Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Since i'm here, I finished Astal on Saturn about 4 weeks ago. Lemme tell ya, it was not smooth sailing. Usually the US version is more difficult due having three life points. Meaning 3 hits and "YOU'RE OUT!" kind of game over. the JP version gives ya 5 life points that help mitigate the difficulty but not by much.

But the boss fights do force you to use astal's abilities against them. Plus, you gotta have good timing on dodging. but it was worth it. it's an amazing game with great sprite-work and phenomenal music. but the platforming and level design could use some polishing.

Clockwork Knight is far more forgiving by comparison.

@DanijoEX Like you, I'm proud to say that I beat Metroid Prime 2 on Gamecube but yes, you are correct, on Wii the difficulty was lowered. Metroid Prime 2 on Gamecube is hardcore. How did you play Metroid Prime Hunters? What console, what controls? I guess it's much easier to play on a PC emulator. I had that plastic thimble but I got rid of it after it damaged the touch screen of my first Nintendo DS while playing Super Mario 64 DS.

I love the three home console games but I would never blame you for not finishing Metroid Prime Hunters 😁. You are not missing much and the story can be read elsewhere as cutscenes are scarce and really brief.

@Banjo- Yeah, I beat the GC version of Metroid Prime 2. But it felt REALLY fulfilling & it didn't stop me from loving the game any less.

In all honesty though, I would've bought Prime Trilogy but at the time I already had the 2 GC titles & the stand-alone Prime 3. So it wouldn't been worth spending the extra moolah.

But, anyhoo, I basically gave up on Prime Hunters. Funny but true.

@DanijoEX I felt the same, beating Metroid Prime 2 on GC was satisfying! I also have the games separately but the trilogy was like ten pounds on Wii U back when Nintendo was good value LOL.

After beating Hunters I asked myself, what have I done?

@Banjo- I attempted Metroid Prime Hunters on the Wii U VC last fall. I think I made it four missions in before dropping it. The neat visuals (for a DS game), different bounty hunters, and interesting lore couldn't make up for the abysmal controls and repetitive boss fights.

As someone who played the entire Metroid Prime Trilogy (also on Wii U), I REALLY wanted to like this game. It was alright for its time, and perhaps I would've had a better time using an actual DS unit. But at the end of the day, it's just a side story with no bearing on the other Metroid Prime titles...though rumor has it Prime 4 when/if it materializes will change that. In the meantime, I watched a no commentary long play on YT since I at least had to learn how everything turned out. XD

@Tyranexx I don't know how I beat it without the plastic thimble but you are not missing much, honestly. Probably, the Prime nostalgia of my very young self kept me playing. As you know if you watched a playthrough, the cutscenes are scarce and a few seconds long. Sylux's importance is exaggerated. I heard Nintendo saying that they wanted to develop that interesting relationship between Samus and Sylux. What interesting relationship? They don't interact at all. Samus doesn't interact with anybody in Hunters except for the quick battles. I read that he briefly appears in the special endings of Metroid Prime 3 and Federation Force but I don't remember the special ending of Metroid Prime 3 and I refused to play Federation Force. Imagine if Sylux was a woman and hated the Galactic Federation out of jealousy because Samus is better. That would be epic 😂.

All you learn in Metroid Prime Hunters is that all the hunters are going to the same places because they have also intercepted Gorea's telepathic message and they want power and half of the lore files are about Gorea.

Pikmin 4 and Metroid Prime 4 were the two Nintendo games I was more excited about. Pikmin 4 was teased for Wii U and Metroid Prime 4 was believed to be a Wii U game until it was announced for Switch but it will be released for Nintendo's next console at this rate. Pikmin and Metroid Prime are unusual Nintendo franchises, just like Wave Race, they have just a few games but they are original and excellent. Three of my favourite franchises, actually.

@Banjo- Yep, the cutscenes are pretty short and some are used repeatedly. Likely due to the DS's limitations. I believe Samus and Sylux do interact more in Federation Force, but that's based on secondhand impressions. I haven't played FF either. While I don't believe it's a terrible game, its multiplayer-centric focus was a turnoff for me after playing through the single player portion of another multiplayer title - Tri Force Heroes. Zelda fan that I am, I despise that game's single player mode.

IIRC from the MP: H manual, the other bounty hunters have different motivations for what they do, some selfish, some not. Don't think that's expanded on in-game though. I found the Alimbic civilization to be intriguing due to their tech, but a lot of the lore was indeed related to Gorea.

I'm certainly looking forward to Metroid Prime 4 should it ever actually release. XD Pikmin 4...I might try eventually. I played and beat the story mode in Pikmin 3 on Wii U and didn't dislike the game, but I found the AI frustrating sometimes, hated the time limit, and the final boss was an annoying battle of attrition. Didn't help that I played the game long after its release, and one of the updates forced you to use the touchscreen on the Gamepad before you were cleared to change the controls after a bit. This was off-putting since I was a leftie; my hand was obscuring most of the screen until I was finally allowed to change the scheme.

@Tyranexx Was or still are a leftie? i didn't have that issue. I was able to play with the Wii Remote and nunchuk and the GamePad as a map, if I remember correctly.

The only Metroid Prime Hunters lore I remember about the civilisation describes it as advanced just like the Chozo, isn't it? What's written in the manual about the hunters it's not developed in game, that's for sure.

I tried Federation Force but the controls are awful, even on New Nintendo 3DS and the frame rate is not smooth. Mediocre shooter missions with bad controls and frame rate? I can live without it, ha ha.

@Banjo- I still am a leftie. XD I was speaking in the past tense related to that experience. I was able to change over to button controls, but starting out the game that way didn't help with my impressions. Though that was ultimately a footnote compared to the other mentioned issues. Gonna have to take your word on Federation Force; I ultimately passed on it since it was meant to be a multiplayer experience and had heard the single player could be very difficult. Still might've grabbed it if I had anyone to play with locally lol.

The only reason I know what's in the manual is many Wii U VC titles also come with a digital version of the manuals that shipped with the games. Some of them are definitely worth a look. What's in the manual about the other bounty hunters is interesting, but they're ultimately in the game as opponents in single player and as alternative characters in multiplayer....Which is actually what I've heard makes MP:H most worth playing. But yeah, the Alimbic civilization was highly advanced and pretty comparable to the Chozo in some ways.

I just beat two cat-related indie platformers.

cat souls - cute little platformer with 45 short avoid spikes/saws type levels. The main gimmick is that you can platform off your dead soul whenever you hit a spike. Over time they added more gimmicks such as gravity-reversing switches, complicated rhythmic wall swaps where you have to jump at the correct time or get crushed inside a wall, etc. I'd rate it 6/10. It was fun and creative enough it could have easily been an 8/10 game, but it was 1) a bit too short and 2) a bit too barebones — for example you can't revisit levels, there was a timer but it was pretty pointless, etc. Still quite fun while it lasted though.

kitten island - one of the most bare bones type of Mario clone I've played. The controls were fine and the cat noises were cute but every level was extremely easy and samey and there were maybe 18 levels and no bosses. The grass land lasted 10 levels and part way through the ice land it seemed like the creators got bored and gave up. You could beat the whole game in 20 minutes on first playthrough; somewhat longer if you got all the collectables but they are in uninteresting places and nothing happens if you collect them all. 3/10.

@Tyranexx And that's correct, it was a bit of a joke. Pikmin 1 still is my favourite, then 2 and finally 3. The first one is quite challenging but I replayed it and each time I had more days left. I think it's wonderful. The second one has too challenging underground sections. 3 is a bit too easy. I didn't know about those digital manuals, I didn't get any DS games on Wii U. I got some SNES and N64 games on Wii U and some SNES and GB/GBC games on New Nintendo 3DS but they don't have the original manuals but some kind of "Word" document that is different. I will never try to play Federation Force again, the characters feel heavy and difficult to control, the aiming is slow and the frame rate is rough. The missions are boring. I imagine it's very difficult and frustrating in later levels because you restart missions when you fail.

@FishyS I hope that you didn't pay much for Kitten Island after having read that!

The good cat game was $2 on sale. The bad one was $2 full price. Gotta use my gold points on something; I was rolling the dice a bit looking for hidden gems.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5)

Gameplay (Exploration):

• Like it's predecessor, you'll be traversing multiple planets "Metroidvania" style, as they largely comprise of labyrinthine corridors that you'll be able to more thoroughly explore as you progress through the game unlocking new upgrades (both Force powers for Cal, and tech upgrades for your little Droid companion BD-1). Interestingly, you actually start out with most of the upgrades you obtained in the first game (like the double jump), and success requires you to master a new set of upgrades on top of them (such as a grappling hook you obtain early on).
  
• While it doesn't really offer a greater number of planets to explore than Fallen Order, the rotation here is all new, with the game largely centering around Koboh, a planet with an absolutely gargantuan map. While it still has a crapton of labyrinthine places to spelunk, it's noted for an open world-ish area surrounding "Rambler's Reach", a small settlement that has some light town building elements weaved into it (you'll run across people you can invite to live there, who'll open up shops or otherwise renovate buildings, allowing you to nab the chest or what have you stored within). Honestly, first exploring Koboh's open-ish area is a bit of a chore because there's still a bit of the "Metroidvania" puzzlish element of figuring out exactly how to get to where you want to go (which runs kinda counter to the entire idea of an open area, IMO), but once you start unlocking shortcuts and save spots (which act as fast travel points) it becomes much more bearable. Of course, the formula works fantastically once you're in one of the more labyrinthine environments that it was designed around (and make no mistake, most of the game is still designed this way).
  
• Of course, there are lots of things to collect hidden behind platforming or combat challenges & puzzles. The most elusive of these are the max number of Stim Canisters you can carry (healing items, they refill whenever you rest at a save spot), followed by Perks/Perk Slots (equips which grant passive buffs), Force Crystals (rotate between increasing your max health, max Force meter, or just give you a ton of EXP. There seem to be much more of these than you'd ever need to max out your health & Force, 'cause after awhile I'd only ever get EXP dumps from them). There are also Chests (which hold cosmetics, and you can customize everything from Cal, to BD, your Lightsaber, & Blaster) & a bunch of different knick knacks you can trade in at the various shops that open up. Most of these are again cosmetics, but you can get one Stim Canister & a few Perks this way as well). Oh, and if you see a plant swarmed by lightning bugs cut it, as you'll obtain seeds which can be planted in a garden in town.
• Lastly you have Force Echoes (Cal can sort of feel the past of an object/location) & Scans (BD-1 can well, scan stuff) everywhere as well. These are primarily lore dumps which are tucked away in the menus, but each one also nets you a tiny bit of EXP. Force Echoes are easy to spot as they appear as a bluish haze, while BD will beep and jump off you if there's a Scan (or something else he can interact with) nearby, so keep an eye on his actions.

Gameplay (Combat/Growth):

• In order to dispatch foes you'll need to master 5 different Lightsaber stances (in comparison to the 2 of the first game). You actually start out with 3 stances at the start of the game (Single Blade is the jack of all trades, Dual Blade for large groups, and new Dual Wield trades defence for superior offense. You'll also obtain Blaster, which is useful at a distance & Crossguard, which mods your Lightsaber to look like Kylo Ren's and has a slow but very powerful strikes). While enemy types can be more resistant to some styles over others, I mostly stuck with Blaster & Crossguard once I unlocked them & didn't have much of an issue (Oddly, you can only swap between two different styles on the fly, and have to switch out what those are at save spots).
• Luckily you also have a bunch of Force abilities to make use of which might be able to get you out of a pinch if your preferred Lightsaber stance finds you in a tight spot. You can shove foes (sometimes small groups) off the edge of the map, pull & throw objects (and some enemies) at foes, and can even temporarily confuse organic enemies into fighting alongside you, amongst some other tricks (not Force related, but you can also have BD reprogram enemy Droids to fight alongside you. This isn't temporary like confusion on organic life, however it's harder to pull off, and the ability to hack each different Droid type is it's own separate upgrade, some of which can only be unlocked in optional areas). Your biggest ace in the hole is the ability to temporarily slow down everything around you, allowing you the chance to get out of a tight scrape (this ability gets an upgrade late in the game, but to say more would be a spoiler).
• Of course, there are also Skill Trees aplenty in order to increase your repertoire & effectiveness of attacks/powers. They're individually not very large, but you have a Skill Tree for each of your 5 different Lightsaber stances, 3 different Force categories, and 1 Survival category for abilities that don't fall in the others (such as a couple health upgrades). Don't hoard your skill points. Outside of a few options that cost 3 points, most everything is either only 1 or 2 points & if you die you lose your unspent experience & have to defeat the enemy that killed you in order to get it back (unless it was a boss, at which point you just have to walk over the spot where you died).
• In addition to the Skill Trees, you have the aforementioned Perks, which are equips that grant you passive buffs (such as increased damage to an opponent's block meter).
  
• At some pre-determined points you'll be joined by Nightsister Merrin (the "Force Whicraft" user from the first game) or Bode Akuna (a jetpack clad gunslinger) as AI helpers (not unlike Atreus & Freya from the modern GOW games. You don't have to worry about kitting them out & they don't have their own skill trees though). They'll fight by your side and sometimes can be instructed to attack enemies or help you with an environmental puzzle. They'll only ever stay within the bounds of the area they're supposed to help you though, so you'll have to spelunk optional areas by yourself.
• In terms of optional combat/challenges, you'll run optional bosses (some of which are labelled as "Legendary Enemies") which grant you with a ton of EXP once defeated (I didn't have much trouble with these outside of a giant frog that took me forever to beat because it has a OHKO move), as well as Rift Challenges that also grant you a ton of EXP (these will take you to a broken reality, where you'll either have to take on waves of enemies under a certain condition, such as using a specific stance, or are balls to the wall hard platforming challenges that require you to master a medley of your traversal abilities). I think the only Rift Challenge I noped out on was one that wanted me to fight TWO of the aforementioned frog at the same time.

Graphics/Performance:

• I'll get things out of the way and say this can absolutely be a rough experience, and across my 40+ hour playtime I had about 10 crashes (not enough to be debilitating, but enough to be an issue to worry about). First time it happened was while taking a screenshot of all things at the beginning (though this was pre-patch), while all the other times were during times where it had to load up a lot of environmental data at once. Fast travel or riding an elevator were the main culprits, but once I even got a crash after returning to the main map after completing one of the platforming Rift Challenges (it took me at least 20 tries to clear & of course it went unrecorded due to the crash so I had to do it again. I was livid, lol). Also got a few random glitches that kept me from progressing until going back to the main menu & reloading. One was right after you learn to lift & slam objects with the Force, and for whatever reason it wouldn't let me to slam down the platform I needed to in order to progress (though it'd let me do it to other near by objects/platforms). Another time it wouldn't go into "BD Mode" when I needed to (where you can do stuff like use the little guy like binoculars & use some of his puzzle solving abilities). Lastly, there was a time when it wouldn't let me charge up my Blaster shots (this wasn't necessary to progress, but annoying nonetheless).
• Otherwise it was minor stuff like asset/texture pop in (especially when fast traveling or otherwise loading an area), though it wasn't nearly as bad as Fallen Order on PS4 in that respect, and a few framerate issues. Most prominently being near the river at the side of town would cause it to tank, but this was fixed in an early patch. Otherwise I only noticed drops if I was standing directly under a waterfall or during certain cutscenes (and one brief absolute tankage during a segment when a character sets off an explosion in order to distract enemy forces). For reference, I played on graphics mode.
• Otherwise it's obviously a game with AAA production values, with some absolutely beautiful scenery at times, whether you're traversing a verdant forest, desert ruins, foggy mountain pass, military instillations, & more. I'm generally not a fan of the western AAA industry's insistence on making their (human) characters a near 1 to 1 scan of their mocap actors though. I'm of the opinion that, male or female, it's kinda an uncanny & ugly approach all around (and emblematic of their desire to be seen as Hollywood adjacent, "look, gaming's all grown up & we have honest to goodness actors"). IDK, this is gonna sound terrible, but Bode had these little dark specs all over his face that I found to be distracting, lol (that I can't help but think probably would have been covered up with makeup if he was actually in a movie/TV show).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Story:

• Looking for a place to lie low after helping the resistance irritate the Empire in the few intervening years since the last game, Cal ends up on Koboh, a world on the Outer Rim of the Galaxy without much Imperial presence where Greeze (the little four armed alien pilot from the first game) has set up a Saloon. It's not all peaceful though, as a criminal syndicate known as the Bedlam Raiders rules the planet with an iron grip thanks to raiding the military supplies of a crashed Clone Wars era battleship (and repairing the droid army it housed). Soon it's learned that Koboh might hold the answers to finding a route to a nigh impossible to reach planet (a perfect place to hide from the Empire), but it's a race as the Bedlam Raiders want to find it for their own purposes & of course the growing threat of the Empire ever looms in the distance.
• It's not as thrill a minute as Fallen Order (and I'm probably in the minority when I say I preferred the former game's brisker runtime), but it definitely has it's moments. It wasn't that bloated either, despite being longer (I completed every world at 100% other than Koboh & Jedha, and even those are at over 97%, so I did most notable content, optional included & still only hit about 45 hours). Back to the main story though, & THAT moment on Jedha (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've played it) was absolutely exhilarating and the game never quite reaches those heights again (I almost don't know what they were thinking, there's no way the final boss could have ever lived up to what came before, lol).
• I also liked checking in on the residents of Rambler's Reach (most of which congregate inside of Greeze's "Pyloon Saloon") from time to time as you can hear more of their backstories as you progress & revitalize the town. Sometimes they'll give you "Rumors" to check out as well (these are sort of like side quests, but you don't need to speak to anyone to access them, they're just a helpful reminder that "hey, you can check out this area you couldn't before" from the game. Cal will usually even have a different response if you've already checked things out by the time someone gives you the rumor). By far the best side character is Skoova Stev though, a crusty old little alien fisherman who you'll often find by bodies of water who'll nab new fish for the Saloon's fish tank if you talk to him when you see him (plus get more of his wild fish tale backstory). Unfortunately his tale is left unfinished as I never figured out where the last fish is.

Conclusion:

• It still has some technical issues to work out (if they'll ever be fully rectified I don't know), but otherwise it's a worthy followup to the previous game with a lot of nods that'll please long standing fans of the franchise.
  

I wonder if there should be a separate thread for reviews. This thread is kind of half reviews and half just chatting about games. I kind of wish forum reviews like the above could just be linked to the game page.

@FishyS go to the ideas thread and suggest it to Ant.

@Banjo- I was just half tempted to try and hunt down the New Play Control! Pikmin Wii variants, but unfortunately they're pricey even secondhand. I may pick up Pikmin 4 eventually at a discount just to try it; perhaps it'll fix my issues with 3. As for the digital VC manuals, I think some types of VC games got them - I know the DS and GBA games have scans of the manual to peruse. The others, particularly on the 3DS, do have the odd yet concise "Word document" style you describe. With how you describe Federation Force, I'm glad I gave it a pass. Might've still tried it if I knew anyone I could play the game with though.

@FishyS However, this thread elicits comments about those reviews and impressions posted, so it's 50/50. Some people just name the last game they played (on NL and also on PX) and I think it's more interesting when they share their impressions, whether they're short, long, positive or negative. But just saying what you played is not very interesting, e.g.,

I just beat Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection.

What I love about gamers' reviews and impressions is that they are usually more honest than professional reviews and so are the interactions between the writer and the readers.

@Tyranexx

I don't know how good or bad Pikmin 4 will be compared to the others, Nintendo has a recent tendency to casualise games and infantilise gamers, e.g. Super Mario Odyssey. I would like it to have a good amount of content and be challenging and include an easy mode for those that want it. If Pikmin is not a priority for you, you are wise to wait. Too many games to play, anyway.

I'd gladly play Metroid Prime Federation Force with you if we were neighbours but then again, I'd prefer to play any other game 😂.

Super Mega Baseball 4
I suppose it depends on what you'd qualify as "finished". I've played one exhibition game (nine innings) and I'm six games into a thirty-two game season. So, coming off of eBaseball Spirits Pro Yakyuu Spirits, the more arcade-like feel is nice. But there are some negatives.

Screen resolution is slightly muddy. Not the worst I've seen on Switch. The framerate doesn't feel quite consistent at 30fps. Feels more like low to mid twenties.

Not unplayable, but eBaseball Spirits feels much better to play.

Also, I am not a fan of the inconsistent, wiffleball nature of the pitching mechanics. Such as, why does my 4-seam fastball suddenly become a slurve? Again, coming off of the pin-point accuracy of eBaseball Spirits, this feels sloppy and bad.

The silver lining (I suppose) is that opponent AI pitching struggles as much as you do.

Lots of free bases if you're patient.

7/10 - Every pitch is a dice roll. Maybe you'll get what you aimed for, maybe you won't? Who knows?!

@Banjo- I used to write longer reviews in this thread, but that was one of the casualties when I decided to try to spend a bit less time online lol.

A fair answer regarding Pikmin 4 since it isn't out yet. I don't mind challenge in games depending on my mood, but to me there's a difference between "Hard, yet mechanically sound/fair" and "Troll the player as much as possible with cheap enemy/hazard placement (looking at you, earlier Mega Man titles), costly deaths, and/or iffy game design and bad AI". I do support various difficulty settings and modes in games however. I didn't dislike Pikmin 3 by any means; just that I think I was underwhelmed and slightly frustrated by some game design choices.

I appreciate the offer regarding FF, but at the very least I'd have to relocate to the UK first.

@Tyranexx I know what you mean. Hard difficulty with fair mechanics and controls is fine if I'm on the mood. That reminds me of NEStalgia complaints about Tears of the Kingdom regarding controls. Do you remember Metroid Prime 2 battles? Those battles are hard but fair. I have barely played Mega Man games but I know what you mean, the early games seem torture but they have fans that probably grew up playing them and learning every enemy emplacement by heart 😂.