Printable View
I havenŽt found this kind of thread in this community, so I thought I might add it.
So, what was the last game you finished?
I finished Vagrant Story myself yesterday. Most of you probably know how good this game is so not much to add here. I loved the challenge at the final boss fight, you really needed to chain well to beat it. Now I am replaying the game with a different weapon, IŽll maybe use a staff this time.
IŽd rate it 8/10
smurf, I'm not even sure what the last game I played was. I guess it would technically be Mega Man X since I've been out of town working 9-13 hour days for the last two weeks and just needed something quick to play and found it in the ROMs on my netbook.
It's still an awesome game after all of these years. Tons of fun, and one of my favourite parts about it was always how beating certain levels first affected others. Like Storm Eagles flying ship crashing into Spark Mandrils power plant and whatnot. I did a mostly X-buster only playthrough this time, though I skipped it for fighting Sigma's final form just because I was getting tired and wanted to get him out of the way quickly. X3 might be my favourite for it's ridiculous number of secrets, but the first is still a close second (what?) and one of my favourite Mega Man games.
Catherine. It was sooooo much more awesome than I thought it was going to be, and I already had some pretty high expectations from it. The puzzles themselves were pretty fun, nothing special, but the everything else was amazing. One of my favorite features is that it surveys all of your answers on the first play through and you can see how other players answered, with separate pie charts for males and females. Some of the results are actually quite surprising. This is the game's plot in a nutshell (spoiler free):
Catherine - Orlando & Vincent cutscene - YouTube
I still need to get the five other endings!
Outland. For those of you who don't know it is a 2D platformer which's main 'gimick' is switching your character between light and dark alignment. As light alignment you don't take damage from light energy attacks and can only damage dark aligned enemies, vice versa for dark aligned. And there is all sorts of fun stuff like platforms you can only land on with one alignment. It makes for some very tricky platforming/combat as you have to be constantly switching as you are maneuvering and attacking.
There are some slight RPG elements to keep it interesting, as you go through you acquire new skills and increase your health. New areas are unlocked by getting the new skills that allow you to access them, similar to a Metroidvania title, but I wouldn't really classify it as that since there isn't really any backtracking.
Over all I thought that the game was amazing. Just when I was kind of giving up on video games something I like this falls into my lap.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Great Zelda game with a neat little gimmick. A bit on the short side dungeon wise though, I wish there was maybe one or two more. And I wish the figurine collecting wasn't quite as stupid. :nonono: But overall a very good game with a nice storyline.
I had two, because I literally beat them within days of each other.
Revelations Persona or Persona 1: I completed the SEBEC story and got the best ending from that. Persona is an interesting game with a lot of hang ups. Its easily the weakest entry in the Persona franchise and may actually have one of the most unlikable casts I've seen in a game (though Nanjo's snarky elitist attitude certainly grows on you). The game has a hard time not feeling like a silly B-Movie plot that would show up in MSFT3000 and the gameplay is a weird FF meets MegaTen mash up that really doesn't work. Its not a terrible game but it is decidedly "old school" with long maze like dungeons and grind heavy mechanics, so if the plot doesn't keep you going the gameplay won't do it either. If you love Persona, check it out but no one expects you to love it or even finish it. It does have some interesting mechanics for building a party and getting the games numerous endings which gives it more replay value but it only works out if you can stomach the gameplay/plot.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen: Meh, it was okay, definetly one of the weaker entries I've played. The game suffers from having to come after the awesome DQIII and before the awesome DQV so it probably looks worst simply by comparison, but really, once you get past the chapter gameplay mechanic, the game just feels like a a typical DQ game, without cool elements like the Job Class system or monster hunting to give the gameplay more life. The game tries to focus more on story and character but its definetly more FFII than FFIV in that regard and by the fifth chapter (when the main game actually begins ) any characterization or attempt to finish the characters stories are lost. The real shame is that Torneko's chapter is easily the high point of the game and sadly one of the shortest chapters. Mainly because the chapter actually has clever dungeons and asks you to do thing that are not typical in an RPG but sadly its all left to this chapter alone and the rest of the game doesn't bother to be as innovative.
It also pulls what FFVI did by instead of re-using a job class system, it's cast each fit a particular job role from the previous game. Unfortunately, the designers didn't quite balance them when they did this so the Cleric and Mage characters are split with one being exceptionally more useful over the other so that quickly drops a few people from the active party.The one novel idea from DQIV is that Psaro, the villain, is actually given a real backstory and motive as opposed to the rest of the evil villains of DQ who are simply card carrying members of evil for the sake of being evil, yet Psaro has more in common in terms of presentation as Xande, mainly being a figure you hear stories of but rarely interact with him. The DS remake even gives him his own sixth chapter which was fun to play through. Overall, the game wasn't as groundbreaking as the two games its sandwiched between and even despite trying to give it more of a story/character focus, its just not Horii's strong point. Its still a fun adventure but there are better entries in the franchise and just better RPGs in general.
I finished Dark Souls again the other night. I wrote a mini-thing on it in another thread here, so I'll just copy-paste that:
Just expanding a bit - on the unpredictability, Dark Souls is always throwing curveballs. Most areas are very well done, with only one or two areas (out of 25, I think?) being shaky. Lost Izalith, for instance, is a bit of a miss, but I can still appreciate it because it's just another facet of the game's level design.Quote:
...one thing this game does so well is unpredictability. You never know just how the next area will challenge you. You might have to do some precision timing and movement to dodge Indiana Jones-y traps (Sen's Fortress), you might have to descend a cliffside in pitch darkness (Tomb of the Giants), or you might be faced with enemies that can only be killed if you're inflicted with a certain status effect (New Londo).
Even better, is that joining certain covenants will actually change some areas. For instance, being heavily embedded in the Chaos Covenant will open up shortcuts through the underground lava ruins area (not to mention providing you with potential story insight). Running through a certain area of the Darkroot Garden in human form will set you up with the PvP guardians of the forest. Conversely, if you're a part of the forest covenant yourself, you can be summoned from any area in the game to defend your covenant's turf (winning or losing returns you to precisely where you were initially summoned, so it doesn't erase your progress). Hell, you may even get Disastered by a Gravelord Covenanter, who curses your world to have super-strong enemies to hinder your progress. Invade this player and kill him to return your world to normal difficulty.
Nothing in Dark Souls is ever straightforward, although the mechanics themselves are all pretty basic. What makes it all come together like some of the past masterpieces in gaming is that From Software have taken the game's basic mechanics and done absolutely everything with them. There is not a point in the game without some wrinkle to keep you on your toes.
I could seriously write about this game forever. Nothing else I've touched this year since I've played it has really impressed me. Everything else seems amateur and a little bit sloppy, even the mighty Skyrim. :(
A lot of people think the game's final 'third' section of areas (Duke's Archives, Lost Izalith, Tomb of the Giants, New Londo Ruins) to be a step down from the rest of the game but I actually have to disagree. These four areas are shorter-ish, but they all have a huge rub that keeps them from just being simply an early level + difficulty. Duke's Archives ends up being a pretty decent multi-level maze, Tomb of the Giants challenges you to move more cautiously than you have before by literally placing you in pitch black. New Londo is one of the game's complex town/ruin areas (similar to Sen's Fortress or the Painted World) but with enemies that can only be killed while under a certain status effect. It also has a whole second level to it, so a first time player who may have wandered in and did the first section in the early game (there is a very good possible reason for players to want to go there early) will find a whole new layer with tougher enemies and what I think is hands-down the most legitimately grim and troubling scenery in a game in a long time.
The game is just flat-out well made. I've seen reviews of people who say 'what's great about it?' and I think the problem is that no individual thing about Dark Souls is great. That is, it doesn't have one thing that's intended to be the most awesome or be the gameplay hook that carries the rest of the package. Everything in Dark Souls works (with the recent patching of course), everything comes together, and every element is solidly done. It's as full and complete a game as has come out in years - no DLC and no hand-holding. The developers knew exactly what they wanted to make and then made it.
Last game I finished was Skyrim. And it was highly underwhelming.
It's not bad, and there is an insane amount to do. However a lot of skills are poorly balanced, example being the blatent overpoweredness of smithing and enchanting.
The main plot was short and rather weak, severly dropping the ball in way more areas then I would give most games leeway on.
I could go on about it's issues, but dispite it's massive flaws, there is an insane amount to do in the game, it has a lot of really pretty enviroments, and the shear amount of ways fight in this game is spectacular.
As well some of the side trout is good. On a whole, the Markarth quests are my favorite in the game. And while I feel people overhype the dark Brotherhood in this, it is still a good story.
I'm having a difficult time coming up with something to post in this thread because 99% of the games I play aren't ones that can be "beaten", per se. (Civ, SMAC, Paradox games, et al)
I guess the last game I beat was Final Fantasy I a few months ago, then. It was fairly solid; definitely not the best RPG I've ever played but it had a lot of good moments. (And to be fair I'm not a big RPG person so I'm not exactly sure how to rate most of them.) I'd give it a 4/5.
Final Fantasy XIII. Again. The plot is good and the characters are likable and one of the best in the series. The sound, graphics, and battle system is all spectacular. However, the non-combat parts are incredibly tedious. I give it an 3.5/5. A 2/5 for gameplay, 5/5 for everything else.
I just finished beating Deus Ex again, since I'm getting the new one next week I thought I'd refresh myself with this classic.
Still just as good as ever....and still just as hilarious to kill Mr Renton.
I'd give it a 9/10. One point deducted because I've never really been a fan of the final section of the game, this time didn't prove to be any different, still easily playable but I felt it was a let down compared to the rest of the game.
Damn, Flying Arrow's writeup on Dark Souls makes me want that game bad, although I'd feel guilty because I still haven't finished Demon's Souls yet. I can't remember if the last game I beat was Valkyria Chronicles II or Modern Warfare 3.
MW3 - definitely satisfied, but doesn't live up to the series, definitely because the team left partway through the development.. Single Player probably worst in the series and definitely worse than Black Ops. Multiplayer is very solid, much more balanced than MW2 but it just doesn't have that WOW factor every CoD has on day one. Maybe too simplified.
Valkyria Chronicles II -Wow. They've definitely kept it up with this one. Might even be better than original. The handheld design philosophy of delivering everything in bite-sized chunks from a hub, and its execution, make this such a perfectly paced game. Very addictive, very powerful, very charming. One of my favorite games in years. Only complaint is it might be too easy to blitzkrieg your objectives once you get the system down.
http://9voltclub.files.wordpress.com...tory-4-000.jpg
Toy Story - Sega Mega Drive II/ Genesis
For as long as I can remember, I have treasured this game. I beat it over and over as a kid, and I just recently finished it for the first time in many, many years.
It is every bit as magical as I remembered it to be. It is actually quite, well, surprisingly hard for its type of game. Ah, Disney really did make magical games way back when. Aladdin, The Lion King, Mickey Mouse, TaleSpin and this one! What has happened to Disney in the gaming department?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1132077/imag...ConquerRTS.jpg
The original Command & Conquer. The gameplay is pretty dated, lacking any form of build queues, waypoints, and the game also has terrible pathing, making units often end up spending twice as much time getting from one point to another than if you had micromanaged them all the way there.
It is none the less a very classical RTS game that anyone with an interest for gaming history should at least try. The game's graphics are naturally pretty simple, being from the mid 90s, but also still bloody enough to give it a 18+ rating at least in europe. It's not too strange really, considering those small soldiers explode in almost a red cloud of blood and organs, and you ended up slaughtering thousands of them through the course of the game. It also has a wonderfully cheesy (but cool!) story line. It was worth every minute I put into it.
Wow, this game looks awesome, but I do not have a Xbox or a PS3, so I guess I can't play it. :cry:Quote:
Originally Posted by VeloZer0
Good write-up, I think that originally C&C definitely did something unique with the live action videos giving you your orders, made it seem like you secretly turned your parents' den into a commander center. Or it did to me at the time... ANYWAY the game certainly isn't as balanced as later entries like Red Alert 2 and Generals but it's still a fun, well-designed early RTS. I never did beat either campaign although I think I got to the last mission of both.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
I beat Mass Effect 2 again...... Like 6th time. Best game ever. That's my opinion. Hell, I have a ME3 countdown app. Cause you can fight like a krogan, run like a leopard but you can never be better than commander shepard. :colbert:
Now, on to Dune II, my good sir. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
Last game I 'finished' (and that depends on your definition of the word when playing this game) was Skyrim. I give it 8/10. Just a little lacking in making me feel like I was a character rather than an avatar... I like my characters to have voice and personality, personally. Could have used a bit more 'urgency' as some have noted, but at the same time, not sure if it would have benefited enough to make me love it more. Major gripe for me that put me off continuing was that I couldn't rebuild the Blades further than just three more members and couldn't get all perks without cheating the system. Beyond that, all good.
Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess (Wii): Played this to get myself ready for Skyward Sword, I haven't played it since the Wii came out. I am kind of kicking myself for waiting so long to do another playthrough because TP is easily my favorite 3D Zelda game, and tied with Link to the Past as my favorite Zelda game overall. The game tries for a more cinematic presentation which Ocarina of Time brought to the franchise but blows it out of the water with awesome sequences like the Hyrule Field horseback riding duels, which end in an awesome joust, or the amazing spaghetti western sequence in the Hidden Village, where you have to Bow/Arrow your way through a bunch of goblins, even with fitting music.
The dungeons are really creative and find new ways to utilize old standbys like the boomerang and Iron boots in incredible ways. The Fire Temple/ Death Mountain dungeon is easily one of the coolest dungeons to come out of the series in awhile. The Desert Palace and Temple of Time are also exceptionally awesome and terribly ingenious. The Yeti Mansion dungeon is also very different from typical Zelda titles, merging story with classic Zelda hijinks. The game also utilizes its gimmick much better than most of the Zelda titles, Wolf Link isn't just a simple story mechanism used for a few side quests and reaching dungeons, he's a completely utilized game mechanic that is used in the dungeons and boss fights of the game. The real heart and soul of the game comes from Midna, the titular "Navi" character that helps Link through the game with hints, but unlike Navi, Midna is more like the Minish Cap and actually important to the gameplay and far less annoying, in fact, Midna is the driving force of the story and her relationship with Link is actually quite endearing which makes the ending more bittersweet. The supporting cast is also rather well fleshed out (for a Zelda game) and are pretty endearing and its nice to see Link have a love interest that isn't Zelda.
The game has wonderful mini-games that add variety to the game and its usual plethora of secrets to uncover. The new sword skills also create more variety with combat, especially since several enemy types will require you to master them. The music score is also exceptional, especially any track dealing with Twilight or the final battle. Graphics are pretty stellar and hold up pretty well, though it isn't so nice on a HD console but considering this game is a Gamecube title and the Wii doesn't really support this type of fluff, its not a deal breaker. It's an overall, exceptional experience and I'll never really understand the haters. The game does such a fantastic job merging all its elements together. I hope Skyward Sword lives up to its predecessor. ;)
Batman Arkham City
The game is quite an improvement to Arkham Asylum in almost everyway. The stealth is even better and more challenging, the combat has grown more complex, and there are even more gadgets to fiddle with. The gadgets have a greater use in combat and stealth than they did in the first game which you could really only use the batarang and batclaw during battle in this game you can use every gadget you get in some way in combat and in stealth. The exploration is enriching, there are more boss battles, one fantastic one that reminds me of The Fury in MGS3 and it's even better in New Game Plus. There are some actual puzzles this time around and The Riddler segments are far more than just finding random trophies lying around though those are still in plentiful amounts (too much actually). The campaign is better than the last though shorter, but I say that the story is a little more lacking maybe, but it did have a surprising ending.
A couple of more negatives: A couple of the side missions could have been more engaging. Some of them are literally just go from here to here. The conclusion to almost all of these side missions are not satisfactory. A couple of them serve for teaser purposes of the next game, but all the others I can think of were over way too fast. Throughout the game you'll unlock some campaign modes, but those aren't much different from your challenge maps. They're basically combining three of them in a linear fashion with some custom restrictions thrown in. I also have to make mention of the Catwoman fake DLC. When the game was revealed from the jump they advertised Catwoman like she was an initial part of the package. Her story segments are already on the disc and it was dirty of them to just tell us that you have to pay for her just a week before the game's release.
I wasn't dumb enough to pay it though I just downloaded it off of someone else's account. There is no way I'm going to sell out.
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Pure class from start to finish. The "Rough Seas" chapter was probably the most visually stunning section I've seen in any game. The ending was a tad anti-climactic so for that reason I'd say it is on-par with Uncharted 2 rather than surpassing it.
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood: This is a weird game... This may be due to the fact I don't often play games with Madden style production and release, by which I mean, this game is pretty much AC2 with a few new elements. The game picks up right where AC2 left off and everything seems like it's going to be okay except AC2 does kind of end with Ezio pissing off one of history's most infamous families, the Borgia. So all hell breaks loose shortly in and Ezio finds himself in Rome for revenge against the Borgia. The game also spends more time actually developing the non-historical figures of Desmond and his Assassin cronies. There isn't much to do in these scenes most of the time, but it's nice that Desmond is finally getting off his ass and actually doing something besides Quantum Leaping into his much cooler and more interesting ancestors.
Oddly enough, ACB actually lets Ezio start with all his cool gear from AC2, but in true Metroid tradition, you'll lose most of them at the beginning, though Ezio certainly has amusing ways to lose his gear. Also, as I said, he loses only most of them. You actually get to start off with the upgrades to your hidden blade so you can start poisoning and shooting guards at your delight. You get a few new toys in this game, the ability to fire poison darts, a parachute (think Sly Cooper, it's awesome), and a crossbow which is far more useful than I thought it would be. Many elements were modified or overhauled. Their are now items you collect from treasures, dead bodies, or from missions. Most of it can be sold for quick cash but some of them are connected to shop quests, that unlock new items. The guilds play a larger role in this game as they are the source of your assassination side missions. They also rank you by tasking you to do certain things a number of times, and it nets you some neat swag. The Romulus Cult are the source of this games version of the Assassin's Tombs from AC2, and like AC2, they ear easily my favorite side missions cause they are pure platforming goodness. They net you the best armor in the game (which isn't as cool as Altair's Armor from AC2) and the best dagger in the game. You still get to renovate and buy real estate but instead of fixing up your uncle's crappy villa, you get to buy Rome. The system is a little more in-depth than AC2 and allows you to even add shops in districts or open up small bases for support units you need, these bases themselves can also be changed at any time to suit your needs so if you have missions where you need courtesans instead of thieves, you can build them a base and fill the area with more thief units. One of the new additions is the Borgia Towers which are one of the more underappreciated new elements in the game. These towers are power bases for the enemies and they prevent you from opening shops or buying landmarks, as well as fill the area with soldiers. So you can enter these towers, kill their captains in a mission, and burn the tower. What the game doesn't mention is that these towers also double as Eagle Vision towers so they also fill in your map. No more just hoofing to every high spot and getting the map, now you have to earn it and its very nice cause it doesn't quite get as old as the old method.
Of course the big new game mechanic is the Brotherhood which is fun if a bit overly simple. You recruit people send them on missions or call them into battles and they get XP that can be used to upgrade their gear and their proficiency. Their missions are an easy source of revenue and actually tell you about the world of AC beyond Italy. As minions to summon into battle, they are a bit overpowered as they are all mini-Ezio's. From talking with other fans of the series, I've noticed the Brotherhood makes you fall into two camps: You either become lazy as you let the Brotherhood do all the heavy lifting fights or assassinations, or you completely ignore them outside of sending them on missions to collect more revenue and just do everything yourself. Its a nice addition and it does give Ezio a sense of more power that is rather unique but I kind of feel like the idea is half finished.
One of the other bigger additions is Leonardo's Mission, he built some doomsday devices and tasks Ezio with taking them out. AC can now proudly say they have vehicle missions because these missions involve taking out working versions of actual military devices that Da Vinci created. These missions are also pretty nasty, especially the Glider mission which is frustratingly difficult from beginning to end. Sadly, while you get to use these devices, the game often does a poor job explaining how to use them or fails to mention you get a game over sometimes if you do something it didn't tell you was a game over. The missions are interesting but I kind of feel like they were tacked on mostly due to how unorganized they are compared to the rest of the game. Speaking of frustration, the Subject 16 missions are back and while they are still bizarre and amusing, the puzzles are far more mind boggling and repetitive, they really liked re-using the same four puzzles for all ten sequences and some of them have such left field clues, I'm just going to tell you now, go to GameFaqs, especially for the last puzzle in the last sequence. That puzzles clue makes little sense and I can't fathom how you were suppose to get the solution without a guide. There is also an interesting platform section involved with all this and it's easily the buggiest section of the game. As you're platforming, the surroundings are being generated as you move forward, the problem is that Desmond can often move faster than the game can generate the scenery, so oftentimes, you'll miss a beam of holding point because it didn't generate fast enough and you'll have to start over, even worse, its really easy to get so far ahead that you can run into a generating structure and get stuck in it. I got stuck behind a wall a few times and sadly the only way to get out of this mess is to literally quit the game and go back to the start menu, and considering how loading heavy AC is, this gets tiresome really fast.
These two sections are not the only place where weird bugs pop up. Its not uncommon to watch npcs vanish as you approach them or suddenly appear out of thin air, or get stuck in walls or scenery. Ezio and Desmond have both apparently gained Altiar's annoying habit of sometimes forgetting what he can climb or not. Sometimes freezing in mid-climb as the game tries to figure out if the wooden beam a few inches away is something you can climb onto or not. It's especially noticeable in Desmond's sections, where as Ezio only does it occasionally. Yet, oddly, outside of the Subject 16/Leonardo sections, the rest of the bugs are not really deal breakers for enjoying the game.
Of course the real big addition to this game and its main selling point is multiplayer, which is quite fun and unique. It's really different from the typical 1st/3rd person shooters or RTS style shenanigans, as you basically target other players and try your best to blend into your surroundings better than the other players. You also get points for killing your own assassin though the mechanics are not as easy as I would care for. It's definetly a fun addition though I don't feel it eclipses the solo campaign as much as some people think. Overall, AC: Brotherhood is a great game, but its bogged down by some bugs and some unjustifiable difficulty spikes concerning certain elements. It's basically AC2 with some retooled mechanics a few new tools and elements but it lacks polish that it's successor had. Hopefully, Revelations will get past these hiccups.