Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

Just beat Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. I thought it was excellent. Beautiful art and animation with fast, fluid movement and combat, which is really all you want from a Shinobi game. I feel the developers must’ve been heavily inspired by Muramasa: The Demon Blade as the combat felt quite similar, with the air juggles and whatnot. I enjoyed the game overall, I did have a few gripes however,

The camera felt way too zoomed out for most of the game. I mostly played on my tv, but trying to play in handheld mode, Joe is literally a tiny speck in some stages. It just seemed unnecessary, and made it hard to fully appreciate the excellent animation.

I loved the two chase levels, one where you’re riding the giant dog, and the other a rocket propelled surfboard, both callbacks to Shinobi III. They felt kinda half-baked though. They just end abruptly, without so much as a boss fight.

Some of the boss fights felt a bit underwhelming. You’re mostly facing human sized opponents, whereas I’ve always loved the giant screen filling bosses like Mecha Godzilla, and that big mutant thing from Shinobi III. The boss in the laboratory level in AoV isn’t half as cool.

Lastly, I didn’t initially like the open ended, almost metroidvania-like stage design of many of the levels, there were a couple instances where I wasn’t sure where to go which broke up the flow of the game. However, having beaten the game, it is kinda fun to go back and explore the levels, finding all the secrets I missed.

Anyway, gripes aside, I thought it was a worthy addition to the series. Between this and the recent Ninja Gaiden, it is a good time to be a ninja fan indeed!

High on Life Switch 2 version.

Completed the store in 20 hours. I enjoyed it. The Mr Giblets boss was quite clever & funny, and they were clearly voiced by Keven McDonald from the show Kids in the Hall, which was great. The second to last boss Nipulon sounded like Dr Venture from The Venture Bros tv show because they were voiced by James Urbaniak who does Dr. Venture's voice.

Encountered a crash leading to the final boss, but rebooting resumed where I left off. So, it wasn't a big deal. Also encountered a bug after beating the final boss. But loading Last Checkpoint resolved the issue no problem. I didn't have to re-fight that battle.

I came to enjoy how detailed the futuristic city locations are. And they've got hidden Luglox loot chests to search for.

Side note, you can reduce the voice acting occurrence in the game if you get tired of non-stop improv voice acting. I used that setting after about three hours into the game.

I finished Donkey Kong Bananza last night! I had a good time with it overall, and I liked it a lot more than Donkey Kong 64. I like the exploration aspect of finding banandium gems and fossils, and the bananza transformations are cool. Some of the music is fantastic, and I do love its overall style... it's always reminded me of Super Mario Odyssey in that way.

The game can be a little overwhelming for me though, with how much areas you could punch through and how I'd sometimes forget a few certain controls. The camera can be a bit iffy at times and I don't like how you'd automatically climb or leap over things by just moving with the control stick, but other than those, I thought it was a very good game.

(Final boss spoilers.)

@Hapless Thanks! Yeah that'd be cool, Donkey Kong kind of got the short end of the stick during the Switch 1 generation, Tropical Freeze and Returns HD was all there was. But I still want a new 3D Mario! Ouch, that must have been unpleasant. My thumb would get tired a couple times from all that button tapping, but that's really it. Even then, it was only when I pressed the punch buttons rapidly.

I just beat Hogwarts Legacy Switch 2 edition. I must say it was an excellent game. I would highly recommend the game to anyone who likes Harry Potter or RPG's. I would give it a 9 out of 10 as I really liked it.

Finished the story of Tails in Sonic Adventure. It was nice to see Tails save the day.

Wrapped up Huntdown (Switch) last weekend. What a fun game! So much fun and challenge (some of those bosses really can be annoying!) for a game that looks like it's on the SNES. I keep saying it over and over. Indie studios are keeping the real spirit of gaming alive! I have no desire though to 100% each level though. Besides killing a certain number of enemies and finding all the "stashes", you have to complete each level without dying. Seems simple but some of those bosses will be soul crushing.

Okay, now I beat Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast) for real. Every character played a little bit different and I liked it. Froggy fishing was really weird but still fun. Beating every story to unlock the last part of the game was worth it. The ending was satisfying. Now I really want to play Adventure 2. I watched so many longplays of Adventure 1 and 2, but playing them myself is more interesting.

What should I play next? Maybe more Powerstone?

@Jhena, congratulations on beating Sonic Adventure! I haven't beaten a Sonic game to this day because of how hard they are to me 🤣.

You were for asking for suggestions on what you should play next. Do you have an online membership and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? I've been looking for people to play with every once in a while.

@ShieldHero
It was surprisingly easy, but it is true Sonic games can be really tough. Thank you for the invitation, but my NSO subscription expired a few months ago and I do not want to pay for online play anymore.

Beat Dawn of Sorrow, as the first DS Castlevania it’s really good but the Seal system keeps it from being better than Aria

Just beat Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch 1) yesterday. I give it a 10/10 score. I ended the game with 233 waddle dees and 264 of Leon's Souls in the postgame, as well as all the scrolls found and most of the copy abilities fully upgraded. I'll upgrade the rest with the star coins I get when I eventually play the Switch 2 Edition content since I'm getting a Switch 2 next year most likely, and I'll probably get the Switch 2 Edition since I liked what I saw of that. What's funny is that when I first tried Kirby and the Forgotten Land about 3 years ago, a few months after it first came out, I didn't really like it that much and was having a lot of trouble with it (another example of how I've gotten better at video games over the years), then I just put it down and pretty much forgot about it. But now it's a 10/10 game that I will definitely replay years down the line. Anyway, back to the juggernaut Dragon Quest XI.

@ShieldHero
Congratulations on beating Forgotten Land and on improving your gaming skills. I think the game is awesome and the setting is interesting. I would like to play the DLC soon.

@ShieldHero
I have finished Kirby Forgotten Land too, but I wasn't really impressed with Kirby games as I played them just for curiosity and still didn't feel hyped with rounded pink creature design like that.
Some people think Kirby is really really cute and adorable, but for me Kirby was quite eh design and the cuteness just didn't really work for me.
After I finished Forgotten Land, I barely revisit that game as I didn't feel want to replay the same stage again.

Just finished Ikenfell yesterday! I will say it's overall a 4/7, because the game is originally pretty boring until you went pass the halfway mark where the story just becomes infinitely much more interesting.

The gameplay isn't too hard (it's kinda SRPG), and you have a few accessibility stuff with instant victory and ensuring you get greats in your attack/defending timing and such. I personally found that it becomes way more fun to only do the fights during boss fight and only those times, so note this caveat.

But overall, if anyone wants some queer characters set in magic school story where they saved the world... it's pretty fun romp. Only 10 hours ish too from what I played.

I just beat Street Fighter 6 it took me just over 65 hours. Street Fighter 6 was a great game and i would recommend it to anyone who likes fighting or beat"em"up games. I would give Street Fighter 6 a 9 out of 10 i really liked it.

Forgot to mention in on the “what are you playing?” thread, but earlier this morning I completed PaRappa the Rapper & really enjoyed it!

I have played a few classic PlayStation series before, like LittleBigPlanet, but I’ll go & admit that I’ve never really played the PaRappa games at all. The only experience I remember having with this game was a demo including the first level. What made me want to play PaRappa in full was some random video I watched where someone compiled all the fail screens in the games, & I guess the absurdity of some of them made me super curious!

What I like about PaRappa is its simple gameplay. While I do like rhythm games, I have a hard time following console rhythm games than mobile rhythm games, since most console rhythm games I’ve played in the past usually have slightly more complex notes, mechanics, & inputs that take a while to learn, & I’m more used to games where all I have to do is tap the screen & change my finger movements to match the note. Luckily PaRappa has more simplified gameplay simply consisting of tapping six different buttons, which made it easier for me to ease into quickly, plus all you really have to do is memorize what the instructors say at first & then do it yourself afterward, though I won’t be afraid to admit that I kind of sucked playing it (especially the last level) because I’m not used to rhythm games that use buttons to play, but that is more on me than the game haha.

The music is of course another positive. Almost all the songs are goofy sounding, but I mean that in a good way! They are all short but sweet, the singing is great, the instrumentals are catchy, & the rhymes & lyrics are funny & add lots of memorability to the songs, suiting the look & humor of the game perfectly.

Next, the graphics & look of the game are great. I think a lot of the animation has held up well, mostly thanks to the simplistic paper thin look & modes of the game’s cast, & the juxtaposition with the 90s-looking 3D environments (especially during the cutscenes) add some kind of charm to it for me that I really enjoy. I like how colorful the whole game looks, & the designs of the characters are either cute, simple, fashionable, or all three! PaRappa is also a great main character. His confidence, hope, & determination to solve any problem that arises is very inspiring & positive!

Another positive has to be the humor. I kind of had a small taste of the humor when I first played the demo, but I was absolutely NOT expecting the game to be this funny. What also makes it hilarious is how the characters move because of their paper thin look, but the humor is very absurd, exaggerated, strange, & stupid & I love it. I think my favorite level in terms of hilarity is Full Tank. What’s funny is I remember watching someone speedrun all of this game years before I played it, & for some reason I blocked Full Tank out of my mind. So when I got onto the level, I assumed from the title that the problem was that the car was low on gas & needed to be refilled, until I realized after PaRappa ate too much cake that it was referring to him needing to use the bathroom. Sunny thinking PaRappa looks manly when he clearly looks uncomfortable & needs to use the toilet, & the fact he rap battles the instructors to use the bathroom first is just so stupid but hilarious. The exaggeration in some levels, like Joe Chin’s birthday cake for Sunny & PaRappa’s father’s car being launched far into space before falling back on Earth & completely breaking is perfect.

Only criticism I have is this felt too short. I started this not too long ago, & finished it shortly, because the game only has 6 levels, & those levels only last for a few minutes before you move on. I think the game would’ve benefitted from having a bit more levels, but it’s a minor criticism. Really good game, next I’m going to start Um Jammer Lammy later today. Only saw the first cutscene, but I like how the humor seems to be the same as it was here.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is my guilty pleasure. It is basically just an endless grind and unlike in the original game, it feels like they did not even try to tell a story. The job stories are also missing, which makes the jobs feel lifeless. The songs for mastering a job are nice though. Well, and the rest like the music is only great because it is reused music from the original game. I enjoyed it, but it still feels like they dropped the ball on this one.

@Jhena, I'm glad you are seemingly still enjoying the game, especially since you're not liking a lot of other newer game announcements lately, it seems, which is understandable. One of the things that I like most about what I've seen of Fantasy Life i is how cute and colorful it looks. Most of the games I play these days are not like that (I don't play any mature games though, unless I eventually find one that I'm interested in, though I do play quite a bit of teen games now like Dragon Quest), but every once in a while, something cute and colorful is what makes my day 🥰. It reminds me that I can still find joy in the world. Maybe in a few years, my gaming schedule will finally open up so I could play Fantasy Life i❓️

@ShieldHero
It is definitely a cute game with a nice and friendly atmosphere. If you are looking for something like that, I would recommend it.