Recently completed video games

[Dewar]

Finally after a while of playing it on and off, I beat Rogue Legacy. I'm not sure if, given it to do over again, I would play again. It was nice to finally reach that point where I was regularly getting 4000 gold or more, but it took an awful long time to get there. Levels were fun-ish, but bosses were often way harder than anything else in the area. And man, the boss of the game was a pain in the butt.

 

I ended up beating it in 120 generations. Is that good?

[N1njaSquirrel]

Argh that's where I'm stuck at now! I can play it for about 40 minutes then just "eh". "Oh look it's Al Gore and he wants you to find Manbearpig. Ha ha ha."

 

I'm glad it gets better. Not that it's even bad now, it's just not totally gripping.

 

I'd suggest to stick to the story line and diverge when you get to the new places that the story wants you to go to. Apart from the sewers, the main story takes you to about 80% of the areas anyways.

[Codicier]

finished Bioshock Infinite last night, went in with fairly average expectations and came out the other end having enjoyed myself. Anyone have any recommendations of any good articles written about it I should give a look at now I'm done?

[ariskany_evan]

This is a fun one using Bioshock Infinite as a jumping-off point for a look at criticism...

 

http://tevisthompson.com/on-Video game-reviews/

[Murdoc]

Argh that's where I'm stuck at now! I can play it for about 40 minutes then just "eh". "Oh look it's Al Gore and he wants you to find Manbearpig. Ha ha ha."

 

I'm glad it gets better. Not that it's even bad now, it's just not totally gripping.

Weird, it wasn't the worst part of the game for me, but I loved all that stuff. 

 

Maybe I'm too big of an SP fan, but the fact they nailed the asthetics and feel of an episode, just being immersed into the SP world and exploring it was a highlight for me. The campaign stuff certainly moves the game along past the mechanics; which were good, but are wearing thin so far.

[Tanukitsune]

I just beat Rain and Datura, Rain has a bit of an ICO vibe with the whole leading a defenseless girl... I'm pretty sure the stone bench I saw was a reference... the whole rain and invisibility dynamic was pretty interesting and the game is short enough that you won't get tired of the gimmick.

 

Datura is literally a trippy game, Datura is actually the name of a hallucinogenic flower and you do strange puzzle which unlock visions of your past where you usually can do the right thing or be a jerk. It's so short that I played it twice and noticed that ending was minimally different at the end if you were a better person.

The ending is a corridor in a hospital, when I was a jerk the place had a grimy filter and there were less people waiting for me. At the end you look at the mirror and see yourself.. literally it uses the Playstation Eye camera to show you. The bugs that cover the mirror seem different if you are a better person in your playthrough?

[JonCole]

Frog Fractions   

 

Well that sure was a game.

[Bjorn]

Frog Fractions   

 

Well that sure was a game.

 

Ha!  Nice.  I finally went back and finished it this week after the FF2 announcement.  Back when it was new, I had started it at work and played until the

text adventure

then quit to go back to work. 

[chummer]

Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics 2.

 

I noted in the quitter's thread that I left StarTropics 1 pretty quickly and moved onto 2, which I had fond memories of. I think the memories hold up, but only b/c of a liberal usage of the emulator's quick save. Losing a life (yes, this game had lives for some odd reason) would take you back a few rooms in the 'dungeons' and remove all the items you gained. Brutal.

 

While the mechanics don't evolve and would have the same problem as the first game where it feels I'm constantly going into the same dungeon, StarTropics 2 manages to stave off the fatigue by all the visual changes. The game has you traveling through time, meeting Cleopatra, Sherlock Holmes, Da Vinci and more, with each chapter changing enemies and areas to fit the theme. For instance, before you meet Da Vinci, you have to go through his basement. Instead of another dungeon with a bunch of enemies though, it's a trap-filled series of rooms with what looks to be like inventions. This thematic shifting was what I loved about the game as a kid, and it's still charming today. If I were to make a game, I feel like it would be directly drawing from StarTropic 2's best bits.

 

I technically didn't finish the game, as the boss gauntlet at the end is really tough, but watching the last ten minutes on Youtube fulfilled me enough. If you're willing to play with save states to make the checkpointing a bit more modern, it's a fun game.

 

A few notable facts about the game:

- Last Nintendo licensed game to come out only on the NES. (Wario's Woods came out on both the NES and SNES afterwards.)

- The game was designed by Genyo Takeda, Nintendo's hardware R & D guy who has been with the company since 1971. Dude was also credited for making the battery-backed memory on NES cartridges and helped design Punch Out!

[ariskany_evan]

Finished up To the Moon this morning.  I warned my wife that I was near the end when I sat down, so she should be prepared for some tears.

 

I was right!  Lots of tears.  And then more tears when I told her the story.

 

Loved it.  The corniness of the humor felt limited to the characters as their coping mechanisms for working in such a tragic field.

 

I hated the way it felt in the hands.  The mouse controls were finicky and the keyboard controls were unresponsive.  Game hard crashed on me several times.  Thankfully their auto-save system meant I never really had to retread.

 

I wonder how this game would feel from a first person perspective.  Some Bioshock levels of world-detail, exploratory aspects of Gone Home, and that great great story stays the same.  The dialog would have to re-written for actual speech, but I feel like it would translate well.

[prettyunsmart]

I finished Shadowrun: Returns Dragonfall. I really enjoyed my time with it, or at least I enjoyed the settings, the characters, and the writing. I ended up just tolerating the gameplay. Maybe I'm just not into tactics games, but I found myself getting a little annoyed with most of the combat encounters and wanting to get back to exploring and the story stuff. I think focusing so much on the neighborhood gave the game a sense of place that the first campaign didn't have so much. I also really liked the way conversations unfolded with the members of your time in the style of Bioware companions. 
 
My one wish, which I'm sure only didn't come true because of budgetary restrictions, 

is that the team's plans like Glory hunting down the cult leader of Dietrich going after the mega-corp would have played out as side missions. Maybe in the next DLC.

[TychoCelchuuu]

finished Bioshock Infinite last night, went in with fairly average expectations and came out the other end having enjoyed myself. Anyone have any recommendations of any good articles written about it I should give a look at now I'm done?

I'm a little late here, but some stuff worth reading (or, in two cases, watching):

http://bphennessy.com/bioshock.html

http://www.reactionzine.com/the-girl-without-a-land/

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2013/04/apotheosis.html

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/04/18/the-anti-gospel-of-bioshock-infinite/?singlepage=true

http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/6/5474722/why-did-irrational-close-bioshock-infinite

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/04/end-epic-why-success-bioshock-infinite-bad-gaming

http://starburp.tumblr.com/post/46882489673/the-thing-that-bothers-me-most-about-when-white

http://leighalexander.net/bioshock-infinite-now-is-the-best-time/

http://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/48303569751/in-the-wake-of-columbia-a-follow-up

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/04/10/emulator-part-one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FylamIJ19n8

http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=3006

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3733057.htm

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/05/infinite-lockdown-bioshock-in-boston.html

http://www.theastronauts.com/2013/03/game-openings-are-important-or-the-first-180-seconds-of-bioshock-infinite/

http://badassdigest.com/2013/04/03/hulk-vs-devin-vs-bioshock-infinite/

http://www.awesomeoutof10.com/features/bit-picking-tearing-through-the-machine-age-in-bioshock-infinite/

http://superopinionated.com/2013/04/03/booker-dewitt-and-the-case-of-the-young-white-lady-feels-a-bioshock-infinite-review/

http://kotaku.com/bioshock-infinite-is-insanely-ridiculously-violent-it-470524003

http://kevinjameswong.com/2013/04/08/bioshock-infinite-is-a-metacommentary-on-the-nature-of-video-game-storytelling/

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/07/hyper-mode.html

[mikemariano]

I finished Shadowrun: Returns Dragonfall. I really enjoyed my time with it, or at least I enjoyed the settings, the characters, and the writing. I ended up just tolerating the gameplay. Maybe I'm just not into tactics games, but I found myself getting a little annoyed with most of the combat encounters and wanting to get back to exploring and the story stuff. I think focusing so much on the neighborhood gave the game a sense of place that the first campaign didn't have so much. I also really liked the way conversations unfolded with the members of your time in the style of Bioware companions. 

 

 

Yeah, I am maybe three major missions into the game and my team basically all facepalmed at the terrible decisions I was making.  It really made me carefully consider each in-mission decision.

[Tanukitsune]

I just beat God of War: Ascension and... I think I don't care about God of War games... It's too "mature", a.k.a. "puerile". 

 

I feel like this was going to be a Vita game but they didn't trust the Vita enough so they ported it to the PS3 at the last minute, so visuals look terrible and I can almost imagine solving some of the puzzles with the touch screen.

 

It was a total slog, you always stay with the same weapon for the whole game, it only gains elemental moves, which rarely do the "elemental part", the spell system is almost useless too. Maybe the PSP games were just as bad, but this game slogs along to "AAA" length a.k.a. "kill me now" length.

 

The most infuriating parts of the game are the constant flashbacks, whenever you pick up a power up you have to play a very lengthy section from the past were it shows you getting this item for the first time and losing it later.

 

Nothing even feels like a boss fight... did I even have one? Without a special name or a bar I can't tell if I just killed a miniboss or what, not that I cared.

 

If the game didn't hint at another game, I'd say I wish this was the last one... The WORLD LITERALLY ENDS in GoW 3 and the series almost has more prequels than sequels, I just don't care anymore about them.

[bkbroiler]

I've beaten Diablo 3 about 5 or 6 times since patch 2.0 came out. Hadn't played it since its launch, when I really enjoyed it, and beat about 1.5 times.

 

Wow, is it still fun. Looking at my old witch doctor, I can see were the loot issues where that I never really noticed. My WD had a ring equipped that gave intelligence, strength, and dexterity. I'm sure that is the best ring I could find at the time, but now everything I'm finding is relevant to my character - for the most part. Loot 2.0 doesn't feel cheap. Even when you're finding all this great equipment, it's a struggle to be like "is the flat damage increase worth losing the % dmg to a specific skill I'm liking? Should I switch my entire playstyle to account for this new legendary I found? It's a ton of fun, especially with friends.

 

I'm really pumped for Reaper of Souls and the Crusader class. When is the last time a company completely rolled back and changed huge design decisions in a game 2 years after its release? So crazy and cool.

[Security_Tubbs]

Like I said, I started playing Silent Storm: Sentinels and I just now completed it. I was pretty much more of the same, which is a good thing, but there were also some changes. Better than the original, since panzerkleins got totally nerfed

 

First, in this one you work for a paramilitary organization, Sentinels, who are cleaning up after the events of the first game. Working as a mercenary, you now get paid for completing missions, and you can buy and sell weapons and equipment instead of them just being available for you. It's a good thing if you like gathering and selling loot, and playing inventory tetris. Lack of money never really became an issue, except maybe in the very beginning of the game, since you could just grab the best weapons off dead enemies. There was also a weapon durability system, but that literally never had any effect on my game, and I even forgot about it for the last half of the game.

 

Speaking of halves of games, this one was notably shorter. The mission structure was also different. In the original, you unlocked more missions by picking up clues and completing other missions, and you were free to skip an early mission for the majority of the game, and return to it any time later. In Sentinels, your commander offers you a set of (usuall 4) missions, and you pick which one you want to do. After completing a certain number of missions from the set, the game pushes you forward. I wouldn't say it's better nor worse, just a bit different.

 

The greatest improvement, no question, is that panzerkleins (PKs) are no longer suits of invulnerability. You would still be totally screwed going face-to-face with one unarmored and at close range, unless you're carrying anti-tank weaponry and you get the first shot. Unlike the original, a direct hit from a bazooka with an armor piercing rocket would seriously damage or even destroy a PK. Shots from pistols, SMGs and weak rifles still bounce off without doing damage, but high powered sniper rifles could penetrate the armor and wound the pilot inside. I did the last few missions completely without PKs and managed just fine with some maneuvering and good use of M20 Bazookas with AP rockets.

 

The only big complaint I have is one specific mission that you have to do. It is practically impossible to beat unless you know exactly what you're doing and you've planned for it for the entire game up to that point. Basically you get 3 turns to do what would take easily over 10... even if there were no enemies around. After it became apparent there was no way of beating that level, I almost made a post to the Quitter's Club thread. But instead, I cheated. And I didn't feel even a little bit ashamed. There were some tough missions, but this was something completely off the difficulty scale.

 

I don't want to end on a bad note, so I'll just restate it: This game is really good

[Tanukitsune]

I beat Beyond: Two Souls and halfway through it, I thought, "Well, I've skipper Heavy Rain, but at least it's not as dumb as Indigo Prophecy! I think I'll recommend this game! I might even buy Heavy Rain!".

 

And then... 

The hobo baby incident happens.... Wow, David Cage beats you to death with his constant "EMOTIONS! MY POLYGONS MUST MAKE YOU CRY! CRY FOR ME!" message....

 

Jodie is homeless and meet some hobos, thinks of committing suicide and the hobo baby is about to be born! YOU MUST HELP GIVE BIRTH TO IT, BECAUSE EMOTIONS! (I imagine David Cage speaks in ALL CAPS)

And now.... The new born baby is a building on fire, because EMOTIONS! And now we beat you into a coma, because EMOTIONS!"

 

The narrative works in a sense, but David Cage... need some restraint? Some of the chapters could have a have been a simple short cutscene, did I really have to do the whole stupid date scene? 

 

Here's Beyond: Two Souls in a nutshell: Jodie is sad, Aiden is a jerk... BETRAYAL! EMOTIONS! BETRAYAL! MORE EMOTIONS! 

 

Jeez, like I said this guys need to learn restraint, if he didn't go overboard and shove emotions at 250% down our throats, I would have felt the emotions David Cage wanted me to fill, but he always not only goes one step too far, he goes a whole timezone too far and I just take the "super serious" situation seriously anymore.

 

PS: Since I play more game than watch movies, I saw Ellen Page and thought she looked just like Ellie from Last of Us, when it's really the other way around. *shrugs*

[Frenetic Pony]

South Park: The Sticky Truth

 

Well I'm about done with it, and that's one solid and funny (if relatively short for an) RPG. It really does nail South Park, all the right voices are done by Trey and Matt, the humor is spot on in both South Park type jokes and simultaneously making fun of video game tropes while also being a kind of interactive humor. I.E. if you take too long wandering around grabbing stuff while "Princess Kenny" is getting "raped" Butter's just blurts out "I know you want to get the most out of this game and all, but uh, our friend is getting raped up there."

 

It's that kind of cleverness, where they point out the things people do in games that undermine the conceit (EG it's a seriously pressing situation!!! Let's take the next hour to wander around and ignore it) are mocked. Sure the fanservice is overdone, I didn't really need to help Al Gore find Manbearpig. And at sixteen hours the game is shortish for and RPG. But hey it's funny, and the turn based combat is actually pretty solid and fun, and there's enough humor/light puzzles/exploration in between to not feel monotonous.   truly.

[neonrev]

The only big complaint I have is one specific mission that you have to do. It is practically impossible to beat unless you know exactly what you're doing and you've planned for it for the entire game up to that point. Basically you get 3 turns to do what would take easily over 10... even if there were no enemies around. After it became apparent there was no way of beating that level, I almost made a post to the Quitter's Club thread. But instead, I cheated. And I didn't feel even a little bit ashamed. There were some tough missions, but this was something completely off the difficulty scale.

 

I don't want to end on a bad note, so I'll just restate it: This game is really good

I'm pretty sure I know what mission you're referring to, and if I recall that mission got bugged in one of the patches and is currently impossible to beat without cheating at least a little. But yeah, besides that weird mission, the game is really pretty great. 

How'd you feel about the collecting enemy equipment and stuff to sell back to your employer so you can buy other guns from him? (Still seems weird to me.) I remember the end of mission search of every room and the inventory tetris being oddly hypnotic for me, but I can see that being really annoying to others.

[Stuart]

South Park: The Sticky Truth

I.E. if you take too long wandering around grabbing stuff while "Princess Kenny" is getting "raped" Butter's just blurts out "I know you want to get the most out of this game and all, but uh, our friend is getting raped up there."

 

Haha, rape, am I right? Haha, such biting satire.

 

But yeah, thanks for telling us that. Now I have a better reason not to play it.

[Gormongous]

Haha, rape, am I right? Haha, such biting satire.

 

But yeah, thanks for telling us that. Now I have a better reason not to play it.

 

Yeah, I'd probably buy and play this in the near future if it wasn't South Park, but everyone's talking about how true it is to the tone of the show, so I know it's just not for me.

[Frenetic Pony]

Haha, rape, am I right? Haha, such biting satire.

 

But yeah, thanks for telling us that. Now I have a better reason not to play it.

 

As Gormongous pointed out, I've a feeling the words "South Park" should've tipped you one way or another already. If you like South Park and "Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo" Guess what, it's South Park! If you don't, well it's still South Park!

[Zeusthecat]

Being a huge South Park fan, this game sounds pretty awesome to me. I was skeptical of it turning out well but from everything I've heard it sounds like it nailed the humor and aesthetic pretty well.

[Stuart]

How is rape, or the implication of it, funny, though. I mean this as a general question, not just in South Park.

 

EDIT: Also, I'm fucking sick and tired of the whole "If you didn't like X, you wouldn't like differently presented or made version of X!" This fucking sentence has been used to excuse the content of a bunch of truly revolting bullshit, whether it be GTA5 or South Park. Just because I'm not a fucking fan on whatever truly problematic thing I'm criticizing doesn't mean that my opinion or critique on it should be invalidated to be "Oh well duh, of course you won't like it, and that's fine, it's not for everyone!" Bullshit, rape is rape and it's not fucking cool to reduce it to a fucking punchline, no matter what the fuck you are doing. And if you are, how about take a shit on the actual fucking people who perpetrate it rather than the victims?

 

Look: If South Park was actually insightful and satirical (which it was, but not anymore/barely is now), I'd still not fucking buy it because of how they fucking treat oppressed people and make light of rape. I forgot who said it (I think it was Chris Franklin), but in satire, you don't punch down at minorities and belittled people, you punch up to those who are oppressing them. 

 

I apologize in advance for my harsh sounding tone and for bringing this issue in this thread, of all threads.

[SilentBtAmazing]

Nah don't apologize, well said.