Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Xenoblade Chronicles, phew!

http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii/xenoblade_chronicles_h...

Finished Mario Odyssey (well got to end credits) and Punch Club.

@BlueOcean I also went back to beat the original Xenoblade Chronicles recently. I left the game about 5 years ago after getting stuck, but after playing Torna in XC2 I got the urge to go back and finally beat the first game. Funnily enough the part that I got stuck on was also Disciple Lorithia . From what I read around the internet, a lot of people seem to have troubles once they get to that part of the game. The game handles being under leveled really strangely, with it basically being impossible for you to hit an enemy if their name is displayed in red. I had to grind for a couple hours but I'm happy to have it beat.

As for games that I've beaten more recently:

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
I feel like this one is a bit of a hidden gem on the DS. The character design is really well done. You can clearly tell without even prior knowledge that the writing was done by the same creator as Ace Attorney. All of the characters have the same quirky feel to them. They honestly feel like they were pulled straight from an Ace Attorney game. The puzzle solving felt pretty unique and the story was interesting enough to hold my interest the whole way though. I'd probably even rank it higher than any Ace Attorney game.

Rune Factory 3
This is the only game in the series that I didn't play when it was released. I think I was originally burnt out from the series since so many were released in a short period of time. I'm glad I went back to play this one though! I'd say RF4 is still objectively the better game between the handheld Rune Factory games based on mechanics alone, but each one has their own charm and unique setting. Rune Factory 3 at least doesn't feel too far away from the improvements in RF4, and is a huge leap above RF1 and RF2. I also think that RF3 has the most interesting bachelorettes in the series even if they are a bit one-note. Sofia especially caught my interest with wonderful lines such as:
"I want to drag you out to the wilderness and let the monsters have their way with you! Repeatedly."
"I've burned everything that reminds me of you in a ritualistic bonfire!"
"I wish that a violent tornado would carry you off to a solitary island that would subsequently suffer a massive earthquake!"

@Cynas Yes, that's my story and I am happy that I am not the only one. Searching on Google I also found tons of threads by infuriated and frustrated players.

The final battle also gave me some problems. It's never logical what trio works best but I kept swapping them until I survived (Sheik was essential for me in these two battles). I am happy that I beat it too, but this game has really tested my patience in every imaginable way. It's not just the difficulty spikes but the overlapped big numbers in battle hiding enemies attacks, the awful camera, the chaotic battles when there is more than one big monster, the boring quests, the inventory management, the frame rate dropping and breaking some gameplay features...

However, the story of Xenoblade Chronicles is awesome and I cared about the characters, including some side characters like Kallian. Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 more polished and gamer-friendly, if you have played both can you tell?

@BlueOcean Xenoblade Chronicles 2 made so many changes that it's almost hard to compare the two games. The combat in XC2 is a bit more daunting at first and there's a lot of tutorials that try to explain it, but it can be a bit overwhelming. The classic Break-Topple-Daze in XC has been extended a bit to Break-Topple-Launch-Smash, and they've also added in a new combo system with using special attacks in a specific order. However, once you get used to it I think it's much more fun than in XC. Going back to the original game I noticed the combat is much slower and dull than in XC2. Once you get 3 Blades per character in XC2 the combat is fast, fluid, and fun. Switching Blades makes it so you have no downtime waiting for Arts to reload so you're constantly in the action.

Unfortunately many of the sidequests in the base game are pretty boring and pointless. Even when talking to someone giving a sidequest your characters seem to respond with a small pool of text options that get reused for all quests. Often times it hardly makes sense in the context of the conversation. On the bright side there still are a handful of fun sidequests hidden within the mass of lame ones, plus there are interesting ones related to each of the rare Blades you can obtain. If you're looking for consistently better sidequests, the ones in the Torna expansion are mostly good. Even with all of that said though, I think the side content as a whole in XC2 is better than XC.

I think most other mechanics that have been carried over from the original game have been improved though. Character progression doesn't rely on having affinity with other characters which is nice. Plenty of other aspects have been streamlined with many quality-of-life improvements. It's certainly less frustrating than many of the mechanics in XC. XC2 still a typical JRPG, though, with some systems that seem complex at first, but I find it becomes to understandable quicker than in XC.

I loved the stories of both games almost equally. There is a very different feel between the two, though. XC feels more like a classic RPG adventure while XC2 feels like you're watching an anime. I'd say the the story of XC is more consistently well written, but XC2 had a few more specific exceptional moments even if they are a bit far between.

If you enjoyed the first game I'd say you should give XC2 a shot, just as long as you don't mind typical anime tropes.

NieR: Automata. Cool game: fantastic combat and RPG elements, excellent soundtrack, and it explores some interesting themes. Some cool gimmicks up its sleeves as well. With that said, the plot is kind of a mess, and the multiple endings are an irritating gimmick (not so much the actual story ones, but I hate when I run the wrong way in a crucial story moment and the game just decides to... end, booting me back to the last time I saved my game).

@Cynas That was a very good reply. If I ever play another Xenoblade Chronicles game the second would be Xenoblade Chronicles X on Wii U as I already have it, but it seems to be the most divisive one.

Finished up everything in Octopath at the weekend. I expected I’d like it, didn’t expect I’d like it quite as much as I did. Even though the stories & characters can be a little tropey/generic I feel the whole thing was far greater than the sum of it’s parts. I’m actually sad at leaving my team behind, it’s been a while since i’ve felt like that about a game (says a lot about the ps4/xbox era of games for me!)...

I finished Twilight Princess HD over the weekend. I can’t believe that was only the second time since its release. Still just as good, too.

Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.

Played through this game in August with Funky Kong. Enjoyed it but just ploughed through the levels once I completed it. I instantly tried to complete on Donkey Kong but I found the difficulty spike a bit too much. After a hiatus, and reading @JaxonH Comments on how good the game was I decided to give the game a 2nd whirl, but this time with Donkey Kong.
I found I couldn't rush through like I did on funky, making me take my time and forced myself to keep trying when I failed. It's a hard but forgiving game I think.
Anyways I just beat the last boss and realised that I am 73% complete. Intending on 100% and having a crack at the time attack mode after.
Quick question for those who have played, which partner do you use and Why? I use Dixie as I find that extra air time invaluable in some cases. Maybes I depend on it too much hehe.

Cheers.

@HobbitGamer is twilight princess worth a play through on normal Wii? I haven't played it before but have that version.

@Benjoo Yep, always Dixie. Cranky is more of a hindrance than help most of the time to me.

@Benjoo It's a mainline Zelda game with a 95 rating on Metacritic (Wii version). You do the math.

Finished all the stages released right now on Touhou Luna Nights on Steam (only up to Stage 3 though), so far I found nearly everything is amazing- from control, to how good the boss fights are.

Control: Sakuya feels really good, and the animations are all fluid! It's so much fun to just move around and jump.

Combat: The combat system with MP, time stop and slowing down time in general are really nice to be implemented, with how using one of the system is more effective than the other depending on the boss!

(On another note, implementing needing to use time stop and such on the traversing the areas also feels really nice)

Boss-fight: The best part of the game. They all feel good to fight against, and while I won't say they are unforgiving, it gave quite a challenge. Not as crazy as the danmakus in the main games though!

Overall, as long as Team Ladybug continues to give the game this kind of quality, I can't wait for the updates to come

@Benjoo it’s a great game to play. You owe it to yourself.

@Benjoo: If you're asking if the HD version is more worth it, then just stick with the Wii copy you have. The changes between the two are minimal unless you're a graphics nut and need all the new stuff, but both are equally amazing!

@Tyranexx thanks. Now i just have to find my wii...

Zelda: Twilight Princess: (GameCube, 2006) I'm kind of "neutral" on this one. There wasn't a lot of stuff that stood out for me, personally. Wind Waker had more stuff that annoyed me than TP but it also was much more memorable IMO.

Another Code R (Wii, 2009): A sequel to the DS adventure/point and click title. I really enjoyed it.
The cell shaded character models look really good, as do the watercolor-like backgrounds. The story is set two years after the first title. The protagonist (Ashley Robbins) is on a camp trip with her absent father... and turns out she finds out a lot of truth from the past (that's the gist of it, basically).

The great thing about Cing games is how natural the characters feel and express themselves. Some say the title can feel boring and slow to progress, but I'd say the "mundaneness" is part of the charm (like that moment in Hotel Dusk where Kyle Hyde is amused to pick up a paper clip. Cing games are full of moments like these)

And unfortunately this was the penultimate game Cing made

New Play Control Pikmin 2 (Wii, 2009): Pikmin 2 but with widescreen and pointer controls, which is pretty good.
You get your Pikmin, explore around, find dungeons where you can gain treasure and fight bosses (without a day limit this time around). One of the coolest features of this game are the Piklopedia/Treasure Hoard, where you can see the stuff you got and the creatures you fought. The treasure section has always hilarious descriptions of the everyday life objects Olimar finds. It's basically: "everyday stuff described by a guy from another planet".
Worth noting that many of the treasures vary between regions. There's quite a bit of product placement, such as Duracell batteries.

Fun fact: The NPC version of this game was released in 2009 in Japan/Europe but in NA it was released in 2012 as a "Nintendo Selects" version

Katamari Damacy (PS2, 2004): The very first Katamari title, and an unexpected hit at the time. Basically, with the two analogs on your DualShock, you roll everything around! To beat a level, you have to make your Katamari at least the size the game tells you. I'm not a fan of time limits, but there wasn't one, there would be no challenge in this game. So I'm okay with it.

This game is getting a remake for the Switch and PC called Katamari Reroll, and it's looking good!

I beat De Blob 2 the other day. I played the first game on Wii back in the day but never the second game, so I'm glad I got to play it on the Switch. It's a very easy but fun 3D platformer and the soundtrack is excellent. I do have a few gripes with it: Once you finish a level's main objectives, there are optional challenges that open up throughout the level. The problem is that many of these are the kind of thing that you would have done anyway if you'd been thorough while playing the level, such as 'paint all the buildings in this area', so you end up backtracking through the level, accepting the challenges and being told you've already completed most of them. And when you move on from a level, you can't go back to it to find any collectibles or optional challenges you missed without having to restart the entire level, which takes quite a long time. Overall though, I recommend the De Blob games if you want a relatively relaxing, fun platformer. This is one of my favourite music tracks in it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma05YBU_uds

I decided to take a trip in the "Way Back Machine" and ride the NES train, just beat the original FF 1 & the original Blaster Master last Tuesday, going to work on Knuckes, The Guardian Legend, Mario 3 & Ultima: Exodus today and the rest of the week

Games I recently finished:

Bayonetta 1
Resident Evil: Revelations
Bayonetta 2 (just this morning )

Still have a couple backlogs on my Switch, will probably try to finally finish Breath of the Wild (yes, it's also my first game and I haven't gotten around to finishing it yet ). I don't play a lot of single player games as we usually play 2K or FIFA in the office