Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

@Dogorilla @kkslider5552000 Funnily enough, Metroid Prime: Federation Force is next up for me on 3DS. From what you've said and a few reviews I've read too, it doesn't really deserve the hate it gets. The criticism seems to be more that it's not a bad game, just a bad Metroid game. I'm almost going in blind given the only Metroid I've played was a bit of Prime Corruption on Wii, so that might be a good thing in this case

Beat Final Fantasy 7 the other night. I went into it thinking it was pretty much overhyped for what it was. I still think it is overhyped- but I genuinely think the game is good on its own merits. The story is interesting as it breaks away from a lot of the conventions that Final Fantasy had at the time, and I genuinely think that a lot of the twists were well thought out. There's one twist in particular that no one really talks about, which ended up blowing my mind. Playing Crisis Core now, and I'm going to play Rebirth after that.

Pepper Grinder. Overall really fun little experience. I loved the majority of it except some minor parts that were just way too tough and grueling. Overall, worth the asking price and glad I tried it out.

Beat Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and I am glad it is over. I should have listended to my gut feeling, when I watched the first trailers. Too many mixed feelings about this game. There is great stuff to love, but also so much to dislike. In the end, the game is just too cold and feels too negative for me, like I am just playing to escape a nightmare.

Even more than before, I am sure now, that I very much dislike drama and sadness, but there is one thing I have in common with Z , and that is, I hate this world, that is so full of sorrow and pain, but I am glad I helped destroy it with the group, to escape this nightmare.

Now that I have beaten the fears and negative emotions , there is no reason for me anymore, to play a Xenoblade game again (and most jrpgs) , because that is what is awaiting me in their worlds.

So I will go towards the future now, where I can smile everyday and feel good vibes.

Finished Pokemon TCG on the Gameboy for the third or so time. Looks like this might become an annual or near-annual things at this point...

Fun little game, and the main way I've personally got to experience the TCG (I'm not familiar enough with the newer sets, nor do I want to shell out the money to get into the card game proper).

That said, I really noticed this time how much RNG affects the experience. Ignoring the randomness of using a deck of cards (there are ways to effectively navigate your deck, despite the large component of chance), so much in the game comes down to coin flips. It can be quite frustrating really.

Kirby's Dream Land 1+2 (Gameboy NSO)
Both games are enjoyable, but I quite prefer the first one. The gameplay feels more fluid and I think Kirby without abilities and without being able to mount friends, is more fun. Also the minibosses are too repetetive in 2. And I think 1 has better atmosphere, maybe even music.

1 must have been a great game for kids, when it released. I think I might even buy it and replay it, some time.

Elechead - cute little puzzle platformer where you are a robot with an electric head you can toss around. Unlike many games like this, the puzzles aren't completely segregated rooms and some of them mix in well with running and jumping quickly; it also has a touch of metroidvania since it is all one area. The game does an excellent job at teaching you mechanics naturally as it goes along. Only about 2 hours long. My only quibbles is the first ending is a bit confusing to locate and at one point I somehow fell into either a really weird secret or out of bounds and got stuck in an empty room, but there are checkpoints everywhere so it wasn't a big issue. Overall very fun game. I give it a solid 7/10 (NintendoLife gave it 8/10 which also seems fair).

I finally beat Tears of the Kingdom. I have no idea what to say about this game, which took more than 200 hours of my time, apparently.

Let me start with a nitpick, but the actual story ending did nothing for me. The story and voice acting were generally better than the first game but when it comes down to the core story, there is an element of...boring to it. "We are hero characters, we must defeat dark evil, protect Hyrule", I dunno, I just feel like even a lot of past Zelda games knew how to do this type of basic storytelling without making it feel so much like baby's first story. Even OOT was able to make this sort of thing feel like there was something more to that. Again, nitpick, but it was the last thing I saw from this game and this series can do so much better. I'm still waiting for another Zelda to again live up to the best parts of the stories of Majora's Mask or Wind Waker or Link's Awakening or even Skyward Sword in that regard (I will say, what Zelda does when you unlock all the memories got kinda close to that)

But overall, the game was awesome because BOTW is awesome and Zelda is awesome in ways that most games could never be. My feelings on it otherwise are almost exactly the same as the Mario Galaxy games. In the sense that while the 2nd game is bigger and probably better, the 1st was so novel and fresh and new that I don't think its even fully possible for a 2nd game similar enough to be as good. But Mario Galaxy 2 is still fantastic and so is this game. And I did love the exploration of this game more overall, the use of the sky and underground and how they connected kept things fresh compared to BOTW, even with the samey elements to it. And there were some real improvements I appreciated and the dungeons got better basically each time I got to them, to the point that the last one I played risked living up to past games. And I still put so much time and didn't feel half the level of exhaustion I did with Xenoblade 2, so it was nice to see that it wasn't purely time spent that dragged that experience for me.

I will get back to it to do certain things, mostly the remaining shrines. But until then, happy to be done playing super long games for the next 6 months.

It's not often I write long posts in this thread anymore, but this is one of my exceptions.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey (3DS) - I wasn't expecting this one to take as long as it did - ~58 hours - but I did some grinding in BJJ, and BIS has a TON of enemies towards the game's end. Overall this was a pretty fun package, though I think the game was over hyped to me; I thought I'd enjoy it as much as Superstar Saga, but that wasn't the case.

Plot-wise, BIS starts out well: interesting inciting events related to the Blorbs, Fawful 's glorious return ("I have chortles!"), an insane Mushroom Kingdom takeover plot that actually works, and some unique new characters like Starlow, Dr. Toadley, and Midbus. There's some really entertaining writing and decent music too. Best of all, this is a RPG that actually focuses on Bowser!...or would if it wasn't so inconsistent about when he is featured vs. manually locked out of gameplay. The Bros. are back and as fun to play as ever, even if Bowser doesn't technically know they're working together. The problem is, I feel the plot really fell off after the first Midbus fight. Heck, I even forgot about the Blorbs until the game makes the Bros. collect the three star cures.

Most of my issues with the main game are admittedly nitpicks:

• As mentioned above, the inconsistent plot and pacing
• Being inside Bowser's body is interesting, but I do wish the actual Mushroom Kingdom had been more fun to navigate, at least compared to the unique BeanBean Kingdom
• I didn't mind some of the mini games while inside Bowser to help augment his abilities, but some of these become very repetitive (thankfully the VERY annoying one for giant battles is skippable after so many attempts), and on that note....
• I wasn't a fan of giant battles, namely due to the forced use of touch controls, how long it takes them to load, especially when failing (Tower of Yikk was horrible about this; I think this one took me 45 minutes), and that there was no left-handed option (Which was supposedly in the original game?)

The final boss sequence was pretty fun and incorporated both Bowser and the Bros. It beat out the two previous fights that I thought might be the final.

Bowser Jr's Journey is an entertaining side mode that runs almost concurrently with the main campaign. It features Junior and the Koopalings + Kamek as they try to first cure the Blorbs on their own terms (turns out Blorbed Goombas are a thing too) and then eventually take back Bowser's castle from the BFF ("Best Fitness Friends") mercenary trio hired by Fawful. The dialogue is entertaining, and the plot is somewhat predictable, but I can't deny it's neat to see Bowser Jr., an underused character in most Mario titles, get some nice character development.

There are better strategy games out there, but BJJ is still a nice distraction. Unit placement is crucial, both when it comes to formations and the attack triangle in use (Melee > Ranged > Flying > Melee). The player can also influence special attacks by placing the same units near each other - allowing for stronger specials - and reacting to button prompts when appropriate. Different commands by both Junior and his chosen second-in-command can also turn the tide of battle by causing damage, buff allies or debuff enemies, heal, etc. The battles feel more balanced than the Bowser's Minions portion of the Superstar Saga remake, and there's also less grinding; dismissing some units will cause them to drop an Exp bean that can then be used to boost a remaining unit of the same type. I never finished Bowser's Minions, but I saw Bowser Jr's Journey through to the credits. And there IS post-game content too.

Overall, this remake - unnecessary though parts of it seem - is a decent package. But there are a few issues that keep it from being truly amazing IMO.