Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

@klingki cool. I'll probably just play the main game and not do many side missions. That's usually what i do anyway 😉

@NintendoByNature Yeah, I'd say the main game is probably good enough for this game, and the side stuff is just there in case you ever want to dive back in but you want something new to do.

@klingki good stuff. Beat it years ago but it's been so long I cant remember how long it took it took me

I've been a Nintendo fan since the 80s and it was only this year that I got into RPGs. This genre has also encouraged me to complete games, which wasn't always that important to me before.

In 2019 I've completed (fighting games maybe cheating a bit!):

SMT Apocalypse
SMT Persona 3
SMT Persona 4
SMT Strange Journey
Fire Emblem Awakening
Fire Emblem Fates
Fire Emblem 3 Houses
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest XI
EarthBound
Wargroove
Super Mario Maker 2
Smash Bros Ultimate
BlazBlue CF
BlazBlue CTB
Link's Awakening
Sayonara Wild Heart

My backlog has also swelled to another 2 years of untouched RPGs. But on the guilt list of games I've started but not finished this year there are:

Steamworld Heist
Advance Wars DS
Disgaea 5
SMT Overclocked
Etrian Odyssey Nexus
Chrono Trigger
Persona 5
PersonaQ2
Octopath Traveller
Astral Chain

The most special we're playing EarthBound then Persona 3 back to back. 2 of the most engrossing games I've played.

I finished Untitled Goose Game over the holidays. I really enjoyed it, it was different and quite amusing. Only downside was it was quite short, so I'd hope for some DLC or even a second edition of it.

I'm aiming to finish Luigi's Mansion 3 this year as well as Yoshi's Crafted World. I don't really get loads of spare time to play so have a very slow play through of all my games, but to finish a couple would be great!

Monster Hunter Stories

This was, overall, a fairly decent 3DS game and an enjoyable monster raising alternative to Pokemon. I'll be referring to that parallel here more than once; the game clearly forges its own identity, but it holds to a few tropes that are also present in the Pokemon series.

Please note that this point of view is from someone who has never played a main series Monster Hunter game outside of a couple of demos, so one who has been more invested into the series than I have may get more out of this game. The extensive eshop demo sold me on this one.

Positives

• Exploring the game's overworld and finding secrets is a fun pastime. You can discover some useful items, explore monster dens (more on that next), and gather collectibles to your heart's content.
• Monster dens are home to some interesting secrets, rare monsters that sometimes don't appear elsewhere, and are a great way to gather eggs to hatch for your growing monster collection. There's an added element of suspense if you're trying to grab an egg from a sleeping monster without a fight. It's very easy to get sidetracked in this game.
• Many of the monster designs are pretty cool, though the monsters of your character are a bit chibi-ized compared to their wild counterparts that you constantly fight. This wasn't a dealbreaker by any means, but I wanted my Rathalos to have just a slightly larger presence.
• Customizing your monsters by using the genes of different monsters makes for some interesting combos and useful adaptations out in the field. There are literally hundreds of ways that you can customize a monster.
• Crafting armor, weapons, and items is all fairly simplified here compared to many RPGs, but this is an element I didn't mind much. I dislike spending a ton of time crafting in games, so anything that makes this process easier and less painful is welcome in my book.
• Catavan stands (or warp points) are very welcome in this game. For the 40-50 hours that you'll likely spend with the storyline (probably 35ish if you aren't easily sidetracked), these will definitely cut down on time.
• The post-game is somewhat meaty; besides a couple of super-dungeons, a post-game story quest (not much to this TBH), and more powerful monsters and high-level sidequests, there's also a monster arena where you can hone your skills.

Neutral

• Navirou, your verbal Felyne companion and this game's Whisper/Rotom Dex, is both entertaining and annoying. I didn't mind him at all at first, but after awhile the fact that he answers for you and makes random exclamations kind of becomes annoying.
• The plot isn't anything to write home about; it's your typical "I'm the chosen one out to save the world!" type of fare. It comes complete with the moody rival with a chip on their shoulder, the awesome cheerleader friend from the sidelines, and the stereotypical "I'm bad but more of a buffoon" villain.
• Some of the supporting characters are entertaining and clearly have their own personalities, but none of them (outside of your rival) are ever expanded on too much besides Navirou; even that was a little cliche, though still interesting. I did find a side quest that gives you more background on one character that I did like.
• The combat system is pretty simple and somewhat enjoyable, but I did find many encounters to be too random sometimes. Navirou tells you to "learn their patterns!", but some really don't seem to have them....
• The music isn't bad, but none of the tracks really stand out in my mind either.

Negatives

• This figures in with the combat mentioned above, but there are these random gimmicks that can pop up in monster encounters that require you to use buttons or the 3DS's circle pad. I didn't mind lightly mashing A and hitting the L/R shoulder buttons when I needed to, but I rarely engaged the gimmick that has the player rapidly rotate the circle pad. I wanna keep using that thing for some time yet, thanks.
• Most sidequests are either "gather X items" or "kill X number of this monster" types of things. Some vary from that formula a little, but those are few and far between. Probably the most entertaining was when you need to talk to a girl for someone to see if she shares his unrequited feelings; the ending is quite humorous. That said, there wasn't much behind that quest either. Sidequests are best for obtaining some small exp amounts, gold, and recipes.
• Who in their right mind decided to call the player's monster friends in this game "Monsties"? The term grates on me a little.

Overall, I recommend this game to someone who wants to try a Monster Hunter series spinoff or may be looking for an alternative monster catching/raising RPG with some lighthearted exploration thrown in; the exploration isn't at BotW or Xenoblade levels, but the world isn't completely empty either. It's probably a little more furnished than the overworld in LoZ: Twilight Princess. Do not, and I mean DO NOT get the game for the story as you will be disappointed here. Get it for the world presented here.

I think somewhere back in the depths of this thread I made a post about completing Celeste after finishing Chapter 8. Well, since then, Chapter 9 has come into existence, and I’ve finally found some proper time to sink into it. 6589 deaths later, and it’s finished! Basically, Celeste is still just a wonderfully designed game. The levels are just so cleverly and satisfyingly arranged. I enjoyed nearly every screen leading up to the last one, although I the conclusive challenge was one such epic proportions that I was unable to finish in a single sitting. As a result, I’d more or less mastered about 85% of it by the time I had to go to bed, and then polished off the whole thing the next day, at which point the satisfaction of overcoming the challenge was somewhat dampened because I’d already died so much on the early stages that I’d got them down by rote learning. I think preferred Chapter 7’s C-Side, which was shorter, but more consistently fraught with danger, making its completion feel like a massively daring accomplishment. Chapter 9 finished with a very long string of varying challenges that, once you’d learnt the tricks, could eventually (eventually) be reproduced without too much difficultly, meaning it lost some sense of risk and spontaneity by the end of it. It reminded me a bit of the very last level of Odyssey, compared to Galaxy 1 and 2 which have sharper, more intense ultimate challenges. Whereas 7C felt like it was still testing your reflexes and reactions right up until the very end, Chapter 9’s last stage felt more like it was asking you to learn it’s very long and winding (but generally more open) shape by heart, and then perform it by rote without doing anything too silly.

Anyway, enough fixating one the final screen. Chapter 9 is still fantastic and a wonderful reminder of why Celeste is such a beloved game to begin with. Now that we’ve entered 2020, is seems like just about everything is being suffixed with ‘of the decade’, which is a bit suspect because I can’t pretend that my memories from 2010 are anywhere near fresh enough to be able to accurately compare them with games I’ve played recently but, still... I kind of want to jump on the bandwagon, so I hereby cautiously declare Celeste to be my 2D platformer... of the decade! There, I’ve done it!

Having been lured back into it again by Chapter 9, it’s kind of hard to say goodbye again, but given that I’d be a life’s work to collect all the golden strawberries, closing on a chapter called ‘Farewell’ seems appropriate. Farewell, again, Celeste, and thank you for everything!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES Classic)

This isn't my first time playing through this masterpiece, but I've only played it on the Game Boy Advance before this point. This will be somewhat short as this is, quite frankly, one of my GOAT picks.

Positives

• There isn't much story to speak of compared to later games in the series, but it's presented in format where it's easy to digest and is really all you need. There's less word soup and meandering here; you get thrown right into the adventure.
• The controls are intuitive and easy to master.
• Exploring Hyrule and the mirrored Dark World is fun and full of secrets. I like games that consistently reward exploration.
• There are many catchy, memorable tunes here. Some of these would go on to become series staples, such as the Hyrule Field Theme and Princess Zelda's Theme.
• Many of the bosses (barring Moldorm, one of my least favorite bosses in the whole series on account that this thing is more of a troll than a challenge) are fun and in some cases challenging to fight.
• The 16-bit graphics here, as with many other games of the period, have aged well.

Nitpicks (No true negatives with this game IMO)

• This was a system limitation as I have a similar complaint about some of the other earlier Zelda games, but I wish you didn't have to pause so often to switch items. This ruins the game's flow a bit.
• I did miss the QoL improvements from the GBA port, but these were few and far between anyway.
• Why is Link's hair pink? O_O

@Tyranexx one of my favorite games as well. I beat it 2 or 3 times. But there's one gripe I do have and I forgot what it was. I think it was an item you needed to get to progress but it's not in a dungeon. It was one of the rods I believe. Same with the zora flippers. Items you need but it doesn't tell you when you need them or how. Small gripes but otherwise a dang near perfect game.

I've been slacking on my most recent finishes..

• donkey Kong country 2
• Yoshis story
• metroid zero mission

@NintendoByNature Ah, another good point; I'm relatively used to poking around in most video games, particularly the Zelda series, but the Ice Rod and Flippers are easy to miss. There are hints for both in the game, but they're pretty cryptic.

It's definitely a near-perfect game; I'd argue that no game is truly perfect, though that's my humble opinion. In fact, I slightly prefer this game's successor.

@Tyranexx as much as i love Alttp, i love ALBW more, Along with LA( new and old) plus botw. Botw is quite possibly my favorite game of all time. I bounce back and forth between those 4 of which are my favorite zelda games or even favorite of all time. But, after really thinking about it, I don't think any game has moved me or pulled my heart strings quite like botw. Even with a minimal story.

I know you recently got your switch and you only like to play 1 game in a franchise at a time, but which zelda game are you going for next?

@NintendoByNature Barring any sudden replays of other series titles (like ALttP), my next one will either be the Link's Awakening remake or BotW. I'm not sure if I want to revisit Koholint first. I just know the latter won't happen while I have another long game going. XD I don't plan what I'll play too far in advance; I just make sure to vary the genres of the games I play at the same time.

@Tyranexx yea for sure. I usually try to play shorter games first and get them out of the way so I can enjoy a nice long game. Botw is the one game id make an exception for 😉

@NintendoByNature Yeah some things in Alttp are pretty cryptic. I’ll admit I didn’t know how to get certain items the first time around. I think I got the most pleasure out of the game the 3rd time I played it. Some of those bosses like that Theif were pretty tough the first time.

I would like to enjoy the NES Zeldas more, but the difficulty of some of the dungeons feel cheap as heck. Alttp got the balance right.

@NotTelevision I'm not ashamed to admit most of the earlier zelda games I used a guide for. Not so much in the dungeons, but the overworld for getting to dungeons and getting items. I typically enjoy them more on the 2nd or 3rd time like you. It becomes more fluid when you know what you're doing.

That was one of the reasons I loved ALBW so much, because it wasn't that cryptic and I could fly thru the game without having to look anything up.

The 2 original zelda games I needed a guide throughout the entirety of the game for my 1st play throughs. Zelda 1 is cryptic as all hell and zelda 2 is tough as nails. I think they're both good games, but 1 is style such an amazing game and even a masterpiece considering the time it was made in. And it has a ton of replayability imo.

But I can see where you think some of it is cheap. Zelda 2 is cheap on every count. 1 isn't too bad aside from darknuts and like-likes. They're the only 2 enemies I hate to see in a room. Did you end up finishing the 1st one?

@NintendoByNature Funnily enough (at least on the Switch), I am trying to get some shorter games out of the way first! I have a handful of Nindies right now that shouldn't take too long to get through.

I'm juggling my Switch playtime with DQ VIII on the 3DS. I tend to pick a "long" game to play during the winter months when I have a little more time.

@NotTelevision I also shamelessly used a guide for the first two Zelda games and agree that these + ALttP are better enjoyed the second or third time through. The original Legend of Zelda has a special place in my heart, but not much of that is nostalgia; the game hadn't aged the best but is still charming in its own way.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link suffers from the sequel syndrome of the time. I can appreciate some of the different things they tried here, but the difficulty spikes, particularly Death Mountain after the first dungeon, are not easily dismissed. It's by no means a bad game, but it's my least favorite game in the series...and I've played all but two of the mainline entries at this point.

Hexologic - Beat it some time ago last year but I completed it yesterday. Found it best to play while listening to podcasts/music. The puzzles aren't very complex. All in all nothing special.

Radiohammer - Small rhythm game for 3DS. Beat and completed. Starts out really easy and never gets much harder. Perfect for beginners who are dipping their toes into rhythm games for the first time. Little too simple for me but I had fun, especially in the last few stages where the difficulty finally ramped up.

@NintendoByNature I beat both of the NES Zeldas. I also really like the first game. It’s just the later dungeons that feel cheap with the Wizrobes and Darknuts. I do like the doom and gloomy music and the sense that you are navigating a real labyrinth with dead ends. I understand how that can be considered bad level design and confusing, but I honestly kinda like that maze like feeling. It’s the enemies that begin to grate on your patience.

Zelda 2 has some good aspects but constantly being stopped in the overworld to do battle and walk offscreen really dragged down the pace of exploration. There is no reasonable way to take down some enemies because it feels like you are you jumping around and mashing the attack button a lot of the time. It ultimately becomes more frustrating than enjoyable a lot of the time. Still a relatively enjoyable game of the era. Love the weird interactions with some of the characters and the lack of handholding. It’s hard to deny the charm and sense of passion behind wanting to make something unique from the first game.

I’ve really come to appreciate aspects of every Zelda game. Every game offers something a little bit or occasionally very different from what you expect.

Those are just my thoughts on the first two games.