Games You've Beat in 2015

[Mr. GOH!]

 

I *believe* the youngest Forrester is always saved. I have no evidence, just a feeling.

I also elected to stay in the North Grove and went through with the blood magic ritual.

 

[toxicitizen]

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC.

 

Well, it basically took me an entire month but I finally managed beat this monster of a JRPG late last night. Or, I guess technically this morning, a little after 5AM. Goddamn, this was good! It felt straight out of the SNES/PS1 golden era of JRPGs. I loved FC but, now that I've finally played SC, the whole thing definitely ranks among my all-time favorite JRPGs. It's definitely up there with Dragon Quest VIII, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, as far as I'm concerned. This felt like playing a lost classic, one of those games that made me love JRPGs in the first place. I can honestly say I hadn't played one like this in years.

 

Unlike my replay of FC over the summer, I didn't really trouble myself with missable quests and achievements. My time was limited because of school and I knew this was a hell of a long game, so I prioritized getting through the story. I still made sure to do every side-quests I could find but ultimately it's impossible not to miss anything without a guide in these games. It ended up taking me about 70 hours (according to my save file) and I have no doubt a more thorough playthrough would easily take over 100. I'll definitely have to do a full replay at some point to clear everything but right now I simply didn't have the time.

 

So, SC picks up right where FC left off. Literally the next morning, right after that evil cliffhanger ending. Much like FC, the first half of the game is undeniably slower. But unlike FC, this time it doesn't feel slow at all. The game still sends you on seemingly asinine jobs as part of the main quest early on but it almost always ends up tying back into the main plot in some direct and obvious way. The chapters are all shorter than in FC but there's twice as many of them and they all begin and end with cutscenes about the overall plot that keep you on the edge of your seat. If the experience of playing FC can be summed up as "Jesus Christ, is anything going to happen soon? Is this going anywhere?!" then SC is more like "Holy shit, that was awesome! Can't wait to see what happens next!" And that's just the first half of the game, which is admittedly a little formulaic. The second half just goes off the deep end in the best possible way. So, overall, it's an incredibly more engaging and satisfying experience than FC was.

 

Mechanically speaking, there's honestly not a whole lot to discuss. It's essentially the same game as FC, other than a couple of small additions there's little to no gameplay changes or improvements. This isn't a sequel in the traditional sense, it's very much the last two thirds of the game. Now that they're both out, I really envy those that will be able to just grab both and marathon the shit out of them. It's gonna be one hell of an experience.

 

So, there's a Trails in the Sky 3rd Chapter but SC very much concludes the story of Estelle and Joshua. On the one hand, it's great that we finally got the conclusion to the story that started in FC, and we've got Trails of Cold Steel coming soon(ish?), so there's that! But, on the other hand, considering the few plot threads that are left dangling, holy shit I want 3rd so bad.

 

It's clear that a lot of the pieces here are being set up not just for the immediate sequels but for the Kiseki series as a whole. Especially considering that Zero/Ao and Cold Steel take place roughly simultaneously. This series was playing the long game right out of the gate. From what I understand, 3rd is less the third part of the Trails in the Sky trilogy and more of a spin-off that acts as a bridge towards the next two games, Zero and Ao. So, according to XSEED, committing to localizing 3rd means also committing to Zero and Ao. And they're understandably not quite ready to do that just yet. I really hope they can eventually justify doing them, though. So far, it looks like SC isn't doing too hot on Steam but this is the kind of game that is likely to have very long legs sales-wise. It's great that we're getting Cold Steel at all but it would really suck if we never get the missing 3 games.

[Mal]

How beefy is Cold Steel I and II's scripts compared to 3rd, Zero and/or Ao? At this point, it doesn't matter where they head to next but eventually 3rd. Zero and Ao will come knocking again. I suppose XSEED might need outside help again to localize those monsters... Carpe Fulgur might be out since the work load and personal issues almost made the guy off himself. Is there any problems with Falcom directly helping with localization?

[toxicitizen]

Cold Steel I's script is about on par with FC and Cold Steel II is a bit smaller. XSEED have learned a lot from working on SC, so their workflow for the series has improved quite a bit and they pretty much have a series bible at this point. As a result, work on Cold Steel has been progressing much more smoothly (Cold Steel I took something like a year and a half from start to finish). Last I heard, the translators already started working on Cold Steel II a little while back.

Not sure about the others, though. IIRC, 3rd is somewhere between FC and SC and either Zero or Ao (possibly both?) is even bigger than SC. edit: Alright, looks like Tom from XSEED revealed some more reliable figures at some point. Seems 3rd is the smallest out of the entire series at around 1m characters (FC is 1.5m and SC is a whopping 3-3.5m), so it wouldn't be too much work. The Crossbell games (Zero and Ao) are around 2m each. I was correct about Cold Steel, though. CS I is about the same as FC and CS II is a bit smaller. Turns out nothing really comes close to SC.

 

Not sure where things stand exactly between XSEED and Carpe Fulgur but they seem to be on good terms, at least. Both XSEED folks and the CF guys were active in the OT for SC on GAF. As for Falcom themselves, from what I understand their involvement is limited to implementing the translated scripts XSEED send them and sending back a new build with fixes or whatever. I imagine they're fairly busy working on their new games and have little time to dedicate to their old ones. Apparently, the fact that XSEED were actually given the source code for the PC versions is kind of a big deal.

Edited November 30, 2015 by FLD

[MetalCaveman]

SC 2: Legacy of the Void.

 

Amon was... something, after how hyped he/it had been in the previous games (dark god, destroyer of everything, creator of hybrid, etc.) it was impossible for him/it to live up to it, still, it was interesting to see how it all played out. Ghost Tassadar being an illusion created by the Xel'Naga was cool, better than Tassadar actually being a ghost/prophecy giver thingy .

 

I actually liked the ending, though I wonder what will happen with the Zerg, everyone else is happy, united, in peace, without any issues or ill will, except for the Zerg who, well, continue being Zerg. Maybe they'll bring 'em  back as enemies, or maybe the implication is that they'll just (forcibly) reclaim Char (and nearby systems) and stay there.   While there's a lot of discussion about this, I personally think that Raynor and Kerrigan got their happy/cheesy ending, mostly because, after all that's happened, I just don't see Raynor as the kind of dude who would kill himself. Maybe I'm wrong though. Also, Kerrigan is now a Space Goddess, she can do whatever she wants.

 

Finally, Alarak is best Protoss:

"Do you think us fools!?"

"Yes!"

 

Edit: Yes, the whole thing is super cheesy, but it's so in the "that's awesome" kind of way, so, I'll accept it.

 

 

In terms of gameplay, it has some really cool missions, to the point where it's annoying how it constantly goes back to the "we'll just swarm you with everything until the progress bar reaches 100%" thing.

Edited November 30, 2015 by MetalCaveman

[deanb]

Well that's Fallout 4 beaten. Have gone the path of the Railroad. Gonna do Brotherhood on my next run, got a better idea of how it clicks together now we should speed things up near the start since I know how to properly upgrade weapons and such

[Strangelove]

Finished Witcher 3 yesterday. Great game, lame ending. At one point I thought the game was going to keep going for at least an hour or 2 more, but it ended after 5 minutes. Weird.

[Pojodin]

1. The Evil Within

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Super Mario 3D World

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

P.T.

Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Bloodborne

Strider

Fantasy Life

Soul Blazer

Earthbound (replay tribute to Satoru Iwata)

Illusion Of Gaia

Terranigma

Until Dawn

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Tearaway Unfolded

Shadow Complex

[Eleven]

Finished Witcher 3 yesterday. Great game, lame ending. At one point I thought the game was going to keep going for at least an hour or 2 more, but it ended after 5 minutes. Weird.

 

What ending did you get? Witcher 3 was one of few games in recent memory where I was really happy about the ending.

[Strangelove]

 

Finished Witcher 3 yesterday. Great game, lame ending. At one point I thought the game was going to keep going for at least an hour or 2 more, but it ended after 5 minutes. Weird.

 

What ending did you get? Witcher 3 was one of few games in recent memory where I was really happy about the ending.

 

 

 

 

I got the ending where Ciri becomes a witcher, which is fine. I like it. I just thought that elf guy was going to betray you and there was going to be a really good boss fight with him, but that didnt happen. The boss fight that was there was just really bland. I felt like they teased a better one.

 

Edited December 20, 2015 by Strangelove

[toxicitizen]

Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below.

 

Man, that is one stupid title. I love it. Anyway, I finished the main story last night. I went into this one having never played any "musou" games before. The genre itself seemed like it could make for some dumb button-mashing fun but I always thought the Dynasty Warrior series looked kinda boring. I never really felt any desire to give it a shot until they started slapping more interesting IPs on top of it, like Zelda or, in this case, Dragon Quest.

 

Now, I'm not the most harcore DQ fan ever. DQVIII is the only one I played, although it's definitely one of my favorite JRPGs ever. I've been meaning to really get into the series for a long time now and Dragon Quest Heroes actually scratched that itch very nicely. It's not much of an RPG but it is a Dragon Quest game through and through. Akira Toriyama's art style, that wonderful orchestral soundtrack and even little details like sound effects are all lifted straight out of the series mainline entries. That alone was enough to sell me on the game right off the bat. It's just full of that Dragon Quest charm.

 

But here's the thing, there's very little depth to the game. You're dumped into a map and slash away at large mobs of enemies. That's the extent of what you'll be doing most of the time. There's a bit of a tower defense twist to it, which is why some people insist this isn't a true musou or whatever but fuck that, it's close enough. In other words, it gets very repetitive and after 30+ hours even a little boring on its own. At that point, I started listening to podcasts while I was doing side-quests and the issue went away entirely. What you're doing is so simple that you can just turn down the sound, focus on whatever else you're listening to and mindless button mash your way through mobs of enemies. It's basically the perfect podcast game.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It might not be worth full price to everyone but I don't regret my pre-order one bit. I got close to 50 hours out of it and I'll most likely keep working on it on and off to finish all the post-game content and get all the achievements. If they end up localizing the sequel (and bringing it to PC), then I'll definitely be getting it. And even beyond that, it's made me even more eager to play some proper Dragon Quest. I've been looking into emulating the Super Famicom remake of the original with a translation patch and it seems to work pretty well. So, that should be fun.

[Eleven]

Ah yes, I get what you mean. Though you might want to spoiler that, Strangelove!

Edited December 20, 2015 by Eleven

[deanb]

Destiny maybe counts? I killed Black Heart, Crota, Skala(err not sure that's the name: "Kell of Kells"), and Oryx. But then upon killing Oryx I got like a billion other quests so while I know I've not "finished" the game n never will, I'm not sure I'm done with the story so far

[Hot Heart]

Technically, you've not even absolutely, positively killed Crota, Skolas or Oryx until you do the related endgame content.

 

Crota exists in some other "astral plane" from which his followers were trying to summon him (instead, you go in there to kill him). You've got to do the level 35 PoE to kill Skolas. And Oryx still exists in that same Hive plane of existence... in which you go to kill him.

 

But yeah, you've finished all the main story paths. You're onto "The Taken War" which is a bunch of mini-quests, so still some simple story missions left.

 

Sounds like we need to get a group up for running Vault of Glass, Crota's End and Skolas' Revenge.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Hot Heart

[TCP]

Beat Fallout 4, did both the Railway and Institute endings. I think the Institute will be my "real" ending that I'll use with DLC. Just working on one more trophy, the Benevolent Leader trophy, to get the platinum. I really took my time and enjoyed this game. Hopefully the DLC isn't far off.

Edited December 23, 2015 by The Cowboy Poet

[Thursday Next]

Played through The Beginner's Guide. It was incredibly moving. Thanks Chewie.

[TCP]

Beat Telltale's Game of fuckin' Thrones. Pretty good, probably the best Telltale game I've played, but part of that could have just been because the IP is so much better than Walking Dead, Borderlands, etc.

[Mr. GOH!]

I beat Tales from the Borderlands and it's the best Telltale game I've ever played, despite the silly and purposefully stupid IP. Telltale's GoT is awesome, don't get me wrong, but I think it's overall less fun than TftB. I also think TftB benefits from Borderlands' art style; GoT and WD had a bunch of really iffy art and graphics.  

 

God, now I have to finish some of the games I truly loved in 2015; Witcher 3, MGS5, and Pillars of Eternity.

[toxicitizen]

Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

 

So, I was really anticipating this one but was completely broke when it first came out. And by the time I was able to buy it, I was kinda swamped with school and then Trails in the Sky SC came out, which pretty much swallowed up all my gaming time for the entirety of November. Anyway, point is I only just now got around to playing through the story mode. Overall, I'm sorry to say it's a little bit of a disappointment.

 

On paper, this seemed like a guaranteed home run when it was first announced. The Persona series has great music and Dingo, the original developers of the Hatsune Miku games, were responsible for making it. But at some point something went wrong, Dingo's name disappeared from the game's website and eventually all we heard was that Atlus took development in-house for "quality concerns". I'd really like to know what happened there because I played the first Hatsune Miku Vita game last year and unfortunately P4D simply isn't as good. :/

 

I mean, the overall package is much more interesting. The gameplay is literally the only thing the Miku game has going for it. The music is garbage (catchy enough to be fun to play but still garbage) and the whole Vocaloïd thing just seems kinda creepy and weird to me. But mechanically, it's one of the best rhythm games I've ever played. P4D has the great Persona music plus a story mode with the P4 cast. That alone makes it a more interesting game right off the bat. But the most important element, the gameplay, is where it falls flat on its face.

 

It's not a bad rhythm game, it's just...kind of an average one. A big part of that is just how static the gameplay feels. In Miku, button prompts appear all over the screen in a logical pattern over the course of the song, and it just feels so much more dynamic and engaging. Here, you have your six prompts on the screen's outline and they never move, the "notes" or whatever you wanna call them just appear from the center and float to their markers. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't played both games but it's just not as much fun to play. The weird thing is that I went back and watched the original reveal trailer and it looks much more in line what how the Miku games are. There's prompts all over the screen and some of them even look completely different, like they required different kind of inputs than just button presses. So yeah, I'm really curious to find out what went wrong behind the scenes with this one...

 

Another issue is that there's just not many songs in it. Something like 25 or so (a little over 30 if you include DLC), which isn't much of a playlist for this kind of game, even if it has a story mode. And the limited playlist is made worse by the fact that most of these are remixes of existing songs that were usually inferior to the original versions, imho. I'm pretty sure some songs even have more than one remix in there... Also, you can't just pick any character you like. For some reason, each song has a character associated to it that you can't change. I'm guessing it has to do with them not wanting to animate a unique dance per character for every single song.

 

The one thing I'll grant the game is that its story mode was better than I expected. After playing the fighting games, I expected some shit-tier visual novel with the occasional song to break it up. And, well, it is a visual novel but the story is much better than in the Arena games, even if it feels like yet another rehash of P4's plot. Not exactly a huge selling point and the first half was kinda repetitive and boring but it ended up going somewhere with it that was kind of interesting. That was kind of surprising to me because I was excited for this one solely for the gameplay, after the fighting games I knew better than to expect much story-wise. Then again, I guess it's possible I only enjoyed it because my expectations were so low to begin with...

 

Honestly, now that I've organized my thoughts a bit, I'm starting to feel like this shouldn't have been a P4 spin-off game. It should've been a P3/P4 crossover like the Arena games. That alone would've made the playlist a lot more interesting, if nothing else. But like I said, it's not a bad game, it's just disappointing. It's clear that rhythm gameplay isn't exactly in Atlus' wheelhouse but hopefully they can learn from this one and, should they ever do another one, improve on the formula by looking at other, better games. As it stands, I'd recommend this one only to those that are desperate for a Persona rhythm game.

[TheMightyEthan]

Fallout 4.  Went with the Railroad.

 

 

It brought a tear to my eye to see that awesome airship come down in flames, but I couldn't bring myself to either exterminate or enslave an entire class of sentients.

 

[Mr. GOH!]

Whoa.

 

 

That airship reveal moment is pretty fun. It was basic, but I think it was effective.

I expected you to stick to your airship-bound guns and go full Brohood. I wonder if they're even worse than they seem early on, which would be pretty evil. They felt more like the Brohood in FO1, but even more fanatic and powerful.

 

[CorgiShinobi]

Finally got around to playing Killzone: Shadow Fall

 

This is very much a launch PS4 game. Guerrilla Games tried making Killzone kinda stealthy, but it hardly worked. Especially for a series that has emphasized the weight and feel of holding onto weaponry/ammo, being a clunky stealth character doesn't work. Not to mention the primary goal was probably just to wow the player with visuals rather than making the game technically playable. So many times I would restart from checkpoint because the game was inconsistent with enemy sight and AI walk cycles.

 

The very end had a cool twist, but it was ruined by the above two problems. It should have been something sweet and short, but instead 15 minutes later I say screw and finish the very end. Killzone has never been one for story, but this was also very hollow. The majority of the game I'm just one dude dickin' around fancy looking environments. At least I had a cool half-Helghan stealth girl as a partner in the last third of the game. She didn't do too much actually later on... but she had a nice butt.

 

Yeah I said it. If someone is going to constantly be taking point and doing the whole "walk away and vanish" route, you notice these things!

[TheMightyEthan]

See I really liked Shadow Fall, but I did not really like Killzone 2 or 3 (the encounter design just was not fun) so that might have something to do with it.

[Mister Jack]

I just want one. Just one fucking game where you play from the Helghast point of view. And no bullshit switching sides to the ISA halfway through. The ISA are a bunch of chumps.

 

Also I want to shoot Rico dead.

[CorgiShinobi]

I will say, at least Shadow Fall follows up on the events of Killzone 3 and continues the trend of showing how both sides are at fault. That while the Helghast are most definitely Space Nazi, the Vektan forces are just as easily capable of the same evils. It's not as properly executed because you're only given five characters recurring characters (one being the player character). There is one returning character, but he's present for all of 2 minutes and some audio near the end of the game. He's there to support the whole eugenics angle the Helghast believe themselves to be striving for against the inferior Vekta people.