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The Chatterbox => Gaming => Topic started by: vladgd on January 15, 2019, 04:43:04 PM
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1. Front Mission 4
(https://www.videogamex.com/image/cache/catalog/PS2/frontmission4-1000x665w.jpg)
I'm back at it, I honestly don't know if I'm going to go nuts like last year, but I think being off my pc in general kinda focuses playing games in my free time over...fucking around on an internet browser on my pc. Both unproductive, but at least with one I can beat games over...doing absolutely nothing. These posts are probably more for me than anything, because I don't have a blog (which I should probably do that, so I'm not spamming) I like looking back at the year to see what I got done.
Game itself, I purchased shortly after release in 2004, I know I got it before world of warcraft came out, and it's been one of those off and on games I'd get 1/3 through, quit, start over a few years later, 1/3 through, ect. I have a few of these games, last year earthbound was one of those games, and the year before that mario rpg was another. It feels REALLY good to get those types of games off the backlog. There's a finite amount of them, and it's only a matter of thinking back to remember which games I have left.
It's ok, really slow pace is primary reason I never finished it, as is the difficulty of the game if you don't have a grasp of the mechanics. Not super hard if you do have a grasp of the systems, but pretty hard if you don't. Armored core, with a turn based rpg battle system, it's neat. Think disgaea with customizable mechs, less ally units on the field, BIGGER LONGER MAPS, no magic, slower gameplay, and leveling doesn't really do anything other than make ep grinding (think skill points to improve your characters) harder. Ohh and it's the only game I know of with a split story line, probably the most unique feature of this game. You play two casts of characters, one in Europe, one in Venezuela, seperate mech equipment, seperate characters, seperate storylines (which connect late), seperate money, and the game alternates between the two. You'll do a few missions in europe, then go to south america for a few, then back to europe, and it alternates throughout the entire game, and absolutely no gear/levels/money carry over between the two at all. Venezuela will give you more side units to play with on certain missions, and europe has access to radio air strikes and supply drops, so each side will play a little different. It's different, not bad, not good, but unique.
ACTUALLY FINISHED IT THIS TIME, OFF THE LIST, NEXT GAME.
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Eh, don't worry about spamming. It's not like this forum is exactly bustling, haha.
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2. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
(https://art.gametdb.com/wii/coverfullHQ/US/G8ME01.png?1317736929)
Started this game in 2008, finished in 2019. 'nother one bites the dust.
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3. Luigis Mansion
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51sm9T0oDQL._SY445_.jpg)
I got this with my launch gamecube...only to finish it last week...
Going back to this, it does feel like a launch game. Could be the interface, or UI, or something, it just feels like a transitional game from the 64 to the new hardware. Which it is...but yknow, actually seeing it first hand is another thing.
I'm not done yet...
4. Wind Waker
(https://videogame-wizards.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/legend_of_zelda_wind_waker_gamecube_stock.jpg)
I remember why I stopped playing this game, but soldiered through anyway. Good game, not great game. Extremely linear in the beginning, then they just kinda say "hey fuck you, you gotta find 8 triforce maps, then use them to go to 8 locations in the entire ocean to get them just to get to the final dungeon, HAVE FUN!"
I know wii u version fixed it to an extent, but I aint buying a wii u to play a middling zelda game that I already own on gamecube. I'm not sure why the game is praised so much, I mean graphically it still holds up today (the original gamecube version, not even talking HD), but...the ocean sailing is long...and the triforce collection...it's horrible, honestly, horrible.
The amount of games I have to beat, that I got more than 50% of the way through, some 15+ years ago, has to be getting smaller by now. All 4 of these games have been haunting me since I was in high school, so it's good to put them to rest.
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One thing that bothers me about Wind Waker HD (I've never played the original) is that it has horrific framerate problems due to Nintendo's stubborn insistence on targeting 1080p60. That's all well and good, but the second you go into that fiery cave place the framerate tanks to 10-15fps at parts, which is insanely jarring. I would have much rather seen them target 720p/900p rather than do that. Dunno if the original had issues with that.
And yeah, I can say that even with the improvements to the Wii U version (sailing is twice as fast, apparently?) it's STILL hella tedious to get through it. They claim that the sailing mechanic is a way of disguising load screens, but I don't know a single GameCube (or Wii U, for that matter) game that takes that long to load. I mean, holy shit.
As for the game being praised...well, it's a Zelda game. You saw how much shit people gave GameSpot for daring to give Twilight Princee an 8.8, not to mention the shit Jim Sterling got for giving BotW a 7/10. Those types of Zelda fanboys should be locked up in the interests of public safety, I swear.
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Ohh the classic 8.8. Embarrassing really, looking back at it. Rating games with a number is kinda only for marketing anyway. What makes an 8.8 better than an 8.9? I could give the game a 7, and you a 9, but maybe I like the game more than you do. Scoring a game means nothing. Either way, wind waker is a good, but flawed game.
While I'm here...
5. Rebel Galaxy
Pretty good space trading game I played most the way through in 2016, polished it off the other day.
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Precisely.
It reminds me of the GameFAQs "BEST GAEM EVAR" poll a couple years ago. Historically, Ocarina of Time won every single year until Undertale finally came along and beat it. Suffice to say, fans were legitimately infuriated that their 20 year old game didn't win a popularity contest. If you ended up missing that whole event: trust me, it was hilarious.
Besides, everyone knows that A Link to the Past is really the best Zelda game.
5. Rebel Galaxy
Pretty good space trading game I played most the way through in 2016, polished it off the other day.
I think I'm going to add that to my list. I played that a bit a couple years ago (around 2017, I'm guessing), had a fucking blast, then never touched it again. :|
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Besides, everyone knows that A Link to the Past is really the best Zelda game.
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6. Persona Q
Bout goddamn time, good game, but dungeon 4 was so tedious and annoying it literally dragged down THE ENTIRE GAME.
still, with as little free time I have, here's another game for the pile.
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7. Eternal Darkness
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Eternal_Darkness_box.jpg/220px-Eternal_Darkness_box.jpg)
Started, didn't finish ~17 years ago. Played from start to finish in a few evenings (playtime ~11 hours).
Fun game, very under appreciated in my opinion.
Chock another decade+ long backlogged game completed. Gonna paint my 20 assembled warhammer minis before selecting another game, might pick another short one, we'll see. Getting a lot of mileage out of my gamecube this year.
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Gonna have to check that one out at some point. I didn't really know much about the game until somewhat recently and now I'm kicking myself for missing out on it.
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Under appreciated? Ask anyone who's played that game and they will sing it's praise. That game is a cult classic. Easily one of the best games on the GC imo.
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konichiwa bitches
8. Dragon Quest
While back I got the gba player which lead me to beat advance wars 2 and whatnot. Picked up dragon quest 1+2 for gbc, and tackled the first one.
DQ11 left a good impression, and DQ1 is a good beginning. Pretty interesting, one character, only single enemy encounters, pretty unique for jrpgs to have 1v1 as its only form of combat. Either way, it's simple, short, may require a FAQ to know what to do, but worth playing.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/611KnEHZuxL.jpg)
two games left...
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Two games left, and so much time left in 2019...
Any idea what you're going to be playing after you get through those?
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Two games left, and so much time left in 2019...
Any idea what you're going to be playing after you get through those?
A month and some change later, yes...
9. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
(https://s.pacn.ws/1500/t4/shin-megami-tensei-strange-journey-redux-524367.4.jpg?p2sn5h)
Probably keep this one breif as well.
Fantastic ost, great setting, ok gameplay, frustrating dungeons (albeit not as bad as persona Q...though sometimes worse...), demon fusion is a bit lacking compared to every other smt/persona game I've played.
Worth playing if you like dungeon crawlers, but dungeon design may put people off. Persona Q 2 is out soon, and I might pass on it after this title. I like first person dungeon crawlers, but maybe I've had too much this year.
Game was ok/10.
One left! Depending on how fast it takes me to get my pc built(currently have mobo, cpu, case, psu, ssd, need a gpu, secondary HDD, and OS), maybe the last one will be a pc release, but who knows.
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10. Shining Force Sword of Hajya
(https://imgix.ranker.com/node_img/102/2020114/original/shining-force-the-sword-of-hajya-video-games-photo-1?w=280&h=280&fit=fill&bg=fff&q=50&fm=pjpg)
Kind of a random entry. I am a big fan of Shining Force II for the genesis, probably my alltime favorite srpg. Not too hot on the first game, but this game comfortably fits in the middle.
No exploration, just 24 battles with some town menu stuff inbetween, but a solid game, and under $5.00 on the 3ds e shop. Recommended.
1. Front Mission 4
2. Paper Mario TTYD
3. Luigis Mansion
4. Zelda Wind Waker
5. Rebel Galaxy
6. Persona Q
7. Eternal Darkness
8. Dragon Quest
9. Strange Journey Redux
10. Shining Force Sword of Hajya
I'll most likely beat more and if/when I do, I'll update, but I set out to do 10 last year and I did it, and I set out to do 10 again this year, and I did it again. That's ~23 games nixed off from my backlog, and a lot of em have been around for a long time.
Out of the lot, Persona Q may be my least favorite of those games, Eternal Darkness is by far the most fun I've had out of the list, and Front Mission 4 is the game I feel best about completing since I've started and stopped the game many times over the past 15+ years.
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Congrats on beating so many games. I almost never manage to beat anything :/
That said, most of the games I spend any real time on are things you can't really beat. Path of Exile, rhythm games, minecraft, terraria (ok, you can "beat" those, but they're more timesinks than beatable games in my view).
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That's typically what I started avoiding when I started doing this. Can't beat it? Don't play it. I also tried not starting anything I had no intention of finishing. If something was too long and I wasn't feeling a long game (of which probably a majority of the games I want to finish are well over 20 hours long), I'd look for something shorter.
All in all this year, all 10 of those games hours combined was probably less than I played monster hunter world alone last year. I ain't exactly beaming with free time anymore, but somehow can still manage.
Fully intend to add to the list, but maybe I'll touch up on one of those "can't beat this" games, maybe an mmo, or play tekken again or something.
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Well some of the problem likely also stems from the ADHD. I finished the first playthrough of Nier Automata and absolutely loved it, started my second playthrough then... just stalled out and haven't felt like playing again, despite how fucking good that game is. I've picked up Atelier Lulua, Tyranny, and Y's 1 and 2 recently, but I've stalled out somewhere in the course of each one of them, and just never find myself feeling like actually playing any of them again (it might change with Lulua because that's the most recent one out of that list). But the problem is that if I'm not feeling a game, I can't just hop in and hope that experiencing the game again will spark my passion to continue it again. My brain just don't work that way. Either I'm feeling it, or I'm not, and nothing will change things. And if I ain't feeling it, I'm not going to be able to concentrate, no matter how much I intellectually want to play and enjoy the game. I just literally can't concentrate on it, and lose all enjoyment when I try to force things.
I definitely think you're going about things the right way in terms of essentially forcing yourself to beat stuff in the limited time you have though. It's a good way to ensure that you actually beat the games you set out to beat.
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Well some of the problem likely also stems from the ADHD. I finished the first playthrough of Nier Automata and absolutely loved it, started my second playthrough then... just stalled out and haven't felt like playing again, despite how fucking good that game is.
Ending B was the hardest one for me to get through just because the playthrough with Nines was so similar to 2B's. The only silver lining is that the hacking mechanic makes boss fights hilariously trivial, so that sped things up by quite a bit.
It really is worth pushing past it, though. I promise, the game gets a lot different after you get ending B.
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Ever since I changed my mentality, I've had an easier time beating things. Most of it is just not even playing stuff I know I ain't got the time or motivation to finish, and the other part is knowing I've been missing out on a lot of good goddamn games, and as a videogame player I deserve to enjoy more games than I did before I started...so...ahem...
11. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
(https://505games.com/wp-content/uploads/bs_720X420.png)
I like castlevania, I like metroid, I like "metroidvanias" like...shadow complex...
So, if shadow complex is more on the metroid end of the spectrum, this is more of the castlevania end of the spectrum. Makes since since Koji Igarashi the castlevania guy was the head of this project shows that this is a castlevania ass game. You could call it symphony of the night 2, since it's essentially just that, a sequel to that fantastic game...mechanically speaking, not lore/story. Music, enemies, level design, gameplay, all sotn, even the save menu select music screams castlevania. lets take this bloodstained track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyTfl5uIZE) compared to "cough" this sotn track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElDf2kfKaRA), these ninjas know what we wanted, these ninjas don't hide it.
Not sure if im going to platinum trophy this bitch, but I 100% the map, and afiak beat all bosses, including optional bosses.
tl;dr this game is fantastic pay koji his $40.00 usd and experience a videogame ass videogame done well.
now maybe I can paint some damn warhammer minis instead of being addicted to a videogame, NEXT!
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I backed the shit out of Bloodstained when it was on Kickstarter and I'm SO FUCKING GLAD it turned out to be awesome.
I'm only about two hours in, unfortunately, since this past week (and weekend) was pretty busy. I plan to play the shit out of it this coming week, however. I did get to smack the crap out of David Hayter, though, so life is good.
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12. DOOM (2016)
(https://static.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_landscape/1574/15746725/3512625-gameplay_doom2016_stadia_20190319_site.jpg)
I feel privileged to have recently came off a kickass castlevania game, to literally...one of my favorite single player fps games...ever?
Not even joking. Half-Life takes the cake, and I'm not counting deus ex games (they're more of a hybrid genre), but after half-life...what other single player fps do I like more than this game? Even with that, the shooting in doom runs circles around half-life, half-life is just king in level design which I tend to prefer, so apples to oranges.
I am extremely glad I waited until I had a new pc to play this. Now in 1440p on a large monitor. I pretty much quit the fps genre thinking I didn't even like it anymore, and it's more I just don't like the fps games companies are making anymore. Give me fast movement, no reloading, all the weapons at once, no ducking behind cover to wipe off the raspberry jam, and fast challenging gameplay over those boring stop and pop shooters any day.
DOOM Eternal is a day one buy assuming life things don't get in the way. Fantastic. 11/10 game.
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I feel your frustration with the FPS genre. CoD getting ridiculously popular for years was probably the single worst thing to happen to the genre overall, as all the industry did was copy its corridor-inspired level design. Doom 2016 proved that not only can you modernize old-school FPS design, but you can do so in a way where it works with consoles.
It's not to say that it's the only one in recent history to do so, but I'd say that it manages to successfully take what Serious Sam and the Machine Games Wolfenstein titles did, crank everything up to 12, polish the bits that were too jagged, and make something that's even more busy and chaotic than the originals. Woooooo boy, what a game. So psyched for Eternal!
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13. Metroid Prime
(https://images.lukiegames.com/t_300e2/assets/images/GC/gc_metroid_prime_p_9g44vv.jpg)
LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time coming, played this when it was new, got to the windwaker part of the game where you have to collect the mcguffins to see the end, quit. Played again in 2008, got to the impact crater, seen the infiniately respawning metroids which are randomly immune to 3/4 of your weapons, said fuckkkkkk that, quit again.
FINISHED, DONE
Either way, great game, one of the best soundtracks in videogame history in my honest opinion, and iunno, who doesn't know metroid prime? It's gud.
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I need to play through Prime again. I actually started practicing speed strats in it (on the original 0-00 version, that is) several years back and was consistently able to do the early space jump, hive mecha skip, and a few boost ball bypasses. I should really get back into it at some point.
I also need to get through Prime 2 and Prime 3 (I still have a sealed copy of the latter for after I beat the former).
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14. Plants vs Zombies
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/PlantsVsZombiesCover400ppx.png/220px-PlantsVsZombiesCover400ppx.png)
Slowing down on world of warcraft now that im 60 and don't really want to do dungeons, so polished up another game I started a decade ago. Now if only they'd make a sequel worth playing.
Can I hit 15? WE'LL SEE!
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15. Disgaea 1 Complete
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81CtA7xtMAL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Uhh, that didn't take long. I think i beat this game in like 3 days from start to finish...
Surprisingly playable after having beaten d5 last december. More used to the cutesy silly anime saturday morning cartoon vibe this time around, so it was pretty tolerable.
Not bothering with postgame stuff, just wanted to polish this game off since I bought it I think before I got disgaea 5...but I took it out of the shrinkwrap...3-4 days ago...
Still, kinda wanted to play that game for over a decade, chewed through it, enjoyed it probably more than disgaea 5 to be honest. However, I might actually dip back into 5 to try some postgame stuff if I feel like it, getting billions of statpoints sounds cool.
15 games before november, I swear I don't play games 24/7, but I'm kind of impressed with what I've managed to finish this year. Anything more will just be a bonus.
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16. Links Awakening Remake
(https://i2.wp.com/metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/links-awakening-770x470-d5a3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=644%2C393&ssl=1)
So I got bronchitis, and last year it lasted...ohh several months, so I've been feeling kinda miserable. When that started up, decided to buy a switch to ease the pain, but was too sick to even really play the thing. So after a week or two of owning the damn thing, I got well enough to play it, so despite getting pokemon right away...and..."cough" 3-4 other games "cough", I really wanted to play links awakening, so again..."cough" bought that because fuck money "cough".
Long story short, I almost don't wanna count this as a new game completed because it's actually a really faithful (albiet with a lot of QoL updates) remaster of the gbc game, which I beat some 20 years ago. But the original had only 2 buttons, this one has shield and pegasus boots actually mapped to their own buttons, it handles different enough to where while very similar, it plays different enough to the originals.
It's a damn good zelda game, while I was luke warm on wind waker, this one is fantastic. Second only to OoT in my opinion. I'm probably the only person in the world to buy a switch, get pokemon, get bored immediately (playing it now and enjoying it, just bad first impressions), bought this zelda game and chewed through it in 4-5 days. All the while not even considering breath of the wild (game gets a lot of praise, but it kinda doesn't seem like a zelda game at all).
Ending this with bronchitis fucking sucks, second time getting it, first was last year, and I hope to christ I don't get it next year. I'm on day 23 of this bullshit and I'm hacking up a lung daily. Getting sick for a few days sucks enough, but after a few weeks it's just depressing. I don't even smoke, why me?
Too late in the year to gun for 20, but I think I can finish pokemon and MAYBE one other game before January 1st. We'll see how the physical health goes between now and then.
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17. Pokemon Shield
(https://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/607735-pokemon-shield-nintendo-switch-front-cover.jpg)
Slow start, didn't really get into it. AFTER the start, while a flawed game, it's some of the better times I've had with a pokemon game in the past few years. Still a bit too much story for my liking, but "feels" toned down compared to sun and moon (which I didn't even make it to the second island challenge i hated that game so much), so that's a bonus. It does still very much feel like an on rails experience, but they give you more of an illusion you can go and do whatever, and the wild area helps.
I'd probably rate the game lower if I didn't live with my girlfriend who has her own switch, and copy of sword...and running around doing "raid" battles with her is fun. They may not be exciting on their own, but they're an INSANE source of exp candy (you can powerlevel like no other pokemon game with this) meaning you really have no consequences of trying new guys since it's so easy to boost exp. Not to mention you get the chance to catch the pokemon in said "raids" so it's a passive way of catching mons.
It's a good start to a non competitive pokemon multiplayer system. I wouldn't say drop everything and get the game for the wild area alone (it's a good size area, but it isn't massive or anything), but it's got enough substance to where it's a good addition, and I can easily see this being improved in future games.
Ain't going to pick this over my beloved original gameboy pokemon red, or the original gbc silver, but it's a big step up from sun and moon, and I can't really complain there. I didn't love the game, but I enjoyed it.
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Have you played the Crystal Clear ROM hack? It's a really nifty gen 2 hack that turns the game into somewhat of an open-world. You can go anywhere, whenever, challenge gyms in any order, get HMs early, catch all 251 pokémon, and rechallenge gym leaders (among other things). I highly recommend it!
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Might check it out on the youtubes, but I rarely if ever play romhacks/mods. The last one I played for any time at all was the mount and blade online rpg mod, which kinda made the game into war of the roses before war of the roses was a game.
However with the end of another year means the end of another list. So let's do this. Try some of the same categories from last year, maybe add one or two.
1. Front Mission 4
2. Paper Mario TTYD
3. Luigis Mansion
4. Zelda Wind Waker
5. Rebel Galaxy
6. Persona Q
7. Eternal Darkness
8. Dragon Quest
9. Strange Journey Redux
10. Shining Force Sword of Hajya
11. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
12. Doom (20160
13. Metroid Prime
14. Plants vs Zombies
15. Disgaea 1 Complete
16. Links Awakening Remake
17. Pokemon Shield
Most rewarding game to complete
Metroid Prime AND Luigi's Mansion
I literally never completed either of these because I quit AT THE VERY END OF THE GAME FOR BOTH OF THEM, so getting these done after over 15 years feels really good.
Biggest surprise
Front Mission 4
Not my favorite game, and I quit it two other attempts back in the day for the same reason. Game is slow, and kind of a slog, ohh and it's slow. Buttttttt, if you have the patients for it, it's a solid, challenging, very unique srpg. I was very happy to just "get it over with" but reflecting back on the time I had with the game, I have very positive memories of my time with it this THIRD time attempting to get through it. Not sure I'd recommend it to anyone, but armored core meets a tactics game with two split seperate casts of characters, it's a cool ass game.
Least Favorite Game
Persona Q
I think when I like a game, I may rave too hard on it, but I don't like everything I play. This is not a bad game...but damn if it aint frustrating when you hit the 4th dungeon. I wanted to quit so bad, playing the game felt like a job after that point in the game. Only recommending this for hardcore persona or etrian odyssey fans. Play strange journey redux instead for a less frustrating (albeit...still very frustrating) experience.
Runner up favorite
Eternal Darkness
I kinda wanted to put this as my favorite, so it was really close. This is a really damn good game, it aged extremely well. It isn't too long, it's not exactly super hard, it's just straight up fun. The chapters are pretty short and self contained, so it's an easy game to pick at over a few days. Besides a few annoying parts near the end (long annoying rune puzzle you have to do, then you find out you gotta do it twice...), there wasn't much I didn't like about it. Most likely will play a second time in the future.
If any of you guys can think of more interesting categories, I'm all ears. Mostly doing this as a way to remember games I've played as I'm chipping away at the truly endless backlog.
Favorite Game/2019 GOTY
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
This one will be short. It's a modern symphony of the night made by the guy that made that game. Besides eating, work, and sleep, I didn't stop playing the game when I started until I finished it. BUY IT, it's fantastic for any metroidvania fan.
SEVENTEEN GAMES in 2019, one seven, 1 7.
I do not plan to attempt to beat this, every year I decide to do this backlog thing my goal will always be 10. This is just to keep it fun, 10 is fine to finish in a year, if I feel like it's work, it defeats the purpose of me doing this in the first place. I like this as a way to play good games, and play more games instead of the same dumb multiplayer dribble everybody is stuck in.
And for fun, a list of games completed when I started this.
1- earthbound
2- monster hunter world
3- smt nocturne
4- smt 4
5- south park fractured but whole
6- xcom terror from the deep
7- persona 5
8- deus ex mankind divided
9- metroid: samus returns
10- dragon quest xi
11- smt 4 apocalypse
12- advance wars 2
13- disgaea 5
14. Front Mission 4
15. Paper Mario TTYD
16. Luigis Mansion
17. Zelda Wind Waker
18. Rebel Galaxy
19. Persona Q
20. Eternal Darkness
21. Dragon Quest
22. Strange Journey Redux
23. Shining Force Sword of Hajya
24. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
25. Doom (2016)
26. Metroid Prime
27. Plants vs Zombies
28. Disgaea 1 Complete
29. Links Awakening Remake
30. Pokemon Shield
Next thread starting when the credits start up on whatever mystery game I'm playing right now occur.
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Dude, this is an incredible list tbh. Much respect.