Recently completed video games

[Tanukitsune]

I just completely Gravity Ghost, a game about a girl, a fox and using "orbital slingshotting" to fly around the galaxy.

 

It's surprising how much variety a game about orbiting has, you can collect power ups by solving increasingly complex "ball in maze" puzzles, some are kinda game breaking, but the puzzles are hard enough and far enough in the game to not matter.

 

You gain elemental powers to change the planet's type, some increase or decrease it's gravity, some just change the surface.

 

As a Gravity Ghost you can find animal ghosts to to return to bodies to rest which unlock a scene about the girl's story. I really loved, the voice-work, artwork and story... I won't too much about the story, but yeah, it was pretty amazing and caught me off guard.     

[Sno]

I'll throw in another vote for the Dark Brotherhood probably being the most interesting and well-designed questline in Oblivion. (Actually, it's possibly the most elaborately designed questline in any of the TES games.)

Play at least as far as the party, it doesn't really get better than that.

The Thieves Guild stuff in Oblivion is really good too, though the best of it is all on the back end of that questline.

[tberton]

Just finished Journey for the second time. What an amazing game, although I accidentally skipped the awesome second section this time around, which is disappointing. Still, it was incredible. The one-two punch of defeat and exhultation at the end is one of the most powerful game experiences out there.

[Henroid]

So a lot of years ago, I picked up Bioshock when it was $5 on Steam. At the time, my computer was dated so I was just getting the game for when I upgraded. Which didn't happen for a long, long time.

 

But! I finally did finish a new computer just over a year ago and realized I hadn't played this yet, so I downloaded it while at work.

 

Best game ever. Also worst game ever, because it crashes on startup and all solutions I've found don't work. Or rather, some do work, but I have no audio in the game. So I'm giving up. 1/10, not GOTY, etc.

 

... I'm sad.

[Sno]

I just finished Grim Fandango after playing it for the first time ever.

It's pretty good. Really quite good.

I feel like i'm missing something though, but perhaps it's simply a matter of not really having any nostalgia for that game specifically or its genre as a whole.

[Gormongous]

1/10, not GOTY, etc.

 

NGOTY would be a good award to start kicking around.

[Sno]

Before i forget, i've played Revolver360 Re:Actor, it's available on Steam. (Yes, that name is terrible.)

That's a hell of a shooter.

So it's a side-scrolling shoot em` up that plays out on a 2d plane like you would expect, except you can spin the camera either upwards or downwards in a cylindrical fashion, and this causes enemy ships and bullets to collapse into thin lines that you can destroy with a laser attack. What about 3d depth? There is no depth, if anything overlaps in the screen space, it acts as a collision.

That is, except for what's going on in the background, where your ship simultaneously acts as the cursor in a rez-like lock-on shooter that is happening at the same time you're spinning the camera around to manipulate the 2d side-scrolling playfield your ship exists on.

There's a bunch of other ship abilities to contend with as well, the levels are packed with branching paths both obvious and hidden, and there's a really great challenge mode too.

The game is nuts, people should check it out.

It also looks terrific, it has a great aesthetic. The

is incredible too.

[Tanukitsune]

I just beat Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth, it's was "only" 30 hours long, which is giving me more reasons to think that even JRPGs are shorter than AAA games now.

 

The game is ridiculously niche, it's about the four Goddesses of Gameindustri, a world with each land representing one "faction": Sony, Sega, Nintendo and Microsoft. Neptunia is the "Sega" Goddess who is defeated and loses her memory (yes, the game is very aware how cliche it is) and while searching for her memories, she makes friends based on Japanese game companies like Compa (Compile) and IF(Idea Factory). They unveil the evil plot of Arfoire (R4, remember the R4?).

 

I'm surprised by this game, it has crafting, sidequests and so much stuff to do, but it's so painless, the mission are rather short and even boss fights are never too long because you'll die too quickly if you're underleveled. Speaking of levelling, I'm surprised the game makes leveling so easy, the game has several "mini-bosses" that are hard to defeat, but give you a ton of XP and respawn.

 

I'm not sure I can convey how delighted I am by this game, it's a JRPG and it doesn't even do the obligatory "bath house scene", something that even Persona does, sure it's a bit pandering, but in a congratulatory way. Some of the best jokes are the ones only a few will get. I kinda loved this game!

[Griddlelol]

Super Metroid! 

[Professor Video Games]

Finished Escape Goat 2 over the weekend (after having to replay a good chunk of levels when my save disappeared mysteriously). Overall it's a fun puzzle/platformer. You control a purple goat who can double jump and headbut stuff plus you have a little mouse dude who can run around the walls of the level to hit switches, trigger enemies, etc. Good difficulty curve and I rarely found myself getting frustrated. The only times I got annoyed were a few levels that required very precise timing in their execution, getting me into that scenario where I knew exactly what to do but had to spend another 20 retries to actually execute.

[eot]

I played through the first one (Escape Goat) last week and it also had a few levels that seemingly out of nowhere had Meat Boy levels of platforming challenge. It felt out of place.

[Twig]

As a platforming expert... they never reach Meat Boy levels of challenge! But I do empathize. It's never a problem for me, because I'm good at platforming, but it's always dumb when they drop something like that in a game that's otherwise very much an at-your-own-pace type of experience.

[Gottfrid]

Gravity Ghost a few days ago and I thought it was a generally disappointing experience. It sure looked and sounded great, but the levels flew by in such rapid pace without ever leaving a strong impression and the different abilities weren't used at all. It felt underwhelming to me. And the story was painfully sentimental and awkward.

 

Seems like a lot of people are enjoying it though, so I guess that's great.

[elmuerte]

Finished Monument Valley yesterday. I don't play much on a mobile phone, so it took me quite a long time. Maybe because I played it over a long period the story did not really reach me. The game was not challenging at all. It all looked nice, but I found it rather lacking in some way.

[twmac]

I just beat Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth, it's was "only" 30 hours long, which is giving me more reasons to think that even JRPGs are shorter than AAA games now.

 

The game is ridiculously niche, it's about the four Goddesses of Gameindustri, a world with each land representing one "faction": Sony, Sega, Nintendo and Microsoft. Neptunia is the "Sega" Goddess who is defeated and loses her memory (yes, the game is very aware how cliche it is) and while searching for her memories, she makes friends based on Japanese game companies like Compa (Compile) and IF(Idea Factory). They unveil the evil plot of Arfoire (R4, remember the R4?).

 

I'm surprised by this game, it has crafting, sidequests and so much stuff to do, but it's so painless, the mission are rather short and even boss fights are never too long because you'll die too quickly if you're underleveled. Speaking of levelling, I'm surprised the game makes leveling so easy, the game has several "mini-bosses" that are hard to defeat, but give you a ton of XP and respawn.

 

I'm not sure I can convey how delighted I am by this game, it's a JRPG and it doesn't even do the obligatory "bath house scene", something that even Persona does, sure it's a bit pandering, but in a congratulatory way. Some of the best jokes are the ones only a few will get. I kinda loved this game!

 

You had me at 'Sega'

[Dr Wookie]

I finished Dragon Age: Inquisition recently (thanks to lots of snow days). That game reallys has some ups and downs, and I think it's mostly due to letting the player control the pacing. I'm no game designer, and my attempt at pacing my game was flakey at best , with periods of frustration and boredom along with very enjoyable highs. I have long been a fan of the Dragon Age series, but Origins remains my favorite (it's a different type of game, on pc if not on console- I played on  pc and 360). Thanks to the narrative structure, I might even prefer Dragon Age II (unlike a lot of people, I enjoyed that game a lot). I'll definitely play Inquisition again... I've already started a new character to make different choices, but it seems like a game that can be enjoyed here and there in chunks.

[Professor Video Games]

Finished Jazzpunk yesterday. It has some good visual gags, a great style, and some truly groan worthy puns (that's good), but man, I have never had a game give me motion sickness like this did. I played on PC and I think it's the narrow FOV? There's some annoying mouse smoothing which I turned off but that wasn't enough. I could play for one or maybe two hours before I had to stop and hit the couch. Good thing it's pretty short or this post would be in the quitters club thread.

[Gottfrid]

I finished Infamous: First Light a few minutes ago. I really wish more sandbox games were as condensed as this. It almost kept me interested the entire way through, despite repetitive missions and stiff dialogue. Almost.

[Tanukitsune]

I just finished Danganronpa: Happy Trigger Havoc, which is half 999/Corpse Party and half... Phoenix Wright?

 

As I play more visual novels I'm seeing common themes and tropes, so I'm at the point where if I see similar scenarios, I don't know if it's a norm or a rip-off?

 

And yet, the game also caught me off guard a lot times, and unlike The Last Reward, when I saw a hole in the plot it was either explained later, minor, irrelevant or on purpose. Unlike The Last Reward, the mistakes were forgivable and did make the whole story stupid and not make sense.

 

This game was probably the most emotionally exhausting game I've played, even more than any Telltale game, while some games made me a little misty eyed, this one lead me to full blown tears. And that's because of the main theme: DESPAIR.

 

The game is great at crushing my hopes right from the start.

 

Gee, look at the obvious love interest! I'm sure she'll somehow managed to survive until the end with the main...

Oh, she was the first to die... and was thinking of betraying me?

Oh, I'm sure Sakura will survive, she's the strongest...

Oh, she committed suicide.

 

I'm debating whether to say this game is actually better than 999, the game has better moments than 999, but... I'm not sure if I like the gameplay at all?

 

I must confess I barely remember the Phoenix Wright games, so I don't remember the gameplay. Was it normal to solves "the case" while you're in the middle of the "trial"? I found that annoying, but not as much as the gimmicks.

 

Shooting bullets of truth at the lies, playing a goddam rhythm game... it's almost like the game doesn't want me to like it. And yet, like I said, I'm almost thinking of ranking it higher than 999. I guess that means I at least like the story more than 999?

 

The game has a minor social sim where you can socialize with your friends that will gain skills to use in the trial, which I needed because of the damn rhythm game.

 

The game is about despair and hope, I felt both, so in my book is a success. Also the fact I'm not giving too many details is because like 999, the more you speak about, the more I fear ruining it.

[Raldoh]

Got D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die as part of the Xbox Live subscription. It's unlike anything I have ever played before, I'm really confused what to really is or tries to be. I mean that in a positive way. If you are experiencing AAA-fatigue or have become disinterested in the current state of mainstream video game, check this game out. Can't guarantee that everyone will love it, but it will definitely be a strange and memorable experience. Hoping there will be more episodes released as it ends with an annoying cliffhanger.

 

PS: This might the single only game where "better with kinect" might even apply!

[twmac]

D4 is awesome.

[Gottfrid]

Grew the final metres in Grow Home, and it was SO GOOD!

[Inferno313]

Finally finished Dragon Age Inquisition over the weekend. Overall, it's a good game that I felt got a little too much praise due to releasing in a slow year. I had a fun time playing it, but by the end was ready for it to just end already. I haven't played all that many Bioware games (The Mass Effect Trilogy, Kotor, and some of DA: Origins) and this ranks towards the bottom for me.

 

It felt like Bioware wanted to implement some of the stuff that people loved about Skyrim into Dragon Age, but didn't want to fully commit to making an open-world RPG and leaving many of the game's elements half-assed. The "open-world" is too sectioned off and full of meaningless "collect all the things" quest to be truly engrossing, although finding and fighting dragon's was pretty freaking fun the first few times.

 

While the main missions seem lacking in terms of length, mission design, and writing compared to past Bioware games. Even the cast of characters, which is always one of the best things about a Bioware game, didn't leave a big impression on me. A few of them are great like Iron Bull and Dorian, but a lot of them just aren't that interesting compared to the Normandy Crew or the party in Kotor.

 

I can tell lots of people loved this game, but it just didn't completely land for me. Here's hoping The Witcher 3, which is part of a series I'm much more invested in, can satisfy my RPG needs.

[Griddlelol]

Your first paragraph sums up how I felt about it to. It's a Bioware game, I like Bioware, but it's a pretty weak Bioware game. 

 

I want to replay the Mass Effect Trilogy now...

[Twig]

I want to replay the Mass Effect Trilogy now...

This is where I'm at, except I'd also be playing the third game for the first time. D: