2023 Still Back Loggin'

[vladgd]

1. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island



So played a lot of games last year, told myself to take it easier this year, got sick...so kinda not much motivation to plug along on vidya right now. It'll happen eventually but kinda been casually pattering away at Qud, picking at games without much intent to complete them. Obsessing over scotch, which I do remind you, is not vidya.

So basically I stumbled upon a picture of this frog detective man, thought "I like the cut of his jib". Noticed the game is like $5.00, and also very VERY short.

40 minutes later I beat the game, it's short, they tell you and they are right.

This is a cute barely a game game that is kind of impossible to lose. Mostly just talking to people with some fairly entertaining writing and a very deliberate tone which is appropriate for the artstyle. It's a cute little short thing that is priced appropriately. If you like the way it looks and ain't gonna miss $5.00 for under an hour of playtime, there are worse ways to burn five bucks.

I enjoyed it, there's 3 games, I'll probably sprinkle them in throughout the year. It's almost an hour of amusement for five bucks, that's cool.

[vladgd]

2. Dragon Quest Treasures



I am a few months late to this game. Originally thought it was a mobile game. It could have been a mobile game released somewhat recently or got announced or something and I got this confused for that. This is not a mobile game, it's a dragon quest spinoff game exclusive to the switch.

Unlike builders which...you can figure what kind of game that was. This one is a bit different. As the title says your main goal is to get treasure. It's a bit more than that though, you have a base that has various upgrades/utilities. You also have a party of 3 monsters by your side who you have no control over, but it works well enough. You can recruit monsters on the field, then you have to hire them proper by paying them various materials. So you'll get a monster you want, see it needs a food item you don't have, so you search for the recipe to get the mats to make the item to get the monster.

There's quite a bit to this game, it doesn't shoehorn you into the main quest so you can really do whatever you want. Enemy levels "sorta" scale, so you can go wheever whenever, and higher level monsters aren't impossible so you aren't punished for trying. Not exactly a hard game but it throws enough at you to keep you on your toes. I'd call it easy, but not faceroll.

I could go through "everything" there is to do, but I'll just not and say there's quite a bit here. Finished in ~25 hours, but there's still plenty to do. May put a few more hours into this title before moving on to something else.

I enjoyed it, square been doing a great job with these dragon quest spinoffs. Builders 2 was a great game, and this one is holding it's own next to it despite being a totally different type of experience.

[vladgd]

Metroid Prime Remastered



Not counting this towards the list due to having beaten it before, and it's VERY faithful to the original to where I'd just say they're the same game.

So this came out of nowhere. I bought it immediately...finished dragon quest first...then cracked on this until I beat it. It really was that hard to put down. I kinda standby what I said when the first 90% of the game is fantastic and the last 10% is kinda meh. As soon as you beat omega pirate and you're just looking for remaining missile tanks and artifacts...it's a bit tedious. Going by more recent Metroid titles I beat the "victory lap" before the final boss is usually pretty fun, not so much in this game. Pretty tedious, and I freely admit to looking up all the random missile tanks I missed. Really makes you appreciate the little map icon saying "there is an item here" on newer Metroid titles, they don't tell you where, just that there is something to collect.

The main issue I actually historically had with this game was the room before metroid prime. Metroids who are immune to all of your weapons minus one, so you have to trial and error them because it is random, and they infinitely respawn...as  you have to climb a tower...and they'll knock your ass down. This caused me to hard NOPE in the past, but this time I got lucky ignoring those metroids with "minimal" frustration.

Final boss wasn't as hard as I remember, game wasn't as hard as I remember. Still challenging, probably easier due to the awesome new dual analogue controls. This is a Metroid Prime title with more or less traditional fps controls. The old controls are there if you want em, they also have the wii controls for those who are into that, or a controller gyro aiming hybrid, something for everyone. I swear there was a timed escape sequence in this game? After I beat the boss it was like escape!...and kinda just went cutscene to credits.

That said, while the last 10-15% was less fun, overall I need to rate this game higher. It's a game I will be replaying again in the future.

Music...not much to say. Top 5 videogame ost of all time.

Graphics hard to appreciate the work they did unless you do a side by side comparison, but damn it's a looker. I never noticed the framerate drop in my playthrough, feels very smooth.

I ain't a speedrunner or great at Metroid games, but I completed it on normal in 13:57 with 100% item percentage. Got the whole Samus takes off her helmet scene that we didn't receive in dread...it's good!

Really hoping they do the same treatment to Prime 2 and 3 in the future with these new fangled "traditional fps controls".

Not much else to end on other than buy this game, and here's hoping fusion drops on the gba service sooner rather than later.

[vladgd]

3. Metroid II: Return of Samus



Metroid man in a Metroid mood.

Let me first say, the metroid queen is a royal pain in the ass, and as such, while I did beat the game, I did use a single savestate before the metroid queen just to finish this sucker. My whole arm hurts, my wrist hurts, she requires 150 fucking missiles to down, and I'm usually dead before then. Death means going back to the last save point, going up the tunnel, getting max missiles/health, getting the ice beam, killing 8 regular metroids which being not perfect means I will take some damage...then going to attempt the queen. I did this 3 times being totally baffled at how many god damn missiles it takes to kill. I have beaten all of the metroid games minus prime 2, and 3(other m doesn't exist, and hunters I would call a spinoff). In the games I have beaten, metroid queen is the hardest boss out of all of them. Dread bosses require more finesse and knowledge, metroid queen requires a turbo controller which I do not have.

*the day after edit*

Ok this game counts for real for real now, no savestates/rewind. Took another 4 attempts and finally got it. All of the metroids before the queen minus one I can do without getting grabbed, so I usually have decent health. Also when the queen opens her mouth, you don't just morph ball and bomb, you gotta travel into her stomach and lay the bombs. I still don't know how you can do the fight without taking significant damage, and it still IS quite hard, but I got it once and that's all that counts. It's not like the save point is THAT far from the boss, but it's enough to be annoying.

Rage aside, this is an enjoyable little game if you have a map. Without a map...well, that's THE reason I have passed on this game in the past. But in interest of being entertained by a metroid game I haven't completed, I'ma use the tools I have to get through it. Game is pretty friendly for an old game despite the final boss/no map. Save points are placed in fair locations for the most part, final boss/no map aside, I would say this is one of the easier metroid games for the majority of the playthrough.

Like the first metroid on the nes, this game has a quirk with weapon upgrades. As in, the ice beam is required for the final boss, when you pick up the wave beam, you'll need the ice beam later. Unlike metroid 1 where you just don't pick up the wave beam ever, metroid 2 just gives you an ice beam before the final sequence, albeit after the save so every time the queen kills you, you have to get it again, but regardless they know you need it so you can use whatever flavor of beam you like before then.

The upgrades are pretty cool. Coming from the nes game, this game has spider ball which lets you climb...all walls...seriously. All walls that don't damage you for whatever reason can be something you roll on. Space jump is back, so infinity jumping is there, the timing is a bit odd feeling so it takes some getting used to. You also have screw attack late game, and even a varia suit upgrade which noticeably changes your character model. Minor things, but appreciated in something on this hardware.

I played the 3ds "Samus Returns" and going back to the original they did a really good job of taking the essence of this game and making a modern game of it. Like every time you'd kill a certain quota of metroids the next zone would open up by the "lava" or "acid" or whatever draining away. Hard to spoil a 30 year old game, but even the sequence after the queen with the baby metroid clearing your way was a nice touch. No "SURPRISE RIDDLEY IS THE LAST BOSS LOL" like they like doing in those remakes "cough" why do you fight sephiroth in 7r when you barely see him in the original? "cough"

Speaking of the baby, remember the beginning of super metroid, it says "metroid 3". Yeah like, 2 is the game that happened before 3! Sarcasm aside, while there really isn't "story" here, the events in metroid 2 are a pretty big deal going forward, as such, nice to experience.

I also wanted to test a new controller for some of these older games I wanna dive into. Mainly got it for fusion whenever that drops on the switch gba thing, but it works pretty well. The shoulders aren't great, but the d pad is great, it's clicky like the gba sp. For older pre n64 titles, I think it'll do the trick.

Gonna have to put this game on the worth playing list. This wasn't really on my backlog at all, but being as I do have memories of playing it as a kid without knowing what I was doing. Nice to see it to the end.

*edit*

Just watched somebody beat the queen with 2 energy tanks and 60 missiles. I may just need to git gud...though I didn't do the morph ball into the queen thing that much. Probably my main cause for frustration not making that a priority.

[vladgd]

Metroid Dread
...again



Metroid Dude with the Metroid 'Tude

Since Prime dropped I have really been in the mood for some damned Metroid.

7:49, not a speedrunner, not a good time, but better than my first time.

This game is still as good as I remember ohh so long ago back in late 2021. Honestly the music, while not bad at all, is the most lacking part of this game. Everything else, ESPECIALLY the god tier controls, top notch.

Actually I lie, those EMMI sections are still annoying. I get wanting to put a 'lil horror in your game about blasting everything to pieces, then obliterating the planet too...wait, no, I don't get it, it just doesn't fit. I think the EMMI just spawn in different places, so I just do the route I'm gonna do, die, and repeat till I get out of the zone. It's annoying, but at least it's quick. Game would be better without them.

BESIDES THAT, I will be playing this again. These damn controls though, it's gotta be one of the best "feeling" 2d games to exist, I can't be crazy for thinking this.

[vladgd]

Metroid Dread (Hard Mode)



NOW WERE GETTING SOMEWHERE.

I REALLY like this game. I very rarely play hard mode, and this is a hard game on normal mode. Thing is the hard mode run was probably easier than my first playthrough. Enemies do more damage, and...I think that's it? They do A LOT of damage, but you still do the same damage to my knowledge. Don't make mistakes, git gud!

Metroid Dude in a Metroid Mood!

*edit*

IF I DIDN'T GET LOST ALL THE TIME I SWEAR...I'd be under 4 hours.

4:15:10 normal mode

Not sure if I'll push for it, I think I should look at playing other things. Again, not a speedrunner...but yknow...I totally have the ability to do a sub 4 hour run...assuming I knew the route without getting lost. Even did the fancy shinespark kill on that z57 boss...second attempt.

[vladgd]

Thinking about renaming this thread "Metroid"



I think I did the hard stuff, just need to beat it on normal in under 4 hours for the remaining ending gallery unlocks. Odd how they don't unlock from the hard playthrough. Hopefully I can snag a slightly faster time, my idiot brain still gets twisted around for the first half of the game.

Something to note. Let's ignore that I do die a lot, which I do, because I STILL am bad...hard mode don't feel that scary anymore. Like when you're fighting a boss, 2-3 hits into death feels fair to me. Early game normal enemies can do an entire energy tank worth of damage to you, but late game it feels like you can tank a few hits and I forget I'm playing hard. Now this is coming off from my 5th playthrough, so I better be improving, but still...dat dread mode doe...ANY HIT = GAME OVER...not sure if I'll beat the game on that difficulty.

[vladgd]

Hopefully this is my last Metroid Dread related post.



In dread there are two galleries. One gallery is tied to item%, unlocking images for getting 100% item completion in each area, then one for all of them 100%. Getting all unlocked unlocks an image with various characters and Samus in what looks like her varia suit.

The other gallery is tied to beating the game on normal, under 8 hours, and under 4 hours. Then again on hard, under 8 hours on hard, under 4 hours on hard. Doing hard under 4 hours does not unlock the one tied to normal, as I found out yesterday. So you unlock the same image from the first gallery but with Samus in the zero suit instead.

Pretty minor, they don't really have an ending where you see her face or anything from 100% like in prime, but it's something.

Besides unlocking dread boss rush...which entails beating dread mode. I'd say I completed the game, entirely, 100% completely. Dread mode was added on some 7-8 months post release anyway. 

Going to try and put the game down now...not sure if I want to shave that 9 minutes off to get a sub 3...I totally could...but I think I had my fill.

*edit*

OKOKOKOK IM DONE I SWEAR



My 100% completion in the gallery was on "file 1" and my hard mode/speedrun unlocks were on "file 3" so I wanted the full gallery on that file...so a 100% hard mode run was in order. Aside from dread mode, which I do want to play around with in the future(made it to cataris, my death count...too many), and boss rush which I have no interest in...I THINK I SHOULD BE DONE WITH THIS GAME...for...now...

Most of my deaths were from the walking game over screens, err I mean EMMI's. I don't think any "real" bosses killed me this run...so I'm just gonna say this is a sub 3 death run, ignore the stats. Those "horror game" man gets near you and it's literally a game over don't actually count as a real game over.

This be a GREAT VIDYA GAME WORTHY OF PRAISE! /caps

[vladgd]

LAST POST ABOUT DREAD

SCHMAST POST ABOUT DREAD





FIN

[vladgd]

APPARENTLY NOT FUCKING FIN



Beat the game 10 times, got all the gallery, beat hard mode, beat dread mode, beat game under 3 hours. I CRUSH THIS GAME!

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!



This one was mostly due to fusion coming out very soon so I forked over the $$$ for the premium service to access the gba. This was a trip down memory lane, only warioware game I played, wasn't interested in the motion control gimmicks added to future releases.

A very short very specific period of time. Wikipedia says the game was released may26 2003, so I had to have gotten this near release because I specifically remember my parents buying this for me after school before summer, and I had a friend staying over a few nights...and we had pizza. I remember playing this, and taking turns on the gba sp while watching spirited away for the first time and other anime VHS TAPES I had at that time. Seen a review of the game in I think an EGM magazine and was motivated to buy it due to how weird it was, being the kids that were "so random" at that time, it was our jam.

Game itself is fine, short, but plenty of unlocks/content/things to do. A majority of the enjoyment I get is the nostalgia of being...15?16? Good memories. I specifically remember doing everything, unlocking everything, and competing with friends on the same cart to beat high scores. The videogame equivalent of licking your plate clean. Not doing that again this time, but I got far enough to see the credits and unlock a few more modes. Be a good game to turn on in a social setting for people to play around with being on the big screen instead of that small portable screen.

[vladgd]

4. Metroid Fusion



3:45, 40% item completion.

I'm gonna preface. I cheated. I used the rewind feature, and totally used a save state before the final boss.

This is my least favorite metroid by far, as in, it is the only metroid game I do not like.

I get it, coming from Dread I am spoiled by great bosses and unmatched controls, but I have a caveat. The #3 game I beat was METROID 2, THE ORIGINAL GAMEBOY METROID 2, and I had a good time.

Way too much story for a metroid
OBEY THE COMPUTER GO HERE SAMUS GO THERE SAMUS SAVE YOUR GAME SAMUS
None of the bosses even enter a territory that I would call "fun". Rag on me all you want, but I beat every single boss in dread without taking a single hit, those are fun bosses. Trying to stand at a pixel perfect distance to hit a weakspot with micron accuracy 50 times is not fun...only to have an orb pop out of it and gib you for having low health.
x parasites in dread were annoying...they're only 50x worse in this game

There are good parts to this game, but I don't care to talk about them, the cons severely outweigh the pros.

I ain't going back to do the few parts of the game I used rewind on again, I am not going to revisit this game. I actually regret playing this game, it was better off as a mystery.

I had more fun paying my emergency room bill than playing this game.

*edit*

Feeling generous, and I will talk about a few good points.

For one this is metroid 4, to dread which is metroid 5, so you do see some carry over. Like how missiles are just straight upgrades instead of separate entities like in super. Or how power bombs have a vacuum effect for all x parasites in an area.

In dread where the whole first two areas turn to ice, this game has the ice zone which ends up melting and a few other environmental changes.

ledge grab, not executed that well in this game...but it's a good addition for future games.

Ohh Just thought of it. For as linear as the game is, I was alright with completing an objective and the game throwing a wrench at you "stuff is out of wack, 6 minutes to fix problem gogogo" or "power is out, find an alternate route to restore power, no elevators, save points, recharge stations work", mixed up the experience a bit.

Besides that I really don't understand why they want to keep adding "horror" elements to a metroid game. Fusion started this mess, and it's seeped into dread which would probably be named something else if not for fusion, and probably be an even better game for it. The cold isolation and lack of friendly npc's should be "horror" enough. And I feel super, and prime do this very well.

*edit*

I just can't stop playing dread. Did boss rush to unlock survival boss rush meaning anything unlockable in the game is unlocked. And also found through this that you can "practice" bosses you've gotten to in boss rush. I didn't know each boss had a time attack, or maybe you want to practice the quick kill on the z57 boss or whatever. Not a mode I typically care about, but given that the bosses ARE fun in this game..."cough"...worth checking out. 

[vladgd]

Metroid Dread 1000% Complete



I beat dread mode but didn't 100% dread mode...considering you die from any damage it makes 100% dread mode harder than low%. The first time I beat the final boss it took me like...literally..40+ attempts over 2 days. This time, I made an idiot mistake on the first try, and killed him the second try. I'd like to think I have achieved mastery of this game...ignore those deaths though...any sneeze = game over.



I don't even care anymore, this game is 10/10. No game is perfect, but jesus this game is close.

*edit*

Wasn't even trying to go fast, wasted a good few minutes dicking around because I was just playing for fun...but 3:10 Hard mode.

[vladgd]

Advance Wars (1+2 Re-Boot Camp)



So another turn based strategy game that apparently only I give a shit about just came out. I wish these games were more popular but the first con I'm about to mention will probably not help.

Just gonna get it out of the way, the "online play" is trash. I mean it's probably good? You can make custom maps and play online...with some caveats. FRIENDS LIST ONLY, if you don't have anyone on your friends list with the game booted up, may as well be offline. No matchmaking, anyone not on your friends list, no online. Also if you do have a few people to play, it's 1v1 only and only certain map sizes allowed. This game has all of the old 2p, 3p, and 4p maps the originals had, and those 3p/4p maps are for local play only. Figures the one thing you couldn't do on the originals, online multiplayer...you can't do in this game.

That said if you are spoiled and have irl friends who like advance wars (whatever bizarro world this hypothetical person lives in) you got multi system or single system multiplayer for local play like the originals had, except you can play on a big tv now instead of the tiny gba screen. Unfortunately I won't be able to experience this...at least I can play the CPU in those maps.

Cons aside...it's the first two advance wars games, and they're mostly faithful to the originals. I've only completed the first advance wars campaign, which "unlocks" the second campaign. However if you just want to jump into 2, it's not really gated off and they'll warn you about spoilers but let you in if you only wanted to play the second one.

They streamlined unlocking characters, instead of the weird campaign requirements of the originals, you unlock the right to buy them in the shop after certain missions, no strings attached. Once you complete a campaign, you can go back for higher scores without needing to restart a new campaign again which is a really nice change. ALSO certain parts in the campaign you pick between a few missions which you can pick one and ignore 2, you can go back and finish the branches you didn't select after completing a campaign, another very nice change.

If I was rating the single player stuff I'd rate this remaster as an A+...but with the extreme low effort put into the online I would have to lower the overall package to a B. I don't care about competitive play at all, but just messing around playing matches online, or even 2 players vs 2 cpu's would be a lot of fun online...but it's just not something they had in mind.

I intend this game to be a slow burn, one of those games I go back to every now and then due to it's bite sized nature. So I am very happy it exists, but I do hope they add even barebones basic matchmaking and the ability to play those 3p/4p maps online. Not counting on it, but anything's possible right?

[vladgd]

5. Armored Core



With Armored Core 6 coming out in...~3.5 months, I am unreasonably hyped.

I have played this game as a kid, the demo, with 3 missions you would play over and over and get money to upgrade your mech. Later in ~2014 I had tried to play this game again and struggled with the really dated bad controls (the controls are THE thing that deterred even kid me from this franchise), and a labyrinthine mission that has you in a maze with 5 bombs to plant...and everything is poison so you constantly take damage.

Decided to try AGAIN and gradually chip away till I did it. That said, this game structure is kind of weird. You get the same few missions to start, but they are kind of random how they serve them to you. I remember getting the moonlight blade last time but not seeing the final mission. This time I did not receive the mission to get the moonlight blade and got the final mission...didn't really need it  because the laser rifle is god tier in this game, but still.

This game suffers from god freaking awful controls(left and right on the d pad is turn left/right, l1/r1 are strafe left and right, l2 is look up...r2 is look down)...and...I still had a good time. This game is pretty fun, decent enough mission variety, the mech customization is fun, the "bleak everything sucks you're just taking missions for the $$$ even if it means going against your previous contractor" it's just a cool game.

I don't think I'm gonna play ALL the games before 6 because...I just ain't, but this was the big one on my bucket list, and it has been beaten. Now...after beating the game any missions you didn't get served you can just do, or farm easy missions for money because you can reselect them. Pretty cool reward for completing the final mission if you wanted to buy more parts and whatnot.

[vladgd]

6. Armored Core: Project Phantasma



So I decided to play Armored Core 2, err the second armored core game Project Phantasma?

This was cool because there really weren't many games back in the day that had save file transfer between games. I took my 100% completed Armored Core save with my 2 million credits, booted up my save in Phantasma and...they just let you keep your mech, all your parts, and all your money. Alright? No strings attached? Yep!

This game while basically just "Armored Core 1 but...more Armored Core 1" is a little different. First off the missions are very linear with I think 3 parts where you get to choose between two missions. There's a story...and several voiced characters?! However less missions, I think you beat ~14 to beat the game, and the other 3 are the missions you didn't pick when you had to make a choice. The first game had around ~48 or so missions in comparison, so that game wasn't super long, this game ain't that long by half. By half? There's less than half the missions...well this game is the first in the series to introduce ARENA!

So you get the 1v1 ranking arena thing and you start at the bottom and there's like 50 guys to get through. Even using the busted OP laser rifle from the last game...you find out there's a travel time to those blasts and quick mechs can dodge and stuff. Needless to say I had to slightly retune my mech. I like non standard legs, but the "op laser rifle" only works on normal legs probably because it's a large model and wouldn't work with other options, so I went with the big tanky slow normal legs that move like molassas and added a laser canon because if I'm heavy why not add more firepower. Some of these fights are hard, probably the hardest content is in the arena tbh. Anything I couldn't blow up with my laser rifle I had to boost around (mind you I can barely walk with my heavy build) and play this cat and mouse sniping game with my laser canon. Sometimes frustrating, but pretty cool addition. Beating the arena gives you a busted broken "the remainder of the missions you will do in the game will be easy" machinegun, so that's kinda what I did.

I wouldn't recommend this game in a vacuum, if this game was released in the modern era I would consider it a DLC or expansion rather than a standalone game. Play this only if you did everything in the first game and wanted more of that.

Didn't intend to beat this game, but now that I did...the save I took from AC1, to PP, can go to the third and last game in the ps1 series of Armored Core games, Master of Arena. I have again no intention to beat that game, but if the difficulty isn't too much and I got the time before the 12th...might give it a shot.

Last thing I want to air out is there's a lot of Armored Core games, I have known about them and even played the heck out of the demo of the first game as a kid. Pretty cool to finally start seeing the origins of this long running series for myself, and again despite...questionable controls I am vaguely starting to get used to, I'm still enjoying myself quite a bit here.