Modern Games Beaten in 2023

[digdugnate]

Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster (Switch) - 14ish hours

Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (Switch) - 33ish hours

 

I finished FF4 like three days after the Pixel Remasters were released for Switch.  FF6 took a fair amount longer; I finished it up before work this morning.

 

Working on FF1 and FF5 concurrently then will move to FF2 and 3. 

[digdugnate]

Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster (Switch) - 10 1/2ish hours

 

Another one down!  I'm tackling FF2 next since I've not played it before; shelving FF5 for the time being.

[newtmonkey]

2 hours ago, digdugnate said:

Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster (Switch) - 10 1/2ish hours

 

Another one down!  I'm tackling FF2 next since I've not played it before; shelving FF5 for the time being.

What did you think about FF1?  Why did you shelve FF5?

I tried completing FF5 many times over the years but had trouble getting into it (even though I had completed FF1-4,6+7 at the time).  I finally was able to get into it and complete it last year... it definitely gets better during the second half imo.

 

I really liked FF2 and FF3, though I think I prefer FF1 over both.  FF2 has a weird system, but it's worth sticking with it to the end imo.  FF3 is a real treat, also.

Edited May 5, 2023 by newtmonkey

[Razzie.P]

Tails of Iron (PS5)

 

This one was great.  Finished up and got the platinum trophy today.   I'm probably a bit bias as I LOVE Redwall and Mouseguard, and this feels like they took those 2 and blended with a Souls game.  But it was darn near perfect for me.

 

 

 

 

 

[digdugnate]

19 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

What did you think about FF1?  Why did you shelve FF5?

I tried completing FF5 many times over the years but had trouble getting into it (even though I had completed FF1-4,6+7 at the time).  I finally was able to get into it and complete it last year... it definitely gets better during the second half imo.

 

I really liked FF2 and FF3, though I think I prefer FF1 over both.  FF2 has a weird system, but it's worth sticking with it to the end imo.  FF3 is a real treat, also.

 

FF1 was a blast to run through on the Pixel Remaster. I'd finished the game a few times on the NES so it was fun for me to turn boosts on and just tear the game up.  Chaos still wasn't a pushover, but he wasn't exactly hard, either, when my monk was hitting for crazy four-digit damage without Haste,, haha.

 

I put FF5 on hold because I've never played FF2 or 3 before and I wanted to focus on the one game instead of splitting my attention between multiple ones.  (I do much better if i can just concentrate on the one)

 

I finished FF5 on the PS1 so that's been a number of years ago; I've restarted the FF5 PR a couple of times to get the feel for the job classes and what i want to switch when.  It has a superb soundtrack and the PR plays really well, though!  The furthest I've gotten I think on the PR version is to Istory before I get distracted and do something else, lol.  FF5 is unusual to me sandwiched between 4 and 6 because it has a narrative but isn't particularly focused on it (especially in the first half); if you're used to FF4 leading you around you're going to be disappointed when you play FF5 because that game requires you to... talk to people to figure out what the heck you're doing in the game next. lol

 

I'm only about an hour or two into FF2 and so far the game's fun but the game mechanics take a little getting used to.  Story-wise to give you idea of where I am I'm about to get the snow vehicle.

 

In general, I feel like the Pixel Remasters were really well done in terms of showing the original content of the games.  It vastly helps, too, that the console versions have the 'Classic' text setting which is a lot easier for me to read.  While I do find myself switching back to the original tunes occasionally, the remastered symphonic tracks are soooo good.   I felt like these were worth every bit the price of entry. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by digdugnate

[digdugnate]

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (Switch) - Just shy of thirteen hours for this playthrough by one minute- I was able to get a good amount of play time in this weekend because not really much to do at the house aside from the usual.

 

The leveling system was neat but the '90% of rooms in a dungeon are empty trap rooms' was kind of annoying, lol.  I think by the time I was at the final dungeon I was like 'Ok, I'm turning off encounters and just bum-rushing to the end boss'.  

 

On to 3!  So far this one seems pretty cool; it looks like it combines the game mechanics of FF1 and FF5.  Being forced to play my characters Mini was kind of a neat change.

[newtmonkey]

26 minutes ago, digdugnate said:

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (Switch)

 

...

The leveling system was neat but the '90% of rooms in a dungeon are empty trap rooms' was kind of annoying, lol...

That sums up my opinion one this one, as well.  It will be interesting to read your thoughts on FF3 once you finish it!  It's probably my favorite in the series behind FF1 and FF6.

[digdugnate]

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch) - 14-ish hours

 

@newtmonkey - utterly fantastic game and best of the NES Final Fantasy games IMO.  Story was pretty cool, pacing was good, just an all-around enjoyable game.  

 

If I had ANY complaint about the game it's 'hoo boy, difficulty spike at the end'.  There's a definite level-check to finish

[newtmonkey]

@digdugnate

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed FF3!  I personally prefer FF1, but FF3 is right behind it for the FC games.  There's definitely a massive difficulty spike at the end.  I recall the last save point being at a halfway point outside the final dungeon, so if you failed you lost all your progress and were all the back outside to your last save.  Having said that, I played the original FC version and did manage to finish the game without any grinding.  I do remember being extremely stressed the whole time lol.  I don't remember the details (it was years ago), but I think I had everyone converted to one of the two ultimate classes, and used a lot of buffing spells in the last battle (my goto strategy for FF1-3, actually).

 

What's the next game you plan on playing?  The FF5 Pixel Remaster?

Edited May 11, 2023 by newtmonkey

[digdugnate]

Just now, newtmonkey said:

@digdugnate

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed FF3!  I personally prefer FF1, but FF3 is right behind it for the FC games.  There's definitely a massive difficulty spike at the end.  I recall the last save point being outside the final dungeon, so if you failed you lost all your progress and was all the back outside to your last save.  Having said that, I played the original FC version and managed to finish the game without any grinding; I don't remember the details (it was years ago), but I think I had everyone converted to one of the two ultimate classes, and used a lot of buffing spells in the last battle (my goto strategy for FF1-3, actually).

 

What's the next game you plan on playing?  The FF5 Pixel Remaster?

Yup, last one on the list barring me doing a FF4 speedrun is FF5 PR. 

 

I finished FF3 with Ninja, Sage (focus was White Magic), Black Belt, Sage (Focus was Black Mage and Summons like 'Bahamur').  Without spoiling story bits, what I ended up doing was saving first BEFORE all that stuff in front of the tower, then another save point where you exit and go into the actual tower itself.  It also helps greatly when you're at the very end (hint hint to other players) to make sure to 'click' on the Dark Crystals after you beat the bosses to heal up; btw, getting the Dark ones is required I learned the hard way!

[newtmonkey]

@digdugnate

I'm pretty certain I had two sages and two ninjas by the end of the game.  I may have even explored the final dungeon in two trips, exiting after I accomplished some stuff.  I can't even remember if that's possible in the FC version or not, but it seems like something I'd do lol.

 

Once you complete all the PR games, I hope you'll post with your overall thoughts on FF1-6.  I'd also like to hear which of these games you consider to be most fun on a replay!

Edited May 11, 2023 by newtmonkey

[Razzie.P]

Aggelos (PS4)

 

Picked this up for something like 2 bucks on PS store, and loved it.  It's like a combo of Zelda 2 and the Monster World games.   The game is great, but had one annoying bug keeping it from being nearly perfect -- you learn a move where you jump, then press up and attack to do an "upward slash."   But when moving left, simply jumping will trigger that move immediately if the stick is up/left diagonal at all.   This causes a LOT of annoyance when moving left during platforming parts.

 

Other than that annoyance, I highly recommend it for anyone wishing they "still made 'em like they used to"

 

 

[Razzie.P]

Medieval 4 (PS4)

 

I couldn't stand this back on the PS1, but have been wanting to check out the remake for a while because the art direction really won me over.   I had a blast playing through it (got 100%, platinum and all that) but gameplay still does have some rough patches.   Not PS1 level of awful, but the platforming and camera controls seem stuck in the PS2 era at time, so you'll likely spend some time wishing it was a bit more polished.

 

Overall though, I made a fan out of me and if part 2 releases with the same look/feel, I'll grab and play day 1.

 

 

 

 

 

[newtmonkey]

Diablo III: Eternal Collection (Switch)

I had previously completed Diablo and Diablo II on PC not too long ago, so I was interested to see how Diablo III would fare.  I played as a Rogue in D1 and a Paladin in D2, so I wanted to try a spellcaster class for D3... I went with a Necromancer (which turns out really isn't a spellcaster class).

 

I started out on Normal difficulty, but found it to be shockingly easy; my character was basically invulnerable.  I decided to boost the difficult level each time I reached a new act, so by the final act of the main campaign I was on the Master level.  I tried the Torment level during the Reaper of Souls expansion (Act V), but found it to be no more difficult but much more tedious, since normal enemies became total damage sponges... so I reverted back to Master to complete the game.

 

I have four major complaints with this game.

 

First, you don't really do anything in this game.  I quickly settled on a couple of skills that seemed most useful, and from that point on the entire game was just spamming those two skills over and over, and replacing my equipment constantly with whatever loot I could find that would make those two skills even more effective.  I'm sure the game gets very difficult on Torment+100 or something, but I cannot imagine how many hours you'd have to devote to grinding loot to be able to even survive it.

 

Second, the elimination of "builds" as in Diablo II really harms the experience.  There is nothing outside of loot to differentiate any two characters of the same class and level.  Leveling up feels automatic, and you don't feel like you're building your own character along the way.

 

Third, the game completely lacks atmosphere.  Diablo II was also very easy and had some really boring areas, but the detailed monster sprites, atmospheric locations, grim story, and eerie soundtrack gave the game a lot of character.  In contrast, Diablo III is less horror fantasy and more epic fantasy, like World of Warcraft.  The graphics are somewhat cartoony due mostly to the textures, and the soundtrack is generic high fantasy stuff.

 

Fourth, the writing and voice acting are so bad that they detract from the story.  Bosses constantly appear to mock you and tell you their amazing plans, like some kind of Saturday morning cartoon villain.  All other dialog is either cringeworthy quips traded between followers and your main character, or pure exposition.  You'll often get a cutscene of something happening, then a character telling another character what just happened, and then a sub-act transition scene telling you what just happened.  It's a mess.  The voice actors were seemingly directed to turn it up to 11 at all times, as every single line of dialog is delivered as though it's the most urgent thing that ever needed to be said.  There is no subtlety whatsoever.  And of course, you are the chosen one.

 

Having said all that, it's otherwise a competent game.  The Switch port runs at a near constant 60 fps docked (I didn't try it in portable mode), and it looks fine.  I do like that Blizzard tried to make some fundamental changes to the Diablo II formula with regard to character building (especially since so many games in this genre outright copy many of the Diablo II mechanics), though I personally don't think they did a good job.  Still, it's somewhat addictive to unlock new skills and runes, and finding some awesome weapon that complements your build is always exciting.

 

You also get a TON of content for your purchase.  If you love what Diablo III does, it's basically a game that never ends.  After completing Story mode, you can take your character into Adventure mode, which basically turns the game into an open-world where you can just run around any of the maps completing quests and challenges.  There's also the online Season mode, where you have to start a new character but get access to unique content and rewards, which can then be carried over to an offline character once the season is done.

[Punisher5.0]

Finished Shovel of Hope for the first time today. I half heartedly played this one for years but I finally gave this game some real play time for a week. It was a little on the easy side but I hear the expansions are harder. Overall fantastic game and another one I took way too long to get serious with.

[newtmonkey]

Pillars of Eternity (PC)

I've given this several attempts over the years, but it finally clicked and I ended up doing basically everything I could find in the game.  It took me two weeks to complete the game (just under 53 hours total)... that's an insane amount of time spent gaming for me, so it's fair to say I was quite addicted!

 

This is a "classic" RPG heavily influenced by Baldur's Gate, complete with a large nonlinear world to explore, gorgeous prerendered isometric backgrounds, tons of quests and mysteries to solve, and highly tactical realtime-with-pause combat.

 

Previous attempts failed because I really didn't get the combat (it took completing Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale to finally get it.  I also decided this time to ignore the companions, and create my own party ASAP by hiring adventurers at the first inn.  I ended up creating a Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, Rogue, Priest, and Wizard, and it was a great party to play.

 

The combat seems overwhelming at first, since you have several types of damage to track, but the game is actually quite transparent and gives you all the information you need in the combat log.  You can can hover the mouse over any enemy to get a breakdown of its strengths and weaknesses.  Once I got used to the combat and mechanics, the game became an absolute joy.

 

The story ends up being quite interesting, but has a rough start.  The game bombards you with bizarre visions and exposition dumps completely void of context, so instead of being intriguing, it's a bit annoying.  You don't really get enough information for any of it to make sense until several hours into the game, and it is at that point that story finally starts to get interesting.

 

Anyway, that's just nitpicking, because I really enjoyed playing this.  I even did the optional super boss encounters, which is something I never do, but I enjoyed the combat so much that I wanted the game to last as long as possible!

[newtmonkey]

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

I finished Diablo II (w/o expansion) earlier this year, and went away somewhat disappointed. I found the "field" maps to be too big and empty, and several areas were full of tiny, fast enemies that would constantly run away from you, forcing you to chase them down.

 

I was therefore even more disappointed to find that LoD is basically just more of this. The outdoor maps just seem to go on and on and on, with you fighting the same two or three monsters constantly. Even worse, character development just ceased to exist. I leveled up quite a few times, but adding points to my attributes and skills basically had no effect whatsoever. Enemies and chests dropped mostly normal and magic loot, while I was running around decked out in unique stuff that I had found in the base game. I found upgrades only for my belt and amulet.

 

It wasn't all bad though. It looks and sounds great (supports EAX!), though the soundtrack is very forgettable. I found it to be far more challenging than the base game, though it was still quite easy on the default difficulty level.

 

I have zero intention of playing Diablo IV due to it being always online, so with this I'm now done with the series.  I thought that the series got worse with each game, honestly: D1>D2>D3.

 

Brief thoughts on the series:

Diablo

Feels a lot like a mix of a survival horror game and a true Roguelike, and is over before the formula gets stale.  I like how your "build" is determined mostly by what you manage to find, so that you just have to make do with what the game gives you.  It's a pretty tough game, but not frustrating.  It also has the best atmosphere (especially music) by far in the series.  It's interesting that we call other hack and slash RPGs "Diablo-clones" because they really play nothing like this game; it would be more accurate to call them "Diablo II-clones."

Diablo II

A mostly fun time, but it's way too long for what it offers (especially if including the LoD expansion).  It is extremely easy on the default difficulty level.  The bigger issue is that the game has a lot of massive empty maps full of annoying, fast, little enemies that constantly run in to poke at you and then run away, forcing you to chase them down.  Tedious.  It's a great looking game (the perspective option does a very convincing job of making this 2D game look 3D), but the atmosphere is a bit lacking compared to the first game.

Diablo III

The game is unbelievably easy; I started on Normal but it was rare indeed to see my health drop down to 80%... so I took the difficulty up to Master, and still had no problem at all.  The game also does away with the concept of "builds" as your character is mostly defined by his equipment.  I do like that they tried to change things up with this, but I don't think the implementation was good.  The atmosphere is completely gone by this point, and what's worse is that the game has some of the worst writing and dialog I've even experienced in a game.  Saturday morning cartoon level stuff. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by newtmonkey

[+wongojack]

I've completed a couple of backlog games this fall.

 

Ico - the ultimate backlog game.  Everyone knows about it but few have finished.  Well, I did.  I'd say that pretty much everything you've heard about Ico is true.  I was playing the blurry PS2 version because I am playing another PS2 game right now, and I've got them both installed on an internal HD.  Anyway - when Ico is good, it is really good.  The puzzle solving is very engaging, and the minimalist storytelling does an excellent job of conveying a sense of mystery and agency for the player to complete the game.  The game also doesn't overstay it's welcome and even felt a bit short.  The knocks on Ico are well known.  The combat is repetitive and serves only to slow the player down.  Without it, a short game would be even shorter.  The save system is also a bit unfriendly for 2023 gamers as you are expected to advance to a specific spot or you lose all progress.  EXCEPT that sometimes when you die, you get to start at a checkpoint - confusing, but not terrible.  Overall, I'd say that in 2023, Ico is an enjoyable experience, but it has a lot of competition from 20+ years of short, quirky indy games that can do some of the same things a bit better now.  I think I am going to give Ico a strong 3 out of 5, and on a binary scale (thumbs up or down), I'd give it a thumbs up.

 

 

Wandersong - I discovered this game using library organization software like Gog Galaxy and Playnite.  It is one of the highest critically reviewed games that I own (and I happen to own it on multiple services).  I don't remember ever purchasing Wandersong, so I must have gotten it in a bundle (or two) at some point.  My time with Wandersong was interesting.  The premise of the game is that you start out on your 2d, platforming adventure, but in the first sequence are informed that you are not the hero of the game.  instead, you are a bard who will NOT save the world.  As the protagonist, you then persevere to uncover the story and take your own (music-based) journey to try and save it anyway.  If played with a controller, the game enlists a twin-stick mechanic where right stick controls a wheel of notes that you can sing to solve puzzles and overcome platforming obstacles.  This is an appreciated variation in control and gives you some interesting play mechanics to discover throughout the game.  From a gameplay perspective, Wandersong gives you a unique way to use your singing ability in each level.  This is clever, but never challenging.  The way you overcome obstacles changes in each level, so the player is essentially discovering how to play throughout the game instead of mastering it.  Besides using your singing ability to overcome obstacles, there are several points where you are asked to create music or do some "follow the bouncing ball" gameplay.  I was surprised that I really didn't enjoy this very much.  I'm not very musically inclined, but I have played other music and rhythm games.  In this one, I could never make any sounds or music with the bard that I felt sounded very good at all.  Even the sequences where I was meant to follow a prompt made me wonder if I was doing something wrong.  I would succeed at whatever task was given to me, but it almost never sounded good.  This even prompted my back-seat-gaming wife to ask me "is he supposed to sound good?"  Yeah, he is.

 

Besides the unique and quirky gameplay, Wandersong focuses heavily on its story.  I don't really want to spoil the story here, but as the plot unfolds, the game offers some very interesting twists and turns.  It turns out that while YOU are not the hero of the story, there IS a hero.  You encounter this hero and there is conflict about how to actually go about saving this world.  I thought the game did a nice job of showing these two perspectives and exposed quite a bit of depth for the main characters.  I was really enjoying the story until the very end when I felt it got resolved much too quickly and with an ending worthy of a cartoon or a Coke commercial.  Very disappointing as there was a lot of promise that seemed almost wasted to me. 

 

Wandersong is a tough game for me to score.  There were some enjoyable moments, but in the end, I'm not sure it was worth it.  Playing it at the same time as Ico also caused me to make some unexpected comparisons.  Both games were about the same length and had their pros and cons.  Ultimately, Ico used a much more reserved approach to storytelling which left me with a better feeling at the ending, but Wandersong definitely delivered more feels and laughs along the way.  I think I would give Wandersong a weak 3 out of 5, but I could also be convinced to give it a 2 because the music creation aspect just didn't seem to really work.  If giving thumbs up/down, this one would be a thumbs down.

 

[TheGameCollector]

This week I played:

 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Master Quest for GameCube - 212 minutes

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for GameCube - 136 minutes

Sonic Origins Plus for PS5 - 143 minutes

Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube - 406 minutes

 

Progress:

Zelda Master Quest - I finished the Spirit Temple and completed the rest of the game except for getting the gold scale and 7 pieces of heart.

 

Super Smash Bros. Melee - I completed All-Star mode on very easy with the rest of the characters besides Dr. Mario and Mario whom I already completed that with previously. I played the stadium modes minimally to unlock the N64 stages, and completed all 51 Event Matches to unlock the final stage and sound test.

 

Sonic Adventure DX - I started a new game and completed Sonic's story.

 

Sonic Origins Plus - I completed Sonic 3 & Knuckles as Sonic & Tails together and completed 4 mission modes with S rank in the Sonic 2 section.

Edited November 26, 2023 by TheGameCollector

[+wongojack]

7 hours ago, TheGameCollector said:

This week I played:

 

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Master Quest for GameCube - 212 minutes

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for GameCube - 136 minutes

Sonic Origins Plus for PS5 - 143 minutes

Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube - 406 minutes

 

Progress:

Zelda Master Quest - I finished the Spirit Temple and completed the rest of the game except for getting the gold scale and 7 pieces of heart.

 

Super Smash Bros. Melee - I completed All-Star mode on very easy with the rest of the characters besides Dr. Mario and Mario whom I already completed that with previously. I played the stadium modes minimally to unlock the N64 stages, and completed all 51 Event Matches to unlock the final stage and sound test.

 

Sonic Adventure DX - I started a new game and completed Sonic's story.

 

Sonic Origins Plus - I completed Sonic 3 & Knuckles as Sonic & Tails together and completed 4 mission modes with S rank in the Sonic 2 section.

I think you may have intended to post this in the time tracking thread

[Razzie.P]

It's been a slow year for me and modern games, but I finished a couple recently --

 

 

Mario Wonder (Switch)  --  Extremely creative, but the lack of difficulty really killed it for me.  I enjoyed it ok overall, but I doubt it's anything I'll come back to.

 

Sea of Stars (PS5) -- This one was amazing.  It managed to capture the best of the 16 bit RPGs as we remember them through nostalgia goggles, which is always difficult, I'd imagine.  It did seem to drag on a bit, in my opinion, but since it's not a very long game, could just be me in a mood or something.  My only real knock on it is -- it seems to lock a "true boss and ending" behind some ridiculous collect-athon BS, so I have no desire to go through that just to see the "real" boss.

 

Mario RPG (Switch) -- good game overall.  But playing it right after Sea of Stars was a mistake.  The two were similar enough to where Mario RPG really felt cheap, rushed, and clunky when played back to back following Sea of Stars. 

[+wongojack]

Ok, I finished another backlog game - Dead Space 3.  I think most of what has been written about this game online is basically true.  They essentially changed the genre from survival horror to sci-fi "action."  They also exchanged the lonely gameplay for a more team-based story and even included co-op (which I was not able to experience).  The original criticism over the micro-transactions was definitely overblown from a 2023 perspective.  Everything can be experienced in-game without spending a dime, and the optional postgame DLC is totally unnecessary (I haven't played it yet).

 

I look at the Dead Space series as being a good time that I don't think about too hard.  The story in these games has always been good enough to get the job done, and I appreciate the thrills, imaginative art style, and what I think is a pretty cool sci-fi adventure in space.  Therefore, I am inclined to be kind to Dead Space 3 and give it a 4 out of 5.  If I were to complain, it would probably be that the game is pretty long and by the end really shows its seams as being an adventure played in a series of very long hallways.  Some of those hallways even get re-used by the end.  Then again, this was/is from the XBox 360 era, and I don't think there is really a better game of hallway action available on the console.  Especially if you want to play together with a friend on the co-op campaign.

[+wongojack]

Well, I finished another game.  Escape from Monkey Island on the PS2.  I remember renting this game more than 20 years ago, and I THOUGHT that I didn't finish it, but as I played it with my wife, we realized that we had in fact finished it.  Oh well, I hadn't played it in 20 years, so I didn't remember the solutions to the puzzles, and it was still fun.

 

"Escape" is a serviceable entry in the Monkey Island series, but the well documented criticisms are true.  The PS2 interface adds some wrinkles that the classic mouse and keyboard interface would alleviate, and the puzzle solving in the 3rd act (rock tumbling and monkey kombat) are time fillers that are just no fun.  Those things leave a bit of a bad memory of the end of the game, but there were plenty of things to like about Escape.  The voice acting and soundtrack in this installment are excellent.  It seemed like they really put a lot of effort into giving Guybrush quirky things to say in a lot of unique game situations.  The supporting cast was also excellent, and I appreciated the art style.  I know the conversion to 3d was controversial for some, but I thought the game looked spectacular.  I really felt like I was watching (and hearing) a high-budget cartoon version of MI.  The story was above average and did a nice job of incorporating old characters while introducing some new ones as well.  It also managed to nicely expand the MI lore by introducing us to some new members of the Marley family.  In the end, I enjoyed my (apparently) 2nd playthrough of Escape, but it is probably a game that only fans of the series should seek out.  Maybe if there are a few mods to give it a true point and click control scheme, it would feel more like one of the cherished examples of this much loved series.  It gets a a solid 3 out of 5 from me.

 

[Metal Ghost]

I am SOOOOO close to finished GCN Paper Mario: TTYD. One star left to get. I need to power through and finish up in the next week (power through isn’t the right term…..I live the game…..you know what I mean 😀 ). 
 

Anyway, I wish I had posted here as I finished games this year. I’m wondering if I can remember them now. Ones I can think of: 

 

• Starfield
  • From what I’ve read, this is one you love or hate. I absolutely love it. To the point that I purchased the Series X console wrap and Controller along with a controller stand from Rose Colored Gaming. I don’t usually go back to games like this after I’ve finished, but this is definitely one that I’ll be hitting NG+, at some point at least
• Tomb Raider: Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • I enjoyed the first 2 Crystal Dynamics reboots and this one was no different. Just had a lot of fun
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
  • Yes, I never played LTTP. I can’t believe it either. But I’m trying to give some equal love to my different hardware, and wanted to play something on my SNES Classic. So this was it, and I love it as much as I thought I would
• The Gunk
  • I had wanted to play this since it was a Day 1 Game Pass drop but never got to it since this spring. Glad I did. Nothing Earth shattering or anything, but I enjoyed the story and thought it was a cute and fun game
•  The Last Case of Benedict Fox
  •  Happy I played it and finished it. But the controls are not great…. Most of what you read about them is probably true. Playing the Ori games made be extremely spoiled, I guess. I dug the story and atmosphere though
•  Pac Man World: RePac
  • I got this actually last Christmas but didn’t get to it until the Spring. Lot of fun….I enjoy my colorful games!
• HiFi Rush
  • My personal GOTT. ‘Nut said
• Zone of the Enders
  • It was fun. Not my fav,  it good enough for a finish

I think that was about everything. I feel like I’m missing something, but pretty happy with that list. Got at least some backlog out, so that’s a plus too!

 

[+wongojack]

On 12/6/2023 at 10:20 PM, Metal Ghost said:

I am SOOOOO close to finished GCN Paper Mario: TTYD. One star left to get. I need to power through and finish up in the next week (power through isn’t the right term…..I live the game…..you know what I mean 😀 ). 
 

Anyway, I wish I had posted here as I finished games this year. I’m wondering if I can remember them now. Ones I can think of: 

 

• Starfield
  • From what I’ve read, this is one you love or hate. I absolutely love it. To the point that I purchased the Series X console wrap and Controller along with a controller stand from Rose Colored Gaming. I don’t usually go back to games like this after I’ve finished, but this is definitely one that I’ll be hitting NG+, at some point at least
• Tomb Raider: Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • I enjoyed the first 2 Crystal Dynamics reboots and this one was no different. Just had a lot of fun
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
  • Yes, I never played LTTP. I can’t believe it either. But I’m trying to give some equal love to my different hardware, and wanted to play something on my SNES Classic. So this was it, and I love it as much as I thought I would
• The Gunk
  • I had wanted to play this since it was a Day 1 Game Pass drop but never got to it since this spring. Glad I did. Nothing Earth shattering or anything, but I enjoyed the story and thought it was a cute and fun game
•  The Last Case of Benedict Fox
  •  Happy I played it and finished it. But the controls are not great…. Most of what you read about them is probably true. Playing the Ori games made be extremely spoiled, I guess. I dug the story and atmosphere though
•  Pac Man World: RePac
  • I got this actually last Christmas but didn’t get to it until the Spring. Lot of fun….I enjoy my colorful games!
• HiFi Rush
  • My personal GOTT. ‘Nut said
• Zone of the Enders
  • It was fun. Not my fav,  it good enough for a finish

I think that was about everything. I feel like I’m missing something, but pretty happy with that list. Got at least some backlog out, so that’s a plus too!

 

Great list!  I tend to be a few years behind even on modern gaming, so I will get to some of those but probably not right away.

I have played Shadow of the Tomb Raider.  I really liked it and the whole reboot series.  Probably need a break between them though, but they all had their pros and cons.  I thought "Rise" was probably the best open world experience, and I really liked the tombs you could discover in that one.  I might go back for the DLC at some point.  "Shadow" had the most rewarding story, and I liked the cast of characters that came along with Lara.  Definitely enjoyed that whole series.