Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Got to finish Minish Cap just now. A couple of the bosses were a little too frustrating, but it is a pretty good Zelda game overall. The exploration aspect is awesome, just as I expected, and I did get quite a lot of items from the overworld as I progressed.

High on Life on xbox. What a fun and quirky FPS. Highly recommend it to anyone who can get thier hands on it.

Just beat Advance Wars (the first one) via the Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp remake last night. I say "beat" and not "complete" because there's a bunch of stuff left to do just in that campaign, let alone the sequel, or all the war room stuff.

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with WayForward's update of this game. It's snappy, the writing (while similar) is even funnier in spots, it looks beautiful on the OLED (especially CO power activation animations and cutscenes), and they made a few smart QoL changes that make the game that much easier to play.

Zero Wing on NSO. ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.
I was surprised by the ending, let's say that. Most of the deaths I had were due to the very sensitive controls, but thank goodness for rewind.

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past (3DS) - This one certainly earns the moniker of "one of the longest single player games ever" lol. I finally cleared the main story after 99 hours, though a bit of that was side content and grinding. This amazing, fully 3D remake (And, arguably, the definitive version) almost feels too good for the humble 3DS family; I did encounter some frame slowdown on busier screens in the overworld on my N3DS XL. Typical Dragon Quest fare is present - very little of the normal gameplay loop is changed from other series titles and will feel familiar to fans. Most areas don't have random encounters and instead show enemies on the world map; however, this doesn't always mean much in dungeons with narrow passages. The real addition is the vocation system, basically this game's class system. These are quite fun to experiment with, plus some mastered spells and abilities, depending on class, stick with the characters after they switch vocations.

Plot-wise, VII is decent; it tells its story in vignettes, unlocked by finding fragments and unlocking an island's past, solving a problem, and revisiting it in the present. This is, however, a basic gameplay loop for much of the game and does get a bit same-y after a bit. It fits the pick up and play nature of the 3DS well, and many of the vignettes are entertaining, emotional, and/or unique.

Dragon Quest VII definitely isn't one that I'd recommend as a "first" Dragon Quest title - that honor goes to either V or VIII as of this writing (haven't played XI S yet, which many do recommend) - but it's easily recommended for series fans and those who enjoy experimenting with class/job systems. Even when focusing on the main quest, skipping a lot of text, and ignoring a lot of side content, this one can get long in the tooth. I would call this the definitive version of the game.

@RR529 holy heck that’s the remaster? It looks so clean? What the heck!

I finally beat Danganronpa V3. I'll save my larger thoughts for the Danganronpa thread, but I'll just say I was highly disappointed in the ending. Mostly just glad I finally managed to make it through it, though.

@Snatcher Despite being labeled a "remaster," MPR appears to more of a remake that simply doesn't alter the core gameplay/physics/level design/etc. Not dissimilar to Shadow of the Colossus on PS4. Basically, this is what MP1 would have looked like as a modern gen Switch game. Makes me hopeful for MP4.

@Ralizah I can tell! I was surprised to see it was a “Remaster” considering that everything looks so polished! That’s so cool! I hope Nintendo makes more like these later down the lines,

I recently re-beat Zelda: Ocarina of Time, thanks to a certain Nintendo Life employee streaming the game. (Thanks Felix!). I had a wonderful week or two re-playing it (this time via NSO) and had no trouble beating the dungeons (except for the Water Temple, oh my god how do I miss that key every time...). I certainly have a nostalgia kick for it, as I've played it as a kid, and have beaten it many times - but I don't necessarily understand how easily someone will call it clunky and 'unplayable.' Felix, who has little to no N64 experience, seems to be enjoying himself and getting the hang of it with advice from others. Myself: That was 3D Gaming at the time. And Z targeting was revolutionary. Add the stellar score, the atmosphere, and a wide open world with lots to do and explore...I just can't see it as anything else than a masterpiece. I'm sure I will beat this game again a few years from now (once I've done absolutely everything in TotK.

@Snatcher It's sort of amusing when you consider how cheap this remake is compared to something like Skyward Sword HD at full price. Especially if you factor in that Loftwing amiibo at launch.

@Ralizah Right!? That’s why I’m so baffled it looks like a remake and not a remaster! It’s definitely something they would charge at full price, I’m hoping they’re doing this to test the waters, and maybe hopefully do that when it comes to other remakes and remasters?

Beat a few games since the last time I visited this site, so some of it is not really recently, but I still feel like I should write about it. But I try to make it short.

Pokemon Scarlet: Enjoyed it. Thankfully the framerate did not really bother me but it is pretty bad. It is Pokemon and it is open world. Director Clavell is a great character. I love him.

Dragon Quest Treasures: It is all right but too grindy. The ending was cute.

Triangle Strategy: A great strategy game. Great atmosphere, fun gameplay and good dialogue.. But sadly I did not feel like I had real choices. To me pretty much every choice felt like save your friend or betray your friend. Or I felt like Geralt when he speaks of choosing between one evil or another. The main character seems too noble to choose the really evil choices anyway. I hope in the sequel I can choose between a lazy, a good, a better choice or go the perfect route, and the better the choice the harder the gameplay is.

Digimon Survive: Ouf I did not expect such a depressing game. What were they thinking? Seriously after all these months I still want to keep away from Digimon games. I watched the first hour or so on Youtube and expected a Digimon game with spooky atmosphere nothing more. Boy was I wrong. In hindsight I remember people saying something about psychological horror or something like that on this site. Well of course I had to play the perfect route after the first playthough ( Seriously how could anyone leave it like that?) but the damage was already done. Still this IS a great Digimon game and I felt very, very connected to the characters. Easily my most emotional gaming experience this year. Highly recommend if you like stuff like this.

Clive N' Wrench: Really liked that one. Simple fun and good atmosphere like in the old times.

Kirby's Return To Dreamland Deluxe: It is classic Kirby and I like it.

Spongebob Cosmic Shake: 100% finished. It is good.

Ninja Jajamaru The Great Yokai Battle Deluxe Edition: I think I played one of the NES games when I was very young. The new game is fun but also challenging, like every game in this collection.

Fishing Star World Tour: A simple fishing game. Using the gyro controls is fun. The locations are beautiful.

Cuphead: My favourite game this year so far. It is challenging but in a fun way. Like Dark Souls but without running to the boss after every death. Really lovely visuals and music. The DLC was even more fun thanks to Miss Chalice. Sadly the ending of the DLC was not a complete happy end. I hope there will be a sequel.

Gigantosaurus Dino Cart: Well it is pretty cute and has a very cozy atmosphere. Propably a really good game for kids who just started playing games.

Bee Simulator: I played many weird games this year, this is one of them and I kinda liked it. Definitely a fresh experience.

Curse Of The Searats: The music and atmosphere is really good. The game itself is allright.

Sly 2 and 3 for the Playstation 2: Both games are very good and I 100% finished them.

Mischief Makers for the N64: So much charme. A unique game and I like it very much. I feel like I should go for 100% sometime to get the real ending.

Bomberman 64: A little bit frustrating but I like the music and atmosphere very much. Definitely have to play the sequel. Seems like much more fun.

The Legend Of Zelda The Spirit Tracks for the DS: The game starts really fun but sadly becomes very frustrating after a while. Propably my least favourite Zelda. Still I am glad for the experience. The dungeons and riddles felt quite challenging for a Zelda game. And Zelda was funny and likeable.

Maybe I forgot some games. This year I want to play many Switch Nintendo games I missed and maybe some brutal titles like Bayonetta 3. Will be a great year anyway I am sure of it.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (PS5)

Think this may actually be my first PS5 review here.

General Gameplay:

• A survival horror adventure game that sees you exploring the dilapidated ruins of an old mental hospital, exorcising spirits, solving a variety of light puzzles, and more to progress. The first 2/3rds of the game generally take place across the same 2 building complexes, and features a lot of back & forth backtracking to access a new room or two here & there. The last stretch of the game opens up considerably, albeit through a much more linearly designed environment (not really a complaint, but I don't think the game world was that much, if at all, larger than that of Maiden of Black Water, & IIRC some complaints I remember about that one being that the game world felt smaller compared to it's predecessors. I don't really feel that's the case in this instance though).
  
  Whether it be rhythm mini games, sliding tile puzzles, or even math, you'll have to stretch your brain a bit to progress.
• Although the game world is one large interconnected environment, it's still broken up into 12 story chapters. You'll actually be taking on the role of 3 different characters during your playtime, and as a general rule of thumb your playable character is swapped from one chapter to the next (they all start at different points in the hospital, though in general all the rooms you unlock as one character are unlocked for the others as well once you reach an area you already explored as another character). Also, each character has their own independent inventory & equipment upgrades.
• Of course it does feature those divisive "tank" controls prevalent in the genre, though I don't think they're much of an issue here (at least when it comes to exploration). The most irritating part is probably that you have to shine your flashlight across the environment in order to reveal interactive elements/pickups (the game will give you a general indicator that something is near you), and sometimes the game can be very finicky with how precise you have to be in order to illuminate something (sometimes I had to go over a surface 3 or 4 times before that familiar sparkly glow would appear). Also, there is a slow and long animation involved pretty much anytime you reach out to touch/grab anything. The reason for this is that some items are optional, and in those cases there's a chance that a ghostly hand can reach out & grab you (causing you to permanently lose said pickup) if you don't let go of the button & pull back quick enough. Luckily, these grabs didn't seem to be as common as they were in Maiden of Black Water.
  
  You aren't gonna grab me... and I'm not gonna get a good photo of you.
• The game doesn't include an auto-save function (well it does, but it only activates when you pass by a save point anyways), so you'll have to seek out a save point if you want to save your progress. Luckily there's usually one nearby with how interconnected the environments are, but even when not it's usually not all that dangerous to trek back to the last one if you feel you really need to (most encounters seem to be scripted, so you don't have to be worried about ghost encounters in areas you've already been through unless the story is sending you back that direction again). Save points don't recover your health, but you can spend some of your score (which effects your endgame grade) as currency to buy basic healing items, film, and even alternate costumes/accessories (though those aesthetic items have to be unlocked by gameplay achievements before you can purchase them).

Combat:

• Two of your characters come equipped with a Camera Obscura, your main tool used to interact with the world & exorcise ghosts. When a ghost appears the HUD indicator at the top of the screen will flash either yellow or red (or blue if there's a non-ghost point of interest nearby). If it's yellow, the ghost won't attack you and you can nab some points by taking a picture of it before it vanishes (the harder it is to snap it, the more points it's worth, and these appearances tend to be used as a hint as to where you should head next, so keep an eye on them). If it's red the fight is on. Although you can shave off some health anytime you take a pic, what you really want to do is wait right before you're attacked, that way you can hit them with a titular "Fatal Frame". This deals extra damage & allows you to string together 3-4 total shots in quick succession dealing major damage if you pull it off (and adds a ton of points to your score, especially if you defeat it with one).
  
  Ready to go, though I don't think I'll be able to do much damage here (more on that later...).
• You do have a basic film that has unlimited "ammo", however you can obtain more powerful variants that have limited usage (the lesser of these can be traded for at Save Points, but the most powerful are only very rarely found in the environment so you'll want to hoard them). You can also obtain a selection of various "lenses" for the camera, which when equipped will unleash different special attacks if you have the special guage filled (which refills when you hit ghosts with regular shots/Fatal Frames). Some lenses may slow down a ghost's movement speed, while others take particularly powerful shots.
• The third character comes equipped with a Spirit Stone Flashlight instead of the Camera Obscura. Pretty much it's gimmick is that it can blast ghosts with stored moonlight, and in all honesty is a much more effective weapon than the camera. It only has one type of "ammo" to keep track of (it's infinite, but you have to wait for it to recharge quite a bit if you fire it off in too quick succession) meaning it's strength is generally built to last the entire game from the start and it has a wider area of effect making attacking groups of ghosts easier. Like the Camera it can also be equipped with a number of lenses (one of which allows it to take pictures in exchange for it's offensive capabilities, which is useful in certain scenarios, like snapping the "yellow indicator" ghosts). This is a pretty big departure from how it would go on to be used in Maiden of Black Water's Ayane (from DOA/Ninja Gaiden) campaign, where it could only briefly stun ghosts IIRC.
  
  This auto trophy pic is the only shot I have of Flashlight combat.
• In comparison to Maiden of Black Water, combat in general is a lot more tense, but not always for the right reasons, though there are some upsides too. With a few exceptions the environments in Maiden were a lot wider & there was more going on with the combat system, making encounters much more "gamey" & fun, but ultimately at the expense of atmosphere (especially since lesser "mook" ghosts would often respawn IIRC). Meanwhile there are a lot of encounters in Mask that take place in small or tight areas (like hallways) that make combat a bit more clunky (heck, fighting more than 2 ghosts at a time tends to be a nightmare in general with the Camera, no matter how large the environment. Luckily that doesn't happen too often. Most group ghost attacks tend to happen when you have the Flashlight, which is better equipped for those encounters). That said, as mentioned before most encounters seem to be scripted, so if you do need to trek back to save after a rough patch you won't have to deal with respawning foes.
• I should also mention that there is one ghost you'll occasionally run into who can't be defeated (hard to miss, as the screen will become black & white and all film grain-y), where you'll have no choice but to run to the nearest exit. While it can be surprising when she pops up, like the other encounters in the game I eventually learned these are scripted and you can usually re-enter the room right after you escape with no worries.

Other Gameplay:

• Along the way you'll have the chance to stock up on these Blue & Red "Spirit Stones". Blue ones are used to upgrade the general capabilities of your Camera/Flashlight (attack power, reload time, special attack meter capacity, etc.) while Red ones power up the effectiveness of Lenses. Again, each character has their own inventory, so don't hold back on one character in an effort to hoard for another one, as it doesn't work that way.
• Also, there are these creepy little "Hazuki Dolls" hidden away all across the environment (I assume there's at least one in every single room, no matter how small or insignificant) that you can take pictures of. I'm not exactly sure of their purpose (other than getting a message that it's curse has been lifted whenever you snap one), or what if anything you get for finding them all (I honestly thought I had found the vast majority of them, and while I found over 50 of them, there are more than 70 in total!) You can buy a guide that reveals all their locations at a Save Point, but it would take a huge chunk out of your score so I didn't go for it.
  
  Hey! What are you doing up there?

Story:

• Across your adventure you'll take control of Ruka Minazuki & Misaki Aso, a pair of amnesiac 17 year old girls who were patients of the abandoned hospital when they were younger (and are amongst the few survivors of whatever incident befell it). When the other survivors start dying mysterious deaths, they feel compelled to explore the complex and find the truth of the matter once & for all (they have the Camera). You'll also take control of Choshiro Kirishima, a private detective who found the girls when they were younger during the mysterious incident back when he was a cop, revisiting the site in order to solve the mystery himself (he has the Flashlight).
  Ruka Minazuki
  
  Misaki Aso
  
  I somehow managed to go the entire game without screenshotting the dude, lol.
• Outside of that, most of the lore & narrative is revealed by notes, diaries, recordings & such you find throughout your adventure.
• Apparently there are actually two different endings, with a basic "bad" (or I guess neutral) ending, and a better "good" ending. Whether or not you have to play through the game multiple times to get the good one (screw that) or if there's just something I missed (maybe the dolls? Just a guess though), I don't know.

Graphics/Audio:

• While it's origins as a Wii game become apparent if you get really up close to any textures, it's generally been touched up really well, and the dark grimy atmosphere is both effective at hiding imperfections & being genuinely unsettling. Seriously, even when I was fairly certain nothing was going to happen, the atmosphere is good at keeping you on edge. Plus there are a handful of jump scares (like a mannequin turning to stare at you the first time you point your camera at it, and only the one time) that are really fun, even if they are few & far between.
• Whether it be derelict operating rooms, subterranean caves, and ancient shrines, there are a lot of creepy environments to explore (though the starting hospital areas are the creepiest, IMO).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Our lovely leading ladies showing off some not so lovely environments.
• It has super effective audio design too. Whether it be ambient moans, scratching, creaking & more, or the sudden piercing sound of a phone ring or intercom system, it's constantly unsettling. Probably one for earphones, though I'm too much of a sissy, lol.

Overall:

• Pretty solid time if you know what you're getting into. Yes, it's a bit clunky which is common for survival horror (especially of it's time), but it has a highly effective atmosphere that oozes dread & stayed with me when I went to bed at night (especially when I was playing it late). Plus, I can't dislike a game that includes swimsuit costumes too much, lol (though the costumes pictured are the DLC swimsuits, I never met whatever conditions were required to unlock the base game swimsuits). With the Maiden port & this remaster releasing in relatively close proximity, I hope that means they're planning on doing more with the franchise soon.
  

Today I beat Donkey Kong 64. It is a good game full of Donkey Kong charme. The music is cool too. I am so glad the DK rap was not forgotten. This is legit rap. Reaching 101% was really challenging at times (Beaver Bother) and beating the endboss took me like two hours. Definitely a momorable boss fight. Well it was worth it.

I just beat Pocket Witch. I mean, I guess I also just started it, it's a very short game. Cute little game, though I wish it had lasted longer than 30 levels. Kind of basic 'one room platformer where you jump around enemies and spikes' type game. It was pretty easy but I enjoyed it because I just love double and triple jumps. The game lets you jump and then do an air dash in a variety of angles and then jump again which gives you some really interesting speed run tactics. I'll probably rate it 6/10; not amazing, but an enjoyable time.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and with it the whole Castlevania Advance Collection.
That was a fun ride, though I have to admit to having to look up a guide as to where the heck to go next.
I'm convinced that if the graphics had any higher resolution, someone would've slapped the game with an R-rating over some of the enemy designs.
And I'm still chuckling about that ducky in the succubus bath.

Super Mario Galaxy (Switch/Super Mario 3D All-Stars) - An excellent 3D Mario platformer that was well worth the revisit; it's tied as my favorite 3D Mario with Super Mario Odyssey. It has been years since I last played the Wii original, so parts of this revisit did feel quite fresh. The gameplay is fun and intuitive, the controls don't feel nearly as floaty/janky as the other two games in the SM3DAS package (ESPECIALLY Sunshine....), and this game has what I consider to be one of the best plots in a Mario non-spinoff. I played docked with a pro controller most of the time, which was fun and intuitive outside of the ball balance levels. They're infrequent enough that I accidentally sent Mario careening off the stage to his death more than once. XD Rosalina is still the best princess IMO. The only thing that occasionally bothered me were the fixed camera angles....We were spoiled by Odyssey in this regard.

Overall, Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing Mario game and is well worth playing for anyone who likes the red, portly plumber. It's arguably the best game in the entire Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. Though the music collection is certainly worth owning too.

To The Moon (Switch) - A short, story-heavy game with light puzzle elements. You play as Doctors Eva Rosalene and Neil Watts, contracted to give people the chance to live out their dreams...but only in their heads. Due to the operation's severity, this must be done on the patient's deathbed. This game is story-driven first and foremost, with little in the way of gameplay outside of puzzles, through simple player input, that unlock the next area. However, the plot is emotional, melancholic, occasionally slightly funny...in short, worth experiencing. The pixelized visuals are endearing if one likes the art style, though it's fairly easy to detect its RPG Maker XP roots.

Definitely for those who want to experience a short, dramatized story that can easily be consumed in an afternoon or two. Light on gameplay, heavy on the feels. I do hope to pick up its sequel, Finding Paradise, in the next sale.

@Tyranexx I would suggest the third game Imposter Factory in the To The Moon series as well when you get to it, although annoyingly it hasn't been ported to Switch yet.

@FishyS I appreciate the heads up about Impostor Factory. I was aware of another game that bridges both To The Moon and Finding Paradise - called A Bird Story - but not that one. I will pick it up in time. Maybe by then it'll receive a Switch port?