Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

@Jhena Would you recommend LM3 if someone(me) found LM2 underwhelming? What are the gameplay improvements in LM3?

Finished River City Girls as a part of NSO Game Trials!

As someone who only really played Ransom for about half an hour max, I absolutely adored this one. The spritework is absolutely masterful and full of both brilliant expressions, fluid movement and so much more, linking moves together (especially with the upgrades you can buy down the line) feels so satisfying to perform and having the dab unironically be a fantastic combo finisher is both hilarious and feels so bloody crunchy when it connects, the difficulty is in just the right spot where it's brutally challenging but usually feels fair (DAMN YOU HIBARIIIIIIIIIII), the references to Double Dragon (especially as someone who's recently been struggling through it on NSO) were such a nice surprise to see (ABOBO BABY WOOOOO) and the MUSIC, OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. Every single track, from the synth area themes to the chiptune boss themes to the vocal tracks is absolutely crisp and one of my favourite soundtracks I've heard in the past year alongside The Great Ace Attorney and Splatoon 3 (seriously, give it a listen: it's jaw-dropping how good it is).

I wouldn't say it's all perfect though. Back-tracking to get to shops is immensely annoying even with the bus-stops, you can't actually see what you're buying in said shops until you've already bought it, the start is pretty sluggish and the ending feels quite....abrupt? Not necessarily bad (in fact it's very funny), it just feels quite sudden is all.

Overall though, I've absolutely loved my time in River City Girls and it firmly sits alongside Streets of Rage 2 as a favourite of the genre. Cannot wait to grab 2 in due time (and maybe even Zero if I'm feeling up for it)!

Just finished Monster Hunter Stories 2 last night here are my thoughts:

Amazing game and basically a step up in almost every way from the first
I loved all of the QoL features introduced that made gameplay more seamless
Like being able to collect items while moving, catavan from anywhere and by FAR the biggest improvement gameplay wise was the Gene system. The fact that they let you pick where you put your genes automatically made it so you cut most of the bs from the other game.
While the story was a bit generic and straightforward it was still entertaining voice acting with actual languages and not gibberish enhanced the emotions I feel. Although there were some moment where Navirou was annoying but thats honestly it in terms of characters being annoying, Kyle basically being a repeat of Chevals character arc but imo executed a bit better.
And no Debli also gives this game huge points.
I prefer this story over the first because it was a bit less goofy and took itself more serious while also giving you a good balance of comedy in between.
The villains where also cooler being enemy riders AND hunters which made it more interesting instead of the goofy scientist from last game.
Gameplay was mostly the same but with more refinements i feel, tho I wish combos came back tho and the balancing with weapons could've been better, like how theres no reason to use gunlance for example.

The performance issues were also a bit disappointing but thankfully it was only major in Rutoh and the rest were few and far between, tho slightly noticeable, the game is still gorgeous regardless.
Flying also felt a TON smoother and less clunky.
A slight problem I have with the story is that it felts like a sequel and reimaging of the franchise at the same time with the constant callbacks to the first but at the same time some retcons like Avinia's character arc.
It feels like you can mostly play this game by itself but at the same some scenes will hit harder only if you played the first game. But it's still a well told classic shounen like story that delivers a satisfying journey and conclusion.

Oh yeah I also miss that you can't change monster elements anymore
Don't see any reason why they removed them.
Also sidetrack the OST is a banger, there were so many good tunes whether it just be from the overworld or in tense moments like in boss fights, ESPECIALLY the final boss.

Overall this game was great and glad I gave this series another chance.
It's still the best pokemon game on the Switch.
I rate it a 9/10
And if any of you are curious it took me 80 hours to beat.
Can't wait for either DLC or for it's inevitable sequel since this sold well.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
I completed the main story for the first time yesterday. I'd maybe completed about 1/3 of the game on PC over the years. Still a great game after all these years, but the port is embarrassingly bad at times, and the cartridge is even worse. I relented early last week as the price wasn't going down by much and I really wanted to play Vice City again. I might go for 100% completion, but I doubt I will be as committed with the other games. I've since moved on to GTAIII.

@Taceus
To be honest if you did not like Luigi's Mansion 2's gameplay, I could not really recommend you Luigi's Mansion 3, even though I think it is a big improvement. The gameplay itself is not even that much different if I remember correctly. Everything simply feels more fluid and there are new gadgets. What I like is that 3 moves away from the mission structure of 2 and instead of five areals has the big hotel with many themes. I can take my time in 3 because there is no time limit to get a three star rank, which is a big improvement for me. But the biggest part why I heavily prefer 3 is the atmosphere and no one would contribute this to the gameplay I guess.

If you have NSO the online part of Luigi's Mansion 3 could be interesting for you. With a good team it is surprisingly fun to hunt together.

@Jhena I appreciate the explanation, thank you. I suspected LM3 might not appeal to me and you confirmed it.
Oh well, plenty more games in the library.

de Blob and Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Still trying to chip down my backlog before buying a bunch of games for the holidays.

Pac-Man World Re-Pac for the Switch is 100% finished. It is good enough. The original Pac Man is a nice bonus for beating the game.

I finished AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative, which was pretty good. It didn't have the same impact the first one did, but it was still a fun ride. I like the new characters like Glen, Tama, and Andes Komeji. Felt and looked better than the original, as well.

I will say the action scenes are pretty terrible. You have to shut down your brain for you to get any enjoyment from them. Add in the fact that they have QTEs and a lame track playing; it felt like torture.

The writers need to understand that they don't have to be over the top to be interested or engaging. They have the tone and characters; they need to calm down.

Finally got around to finishing Kirby and The Forgotten Land, after getting distracted with a return to XBC3. Easily my favorite Kirby game of all time and I hope they continue making Kirby games in this style going forward.

I just beat Metroid Prime to celebrate its 20th anniversary. I swear that game gets better and better every time I play it. I constantly pick up on new things that find new ways to optimize my time. It's just so good.

I bought Super Kiwi 64 for the Switch with the gold points I had stored and 100% finished it. The gameplay is surprisingly fun and the music is really good. I propably would have enjoyed the game even more without the weird and dark stuff.

Edit: Today I beat Andro Dunos 2. I did not know how much fun Shoot Em Up's are. It is a difficult game and I only managed to beat it because I played on the easiest difficulty, but at least I managed to reach the last stage on the normal difficulty. The music is cool too. I will try a few more times to beat the normal difficulty.

Finally beat the first Danganronpa last night. I enjoyed it for what it was, although I do wish there was more gameplay stuff outside the trials. The story was cool. At first I thought some of the characters they chose to keep alive were odd choices, but thinking back on it the ones that maybe would have been better greatly enhanced the story by the way they died. The ending was obviously kind of disappointing just because you don't really find out the truth, and then the after-credits cliffhanger, but I guess maybe the second game fixes that? Overall, glad I finally got to play this game I've heard so much about, and if I can beat Octopath Traveler before the series leaves Gamepass I'll move on to the second one.

I beat Splatoon 3. Yeah, they really found their groove with the campaign for these games since the Octo Expansion. And especially when done with a main campaign with an overworld, its pretty clear how much better this is than the first 2 games' campaigns. The only issue I had is that certain aspects were also either Octo Expansion lite or too easy, until the handful of huge jumps in difficulty.

Though I do still wish the post-apocalyptic adventure they hinted at at first happened. I dunno if a full on adventure instead of separated stages will work as well, but I think its worth a shot.

Asterix & Obelix The Ram From Hibernia is a good Asterix & Obelix game for the Switch. It is simple fun. A few little puzzles here and there and mostly beating up romans, the usual. The charme and humour is there and the atmosphere is very positive and gives a warm feeling. A lot of the music tracks are really beautiful.

By the way I used up almost all of my remaining gold points in the eshop and got Star Ocean First Departure R. It is discounted for the next ten days and costs 8,39€. I really like it and thought maybe someone else is interested in a cheap jrpg. As far as I know there is only the digital version on the Switch anyway.

Finally got around to beating Ristar after playing it on and off for the better part of a year!

What a delightful retro platformer. Levels are immensely creative, Ristar himself is an utter joy to control, bouncing up and down and all around the stages, and the music is quintessentially Mega Drive with some absolutely wonderful tracks. It's not the hardest game in the world but anyone who enjoys 2D platformers should definitely give this a go. 8/10, would definitely recommend!

So I finally ‘beat’ beat the main campaign in Splatoon 3, well over a month after I thought I’d beaten it. It’s probably not too much of the spoiler to say that there’s a secret kettle after you finish the final boss, which was apparently too secret for me to realise it existed (I think it was mentioned but I was hammering the A button and skipped through that screen).

A friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in years came over and asked me to help him complete it on his game, which is how I found out it existed. We stayed up for much longer than we should have as I played through it on his device, and finally completed it at some ungodly hour in the morning. Then I beat it again today, thankfully in much less time, on my game.

So yeah, Splatoon 3 Hero mode finally beaten (albeit not with all the weapons).

Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS) - Definitely a fun romp with modern Kirby, if not a bit safe at times. I did enjoy this title more than Return to Dream Land. There isn't much to the story mode; a mysterious Dreamstalk appears in Dream Land, and King Dedede is kidnapped by a mysterious figure. Naturally, Kirby gives chase. The game is beautiful and the 3D effect is used well, especially when switching between the foreground and background. The Hypernova ability/gimmick is fun for puzzle solving, and many series copy ability staples return here.

As with other Kirby titles, there are several fun side modes too. Kirby Fighters is a nice Smash Bros. type setup where Kirby knocks around other clones, Dedede's Drum Dash is a fun rhythm game, there's the classic Arena Mode, and Dedede Tour (still trying this one out) is a nice time attack mode where you can play as the King himself!

I have finished the storyline of Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town PS4 but I still have a lot of to do (post game contents).
The Town Hall requests were pretty much challenging and the amount of quantity they asked about were pretty much insane as I have to work hard my butt to get the amount of quantity to finish the request and the rewards were really useful.

I finally basically beat Octopath Traveler. I just finished the eighth and final Chapter 4, completing everybody's story. I know there is a final FINAL dungeon and boss, but I looked it up and it does not look fun or worth it (a 9-fight boss rush that you have to do in one sitting because you cannot save at all? No thanks!) So I consider it beaten and will probably just watch a video of the final boss fight to see how it ends.