Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

@Pastellioli I got to share on my end. For my own experiences, I’ve had experiences with the n64 and L&R versions and frankly, there’s things I like and dislike in both. See, I somewhat prefer artistic direction in L&R, but I really don’t like that you cant invert the camera. Both banjo and maro64 had inverted cameras on n64 so that’s what I’m used to. I could just ignore L&R and play the n64 version but as I stated, there’s things about it I like and frankly, there’s gameplay annoyances I have across both so it’s not really a huge change for me.

Naturally, I’m going to drop my deeper thoughts on Pure Xbox club, so look forward to that. I was also playing with the Duke. I’ll post pics later.

@Yousef- Can’t wait to see your deep dives of it. I also have played and beat both versions of the game, and I also have some things I like and dislike about both. To be specific, I love the characters and writing of both versions. I like the art style of Bad Fur Day, but think it has a mixed bag of gameplay decisions and sometimes poor level design, and I like Live and Reloaded’s improved gameplay and graphics, but dislike some of the censoring with the language and I am not a big fan of the newer art style, and yet again some of the levels are poorly designed but there are attempts at making them less bad.

I do like the graphics in Live and Reloaded and do think they outdo the original’s graphics significantly. Live and Reloaded’s graphics are so dang great for an OG Xbox game, but I wish the cartoony art style was kept and wasn’t replaced with a more semi-realistic art style, since I think the cartooniness of the original was a big part of the charm, plus a lot of the cartoon elements were either toned down or removed and I think it removes a bit of personality from the game.

Also, if you don’t mind me asking, how far did you get in Live and Reloaded? I’m a bit curious.

@Pastellioli I can definitely tell you more about it. On an unrelated note, I feel it’s more suitable for us to move to our comfort zone back to the chit chat where we can switch topics more loosely. I definitely got a few other things I’d like to discuss.

@Yousef- Sure! If you want to talk about that there we can do that. You can go ahead and talk about Conker more.

Journey (PS3) The Ultimate 'Walking Sim'. I've had this in the backlog for way longer than I should've, especially given it's short length. It still looks and sounds great on PS3 despite its age, although there's not much in the way of gameplay except for a few simple puzzles. I didn't meet any other players during my playthrough, but I'm not even sure if the online is still active for this?

Overall I enjoyed it, although I suspect it's probably lost a bit of impact over the years due to other games since doing similar things.

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim - Reached the end credits earlier this week. The first game to use the self-titled Napishtim engine - think top-down Zelda with jumping and a bit of platforming - gameplay-wise is clunkier than Oath In Felghana and Ys Origin where it was refined. The controls are manageable, and gameplay is (generally) fun and fast-paced as expected for a Ys title. But the Dash Jump is very hard to successfully execute and is almost necessary for some items. Later games handled this better with equippable items. The game also doesn't hold your hand; it is easy to die even on the lowest difficulty setting (Normal mode) without some grinding. Ark of Napishtim has one of the better Ys plots on account that some overarching lore from previous games is finally connected together. There's some great writing and characters to be found here too, as well as the Falcom Sound Team's amazing music.

In short, Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim is worth playing, especially for series veterans or those wanting a challenge. However, its age, general difficulty, and lore all make the game very hard to recommend as a first title. It is also only on PC as of this writing. I'd recommend more modern entries or even the two later Napishtim engine games over it first.

I finally beat Golf Story. Definitely late on that one.

I did enjoy it but it took a long time to get into the comedy, when I think they really wanted this to be really funny. And even at its best, its merely funny enough. Which isn't a massive deal but most of my opinion is that this is a very good golf video game but in a way where most of it is just what I would've expected. So it being a comedy game kinda stands out. Except for some of the scenarios as it goes on and how far it goes with a couple of its level themes. That's the best part of the game, the more surprising and weird moments. But most of the game is just...a good golf game. One of several games this year that I think will only just barely make my favorite games list. Just great enough that I did thoroughly enjoy my time with it, but with enough issues that made it avoid being something I fully loved.

Darksiders Warmastered edition is done again

It is an epic journey, and I hope that they kill it with the next game. Or maybe the one after that. I say that because the next game will be reserved specially for Strife, and I want to have another game after that featuring all 4 horsemen as playable characters!

War's journey took 656 screenshots (I have started journeying my playthroughs by making screenshots of places, achievements, trophies, boss battles etc.)

On to Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition (Switch)!

Super Mario 3D Land. Actually really close to getting the secret level.

World of Warcraft Mist of Pandaria Remix. With only 4 days left of this I feel that I have done all I that I wanted to do. I did finish the campaign on my Troll Paladin which I enjoyed alot. MoP was always one of my favorite expansions, so playing through it again was a pleasure. I did like the Remix portion of it mainly the accelerated leveling which helped alot. Speaking of leveling I was able to get several characters to max level, a Troll Paladin, a Nightborn Shadow Priest, a Blood Elf Death Night, a Goblin Mage, a Tauren Enhancement Shaman, an Orc Hunter and a Forsaken Warrior. I also managed to get all the mounts as well so after all that I am calling it finished and beat.

Now on to The War Within.

After months of playing...finally beat Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I do have my complaints (mostly regarding the pacing of the game, and a large portion of the minigames), but...wow, this is pretty much everything I could've asked for out of this title. They managed to take Remake — which was already my favourite game in the series — and expand the scope massively in terms of storytelling and gameplay. I absolutely adore the main cast of characters, and the battle system is one of the most engaging I've ever encountered in an RPG.

Shame it's so long. Can't see myself every replaying this one again. But I can absolutely see it being my favourite game of the year.

I just beat Final Fantasy 1 the other night. It was a pretty fun game. Pretty barebones in terms of story and general idea- but I still found it to be enjoyable. Heard Stranger of Paradise sort of fills in a lot of gaps that the original game had- especially when it comes to villain motivation.

Spyro 2 via the Re-Ignited Trilogy. I still have a ways to go before I do everything, but I rolled the credits last night.

While it's a solid evolution of the original game, I... kind of miss the original's atmosphere and simplicity. Unlike the original, I never played this on the PS1, so it was a totally new experience for me.

Very, very good, still. The main villain is fun as well. My only real complaint is that the second boss is weirdly hard. WAY harder than the final boss. Took me almost twenty tries to beat him (versus beating Ripto on my second try, and the first boss on my first try).

Unlike the original, which had very open, windy, exploratory levels, most of the levels here are far more streamlined and have an explicit flow to them because of the way each one is structured around a miniature narrative. To make up for the less challenging level design, the sequel throws in a butt-load of mini-games and optional challenges to flesh out the levels. You also get these challenges in-game for each level, like beating it in a certain time (which is absolutely brutal for the Flight levels), destroying all of a certain type of enemy, not taking damage from a boss, etc.

Locked it to 45fps on my Steam Deck OLED and it runs perfectly with gorgeous visual quality.

@Buizel Ugh. I really don't want to buy a PS5, but I'll admit, waiting for FF7 Rebirth has been challenging. It sounds like almost everything I want from a modern FF game. Shame it seems to have not sold terribly well.

I know it'll probably be on PC next year, which is what I'm waiting for, but it's not easy to ignore in the meantime.

Thankfully, my backlog is massive and I already don't have enough time to play all the games I'm interested in.

@Ralizah At risk of going into my usual rant about PlayStation this generation...I think you're right to skip the PS5. The most use I've got out of it since launch is Ratchet and Clank and Rebirth. The former is already on PC, and it's only a matter of time before the latter is too. And it sounds like FF7 part 3 might be multiplatform based on news from S-E this year...

It is certainly worth the wait though IMO. I think the trilogy will be looked back on as the JRPG of a generation (alongside Persona 5), much like the original.

On Spyro (as I adore the original trilogy and Reignited) - I relate to several points. I think 2 may be the fan favourite but, while great, it is my least favourite of the trilogy. I prefer Spyro 1 for being a simpler/"purer" collectathon, and I don't think 2's formula was fully realised until 3 (have you played 3 at all?). Also yes, that second boss is probably the most difficult thing in the game!

Also must throw in my endorsement for the Switch port. Obviously there are some graphical compromises, but the game still looks and plays fantastic, and it really feels at home on the Switch. I can only imagine how it is on Steam Deck!

@Buizel Exactly. Why would I want to pay $500 for the privilege of having early access to Astro-Bot and FF7 Rebirth when I have a million other games to play anyway? It'd be different if Sony still believed in exclusivity, but virtually everything on PS5 other than Astro's Playroom will end up on PC (not sure about Demon's Souls at this point).

Ratchet and Clank reportedly runs really well on Steam Deck, even, which is wild to me.

Yeah, the exclusivity period for Rebirth is shorter than it was for Remake, Squeenix is moving away from making exclusivity deals going forward, and even Epic has said that their exclusivity deals were a waste of money, so that all points toward the very real possibility of a Steam release for Rebirth next year! <3

Did you play FF16? Curious what your opinion on that is, if so.

I only played Spyro the Dragon on PS1, so Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon are new for me. A lot of people actually point to the third game as the best in the series, so I'm curious to try it once I complete the second game fully. Spyro is my favorite fifth gen platformer, and re-experiencing it with more comfortable controls has been lovely.

Nice to hear about the Switch port! Spyro 2, at native 800p on the deck, runs about 60fps 95% of the time on low settings. It can also run at 30fps on Ultra settings, but it feels so much less smooth, and, to be frank, jacking up the graphics does almost nothing to the visual quality on a screen that small due to the art-style. It runs at low settings at a locked 45fps, which feels similar to 60fps for me on the Deck OLED's 90fps screen, so I leave it there for perfect performance and to improve the battery life somewhat.

I was originally gonna grab Spyro for the Switch years ago, but I couldn't pass up a deal that gave me both the Spyro and Crash Bandicoot collections on PC for $15 (to be clear, $15 for both at once). But I don't play non-handheld games as often, so I passed on them for years. Lo and behold, the Steam Deck OLED! I completed the Bandicoot games earlier in the year, and now I'll be completing Crash (and probably going for all achievements, since, unlike Crash Bandicoot, the first game isn't actively terrible).

@Ralizah I haven't played FF16 actually - partly because it looked a bit too Western for my tastes, and partly because of Yoshi-P's involvement (and, from what I gather from online discourse, my main criticisms of FF14 also seem to hold true for FF16). Outside of Remake/Rebirth, I've also not truly loved a mainline FF since 10. That said, I'm open to trying it (I think there's a demo?), but I'm frankly not that interested tbh.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Year of the Dragon in that case. It's true a lot of people (such as myself) appreciate it for taking 2's formula to the next level...but I think equally a lot of people think it took things a bit too far in that direction.

In the past month I finished

Pokemon Scarlet along with the DLC
Gotham Knights
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Replaying the sequel now)
A Hat In Time

Zelda Skyward Sword HD. For not being a Zelda guy it ended up being a really fun game. It had a little bit of a slow start for me but once I got the hang of things then I found myself pretty invested until the end. I stuck with the controller option for controls and even with that there were times it would frustrate me but overall it sufficed. I'm glad I randomly picked it up.

I just never got into the whole Zelda thing. I always respected it especially since it can be religion for the fanbase. I wouldn't even call myself a 'normie' because the last game Zelda game I actually played and beat was Ocarina of Time 3DS. Same exact scenario I picked it up randomly due to the re-release hype. Same thing of starting out slow but once I got invested then I was all in to completion. Being 40 years old I was there for even the NES Zelda games, Link to the Past era, and especially the original N64 Ocarina and man was that groundbreaking, yet it didn't blow up my skirt at the time so I mainly just watched a friend play it cause he was obsessed with it. I don't know the series just never grabbed me. Even after finishing Skyward Sword and being very satisfied I still have zero point zero interest in continuing on with others in the series especially Breath Wild and/or Tears Kingdom. Oh well maybe I'll randomly pick one of those up 10-15 years down the road and do this speech all over again

Darksiders 3 is beaten for a third time Now I have completed the main trilogy on the Switch

It is the shortest of the 3 games.

I might play Genesis but not now.

@Buizel Definitely will tag you when I get to Year of the Dragon!

I've been off FF since XIII ruined the series, but FFVII Remake was such a breath of fresh air for me, and easily my GOTY for 2020. I'm super excited to have the opportunity to play it on PC, considering it seems like an improvement on Remake overall, and is probably the closest we'll come to a new FF title capturing the magic of the older games.