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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch)

The boss fights were surprisingly quite fun, and they went all out on the paper craft stuff, but I can't help but feel disappointed with the game in general. Woolly World is one of my favorite Wii U games, but of the like four Switch games that I have beaten, this is easily my least favorite. The main reason is because the level design is just so vanilla, like they decided to look toward Kirby instead of previous Yoshi games.
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Splatoon (Wii U)

One of my biggest gaming regrets is that I largely neglected Nintendo games for pretty much most of the 2010's. As a result I missed out on the prime of this fantastic game and also missed out on the Miiverse integration and Splatfests.

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (3DS)

Just finished this game getting every single node and the true ending. Really awesome stuff, both the original ending and the PC ending are fine. I was pretty invested in this JRPG. Not sure, but I think the last JRPG I finished was Tales of Vesperia more than a year ago, and Radiant Historia was an amazing one to get back into them!

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Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (PC)

Its pretty much Donkey Kong Country in everything but looks which is excellent. There are 20 levels, but each one has an altered version and those additional 20 levels did not feel copied at all. In addition, the overworld was like a puzzle in itself with tons of collectibles. I know the original game wasn't exactly praised, but I might play it in the future if only because I'm curious. I also appreciate the modern design features such as infinite lives, checkpoints that go easy on you by teleporting you to the next one should you choose, and a mechanic where Laylee flutters about if you get hit the first time. No more waiting for those noisy ass DK Barrels amirite? Some people were annoyed by that but it was fine for me.

As I was thinking about what to say about this game while playing, I was going to mention how the levels were a tad easy and not up to buff with a DK game, which in all honesty was welcome. It did have its shitty parts, but they were brief and sometimes saddled with the acquisition of a collectible.

And then I got into the impossible lair. And that was Rare back in errr rare form. That was not fun at all, but extremely satisfying to beat. And of course, there is an achievement for beating it without getting hit. Marvelous.

I feel like if they were going to make a sequel to the series, it should be with this spin-off. Though the levels were polished and the music spectacular, I feel like many more could be done. For one, actual boss battles instead of just the finale. More variety for the levels and I would welcome the altered states if they used it again.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360)

I'm pretty sure I was the only one in my high school who was looking forward to the single player more. Pretty sure that had to do with my dumpster fire of an internet back then

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (360)

While it is inferior in every way to the PC games it can be fun if you just want a quick and basic game.

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage Reignited (PS4)

This was a super quick one after Radiant Historia. I got pretty addicted to it and 100%'d it, just like I did with the first Spyro game (although it feels like you're meant to do that anyway). Really fun and chill game. I think these two are basically equal, Spyro 2 had a few more elements to it, but nothing spectacularly different. It was also slightly more annoying than the first one with some of the side stuff you had to do to get some of the orbs.

I might start 3 right after this and finish up the Reignited Trilogy, but I'm not sure yet.

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Super Mario Maker 2 (Story mode) (Switch)
That's a surprisingly good prebuilt campaign. The structure was unconventional, and the devs went wild with the level-creation tools. I always felt like LBP had too many objects taken from the campaign, as opposed to making a good set of resources and then making levels like everyone else. Of course here it's largely recycled stuff from the Mario series, but you can do so much with it.

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Bioshock Infinite (PC)

I liked it more than 2, I think. I liked Columbia and the characters way more than any in Bioshock 1 or 2. The story was bizarre, but had me interested. The gameplay was pretty subpar

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Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch)

This game fuckin rocks. I already want to play it again.

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The Textorcist - The Story of Ray Bibbia (PC)

Oh my god. Sleeper hit game of the year for me. It's Touhou Teaches Typing. Its binding of isaac with words. I spent 2 months stuck on that one boss before I finished it all tonight. There is an alternate control scheme that suggests its possible to move and type on the fly, which I totally did not do because that would be insane. The music is awesome. The bosses are awesome. The story actually had some effort in it and I was invested. And the pixel graphics were top notch.

I only complain about how you can't stage select until you finished the game. Beating bosses a certain way unlocked some items you could use at the cost of lowering your score. This would've helped me train for a certain boss. It was a feature easily implementable but sadly did not. I was stuck with this one boss for AGES, trying to get his pattern down and typing at the same time. I could have easily done both, but not together. It was easy for the first few stages touch typing. Then the Latin started coming in and I shit my pants.

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Hades (PC)

Technically I beat this? Besides RNG pissing me off in regards of conversations (I can NEVER talk to Meg...) it's been a fantastic game! Loved pretty much everything about it. Definitely up there with Bastion and Pyre!

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Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (PC)
This is a major improvement over the previous one in basically every aspect. It also doesn't have transformations which seems like an improvement as well.

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Stick it to The Man! (Switch)

It's a very good game held back by very awkward controls/platforming in the too numerous escape segments.
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You Are Empty (PC)

So I would have forgotten about this game had I not seen a recent youtube video on it. Seeing as I had a cd of it from a bargain bin ages ago, I decided to run it myself lol. It's one of those post-half life FPS wannabes with an unheard of studio and janky enemies. There is alot to hate about this game. You can't run. There is no ammo in the environment save for the first 3 weapons. The enemy AI is simple. There are no boss battles. But all it certainly has a charm to it. And all those design choices seem to evoke the survival horror aspect of this game with an emphasis on the horror. Not the zombie kind but the desolation and the hint that something has gone wrong.

I do like how I was never really lost in this game. I just kept powering through even though the world seemed vast, which is honestly a step up from other FPS' at the time even such greats such as Singularity and Half Life 2. Now this gem can rest in peace.

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A Case of Distrust (PC)

If only LA Noire was this good.

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I will fight you
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Note sure if serious but I wrote a blurb about LA Noire a few pages ago. My personal opinion was that it was okay, but the end was kinda ruined (in presentation. the ending was fine).

Its the inconsistency of it.

Case of Distrust made me feel like what LA Noire should've been. Dialogue dripping with wit and investigative spirit since the moment you start talking to your cat.

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Elliot Quest (Switch)

I fairly regularly buy games on the Switch eShop that are only a few cents, and expect them to be entertaining for a few minutes and that's about it. This game is definitely an exception. It's essentially a fully realized sequel to Zelda II, except you don't start the game miserable at combat. Knowing where to go is a pain and the ending left a lot to be desired (I think I killed the final boss by accident) but it's a really, really solid action/adventure game overall. I think I paid 1 cent for it; it's worth like $20.

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Wow I've been wanting to beat that game for ages. Someday.

The Puzzle Box Society (PC)

lol its a game with 2 reviews on Steam. 1 good and 1 bad. So what is it? Well, it's a hybrid of Thief Simulator and a room escape game. There's no stealth or time pressure, but the infiltration aspect is there. Story seemed like a deep excuse to just do a couple of puzzle rooms. I think the dude released it too early as honestly it was getting good. I didn't mind the repetition because of it. It was okay. 4/10

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Yoshi's Story (N64)
Took a fairly easy path but I saved the Super Stupid Tree and got the credits roll. Not sure if this is a rebeat. If it is it was decades ago that I beat it and never officially logged it so it's a new addition to my list.

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Extreme Meatpunks Forever (PC)

Another itch.io game. "Beat" is in heavy quotation marks here because I started skipping all combat towards the end and lost to the final boss (not sure if I got a bad ending as a result or if it doesn't matter). The game isn't fun to play and the writing is pretty amateurish (and I'm not the biggest fan of characters who talk in chatspeak to show how irreverent they are), but I dig the setting a lot. They had me at plunging your neck onto a "nerve spike" to control a giant suit of bone and meat. It has a very Evangelion vibe with its biomechs and broken characters, though everything else is plenty original.

Serre (PC)

Short (~20 minute) itch.io VN about a girl who falls in love with an invading alien. It's cute!

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Oneiros (PC)

I'm starting to see a pattern to these indie first person games where the protagonist has amnesia. I wanted to love this game mainly because while it did have some stock puzzling and it was short, it was extremely well done and it had its own personality. But then it sort of just ran out of steam like the last game I played and just bizarrely ended it without a resolution. Copped out. 4/10

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Alternate Jake Hunter: Daedalus - The Awakening of Golden Jazz (PS4)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/78960287

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BioShock (PS3)

This has been a game that I've been trying to play multiple times over the past 7 years and every single time I dropped it like an hour into it. I finally decided to power through and I'm still absolutely disappointed with almost every aspect.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland (Wii)

Can't believe I never played much of this when I first bought it. What a nice game. Couldn't remember the name of it while I was playing it for the life of me though. Just kept calling it "that Kirby game." It also reminded me why Kirby games are great for gamers of any age and experience level. They are relatively easy for young, inexperienced players to play from beginning to end, but getting every collectible requires the skill and patience of an experienced platformer gamer. Final boss was great. One of my favorites in a Kirby game, and maybe even one of my favorites ever.

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249USDollars posted...

BioShock (PS3)

This has been a game that I've been trying to play multiple times over the past 7 years and every single time I dropped it like an hour into it. I finally decided to power through and I'm still absolutely disappointed with almost every aspect.

Well, at least I wasn't the only one disappointed by it.

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MediEvil (PS4)

I never played the original, but I had fun with this. There are a few levels that make it hard for me to want to replay it in the future though.
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Dreamfall Chapters (PC)

Beautiful. A word that I rarely use, reserving it for something I just find that speaks to me on a deep level (not just for games). Like any episodic game, it took awhile to get the ball rolling but once it did, it was like a book I could not put down. It is 3 in the morning as I type this for chrissake. I'm so glad I didn't decide to put this off and finish it next year.

This game does alot of things a TellTale game would do but dare I say better...? I particularly liked how the decision-making as a feature was downplayed. Sure, there were some tough choices, but the game never messed with the flow of the narrative. TT games always seemed to make it all about the choices and the impact. Here, it was very much about the journey. You could say it was The Longest Journey---ahehehe.

Speaking of which, while I verily recommend this game to anyone looking for a wonderful fantasy narrative experience, there is a bit of a rub. To enjoy this game, you absolutely have to play or at least watch a playthrough of the first 2 games. They are essential. Chapter provides a summary but really it doesn't do the games justice. If you've seen me rant about the 2nd game especially and how much it sucks for all its own non-narrative issues, you might just wanna watch a playthrough. I usually abhor it when a sequel mildly brushes in references to its predecessors in an attempt to woo fans. But in this case, the brushes felt natural. Familiar. Connected. It goes hand in hand with the themes of rebirth and fate and dreaming. It just works.

I think this is the first game where despite lacking in gameplay and puzzles for what it is, very much just enjoyed the plot that I wish the gameplay wasn't included at all. I wish it could've just been a walking sim with some good ol dialogue trees and observational wit. For what it is though, it has its fair share of issues from the very limited Unity engine, but nothing as egregious as the original Dreamfall.

I'll say it again, I can't believe Dreamfall was made and then abruptly ended and only given closure 10 years later. Chapters picks up immediately where Dreamfall left off. That's the infuriating part. But 10 years for a small studio to produce something graphically superior even on modern systems is a feat in itself. Masterful. Beautiful. 8/10

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Creaks (PC)

Platform puzzling with charm. It's one of those nobody speaks games where you suss out the world by observing stuff. It's decent, but the main star of the game has to be the music. Everytime you're halfway into a proper solution, the music brightens up a bit, as if its rewarding you for doing a good job. As a result, there is less trial and error at times save for a puzzle or two, and the plot flows really well. I do appreciate the ambiguity of it all. Reminds me of neverending story.

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
Another game I bought and barely played. I've got more of those than I can count. But it's time to start cleaning some of the backlog out that is going to take literally a lifetime and I'm just gonna have to pick and choose. Anyway, this game. Fun, tricky, SMB platformer. Nothing spectacular but there were some fun parts.

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Fallout 3 (PS3)

I was originally planning to do a full playthrough of this, but then I remembered that I was playing the burning dumpster that's the PS3 version and just decided to go through the main quest before my file size could get any larger. I really need to play this on PC one of these days or at least get a computer that can play PC games

Inmost (PC)

Went into this expecting your traditional metroidvania with nice graphics. Seriously, there only seems to be about 2-4 colors at any one time and yet the art is beautiful and flows well with the world. There was also an unexpectedly long animation sequence both in the beginning and end which really punctuates the thing as an art piece. It took awhile to figure out but the story is rife with symbolism and is actually about grief and pain and dealing with it. Domestic Violence. Child Abuse and Neglect. Bullying leading to suicide. It's a really dark, interpreted. Honestly, I don't really understand some of it but I got enough to stop and thinking about life and shit.

The game itself, refreshing. One of those tiny person one hop body jump affairs. The game made it so that you were this insignificant underdog just trying to get through. Anything could kill you but it wasn't that kind of game and actually signalled you to persevere what with the easy way you respawned and the almost inconsequential manner that it moves the game forward not resetting your progress. It's a very endearing tale and I suggest it.

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We Were Here Together (PC)

having only one bs puzzle in the entire game means this is a pretty good experience

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Crypt of the Serpent King (Switch)

Debating whether it was worth the dollar I paid for it. I could see this having some small value if you like, race your friends while drinking or something.

Cars (Gamecube)

I own waaaaaay too many Gamecube games most of which are likely crap all because I at one point wanted to own every Gamecube and would buy whatever I could find at garage sales. This is the punishment I deserve for not filtering my purchases.

One notable thing about Cars is how the AI would be pretty close to until the last lap where they would then pretty much just give up and you'd win by like 30 seconds. Also a bit surprised that it's a sequel to the movie instead of just a re-telling like most movie games.

Trine: Enhanced Edition (PC)

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Disgaea (PC)

Good game. One of those things I didn't get to play as a kid because I didn't have playstations, now the age of cheap steam games let me.

I did the main story very casually, not paying attention to most mechanics and just enjoying the story/gameplay. Towards the end my lack of grinding started being an issue, but I managed to push through with some strategy and trial and error. Not really interested in post-game content tbh, I feel like it appeals to another type of gamer.

But I really enjoyed the main game. It's a cliche story but it's done very well, and it has a lot of level variety that forces you to come up with different strategies and so it feels fresh.

9/10.

Cleaning up some more short itch.io games.

Boa Retina (PC)

It's a 20 minute verbal abuse simulator. Not exactly fun but it accomplishes its goal.

Cuckoo Castle (PC)

A very tiny Metroidvania where you access new places by finding new playable characters. Has a cute GameBoy aesthetic. It's good!

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The Long Reach (PC)

Great 2d horror game. Point-click adventure at heart with some stealth elements, however it just feels different from all the other horror games in this style. The game is quite short (for what it is. It's about 5-8 hours), and doesn't pretend that this is actually a game in disguise. All the puzzles made sense and I found it brilliant how the logic of a pt-click adventurer was actually explained in-game. But most of all the horror was equal parts implied and equal parts gore.

I haven't seen the concept of hallucinations done in this manner since the Chzo Mythos. The music is excellent, really sets the tone, and the dialogue system is interesting because of the kind of assholish character that you play. He's not a snarky witty protagonist. He's not a brooding clever genius. He's not even some edgy asshole who's in the wrong genre. You're playing as an everyman who's just fucking sick of the shit that's been happening to him.

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Dracula: The Resurrection (PC)

I went and got myself the Dracula trilogy on GOG. This series always fascinated me. I have had no other prior knowledge on the specifics except that it was at one point bundled with American Mcgee's Alice. I chalked it at the time to an FMV/Cutscene Adventure game of which I loathed. But as it turns out, it was just a really well-polished Myst clone with great-for-its-time graphics. Those CG Titties on Dracula's Brides amirite? All in all, a pleasant experience. Can't wait to play the second game now.

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Batman: Arkham Knight (XB1)

This was one of the first games that I bought for XB1...only for me to not play it for nearly five years.

I think I should stop looking at public perception of games before I play them. Just like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Arkham Knight is so much better than I thought it was going to be, and it honestly might be my favorite of the trilogy. Gotham City has excellent scale and fun/ease to move around, something that I felt Arkham City struggled with. It felt like the complete Batman experience it bills itself to be with expanded gadgets, improved combat across the board, and it felt like something more akin to an elongated Batman movie than the previous Rocksteady games. I had almost no issues with the Batmobile/Bat-Tank other than the occasional camera issue with the former and generally loved the Bat-Tank segments.

I do wish they went back to the Arkham Asylum way of Riddler stuff (both in types of content and quantity), but I ultimately don't have too much to complain about.
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Spyro: A Hero's Tail (Gamecube)

This was my first Spyro game I ever played and I enjoyed it for what it was. Would definitely be interested in going back and playing the previous games if I ever got around to getting copies of the games or if I didn't have a massive backlog as it is.

Blink minigames, Sparx minigames, the terrible ending, and the even worse 100% ending can fuck right off though.

Super Monkey Ball (Gamecube)

I like Super Monkey Ball
I suck at Super Monkey Ball

Spyro: Year of the Dragon Reignited (PS4)

Now finished with the entire trilogy. People weren't exaggerating when they said this one is filled with annoying minigames. The levels themselves are generally fine and there is a solid amount of variety, but the main part is over very quickly and then you have to do separate minigames again to complete them. Some of the levels are also designed awkwardly (Enchanted Towers, Lost Fleet etc.). I loved Crystal Islands though, and I did really like playing with the other characters as well.

Overall, I do think I like this one the least of the trilogy, but it's all within small margins. Probably 2>1>3, but all of them had good and bad things in the end. Mostly good, fortunately.

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I finished Soda Dungeon 2 (Android) the other day. Unless you have a boner for efficiency puzzles, I would say pass on this. It looks better, but it's the exact same game. They give you all these things to build and unlock, but its really just the same classes, the same format. The boss fights were even more boring than the last one, as I managed to kill them on the first run, most of them. The game tried hamfisting a paper thin plot and I just couldn't care. I only finished it because I needed a phone game to entertain me in those 15 minute intervals on a normal day. Should've just stuck with that metro line game.

Today I finished Dracula: The Last Sanctuary (PC) the second game in the Dracula franchise. This game is awesome. It's basically Castlevania 2 meets Myst. It's a game that tries to take itself seriously, but fails from the limitations of its engine specifically the 3d cutscenes, but boy are they a joy to watch. They're certainly better than most cutscenes of this era. I could talk about the solidness of the puzzles and the flow of it all; the way you returned to Dracula's castle from the first game and explored areas and setpieces that you couldn't before. And despite revisiting sewers between levels in the first disc (just take the trams Seward), it didn't feel like padding as there were twice the inventory items and twice the puzzles to deal with. But that's boring.

I wanna bring up the silly moments as there is a ton of it here. That Dracula had in his hunt for Mina, operated a theater in London "hiding in plain sight" and when you infiltrate it, you have to go up against his T-Posing mechanical double. The fact that Dracula's plan was to mug you in this theater by gaslighting you into thinking you were back in his Castle only to give up after the first minute of interrogation. Oh and I love that moment in the final tower where you tore a hole through one of Drac's minions with a cannonball. What the fuck.

Did I mention this game has quick time events? In 2001.

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Lenna's Inception (PC)

Another game from the big itch.io bundle. This one's great! It's essentially a Zelda randomizer with a fairly subversive story. It's only a few hours long and has multiple endings, so it lends itself to multiple playthroughs. Recommended.

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Dracula: Path of the Dragon (PC)

Ah, Kheops Studio. Welcome back with this awesome point click adventure. I think this one is my favorite of the 3. It has nothing to do with the previous games, but it does something a little more different which was have a horror pt-click on the slow burn investigation side that is NOT a cthulhu game. It plays on established facts and then adds its own historical twist to it.

Many might not appreciate the linearity of this game, the amounts of reading required, and the fact that you only really get to meet him by the end. But I felt it a refreshing pace, not just from the trilogy but for Dracula games in general. I find the setting unique as it was exploring Dracula's possible existence in a time when no one's heard of him yet and the novel had just come out so there was this air of mystery on whether or not Dracula was real and I myself was uncertain.

I think that does it for this series. I heard that there's 2 more games in the series, but they stink. So...knowing me, I'll probably get to them when I can lol

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