Author Topic: What did you finish in 2022?  (Read 5315 times)

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tiesto

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What did you finish in 2022?
« on: January 10, 2022, 06:44:55 PM »
2021
2020
2019
2018

Now, on to 2022 - I wanna see a lot of backlog clearing this year!

So far for me:

SaGa Frontier: Remastered (Switch/PS1) - all stories, including all of Fuse's cases, cleared
Bobl (NES) - a homebrew physics-platformer-metroidvania where you play as a bubble: https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl?download
Rambo (NES)
^_^

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2022, 07:23:14 PM »
Shin Megami Tensei 5. I think the game is good, but I don't think it's 100% a home run.

I mean the combat is great. At this point Atlus has this press turn the battle system down to a science. Just from the fact that the order of how your party is set up flows into how you do debuffs and buffs(for example, I always have the dude that can do armor price, so the next dude can do his super physical attack) just shows how everything in the combat is in synch. You just start thinking about turn order naturally. The demon fusing and party making feel easier and more accessible than before. Mostly thanks to the whole Demon essence thing, which makes kitting out demons you like pretty easy going. Mechanically there's nothing really to complain about other than I guess the meter system. It's pretty easy to ignore and even when bosses use their meter attack, it really just means use one of those dampeners before their turn.

I guess most of my problems with the game have more to do with the structure of the game. There's what two dungeons? And those dungeons feel more like filler than anything. The first one with the air vents is cool at first but gets annoying with the third part. The 2nd one is just kind of boring and straightforward. Both are basically just box room textures over and over.

It's the open-world field where most of the game takes place. And they are cool. Some of them(the first one really) feel neat in how they capture the abstract post-apocalypse. Tokyo Tower in a shinny desolate desert is neat imagery. The game is full of neat imagery, but the areas lose their luster. I mean at first, the scale is quite well done and I'm big on this trend of making the walking part of JRPGS not boring. It isn't boring here. You're running around a desert and jumping on rooftops. Cool.

But, by the 3rd time, it becomes a little boring and the 4th area just tedious. I mean it's really just the color that changes, the environments begin to blur together in bland city ruins. Not only that, you really feel like yeah you are just doing the same thing. It starts to feel like filler. Not curated filler like in the jrpgs of old. Yeah, a PS1 RPG can have you go through a dungeon and have it go on forever. But when you're done with it, you get a story beat and you move unto an area that hopefully looks different, has a new story thrust to it, and maybe its own gimmick.

Here since the story takes a back seat, you get done with one field, have that story beat drop, and then you are basically asked to do the whole process again. Go fight the filler mid-tier bosses at the boss points we just threw together, find the little treasure people, find the treasure caches. Basic copy and paste open world stuff. Thinley veiled with SMT wrapping, very thinly. Its not game-breaking, but anyone with a critical eye will probably see the vapidness.

The visuals....well honestly the game looks great at times. Image quality is rough and animation can feel a bit budget at times. But its also just a personal opinion that these character models look like 90s demon anime toys power by unreal engine. It just doesn't have that mature, cold, and abstract look of three. I think dropping cel-shading was a bad idea. Instead of going for a FFesque real-anime look that I don't think it pulls off.

Speaking of anime, I guess one of the fears about this game would be that the story would be too anime. I don't think it is, even though my Japanese teen joining the Japanese secret demon society squad is kind of lame. As is a certain obvious sad boy's turn. Lame and silly-looking. But upon thinking more the story is strong in themes if it isn't in actual events, characterization, and/or plot. Instead, I think it does achieve its goal of reflecting the challenges of the modern-day. We are kind of in a godless society. What does that mean and how should people lead their lives? I just think the story is full of these themes, but it can feel like it meanders, characters show up say something and then disappear while you feel little agency or rush. Maybe that was the point, the vibe. At many times during the game, I would just look at the screen confused, major things would seemingly happen, but they would drop on you like they were nothing. Maybe the melancholy feel fits into the unheroic angle the story is going for. Nothing feels "epic". It can instead feel pointless, but maybe that's the point.

I enjoyed the game. Atlus makes another jrpg that excels in gameplay, but is unrelenting in being it's own thing. I just think its a little lame when the seams show and you see the parts that wanted to be trendy.

Beezy

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2022, 07:32:08 PM »
The Gunk

Lonewulfeus

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2022, 04:39:21 PM »
Completed Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition for Xbox.  If you’re looking for baby’s first souls game this is it for sure.  No shields but you have a 360° block mechanic in harden that can even be triggered mid attack allowing your attack to finish and connect after you’ve been hit.  You also get knocked out of your shell the first time you lose your HP and get full healed if you can get back into your shell before you die.  You don’t have enough health in that form to get hit even once but still.  Only even remotely challenging achievements were the no Shell/Obsidian Dark runs but even that was pretty simple.  Ice boss was total bullshit on that run but the rest was very doable even if you aren’t that good at souls like games.  Enjoyed the game thoroughly and would play again.

Don Rumata

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2022, 05:54:46 PM »
Finished Mundaun.
My 2021 GOTY i'd say, really fantastic indie horror, if you can stomach that gameplay-lite style of experiences like Paratopic, Lost in Vivo, etc.
Visually it's rare to find something that feels really different in this space, and the soundtrack was great, too.

Borealis

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2022, 05:11:04 AM »
Just binged through Wasteland 3.

Pretty solid RPG having not played the previous instalments, mid to late-game content felt a bit lean and I honestly think you get funnelled a bit too much. The overworld driving was incredibly tedious.

Hope they go on to make a Wasteland 4 and hire a new UI designer while they're at it.

Joe Molotov

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2022, 09:33:36 AM »
Gorogoa

Great Gamepass game, short and sweet. It has nice art and intuitive (albeit simple) puzzles.
©@©™

demi

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2022, 05:23:58 PM »
Xbox One:

AI: The Somnium Files
Lost Judgment
Rainbow Six Extraction

Switch:

Shin Megami Tensei 5
fat

Bebpo

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2022, 05:50:08 PM »
AI worth it?

demi

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2022, 06:29:16 PM »
Ehhh it was ok. It doesn't really get good until the end bits and even then it's over before you know it.
fat

Kestastrophe

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2022, 11:03:48 PM »
Kingdoms of Amalur.....super meh, probably not going to plat
jon

Svejk

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #11 on: February 06, 2022, 06:46:23 PM »
Kingdoms of Amalur.....super meh, probably not going to plat
This is in my backlog too. How long did it take you to beat?

Finished a Nomad story arc in CP2077.

Finished DQV.  My first DQ game completed!

Kestastrophe

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #12 on: February 06, 2022, 07:54:56 PM »
Maybe 10 hours main, 30 hours to finish other guild quests
jon

Transhuman

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2022, 09:51:01 PM »
Wordle

naff

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2022, 06:14:47 PM »
horizon: zero dawn
pokemon legends
halo infinite
metro exodus: sam's story

horizon and metro are the best of the bunch so far. also finally got through arthurs story in RDR2. i've been playing red dead for nearly a year lmao now i just got dis epilogue to go. i like it but they could've cut arthurs line of quests down significantly, or switched up the angle earlier. dutch has been a fucking piece of shit for so long. his loyalty should've waned a long time ago. rockstar dragging an engaging story and characters through the mud by padding it so hard.
◕‿◕

tiesto

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2022, 10:33:51 PM »
SaGa Frontier: Remastered (Switch/PS1) - all stories, including all of Fuse's cases, cleared
Bobl (NES) - a homebrew physics-platformer-metroidvania where you play as a bubble: https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl?download
Rambo (NES)

Mega Man X2
Treasure Hunter G (replay)
Donkey Kong Country 3 (103%)
Titanfall 2 (all collectibles, normal mode)
^_^

Tasty

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2022, 10:39:13 PM »
How's X2? Only played 1 and 3.

tiesto

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2022, 11:06:07 PM »
How's X2? Only played 1 and 3.

It's not bad, definitely a bit more of the same, though I don't think the music is as memorable as 1 aside from the final boss fight.
Some level designs are pretty neat, like the weather changing one or the level with the sliding crystals.
^_^

archnemesis

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #18 on: February 08, 2022, 02:59:32 AM »
I never played Treasure Hunter G. How does it compare against other SNES RPGs? Is it worth playing if you don't have nostalgia for it?

tiesto

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #19 on: February 08, 2022, 09:16:12 AM »
I never played Treasure Hunter G. How does it compare against other SNES RPGs? Is it worth playing if you don't have nostalgia for it?

Well, story-wise its pretty lighthearted (with a few twists toward the end), characters are lighthearted, but the battle system is where the game shines. It's small-scale tactical battles where you can throw items at characters/enemies, attack multiple times in a turn, etc. Battles are one-off and don't respawn but there are still towns and fields and dungeons like your standard RPG. There's also some nice music and decent 90s CG graphics.

It's not a long game either, probably just a little under 20 hours to beat. I'd say it's definitely worth playing but it's not on the level of something like CT or Lufia 2.
^_^

chronovore

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #20 on: February 09, 2022, 08:19:04 PM »
Wordle
I think I'm done with it as well.
Hope the creator enjoys the millions.

Potato

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #21 on: February 18, 2022, 02:12:39 AM »
The Last Campfire

Not half as clever as the developers thought it was. Simple little puzzler with some 9/10 pretentious indie game dev vibes.

Didn't outstay it's welcome though which is why I managed to finish it where 95% of games I play I don't even come close.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2022, 02:17:25 AM by Potato »
Spud

chronovore

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2022, 04:41:09 AM »
Oh, I finally finish-finished Red Dead Red Redder-demption 2 singleplayer. Great game, but as usual, when I finish the single-player, I feel no compulsion to play the multiplayer.
Anyway, that's done.

chronovore

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #23 on: March 07, 2022, 11:23:37 PM »
Illegal post: I "finished" Watchdogs Legion, in that I rage-quit during the last boss.

The game is built around letting you select different characters with different abilities, and change your weapon and tech loadout for a different approach. The last battle gives a point-of-no-return, but it's unclear what kind of mission it will be. I'm stuck with the starter pistol and spider-drone, can't back out, can't restart. After 120 minutes of struggling with the boss and feeling like I'm going to have a stroke, I've deleted it from my console.

chronovore

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2022, 11:57:14 PM »
Started and finished all Good Karma path goals in inFamous: Second Son. Great game that has compelling core loop, doesn't overstay its welcome, and looks great at 60FPS on PS5 and feels snappy as fuck. 5/5 will play again (also bought inFamous First Light).

Mr. Nobody

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #25 on: April 05, 2022, 07:02:35 PM »
Yakuza Kiwami
FFX (PS4)
Beyond Two Souls
Great Ace Attorney 1

Joe Molotov

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #26 on: May 11, 2022, 02:07:03 PM »
- Elden Ring (XSX) 🏆
- Tiny Tina's Wonderland (XSX) 🏆
- Life is Strange: True Colors (XSX) 🏆
- Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (XSX) 🏆 (two broken achievements, tho)
- A Memoir Blue (XSX) 🏆
- Demon's Souls (PS5)
©@©™

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #27 on: May 15, 2022, 05:25:58 PM »
Duke Nukem Forever


 

demi

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #28 on: May 24, 2022, 12:02:04 PM »
Xbox One:

Dark Souls 3
Record of Lodoss War Deedlit sdkfljdk shit name
Telling Lies
Narita Boy
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins
Code Vein
Outlast 2
Devil May Cry HD Collection (DMC1+DMC2+DMC3)
The Wild At Heart
Scarlet Nexus
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
Tales of Arise
fat

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #29 on: May 25, 2022, 03:05:08 PM »
Ys I

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #30 on: May 29, 2022, 08:31:31 AM »
Ys II

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #31 on: May 29, 2022, 12:40:01 PM »
Final Fantasy Origin-Didn't really care for it. The memey story got old and the level design is god awful. Was a struggle to playthrough.

Triangle Stategy- I've talked a lot about this on the discord. My favorite game of the year so far. Just a really well made SRPG.

archnemesis

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #32 on: May 30, 2022, 03:04:53 AM »
How far are you into Triangle Strategy? I reached chapter 15 yesterday and I feel like it hasn't really taken off yet story-wise. The combat and overall quality of it is great though.

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #33 on: May 30, 2022, 02:05:55 PM »
I've finished one playthrough.

Well, I won't say it's the most exciting story.

Which is actually why I liked it. I went in expecting at some point the plot would reveal some "ancient evil god or whatever is manipulating things". Even Tactics get's a little crazy towards the end. This never happens, instead, it stays pretty grounded(except for one little small thing right at the end). It plays it straight with its salt and iron as basic dumb down stand-ins for all resources and in my playthrough felt like it subverted jrpg troupes. What I mean is that at many times my Serona would side with the morally upstanding choice like a good jrpg lead and often the story would highlight that those choices maybe aren't the best. You'd have characters take surprising perspectives on what was happening. I actually thought the story was rather serious and dark, not so much in feeling grim, but not shying away from the pros and cons of trying to make a good choice. Which I found refreshing for a modern jrpg. I'm not saying it's high art, but I think the game was smarter then I expected. I went in expecting a Tactics homage/rip-off from the people who brought as Bravley Default, a series where I just finished the 2nd game not too long ago and found the story kind of offensively generic and boring. In Triangle, I found a bit more thoughtful story.

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #34 on: June 11, 2022, 05:07:19 PM »
Ys III for Famicom

Joe Molotov

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #35 on: June 13, 2022, 12:12:34 PM »
- Dark Souls: Remastered (Xbox)
- Bloodborne
- The Dark Pictures Anthology (Xbox)
= Man of Medan
= Little Hope
= House of Ash
- The Quarry (Xbox)
©@©™

tiesto

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #36 on: June 21, 2022, 09:59:38 PM »
SaGa Frontier: Remastered (Switch/PS1) - all stories, including all of Fuse's cases, cleared
Bobl (NES) - a homebrew physics-platformer-metroidvania where you play as a bubble: https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl?download
Rambo (NES)

Mega Man X2
Treasure Hunter G (replay)
Donkey Kong Country 3 (103%)
Titanfall 2 (all collectibles, normal mode)

Mickey Mousecapade (NES)
Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Genesis) - including the bonus Wily Tower
Mega Man 5 (NES)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy)
Tail Gator (Game Boy)
Koudelka (all endings)
Granstream Saga (both endings)
Tomba 2 (100% quest completion)
Dragon Valor (all 3 routes)
Mega Man X4 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Mega Man X5 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Legend of Mana (100% quest completion)
Tail Concerto
Crash Bandicoot 1 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 2 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 3 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Paper Mario
Pokemon Snap (all Pokemon 'snapped')
Smash Bros (beat single player with all characters and unlocked everything)
Yoshi's Story (all levels unlocked and beaten)
Mario 64 (120 stars)
^_^

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #37 on: June 22, 2022, 09:21:36 PM »
Babylon's Fall-Well at least the initial campaign.

Look I enjoyed this game. It's not as bad as people claim. I mean I mostly ignored the Destiny GAAS stuff. Never caring about the terrible-looking armor, just equipping what had a higher number. While the combat does feel like a sleepy Platnium game its still a Plat game and thus still fun. Its not even that ugly, there are some cool visuals, bosses, and environment design......sometimes.

And honestly when played in multiplayer...it strangely reminded me of a FFXIV dungeon.

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #38 on: June 29, 2022, 09:02:44 AM »
YS Oath

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #39 on: June 29, 2022, 04:40:26 PM »
YS III PS2

Pissy F Benny

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2022, 04:49:50 PM »
that was fast :doge
(ice)

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2022, 06:06:56 PM »
Is beating a 2 hour game that I played on and off for about a week really fast?

D3RANG3D

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #42 on: July 01, 2022, 05:09:06 PM »
Ys III SNES

Ys III Genesis

Ys III PCECD
« Last Edit: July 06, 2022, 05:00:10 PM by D3RANG3D »

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #43 on: July 11, 2022, 01:31:03 PM »
Xenoblade Chronicles DE: The original came out at a time when console jrpgs were in a bad shape. Xenoblade not only presented a classic feeling jrpg(a pretty traditional and solid story, party members, lots of story, ect), but also one that felt modern thanks to its more engaging mmo inspired combat and fantastically scaled world.

JRPGs are in a much better spot these days, but I think this game still holds up as a classic. The remastered visuals are honestly fantastic. The game has a very clean and upscale look that I think really brings out the modeling and level design. The world looks big thanks to the scale of the level geometry. It's something I think Monolith does best. The worlds feel big not only because they're big open environments, but also because of the presentation. In the machina world, you see big gears and epic-sized gateways that just make the world feel well... more believable. It feels like environments at a "realistic" scale.

The story is still solid. it's a classic adventure story. A meek boy learns to value himself and the conflicts and tests along the way. The characters are enjoyable and feel well...again kind of believable. It's a troupy game, no doubt but I think what saves it is everything feels genuine. So many Japanese media today feel forced. You see the strings. "This is the waifu character for the otaku market". "This is the character to fill that quota" "here's this gimmick or whatever". XB1 just feels like Monolith set out to create a jrpg for "normal" jrpg fans. 

Gameplay is still solid. The XB game's battle system always seems to be about building up to the next layer. Do these basic attacks so you can go into the all-out attack where you do most of your damage.  I call this game's battle system the "kick them while they are down" battle system. Because it really is about toppling them so you can then quickly topple them again before they get up. The whole back half of the game was trouble and then a mad rush to fill the party gauge to go into an all-out attack and get a topple again. There are more elements at play like the enemies spike phase and whatnot that make you time your cooldowns and attacks differently. A lot of the battles play out the same though there is plenty of on-the-fly thinking. I think it's fun and engaging, but somewhat one note.

Still, I really enjoyed this remaster and think its possibly one of the best examples of this type of remastering. It looks great and gives the game a new lease on life.

Rahxephon91

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #44 on: July 18, 2022, 04:19:49 PM »
I also finished Horizon 2 at some point this year maybe.

It was ok.

Sniper Elite 5: Played this in co-op with a friend. Pretty solid. Maps are big and have decent scale, but also full of invisible walls. So not as open as you'd like. Still, the actual gameplay is solid and the level design is fairly good at giving a feeling of scale and leading you to think about how you approach targets. So rather solid all around.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2022, 11:37:46 PM by Rahxephon91 »

tiesto

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #45 on: August 26, 2022, 12:59:42 AM »
SaGa Frontier: Remastered (Switch/PS1) - all stories, including all of Fuse's cases, cleared
Bobl (NES) - a homebrew physics-platformer-metroidvania where you play as a bubble: https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl?download
Rambo (NES)

Mega Man X2
Treasure Hunter G (replay)
Donkey Kong Country 3 (103%)
Titanfall 2 (all collectibles, normal mode)

Mickey Mousecapade (NES)
Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Genesis) - including the bonus Wily Tower
Mega Man 5 (NES)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy)
Tail Gator (Game Boy)
Koudelka (all endings)
Granstream Saga (both endings)
Tomba 2 (100% quest completion)
Dragon Valor (all 3 routes)
Mega Man X4 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Mega Man X5 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Legend of Mana (100% quest completion)
Tail Concerto
Crash Bandicoot 1 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 2 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 3 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Paper Mario
Pokemon Snap (all Pokemon 'snapped')
Smash Bros (beat single player with all characters and unlocked everything)
Yoshi's Story (all levels unlocked and beaten)
Mario 64 (120 stars)

Live A Live (all endings, all optional content)
SMT Nocturne HD (True Demon ending)
^_^

demi

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #46 on: August 26, 2022, 09:06:30 PM »
PS4:

Okage Shadow King (PS2)
Wild ARMs (PS1)
Syphon Filter (PS1)
Ape Escape (PS1)
IQ Intelligent Qube (PS1)
Hot Shots Golf (PS1)
MediEvil (Remake)
Horizon Forbidden West

PS5:

FF7 Remake Intermission DLC
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Returnal
Astro's Playroom

Switch:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xbox One:

Myst
Twelve Minutes
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
AI: The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative
Raji
Dodgeball Academia
Omno
Psychonauts 2
Psychonauts (Xbox)
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
The Quarry
Escape Dead Island (Xbox 360)
Last Stop
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
Devil May Cry 5
Cuphead DLC
Escape Academy
fat

Himu

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Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #47 on: September 02, 2022, 10:59:42 PM »
Gears of War.

This was played on original Xbox 360 hardware, not the remake version.

I first got this on my original Xbox 360 in 2007 or 2008. I never completed it.  At the time I just didn't "get" it and vastly preferred Uncharted 1 and especially 2.

14 years since I last played it (last achievement was Chapter 3 acquired in 2008) I decided to give it another try and loved it. At first I found the game extremely difficult on the Hardcore difficult and didn't feel slighted in any way in the necessity to switch to Casual mode, which I completed the game upon. At first I felt the game was a bit too slow, but the more I went through the game the better I got, to the point where by end game I was consistently in the zone and took out enemies with ease. What was originally a slow game of hide and seek became an aggressive shooter of pressing the advantage and taking over a map like a chess board. After completing the game on Casual I ended up starting another game on Hardcore and I got through a good portion of the game in one sitting. The design ethos of Gears forces the player to get good to continue, even on Casual, and especially on Solo mode.

What a punishing game because it's fit for such a punishing world.

I was beyond impressed with the storytelling. Despite the amount of dialogue it's pretty minimalist in its storytelling. It helps enrich the world of Gears often by showing rather than telling and with minimal cutscenes. We witness personally the beautiful turned ugly as beautiful architecture and works of art of an old, perished society lays in ruins. And yet through all of that, hope remains. Those crumbled buildings sometimes have been taken back my nature, filled with vines, trees, and twigs. It gives hope to a hopeless situation that the fight for humanity can continue despite the cracks, despite the losses, despite everything. Even Marcus, a man left to rot and falsely accused of a crime, gets a chance to redeem himself and save his own humanity. In spite of all the darkness, and Gears is a dark game, there's hope and light at the end of the tunnel. The characters themselves are well written from the unfortunate Carmine and Kim, to Baird, Cole, Dom, and Marcus' as the brotherhood and friendship the four of them experience gets deeper and deeper. I particularly like how the game starts out with tension between Baird and Marcus. Baird does not, even in the least bit, like Marcus. You think Baird is kind of an overbearing asshole. But by the end of the game Marcus is covering for Baird and trying to help him recover mentally when he's scared shitless. The bond these two have that starts out bad but seemingly grows more tight knit by end is natural and flawless. I like their relationship even more than Dom and Marcus'.

Originally at the time of release I hated the visuals, but now understood and came to even appreciate the heavy contrast, low key visual style. Even the character designs which I thought were too much when I first played it fell into the category of "cool" for me now. I have no idea how my tastes changed this wildly but I somehow felt the original Gears to be a breathe of fresh air. No stupid side quests, no stupid large worlds, no stupid filler, no stupid fruitcake shit. Just all action, all killer. Even more impressive was the sound design and overall soundtrack. Holy shit.



The presentation is general is just cool as fuck, from Marcus low voiced grunts, to the way he picks up weapons off the floor and flips his rollout. "Sweet", he says as he picks up a pile of nades. Gears of War is such a fucking cool game in how it looks, how it sounds, and how it feels.

My favorite Act was Act III where they enter the mines. Just an overall flawless Act in terms of level design, enemy encounter design, and sound.

If there were any flaws for Gears I'd say that the friendly AI can be absolutely braindead dumb even when following "orders".

Another flaw. To me there's Knowledge games and Skill games. Some games hinge themselves on knowledge more than technical skill, while others reward skill over knowledge. Most games are hybrids of the two but most games lean one way or the other. I would say Halo is a skill-based game in the campaign because it's such an intuitive experience but I would label Gears a knowledge-based game sometimes to its detriment. For example there's boss fights like the Corpser on Act III. I kept shooting its belly but nothing was happening. I didn't realize you had to shoot its belly *and* its mouth and that the goal was to push the boss backwards into the ooze in a Metroid like fashion.



Another difficulty was the final boss fight. RAAM, the final boss is a complete bullet sponge. I had no idea how I was supposed to beat him and he just kept on going. The awful friendly AI of Dom rushing towards him within melee range outright didn't help things. It wasn't until I found out I could load the torque while in cover and then shoot that I was able to beat him. Certain other encounters are much better with knowing how to deal with them rather than rely on intuition. It's not an entirely bad thing because it lends to replay value and makes things better on replays, but it *is* a niggle.

This is a nitpick but I absolutely abhor the grenades in Gears, from the fact they're slow to the fact you have to aim a particular way, to their very specific throw range. Hopefully grenades improve in future titles.

Looking forwards to Gears 2, which is apparently amazing.

Bonus:

Halo: CE
Halo 2
Halo 3
Outrun Arcade Online (replay)



:bow
« Last Edit: September 21, 2022, 04:20:58 PM by Himu »
IYKYK

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #48 on: September 04, 2022, 04:56:52 PM »
Xenoblade 3-Hated it.

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #49 on: September 08, 2022, 02:35:48 AM »
Saints Row-Thought it was solid. A perfectly decent old style open world game.

tiesto

  • ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー
  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #50 on: September 08, 2022, 01:22:00 PM »
I didn't like Gears much at all (although I'm usually a fan of Epic's stuff - ZZT and UT were both life-changing for me). Found the movement to be too clunky and sluggish, characters to be too edgelord dudebro, art style to be hideous, the "metaphor for the war on terror" story to be shallow, with the constant "walk slow during radio chatter". Gears was probably one of the first games from the PS3/360 era (along with Dead Rising and Oblivion) that really seemed to showcase the tech, and as a result, can probably be blamed for propagating all those awful design trends that were so prominent during that era.

However, there is something to be said of games that can be beaten in 5-10 hours, not filled with tons of sidequests and padding. I was more likely to play games different from my usual back during the PS3/360 era because of the low time commitment (and also since there wasn't really too much to choose from when it came to Japanese gaming that era).

Vanquish, that game was the holy grail of cover shooters for me, play that one if you haven't, Himu.
^_^

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #51 on: September 21, 2022, 03:35:38 PM »
Soul Hackers 2-I liked it quite a bit. The battle system being very streamlined and to the point was fun, though I wish the dungeon design was better. Characters were fun even if the story was rather low key. Low key and a bit more personal.

Solid game.

Himu

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #52 on: September 21, 2022, 04:20:24 PM »
I didn't like Gears much at all (although I'm usually a fan of Epic's stuff - ZZT and UT were both life-changing for me). Found the movement to be too clunky and sluggish, characters to be too edgelord dudebro, art style to be hideous, the "metaphor for the war on terror" story to be shallow, with the constant "walk slow during radio chatter". Gears was probably one of the first games from the PS3/360 era (along with Dead Rising and Oblivion) that really seemed to showcase the tech, and as a result, can probably be blamed for propagating all those awful design trends that were so prominent during that era.

However, there is something to be said of games that can be beaten in 5-10 hours, not filled with tons of sidequests and padding. I was more likely to play games different from my usual back during the PS3/360 era because of the low time commitment (and also since there wasn't really too much to choose from when it came to Japanese gaming that era).

Vanquish, that game was the holy grail of cover shooters for me, play that one if you haven't, Himu.

I actually found the characters to be one of the better things about it this time. I really like the character dynamics. Apparently the characters get even more human in Gears 2.
IYKYK

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #53 on: September 28, 2022, 10:32:23 PM »
Soulstice(PS5)-A very decent PS2 era DMC type action game. I enjoyed this game despite its faults. The combat feel is actually good. The main character can switch between a heavy Berserk-like claymore and a more Dante-eseque broadsword and it's conveyed in the weight. There are of course other weapons each with their own unique uses, but my point is the action feels right and good. So many action games never achieve that. Hitting enemies has appriote feedback.

But also in general the game looks solid. The environments can kind of be a drag, as they are samey. Yet when the game wants to have a visual set-piece it can muster up the energy. The character's berserk transformation sequence is a beautifully rendered manga-inspired infusion that looks to capture the Berserk manga's pencil shading during intense moments, and it does it well. It may be AA but in general, the presentation and production values put some major studios to shame. Cutscenes look good, monster design is interesting, hell the final bossess look great.

But it sits at decent to me because:

The core gameplay is good, but the camera and lock on turly do remind me of the PS2 era. Static camera angels I can deal with, but a camera and lock on that feel like they have no idea what they are doing during battle is a harder pill. It just kind of leads to some heacaches as theres a lot going in combat.

It throws a lot of enemies at you, but also your astral sister kind of plays crowd control. So during combat enemy attacks will put up a qte essentially that you press the button that corresponds to your sister where she blocks, counters, and stops the attack. Which adds a neat lawyer as it helps fans of these games that complain about attacks not being visable.  Well, here you stop them and then have a clear amount of time to position and dodge. It puts emphasis on that and it's smart because it never feels like your stopping the attack.

But your sister is also shooting astral laser attacks that you upgrade for her to even more, so lots of light show shit towards the end of the game.

But a less smart choice is color coded enemies, but see it's not even like you switch to red or blue weapons, you turn a blue or red area of effect where enemies have to be in that area to fight them. For example, if the blue enemy is out of the field, your ranged attack won't damage them until they are in your blue aoe stance. So thats annoying.

What's really annoying is the possessed enemies. Red enemies are possessed and when you defeat them the blue ghost comes out and you need to take them out before they "repossess" the red enemy and bring them back. This is for most enemies later in the game and sometimes multiple ghosts. But that means you have to switch stance(hoping your gauge is not empty) and quickly kill them. That's made hard by the shit lock on though. So there were plenty of annoying moments.

The story was ok.....like it does come off as a story the writer came up with when they were 16 and thought fantasy shit where the religion is evil is still edgy..

But they are very invested in their world and characters which is admirable, but I don't know if ending on a huge big "the adventure is not over" type ending is a bit silly.

Good game though. I enjoyed it. I like PS2 era action games and this is of that ilk.

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #54 on: October 04, 2022, 10:45:05 PM »
Valkyrie Elysium.

Now this was a very fun action game.

Maybe not what JRPG fans wanted, but this is a very solid action game.  Everything just feels good. Progression is great. I really don't know how to explain this one other than it is a very solid character action game. Its like in action jrpgs where you feel like you should be able to combo your or a party member's fireball into a cool juggle combo, but the game doesnt allow it or does it half assedd because its not a good action game. Not here.

demi

  • cooler than willco
  • Administrator
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #55 on: October 24, 2022, 09:47:39 AM »
PS5:

Red Faction (PS2)
SyphonFilter 2 (PS1)
Stray

PS2:

Silent Hill 3

PS1:

Silent Hill

Xbox:

Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 4
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Xbox One:

Lost Words: Beyond the Page
The Artful Escape
Mighty Goose
Flynn: Son of Crimson
Soul Hackers 2
Metal: Hellsinger
The Procession to Cavalry
Visage
Pac Man World Re-PAC
Beacon Pines
Deathloop
The Forgotten City
fat

tiesto

  • ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー
  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #56 on: November 05, 2022, 09:08:04 PM »
SaGa Frontier: Remastered (Switch/PS1) - all stories, including all of Fuse's cases, cleared
Bobl (NES) - a homebrew physics-platformer-metroidvania where you play as a bubble: https://morphcatgames.itch.io/bobl?download
Rambo (NES)

Mega Man X2
Treasure Hunter G (replay)
Donkey Kong Country 3 (103%)
Titanfall 2 (all collectibles, normal mode)

Mickey Mousecapade (NES)
Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Genesis) - including the bonus Wily Tower
Mega Man 5 (NES)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy)
Tail Gator (Game Boy)
Koudelka (all endings)
Granstream Saga (both endings)
Tomba 2 (100% quest completion)
Dragon Valor (all 3 routes)
Mega Man X4 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Mega Man X5 (X and Zero playthroughs)
Legend of Mana (100% quest completion)
Tail Concerto
Crash Bandicoot 1 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 2 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Crash Bandicoot 3 (all secret levels unlocked and beaten)
Paper Mario
Pokemon Snap (all Pokemon 'snapped')
Smash Bros (beat single player with all characters and unlocked everything)
Yoshi's Story (all levels unlocked and beaten)
Mario 64 (120 stars)

Live A Live (all endings, all optional content)
SMT Nocturne HD (True Demon ending)

Goof Troop (SNES - replay)
Xenoblade 3 (including all quests)
Mega Man 7 (SNES)
Mega Man 4 (NES)
Golgo 13 (NES)
Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES)
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge (all collectibles, all challenges except the 'don't get hit once' ones, both story and arcade)
^_^

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #57 on: November 06, 2022, 12:11:17 PM »
Modern Warfare II SP-It was ok. That is all.

Tasty

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #58 on: November 06, 2022, 08:40:55 PM »
Sega really should just make one of these with wifi and "apps", then offer an SDK.

Boom, Dreamcast 2.

Rahxephon91

  • Senior Member
Re: What did you finish in 2022?
« Reply #59 on: November 15, 2022, 12:57:20 PM »
Star Ocean 6.

Finished and thought it was actually very solid.


People say the graphics are bad, but I didn't find that to be true. Framerate mode has a soft look to it, but the environments looks solid. Cities have a good scale to them. Still sporting the typical jrpg aspect of suspending you're imagination as this one "level" is supposed to be a whole city. Yet, they seemed detailed and big enough. Lots of verticality and good presentation. They feel like snes jrpg towns in HD.



The female characters and whatnot can feel a little real dollish, but again the character models are good and the animation is pretty great honestly.

The characters will probably be no one's favorite, but I liked Raymond who is who I played as mostly. 

"Here we go here we go here we go".



He's like the most dudebro protagonist ever, but its refreshing. The cast is all pretty likable, no one seems stupid or annoying. There's good chemistry between most of them. What I liked about the cast is they all kind of seemed level headed. I also liked how the party split several times in a logical matter.  I don't think any character here will show up on a best jrpg character list, but none should show up on a worst list.

The story shouldn't also appear on a worst list. It's not great. The villain is kind of lame. It kind of waits to the back end to really dive into the story. It's anime Star Trek, but it has enough flourishes and things you don't see in every jrpg to keep you entertained.

The combat well I don't know man, its like for once a real action based combat system made sense to me. The whole combo link system just makes complete sense. You can wrap your head around how moves can work with each other in a way I don't think the Tales games ever make much sense to me. The UI can be a little wonky in general, but the action combat feels like a real realization of action jrpg. Not a action game with stats.


Also the whole exploration system gave me Gravity Rush vibes.



This is just a very quality jrpg.