Recently completed video games

[Dewar]

I fucking love Steamworld Dig - it is sort of a sequel to my favourite Xbox Live Indie Game called Miner Dig Deep. The reason I loved both games was their simplicity.

 

I finally got to play the game on Xbox One and went through in two sittings and apart from the combat - it was really, wonderfully, peaceful.

 

I went back before Halo 5: Guardians, and finished the Anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved. I have forgotten how good this game was - the pacing, the setting and the setpieces. It has barely aged from that perspective, except for The Library - it is still rubbish.

Is it some of the same team between Steamworld Dig and Miner Dig Deep? I love Miner Dig Deep and haven't found another mining-type game that was as cool as that one.

[Tanukitsune]

I have played.... mostly visual novels?

 

Belladona is a short adventure game about a "frankengirl" freshly awaken from the slab, trying to figure out who she is and how she got there... I really enjoyed it! 

 

Asphyxia is a VN about teenage girls based on British poets, I don't know enough about British poetry to know how this relates to the game, but it a cute and nice story non-the-less with some darker moments.

 

WORLD END ECONOMiCA Episode 2 is well... I must admit I slept through a few hours of the VN, but since it's so long I eventually caught up and frankly, it didn't grip me as much as the first.

 

The Royal Trap is a VN about a royal servant who ends up caught up in whirlwind of betrayal and potential prince dating. 

There was a moment the game almost made me think they had a transgender princess, but alas, she was just very innocent.

 

Oblivious Garden is kinda the opposite of The Royal Trap since in this case you serve and fall in love with Princesses, also this story has magic and very weird stuff that would spoilery. 

 

If My Heart Had Wings is a VN about a glider club and a girl in a wheelchair, I was very spooked when I saw Steam asked my ages and expected something "Hentai", but apart from a bath scene and beach scene(which is required by law by now) this game was so sweet and heartwarming to me.   

 

Life is Strange Episode 3: I already talked about it in the appropriate thread...         

 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, when I started this game, I remembered why I loved this series so much, but near the end, I realized why I stopped. I like adventure games, I like VNs, I like mysteries, but I don't like this mix. It can get very frustrating trying to trigger the next event, or finding the right clue and as the game advances, the new ideas are annoying. I lost so much time trying to figure out how taking fingerprints worked. But I love the story and characters... I kinda wish I didn't have to interact to make it continue.     

[Zeusthecat]

Batman Arkham City: I finally finished this on PC the other day. I originally played through it on the 360 a few years ago and finally got around to doing it all again on the PC. This is a great game. Those graphics and cape physics sure are pretty too. And I can now definitely confirm that they went a little overboard with the bad guys calling Catwoman a bitch all the time. That last mission where you need to get your stuff back from Two Face has probably the highest rate of bitch barks per minute that I've ever seen in a game. Other than that though this game is just super fun all around.

 

Rocket League: Got the platinum trophy on this one so I'll call it complete. I still play it fairly frequently and it will probably stay in my rotation for awhile. Super fun game most of the time but lately I've been feeling a little frustrated by how floaty the ball is. It is agonizing when you just sit there waiting 4 seconds for the ball to fall down low enough for you to hit it.

 

Mario Kart 8: Just need to get 3 stars on some 150CC and mirror mode cups but other than that I've done just about everything and unlocked just about everything with my daughter. I got all the DLC too and love the extra courses. Not sure if I'll ever take this one online but this will be one of my go to games whenever there is an opportunity for some local co-op.

[undermind9]

Mario Kart 8: Just need to get 3 stars on some 150CC and mirror mode cups but other than that I've done just about everything and unlocked just about everything with my daughter. I got all the DLC too and love the extra courses. Not sure if I'll ever take this one online but this will be one of my go to games whenever there is an opportunity for some local co-op.

 

Not going 3 star on the 200cc?  8sec baby park laps are pretty sweet

[Zeusthecat]

Honestly, I haven't touched that mode as my daughter has a hard enough time with 150/mirror. I might give it a whirl at some point.

[twmac]

Is it some of the same team between Steamworld Dig and Miner Dig Deep? I love Miner Dig Deep and haven't found another mining-type game that was as cool as that one.

 

I should have confirmed when I saw them at EGX but I was too busy playing Steamworld Heist (which is good but not Steamworld Dig levels of good - think 2-D, sideways scrolling X-Com).

 

I find it impossible to believe that they aren't linked. They have step ladders, drills that can break through rock and depend on fuel (that need to be upgraded), the light mechanic works the same way too (you need fuel and you can upgrade it's diameter). They have fixed certain things by introducing wall jumps and got rid of that annoying drill sound, and they got rid of the Mineshafts and the 'if you drill too much away in certain areas you will cause a collapse' mechanic.

 

It is the closest to a Miner Dig Deep sequel you will ever get. My buddy calls it 'Miner Dig Deep 2: Robot edition'

[Justin Leego]

The link is real!

"The idea was highly influenced by the Xbox Live Indie title Miner Dig Deep, which I enjoyed but felt we could improve upon."

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225257/

[Henroid]

The Yawhg.

 

Okay so maybe this isn't really what the thread means but still, that game is amazing. My roomies played it a lot today. I, at one point, sabotaged what would've been a good ending by using my awesome finesse to be the Looter.

[elmuerte]

Corpse of discovery

It could have been a Basically you run around in a few procedural generated worlds and go from point A to B to C, etc. There are a bunch of additional points you could visit. Each point triggers a bit of story. Initially there isn't much of a danger present. But from the second world there are these flying reapers which reset you to your previous point when they see you. The world gradually become more dangerous by introducing environmental hazards or simply less ground to walk on. So it becomes a challenge to navigate to each of these points, trying to avoid these reapers. This part is quite tedious and annoying at some points, and due to this it's a

The worlds are obviously procedural generated, and little care has been taken to clean up the world. This is really obvious why the presence of single voxels floating in the air. It's not a random world, I'm pretty sure of that because that could lead to un-navigable parts.

I don't think I figured out a greater backstory. e.g. Why am I here? and stuff like that. I would have been nice if they went a bit more intro the goal of the corporation you work for (and their ethics).

[jennegatron]

I played all of costume quest 2 yesterday since it was seasonally appropriate and I had bought it months ago when it was on sale on the Playstation store. I liked it! I'm still missing a couple costumes, but I won't go back.

[Dewar]

The link is real!

"The idea was highly influenced by the Xbox Live Indie title Miner Dig Deep, which I enjoyed but felt we could improve upon."

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/225257/

 

None of the same folks on it unfortunately. I'd have loved to see an XBLIG team do well for themselves.

[dartmonkey]

Just finished Super Mario World! Not a bad video game, that one. Probably wins 'Earwormiest Tune' too. Still think SMB3 will continue to be my favourite Mario Maker skin, but this will be a close second.

[Dewar]

Oh hey, I forgot to post that I beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut last night. Despite stopping and starting the game several times I really enjoyed myself. Decent stealth mechanics, good shooting, and really meaningful upgrades that allow you tons of multiple paths, secrets, and extra loot. I think it's still worth playing today, especially with the new sequel coming out soon. I'm actually excited for that now by the way, despite the pre-order stupidity going. The main faults were the wide open peaceful areas that should be fun but ended up dragging down the pacing. Each time I stopped it was during having to run all over an open city and find all the extra stuff. Sadly that extra stuff is kind of necessary the way I was playing, since I routinely ran out of power bars for my cloak and melee knock-out abilities.

 

Oh, and I'm so done playing inventory Tetris.

[Zeusthecat]

Borderlands The Presequel. I think I'm fucking tired of these games. This game was not very fun. It was buggy as hell and completely locked up way too many times, which was made even more annoying by the fact I was playing with some co-workers and we would get out of sync with each others quest progress with all of these lockups and have to redo areas. Beyond that, the controls kind of suck too. Your character has no weight so jumping just feels like a weightless, floating point just going through a jump arc. The double jump is sometimes available and sometimes isn't. Even when it is available it is not a very satisfying double jump. Honestly, the whole time I was playing this I just wished I was playing Destiny instead. The controls and mechanics and loot game here just don't even come close to stacking up to what Destiny has to offer and the experience felt hollow. Also, the characters sucked. Handsome Jack's arc was really lame and predictable and there was this character named Pickle that may have topped Tiny Tina as the most annoying character in a video game. Maybe this game just hit me at the wrong time or maybe my standards have just gotten higher but screw this game.

 

FTL: Faster Than Light. This game was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. I don't know if I just had a lucky run at the end or what but the final boss ended up being a joke. I had 4 shield bubbles, 45% evade, 2 defense drones, cloaking, and a teleporter and through all three phases of the boss fight I took maybe 4 whole points of hull damage. I got obliterated the first time I faced him but that second time it wasn't even close. Since I'm trying to finish my backlog I'm calling this one finished. I will probably jump back in and try some other ships at some point or maybe possibly try hard mode (although normal mode hit that difficulty sweet spot almost perfectly).

[Bjorn]

FTL: Faster Than Light. This game was absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. I don't know if I just had a lucky run at the end or what but the final boss ended up being a joke. I had 4 shield bubbles, 45% evade, 2 defense drones, cloaking, and a teleporter and through all three phases of the boss fight I took maybe 4 whole points of hull damage. I got obliterated the first time I faced him but that second time it wasn't even close. Since I'm trying to finish my backlog I'm calling this one finished. I will probably jump back in and try some other ships at some point or maybe possibly try hard mode (although normal mode hit that difficulty sweet spot almost perfectly).

 

Not to discourage your continued attack on your backlog, but the other ships were some of the most fun I had with that game, starting with different loadouts and seeing what I liked most. 

[Dewar]

I don't think I ever managed to beat FTL on anything but Easy. The end boss was just too much for me and it felt like the fun was spoiled by having to play toward a specific setup to be competitive against him. Obviously, you hit upon a build that you both enjoyed and worked well against the boss, while the builds I had fun with never really seemed to do well, so maybe that's part of our difference of opinion.

[syntheticgerbil]

I got all the achievements in Minesweeper from the Windows App store. Now all the kids at school want to be near me.

[jennegatron]

I played Cibele earlier this week and really really liked it. I would recommend it if you have ever had an intense emotional connection with someone online that maybe didn't go the way you wanted.

It's a fairly short experience, but I think really important if only to show you a shadow of what it's like to be a teenage girl who is trying to figure out how to be a sexual being in a world that at the same time celebrates and scolds you for doing so.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I'm curious how Cibele will play having a successful emotional connection with someone online. (not quite sure how you measure that 'success')

[Bjorn]

Cibele sounds fascinating, I hadn't heard of it, so thanks for mentioning it!  Some context here for anyone else who didn't know it existed. 

[jennegatron]

A great game to pair Cibele with is, imo, http://emilyisaway.com/, an AOL instant messenger game that takes place in the early 2000s.

[GavinTheAlmighty]

Oh hey, I forgot to post that I beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Director's Cut last night. Despite stopping and starting the game several times I really enjoyed myself. Decent stealth mechanics, good shooting, and really meaningful upgrades that allow you tons of multiple paths, secrets, and extra loot. I think it's still worth playing today, especially with the new sequel coming out soon. I'm actually excited for that now by the way, despite the pre-order stupidity going. The main faults were the wide open peaceful areas that should be fun but ended up dragging down the pacing. Each time I stopped it was during having to run all over an open city and find all the extra stuff. Sadly that extra stuff is kind of necessary the way I was playing, since I routinely ran out of power bars for my cloak and melee knock-out abilities.

 

Oh, and I'm so done playing inventory Tetris.

 

I finished it a couple of a months ago on Wii U after playing the vanilla version on PC, and I have to say that the Wii U version really was the definitive version of it.  The game pad added a valuable and worthwhile contribution!  I hear you on inventory Tetris - that definitely did get old.  But I NEED those remote mines!

 

I also finished Child of Light on Sunday.  I picked it up for the Wii U in the Ubisoft August sale - I'd heard good things about it, but hadn't had a chance to dive into it until this past month.  I was blown away by how beautiful this game is.  The art style is tremendous - it's like playing a Disney hand-drawn animated game.  The music is fabulous, standing out at the right time and blending in at the right time.  I was wary of a game with a turn-based battle system, but the active battle system was engaging enough to keep me going.  There are mechanics that add a level of strategy to each enemy encounter.  It doesn't outstay its welcome, but I'd be lying if I said I wanted more of that game.  I played it on normal difficulty and I have to say that it was pretty easy - if you explore enough, you'll be so well equipped with potions and bonuses that most fights won't pose much trouble.  Near the end of it, only the bosses have much challenge - the enemies themselves fall quickly because your team is really powerful.  There are a lot of playable characters, probably too many of them.  I stuck with a core group - there was one character I never used at all.  

 

I really can't say enough good about how beautiful this game is.  Still shots don't really do it justice.  It's a beautiful, colourful game!

[elmuerte]

Borderlands The Presequel. I think I'm fucking tired of these games. This game was not very fun. It was buggy as hell and completely locked up way too many times, which was made even more annoying by the fact I was playing with some co-workers and we would get out of sync with each others quest progress with all of these lockups and have to redo areas. Beyond that, the controls kind of suck too. Your character has no weight so jumping just feels like a weightless, floating point just going through a jump arc. The double jump is sometimes available and sometimes isn't. Even when it is available it is not a very satisfying double jump. Honestly, the whole time I was playing this I just wished I was playing Destiny instead. The controls and mechanics and loot game here just don't even come close to stacking up to what Destiny has to offer and the experience felt hollow. Also, the characters sucked. Handsome Jack's arc was really lame and predictable and there was this character named Pickle that may have topped Tiny Tina as the most annoying character in a video game. Maybe this game just hit me at the wrong time or maybe my standards have just gotten higher but screw this game.

 

I agree. I think you disliked this game so much because it came after Blands2. If this game was released after Blands1 it would still not be that great, but following Blands2 it was a real step backwards. For me the presequel felt too long for the same reason as blands1, there is so little change through the game. Blands2 had much more variation.

[Zeusthecat]

I agree. I think you disliked this game so much because it came after Blands2. If this game was released after Blands1 it would still not be that great, but following Blands2 it was a real step backwards. For me the presequel felt too long for the same reason as blands1, there is so little change through the game. Blands2 had much more variation.

 

Yeah, it really was a step back from 2. And I also feel like they padded this game out in the worst way possible by making you go back through areas 2 or 3 more times long after you had already done them to death with other missions. There is one particular area where you have to take jump pads from spot to spot to get to your destination on the outside of some kind of space station and between all the jump pad misdirection and the terrible verticality they tried to implement, it stands out as one of the worst areas I've ever had to deal with in a video game. And their mini map is so inadequate at showing where your valid paths are we would regularly spend like 15-20 minutes just trying to get to the area we needed.

[elmuerte]

Little Big Adventure Enhanced Edition (PC version)

DotEmu released the LBA "Enchanged Edition" on Steam recently. And it kind of sucks. So basically it's a PC port of the mobile version of LBA which they released quite a while ago. I played the mobile version and it was quite a good change in control style for the mobile.

The PC version is pretty much a direct port of this. But instead of your fingers you use your mouse to make the gestures. Or, alternatively you can use a controller. But you cannot use your keyboard at all. A direct port which means: no wall hit (not a bad thing per se); no behavior mode switching, and thus no alternative magic ball trajectories; zoomable scenes, thus allowing you to remove all surprise and mystery; auto fighting, making the final boss fight trivial; hardly any fall-back from damage. So basically, it's a baby game, with shitty controls; hot-spot highlight.

Besides the UI the rest of the art assets remain in their 1995 fidelity. Due to the higher detail UI art and the blurriness caused by the zooming the 1995 fidelity art feels much more terrible than it feels when playing original in DosBox (or via LBAwin).

Playing with the mouse was rather annoying, so I switch to the controller which is rather badly implemented. You can pretty much only move in 8 directions, but in the original game you could move in pretty much all 360 degrees, and with the behavior modes also place yourself quite well. Throwing the ball, and jumping with the controller is quite annoying, so I often switched to the mouse to have better control on where to jump and throw.

Part of the package on Steam is the original game running in DosBox. So you better play that one (or the GOGcom version).