gdf

Recently completed video games

Recommended Posts

I haven't completed it, I'm not sure I'm ever will, but I've been playing Final Fantasy 13-2.

 

I am extremely ashamed to admit that I put over 100 hours into Final Fantasy XIII (couldn't bring myself to play 13-2 though). I absolutely hated the story with a passion but for me the paradigm system is what kept me hooked on the game. Having played IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XIII I felt like it was just enough of a departure from their standard battle formula to inject a new level of strategy into battles and ended up being my favorite battle system out of any Final Fantasy game.

 

Like you mentioned for 13-2, I feel like there wasn't a whole lot of depth to the paradigm system in the main game but I found that tackling the harder challenges was where the true brilliance of the system shone through. There were some extremely difficult battles that forced me to pretty much use every possible permutation of the paradigm system and I found mastering the system to be immensely satisfying. Not sure if you've tried tackling some of the more difficult side content (or if 13-2 even has any to the level that XIII did) but I recommend it if you have the patience or desire to delve into the paradigm system further.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am extremely ashamed to admit that I put over 100 hours into Final Fantasy XIII (couldn't bring myself to play 13-2 though). I absolutely hated the story with a passion but for me the paradigm system is what kept me hooked on the game. Having played IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XIII I felt like it was just enough of a departure from their standard battle formula to inject a new level of strategy into battles and ended up being my favorite battle system out of any Final Fantasy game.

 

Like you mentioned for 13-2, I feel like there wasn't a whole lot of depth to the paradigm system in the main game but I found that tackling the harder challenges was where the true brilliance of the system shone through. There were some extremely difficult battles that forced me to pretty much use every possible permutation of the paradigm system and I found mastering the system to be immensely satisfying. Not sure if you've tried tackling some of the more difficult side content (or if 13-2 even has any to the level that XIII did) but I recommend it if you have the patience or desire to delve into the paradigm system further.

 

Oh the boss battles are plenty difficult, and I can see that this is where the strategy comes in. Problem is, this is the ONLY area where the strategy comes in. I don't really want to run through an entire game, repeating the same random battles again and again to get enough items and money and exp and completed quests just so I can get to the occasional good part. Doesn't really seem worth it, I've got Shadow Run Returns coming out next month (I'm already a backer so it's paid for) and I'll probably just tool around with Kerbal or something until then. Something that's more immediately rewarding than promising some sort of reward if only I can get through all the "work" to get too it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't blame you. It takes an insane amount of patience and I would have not done it if I didn't have an irrational love of grinding in JRPGs. Come to think of it, I followed FFXIII up with Lost Oddyssey and also put about 90 hours into that game and was super burnt out on JRPGs by the end so yeah, probably not worth it for most people.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I just completed Okami HD, and I do mean "completed", I did all sidequests, all treasures found and I even did all the fishing minigames to fill the fish database... I think I might like fishing minigames? I got Platinum, but I don't care, I'm just sad there is nothing more to do with this game, which is weird since this game feels long at the same time? If the game ended after the first "big" boss I would have been more than happy.

 

Is it me or is this game ridiculously easy? I always had too much money, items to even be close to dying not even once. 

 

Of course, since it's a Japanese game, Issun is total pervert and "Ammy" has.. explosive poop? JAPAN?!?

 

It's ridiculously easy. That combined with the weird pacing/structure do make the game seem to go on forever. Also, it's been a long time, but I remember being frustrated that you had about 1 minute at any point to figure out what to do next or how to solve a puzzle before Issun would get in your face and straight up tell you. Congrats guys, you made an even more annoying version of Navi. Oh my god I hated Issun so much.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What makes him even more annoying is how he wont shut up about babes and boobs...

 

Anyway, I got the Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL game and... You'd think it have better animated cutscenes... and voice acting... The have most of the original voice actors, but the have no more than four sounds they make apart from the announcer. But it was a fun nostalgia trip, some characters looked better in 3D than others and it was funny how they added Captain Planet as a playable character and how Flapjack and K'nuckles fight Stickybeard.

 

And yeah, it's a blatant Smash Bros. clone, but it's fun enough with it's story mode and in game everything is good looking enough and filled with background details and it was dirt cheap too!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh the boss battles are plenty difficult, and I can see that this is where the strategy comes in. Problem is, this is the ONLY area where the strategy comes in. I don't really want to run through an entire game, repeating the same random battles again and again to get enough items and money and exp and completed quests just so I can get to the occasional good part. Doesn't really seem worth it, I've got Shadow Run Returns coming out next month (I'm already a backer so it's paid for) and I'll probably just tool around with Kerbal or something until then. Something that's more immediately rewarding than promising some sort of reward if only I can get through all the "work" to get too it.

 

Wait, did they announce a date? I must have missed it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just finished Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, having previously only played Unwound Future. I feel like in both cases, I was missing a lot of information when I got to the ending, but especially with this one. Is it easier to understand if you've played the first games, or what?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wait, did they announce a date? I must have missed it.

 

Steam says June, as does another thing I saw incidentally. But yeah, I just looked it up, and June it is apparently. I can't help but feel that it's going to be fairly short with the development time it's had. But hell, the walkthrough video looked good, so whatever, I'll get my $20 worth or whatever it was.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Finished Dreamfall: The Longest Journey recently. Excellent overall, though a bit short - and the camera was a right pain at times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just finished Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction.
I love the entire series, and this one was no exception. ...well, alright, the final boss battle felt a little easy compared to other games in the series. But thats not too much of a complaint.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just finished Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, having previously only played Unwound Future. I feel like in both cases, I was missing a lot of information when I got to the ending, but especially with this one. Is it easier to understand if you've played the first games, or what?

I too just finished Miracle Mask, and it hit me with some stuff I was unaware of. Miracle Mask is the second game in the 'prequel trilogy' (Layton has gone Star Wars), so I'm guessing you have to play Specter's Flute (which I haven't yet) to know who some of the characters are. Unwound Future doesn't require a ton of background as it is pretty much self-contained as a story, whereas Miracle Mask has some very big story threads overlapping the games.

What I loved about Miracle Mask were the beautiful, Curse of Monkey Island-esque background and how you examined them. That was such a great effect. What I didn't like was the puzzles. It felt that after five games, they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for interesting things. I remember how in the first game the puzzles felt so ingenious and fun. This time around it rarely enticed me. So imagine my surprise when the free downloadable puzzles (one each day for a year, so that's a lot) turned out to be GREAT! They're all little minigames, full of creativity and have exactly that sense of enjoyment that I was looking for. Stupidly, easily the best part of the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mark of the Ninja :tup:

Finally decided to play this game, has been on my todo list way too long. Everything Remo said during the podcast is true ;)

I still haven't completed Klei's earlier games (Shank 1+2) because I'm sort of stuck at a meat circus. This didn't happen once with Mark of the Ninja. There's usually more than 1 way to get past something, except for when a new game element is introduced. Every level also has some cheevos of things you can do, most of them try to raise the bar of ninja-ness. And some of them hint at alternate ways to achieve your goal. It's worth trying to get most of them. The challenge chambers (which you encounter during levels) are also great, a nice distraction of the normal game. They also help you to control some game play element, or at least, understand them better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is me being the latest to the party, but I just finished Metro 2033. To be honest, I was incredibly underwhelmed. I liked the atmosphere, especially scavenging a body for ammo and then using it to buy supplies, but everything else that involved actually playing the game was terrible: floaty shooting with no impact, awkward platforming, lots and lots of first-person stealth, a hidden morality system, no quicksave, and so on. I've owned the game for almost two years now and only just finished it because I'd play for maybe an hour before getting bored or frustrated enough to quit.

 

Is it just looks that have people crazy about Metro: Last Light? I really don't see what this series has that STALKER doesn't have already in spades, but I'm still curious?

 

 

EDIT: I do want to say, but thank you to Metro 2033 for being a game that didn't need a final boss. With how regressive some of the level design was, I was sure I was going to have to defend a position from waves of monsters until my eyes bled.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Jurassic Park: The Game is not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. It's definitely flawed, and basically feels like the failed experiment that resulted The Walking Dead, but I still enjoyed it well enough!

 

I also played through Back to the Future: The Game prior to that. Probably the weakest of the traditional click 'em ups that Telltale has produced, but still fun.

 

Also I had an absolutely insane dream last night that was basically a mish mash of Bioshock Infinite, Jurassic Park, and Back to the Future, but without any of the defining features of any of those games. That makes no sense. It is true, nonetheless. God, it's one of those dreams that makes me hate the fact that dreams are so hard to remember. It was amazing.

 

Oh. Anyway, yeah, games were decent. Not great, but decent.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Over a year after purchasing it, I have just finished my first playthrough of Diablo 3. I think I actually did like it, but goddamn did they do a lot that frustrated me. The bad has been covered over and over again in various places, and you don't need me to spell it out for you. As such, I'll just leave my own personal evaluation of the game as the following sentence: For all the game's flaws, hell if it ain't satisfying to drop a giant ghost bell on your enemies' heads over and over again.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, not really completed, but I've been playing Borderlands 2 on PC for the past 2 weeks and loving every minute of it.  I've mostly reached up to a level 32 Gunzerker.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Completed Ratchet and Clank Going Commando. What a grind. What a useless garbage story. Definitely a slog compared to the first game. Hope the next one is better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Completed Ratchet and Clank Going Commando. What a grind. What a useless garbage story. Definitely a slog compared to the first game. Hope the next one is better.

You really didn't enjoy it as much as the first? I thought the second was a vast improvement over the first.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I could definitely see the improvements, but I was just so bored. Grinding weapons for little reward to 100% through two playthroughs and uninteresting enemies was never tedious, but just so passive. All of the new challenge modes were just a bunch of unremarkable gameplay repetition.

 

I think what killed it for me though was just a complete lack of any kind of story that made any cohesive sense or said I should care about something. It was mostly just a bunch of mock infomercials which was funny about twice, not a dozen times. I suppose Insomniac felt their humor was cute, but just so much snoozing. I don't even know where to begin with that whole unexplained lombax with tits not-girlfriend thing that was going on and just completely unexplained or resolved.

 

Oh well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I somehow not only completed Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, but I got all the achievements.... I dunno why, this game is basically "Eat Lead: Neon Edition".

 

I already said that people who kept claiming this is "SO 80'S!" and "SO CHEESY IT'S AWEOMSE!" are crazy, it's just an FPS with Daft Punk cosplayers and a neon filter, it only gets a bit good right at the end, but it was too late to redeem itself. 

 

And by "Eat Lead" I mean that game were constantly have to do things you hate to do in games, and then it's funny to make you do it anyway but it points out how stupid it is.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Deponia :tmeh:

Another one of those point and click adventures of Daedalic. I'd quality this as the Simon the Sorcerer equivalent of point and click adventures that were released in the early part of the 90s. Meaning: illogical inventory puzzles. Needed a lot of trial and error to figure out how to deal with the larger puzzles. If it only had the same level of humor ...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That was the game that made start the "Cartoon logic" thread, since I kept seeing people not getting the puzzles, while I did.

 

 

I just completed LEGO City Undercover 3DS and... I don't know what to say, they seemed to have dumbed down the game even more, which didn't seem possible, they removed features I loved and added stuff I hate...

 

I'll try to summarize to make this a super long rant:

-Gold bricks have been replaces with cop badges, gold for capturing the boss, silver for story mission and bronze for story missions. There are no longer rewards for collecting them all.

-The level structure is gone since it's open world, but the open world seems lifeless compared to any of the hub worlds in other games.

-Since you only play as one character, there is no co-op and you wear disguises with at least two powers, some which are almost never used during the whole game.

-Collecting the badges is repetitive compared to other LEGO games, in the other games there would be at least some variety. The Fireman only rescues cats...

-The game introduces a new type of brick to build structures, but you barely build anything in game in the old style.

-You can't replay missions, you have to restart the whole game if you want to replay a specific section.

-There is no reward for getting 100%, no secret level, character or vehicle... NOTHING!

 

This is probably the first LEGO I've been really disappointed by, I really hope the LEGO Marvel game is more in the style of the traditional ones.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finished Starship Damrey on the 3DS, which didn't take long, it's about a 4 hour game. It's part of the Guild series Level 5 has been doing for the 3DS, where they've been gathering together notable japanese developers to get creative with small one-offs, and Damrey is the first of the Guild 02 collection to be released.

 

It's very evocative of early-90's first-person point-and-click adventure games, something i have a particular fondness for, so i actually quite enjoyed playing this game. It's not at all challenging, but it's very charming and has a few fun surprises, i'd recommend it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wrapped up Uncharted: Golden Abyss this morning. I actually had a really great time with that game, despite all the Vita controls. The story was thread-bare, sure, but ultimately is the story what makes Uncharted enjoyable? I always thought that people that liked the "story" of Uncharted actually enjoyed the relationships between the characters and the banter between them as you go through the world. While Dante, Chase, and part-time Sully aren't nearly as good as Elena (!), Chloe, and full-time Sully, I still had a good time listening to them as I traversed the environment. Plus, minor spoiler:

 

The total lack of magical elements in Golden Abyss is welcome.

 

But man, those Vita controls. Anything motion controlled was pretty awful. Why Drake would suddenly lose balance on a narrow walking surface and have to catch his balance for a good 30 seconds is a total mystery to me. The motion-controlled aiming was also horrible; nothing like slight, unavoidable deviations in your aiming as you're using a spray-happy assault rifle at medium to long range. Backtouch wasn't so bad, but this game made it really clear to me why the Vita is death to hand ergonomics.

 

Like I said, though, those were ultimately niggling things that were fairly easy to get over in what was ultimately a shorter entry into the series, though they'd be completely unforgivable if Sony decides to throw mandatory Vita controls in a potential sequel. Anyways, the game doesn't nearly knock it out of the park but I did have a pretty good time with it. Can't complain at all considering I got it at no additional cost other than my yearly PlayStation Plus subscription.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm playing Forza 4 every day, and enjoying every day, and am probably going to keep playing it for another good 30-40 hours before I'm done with it. It's quite similar to 3, which I did the same thing with, and doesn't even have Porsches, which are some of my favorite cars. And I've got Dark Souls on the PC, which I enjoyed when I had it on consoles for all of 2 days, and Metro Last Light to play through, but I just know I'm not going to play either until I burn out on Forza yet again.

 

I'm not a HUGE fan of cars, I don't even enjoy racing games 98% of the time, heck I bought Forza Horizon when it came out and was rather disappointed in it. But that 2% of the time I can just sit down every day and pretty much play only a racing game and enjoy the hell out of it for like a week or two; and Forza (the main proper series) continues to be the best at what it does, Grand Turismo really has been replaced as the best hardcore racing series around so far as I'm concerned. So :tup: despite not even feeling that different from 3.

 

Oh, and they've got the Top Gear test track in this one. And the Cee'd or "C apostrophe D". And the first time I was on the track I squealed like a 12 year old girl, and then again when I took the Kia out. And then a third time when I completed my first lap with it and a little achievement popped up that said "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car". It was the first achievement I've ever enjoyed getting, and probably the last, but it was great! :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now