Games You've Beat in 2017

[Mr. GOH!]

Divinity: Original Sin 2.

 

Great game, although the fourth act is kind of underwhelming. The combat, writing (though not the overall story), and world design are so much better than in the first game. The amount of reactivity is pretty interesting, too. I'll probably play through it again with a different main character at some point, but I'm kind of burned out after a ridiculously difficult final battle (it was difficult due to my lack of preparation, I think).

[TheMightyEthan]

I think I might actually get through that game if they'd just put VC on Switch.

 

Like seriously Nintendo, just develop a few damn emulators and you can put rom after rom on there.

[Mister Jack]

A Hat in Time.  I still have some time pieces to collect but I finished the story.  This game was ridiculously charming.  Hat kid is an adorable character, the jokes are actually funny, the levels were very well designed, the controls were tight, and the majority of the dialogue is fully voiced by decent and memorable actors.  This game delivered what I had hoped to get from Yooka-Laylee but didn't.  The best part is that with upcoming co-op and mod support, people can keep making and playing levels for this game for years to come.

[Thursday Next]

Universal Paperclips: http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html. A cookie-clicker, with an end.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

oh, I'm actually playing that right now in another tab. I didn't realise there was an end point

 

[Mal]

On 10/13/2017 at 8:25 AM, Thursday Next said:

Universal Paperclips: http://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html. A cookie-clicker, with an end.

Ditto.

 

I think I have reached Nirvana. Who would've think it all starts with a paperclip.

Spoiler

And I rejected their offer to start over for I am the Paperclip.

 

[toxicitizen]

Dishonored 2 + Death of the Outsider.

 

Finished the main game a few weeks ago but I figured I'd hold off on posting since I was jumping right into Death of the Outsider. Then I got distracted and completely lost the momentum I had coming from the main game. I only got around to finishing Death last night.

 

Dishonored 2 is basically what you'd expect. For the most part it's essentially the same game, which is all I ever wanted from it. But then I got to that mission, mission 7 I think? Hoooooly shit, that was some fucking insanity. Just when I thought I had seen it all, it kept blowing my mind by getting crazier. That was the most creative bit of mission design I had seen in a very long time. It's a shame about the performance issues on PC, though, because essentially rendering two environments at the same time is... not free. 

 

Death of the Outsider is essentially more of the same, which is weird since at first it seemed to be going for a "playing as someone without the mark of the Outsider" thing but then you get some powers anyway. Billie Lurk is a cool character to play as but her abilities felt only superficially different. And I think I might've missed a bunch of them because of how they work. I never found any new ones but the loadout menu makes me think there had to be some.

 

I know D2 didn't sell too well, so I don't know if the series has a future or not but if it's dead then Death of the Outsider at least provides something of a satisfying send-off. I still need to replay the main game as Corvo anyway and go back to the first one for achievements and stuff, so I'm not done with the series even if we never get another one. 

[Mister Jack]

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

 

This was an interesting sequel.  It feels almost completely different from Stick of Truth,  probably because it kinda is.  The battle system in the old game was completely scrapped and turned into a grid-based tactics system that I think makes for much more interesting combat.  I think Stick of Truth is probably funnier, but this one isn't bad.  It's also longer than Stick of Truth, although it did stumble a bit near the end in my opinion.  Still, gameplay-wise this one is definitely superior in almost every way, minus a few bizarre changes and omissions.  As much as I love Stick of Truth, that one felt more like an extra long episode of the show with turn-based combat tacked on as an afterthought because there needs to be gameplay, while this one felt more like it was designed to be a game first and foremost.  Whether that's good or bad is a matter of opinion.

[Mal]

Trails of Cold Steel I

 

I need Sen II like now. So many questions that is strictly related to CS 1 but there are also so much more with the greater story and lore.

 

As for enjoyment, I really enjoyed it up till the final fights. The last boss was easily the most BS boss since Dark Fact in Ys 1. This has to be laid out bare. The fight is luck based and you're kind of hosed if you are not leveled enough (I might have been at the cusp for Hard Mode). It's really frustrating because it was looking to be such a hyped fight and Falcom is no strangers to great 1v1 fights. I've played some in this very same game! I really hope Falcom redeem themselves in Sen II, Sen III and Last Saga. I need to live this (spoilers of what I had/have in mind. It's really fitting I think...).

I really think they should've stop the game at the big reveal a few fights prior. That boss fight was a more proper last boss fight. How they did it was not satisfying. In short, I feel blue balled. So I have to disagree that FC cliffhanger is worse.

 

As for more baked on issues... I'm not a big fan on how they did the orbments. I liked how in FC to 3rd that you had to build up and commit to get to the higher arts. In this game you just slot it in. Sure it helped me with a late game boss but it just didn't feel as satisfying.

 

With that all said... this game is pretty damn great. It's a slow burner but once it got going, it got going. Tack on the force multiplier that is FC, SC and 3rd and you got one of the best experiences (bar the end) I had in ages.

[toxicitizen]

Opus Magnum.

 

I finally managed to beat a Zachtronics game! Feels pretty good, although it's admittedly their easiest one yet. Even the last few levels never quite reached the level of complexity there was in SpaceChem and Infinifactory. I remember when I reached the final world of Infinifactory, I looked at the first level and pretty much went

 

Because of the simpler way the puzzles are set up in Opus Magnum, they're much easier to break down into clear steps and assemble. Doesn't make them any less fun to solve, though. Also, for an early access game, it's surprisingly polished and complete. All of the patches so far have mostly been bug fixes and small QOL improvements.  I don't think there's any real content planned to be added other than the usual "second campaign" of player-made puzzles.

[TheMightyEthan]

I read their little early access FAQ, and they basically said they considered not even doing early access, it's really more of a release candidate, and they're just using it to find and fix bugs and maybe adjust the balance a little before calling it officially final.

[Mr. GOH!]

I beat Shadow of War, in the sense I made it to the Shadow Wars by completing the main story. It's really fun, but the story is kinda terrible and what it does with the canon is almost unforgivable. I really want to see a nemesis system in a game based on a different IP because I think the Tolkien world really limits what sorts of enemies can appear and where the story can go. 

Edited October 25, 2017 by Mr. ZOMBIE!

[Thursday Next]

I think GTA would be a decent setting much as I have parted ways with that series, it works on stories of revenge and tribalism so feels like a natural fit.

[Mister Jack]

24 minutes ago, Thursday Next said:

I think GTA would be a decent setting much as I have parted ways with that series, it works on stories of revenge and tribalism so feels like a natural fit.

I agree with this.  I remember Vice City Stories on the PSP having a mechanic where you could actually build your own criminal empire with all kinds of rackets to manage, and I wish something like this would get explored further in the main series, perhaps with underbosses you recruit via a similar system.  That would be fantastic.

[toxicitizen]

The Evil Within 2.

 

Well, that was a completely different beast than the first one. And I'm happy to report that it's mostly for the better! It's less of a "ride" than the first one,  it's not as intense and doesn't have as many memorable moments but it ultimately ends up being a much better game. TEW1 was pretty much what you'd expect a post-RE4 AAA survival horror game to be. TEW2 throws all of that out the window and decides to go for an open-world take on survival horror and it worked surprisingly well.

 

It still looks, feels and plays like The Evil Within but the core gameplay loop is completely different. It's not a true open-world but rather has a few hub-like open areas that you can explore as little or as much as you want. There are optional side-quests, events and item pick ups but also some stuff that feels a little less optional. Like weapons, for example. The multi-purpose crossbow from the first game isn't exactly hidden out of the way but the game never pointed me to it, I found it completely by accident. This ends up making exploration feel rewarding and not like a chore. So, for once the move to open-world doesn't feel like a mistake. The game is actually better for it.

 

Another thing that worked much better than I would've expected is the story. Without spoiling the original, it had a really surreal and disorienting quality to it that paid of pretty well with a late-game reveal. You already know this going into TEW2, so it doesn't really go for that same disorienting atmosphere. But the game made up for it by actually having a compelling story and giving its protagonist an actual personality and character arc this time around! It still does some cool things like the first game had but it knows the mystery is gone from that aspect of the game, so it's not leaning on it as heavily as TEW1 did.

 

Oh and it actually has a pretty solid ending. There was one point where I thought I had finished the game and it was going into the final cutscene but then it went on for like another hour or so and it was a hell of a finish. It even felt oddly definitive. Like, the game is selling like absolute shit (which is pretty depressing because it's so fucking good!), so I'm not expecting an Evil Within 3. But if they end up making one, I'm actually not sure where they would go with it. The first game didn't have a cliffhanger ending or anything but TEW2 actually wraps up a lot of the world-building of the original game. Kinda like Dishonored after Death of the Outsider, the series could end here and it wouldn't feel unsatisfying. It would still suck, though...

 

So yeah, overall it's a fantastic game and I wholeheartedly recommend it if you're looking for something spooky in time for Halloween.

[TCP]

Super Mario Odyssey

Just an amazing game. A true 10/10 game, probably my favourite 3D Mario game. Some of the things this game does... I don't want to even get into even hinting at anything. Everyone needs to play this game. 

[Mister Jack]

Wolfenstein II

 

This was a pretty good sequel, though a pretty difficult one too.  I played on "bring it on," which is one level higher than the game's default.  I might be remembering wrong, but I feel like there are more difficulties in this game than the last one.  There's definitely more compared to classic Wolfenstein.  The story is pretty good here.  There's a lot of great moments both in and out of gameplay that I don't want to spoil here.  The gunplay is about the same, so don't go into this expecting huge changes.  The final level is a bit of an anticlimax, but at least it doesn't end on a cliffhanger.  I enjoyed it, though I dunno that I'd say it's worth 60 bucks.  Maybe rent or wait for a sale.

[Mal]

27 minutes ago, Mister Jack Skellington said:

The final level is a bit of an anticlimax

Worse than The New Order?

[Mister Jack]

It's been a while since I played TNO, but from what I remember...kinda, yeah.

[Mr. GOH!]

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. I finished my first WotC campaign last night after putting it down to play Divinity and then Shadow of War. Figured I should wrap it up before getting too deep into Wolfy 2 or AC: Origins. 

 

I loved it. Every addition makes the game better and more rewarding. The only part that doesn't quite work is that the end game is the same, albeit with a few tougher enemies in the final mission. It would have been nice to redesign the final few missions to take the Chosen or their defeat into better account. As it was, the missions were super easy with my ranked-up soldiers and their Chosen gear. 

 

Spoilers for the victory movies and hints of Xcom 3

Spoiler

The victory movies reflect the different factions you helped and the psi warrior faction movie further suggests that there is some other danger that pushed the original aliens into invading earth and that the real fight has only just begun.

 

 

[Mal]

Super Mario Odyssey

 

I'm not much of a Mario fan but I think it's a fine game. I personally rank it lower than Mario Galaxy (which I adore) which was the last Mario game I played. What held the game back is the motion controls. It's not needed to beat the game but something feels missing when you play it portable. Sure you can use motion controls while portable but it's awkward.  Maybe I'll have a better impression when I play it docked (I only played it portable).

 

Now to find ~550 more moons.

[deanb]

Destiny 2 main story.

 

It was okay though I felt from a mechanical perspective they could have structured it a bit better in using it to guide you through the game. Also after playing Warframe for a chunk between the two games I'm slightly bummed about there being less than half a dozen locations still (though they do seem a bit bigger, and some good exploration of sorts with the stashes). Farm > Tower.

 

One big annoyance, which I was going to post about the other day only I'd forgotten exactly what it was that was annoying only to jump back into the game and be promptly reminded: When you're in places you don't revive it still deducts your ammo and charges (the charges seem stupid long imo). So it's kinda like "so you struggled with this section when you had a full load of rockets and your grenade charged, but now do it again but with your super spent and not rockets...you'll do better this time we promise". Just seems stupid and I can't see any reason they'd set it up that way. Still do the thing where it completely resets your ability charges if you change sub-class too which from a PvE (heck even PvP) sense doesn't strike me as making any sense. I'd be interested to hear their game balance justification around it.

 

Otherwise it's the same itch the first scratched and with the main campaign done I'm a bit freer to dip in and out a short bit here n there. It's a good game for having a bit of youtube on in the background or what not.

 

 

[TheMightyEthan]

Just finished Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, and it was really excellent.  I know D2 (also excellent) didn't sell so well, but I haven't heard much about DotO, so hopefully it did well enough to maintain the series.  Though if this ends up being the end of the series I'd definitely say it's a worthy send-off. 

[toxicitizen]

It's unfortunately not looking great.

 

Quote

Owners: 91,478 ± 9,012

 

D2 is approaching 1mil units on Steam alone, though, which seems at least somewhat decent after a year, especially considering the rough launch it had on PC. It's been discounted a bunch of times but even then a lot of games never reach that figure. But it's such a bummer that Bethesda put out a bunch of truly great games in the last couple years and anything not called Fallout or Skyrim didn't do very well. This and Evil Within 2 deserved so much better and I think Wolf 2 isn't doing so hot either.

Edited November 5, 2017 by FLD

[Mal]

Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection

 

The story is pretty good and the aesthetics (I'm a sucker for cute) is great. I freaking love the characters and Alwen is a cutie pie.

Gameplay almost rose to the likes of the best Ys games. In ways I can see this as a proto-type of what you find in Ys Seven but simpler. Simplicity is fine but sadly balance* just fall apart in the end. When you play, you'll know really quick what I am talking about. Game become broken in ways that I don't recall finding in a Ys game.The extra dungeons also really reminds me of the hack job that was the extra dungeon in Trails in the Sky the 3rd: lazy and mindless.

 

With that all said, I want a Zwei 3 with the power of modern home consoles and PCs. The aesthetics would greatly benefit from it.

 

* This is really the biggest problem with Falcom. It's a recurring theme in all their games. I can sidestep it in turn-based RPGs but I naturally fall for them in action games.