Topic: Games You Recently Beat?

I didn't exactly "beat" it, since there's no credits, but I got all of the medals in Geometry Wars Galaxies. It's kinda disappointing there's not even a credits screen, but it was really fun and that's what counts.

Just beat Super Metroid on the 3DS VC. I've played parts of the game before, but I think this is the first time I've played it to completion.

While it's not my favorite Metroid, it's still a stunning achievement. One thing that strikes me is how uncharacteristically (for Nintendo, that is) dark and scary it is. The moment you start the game into the title screen, you're greeted with incredibly ominous music set to an even more ominous base (a ruined space colony littered with the corpses of the slain residents). You go from that to an incredibly cold-blooded narration from Samus, which then leads you to the ruined space colony seen in the title sequence. Once you finally land on the planet, you're greeted with cold, empty passages and music that sounds like something out of a horror movie. Throughout the game, the loneliness and brutality of your environment is striking. Some sequences in particular are still a bit horrifying: crocomire's skeleton lunging at you after having just melted to death in lava a moment before; the Metroid larva, grown to an enormous size, leaching the life out of an enemy who just came on screen. Heck, I'll admit it: I was a bit emotional when said Metroid larva attacked mother brain and gave its life to protect Samus.

Building off of these observations, the biggest thing this game nails is atmosphere. The game is utterly dripping with dread, and the influences from the Alien franchise are really clear to see. It's also a remarkably tightly designed game with great pacing and intelligent level design that points you in the right direction without ever stopping you to deliver a tutorial.

Absolute classic.

Last game I beat completely was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for SNES. Such a great game (exception being no green ranger or Dragonzord) definitely worth a play if you are a fan of beat em ups. For a game I've completed but not 100% Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero (at 90% of items).

@RR529 You've got me intrigued. I have Castle of Illusion on both mobile and Steam (picked them both up in sales). I've not touched the Steam version (I'm actually not sure how similar it is to mobile, but I doubt they'd go to much effort to give us two vastly different remakes), but I was put off by the lack of controller support for mobile (I usually don't mind touch controls but something about them bugged me in this case!)

I just beat Final Fantasy IX for the first time, after recently finishing VII and VIII for the first time also. Of the three, IX stood out for its spectacular presentation, story-telling and characterisation, however I preferred the general setting (particularly the modern / sci-fi aspects) and gameplay (particularly the "blank slate" party members and overall battle speed) of the previous two instalments. I played the Steam version, which looked beautiful in HD, and partially ironed out a couple of things that frustrated me about the original release. The ending was excellent - one of the most emotional endings to a video game I've ever played - although I found the final battles to be underwhelmingly short for an RPG.

I know it was only the first game you beat when you wrote this near the beginning of the month, but if you need any extra incentive to play the second game, well, it turns out the 3rd game is being on, and it just recently finished translating all of the in-game text, apparantly: http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2016/5728.html

Obviously, it's a huge game, and it still is going to require editting (which, from what I've seen, can be just as big an order as the initial translation, if not moreso, depending on whether or not any major problems arise), not to mention all the other good stuff that goes with inserting into the game and making sure it all works hunky-dory, so I wouldn't expect it to arrive in the first half of 2017...but still, it's happening. Pigs are flying, man, and the Sora no Kiseki trilogy's gonna be completely available in English...erm, somewhere? I don't know if they ever mentioned a platform.

@CanisWolfred I plan on playing the second game soon. That cliffhanger was a killer, man.

As to Trails 3, it's only coming to PC in the West.

Alright, thanks. Well, I guess I don't have to worry about playing the PSP version of Trails 1 + 2, then...

Mario & Luigi Partners in Time

I remember that I started it something about 10(!) years ago on a DS Lite but along the way stuff happened and sold it along with the system. But finally, today, the day has come and I've beaten it 100%.

I enjoyed every bit of it, same as with the Superstar Saga. Although it could be longer (it took me under 30 hours to complete) and a bit harder (final battle wasn't that much of a challenge, maybe because of my character's level: 34) but it was great spent time for me. And the humour, oh how I love this in the Mario & Luigi series!

Oh, and let's not forget about Fawful and his beans'n'fury .

beat Just Cause 3 today. finished the story and liberated all areas.

super fun game! the wingsuit is just awesome. but i think i did enjoy just cause 2 even more. the map in 2 seems way bigger and more diverse both. i played just cause 2 2x longer than 3, because there was just way more towns and miltary bases you had to liberate.

Terranigma, an excellent action RPG for the SNES.
That ending is one of the best I've ever seen. It's so sad and beautiful at the same time, I went to sleep thinking about it.

Limbo
the beginning was really cool with some light puzzles and a great atmosphere! but i felt like the game lost more and more of it's atmosphere the more difficult and frustrating the puzzles became. still a pretty cool game. i'm glad i got it for free a few months ago on steam.

Portal 2
awesome! i really love the half life universe. so interesting and deep if you wanna dig into it. i didn't really like the ending though. haven't touched the cooperative campaign yet. is there some story going on in there?

Just beat Shantae: Half-Genie Hero earlier today. Great game! I enjoyed it much more than Risky's Revenge, but I think I enjoyed Pirate's Curse just a bit more. I found Half-Genie Hero to be quite easy compared to other Shantae games, but it was still very fun! The bosses were creative and the music was fantastic! Looking forward to the future DLC for this game!

Let's see, so far this year I've finished Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U (10 minutes ago, in fact), Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind on the Megadrive, and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the Gameboy (meaning I've completed every GB/GBC game I own). Either tonight or tomorrow I should be able to finish off Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. A good start to the year, I think.

Just beat The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I've played it before, but I think this is the first time I've actually beaten it. Just... what a masterpiece. The ending is a little weak, but otherwise it's probably the most consistently excellent Zelda game I've ever played. Tons of dungeons, wonderful game design, perfect controls, great pacing, etc. etc.

On to Earthbound!

I finished Shantae and the Pirate's Curse yesterday! The last dungeon could get a bit...frustrating, but I managed to get through it after a bit. It was my first Shantae game and I definitely enjoyed it! Now I'm thinking about going back to the GBC one or the DSIware one.

And just this morning I beat The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. It's only the third Zelda game I've beaten. I have OoT for my 3DS, but I always end up putting that one down or getting stuck. Maybe I should just stick to the top down Zeldas, haha.

I just beat Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (as part of the Ace Attorney Trilogy on the eshop). The final case was absolutely stunning, and I'd recommend the Trilogy to anyone in a heartbeat.

@LegendOfPokemon Yeah. T&T is the high point of the series. One of my favorite games on the DS.

Ex-Mutants and Marko's Magic Football on the Megadrive. Next up is X-Men on the Megadrive. Already beaten half the game on easy mode, but I have to do it all on normal if I want to play the rest.

The Banner Saga on PC. Fun, if somewhat flawed, game that combines VN, survival, and tactical RPG gameplay elements. The art design and music in this game are absolutely fantastic. The battle system felt too simplistic at first, but I felt like the game fleshed out its nuances enough by the end of the game. Your characters are constantly journeying in this game, which leads to a lot of waiting as you watch your characters trudge across the lands. While I appreciate the tone this establishes, certain portions of the game became rather tedious to play through as a result. It's not too huge an issue, but I hope the sequel addressed it somewhat. The world-building is pretty good, but the cast was too large for me to form any particular attachments to any of the characters, which can hurt more dramatic parts of the game where you're forced to make life-or-death decisions. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good experience, and I'll definitely try out the sequel one day.

Oh, and I have to mention: while a lot of games give me trouble with the steam cloud, this game synced perfectly. I was able to play it on various computers with no trouble whatsoever.

Wario Land 3 on the 3DS VC. I was expecting to like this one as much as its predecessor, but...it just fell a bit short with me. It's still an excellent game in most cases; I think my two main problems with it were: A. I prefer Syrup and her Brown Sugar Pirates to searching for music boxes for an evil obese clown who's a pushover once you figure out what to do, and B. I'm sure I was knocked off of stages, platforms, etc. WAY more than in Wario Land II. I understand adding some challenge to the game, but this was borderline trolling in some cases; I had to cave and use restore points in some of those sections to save time and sanity. Also, I felt that the music was a bit lacking compared to the previous entry, but at least the ending wasn't bad.

I also finished the main story in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag last night. I definitely had more fun with this game than its predecessor on the Wii U, especially with pillaging ships. The story wasn't award-winning, but it still kept me entertained and expanded my love for AC's (admittedly convoluted at times) lore. The Caribbean was beautiful, and I really enjoyed some of the shanties (Drunken Sailor was my favorite, but if I have to hear Johnny Parker again...ugh). My only major complaint with this one is the same as with all AC games: the fallacies of the free-running mechanics; I failed pillaging some of the more important ships and had to redo some missions because of it.

I'll probably do a few extras with both games for a little while when I need a break from other games; in particular, I want to at least take down all the remaining oceanic forts in ACIV and do a few other side missions.