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Recently completed video games

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i finished as much of Batman Arkham Origins as i am going to.  (PS3, regular story play through on hard)

 

i finished the story the other day, but spent last night getting 100% for all the riddler packs/crimes, etc.

All that is left are anarchy and pinkney plaques, I suspect that will require walking around with a gameFAQ open on the laptop.  Also, I am not nearly good enough at the combat to go back and 3x medal all the challenge maps either.

 

All in all, i thought it was a great time, as much - or more fun than City.  i waited a long time to play to avoid some of the game-destroying bugs that happened with launch.  im sure there is a thread somewhere discussing story, pros/cons of the different games, but thought it was a solid game and a fan of the Batman Arkham series will probably be a fan of this one.

 

I was also up way too late playing the multiplayer, which I also think is great.  it could be more robust with maps, modes, etc...but it was a lot of fun as the hero class trying to disrupt different gangs.  i doubt it becomes an everyday play...but certainly am going to give another try.

 

 

Does anyone have an opinion on the DLC that is available? i saw a few challenge packs and a Mr Freeze story DLC - challenges are of little interest, but an expanded story add-on has value to me

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Burial at Sea pt 2: I didn't realize that BS:I was a prequel to BS. Har har. I really enjoyed to light stealth and the return to rapture. I 1998'd it. Some really amazing sequences, particularly the intro. The whole thing consistently looks and sounds so good. I thought the attempt to recontextualize Daisy was a little silly, and I forgot enough about BS:I that I'm not sure why the retcon Daisy needed to get Elizabeth ready to kill in the first place? In another sense I feel like the fatalistic death march and fingerprints of Irrational's closing is all over this. "This is all for nothing, but we have to do it anyway." I'm sure everyone is tired of talking about this. I kept thinking that Sally was supposed to be another Elizabeth.

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I beat Inescapable, an indie game that I got from a bundle and didn't realize it was that "Amiga-esque" Metroidvania, it was so short and simple that I didn't mind it didn't have a map, but it did end abruptly, what happened to be the final boss seemed to be a minor mid-boss to me.

 

It's barely a Metroidvania, while not linear, it doesn't has anything optional and 90% of the items you find are keys to reach the next area. You get a double jump, you get the ability to breath underwater and I got a more powerful gun I never used because nothing was really that threatening. I died more from drowning than enemies.

 

Apart from the logo, the game itself does not feel like an Amiga game, it plays like a Mini Metroid with plot, it's missing the badass music most Amiga games have, this game is SILENT...

magneticrealms.png

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I beat Little Inferno. I heard that this video breakdown of it was really good, then remembered "oh yeah, I have that and never played it," so I powered through it in one sitting. The guy pretty much nails my thoughts.

 

 

 

Also, I burned the hug coupon even though my brain kept telling me it would almost certainly trigger something later.

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Finally finished Wolfenstein: The New Order :tmeh:

I still had to do the final segment of the last boss battle. Both boss battles in this game were tedious as fuck. I was having a good time until

I came back from the moon.

. After that my whole play style become impossible/irrelevant. I died once before that event, and after that I died 16 times because of the large number of default-agro enemies they throw at you.

I think they wasted big opertunities with the technology they had at hand. The rage engine should be capable of rendering large detailed areas, but instead you are mostly going through a lot of small corridors. The game is completely lineair. I first thought that there was a hub, just like in the previous wolfenstein, but nope.

I've only played 1 timeline, but the other one is simply the same levels, just a few differences in the story, right?

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I just beat the whole "Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller" series, you can tell that it's episode since they do seem to change things a bit from episode to episode.

 

The first one was starts the weakest and when I was introduced to a team and met the "Nerds act like Big Bang Theory characters, right" character... I kinda hated the game, he even has his own "BAZINGA!"... Eww.

But he's not that relevant to the game and apart from some references to Quest for Glory and old PC copy protection talk... he wasn't that annoying even though he's very stereotypical.

 

The game became more interesting with each episode, Erica main "gimmick" is her psychic powers to see the past and many puzzles resolve around getting certain objects to see the past or getting to touch someone to see their past. 

 

The final episode is the weirdest since they add a trust meter and the episode will evolve different depending on how much a certain person trusts you, it would be interesting if it weren't so obvious what you have to say.

 

They are kinda unpolished and cost MORE than a full Telltale game, so while I don't recommend paying full price for them, getting them from a sale or some indie bundle seems like a good idea.... Just don't let Terrence turn you away from the game when he goes Big Bang Theory on you. :P

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I finished Muramasa Rebirth which I got free on PS+ (although I was going to buy it eventually) on vita.

So it's sort of a 2d hack n slash metroidvania, although the back tracking isn't 100% necessary. It apparently has multiple endings, but I found the narrative to be a bit too confusing for me to care enough to go back and get them.

The combat was great! There were some seriously intense boss battles which require pretty fast reflexes and learning the boss mechanics quickly to do well. Although death is rather inconsequential. Even if you die, you keep any experience earned so you can just bash your head against a brick wall until you're strong enough to get through.

I really enjoyed it though. It worked great as a vita game, where I could happily sit and play for an hour or two, or even just play for 5 minutes and enjoy it.

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Was that one by the folks that made Odin Sphere? I really wanted to like Odin Sphere, but I just couldn't. However, Muramasa Rebith looks like incredible fun.

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Yes it was: Vanillaware, they have a pretty cool art style. If you have a vita or a Wii then it's definitely worth grabbing. Great fun.

I'm going to play Dragon's Crown, another Vanillaware title next...again free on PS+. It looks crazy fun too!

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Just finished Bioshock Infinite. I had to pretty much force myself to, in the end, and the ending was pants. On paper it seems like a good game, but it just doesn't really cohere at all. 

 

Have more thoughts about it, but I literally just finished it and the ending dragged on so much that I now feel really sleepy.

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I beat Arkham Origins and hated it. I'm not sure if it's me or the game, I loved the first one and sort of liked the second (I thought the open world was bad for the game). This latest one though, it's buggy, unpolished, rehashes the same mechanics / design tropes and possibly has even worse boss fights than the other two games. Maybe I was carrying a grudge against AAA game coming off of E3, I just had no patience for this shit in this one. Inconsistent mechanics, why can't I use the glue bomb to make a raft before I raise the water? Because it's scripted not to. Why can't I use the gizmo to make line before I open the steam pipe? The writing is awful. Awful. The portrayal of women is worse. The boss fights, oh I already mentioned them did I? God awful and constantly interrupted by cutscenes.

 

After spending a lot of times with the Souls games the controls here don't even feel good. Double tap to dodge? The QTE combat was great in 2009 - it's not 2009 any more. I would also appreciate it if Batman didn't think to himself what he needs to do before I even get a chance to do it. How to run a series into the ground 101.

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Well, I'm glad I skipped this Batman game from the latest Steam sale then...

 

I beat a few games from the Steam Sale too:

 

Warlock 2 The Exiled: I called the first Warlock "Civ V with Wizards" but now it really does feel a lot more like Civ V with Wizards, before you pretty much only researched spells, but now you can research stuff like some sort of alchemy that increases your research output in general. I'm pretty sure the neutral cities didn't exist in the last game?

 

The main plot is that some big bad wizard has taken over your world and everybody has been exiled to worlds similar to the ones in warp gates in the first game, but there is a variety of worlds and I think you can win by reaching your world and defeating him, but I killed my rival without noticing that it would end the game.

 

I also got a DLC dragon player, which changes the game completely because, while it's pretty powerful, it does have a city, so you have to survive on what you get from monster hives until you take over a city... I was still in the red when I defeated my rival.

 

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures: It's based on the show and apparently all the characters and powers are from it. The game is relatively short with only about 6 worlds with only 4 or 5 worlds in it and a bonus world or two.

 

Pac-Man no longer needs his special pill to eat ghosts and you have special pills that change your form into rock, flame, etc... 

 

Frankly, the game did a good job of introducing the powers, by the time you see the final one, you're close to the end of the game and the game doesn't feel repetitive. It's better than the Pac-Man World games in any case.

 

Jazzpunk: Let's face it, this game is basically a comedy bit disguised as a game, it's more about making jokes or anything, Some are pretty obscure.... I found a 3DO in a beach for example. There are jokes about games, jokes about making gaming jokes, slapstick humor and jokes on slapstick humor and so on and so on...

 

Frankly more jokes fell flat then not, but the ones that didn't were pretty funny?

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I agree on Jazzpunk. It's was an interesting game. The humor failed on a lot of levels. It almost feels like they were trying to be unfunny as much as possible.

It was also a rather short game, or at least, much shorter than I expected.

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Well, I've technically finished it before, but last night I finally completed Assassin's Creed 2. And by completed, I mean I found all 100 of those stupid fucking feathers and got every single achievement in the game. I will never touch this game ever again. It is in my DONE pile, never to be played by me again. I've wrung out every ounce of enjoyment I will ever get from that game.

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Cheevos, man. Gotta have my cheevos.

Edit: But seriously, the real reason I did it was being only 2 achievements away from actually getting every achievement in the entire game. I'm not a great gamer, so even finishing a game is something I have a lot of trouble with, so I wanted to have at least one major non-Arcade game on my XBox with all the achievements (I've gotten all the achievements in The Cave, Afterburner Climax, Beyond Good and Evil HD, and Comic Jumper, but never any longer games on an actual disc before).

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Played through Papo & Yo this afternoon.  Fuck that is a depressing game.  The game part isn't very good, puzzles ranging from boring to just okay.  But I love the design, ascetic, story and everything else it has going on. 

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...and I just finished Sonic Generations. I didn't realize how close I was to the final boss.

Most of the levels were pretty fun, and while the story was kind of a nutso dumb excuse to have old Sonic meet new Sonic, I didn't really expect the Brothers Karamazov when putting this game in so I can't really complain. It was goofy and fun and I liked most of it.

Except for every single boss battle. Every boss battle wound up being a time where I gave up on the game for a while and came back to it later, with the exception of the final boss who I swore I would defeat today (and I did!).

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I beat "Noir Syndrome", a procedurally generated crime mystery adventure... It's kinda like Carmen Sandiego. You have a time limit, you need clues to point to a suspect AND the suspect's name.

 

Not to mention you can die of hunger or be gunned down by the mob or police if you do the wrong thing, like steal from them.

 

All you do is hit the "inspect button" EVERYWHERE and on everyone to hopefully get suspects, clues or items, like lockpicks or money. For 75$ the mob will tell you one initial of the suspect, if you have enough, you can get both.

 

I'm not sure it's that good since many clues are redundant and you'll have five clue that say the suspect is either a cop or a mobster, but you don't even know their gender yet.... which is only obtained by.... fingerprints... Wow. 

 

All clues will tell whether they are a civilian, mobster or cop, their job and their gender, which is usually enough, unless you have two with the same job and gender...

 

You can also level up, but... it's kinda not worth it. You have to complete challenges like complete a case in record time, find a certain person, etc, etc.... But the rewards for leveling up are ridiculous.

 

I think I only have two more levels to unlock and all I get as a starting bonus is 5 dollars ( I usually find 15 in my home immediately), 3 bullets and TWO lock picks. Do I really want to play 50 times, spend 10.000 dollars and other grueling tasks just to start with a few bucks more?

 

Anyway, I guess it's OK at the price I got it, but that's about it. The suspects are randomized and the clue locations too, but the places are the same so it does get old fast.

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finished my first play through of Steam World Dig

 

its a neat arcade-y take on the digging sensation that has swept through the indie scene.  i normally don't enjoy them at all, my Terraria house isnt even furnished.

 

But the arcade mechanics and simplified block size (1 block fits your guy) really kept me hooked.  I need to do some reading and planning for the next run, shooting for the <2.5HR & 4-Gold star run achievos.  I could see this being a great time on a handheld - i think it originated on 3ds

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I guess technically its only part of a game, but I just finished Sam & Max 104: Abe Lincoln Must Die! (which I assume is Season 1 Episode 4. The bolded title is exactly what its called in Steam) which has been free on Steam for a while now.

It was a pretty fun adventure game. I didn't have much trouble with most of the puzzles, and I appreciated the shorter length for a point-and-click adventure. The story was self-contained enough that I didn't feel like I was missing anything important even though I hadn't played the previous entries, but also had some apparent threads tying everything together that is making me consider purchasing the rest...
 

Also, I just really loved the way Sam will smack Max out of the way while walking somewhere. A nice comedic touch to, I assume, prevent any overly complex pathfinding issues with two characters both moving around the same walking space.

I only had a problem with one or two puzzles, particularly

figuring out how to get Bosco the money for his missile defense system. With the highly cartoony design and feel I didn't think I would have to get specific enough to both "register" the store as a historic place, and also prove it through carbon dating. I mean, as President, we find out that Max can change the date at will, I don't see why the budgeting has to be so strict at that point.



Either way, fun game, 9/10, would play again.

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I'm finally working my way through the last few episodes of season three. I would say the comedy and quality of the games holds up all through-out, though the gameplay doesn't change a ton and it feels a bit samey by the end. I would definitely recommend buying the whole of season one. I'm sure it can be had for dirty cheap.

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One of my favourite things in Sam & Max is that Max stays president for the remainder of the series.

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I would say both the writing and the gameplay get consistently better with each episode from the first episode of season one to the last episode of season three! Well, gameplay significantly less so, I suppose. It's definitely way better in later episodes than it is in earlier episodes, though.

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I beat SteamWorld Dig and yeah, it's pretty good, it's more like a metroidvania with digging than anything else. Although you really shouldn't bother to explore the older areas that much since the ore become more expensive the deeper you get, so why go look for that copper ore that's 2$ when you get a ruby that's 300$? 

 

The game does have some special core for bigger upgrades or teleporters to make the trip back easier. Although I did have spare cores in the end, it did feel a bit tense to decide whether I could afford one or not at most times.

 

How To Survive... I'm not sure why I bought a twin stick shooter with zombies, it's like a cheaper more condensed version of something like Dead Island, which is probably why I enjoyed it in the end... No "AAA Slog".

 

The game does have a quirky sense of humor with the survival guide videos and the game does have a high risk/reward system with the shelters, not only are they only place you can sleep, they always have some very good crafting items in them. The problem is that for some reason they make a sound that attracts zombies for a minute or two.

 

Luckily it's pretty easy if you just run away far enough so that enemies only come from one side, The game also has a special night stalker zombie which is annoying since it never drops anything and as the game progresses the wildlife will become infected and well... zombie deer are kind nerfed until you get the best weapon in the game.

 

The biggest disappointment was that the finale was just another zombie horde, this time with bosses and zombie deer even. But in the end, despite all odds, I did enjoy it... the quest giving monkeys might have helped with that decision. :P

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