another game. I'm not big on dungeon crawlers but will play them if I like the story/character designs. Just too much dungeon here. Also wasn't a big fan of the enrage mechanic or the item growing.
Scarlet Nexus PS5 10 hours Terrible story
Story is so bad. I really didn't like the monster designs either. They are unique. I'll give'em that. The game play was a little more precision based than I wanted. Probably would have finished if it was a button masher. Suckered in by those anime designs once again...
Shin Megami Tensei V NS 6 hours Open world boredom
I may come back to this one next year. Persona is my favorite all time game series. I've beaten most of the localized SMT games. SMTV failed to grab my attention. The main battle theme annoys me and the open world stuff bores me. The game feels slooooooowwww. Yeah I'm not very far yet but come on. Excite me a little! SMT IV starts with an interesting premise that keeps you playing. V starts with a desert, fetch quests, and open world garbage to collect. And it graphically looks kinda ugly. Not feeling it man.
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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 31, 2021 10:28:24 GMT -5
Blasphemous (PC Windows, first time, about 23 hours)
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass (PC Windows, first time, counter says 53 hours)
These games are good, putting these here because I'm never going to complete them in time for New Year's. Sadly I failed the objective of the Challenge that I imposed myself, that is, to finish games from beginning to end instead of continuing to start new ones and abandoning them after a while. I don't know if I'm participating in the 2022 challenge again if I just get "distracted"...
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Post by dsparil on Dec 31, 2021 12:12:01 GMT -5
Blasphemous (PC Windows, first time, about 23 hours)
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass (PC Windows, first time, counter says 53 hours)
These games are good, putting these here because I'm never going to complete them in time for New Year's. Sadly I failed the objective of the Challenge that I imposed myself, that is, to finish games from beginning to end instead of continuing to start new ones and abandoning them after a while. I don't know if I'm participating in the 2022 challenge again if I just get "distracted"...
You put in such a good try for those though! I would never have expected either of those to go on for so long. I like to try for $2 per hour before I drop something entirely, and those both go so far beyond that. Edit: And also Digitalnametag, I'm going to drop the rule about when a game was started for 2022. It doesn't sit well with me that not finishing by an arbitrary point should be viewed as a failure in some way. I'm very much all about structure and doing things properly, but I personally never liked that one and brought it along since I mainly just compiled all the old rules without shaking things up too much. Now that it's actively demotivating, it seems like a good time to retire it.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Dec 31, 2021 20:51:46 GMT -5
Makes sense dropping that rule. RPGs especially can run long.
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Post by Woody Alien on Jan 11, 2022 11:20:57 GMT -5
You put in such a good try for those though! I would never have expected either of those to go on for so long. I like to try for $2 per hour before I drop something entirely, and those both go so far beyond that. Edit: And also Digitalnametag , I'm going to drop the rule about when a game was started for 2022. It doesn't sit well with me that not finishing by an arbitrary point should be viewed as a failure in some way. I'm very much all about structure and doing things properly, but I personally never liked that one and brought it along since I mainly just compiled all the old rules without shaking things up too much. Now that it's actively demotivating, it seems like a good time to retire it. So will they be available if I decide to participate in the 2022 Game Finish Challenge? Because I'd like to still play them since my recent Steam buys were short little titles for the most part. Yes, Jimmy is jam-packed with content and stuff and it's better than any RPG Maker game made by a single person has any right to be! And Blasphemous I think it's about 25/30 hrs. not counting the two available add-ons, Stir of the Dawn and the one that has just been added right now!
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Post by dsparil on Jan 11, 2022 12:44:14 GMT -5
You put in such a good try for those though! I would never have expected either of those to go on for so long. I like to try for $2 per hour before I drop something entirely, and those both go so far beyond that. Edit: And also Digitalnametag , I'm going to drop the rule about when a game was started for 2022. It doesn't sit well with me that not finishing by an arbitrary point should be viewed as a failure in some way. I'm very much all about structure and doing things properly, but I personally never liked that one and brought it along since I mainly just compiled all the old rules without shaking things up too much. Now that it's actively demotivating, it seems like a good time to retire it. So will they be available if I decide to participate in the 2022 Game Finish Challenge? Because I'd like to still play them since my recent Steam buys were short little titles for the most part. Yes, Jimmy is jam-packed with content and stuff and it's better than any RPG Maker game made by a single person has any right to be! And Blasphemous I think it's about 25/30 hrs. not counting the two available add-ons, Stir of the Dawn and the one that has just been added right now!
They will be. Hope you participate this year!
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