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Author Topic: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016  (Read 33565 times)

Offline Hart

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #20 on: January 17, 2016, 06:07:00 AM »
^ I'm glad you enjoyed Life is Strange as much as I had last year. Like The Walking Dead Season One and The Last of Us, this game was a huge emotional roller coaster. I'd like to add on to your review the soundtrack is amazing, even though most of them are licensed songs. They fit perfectly (with the exception of episode 5 for a specific reason that I do not like to discuss) to many parts of the story.

I can't wait to play this game again in October, but I'm not gonna like the choices I will take this second time, especially for a certain episode which almost gave me a mental breakdown.

For those who are unable to play this game, I'd recommend Geek Remix, not only for their let's plays, but their commentaries, theories, and knowledge on various parts of the game.

(btw, you mixed up Max and Chloe. Max Caulfield, the timid, doe-eyed, polaroid loving, brunette hipster is the one with the powers. Chloe Price, the blue-haired, beanie wearing, tattooed pot-head with trust issues, is Max's childhood best friend.)

Offline pikapikapika

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2016, 09:54:43 PM »
Week 2:







Smaller screenshots may contain spoilers.

Time Played? 2.5 hours.

I didn't end up playing this game for long, but I think it was long enough as the game doesn't really change much. If you've ever played Pokemon Stadium or Pokemon Colosseum this is essentially the Wii version of those games, the announcer is back (missing in Colosseum) and the minigames are still not back from the N64 game, sad times.
The presentation is quite nice, and again you can transfer over your pokemon from your DS game and play your team through a set of new challenges and some new game modes, you can also use rental pokemon, which was what I did. The female trainer had pokemon from the original 151 so I picked her \o/ You can also play online.. well you could, but the old Nintendo servers are now shut down.

I'll probably play this again, maybe with my DS pokemon team, mainly because when you complete the game you get a few special pokemon that you can keep ^^
In saying that, even though some of the battles are unique, that's all the is to the game.

Also weirdly the pokemon theme park this game is set in has art deco styling like Rapture, and is floating in the sea.  :lol: coincidence?

Recommended? No.
Replay? Yes.

Offline Hart

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2016, 05:04:30 AM »
Week 3 - The Room Three



Quote
The eagerly awaited sequel to the BAFTA award winning ‘The Room’ (Apple Game of the Year 2012) and ‘The Room Two’ (App Store Best of 2013-14) is out now on iOS & Android devices.

Continuing the story from The Room Two, your obsessive search for the Null results with being lured to ‘Grey Holm’, a mysterious mansion located on a remote island. You must use all your puzzle-solving abilities to navigate a series of trials devised by a mysterious figure known only as “The Craftsman”.

The Room Three is significantly larger than our previous games, taking place in a variety of stunning new environments, each spanning multiple areas. New for The Room Three is the new eyepiece ability which allows you to explore the world in miniature, and also for the first time in The Room series you are able to return to Grey Holm between Chapters and solve its unique puzzles which will decide your fate and determine which of the alternate endings you will experience.

I've been a fan of The Room when I first downloaded the game last year. As soon as I finished that one I immediate downloaded the second game. The Room Three is an excellent addition to the series. Better graphics than the previous game and more challenging puzzles. Reminded me of Myst when I heard there was gonna be multiple endings. Spent about 5 hours solving every puzzle and an additional 30 minutes to get all four endings. I might play all three games back to back later this week.

As for Kingdom Hearts Final Mix: Not much progress last week. Completed Monstro, Sora almost at lvl 40, 4 summons (Simba, Genie, Bambi, Dumbo), and obtained all magic spells (Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Cure, Gravity, Aero, Stop). Five worlds left to complete, about 50% of the story to finish plus additional stuff like gummy missions, dalmatians, trinity marks, item synthesis, 100-Acre Woods, Colosseum Cups, and Secret Bosses.

Offline shirenuファクトリー

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2016, 05:38:49 PM »
Week 2: Fallout 4

"They stored me away for 200 years and all I got was this shitty uniform."


I got Fallout 4 on the release day, yet I have only about 9 hours of gameplay. I think that might already reveal that I haven't fallen in love with it instantly. It's hard to say if it's the game's fault or my own laziness in feeling so bothered with having to learn to do new ways of combat quite soon after I feel like I've more or less mastered Fallout 3. The combat has truly felt frustrating, and now that I am less frustrated, I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting more used to it, or because I have been avoiding raiders on purpose, since raiders appear to have (I've said this many time before) an endless supply of molotovs and/or missile launchers. I really don't like it when situations feel unfair. Endless molotovs does feel unfair. But maybe that's just me.

I haven't made it to the more difficult areas yet, obviously, but I'd still say that the game feels overall scarier, possibly because I'm still not comfortable with combat, but when I see a feral ghoul I actually get worried.

I think visually the difference between feral ghouls and ghouls is smaller now. I've only met one ghoul so far, but he was sleeping, so I thought he was a feral ghoul waiting to attack, and I shot him. Imagine my reaction when he got up and returned fire. Had to reload the game because I don't want to be an asshole who shoots harmless ghouls. Oh well...

The world feels more open with going wherever you want to go (that has always been the case in theory but let's be honest here, most people head to Megaton first on Fallout 3, and New Vegas instantly gives you a town to explore, as well). Because of this, my character didn't have a moment where she meets her first ghoul and goes "wait, what happened to you?" like you have in Megaton with Gob. So here we have another example of how more open world means less tight storytelling in some ways. Other than that, the indexical storytelling - signs left in the world for the player to interpret - seem to be just as rich and great as in Fallout 3. The skeletons and other signs of past life. And there are some really fun details of the past way of life, too. I found a broken food automatron (or some.. bakery..tron) with a delicious looking piece of cake inside that could be activated, only to witness the automated tool being unable to pick it up. Darnit.

The doggie can't die, that's nice.

The most bothersome bug I keep getting - I've got this three times in my 9 hours of play - is that sometimes when I open the Pip-Boy, it doesn't load properly, or more like at all. I have to save and reload the game to be able to do inventory management or view the map again, since the map is also on the Pip-Boy. This is quite bothersome. I'm not sure, but I think I also experienced a Protectron teleporting itself. I was trying to follow it inside the Super Duper Mart for personal safety reasons, and suddenly it disappeared and was on the other side of a shelf. Okeydokey!

The settlement building side of things doesn't feel too interesting to me. I don't want to be looting absolutely everything; it actually makes looting less fun for me. I'm even lazy about gun mods normally, but I have a feeling I need to invest in those here to improve my combat prowess. But I did complete the first quest line that involves getting a settlement started, and that felt somewhat fulfilling.

Overall, despite the personal troubles I've had getting into Fallout 4, I'd say it has a lot of promise. I may have been focusing on the negatives, but it has some lovely surprises, too. I've mostly been delighted every time I've approached a 'landmark' and been convinced that I'll have to fight someone, only to find out that people in there are actually willing to work with me. I'm not sure if this is only the north-west corner of the map, but it's nice that it's not only full-on hostile. I swear every time I meet a friendly in this game my reaction is "thank you for not shooting me on sight!!" like, funnily enough, some Wasteland ghouls greet the player character in Fallout 3...

I think I'd recommend the game to anyone who's been enjoying the open world RPGs of recent years; my feeling of the game is that it's similar and different enough to be sort of generally enjoyable to fans of the genre. It does have flaws, yes. I might also recommend to get it when it's on discount for this reason. But it's not a smelling turd of a game. I'll likely continue it, but on an extremely slow pace...


I keep forgetting to take screencaps; this one is from like my first play session...
LJ★  ~Rest in Peace marimari, Jabronisaur, ChrNo & Fushigidane

Offline Tuffty

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2016, 11:13:43 PM »
The world feels more open with going wherever you want to go (that has always been the case in theory but let's be honest here, most people head to Megaton first on Fallout 3, and New Vegas instantly gives you a town to explore, as well). Because of this, my character didn't have a moment where she meets her first ghoul and goes "wait, what happened to you?" like you have in Megaton with Gob. So here we have another example of how more open world means less tight storytelling in some ways.

Preach! This is a problem I've had with the story from the get go. They craft this fish out of water character that they could have done interesting things with and instead they chose to do next to nothing about it. When you're 200 years out of time you should be looking at the landscape and things like bloatfly's and be like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" but the player character seems to just take it all in their stride. Same too with the NPC's, they should also see you're just out of the vault but when you walk up to them they just have the stock responses of "Hello there." "Yes?" "Excuse me". It takes me out of it and it seems like a bad mix of trying to craft this fish out of water story and then giving up on it halfway through because the developers probably expect players to already know what things like Super Mutants are and they don't want to be told about it again.

It affects the main narrative too, as something as urgent as seeking out your kidnapped baby son seems to be on the backfoot when you have all this freedom to do what you want. Now, that's a criticism that can apply to all open world games I know, it's a downfall from giving the player the freedom to go at their own pace. But games lately do a better job at keeping you up to speed. The Witcher 3 for example when you're loading the save from the main menu plays a nice animated still with spoken dialog giving a quick recap of what's happening in the main story at this point as the game is loading. That's on top of having detailed, lengthy descriptions of any previous quest you completed that you can read at any time.

Encountered a few bugs in Fallout 4 so far, nothing major but one of the most annoying was that the radio wouldn't play. Even reloading earlier saves didn't fix it. Turns out I had to rest for 24 hours to reset it. I'm playing on PS4 and also noticed some considerable drop in framerate when going inside buildings. And I met a fairly important character by the looks of it and I just can't believe they made a character whose hair clips through her own clothes all the time. They could have made the hair shorter or changed the outfit but no, they stuck with it and I laugh everytime I see her and her clippy hair.

Also, I don't like how quests are so simplified, especially when compared to New Vegas in which case the difference is really staggering. It amounts to the person asking you to take the quest and your options are Yes, Yes but said in a snarky way and No (But still ends up Yes). And you almost always go to a place just to kill raiders or ghouls, that's it. Fatigue's already kind of setting in. I put points into Charisma as I wanted dialog options to unlock based on my stats but it has little benefit to me other than maybe bartering for a higher reward for a quest. In Fallout 4 your stats really don't seem to matter so much and to my mind it feels less like an RPG when even compared to Fallout 3.

Apologies for the rant! But it's just to back up your impressions of it. Fallout 4 is still a great game that I continue to enjoy but I guess I was hoping after all this time that they would have evolved it a bit more but instead they've simplified it, the weird inconsistent bugs are still there and it doesn't really feel like a true sequel, just purely another Fallout. Even the music is mostly the same.

Offline Jul3

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2016, 08:04:51 PM »
Okay, I'm in, I think, maybe... well, we'll see how long it lasts.. at least trying the 52 games tried for now... and I did two games since I started a week behind. Actually started last weekend, and guess it's about time to start a third now...



Game tried 1/52: English of the Dead - Nintendo DS



So once upon a time there was an arcade lightgun zombie shooter game by Sega called The House of The Dead. It spawned a number of sequels. For some reason, they decided to take the lightguns away from The House of the Dead II and replace them with keyboards to become The Typing of the Dead... words (and later on phrases/sentences for bosses etc) appeared above the zombies heads, and you had to type them as fast as possible. The aim was to teach you typing and it was a surprisingly fun and hilarious game. Many many years later, they decided to take the keyboards away from The Typing of the Dead, and replace it with the DS touchscreen... So now, words appear above the zombies heads, and you have to write them on the screen which it reads via handwriting recognition (which works quite well here). Now, they also re-badged this as an English teaching game (hence the name). So... given I speak English, but can't speak any Japanese... this would be interesting. Basically for most of the zombies, they show the word in Japanese, and then the word in English, but minus a few letters. So, not being able to read the Japanese word, I have to guess what the English word is, and sometimes multiple options fill the space and I get stuck. But then helpfully the game reads the English word out to you. It also repeats this when you get it right. So far so good. However, for the special missions and the bosses, they mix things up a bit. Have fractions of a sentences you have to put in the correct order and other games like that. But then it came to the Stage 3 Boss and I was completely stumped. Basically, it asks you a question in Japanese and you have to select the correct answer in English... yeah, completely stuck here...



Game tried 2/52: Hatsune Miku: Project Diva extend - Sony PSP



So this is the 3rd game in the series, and I've completed the first 2 some years ago. It's a rhythm game with vocaloid songs and very good. #2 added gameplay elements but extend doesn't, it's just more songs... It's really good fun, and so far I've completed (at least on normal) about half of the songs so far and aim to play it through to completion. I still don't like the using both hands to hit some buttons thing they added in 2nd, but hey. Strangely, so far, it's the slower songs which stump me, with getting the timing for those right I find difficult. I tend to enjoy the songs more on harder difficulties, but then when it uses all the buttons on the PSP, I sometimes get stuck and confused which symbol maps to which button on the PSP... yeah, I was never much a PlayStation guy so find it hard to remember...

Chihiro

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2016, 06:57:26 AM »
1/12 StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
(only played SP on casual. Don't judge me...) :P

Nothing much to say about the gameplay. Pretty much the same button-clickfest RTS gaming.
More missions that I was expecting.
And it was a really nice wrap up for the series story and its characters. :heart:

One down. Eleven to go.
Onto Transformers Devastation. You got the touch!~ :)

Offline shirenuファクトリー

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2016, 04:07:24 PM »
Week 3: Spelunky


Spelunky is a roguelike. It's like Binding of Isaac in a platform jumper form, meaning that it takes a long time to master (or even become half decent). I'm still in the process of "mastering" The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth myself, so unfortunately I do not have the time to master this game... And not necessarily the interest 8)

There are lots of good things about the game. The controls are pretty smooth as long as your muscle memory remembers correctly which key does what (I have issues). It's quite easy to figure out what you should be doing by just doing and encountering stuff. However, actually doing "what you should be doing" is not always so easy. About 80% of the time your death is entirely your own fault, and I admit after a stream of failures it starts to hurt. (Because the game is roguelike and everything is randomized, I am reserving 20% to shitty luck.) I only managed to beat level 1-4 twice in three hours. Can you imagine how much death was included in those three hours? And after each death you start from the very beginning again. Which is particularly annoying if you manage to die immediately upon finally reaching 2-1. But basically TL;DR THIS GAME IS HARD. It's not quite as charming or addictive as Isaac is to me, and I didn't make it far at all, but I still think it's a good game and I would recommend it to anyone who is up for a challenge, especially in a 2D platformer form.

Basically, not my cup of tea/not what I'm into right now, but definitely not a bad game.
LJ★  ~Rest in Peace marimari, Jabronisaur, ChrNo & Fushigidane

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2016, 04:50:43 PM »
2/12 Transformers Devastation

So Bayonetta with a G1 Transformers skin? Totally for me! :lol:
Some things that hurt the game. Seven short chapters with each one taking around an hour. Environment is pretty bland, basically running around 2 maps. And the Weapon/item system is a little too convoluted.
But playing characters like Optimus in their G1 cartoon version was fantastic. :)

Next up. Tales From The Borderlands




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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #29 on: January 24, 2016, 06:55:37 PM »
Week 3:







Smaller screenshots may contain spoilers.

Time Played? 3 hours.

Again like last week I didn't end up playing this game for long, but I think it was long enough as I was actually extremely close to the end. This was not a continuation of the great Capcom Mickey platform games as I thought it was, it's actually a point and click adventure where Mickey's soul is sucked out of his body and trapped in a mirror because he decided to trust a ghost. Never trust a ghost in a mirror!

The puzzles aren't too hard and there's no dialogue whatsover, it's all done by gestures and Mickey saying "Hot dog!" "mmmm" "hmmmm" "haha!" over and over again, definitely a game for kids! As I mentioned I was 2 pieces away from completing the mirror and finishing the game even in 3 hours, it wasn't too hard at all, you could usually figure out the puzzles easily.

Also if you check out the screenshots, Capcom snuck in a few rooms that are straight from Resident Evil one including the main mansion hall.

WOW, WHAT A MANSION!

Recommended? If you want something quick and love Mickey!
Replay? I actually turned the game off before completing it so that I could play it again. but.. we'll see!

Offline Jul3

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #30 on: January 25, 2016, 10:42:03 PM »
Game tried 3/52: Sturmwind - Sega Dreamcast



This is one of those posthumous commercial homebrew games released for the Dreamcast. And, like, most of those, it's a shoot-em-up. This one horizontal. And I don't much like horizontal shooters, they play completely differently to vertical ones, with enemies coming from all sides, often more solid walls etc, and not constantly scrolling etc. What's interesting about this one is the weaponry system, which you are constantly playing with. There are 3 weapons, and each can be switched between at any time. The power-up icon can be used to add a drone (up to 2) to any of these weapons, and the usual shoot the icon with change the power-up icon between the 3 weapon types. If you collect it when it's on a weapon that you aren't using, you don't get anything. Now, when you get hit, you actually just lose the ability to use your current weapon. And if you pick up that weapon's power-up icon, you gain that ability back. So the weapos types are kindof like lives as well. So you have to juggle and restock those. Also, as I said, this game is very multi-directional, and you can switch your main weapon (and drone) separately to fire forwards or backwards. So it's very useful to have a drone to fire in both directions for the cases you need it. Also, only one weapon type can fire up or down, but it's annoying to do so, as holding the fire button rotates the shot direction from behind to in-front. So you need to control your tapping to shoot in the direction you want. Apart from that, the game has an arcade mode with 6 normal stages, but this is kindof the extra to the "normal" mode which has 16 stages, and basically you unlock one by completing the previous level, but can pick to start each level separately, you don't have to start from the beginning each time. So each level is it's own challenge, and indeed, some of them are just a boss fight.

Here's the launch trailer:



On a related note, my controller port 1 for my Dreamcast finally died (this is a common problem) so I'm using controller port 2 for now. But kinda want to pick up another unit, hopefully one not as horribly yellowed as mine, which may be hard. Also, instead of playing this, I spent more time playing another posthumous commercial homebrew shoot-em-up, Fast Striker ver1.5. That one is a lot more fun, as is vertical. And was actually a commercial homebrew project for the NeoGeo.

Chihiro

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #31 on: January 27, 2016, 12:16:08 AM »
Game completed 1/12: Sturmwind - Sega Dreamcast

As above post. Well, I went through and finished all the levels on normal mode. Kinda weird cuz first time after the end, it kinda froze and then went back to the main menu, so I had to beat the last level again and the credits did actually roll... I was a bit confused. Anyway, I can see why people go on about the graphics here - they do pull out loads of tricks. And the levels are all really varied in gameplay and graphical elements etc. But, I dunno, still kindof an average game for me cuz I'm not into that kind of game much. And the last level/boss was a bit disappointing. One annoying thing in this game, is sometimes there's too many effects and things and similar colours to backgrounds and you don't see the thing that killed you the first time.

Chihiro

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #32 on: January 28, 2016, 09:35:02 PM »
Week 4 - Rhythm Heaven/Rhythm Tengoku Gold



Anyone else bought this game because Tsunku produced the music? Bought the Japanese version at Anime Expo 2009, I believe a few hours after Tsunku's panel.  :nervous  Anyway, finished 30 levels so far, 20 bonus levels to go. A few were easy. The rest, difficult until I got the pace and tempo right. 13 years of playing the clarinet paid off when it come to rhythm.  :lol:  Maybe in the future I'll get to getting all perfect medals. For now, just completing all 50 levels is good enough for me.

Update on Kingdom Hearts Final Mix: about 95% complete
- All keyholes sealed
- All 99 dalmatians found
- All Trinity Marks located
- All Summons found
- All keyblades, shields, and staves found, bought, won, or synthesized
- All mini-games played
- All Colosseum Cups completed (together, solo, time trial)
- All synthesis items made
- All 3rd-tiered spells learned
- All Heartless, included exclusive ones, found and defeated
- Sora, Donald, & Goofy at level 100

A lot of progressed made since my last post. And to think all I had to do was give all the AP, Defense, and Strength boosts to Sora.  :banghead:  Before that I had difficulty not only in defeating some bosses, I had problems with a few Heartless and wasting a ton of potions and ethers. With all those stat boosts, I was going through enemies in single hits.

As for level grinding: a lot faster than I had anticipated, especially after beating Riku in Hollow Bastion. I think after synthesizing about 15 items I got the Encounter Plus ability, which increases the rate and spawning of Heartless. And a certain accessory that gave me an additional 20% exp for every Heartless defeated. I was getting almost 100-200 exp for every enemy. Synthesizing 2 more exp boosting accessories gave me an additional 50% increase. Most of the hours of gameplay were obtaining synthesis materials, and a rare shield and staff for Goofy and Donald that are rarely dropped from Defenders and Wizards (~0.02% drop rate).  :fainted:  Having 3 Lucky Strike abilities to increase drop rates made things a little bearable.

All those hours spent on farming items and level grinding were worth it.

Why?

I fucking beat Sephiroth on Proud Mode!!!!  :cool1:



Took me 3 tries to beat him. 3 tries. Back when I played the original PS2 game on normal mode it took me days to beat him. At max level. With the Ultima Keyblade.  :bleed eyes:  The first two attempts he got me with one move where all my MP is gone and my HP is dropped to 1. Used Sonic Blade only once, Ragnarok maybe as well, and 1 or 2 Elixirs. All I can remember is casting Aeroga and Curaga throughout the match, a few hits here and there, and a lot of dodge rolls and jumping to evade most of his attacks. Everything went so quickly I wouldn't be surprised that I only fought Sephiroth in less than 10 minutes.

With the 'One-Winged Angel' out of the way, only 1 more Secret Boss left to fight before going after Ansem. Also need to complete those gummi missions, find all the gummi ship blueprints, and fill out Jiminy's journal entries.

Offline Tuffty

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #33 on: January 29, 2016, 01:29:24 AM »
Another one to add for January!

January (2/12): Beyond Good And Evil HD



In today's industry it's now common practice for companies to resell older games for the latest consoles. Capitalising on their lack of pure backwards compatibility, particularly for PS4, it's often criticised as a quick money making scheme for developers to put in a little work prettying up a fan favourite game and selling it again for hardcore fans and newcomers alike. There is an upside to the consumer for this however as players can get the opportunity to play games they may have missed as they move through console generations or as certain games become more difficult to obtain. Re-releases combined with digital distribution makes it easier than ever to visit these games. That is certainly true for myself as I got Beyond Good And Evil HD and I'm glad I did.

Showered with praise as a PS2 cult classic, I went into the game without knowing much about it and was immediately thrown for a loop by the opening as the game drops you into a bizarre world and scenario which leaves you to work the rest for yourself. There are no lengthy cutscenes or exposition, you're simply introduced to Jade and before you can question why her Uncle is a walking, talking pig or why she lives in a futuristic lighthouse with orphans, the story is pulling you along. Some broad strokes get filled in along the way, you're an inhabitant of a planet along with other humans and anthropomorphic animals that are frequently under attack from an alien race known as the DomZ and the planet is protected from these aliens by a security group known as the Alpha Section. Sure enough, Jade gets wrapped up in discovering that the Alpha Section aren't as clear in their intentions as they claim to be and she joins with a resistance group to go on a conspiracy hunting adventure. I thought it was really well told with Jade a good protagonist. What makes her interesting is that while she can defend herself with a staff, her greatest weapon and the core of the game, is her camera and how she can document what she finds to uncover the truth, a good example of video game action that doesn't have to involve pulling a trigger or breaking a few limbs and still be interesting.

It's a tightly focused game and that extends to the actual gameplay itself. Over the course of the 10 hours it took me to complete I was surprised at how many varied things I was doing and how it all seemed to blend together seamlessly, keeping my attention throughout. There's exploration through platforming, stealth sequences, a fluid (if very simple) combat system...it even had an open world RPG feel as you can explore the over-world in upgradeable vehicles and linear dungeon areas. There are side activities to do as well like wildlife photography, mini games and racing. The only game that I can think of to compare it with would be Zelda and like it, it all works really well to create a rich and lively world that demanded my attention into a game I couldn't stop playing. There are frustrations, I was really fighting with the camera to have it work for me sometimes but those frustrations were not enough to stop it from being a very enjoyable game and I can now add myself to the list of people hoping that it will finally get a sequel.

8/10
« Last Edit: February 08, 2016, 08:09:19 PM by Tuffty »

Offline shirenuファクトリー

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #34 on: January 29, 2016, 01:16:47 PM »
Week 4: Basketbelle


The reason why I'm posting so early this week is that I managed to beat this game in 55 minutes. :lol: Maybe less, because I paused it a few times.

Basketbelle is a lovely indie game with a cute little story, a quite unique graphics style, good music implementation, and fun ways of using a basketball. It's an incredibly short game and I felt that jumping in particular felt a bit slow and clumsy, but despite these very minor 'flaws', it's one of those little game creations that is worth it just to experience something different. Nobody recommended this game to me; I somehow found it during the latest Steam sale and it looked interesting to me, and I wasn't disappointed. So hooray for random discoveries 8)

I'd recommend it to someone who wants to sit down one evening to experience something a little special.

The developer seems to have other interesting stuff, too: http://www.onemrbean.com/
LJ★  ~Rest in Peace marimari, Jabronisaur, ChrNo & Fushigidane

Offline pikapikapika

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #35 on: January 31, 2016, 12:41:57 AM »
Week 4:






Time Played? 3 hours.

OLD ARCADE GAMES ARE REALLY HARD
So yes, Capcom Generations 4 on Sega Saturn is a collection of these, and specifically Capcom's upscrolling Run & Gun shooters which are: Commando, Mercs and Gunsmoke.

Commando (Senjō no Ōkami)




This is one of Capcom's first games, and influenced a lot of others at the time. It's pretty much a WW2 style run and gun game, but you can shoot in all directions and throw grenades straight up. A main source of the difficulty for me is not being able to see the enemies bullets, which are the same colour as yours so it can be really confusing. This is probably due to these games being vertical shooters, in the arcade these have portrait aligned monitors so the game fills the whole screen up, but here on the home version it's in the right ratio but really small.
Anyway, I got stuck after a while and had to quit  :lol: you can see how great I did on the first level in the video below:


Mercs (Senjō no Ōkami II)




So if Commando is WW2, this is RAMBO!! everyone takes their tops off and starts shooting everything, blowing everything up and destroying a dam with a flamethrower. The main improvements over the first game are 3 players, vehicles and the grenade is actually useful now and makes a massive explosion \o/
Luckily freeplay was on and I was able to make it to the end of the game, it was still just as hard as the first one but with an energy bar and being able to continue from where you left off. Awesome :DDD

I found the rocket launcher had the most satisfying pew pew noise (please excuse my clicking)


Gunsmoke


Okay this was TOO HARD, haha. It was made a little after Commando but instead of having one shoot button it has three, so you can shoot in three directions, or others with some button combos. I... never made it past the first level and even my camera turned itself off in disgust XDD It has the same invisible bullet problem as Commando except in this case it really is true because they're the same colour as the ground and there are pebbles everywhere D:

Recommended? Yes. well, just play Mercs!
Replay? Yes. Mercs.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2016, 12:55:24 AM by pikapikapika »

Offline Jul3

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #36 on: February 01, 2016, 12:24:16 AM »
Game Tried 4/52 Rush Rush Rally Racing - Sega Dreamcast



Another independently released posthumous Dreamcast game - and for once not a shooter! This is a top-down racing game in the style of Micro Machines - and since Micro Machines 2 is one of my favourite games of all time, I was really looking forward to trying this one out. And it delivers! The gameplay is just like that, with the cars sliding about in a really enjoyable manner. This one has 10 standard tracks in single-player mode which you have to go through in a campaign with 3 continues. The tracks are really varied with good design, a couple of shortcuts and jumps, Micro Machines style, and some tracks which take place in a large city with other streets available, reminiscent of the original GTA. When you run over cows and pedestrians, the blood splodge graphic is much like GTA as well. Highly recommended. Only slight downpoints is the music, and the small number of tracks.

Here's the trailer, I think the game is also available on WiiWare:




Game Completed 2/12 Rush Rush Rally Racing - Sega Dreamcast

Yeah, so you have to place in the top three to finish a track, and after a bunch of goes, I managed this, and the credits rolled! However... then I found out when the achievements unlocked, that by default the game places you in Easy mode... so... maybe I'll go back through on Normal, or, I've heard if you place 1st in each track there is a bonus 11th track.



I mentioned in the Gaming Postwhoring Thread that I heard of a couple of new (2014/2015) Dreamcast vertical shooters, so I got them. And they are my next two played games. I don't think I'm going to be as strict as others here on one game a week, and, also, there are definitely weeks I'm away, so for me the aim is 52 in the year:





Game Tried 5/52 Neo XYX - Sega Dreamcast

So this is a new (2014) vertical shmup for the NeoGeo, released on the Dreamcast. It looks and sounds brilliant. It's just put together outstandingly. It is also hard as balls.
The controls are typical Cave-style, C for auto-fire wide shot,  A for slower movement and more focussed shot, B for bomb. Now I think I'm getting the hang of it a bit more, in that the C movement is super fast, so you are meant to use that to zip about a lot, and also bomb a lot. This is due to the bomb collecting method, which is interesting, in that you pick up these "bomb fragments" a lot, and several of those gives you a bomb. So there's a lot of that. Also, an interesting chaining item scoring system. On the whole a really nice, challenging game.

Here's the trailer:





Game Tried 6/52 Ghost Blade - Sega Dreamcast

Ghost Blade is another independent release for the Dreamcast from 2015, and another vertical shooter. Coming from playing Neo XYX, the initial impression is that everything is sluggish. Your ship speed is slow, the enemies are slow, their bullets are slow, there's lots of slowdown etc etc. So initial impressions are it's a bit boring compared to Neo XYX. But, over time, I enjoy it in it's own right. There are different ship types, and the controls are Cave-esque as per Neo XYX, but it's just a very different style of shooter. And a lot lot easier, and also rewards you with lots of bombs if you score correctly. I can make it up to stage 4 on this one so far, so will likely try for the 1CC.

Again, here's the trailer:


Chihiro

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #37 on: February 01, 2016, 05:58:12 PM »
3/12 Tales From The Borderlands



Some of the most memorable and fun gaming moments I've had in a long time.
Surprisingly mixing the Borderlands world with TTG's game-mechanics getting 100% success. A great adventure with characters I got so attached to. Filled with laugh scenes, and action, and drama, and plain crazy. Fantastic! The script writers and the awesome voice cast should really be praised for pulling it off.
There's the one letdown TTG has with all their games though. The choices really don't matter that much. Sure it'll affect scenes, but not in a way you hope it would.The story will still basically go through the same path.
But that's just picking at things. This game is perfect. xxoo :heart:


Take a bunch of spoiler pics! (smallened for ppl who haven't played it yet)





Again. Spoilers. if you want to see one of the most epic fights of all time. Search youtube for "borderlands finger gun" :bow:

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #38 on: February 02, 2016, 12:05:13 AM »
Month 2, Week 5: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors



If I had to describe this game, I would say it's part Saw, part Battle Royale, and part The Poseidon Adventure. A visual novel with 'escape the room' puzzles. There are six endings to this game, 3 which are bad and descriptively gruesome, 1 neutral, and 1 true good ending. I don't count the last ending since it's more of 'To Be Continued' until you meet certain requirements to reach the final part of the game. I've had this game for years and only completed 4/6 endings. I think I was tired of playing the same puzzles over and over again and searching for every single piece of line or dialogue. This time however I've got a notebook to write down all the solutions and draw a chart for which rooms lead me to which ending.

From what I remember the first time I played this game was "There's a lot of reading to do."  :lol:  I think that's a good thing. I've enjoyed the visual novel parts of the game, the suspense in trying to get these characters to survive before their 9 hours are up. And through the various endings I've learn more about the characters. As for the escape the room puzzles, a nice amount of difficulty. Also love the comments the characters make. Unfortunately, it becomes dull after repeating them over and over for all the endings.


Offline shirenuファクトリー

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Re: 12in12 / 52in52 Video Game Challenge in 2016
« Reply #39 on: February 03, 2016, 06:19:50 PM »
I'm running into a bit of a problem here... I can't play Deus Ex because it's too anxiety-inducing. T_T I was completely failing the stealth part of the training, and nearly died in the final part of the training section (because when trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do the bot saw me >_>). AND THAT'S JUST THE TRAINING!!! Then I started a new game, was trying to be stealthy, but noticed a bot coming my way and had nowhere to go and insta-quit because it was too scary...

Stealth games are so not for me hey... How many more do I have on my list... T____T

I don't know what to do now, it's so scary...

Somehow I thought Deus Ex was one of those games where you just do random shit, I didn't know you have to actually be good 'n shit... :lol:
LJ★  ~Rest in Peace marimari, Jabronisaur, ChrNo & Fushigidane

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