Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2020 Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

4/28 - Trials of Mana

Fun blast from the past. There were some definite ease of play improvements from the original that also broke the game and made it too easy in the last third, but still fun and very anti-frustration (which a lot of my SD3 playthroughs did: ended in frustration). Hawkeye, Kevin, Angela ticket; Kevin was a lot of fun to main, running through battles like a whirlwind, while Angela started out a mess but ended up the best, loved her for boss fights. Will probably play again in the future with the other three, but burnt out at the moment.

5/3 - The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

Starting up Life is Strange 2 episode two, they asked if I had a save from this game. Free to play, went and did so... it was good, but anxious. Very anxious. A lot of surface tension with underlying heaviness. Very short as well.

And I thought that was the worst emotional stuff I would play that day... and then I got about thirty minutes in to episode two of Life is Strange 2. I have not gone back yet since last week. Fuck you, game.

5/9 - Knights of Pen & Paper +1

It would've been amazing to watch Critical Role with, but for some reason, it just ate up more computer power than freaking Octopath Traveler and made watching Youtube on the same monitor untenable. Did watch on my phone for the last few hours of gameplay, so that was nice. Boring-ass grind otherwise.

5/9 - One Step From Eden

I beat a boss in Peaceful Run after about 55-60 attempts. I'm counting this as over and done with. Very fun, very fast-paced, I am not good at those. I do enjoying unlocking Lea costume from CrossCode, and that was the only reason I got this game in the first place!

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DuckTales (XB1)

Thisis first Disney/Capcom NES game that I have played since Darkwing Duck way back in the 90s when one of my best friends growing up owned it. I'm going through the Disney Afternoon Collection, so I will eventually return to it. I'm intending to go through them all by release date.

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Gato Roboto (Switch)

100% in 2:54:20. What a weird way to end the game!

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Mlb 20 the show

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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (Mac)

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Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (XB1)

It felt weird going from DuckTales and giving Scrooge something to work with (pogo) to a run-of-the-mill platformer from those days where you have no natural means of defending yourself or attacking enemies.

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TaleSpin (XB1)

Some of the boss fight designs are abysmal, but this was actually a pretty nifty shoot'em up. I wish changing directions didn't auto-generate enemies though.

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Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (PS2)

12ish years later and I still gotta say that the first third of the game is real slog. Still a great game however.

Streets of Rage 4 (PC)
Yep, it's Streets of Rage. Maybe better since it's more modern in design.

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Raise of Tomb Raider (PC)
Was replaying the game after quite some time... and... lost interest somewhere in the middle portion of the game to an extent, that I did not even care for the scattered around loot/datafiles/tombs. Just tried to as quickly as possible finish-up the story. Even did not bother to replay Blood Ties expansion (primarily, cause after unlocking the manor's library, I was bored already and knew what to expect, cause of previous playthrough).
In conclusion, it will be added to a pile of games that I'll never touch again.

Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)

Uh, it's SF64. I think I'd rather be playing with an N64 controller but otherwise, still an amazing game!

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Mega Man 6 (PS4)

I'm trying to whittle down my backlog a little bit, and I have these 80s/90s Capcom collections, so I might as well knock out the dozen or so games that take maybe two hours to beat.

My favorite of the classic Mega Man games is either 4 or 5 (3 and 10 aren't far behind), but I feel like 6 would be in the conversation had they not dragged it out so much.


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Cat Quest 2 (PC)

It's really more of the same, except now there's 2 of you. This makes the game way easier especially if you're playing it alone because the AI is just as competent as you and bosses rarely require alternate strategies. The start of the game was mostly whacking and evading like the first game. But come halfway the mage becomes incredibly useful and because there's two of you now, your AI controlling the whacker makes for a good kite.

My complaints about the first game was that it dragged way too long. Now it's just too short. I think the problem is that there's little you can do to change the formula when all you can do is dodge and whack. Its so easy to regain mana and spells have no cooldown, trivializing the last 3 boss fights. There's also a lack of post-game content. I'll admit this game had like 2 challenges. But as soon as I had the Best Spell in the Game (taken from Challenge 1, and practically required for Challenge 2), I was unstoppable in all fronts. I managed to snag the best armors and weapons in the game last and by then there was nothing else to do.

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Old School Musical (PC)
No-frills rhythm game with an adventure story and some solid chiptunes.

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Helltaker (PC)
Cute free puzzle game with a boss fight at the end.

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Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Switch)

This is a good Metroidvania game. The art is gorgeous and the combat/platforming feels great (aside from the sad little double jump). It's fairly short but you probably won't beat it in one sitting, a good length honestly.

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Banjo-Kazooie (360)
My N64 suffering continues. I can see the good parts, I really can. But there's a lot there that shouldn't be how it is. Like that final boss.

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Star Fox (NSO)

Just the easy route, but I had never beaten this before. I didn't really give it a chance as a kid because SF64 seemed so obviously better. Which, well, it is, but this game isn't bad at all! It's pretty fun, actually.

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Dragon Quest (Switch)

The original one, imported the physical Asian release which is all in English. Took about five hours to the point where I slammed Erdrick's Sword into the Dragonlord's face at level 21. Or should I call the sword (DQXI spoilers) the Sword of Light? Will probably beat the other two in the collection later this year.

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Killer is Dead (PC)

Overall was decent. The story felt confusing to me. Died a fair bit in the beginning, but by the end never really had trouble. Ended with 7 deaths total. Was pretty cool. Could tell it was a Suda51 game easily.

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ViolentAbacus posted...

Killer is Dead (PC)

Overall was decent. The story felt confusing to me. Died a fair bit in the beginning, but by the end never really had trouble. Ended with 7 deaths total. Was pretty cool. Could tell it was a Suda51 game easily.

Mystery solved!

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Moonlighter (XB1)

I'm sure there are plenty of comparable games, but the only one that I can recall playing is Recettear, and this is definitely the superior game.

If you want it for Steam, it is currently part of the Humble Indie Bundle.

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Team Sonic Racing (PS4)

Fun racing game, however the fact that a lot of the game is based on your AI partners doing well doesn't make me want to play too much more of it. I did enjoy playing through the game on the normal mode, though, and still think it deserves its spot on my top 10 list from 2019.

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KCF0107 posted...

Mystery solved!

Pretty much! After I beat Wonderful 101 it'll be on to Killer7!

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Blood Breed (Switch)

I got this game for free when I purchased Perseverance for $0.99 cents. I also got Adrenaline Rush - Miami Drive for free as well.

An indie retro styled horror game with PS1 inspired graphics.
You can turn Nudity on and off and a VHS filter on and off as well.

Game starts with an unnamed female you play as driving on the road while listening to the radio about murders that have been happening and she hits a deer on the road. You end up going into a place called Killamoor Meatworks. What can possibly go wrong? Everything.

Game is very simple. You walk, run (there's a stamina meter), crouch/crouch walk, interact (attack until later in the game), toggle a flashlight on and off.

You go through levels from Point A and B. Usually having to find a key to open a locked door. There are deathtraps to be aware of like bear traps (they only stun you), spinning axe traps and sawblades (oh and pitfalls where you have to cross over via thin wooden planks).

You also have to avoid a pursuer. Some maniac wearing a blue jump suit and a black welding mask who wields a machete. He goes along a fixed patrol path and he can also one shot you. Heavy metal music also plays when he's chasing you which is a little out of place but it's whatever.

There are also some parts where suddenly it becomes that one Crash Bandicoot level where are chased by a boulder except you are chased by the killer and have to avoid him as well as the deathtraps that are in front of you.

The game starts to really get fun near the middle and the end: You end up getting gassed in a room and are on a table. Topless. Then some crazy guy walks im and he says "Looks like we've got another fine specimen Before you wake up, you'll be the vessel for another of my offspring. My beautiful Cowboys. Unfortunately for you..." Then you wake up, bite the crazy guy's neck, he bleeds to death and dies. You then avoid machete guy, get your clothes and flashlight back. You also get a fire axe. Then you have to fend yourself off against naked Cowboys (they wear Cow heads) with the fire axe. You eventually lose the fire axe in a really dumb cut scene where you throw the fire axe at one of the Cowboys while being chased by the other Cowboys and escape in an elevator, which sorta makes sense for the next part, You escape from the machete guy one more time and get on top of the rooftop. You get a flare gun and before you fire it in the sky to signal the chopper, the killer comes after you one more time. You shoot the flare gun at the killer, the chopper flies by and pushes the killer into the flammable fuel drums. You get on the chopper and escape. You see the killer slowly crawling while he's on fire and the explosive fuel drums explode killing the killer.

Overall, it's a very so so game that is short but can be a little frustrating with the Crash Bandicoot parts (only 2 of those segments thankfully) and walking over the planks which isn't too bad if you take your time and use the D-pad.

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Pikuniku (XB1)

Dumb and silly, just how I like it.

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Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)

1. How does this game exist?
2. How is it good?

Unfortunately it's way too easy and Rabbid Luigi completely breaks the game

The Silver Case (PS4)

Between "older" and "newer" (I consider No More Heroes to be the start of "newer") Suda51, I vastly prefer his older version. He may not have had the budget to do what he wanted to do during the earlier years of Grasshopper Manufacture, but he had a lot more to offer than the shallow, anime-esque crap that are among his more famous recent works.

Killer7 is one of my favorite games, and I hold Flower, Sun, and Rain in high regard as well. At its best, The Silver Case sits among those. The overarching story is interesting, the audio and visual presentation (in the remaster at any rate) is sublime, and even though the cast of characters is pretty huge, I found most of them to be interesting.

It is unfortunate much is holding it back. The big thing is that it is so boring. The opening case made it seem like it was going to be a rough-around-the-edges adventure game with puzzles and VN-style dialog presentation (such as Cinq games like Hotel Dusk/Last Window and Trace Memory), but it ended up being 90+% VN and the rest a "walking" simulator as there were barely any puzzles outside of the first case. Without doing research, I have doubts if this was the original design that Suda51 wanted, but as this was the debut game of the company he founded, he probably had to make it into this format for financial reasons. Even so, it could have been designed better in light of any financial constraints, such as the aforementioned Cinq games.

There are two perspectives in the game, broken down by case categories Transmitter and Placebo. Transmitter is the bulk of the game, while each Placebo case is based on Transmitter cases. You have to complete them both to finish the game, and the Placebo cases are mind-numbingly tedious. You do the same thing over and over just to get small scraps of info that you didn't get in the Transmitter cases that they revolve around. I can count the amount of enjoyable segments in all six of the Placebo cases on one hand.

While Killer7 and Flower, Sun, and Rain were quirky and endearingly inscrutable, they were able to achieve that in part by good efforts at worldbuilding. Here, I felt like the world-building wasn't adequately executed. Being essentially a VN, it was pure exposition-based, so without the use of the environment and how much ground they needed to cover, it was an exercise in futility from the start.

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I feel like if it isn't what Suda51 wanted originally, he would have changed things around in the remaster and make it more of a remake, like what was done in the sequel.

I also see that you did Transmitter and then Placebo in your trophy list. I feel the game flows better if you alternate between the two, as this means the Transmitter case is fresh in your mind while you go through Placebo's portion of the same case.

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Well that wasn't by design. I only had access to Transmitter first, and each time you beat a case, it would say "X is coming." Sure enough, I would go back to Transmitter and a case with that very name was there, so I kept repeating that process until there was nothing left.

However, I doubt that would have mattered because as I said, Placebo cases hardly had anything new or interesting to say about the Transmitter cases they were based on. I don't think the order I would have played them in would have made that statement any less true.

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just replayed portal 2- it's so close to being perfect.

there are just a few too many useless pixel-hunting segments in the middle section. remove a few of those and I have literally zero criticisms

Also, replaying this made me realize that the stanley parable was almost a direct parody

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Driver: San Francisco (PS3)

So while this is an extremely good and extremely underappreciated game, there are two complaints I have about it.

First is the fact that while shifting is a great mechanic, it quickly boils down into almost every mission turning into shifting into oncoming traffic and crashing into your opponents/enemies. Second is that the plot feels rushed as there are characters who show up, seem like they might be important and then just never appear again.

Still a game I'd recommend to anyone assuming you can find a copy somewhere.

Mega Man 5 (PS4)

Screw those giant robots that stalk ladders

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Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS)

Had Fates lying around for a few years without ever coming close to beating it. Now I've finally beaten Birthright at least (still have to play Conquest, that's the original path I got, but I figured BR would be boring after CQ). Not the best FE game, that's for sure, but it's still good. BR Normal was expectedly easy, but I could see some maps/enemies being quite tricky on harder difficulties honestly. The story was decent. I'm still debating whether I should play Conquest right after, but I probably will.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legacy of the First Blade DLC (PC)

Continuing my love hate relationship for this game, it was honestly more of the same. But since I haven't returned to this game in ages, it was a little refreshing for awhile.

One more DLC then I'dve "caught up" with the franchise. At least, if I finish it before the viking one comes out.

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metaIslug posted...

The Talos Principle (PS4)

I loved that game! Though didn't realize you could Skip things like that! Did have one complaint that pulled at me throughout, though

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Phenomenal puzzle game. That or Linelight was my favorite game that I beat for the first time last year.

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Serial Cleaner (Switch)

You play as a cleaner named Bobby who receives calls from the phone and goes out to clean up various crime scenes.

You pick up evidence and collect bodies to load them up into your station wagon (or dispose of them in some other way in the later levels). You also have a vacuum to clean up blood as well. You can also find several hiding spots to hide from the cops to not get caught.

Game was pretty good and it was fun. The story really drew me in which was a nice plus.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)

I don't know maybe it's because I haven't played against another person in almost 10 years, but I just find hard to care about Smash and find it incredibly overrated. Roster speculation is cancerous hell too.

Subspace Emissary > World of Light

Mega Man 4 (PS4)
Mega Man 3 (PS4)

Okay, so with these being the fourth time I will be going through the NES Mega Man games, I can safely say that 3 is my favorite. It has the least amount of design BS and doesn't pad the game with 8-10 post-robot master levels.

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Darkwing Duck (XB1)

I mentioned before that this was the one Disney Capcom game that I played as a kid, and I recognized only two levels at the max. My friend and I must not have been good enough to get far in the game.

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Wild Guns (NSO)

This game rocks. It's a lot harder than I remember it being though.

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KCF0107 posted...

Darkwing Duck (XB1)

I mentioned before that this was the one Disney Capcom game that I played as a kid, and I recognized only two levels at the max. My friend and I must not have been good enough to get far in the game.

Just wanna let you know that there was a fanmade romhack called The Last Action Duck and its free. You can get it here if you want.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180817150746/http://www.hammer-created-dreams.de/projects/DarkwingDuckTheLastActionDuck.zip

This game adds more moves, more gadgets, more villains including Negaduck, and the levels are more open, inviting multi-directional exploration. They're also pretty tough. I recommend it if you loved the original version.

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KCF0107 posted...

Mega Man 4 (PS4)
Mega Man 3 (PS4)

Okay, so with these being the fourth time I will be going through the NES Mega Man games, I can safely say that 3 is my favorite. It has the least amount of design BS and doesn't pad the game with 8-10 post-robot master levels.

But it literally pads the game with 4 reskins of robot master levels and then 6 Wily Stages, which is more than the 8 new levels that MM4-MM6 have and definitely more than MM1 and MM2.

I...I think that I encountered a glitch that made me go from robot masters to Dr. Wily. I checked it, and yeah I was supposed to go through these Doc Robot stages. That or I beat Mega Man 2 instead of 3.

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Yeah, it was Mega Man 3 as I just beat Mega Man 2 (PS4) a little while ago

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Wild Guns (SNES)

Played it via Switch with an online friend.
Game is super awesome. I've seen it played a lot of times from watching streams. Felt so good to finally play it.

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Duck Tales 2 (XB1)

I figured that I would be able to go back and replay old levels to get the remaining map pieces, but as soon as I beat each level once, I was forced into the final showdown. Oh well, maybe I will go back to it in the future.

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KCF0107 posted...

Duck Tales 2 (XB1)

I figured that I would be able to go back and replay old levels to get the remaining map pieces, but as soon as I beat each level once, I was forced into the final showdown. Oh well, maybe I will go back to it in the future.

That game was my childhood <3 I know everyone prefers DT1, but I've played DT2 since I was about 4 years old. Just like Mega Man 4. Must be a blast to play through all these great NES games. :)