Modern Games Beaten in 2022

[newtmonkey]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
I finally completed this for the first time last night.  I played the original version, because I prefer its muted color pallete versus the more colorful graphics of Special Edition.  I used two mods: SkyUI (simply crucial imo if playing with mouse and keyboard) and some mod that shows roads on the in-game map.

 

It has a massive game with a ton of content, but I unfortunately found it all to be as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle.  The extremely linear dungeons, boring townspeople with just a couple lines of dialog, simple quests, and level-scaled equipment nearly killed the game for me.  It felt like I had experienced essentially everything the game had to offer, after only 5-10 hours.  I felt no drive to do much of the optional content (just a few of the imperial faction quests) or even the DLCs, and ended up completing the main quest in just 18 hours total.

 

Having said that, something about Skyrim just works. It's got a very fitting soundtrack and amazing atmosphere.  I love the snowstorms in this game.  And the game's simplicity works in its favor; there is not anything deep about Skyrim's many systems, but they all work, and they fit together well.

Edited December 20, 2022 by newtmonkey

[+wongojack]

8 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
I finally completed this for the first time last night.  I played the original version, because I prefer its muted color pallete versus the more colorful graphics of Special Edition.  I used two mods: SkyUI (simply crucial imo if playing with mouse and keyboard) and some mod that shows roads on the in-game map.

 

It has a massive game with a ton of content, but I unfortunately found it all to be as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle.  The extremely linear dungeons, boring townspeople with just a couple lines of dialog, simple quests, and level-scaled equipment nearly killed the game for me.  It felt like I had experienced essentially everything the game had to offer, after only 5-10 hours.  I felt no drive to do much of the optional content (just a few of the imperial faction quests) or even the DLCs, and ended up completing the main quest in just 18 hours total.

 

Having said that, something about Skyrim just works. It's got a very fitting soundtrack and amazing atmosphere.  I love the snowstorms in this game.  And the game's simplicity works in its favor; there is not anything deep about Skyrim's many systems, but they all work, and they fit together well.

I have some of the same criticisms, and I would also add the fact that often there are many quest-breaking bugs.  It is routine to see PC players recommending updates in the edit console to fix simple bugs and outcomes.

 

I pushed through the main story on PC when X360 was still current gen, and I can't get into it again.  I did play the VR version for a while, but I quit.  I've never sided with a faction or become a werewolf or completed the Elder Scrolls quest.  I have played and finished Morrowind since I finished Skyrim, and I honestly have more fond memories of playing that and Oblivion.  From a control standpoint, I prefer the "wheel" in Oblivion that keeps you out of the menus by letting you assign gear to a D-pad press (why did they dump that).  I also liked that I could configure a button for magic without be limited to the lame shouts in Skyrim.  I hated the shouts.

 

All that to say, I loved your last bit "something about Skyrim just works."  I don't think that it is the crowning glory of all RPGs, and I don't think it needed to be released 5+ times, but it definitely is a great game.

 

 

Note to anyone - Please don't recommend mods to me.  As an IT software-admin type guy, I've spent a huge portion of my career configuring and installing software.  I don't waste time on that for fun.

[cimerians]

I still play Skyrim lol

 

Mass Effect Andromeda - its not that bad, loved the planets and combat, story & characters are weak, it's like a spin off TV series

Dragon Age Inquisition + all the DLC + 100% achievements  - its got faults but I like this game quite a bit and the ongoing story

Helen's Mysterious Castle - guide needed to beat

Earthlock - stopped but I could have beat it. Just didn't like it

Darkest Dungeon - stopped could have beat this too eventually but imo its way too much of a grind for me

[newtmonkey]

9 hours ago, wongojack said:

I would also add the fact that often there are many quest-breaking bugs

I encountered several of these, too.  I had three main quest bug out to the point where I had to reload an earlier save.  Pretty surprising for a AAA game with only a 15 hour main quest, honestly.

6 hours ago, cimerians said:

Dragon Age Inquisition + all the DLC + 100% achievements  - its got faults but I like this game quite a bit and the ongoing story

Darkest Dungeon - stopped could have beat this too eventually but imo its way too much of a grind for me

I'm planning on playing DA:I next year.  I've already completed DA1 and DA2, so I'm looking forward to it.

I had the same experience with DD; too much of a grind.

[Punisher5.0]

13 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

I had three main quest bug out to the point where I had to reload an earlier save.  Pretty surprising for a AAA game with only a 15 hour main quest, honestly.

 

[Razzie.P]

Yep, I remember the old joke about how they programmed a bunch of bugs and somehow added a game in there.

 

I need to jump back into that franchise at some point, though.  I finished the first, Daggerfall, and Morrowind (plus expansions), but after a few hours or so of Oblivion, I got tired of doing the same friggin "close the gate" quest over n' over and quit.  Haven't been back since, but still regard it as a franchise that I really like.

 

[newtmonkey]

For a bit of fun, these are the game-breaking bugs I experienced in my run of Skyrim:

1. During the quest where you figure out how to defeat Alduin: You are supposed to watch Alduin land and then battle with the three ancient heroes, or whatever.  Instead, one of the heroes said "here he comes!!!!" and then nothing happened.  I waited 3-4 minutes just to be safe, but had to reload and do it all over.
2. During the battle of Whiterun (on imperial side): Once the battle was over, the game completely broke.  I couldn't fast travel, and when I tried returning to the castle (thinking I needed to do something there), I simply walked through the door and fell into a void.  I had to redo the battle.
3. Some other mandatory quest: Crash to desktop when I opened a door (probably the least frustrating of these).

I did save often, so none of these were too bad (worst was #1, since you have to sit there watching a cutscene, basically).

 

I did encounter a lot of other minor bugs, items flipping out, people getting stuck in things, stuff like that, but none of that was game breaking.

 

---

 

On a side note, I've been playing Oblivion a lot over the last week, and have been pleasantly surprised with it!  The quests are a lot more interesting than Skyrim, the dungeons are a little more complex, and I like the extra RPG mechanics (persuasion/bribery/coersion, keyword-based conversation when talking to random NPCs, equipment durability, etc.).  I decided to play a low level game as long as possible to get around the goofy level scaling, and it's been pretty fun so far.  I'm still at level 1, but am about halfway through the Fighter's Guild quests and completed the Kvatch Oblivion Gate questline.

Edited December 23, 2022 by newtmonkey

[newtmonkey]

Some games I completed in Nov. that I completely forgot to post about (all on PC):

 

Diablo

Yes, the original.  I played this back in the day, but had never completed it until now (well, in Nov.).  I really liked this!  It's much slower and more lethal than Diablo II and its clones, and feels like playing a survival horror game at times.  I also liked how rare magic equipment is; if you find something good, you will likely hang onto it for the entire game.  I thought the graphics had aged extremely well, and of course the soundtrack is amazing.  Highly recommended, even (especially?) if you don't care for the Diablo II clones.

 

Grim Dawn

A Diablo II clone, but a good one.  Cool atmosphere that reminds me of the movie, Brotherhood of the Wolf!  The game suffers from two issues: some big but boring maps, and braindead difficulty on the default setting.  I would definitely recommend enabling the Veteran mode, even for a first-time player.  I also did the DLC, and while it was good, I would probably skip it during future replays.

 

Torchlight II

I resumed a game in progress from years ago and finally managed to complete this.  I liked this one, and it has a more "action game" feel than other games in the genre due to how fast everything is, and how much of a focus there is on maneuvering and dodging attacks.  It's much shorter than, say, Grim Dawn, but still felt too long for what it was.  Beating the game unlocks a random dungeon mode and a newgame+ mode, so there's plenty of replayability if you fall in love with the game.

 

---

 

With that, I've had enough of this particular sub-genre for a while... though Titan Quest and Path of Exile do look pretty appealing... 

Edited December 23, 2022 by newtmonkey

[cimerians]

Life is Strange. All I gotta say is holy shitballs😲

[Razzie.P]

1 hour ago, cimerians said:

Life is Strange. All I gotta say is holy shitballs😲

Yep.  That was pretty much my impression, too.

[+wongojack]

15 hours ago, cimerians said:

Life is Strange. All I gotta say is holy shitballs😲

 

13 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Yep.  That was pretty much my impression, too.

LOL - I've never played it.  Should I move it up?

[cimerians]

6 hours ago, wongojack said:

 

LOL - I've never played it.  Should I move it up?

 

As the teens would say in the game 'Hells yes'. It's a point n' click walking dead style story game but holy crap do choices really matter in this one, absolutely do not look anything up' unless your stuck on a puzzle. I went into it completely blind and was like wtf?? I've had it in my library forever and finally decided to give it a go since I've heard good things even from hardcore gamer types who don't play these types of games. They should adapt this into a Netflix series scene for scene would be pretty cool.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by cimerians

[newtmonkey]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC)

I just completed this, and since it's Dec. 31, this will definitely be my final clear for 2022!

 

I was very pleasantly surprised with this, especially after completing Skyrim not too long ago.  It's more complex than its sequel in pretty much every way; most importantly, the quests, writing, and dungeons are much better here than in Skyrim.  Even though the story is about portals to Hell opening up all over the land, it's still somehow more low-key and relatable than the 100% epic at all times Skyrim story.  I also appreciated the greater variety of environments in Oblivion, though of course Skyrim looks much better.

 

I ended up completing the main quest in 26 hours, but I also did a lot of side quests (including the entire Fighter's Guild questline).  I decided early on to play a low level game to get around the weird level scaling, and was able to complete the game at level 2 (one of the main quests requires you to be at least level 2 to complete it).  The game plays great at such a low level, and I enjoyed it all the way through.

 

Next is Morrowind!  Maybe in 2023.

[Steven Pendleton]

I haven't posted here this year, but since it's the final day of the year and I just finished the Japanese PS2 version of Tales of the Abyss 3 minutes ago, I might as well post something here before the year ends in less than 22 hours. I decided to learn Japanese just to play this game when I was in high school prior to the Japanese release, mostly because nobody thought that it would get localized at the time, and while it took me 17 years, I finally did it. Glad I did, too, as the Japanese script is way better than the super awkward English script and half of the English voice cast is pretty terrible. Now I get to play it again because second playthrough is where the fun really starts, buy the Japanese 3DS version, and play that at least twice as well.

 

Still a beautiful game, even now, and I still love it.

Edited December 30, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[Razzie.P]

15)   No More Heroes III  (Switch)

 

Finished this one up with about 30 minutes left in 2022  😁

 

 

This is a fantastic game that constantly hits the "this is what I want from my video games" moments.  Sadly, that amazing core gameplay is buried beneath a bit of bloat, but since most of that is optional, it only brings it down a bit.  Still a great game overall.

 

And unless my memory just ain't working and I'm forgetting something, it could have the absolute coolest end game/credit sequence ever. 

 

[+wongojack]

Ah - I have some that I just finished.  Still got a bit more time off this weekend, but of course it is now 2023.

 

In 2022

 

 

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Took me years to get around to it, and I don't know why.  I love the Galaxy series.  They are love letters to 3d platforming and all the variety of gameplay involved in both games is truly amazing.  There are some things to complain about of course like the lame excuse for a story, and the fact that the sound effects (not music) make my wife have to leave the room, but overall both of these games are an easy 5/5.

 

 

 

Return to Monkey Island - A very worthy return to the series for Ron Gilbert and co.  I get that some people were turned off by the art style, but I loved it.  There are also some nice added little touches like a scrapbook to recap past adventures, and a built-in trivia game.  Lots of hidden little secrets and achievements to give you a reason to replay.  Easy 5/5.

[+wongojack]

On 12/26/2022 at 7:21 PM, cimerians said:

Life is Strange. All I gotta say is holy shitballs😲

 

On 12/26/2022 at 8:37 PM, Razzie.P said:

Yep.  That was pretty much my impression, too.

I just played the first 1.5 episodes.  Still waiting for the "holy shitballs" part.  It just plays as some kind of CW show.  I didn't know how dated dialog and technology references from 2015 were, but I do now.  I don't think I can take many more "hella" or "punk ass" references.  I am also REALLY impatient with the whole "watch careful" mechanic of rewinding time.  I don't usually play games as a teenage girl talking to other teenage girls about "CDs" (hello 1995) in their rooms.  Does the game change or something?  Can I see more of that vortex?

 

Edit - The above comes across as kind of hostile on a re-read.  Sorry about that.  I'm just wondering if this is like a CW show the rest of the way or if it changes at all.

[Punisher5.0]

@wongojack

 

They are probably talking about True Colors

[+wongojack]

7 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

@wongojack

 

They are probably talking about True Colors

This is exactly what I would like to know.  Am I even playing the right game?

[Razzie.P]

10 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

@wongojack

 

They are probably talking about True Colors

 

2 hours ago, wongojack said:

This is exactly what I would like to know.  Am I even playing the right game?

Not sure about cimerians, but not me.  I've not yet played "True Colors," but it's absolutely on my list.

 

The one I loved so much was just Life Is Strange.  You play as a girl named Max.  Friends with a girl named Chloe.  Game plays like those that were popular from Telltale Games, like a graphic adventure lite / interactive story type of thing.  I loved it from front to end and it left quite an impression on me.   Sorry to hear it's maybe not your cup of tea, though.  You'll continue to play as a teenage girl and all that, so that's not gonna change.  Hope it clicks though, and you're not slogging through a miserable experience.  

 

 

[+wongojack]

Finished Life is Strange (original).  It was ok.  It got a lot better after about the first 1.5 episodes as the stakes increase quite a bit.  Still thought it felt a bit like the "Hello Fellow Kids" meme at times, and I probably would have enjoyed it more in 2015 when it came out.