Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

@Ralizah Nice mini review. I just picked it up in the sales this week, but with it being about 386th place on my backlog, it may take me a while to get far enough to compare notes with you

@gcunit I actually picked it up last year, but only recently bothered getting around to it. That describes a lot of my backlog, actually. I think I'll limit my purchases next year to half a dozen or so key releases and focus on cutting into my backlog!

@Ralizah A most sensible idea, can you help me do the same? I'm uncontrollable.

@gcunit I've had to force myself to ignore sales and pledge only to buy new games if I'm planning on playing them right away.

I don't mind having a healthy backlog for a system, but when I look in my collection and see games that I bought for full price two or three years ago that I've yet to even touch, I know something has to change. My problem is that I have a fondness for 40+ hour RPGs and have work/family/etc. to attend to, so I don't get a ton of time to play.

My biggest problem is console games, honestly. Its so much harder to carve out time to play a game when you have to sit in front of a big TV to do so. It's why I'm so excited for the Switch. It's the perfect console for me.

Got another game off of the ol' backlogg, Journey on PS4. This was one of the games that almost got me to buy a PS3 last gen and it was one game that I hoped was going to be ported to the PS4. Now after waiting so long to play it I can say the wait was worth it. One of the best Indy games I have played in a long time, and the hype behind it was deserving it. The atmosphere was especially good and my one real complaint is that it was short. Still if you have a PS3 or 4 this is a must play game.

@Tasuki I really need to buckle down and just play this one night.

@Ralizah That's basically what I did. I wanted to play something this afternoon but wasn't sure what I wanted to play and I saw it in my library and figured now is as good as anytime. It's honestly not that long of a game, you can probably beat it in an hour or two.

I'll try to keep this in mind for next year. I got two coming out in the first quarter that I know I'll want to play, but the rest I'll just have to leave on the back-burner, though I got two that I'll be looking at reviews for, since I might want to jump into those if they don't drop the ball (talking specifically about Akiba's Beat and Nioh...and maybe Digimon World: Next Order...heck, screw Nioh, I suck at those hard-as-balls action games. I need me some Digimon!).

But yeah, it'd be tough for me to stick to, but I might be okay if I remember that golden rule.

@CanisWolfred I really enjoyed Nioh, but I could NOT beat that second boss fight with the succubus in the Beta. It was harder than any Souls boss I've ever encountered, that's for sure. I hope they either balance the difficulty a bit or include difficulty settings.

I've contemplated how I'm going to square the torrent of releases next year with my current... ah, philosophy. I finally settled on buying and playing Gravity Rush 2 on release, buying and playing Yakuza 0 after I'm done with that, and then working on my backlog until April when Persona 5 drops. I'll have to pass on a lot of decent looking games at launch (Zelda: BOTW, Nioh, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 7, etc.), but at least I won't be adding to my enormous backlog.

My current temptation: a decent PSN sale, with a 10% off code that stacks with the sale prices. But I'll remain faithful. I'd love to work through the majority of my games in the next few years.

@Ralizah I'm just lucky that I own most of the interesting games in that sale already, with the only exception being the Season Pass for DOOM. And $23.99 is still too much for that, IMO.

Just 100% Lego Jurassic World. Got every character, red brick, gold brick, race etc. Everything.

Last night, using my NES Classic, I completed my fastest Metroid playthrough to record. I don't know the exact time but I got the best ending and got to the Mother Brain w/o ever having defeated Ridley.

@Nimkip If I may nitpick: The Last of Us already had more of that than any Uncharted game, although it tries to warrant it to some degree. I mean, the story that they're going for kind of requires some downtime for things to sink in, and it already had a lot of cutscenes...

So...yeah, hopefully they don't have more of that. I should hope they'll use the 5+ years between games to actually learn from their previous mistakes.

Didn't really "beat" it, as I did that months ago, but I finally got around to platting Peggle 2. After a few failed tries, I could usually get it running via Remote Play, but I swear to god, I wish it was just on the Vita. I've never seen a more perfect handheld game.

I beat Guacamelee. 100% (barring some gold medals in that one area), best ending, everything bought. Excellent video game! Probably my favorite Metroidvania that isn't Metroid or Castlevania. (...or Cave Story if that counts)

Recently finished Final Fantasy VII for the first time. It took me a while to get into it, but in the end I absolutely adored it, despite some flaws and aged aspects to it. I can wait to further explore that world with Crisis Core and Advent Children. I've also just started FF VIII.

Sonic CD (the version from Sonic Gems Collection). Sonic CD is my second favorite Sonic game and I played most versions of it by now.

This version is based on the PC version, and one of the main differences is that there's no transparency effect on the water (Tidal Tempest). The framerate is better than the SCD version and the FMVs were restored to their full quality.

The 2011 version is the best one, the remade HD graphics look very sharp, you can choose between the Japanese/US soundtrack and there's a proper spin dash. Still, the Gems Collection version isn't bad at all.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. Took me roughly 50 hours to beat it.

PROS

• Absolutely fantastic world-building and writing. From the unique NPCs with consistent names, personalities, and histories that move about Liberl to the frequently hilarious character interactions and charming personalized Treasure Chest flavor text, this game's script is clearly top-shelf and had a ton of love put into it. Best aspect of the game.
• This game's story is much more grounded than most JRPGs I play. Less "Let's kill God and save the world" and more "Mostly well-written political drama in which your characters stumble into a political conspiracy that gradually reveals itself to be an even bigger conspiracy."
• Sidequests mostly feel meaningful.
• Simple but fundamentally solid battle system.
• The lack of random battles is nice.
• Using different quartz was interesting, and reminded me of the materia system from Final Fantasy VII.
• Not a huge pro, but I liked most of the music well enough.
• Nice visual style on PSP. The 3D buildings really have a "Wow!" factor to them.
• The ending is a punch to the face. I love it.

CONS

• To say the game's story is slow would be an understatement. It's slow watching molasses grow: this, on the other hand, is almost unbearable. Tons and tons of build-up to... what, the second game? It feels like a lot of the foreshadowing could have been condensed without losing much effect on the overall story. Actually, the whole game gives me the sense of people trying to pad it out as much as possible so that all the exciting stuff can be stuffed into Second Chapter.
• The dungeons are kind of boring.
• The game is too easy. I almost never changed the equipped Quartz on my character even though the option was available to me because there was almost never any need to. This is a definitely a more narrative-centered JRPG
• I don't like the central romantic narrative or the constant insinuations from other characters about it. That's all I'll say.
• I HATE how strictly timed some of the Bracer quests are. It's crazy.
• Stealth sequence. No.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's certainly not the masterpiece some people led me to believe it was, but it was a solid, mostly enjoyable JRPG. Hopefully it'll feel like a more complete experience once I beat the second game.

I cleared the main narrative in Mega Man Battle Network the other night. It's definitely a bit rough around the edges when compared to later games in the series, but I still really enjoyed the story and gameplay. Mind you, all my years of practice made the final boss seem a bit easy. I've spent some time since doing some of the extras in the game, but I think I'll put it down for now.

Just beat Axiom Verge on my PS Vita. Superb little Metroid-like game. The atmosphere is tense and creepy, the music is outstanding, and it has an interesting narrative that evolves nicely as you progress through the game.