Games You've Beaten in 2018

[toxicitizen]

Beat a few things in the last few weeks.

 

Steins;Gate

 

I had heard good things about the anime but I wanted to try the visual novel first, if only to compare and see which format was better. It wasn't quite how I expected it to be but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It starts out with more of a typical "anime high school science club" vibe but there's a pretty drastic shift in tone at some point and by the end of it all the early lighthearted stuff ends up being very effective at contrasting with the heavy shit that ends up going down.

 

I liked it so much that now I just want to play the other VNs of the series and not bother with their anime adaptations. I watched some scenes from the Steins;Gate anime on youtube and the direction just didn't compare to how I pictured it in my mind, so I think it would ultimately be an inferior way to experience them. Especially if they end up cutting optional routes and focusing on the true ending.

 

Devil May Cry HD

 

DMC5 hype got me to finally start playing through the collection. It's been forever since I played these games, so it feels very good to revisit them. The first one is pretty short so I played through most of it in a single day. The cutscenes are god-tier cringe material but the gameplay has aged like the finest wine. I went right into hard after beating it, intending to go all the way to Dante Must Die before moving on but holy shit, that is one hell of a difficulty spike. I powered through normal with little to no difficulty but hard started kicking my ass very early on. Ended up skipping ahead to DMC3 and playing the first few missions but I haven't gone back to finish it yet. I'm also considering at some point buying some beer and hateplaying DMC2 because I hate myself.

 

A Hat In Time

 

This one I started kind of on a whim. I got it from Humble Monthly at some point (I think?) and they recently released some DLC that was free for 24h, so it was kind of a "why the hell not" decision in a moment of boredom. I wasn't really feeling it at first but after sticking with it for a couple hours it started really growing on me. I beat all the worlds and collected all the time pieces (DLC included) but the DLC also added something called Death Wish, which is basically a bunch of really hard challenges and uh... I don't know if I have the patience for it. I haven't given it a serious shot yet and I haven't given up on getting all the achievements either, so we'll see. Might get back to it in the near future.

[Mister Jack]

Yakuza 0 (for real this time)

 

This was my first Yakuza game and I can see why people are so into the series.  I expected another GTA clone like Sleeping Dogs but it really isn't like that at all.  This is more like taking the classic beat-em-up genre and updating it with things like RPG mechanics and a TON of minigames and side content to give it more value to modern gamers.  I wouldn't really call it an open-world game.  You're free to run about the streets as you wish, but the map is closer to the size of a neighborhood than a whole city, so there's no driving involved whatsoever.  The only time you ever operate a vehicle is when you pick up a motorcycle to bash over some poor bastard's face.  I actually like this because a smaller map means the content is more densely packed.  Pretty much every street has several things to do on it and you never have to go too far to get to it.  Since you're getting everywhere on foot, you also frequently get into street fights with punks or yakuza.  I wouldn't call these random encounters since the game warns you in advance when hostiles are around and you can run away from them if you've got the stamina for it.

 

The story of this game is amazing.  Honestly, I got way more sucked into this plot than the plot for any GTA game I ever played.  The only Rockstar game that can hold a candle to this one in terms of story might be Red Dead Redemption.  There's way more involved here than just going to some guy at a marker and doing missions for him until he sends you to the next guy.  Because of this, the cutscenes can get pretty long, which some people might not like, but I was just too invested to care.  I liked the story so much that I think I might start watching actual Yakuza films now.

 

Combat is decent.  It's not quite as nuanced as something like Devil May Cry or God of War, but there are three martial arts style for both characters that you can switch between on the fly which excel in different circumstances.  You essentially have fast but weak, well rounded, and powerful but slow attacks to choose from.  Combos aren't super complex, but you'll still be doing more than bashing square for the whole game.

 

The side content blows GTA's side content out of the water.  You still have a few standard open-world type minigames like karaoke, arcade games, and bowling (although this is also my new favorite bowling minigame) but there's unique stuff too.  In addition to a bunch of really charming and sometimes hilarious side stories, you can also manage your own real estate and club businesses.  In fact, the game pretty much expects you to do this because late game upgrades can cost up to 100,000,000 yen and there's no way you're getting that just by fighting thugs on the street.  However, if you invest wisely in your properties and smartly manage your clubs, you'll end up with so much cash you don't even know what to do with it.  It's a great feeling, and the business content even has its own subplot involving a turf war against a local syndicate.

 

So basically, I loved this game and I'm glad I gave it a chance.  I'm definitely going to be looking into Yakuza Kiwami and even Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which was made in this style.

[Mister Jack]

Yakuza Kiwami

 

Okay, let's just get this out of the way.  Yes, Yakuza 0 is better.  However, just because 0 is better doesn't mean Kiwami is bad, far from it.  Bear in mind that Kiwami is a budget priced title that came out at only 29.99.  In fact, these days it's 19.99 or less, and it's certainly worth that.  I've already said how I feel about Yakuza 0's gameplay, so what changes in this one?  Well, this game is smaller in scale since it's a remake of a PS2 game which means only one character, one town, fewer side activities, and a shorter story.  If you were new to the series and asked me which one to start with, I'd say Yakuza 0 no question.  That's not to say I didn't like Kiwami.  I had a great time with it.  It's just hard to deny that 0 is better in just about every way.  We're talking a good game stacked against a great game.

 

There are a few things unique to Kiwami that I liked.  The story picks up where 0 left off, so if you're already invested in these characters then you'll be very interested in seeing how they change over a ten year timeskip.  The self-contained plot of the game is very good too.  Yes, the plot of 0 is superior, but it's almost unfair to knock Kiwami for that when Yakuza 0 has one of the best stories I've ever played.  How could a remake of the first game in the series possibly live up to that? Another thing is that Kiwami uses experience points to level up your abilities instead of money.  I imagine opinions on this will split, but I actually preferred it this way since you can level up without having to wait for a payday.

 

Kiwami also gives you a rival who constantly stalks you like Team Rocket so he can fight you for his own amusement.  This fucker can pop up practically anywhere and he constantly keeps you on your toes.  I once had him appear behind me when I was ordering food in a restaurant, which is supposed to be a safe spot!  It sounds really annoying on paper, but two things salvage this mechanic for me.  Firstly, fighting this guy is how you level up your ultimate fighting style, so there is a tangible reward for dealing with him that you can't get anywhere else.  Second, he is hilarious. While he's more than happy just to ambush you on the street, he'll often come up with the most ridiculous schemes to force the otherwise reluctant Kiryu into a fight.  This guy goes to such extremes to get his fix that he's practically a Looney Tune.  I love it, and I was always looking forward to seeing his next crazy idea.  I won't be surprised if he eventually makes a dive for me in Wile E. Coyote's wingsuit from the ACME corporation.

 

I don't know if it's just me, but this game also seemed a lot harder than 0.  I don't know if they juiced up the AI or what, but enemies are a lot more adept at dodging your attacks.  If anything, they're almost too good at it.  It seems like every enemy that's above your basic mook is capable of dodging behind you when you throw a punch and then hitting you in the back with a combo.  Bosses especially love to do this, which can get really annoying, and god help you if they have a gun.  Some people will appreciate the added challenge, but your mileage may vary.  I'm still glad I played it, and sooner or later I intend to play Kiwami 2.

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by Mister Jack

[TheMightyEthan]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

 

i had seen reviews that said this is the best of the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, and I don't think I agree with that, but it was good. The formula is just getting a little well-worn at this point, and I don't think the new developer executed on it quite as well as Crystal Dynamics. Little things, like checkpoints being too far apart during the scripted sequences, which had a few too many BS deaths. Like I said, it was still good, it just didn't seem quite as well put together as Rise.

 

Now I have to decide if I'm going to play RDR2 next, or return that to wait for the PC version and play Nier Automata instead.

[Mr. GOH!]

Play RDR2. The PC version may never come.

[Mal]

Code of Princess EX 

 

Ugh... It's alright. 

[Mister Jack]

Deltarune.  Pic related is my biggest takeaway.

[Thursday Next]

Did whatever a spider does. Good game, good story, good ending, can't be arsed with taskmaster's timed bollocks though.

[Mister Jack]

Red Dead Redemption 2

 

Would it surprise anyone to hear that this is a great game?  Yes, it does have some pretty annoying idiosyncrasies that I already laid out in the thread for the game, and these things remain persistent issues throughout the game.  However, the rest of it was just so enjoyable that I could deal with it.  Arthur Morgan, at least in my opinion, is the best character Rockstar has ever written, and unlike John Marston his personality is fitting for both high and low honor playthroughs.  I also think this is probably Rockstar's best story yet, especially compared to the plots of GTA which I've always found kind of lacking with the exception of San Andreas.  

 

Spoiler

The plot is great, but it does flounder around a bit near the very end because the game insists on having you do random bullshit chores while calling them missions much like the last Red Dead game did.  I understand why they did it and it's good for character development, but after a while I was just wishing the game would get on with the finale.  Speaking of the finale, it's kind of odd.  The climax is fine, but the actual ending is rather abrupt.  It's almost literally going "we did it!" and then rolling the credits.  There's more scenes during the credits, so I suppose it's not the worst ending.  I just found it bizarre.

 

Is it game of the year?  I don't know that I'd say that.  It's certainly in the top five, but this has been a pretty good year for games, particularly for PS4 owners, and RDR2's flaws are pretty big ones.  It's just fortunate that the good parts are so damn good.

[toxicitizen]

Hitman

 

With Hitman 2 right around the corner, I figured if I was ever going to revisit season 1 and finish getting all the achievements it was now or never. I was kind of hoping to get my fill and reduce the temptation to pre-order Hitman 2 but it just ended up making me want it even more. Also, I was like 90% done when I found out all the achievements from the first game are duplicated in the sequel. I knew all the season 1 locations would be available as DLC but I didn't expect them to just copy paste the achievements list. So I guess I'll have to do it all over again lol.

 

I still need to play the Patient Zero bonus campaign and then I'll be all set for Hitman 2 on friday. Although, it sounds like I'll be spending most of the day downloading it because it's a 105GB download (45GB of that is the season 1 DLC). Apparently it didn't occur to them that not having a pre-load on such a big download is kind of at odds with having 4 days of early access as part of your Gold Edition...

[TheMightyEthan]

10 hours ago, FLD said:

Apparently it didn't occur to them that not having a pre-load on such a big download is kind of at odds with having 4 days of early access as part of your Gold Edition...

 

I keep seeing people saying this kind of thing (about other games too, like the Fallout 76 beta), but isn't that only a few hours' worth of download? Like sure it's not right at launch, but it hardly takes up the full 4 days.

 

*Edit - Semi-related, the last time I preloaded a game on Steam it took longer to decrypt the preload files than it would have to just wait until launch and download the regular files.

[Mr. GOH!]

I only pre-load on PS4 games because it's so slow downloading (though I hear it's faster if you put the console to sleep).

 

I haven't pre-loaded a Steam game in years because decrypting is so slow.

[toxicitizen]

8 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

 

I keep seeing people saying this kind of thing (about other games too, like the Fallout 76 beta), but isn't that only a few hours' worth of download? Like sure it's not right at launch, but it hardly takes up the full 4 days.

 

*Edit - Semi-related, the last time I preloaded a game on Steam it took longer to decrypt the preload files than it would have to just wait until launch and download the regular files.

 

I mean, that depends on your connection speed. Mine is decent but hardly faster than the decrypting process (and I imagine it's only going to be faster now that I have a SSD, haven't had the chance to test it out yet). I've never seen the decrypting take more than an hour or so but, using Hitman as an example, even if I just download the base game's 60GBs I'm still looking at a ~5h download. If I downloaded the full 105GBs I probably wouldn't be playing until much later in the evening. It's not a huge deal or anything but worst case scenario I'm wasting almost 25% of the early access time downloading the game.

 

Anyway, seems they changed their mind overnight because I see a pre-load option on Hitman 2 now. It's only 13GBs though, so uh we'll see how that works out...

 

edit: OH SHIT! That initial pre-load was only for the very first episode but they actually went ahead and unlocked the whole thing a full day early! Still got another 25GB to download but looks like I'll be playing tonight!

 

 

Perfect timing since I just finished the Patient Zero campaign. That last mission was a pretty neat twist on the usual formula.

Edited November 8, 2018 by FLD

[deanb]

I did Spider-Man a while ago. Currently with a mate who is more into it than me and trying to platinum it, which I hear is relatively simple but not much care.

 

A recent completion was Hidden Agenda. Played it about three times the past week, it's become a bit of a favourite especially with rotating groups n stuff. Noticed it's now about £5, which is pretty damn great price especially something worth picking up for festive time with family over (assuming they have a phone and I hear Blizzard have it on good authority that they do :P). I was slightly expecting it to be horror based given it's sort of a spiritual follow on from Until Dawn but it's a straight up police thriller. And it's a lot more varied in playthroughs than I'd have expected too (though as best I can tell the "who the killer is" doesn't change..just if you're able to work it out or not and how you do it).

So yeah, totally recommend it for a bit of festive gaming with larger groups of grown ups.

[toxicitizen]

Hitman 2

 

There really isn't much to say about this one that hasn't already been said about the first season. This is the second season, for better and for worse. It's the same amazing game as before with some very small improvements here and there, just not the major kind you'd expect of a full-fledged sequel. After they made such a huge deal about the original being this platform for future content (one of the rare instances where it actually worked, imho), it was weird to see them backtrack and do a standalone sequel. I'm assuming the publisher change is the main reason behind this. Either they couldn't keep using the same client because S-E owned it or WB just wanted a new product they could sell for full price.

 

Either way, if you loved season 1 then there's no reason you won't love this too. The one complaint I would make is that it feels one location short due to the first one being a very small map that's pretty much a glorified tutorial, which is a little weird because they also re-use the tutorial from the first game. It's hard to complain though, because the other maps are as great as anything from season 1 (some I'd argue are even better) and when you include the free Legacy DLC then the game ends up being ridiculously packed with content. 

 

I only played season 1 after it was complete and missed out on all the time-sensitive content, so I'm really looking forward to trying out some elusive targets this time. I'm also looking forward to the two expansions, which hopefully will be coming sooner rather than later. Keeping the game installed is taking a huge chunk out of my SSD, though...

[Mister Jack]

Spyro the Dragon

 

The original game is very much a product of its time, and you can tell while playing it that it was one of the first 3D platformers to ever come out, even with its new coat of paint and updated camera.  That's not to say the game is bad.  The controls are tight, the jumping and hit detection are mostly fine, and the difficulty is hardly unreasonable, but the original Spyro doesn't aspire to be much more than that.  The levels are fairly simple in design, although sometimes the gems and dragons you need for 100% are hidden away in ridiculously obscure locations you'd never be able to reach without a guide or some serious outside-the-box thinking. 

 

The story is as basic as you can get, and the game's main villain only appears in the opening cutscene and the final boss battle, so he's barely a character at all. In fact, unlike future collectathon platformers there are no real characters to speak of like sidekicks or allies unless you count Sparx, and he's just a glorified health bar. The dragons you free will briefly speak to you after you free them, but it's mostly just to give you hints.  They've all been redesigned and they look fantastic, but they sadly only get about ten seconds of screen time each.  There are also only three cutscenes in the whole game: the opening, the normal ending, and the 100% ending.  The game's villain doesn't even talk to Spyro a single time.  Story was clearly not a priority for this game.  I'm sure that at the time they made it they were just trying to see if a 3D platformer on the Playstation could work at all.

 

Also unlike future platformers, the abilities you have at the beginning of the game are the same you'll have at the end.  You can jump, charge, glide, breathe fire, and in some levels you can fly.  That's your whole moveset and it never changes.  It works, but never adding new moves does limit what you can do with level design.  The differences between worlds are mostly aesthetic.  Your goal in every level is to find the gems, the dragons, and sometimes the eggs.  You never have to do anything special to earn them, like in Mario or Banjo-Kazooie.  You just gotta find them and get to them.  Boss battles don't have any fanfare or even a change in music.  They're just plopped down in normal levels like they're ordinary enemies.  I didn't even realize I had beaten the first boss until a trophy popped up informing me of the fact.  The boss fights in this game are all piss easy too.  I beat several of them without even getting touched.

 

Finally, this is a short game.  If you aren't going for 100% you can probably beat this game in a few hours.  If you do want 100%, it might take you an extra four or five, but even then it won't require too much dedication.  I got it in two days off and on. It's still a decent game, but it definitely shows its age with the gameplay.  The graphics, on the other hand, look great.  The characters all have cartoony, highly expressive models that would be right at home in a Spyro movie or tv show.  It's extremely charming.  I've heard that Spyro 2 adds a bunch of stuff to flesh out the game and give it more variety and personality, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it for myself.

[TCP]

Red Dead Redemption 2
I have a lot to say about this game. And almost all of it is praise. I loved every minute of this story. There's a lot of layers and the way everything is tied together in the end makes not only a terrific game but also adds and compliments the original Red Dead Redemption.

Arthur Morgan is my favourite video game character, period. From who is when he starts, to who he is at the end, is the best character growth I've seen in a game. This game does what The Last of Us set out to do but does it much better, IMHO. Not only Arthur but with side characters too, there was a handful of them that I got really invested in... mainly Sadie, Charles, Lenny, Hosea, John +fam. Seeing what the main antagonist does, slowly over time, made me absolutely hate them. Dutch's transformation, while you knew it was coming based off where he is in RDR1, is heartbreaking. He's charismatic in the beginning and you get the feeling he truly cares about his people. Or he's just really good at pretending he does. Then at the end... well, no need to drop spoilers but you can guess how that ends up.

The epilogue stuff is PURE fanservice but in an 80ish hour campaign, I don't mind, at all, in fact, I LOVED IT. 

10/10 GOTY.

[Mister Jack]

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

 

I still have a few objectives left to get 100%, but I went through to the final boss so I consider this game beaten for the moment.  This is where Spyro hits his stride.  There are actual characters in the game besides Spyro himself now, the villain is more memorable, and the level design is improved with a variety of objectives in each one.  Rather than freeing dragons and hunting down eggs from thieves, you are now collecting talismans (primary objectives) and orbs (secondary objectives).  They basically work like Mario 64's stars. The game now has actual cutscenes in between levels.  It's nothing grandiose but it's a nice opportunity to enjoy the fantastic new designs and animation, plus it gives Spyro himself more character than he had in the last game.  Gem hunting is less obtuse this time around too, and there aren't too many gems stuck in sadistic areas. The boss battles are thankfully more challenging now, although one of them ended up being so hard I had to consult a walkthrough.  I never do that for bosses and yet I did it.  Still, this is a solid improvement on the first game.  I still got more stuff to unlock, and then on to Spyro 3!

[Mister Jack]

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

 

Beat this one 100%, which means I now have all three platinum trophies.  I think this one is probably my favorite of the trilogy, though I realize this will probably be a controversial opinion.  The three games are all fairly distinct from one another and strong arguments can be made for why any one of them is the best one, even the original one that only had the platforming essentials.  In my case, though, Spyro 3 is the one to beat.  Spyro doesn't learn any new abilities this time, but he does carry over the abilities he learned in Spyro 2.  Instead, you unlock additional characters to play as, each with their own abilities and gameplay mechanics.  Obviously, some people won't like this shift in gameplay, but for the most part I didn't mind it, despite not liking this same gimmick in Sly Cooper 3.  It just isn't as intrusive here.  Most, if not all of the side character stuff is optional unless you're going for 100%, and every character is ultimately going around grabbing collectibles like Spyro already does, just doing it in a different way.  There's no stupid hacking or stealth or anything like that. The worst you'll have to deal with is shooting sections, and they're honestly not that bad, just nothing to write home about.

 

Instead of talismans and orbs or crystal dragons this time around, the only collectible in this game besides gems is dragon eggs.  That's fine with me, really.  The baby dragons don't have the personality and fantastic designs of the adult dragons in the original game, but there's a lot more variety in how you get the eggs to make up for it.  The level design has more variety overall as well, and I personally just felt like the worlds were better put together than the other two games.  Of course, this is subjective and your mileage may vary.

 

If I had to pick between this and the Crash remake, I think I like this one slightly more.  The Crash remake is great, don't get me wrong, but it has some mild control issues that can become a problem on especially precise levels.  The Crash games can also be downright sadistic at times, particularly in the first game. Crash 3 is also full of racing levels and I fucking hate racing levels. Spyro has racing levels too, but there's only a few of them and they're much less of a headache than the Crash racing levels.  I still highly recommend both trilogies to anyone who likes platformers, but if someone put a gun to my head and demanded I only pick one to play, Spyro would just barely get the edge.

 

Playing this trilogy makes me REALLY want a new Spyro game though, or maybe even a future crossover game with Crash!  Activision owns both properties now.  It could happen!

Edited November 21, 2018 by Mister Jack

[TheMightyEthan]

Man, you tore through those.

[Mister Jack]

They're not super long games (between 30-40 levels each) but I had time on my hands over the weekend.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Mister Jack

[toxicitizen]

 

I remember thinking this game was flawed but pretty great the first time around but I think my opinion of it went down a bit after this replay. I still love it but now I kinda wish it was a better game.

 

There were a lot of small things I found annoying throughout but ultimately it was the bloat that soured me on it the most. I did one playthrough on Apocalyptic doing all the side-quests and collectibles and then another on Deathinitive difficulty where I mostly just beelined the main objectives the entire time. I actually enjoyed the second run more than the first one, mostly because it was NG+ and I could ignore most of the following. There are a lot of pointless fetch quests here that don't really add anything of value. The loot system feels tacked on and unnecessary. The combat system is clearly inspired by games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta but it lacks the depth you'd expect from it and the dodge just kept fucking me up because of how chaining multiple ones in a row works. I still like the Prince of Persia platforming, though. 

 

It's also one of the buggiest games I've played in a while. I don't know if it was just the PC port but it kept crashing on me at the most random times. Sometimes the game would just shut down after I alt-tabbed out. Sometimes it would freeze for a couple seconds and not actually crash. Then I went to tackle the Crucible (basically an arena where you fight 100 waves of enemies) and it just kinda went apeshit. There's checkpoints every 25 waves and I couldn't even make it to the first one. Turns out the damage indicators actually crash the fucking game if you deal too much damage. Thankfully you can turn them off but holy shit. Ironically enough, after I unlocked the very last achievement and tried to quit the game, it just locked up and refused to shut down. I had to hard reset my PC. 

 

This was initially supposed to be a replay in anticipation of Darksiders 3 but it had the opposite effect. I've kind of had enough for now, so I'm gonna wait a while before getting Darksiders III.

[TheMightyEthan]

That's too bad to hear, I've been planning to play that sometime soon too. I played the non-remake Darksiders 2 on PC when it came out and it didn't have any technical problems like that.

[MetalCaveman]

Yeah, the remake broke a lot of stuff, specially the Crucible, the non-remake was much more stable though it did have a couple of issues, nothing as bad as the Deathinitive edition.

 

I remember going with the necromancer powers, so I barely did any fighting, just summon ghouls and let them do their thing.  

[toxicitizen]

3 hours ago, TheMightyEthan said:

That's too bad to hear, I've been planning to play that sometime soon too. I played the non-remake Darksiders 2 on PC when it came out and it didn't have any technical problems like that.

 

2 hours ago, MetalCaveman said:

Yeah, the remake broke a lot of stuff, specially the Crucible, the non-remake was much more stable though it did have a couple of issues, nothing as bad as the Deathinitive edition.

 

Yeah, I don't remember the original having any serious issues either. Kinda makes you wonder how the remaster turned out the way it did. Considering the Crucible thing has a workaround, I wouldn't say it's bad enough to stick with the original over the remaster, though. But Darksiders III being made by the same studio makes me think waiting for a few patches before jumping in probably isn't the worst idea lol.

 

2 hours ago, MetalCaveman said:

I remember going with the necromancer powers, so I barely did any fighting, just summon ghouls and let them do their thing.  

 

I was kinda bummed out when I realized that even by reaching the level cap in NG+ you only end up with enough skill points for one tree. I was tempted to respec to necromancer in NG+ to try it out but I expected Deathinitive difficulty to be much more challenging than it turned out to be, so I decided to stick with the playstyle I was already comfortable with.