Games You've Beat in 2015

[toxicitizen]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 a.k.a. Assets Reuse: The Game.

 

This is another one for the "What exactly is everyone seeing in it?" pile. The general consensus seems to be that it's better than FFXIII and I just don't get it. I mean, it's alright but the reason for its existence is pretty blatant. FFXIII's dev cycle was way too long and costly, which affected its profit margin pretty badly, so they had to try and milk it some more while spending as little as possible. So, they grabbed a bunch of characters and enemies models, a few maps and stitched together the flimsiest excuse of a plot to make you go through that content for another 20-30 hours. Although, in FFXIII-2's defense (and because shitting on that game just doesn't get old), it was still handled better than Dragon Age II. 

 

Anyway, not that it's bad or anything, I enjoyed it for the most part. I just really don't get how it's supposed to be the superior of the two games. Serah was a boring protagonist, I really wasn't a fan of only having two party members and I wasn't into that monster hunter bullshit either. Oh and going back to random encounters? Really? But, more importantly, what the fuck was up with that story?

 

I was worried I'd be a bit lost picking the game back up halfway through after a two months break, and at first I had no idea what the hell was going on. But I was quickly reminded that the plot was complete fucking nonsense to begin with. Like, holy shit, I actually feel dumber having experienced it. It's enjoyable dumb, mind you, but it's still fucking retarded. It's borderline stupid enough to make me regret having ever cared about the original game's story and characters. I was actually laughing my ass off through the entire ending cutscene, even when it took a dramatic turn towards that cliffhanger.

 

I still loved the combat system, though, even if it was significantly easier. Outside of the final boss, I rarely found myself having to paradigm shift all that much to survive. I'm still working on the side stuff, though, so maybe that's going to change soon. Anyway, overall it was alright. I'll grab Lightning Returns if they ever get around to releasing it. It's been kind of a while since the announcement, actually. Wonder what the hold up is.

Edited May 24, 2015 by FLD

[TCP]

The price was a little off-putting initially but I thought it was worth every single penny. It's definitely one of the best games I've played this year so far. Go buy it now. I know Cowboy called it an early GOTY or whatever but don't let that put you off the game. I mean, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

 

Wow, wow, wow, wait. I haven't checked this thread in a few days.

 

FLD:

[Strangelove]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 a.k.a. Assets Reuse: The Game.

 

This is another one for the "What exactly is everyone seeing in it?" pile. The general consensus seems to be that it's better than FFXIII and I just don't get it. I mean, it's alright but the reason for its existence is pretty blatant. FFXIII's dev cycle was way too long and costly, which affected its profit margin pretty badly, so they had to try and milk it some more while spending as little as possible. So, they grabbed a bunch of characters and enemies models, a few maps and stitched together the flimsiest excuse of a plot to make you go through that content for another 20-30 hours. Although, in FFXIII-2's defense (and because shitting on that game just doesn't get old), it was still handled better than Dragon Age II. 

 

Anyway, not that it's bad or anything, I enjoyed it for the most part. I just really don't get how it's supposed to be the superior of the two games. Serah was a boring protagonist, I really wasn't a fan of only having two party members and I wasn't into that monster hunter bullshit either. Oh and going back to random encounters? Really? But, more importantly, what the fuck was up with that story?

 

I was worried I'd be a bit lost picking the game back up halfway through after a two months break, and at first I had no idea what the hell was going on. But I was quickly reminded that the plot was complete fucking nonsense to begin with. Like, holy shit, I actually feel dumber having experienced it. It's enjoyable dumb, mind you, but it's still fucking retarded. It's borderline stupid enough to make me regret having ever cared about the original game's story and characters. I was actually laughing my ass off through the entire ending cutscene, even when it took a dramatic turn towards that cliffhanger.

 

I still loved the combat system, though, even if it was significantly easier. Outside of the final boss, I rarely found myself having to paradigm shift all that much to survive. I'm still working on the side stuff, though, so maybe that's going to change soon. Anyway, overall it was alright. I'll grab Lightning Returns if they ever get around to releasing it. It's been kind of a while since the announcement, actually. Wonder what the hold up is.

 

Big towns, people to talk to, side missions and minigames to do, open landscapes, and monster collecting. The light platforming was nice too.

And Serah and Noel are infinitely more likeable than Lightning. Its a more traditional Final Fantasy, or jrpg in general. People like a living breathing world instead of hallways.

And from what I remember, most of the locations are new. Monsters and characters are recycled, everything else is new though. If you compare it to FFX-2, which did this exact thing, FF13-2 is about 75% to 85% new stuff.

The game doesnt take 30(60?) fucking hours to start either, so a lot of people stuck with it this time.

 

Ill always defend the paradigm shift system in FF13, but the only time it shines is during some boss fights and when you do end game shit. Which is to say that its almost nonexistent to most. The battle system sucks through most of the game. FF13-2 is enjoyable throughout.

 

And also N7 costumes.

 

 

And for the record, I was one trophy away from my FF13 platinum trophy. I played the shit out of that game, so Im actually a fan.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Strangelove

[toxicitizen]

Big towns, people to talk to, side missions and minigames to do, open landscapes, and monster collecting. The light platforming was nice too.

What towns? There aren't any, at least not in the traditional FF sense. I mean, FFXIII had some areas that were technically towns as well. Otherwise, there's nothing anywhere near as open as Gran Pulse from the first game.

 

And Serah and Noel are infinitely more likeable than Lightning. Its a more traditional Final Fantasy, or jrpg in general. People like a living breathing world instead of hallways.

I found them both incredibly bland and boring. I actually like Lightning but that's just me, the thing is the original game had 6 main characters, so you're more likely to have someone you like. Most people seemed to really like Sazh, for example. I'll give you the hallways thing, though, but I don't find XIII-2 to be significantly more open. You're just constantly warping back and forth between a handful of small maps.

 

And the overall structure seems less like a traditional FF to me than XIII was.

 

And from what I remember, most of the locations are new. Monsters and characters are recycled, everything else is new though. If you compare it to FFX-2, which did this exact thing, FF13-2 is about 75% to 85% new stuff.

The game doesnt take 30(60?) fucking hours to start either, so a lot of people stuck with it this time.

Sure, there's only a couple of maps that are straight up lifted from the main game but most of the new ones are pretty obviously made up of existing assets from the original game, for the most part. And they're reused again and again by having you revisit them in different time periods with only the slightest changes. I mean, I'm not trying to shit on the game by pointing this out, I understand it was made to recoup costs. But I dunno, it's still something worth considering when comparing it to the original, I think.

 

I think you're on to something with the 30 hours thing, though. FFXIII has a few boring chapters before you get to the good stuff, I can definitely see how FFXIII-2 might be more immediately engaging. I guess I wasn't looking at it from the standpoint of someone that couldn't get through the original. Not sure why that person is even playing the sequel, though.

 

Ill always defend the paradigm shift system in FF13, but the only time it shines is during some boss fights and when you do end game shit. Which is to say that its almost nonexistent to most. The battle system sucks through most of the game. FF13-2 is enjoyable throughout.

Yeah, I'm with you there. The battle system rarely gets to truly shine in the first game. But I don't see how XIII-2 is any different, if anything it shines even less. I was able to mash auto-battle without thinking about shifting much more than I was in the original game. I actually just did the side-quest where you kill the Long Gui and it was piss easy compared to how it was in FFXIII.

 

The only fight that's been truly challenging so far has been the final form of the final boss. And I'm almost done going through the side-quests at this point. Only need to finish a few monsters-related stuff and then the paradox endings and I'm done. To give you an idea, I still haven't unlocked the achievement for doing 1000 paradigm shifts. I'm probably gonna have to grind for it a bit.

 

And for the record, I was one trophy away from my FF13 platinum trophy. I played the shit out of that game, so Im actually a fan.

Lemme guess: Treasure Hunter? Man, that one was a fucking pain in the ass.

Edited May 24, 2015 by FLD

[Strangelove]

Yup. Treasure Hunter. Ugh.

[Saturnine Tenshi]

I did the same thing with NieR. One achievement away from a platinum, and fuck that.

[Mr. GOH!]

All FFXIII games are garbage and a waste of time, folks. This is known.

[IDDQD]

It was while I was playing a scene in FF7, in which the girly man child of a hero got gangraped in jacuzzi by a bunch of burly men, when I realised I need to stop immediately and do something better with my life.

 

But seriously, I guess FF9 was nice enough. A quaint fairy tale, not some homoerotic angsty crap. What's so good about this series anyway?

Edited May 26, 2015 by IDDQD

[toxicitizen]

Castle in the Darkness.

Holy shit, this game is fantastic! I beat the fake final boss last night and got the bad ending and went back to get 100% completion and get the good ending just now. I was initially planning on playing Shadowrun: Dragonfall right after FFXIII-2, and I did start Dragonfall, but Castle in the Darkness just sucked me in instantly and I've wanted to play nothing else for the past few days. If you're a fan of retro NES-style action platformers, then trust me: go buy this game right the fuck now. It's still on sale for like 5 bucks on Steam for another day or so (it's normally dirt cheap anyway) and it's easily worth three times as much.

They're not all that similar mechanically (this is more of a light Metroidvania), but the entire time I was playing I kept being reminded of Shovel Knight. It has that same "love letter to the NES days" vibe and, imho, it's every bit as good. There's some genuinely funny easter eggs in there and it's shock full of references to stuff like Castlevania, Mega Man and the likes. I'm pretty sure I also caught a Demon's Souls reference in there.

Speaking of which, this game is pretty damn hard. It proudly displays a death counter every time you die and by the time I was done with the game it was pretty damn close to 1000. But Castle in the Darkness smartly handles death kinda like Super Meat Boy where you're back into action pretty much instantly, so it never feels frustrating and you always want to keep trying. The boss fights are also pretty well designed. There was only one out of like fifty (yes, fifty!) that felt like bullshit, the vast majority of them feel very doable right off the bat and it's always clear what you did wrong when you fail.

So yeah, this one really took me by surprise. I bought it hoping it would be good but I never expected it to blow me away like this. It's fucking criminal how little this game's been talked about. If it wasn't for a short-lived OT on Neogaf when the game came out a few months ago, I probably never would've even heard about it. At this price, it should be a no-brainer for anyone that likes this kind of game.

And if all of that didn't convince you, I think this trailer (and dat music!) speaks for itself:

 

  Edited May 28, 2015 by FLD

[toxicitizen]

1001 Spikes.

 

The final entry in "FLD's NES Fun Times" trilogy. I went into this one not really expecting to be able to beat it. And at first that seemed to be what was going to happen. Holy shit, this game is hard! Some of the early levels felt goddamn impossible at first. But at some point everything just kinda clicked and I got good, and when that happened I fell in love with the game. It is so fucking good!

 

The weird thing is that the game is so full of fucking beginner's traps that it should feel like complete and utter bullshit. Like, shit that you couldn't possibly know is there ahead of time. The game starts you out with 1000 lives and there's a damn good reason for that. You are going to need those lives. Die 20 times getting through that platforming section until you get the timing juuuust right and BAM! You land on a block and fucking hidden spikes come out of it and impale you. But for some reason it never feels cheap, you just kind of accept that that's how the game is. Probably because the level design is actually very good and by the time you actually make it to those spikes you have the preceding section down to a fucking science anyway, so you can redo it pretty easily.

 

For like the first two thirds of the game I wasn't even getting frustrated. I kept dying and dying but it was so much fun and satisfying once I beat a level that it didn't bother me at all. It got pretty insane near the end and I started getting annoyed on some of the levels, but overall I'm really glad I picked this one up.

 

At first, I thought I had made the right move by waiting for a sale. Early on, it seemed like I would've been a bit disappointed if I'd paid full price. But now that I've actually beaten it, I think it would've easily been worth the 15 bucks. Especially considering that over the course of the game I unlocked: 2 extra arcadey game modes, a set of levels called "The Lost Levels" which I haven't touched yet, and at the very end an entire second campaign! Really happy about those last two because I kinda want more!

 

So, that was a fun little nostalgia trip but I think that's enough retro games for now. Gonna focus on finishing Dragonfall now.

Edited May 31, 2015 by FLD

[Mal]

Akiba's Trip

 

Yup, I decided to power through it. Bugs be damned. Anyhow...

I was going to start a New Game + with me playing a Dejiko but I found out that I can get a game over by answering wrong in the beginning. Dejiko just wants her figurines!

Now I'm here.

 

Fun game when it work and you aren't getting gang raped by a mob of enemies. If you are into anime bullshit, then this game is for you. Though a set of missions kind of bothered me... an idol group is protesting, please beat them into submission so they can get back to work!

 

Gameplay is easy enough when dealing with a single enemy or small group. You just got no real way to deal with a large mob (e.g., no ranged weapons oddly). Dealing with them is to kite them down till you can do a good combo strip but beware! You might find yourself in the mob of partial stripped enemies and blinded. So you better be holding the guard bottom. Model collision is also a pain during a mob fight or even just walking around. Walking around Akiba with maxed pedestrians is awesome to look but like real life, you don't want to be walking in it. You'll be crashing all over the place.

 

While the more funny stripping animations are fun to watch, I did get bored of them since they can be looooong and opted to equip the fastest one.

 

Weapon upgrading is fine for the MC but for supporting characters, I am deeply confused. Some characters' original or named items can't be upgraded while others can... also unlike with the MC, you can't upgrade what the supporting characters are wearing currently.

 

With that all said, I think the game might truly shine in New Game +. You can actually customize a lot of stuff now (hence I was going to play as Dejiko).

 

edit: About the bugs... I'm certain it's something to do with the RAM usage. The frame rate drops isn't occompanied by anything strange with the GPU or anything else but the RAM.

Edited June 1, 2015 by MaliciousH

[TCP]

Just beat game of the year Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. I got the ending

where Ciri becomes a Witcher. Though, she didn't take the potions that mutate, so I guess she's not technically a Witcher? Either way this seems like the best option of the three endings. I had long predicted that Geralt would die in the end and you'd play everything post-credits as Ciri (like with the Marston's in Red Dead Redemption)... that would have been fun, but so was this. I totally shouldn't have tried to bang Yen after telling Triss that I loved her... ooops!

 

One thing I was confused about: Ciri and Geralt had the same hair colour, was that coincidence or witcher related? Vesemir also had similar hair colour but I suppose his could have just gone grey... 

Over all, I really like the game. I've never played a game with such highly detailed side quests, though near the end I was just skipping the text. I could have used more Ciri though, she was a blast to play as... maybe the DLC will focus around her?

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Yen's a tool anyway.

[TheMightyEthan]

What TCP? I thought Uncharted 4 was your GOTY this year.

[TCP]

Uncharted 4 isn't out till 2016. 

[TheMightyEthan]

Huh, I was thinking it was this fall for some reason.

[TCP]

Delays, my boy, delays.

[toxicitizen]

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut.

 

Well, that was way longer than I expected. I knew it was a bit longer than Shadowrun Returns but according to Steam it took me 44 hours, and even cutting that down generously to account for time spent alt-tabbed, reloads for various reasons and one particularly nasty bug that caused me to lose an entire evening's worth of progress, we're still looking at about twice the length of Returns.

 

Fortunately, people were mostly right about this one: it is significantly better than the first game. By the time SR was over, I was pretty much done with the game. It ended at more or less the right time, I didn't wish it had been any longer. Dragonfall kinda felt like it was overstaying its welcome a bit about 80% of the way through (which, in retrospect, was clearly exacerbated by that nasty bug I mentioned) but by the time the game was over that was no longer the case. Now I can't fucking wait for Shadowrun: Hong Kong. I'll definitely be jumping on that pre-order discount for the deluxe edition.

 

One thing in particular that made Dragonfall for me was the inclusion of a main cast of characters. My biggest issue with Returns was constantly having to hire a bunch of assholes every time I went on a mission. It sucked so hard having to save my cash to pay these shitheads. Having actual party members with their own stories, missions and skills I could choose was a very welcome addition. I don't think I ever bothered hiring any of the optional characters.

 

The only disappointment I had was the overall narrative structure, and even then it wasn't really a problem, it just comes down to personal preferences. The way the game is structured, most of the middle chunk is essentially filler. There's a narrative reason for it and it works, but you're still essentially given a big exposition dump at the beginning and then told to go do a bunch of jobs until it's time to go do the end-game stuff. I kinda preferred the way Returns handled it, where the entire game was one continuous story.

 

All of that being said, most of those side-quests are so damn good and well-written that it ultimately becomes a non-issue. The main story has enough weight to it that you never really forget about just how much shit you're in (and as someone unfamiliar with Shadowrun lore, I was on the edge of my seat reading all that exposition about the Dragonfall at the beginning of the game!) but the side-quests are interesting enough to stand out on their own and not feel like padding. So, yeah, if they keep that level of writing then I don't care what kind of narrative structure they use in Hong Kong, it'll be great!

 

I think it says a lot that, while I was done with SR by the end and felt no need to revisit any of it, I kinda wish I could keep following the characters from Dragonfall. Especially given the note it ends on, which almost feels like a sequel tease. One decision I made in particular clearly turned out to be a mistake and I'd love to see what the fallout from that is going to be. I don't expect it'll happen but I'd love for Harebrained Schemes to have one of their future campaigns be a direct follow-up to this one, save import and everything.

 

edit: Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. What the fuck is up with this game's RNG? Like, I'm an XCOM player. I fully understand that a 90% shot is by no means a guaranteed hit. But when you miss like 6 fucking 90% shots in a row across your entire party in a single turn, you kinda have to ask: are these guys the most inept Shadowrunners ever or what?! Profanities were screamed at my monitor on a fairly regular basis.

Edited June 8, 2015 by FLD

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Congrats on finishing that damn delight of a game. I feel you on the RNG, though. Fuck, man. I just assume everything I do is going to fail the die roll and go from there.

 

As much as you or I could gush over the narrative, I'd like to point out the mission structure. I like how open it is compared to Returns. You're given more options in mission choices, rather than just tactics. For example: when you encounter some smugglers you're given a choice: join one side or the other, or just fight them all. It's not really a big decision, but it's one of the less spoilery decisions. That and the result is great. The AI dodges one of those design pitfalls of everyone attacking the PC. Rather than a 2v1, it actually ends up as a 1v1v1, which is a big deal as far as video games go.

[toxicitizen]

Yeah, I fully understand I'm in the minority in regards to narrative structure preferences. I did appreciate how open it was, it was just an initial moment of "Oh..." when I realized that the fee thing was going to last until the end of the game. But like I said, I thought it was handled very well all things considered. It's a minor gripe overall and not something I really hold against the game.

 

As far as mission choices go, I pretty much just did every single one that was offered to me. That probably factored into why it took me so long, I guess. I'm kinda curious if I missed any, though. The only quest line that I actually turned down was the Black Lodge one, because fuck those guys after that first mission. I'll definitely have to do another run and go for it at some point, though. There's also a few more big choices I'm really curious to see play out differently.

[TheMightyEthan]

Black Lodge

Is that a Twin Peaks reference?

[toxicitizen]

Maybe? It's what they're called in-game and I'm not familiar enough with Twin Peaks to know whether there are any similarities beyond the name.

 

I actually have the series on my hard drive right now. I've been meaning to watch it for a while and since it's coming back soon I figured I might as well do it now.

[MetalCaveman]

Assassin's Creed Unity, it was fun, I liked the improvements done to the movement system (even though Arno has some hilarious issues with windows ).

[deanb]

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

 

I can likely tear apart chunks of the game, but for the most part it was great. Practically zilch fatigue throughout the game, which normally sets in a few days with RPGs and usually leads to a game 70% done through the main store. Whereas I've been playing Witcher 3 for about 3 weeks with next to no stops between. Solid game, be interesting to see if anything draws from it in the coming years (and certainly interesting to see how Cyberpunk 2077 will turn out cos that's right near top of the list now).

 

Just some great levels of detail, really nice world they've built up, nice mix of seriousness and humour, great characters, and a nice wrap up to the series. If I feel up to it I might post something in the Witcher thread tearing apart all the little minor issues with it that could do with being fixed. But I think it's great playing it, knowing that they're there and finding the good so vastly outweighs the minor imperfections.

 

Strongly recommend.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I beat Splatoon. I got to level 20 (the current cap) yesterday, and beat the single player a while ago. I haven't dared try the ranked battles yet as I'm assuming everyone in there is a big meanie. Anyone tried it? 

 

I played the test fire so knew I'd like the multiplayer, but the single player was great, it's good enough to be its own game and I would definitely pay for more of it. I'd love to play the Amiibo takes on the stages, but you can't get the amiibo anywhere, and I wouldn't particularly want to pay £36 for the pleasure.