Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch) - Don't have much experience with Castlevania proper, but I enjoyed this. I completed both Normal/Casual & Normal/Veteran runs.

Old Man's Journey:
Nice little game. It only takes around 2 hours to beat, but that was part of its appeal for me. I got it on sale to play in between bigger games. It has a nice artstyle, a touching story and an interesting gameplay mechanic. The mechanic unfortunately doesn't develop much during the game, but since it is that short, that doesn't really matter. It's fun while it lasts and a rather laid back experience.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Switch) - I had the TV to myself for the most part last night, so I binged the entire 3rd act last night, finishing the game (first time in a long while I've binged a game like that, lol). Haven't tried the Bonus levels yet, and I have a few gems left to go back to get (all in Book 3), so there's still quite a bit for me to do.

I really enjoyed it. It's one of the most charming & unique experiences I've had in awhile. If you never got a chance to try this out on Wii U (like most, I'd presume), I urge you to take the Switch version into consideration.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

My first Uncharted game. This one was actually made by Bend Studio (the ones who are developing Days Gone for the PS4) instead of Naughty Dog, and it's set before the first game.

It was a Vita release title, and it was graphically impressive for a portable game of its time, though it kinda shows its age now. The water and lightning effects look great and the character models have good animations (mo-cap), but some textures look very low-res and the game doesn't run at the Vita's native resolution.

One of things that bothered the most about this game are the tacked on motion and touch controls (which every first party Vita title seems to suffer from). You just gotta slide on that screen a lot, for everything you do.

There's also a lot of climbing and shooting the bad guys. Surprisingly, not a lot of set pieces, though the one where you escape from a cave full of explosives is great. Not a lot of variety in terms of settings either. You are either exploring the jungle or a bunch of temples.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. There could have been a sequel where they improved over the original's flaws, but I don't think this game did very well sales-wise...

@Vinny

and that ending with the train !!! Goddddd

WarioWare Gold

I'm a huge fan of the series and I was surprised to see it finally being announced at a Nintendo Direct, so late into the 3DS's life cycle! A few years ago, I used to joke about this game being announced on every Direct thread (kinda hoping it actually would) and it happened!

About the game itself, It's a best of compilation of WarioWare's microgames with some changes. Also, there's a new artstyle and it's fully voiced. I like the voice acting, except maybe for Jimmy T. I miss his deeper voice in previous games.

I beat it and unlocked most of the microgames in about 5 hours. The series was never known for it's length and yeah, I felt the usual emptiness after beating a good game.

Not gonna lie, but it did disappoint me in some aspects. Not to sound nitpicky but:

• Some of the microgames looked a bit too "clean" to me in terms of graphics, as the originals had an intentional crude quality to them.
• Some of my favorite minigames didn't make it in, like the final boss from the original WW (skating Wario)
• As I said before, the series isn't know for it's length, but I wish there were more microgames. Gold is tied with Twisted for the longest game in the series, but I wanted a bit more, like 400 or 500 microgames (ok, maybe I'm asking too much)
• The unlockables. You gain coins by playing the microgames to unlock a lot of amusing and a lot of useless trinkets. One of my favorites are the 3DS minigames. There's a 3D model of every 3DS model released, and by pressing the power button on them, you can play some WarioWario Gold microgames on them (3DSception)!
  The main issue is there are far too many useless prizes, like phone numbers. By the time I beat the story mode, I had played every microgame a lot of times, and to unlock all the cool trinkets I would have to grind for coins for ages, since they are random.

So yeah, short and sweet and the 3DS's library finally feels complete.

The Banner Saga 3:

The game was great and a worthy finale for the series.
In terms of story it didn't turn out cheesy at all and puts you under pressure just enough to maintain the games depressing atmosphere and make you feel bad about your decisions. ^^
In terms of gameplay it surprised me by changing up the mechanics quite a lot for a third and last entry of a series. It was thus the most interesting, best-looking and most fun game of the series for me.
What disappointed me a little with all games of the series, was that the German translation had A LOT of mistakes and there were some minor bugs (like one of the main characters had a special attack where the code was written instead of the description) that should have been spotted before release.
Nothing game-breaking though, just minor annoyances.
I missed the epic chants of the previous games though. The music was lacking songs that started when you got to a god-stone or when the Ravens (hope they're called that in English) went into battle. I really liked those in the previous entries.
The first game of the three really wasn't that impressive to me, though fun and interesting enough. The series grew to me a lot though and the quality did quite an upward step from the second entry on.

Finally saw the credits roll on Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Spent so long messing around on sidequests and maxing out affinity trees, that I only really progressed the main storyline when I had nothing else to do. Ended up taking some way over 200 hours, and I still missed out on two blades. A thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyable JRPG. It's by no means perfect, but still in my top 3 Switch games.

And then, just to prove that XC2 had been holding me back, I knocked off Shantae Half-Genie hero (main campaign) the next day. I liked it quite a bit - it's colourful, inventive and doesn't mess the player around - but started Hollow Knight a couple of days later and saw a comparative quantum leap in the genre.

I just beat the fan translation of the Japan exclusive Chibi Robo game, Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!

I'd say it's definitely on par with the original, possibly even a bit better in some aspects. It's a shame it was never localized. If we had to pick one I'd much rather have this than Park Patrol.

Given the sales of Zip Lash it's not looking good for the future of the series. Maybe if Chibi Robo gets added to Smash (which he would be perfect for) it'll add enough popularity to the series to warrant future games.

I'd highly reccommend the game to any fan of the original. The controls weren't bad at all playing on PC, so if you have the time then grab the rom, the translation patch, and get to playing.

I reached the credits in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U) for the second time last night; I finally finished the longer Episode 3. It's a very fun, unique, charming game (although a bit short unless you're trying to do some of the extras in the levels) that's nice to sit down and unwind with after a crazy day....Well, until you get to some of the later levels and some of the bonus levels, anyway. XD

A note to Switch owners that have or are considering getting this: The 3D World levels are retreads of levels from SM3DW that are interesting to go through using Captain Toad's perspective, but I think you really aren't missing much; they're a bit gimped compared to the normal levels to allow your waddling buddy to traverse them a little better.

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. Only beat the main story kingdoms. Unlocked three kingdoms after the final boss, but I won't be touching this game again. Good riddance.

Controlling the game with bongos starts out clever and charming, but it quickly becomes a nuisance, especially in levels that it makes NO SENSE to control with bongos (swimming levels, for example). A lot of these levels seem like they were never designed to be controlled via bongo.

Having to clap to perform essential functions in the game so often quickly made my hands sore, and I would resort to banging a metal implement against the bongo to give my flesh a rest after repeated clapping. After all, soft clapping doesn't trigger the microphone button. You have to really whip flesh against flesh to get a sound loud enough to consistently trigger it. It's the masochist's dream game, requiring you to inflict pain upon yourself to play it well.

The level design is functional, but too tightly structured, and can't hold a candle to the clever level design in real DK Country games.

The bosses are very limited in design, and although their combat patterns become decently challenging, more often than not I was fighting the stupid controls just trying to beat them.

What made the boss encounters INFURIATING, though, was the game's decision to make your banana count identical to your HP. Doing well over the course of two levels only to lose half my bananas because I didn't loudly clap my hands quickly enough to avoid attacks a few times was a recipe for incredible frustration.

Another annoyance that contributed to ruining my experience with the game: not being able to restart individual levels within each kingdom. Oh no, instead, if you mess up in, say, the second level of a kingdom, you have to restart from the first one to correct your mistakes.

Oh, and the structure of the game (short level - short level - boss, short level - short level - boss, ad nauseam) isn't doing it any favors either. There's a reason you only fight a boss in, say, a Mario game after going through seven or eight levels. Imagine a repetitive koopaling fight after every two levels...

This game really wore out its welcome by the end.

@Ralizah Played some (Two kingdoms left to beat it) of the new play control version of the game, and I agree. Hate when a game punishes you like that.

Just finished Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana on the Nintendo Switch. Didn't quite 100% everything, but I did every side-quest that I could find, maxed everyone's affection levels (with a few exceptions: I could never find out how to increase my rank to max with Ed or Katthew), uncovered the map 100%, opened 100% of treasure chests, 100%'ed the harvest points, completed every optional objective in Dana's sections, and S-ranked the majority of the raids, so I'm pretty satisfied with my playthrough overall.

Ys VIII follows the adventurer Adol Christin who manages to get stranded on the "cursed isle" of Seiren after the boat he's on is attacked by a sea monster. He sets out to find other castaways and learn the secrets of the mysterious island.

Absolutely fantastic game overall. It's equal parts Action RPG and The Legend of Zelda, with some satisfying social sim and crafting elements mixed in. One thing I really appreciated about this game, and future non-open world Zeldas could stand to take note of this, is that it has a super helpful overworld map that lists points of interest, obstacles I've encountered but wasn't able to clear, and generally always gives me a good idea of where I need to go next once I've received a new piece of exploration equipment (called "adventure gear" here). It also allows me to quickly fast travel around the map, making getting to new places a breeze.

The combat is visceral and satisfying, like a much more responsive and action-oriented version of Kingdom Hearts combat. In the heat of battle, as I'm dodging attacks at the last second to activate bullet time (flash-dodging) and perform over-the-top anime super-attacks against enormous, screen-filling bosses, I was even reminded of the combat in some of the Platinum games I've played. Besides managing an SP bar that you have to refill by timing attacks against the enemy, you also get a wide assortment of unlockable skills for each character to train and level up. You can have any four of these equipped at a given time, and it allows for some dynamic possibilities in combat.

You earn "reputation points" by interacting with and helping the other castaways on the island you're trapped on. You can do this by gifting items to people, defending against enemy raids as the local monster population tries to destroy your community, completing quests that people ask for your help with, and, eventually, learning enough about them for them to open up to you. Not only does this cycle increase your reputation points (you need 200+ for the true ending), but when they open up to you they also become useful in future raids by occasionally helping to perform attacks against enemy forces.

Although I wasn't a huge fan of any individual character, I will admit that I felt a sense of community with them by the end and was sad to have to end the game and move on to something else.

Plot-wise, the plot is unique for a JRPG in the beginning as you're simply trying to survive against various threats on this island, find castaways, and find a way to deal with the sea monster that sunk your ship. It was a satisfactorily narrow scope for a game in this genre, which usually get weird and metaphysical as they go on. Unfortunately, this exact change happens almost halfway through, as practical and grounded plot concerns are subsumed by the larger mysteries of the island. Eventually, as in pretty much every other modern JRPG, you end up defying the metaphysical scheming of some higher order of intelligence and kill a God figure. I do like the way this larger plot eventually resolves, though.

The music is stellar throughout, and the game's OST nails everything from electrifying battle themes to affecting tunes that play in the game's more tender moments.

Version-wise, I want to mention performance. The game targets 30fps throughout on Switch and mostly hits this goal when it needs to, but some cutscenes and certain demanding sections of the game really take their toll on the framerate. Some optional dungeons in Dana's timeline were the worst culprits, as the game really stuttered badly in some of these areas. Resolution is also uneven: it mostly looks good throughout in both handheld and docked modes, but there are times where the adaptive resolution goes a bit nuts it cutscenes and it becomes distracting. The resolution also plummets in those demanding optional dungeons I just mentioned in reference to framerate issues.

Thankfully, these problems didn't crop up too often over the course of my 64 hour playthrough. The vast majority of the game is smooth, responsive, and a joy to play,

So, yeah, I was really impressed with this game. Much morseso than I expected to be. This was such a better experience for me than The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which is the only other Falcom game I've played. This was my first experience with Ys, but it definitely won't be my last.

@Solea Thanks for the recommendation! Looking it up, it reminds me of a Mystery Dungeon game.

PSP games really are possessing of a certain 'look,' aren't they?

Just finished Fatal Frame for the PS2. It was a great experience overall, although very reminiscent, in some respects, of Resident Evil. That's not a bad thing, though. Creeping around a haunted mansion solving puzzles and fighting baddies as you incrementally unlock different parts of the house is fundamentally appealing in an almost Metroidvanian way. It's not like this game doesn't have its own identity, though: the much more Japanese setting and especially the ghost photography make it feel fundamentally different from almost anything else I've ever played.

Some aspects of the experience are stronger than others. The English voice work is incredibly bad, although, given the almost dreamlike tone of the game, the stilted line delivery almost kind of works here and can sometimes add to the creepiness. Some of the character models are pretty chunky looking (probably due to it being an early, mid-budget PS2 game), but the (pre-rendered?) backdrops are absolutely gorgeous (in a creepy, haunting sort of way) and go a long way toward making this look nicer than it has any right to. The combat is interesting, and involves building up charges on your camera by targeting ghosts for as long as possible before taking a picture. This does mean it can be easy to pick off a lot of enemies from afar, though, which doesn't seem to totally jive with other game mechanics, like the zero shot, where you wait until the ghost is actively rushing you to take a picture for more points and higher damage. You use points accumulated from battling ghosts to unlock functions on your camera. While I liked gradually powering up the Camera Obscura, I didn't necessarily care for the system that allowed you to use consumable resources to activate special powers, as those powers are very expensive to unlock and don't always work as well as advertised. Overall, though, the combat is fun, creative, and a great alternative to traditional survival horror combat mechanics.

One other annoyance was the behavior of some ghosts, who would often spend much of the battle teleporting behind me, which would often lead to annoying sequences where I'd have to aim, leave the camera mode after they teleport, run to the other end of the room, turn around, aim, only to have to repeat the process a few more times until they decide to actually stay on one side of the room and start attacking.

There's a LOT of good in this game. It's well-paced, giving you a lot of stuff to see and do over the course of eight hours or so. The atmosphere is fantastic, with the visuals and sound design (wailing ghosts and some incredibly creepy music) creating an oppressive and sometimes overwhelming aura of evil in the environment. Many of the ghost designs are great. And the story is simple but effective and pretty sad once you realized what caused this massive haunting to begin with.

The fixed camera angles and tank controls are pretty characteristic of survival horror games at the time. I personally love them, especially when the camera placement gets creepily creative (any sort of drastic viewpoint change in the camera always fills me with apprehension, as this sort of technique is often used to set up environmental scares).

One of the better survival horror games on the PS2. I'm excited to finally get into this series, especially considering this first game is considered by many fans to be the worst entry in the original PS2 trilogy. I can see why this series became such a cult favorite.

@Solea You know, I've never played Vagrant Story. Something I should remedy sooner than later?

I unlocked the credits of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! on the Wii U Virtual Console. Not that it was a particularly long game, but the replay value of these games...yeesh. I've repeatedly played many of the different character themes but still haven't unlocked each individual microgame. I suspect that I'll eventually put nearly as many hours into it as I did Touched! on the DS.

Finished Ratchet and Clank on PS4. I collected all the Ryno cards, all the weapons, completed all the objectives (optional and mandatory) on all of the planets, and found all of the golden bolts. So not quite 100% completion, because it's impossible to fully upgrade your weapons in a single playthrough and I still have trophies to earn and a challenge mode to beat, but I'm satisfied with what I accomplished.

Really great game overall. I was originally planning on just blowing through it, but the game kept me hooked. The presentation is absolutely gorgeous. The plot, while entirely unoriginal, is still pretty involved for an action-platformer. There are a ton of unique weapons to learn. Gunplay is fast, responsive, and satisfying. While levels are generally pretty linear, poking around them generally rewards you with extra stuff, which is nice. This is one of the few games where all of the modes are fun to play as well. While Ratchet's run'n'gun gameplay is the best, I also enjoyed Clank's escape sequences and puzzle-solving, and the fun, Star Fox-esque air battles in the fighter jet.

There's very little to be critical of here. The epilogue is too brief, and the end credits suck, but otherwise, this is an absolute gem, and my favorite PS4 exclusive thus far.

Just finished Bayonetta 2 tonight. The game is an absolutely brilliant follow-up, improving on the original in nearly every way. QTEs are far less numerous, and you don't have to practically break your controller to beat them. Love is Blue (the new main weapon), feel significantly more natural to me than Scarborough Fair did, though you have the option to use either or combine the two, along with a number of other weapons. No more getting instantly hit out of cutscenes unless you're mashing dodge, which is a huge relief for when you don't know what's coming next. The level design felt better done? Although possibly it's because you're no longer on a (strict) timer between fights, which actually gave me time to mess around and see my surroundings. The enemies count in the game I'd wager about doubled off of the original, with most of the Angels from the first one returning, though the returning bosses played VERY differently.

Storywise, it was a bit easier to follow along than the first game, and more consistently high quality throughout, though the lack of cutscenes in one of the final chapters, and a far less hype final boss did stick out. Not too many new characters showed up this time, though that did mean we got to see more development of the main cast above all else. Fanservice was tuned down significantly this time, and honestly I felt it was for the best. Well, after the first few chapters at least, those were still heavily fanservice filled, but once the story picked up it was focused on above all else. Umbran Climax is accessible anytime you have enough magic instead of only during certain fights, serving as a viable alternative to using the torture attacks to the point where I barely touched those. Optimally, you'd probably mix the two, but eh.

All in all, I left the game feeling absolutely thrilled, and dying for the third entry to be released.

I can't remember, ave you played any Ratchet & Clank games before? Can't assume anything these days..

Did a playthrough and beat SMB2 on the NES Classic tonight. Been a long time since I beat that version, in the past if I wanted to do a playthrough of that game In would usually just play the Super Mario All Stars version. It wasn't my best run a couple of places my timing was off or I would totally forget where an enemy was but over all not a bad run. I think next I might try and beat The Legend of Zelda.