Modern Games Beaten in 2023

[Metal Ghost]

23 minutes ago, wongojack said:

"Shadow" had the most rewarding story, and I liked the cast of characters that came along with Lara.  Definitely enjoyed that whole series.

That’s a really good point. I don’t think I quite realized this at the time, but you’re absolutely right and in retrospect Shadow did have the best cast of characters. To the point where they lifted up the entire game. 

[+wongojack]

1 hour ago, Metal Ghost said:

That’s a really good point. I don’t think I quite realized this at the time, but you’re absolutely right and in retrospect Shadow did have the best cast of characters. To the point where they lifted up the entire game. 

Definitely.  This scene at the end was something that I really appreciated.  Felt like a very high quality scene and piece of storytelling (for a vid'ya game)
 

 

[TheGameCollector]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:12 AM, wongojack said:

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

I don't know how I mixed them up. I didn't play for a couple weeks so I'll just paste it there. lol

[Punisher5.0]

Recently finished The Wolf Among Us for the first time. I heard this game was great and yeah it was fantastic. Im really looking forward to the upcoming second game.

 

Also finished Quake 2 64 remaster. They did a good job but there are some bugs that I encountered that will hopefully be fixed some day. It wont replace the original for me but it was still excellent.

[+wongojack]

18 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Recently finished The Wolf Among Us for the first time. I heard this game was great and yeah it was fantastic. Im really looking forward to the upcoming second game.

 

Also finished Quake 2 64 remaster. They did a good job but there are some bugs that I encountered that will hopefully be fixed some day. It wont replace the original for me but it was still excellent.

It's been years (actually not THAT many years), but I also enjoyed TWAU.  I actually just got the (now delisted) Jurassic Park Telltale game and am interested to give it a try.

[Punisher5.0]

1 hour ago, wongojack said:

It's been years (actually not THAT many years), but I also enjoyed TWAU.  I actually just got the (now delisted) Jurassic Park Telltale game and am interested to give it a try.

Bogus. I hate hearing about games that get delisted(especially one's I never got to play). My brother has been playing their Batman one and he said it was pretty good. It looks like the first season is free so Ill have to check it out before that gets delisted too.

[+wongojack]

9 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Bogus. I hate hearing about games that get delisted(especially one's I never got to play). My brother has been playing their Batman one and he said it was pretty good. It looks like the first season is free so Ill have to check it out before that gets delisted too.

I LOVED Batman: The Telltale series, but Batman Enemy Within is EVEN BETTER.  Seriously, Enemy Within was my game of the year when I played it.  As long as you like this sort of interactive storytelling and enjoy Batman at least a little bit then it was quite good.  Nice different take on the development of Batman and the Joker and gave the player enough agency about impacting the story that I thought was just fantastic.

 

Edit:  Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series on Steam (steampowered.com)

[Punisher5.0]

3 hours ago, wongojack said:

I LOVED Batman: The Telltale series, but Batman Enemy Within is EVEN BETTER.  Seriously, Enemy Within was my game of the year when I played it.  As long as you like this sort of interactive storytelling and enjoy Batman at least a little bit then it was quite good.  Nice different take on the development of Batman and the Joker and gave the player enough agency about impacting the story that I thought was just fantastic.

Cool thanks for the suggestion. Ive never heard of Enemy Within. I just added the free first episode to my account and will try it out when I get a chance.

[+wongojack]

Alright, I finished my final backlog game that I started this year.

 

Fallout New Vegas - I closed a big gap in my personal gaming history with this one.  It sure is hard to get the Bethesda games knocked out when you fall behind, but I finally got to this one.  I started playing back in May and played more than 100 hours.  The past few days I've been mulling over my experience and considering what I really think about this game.  There's so much that one could say about a game of this breadth and scope.  At its best, Fallout New Vegas is an immersive role-playing experience where you wander in a world full of tough choices on the very edge of civilization.  The people in this world are interesting and full of backgrounds and stories that make you ask yourself "what would I do?"  It is one of the best examples of interactive storytelling and action that exist.  Everyone should at least try this game for a few hours.

 

With a view looking back from 2023, there certainly were some things about FNV that showed its age.  At times, I found myself expecting a little too much from the game and perhaps judging it harshly, but that is only because the general overall quality of the game is excellent.  Still as a gamer in 2023, I found myself thinking things about the Bethesda format that I wouldn't have thought of 10 years ago.  "There sure is a lot of just walking around and talking in this game" or "How long has it been since I killed something."  Overall, the format works.  The player is caught up in the (sometimes overly) complex story and the characters of the rich and deep setting of the Mohave Wasteland.  A little extra walking is almost always rewarded with something interesting, and if you really want to kill something, there are plenty of opportunities to do just that.  I even enjoyed playing on "hardcore" mode which requires you to eat and drink to stay alive.  I was playing the Xbox 360 version without any mods or DLC which is the way I prefer to experience a game like this for the first time.  I did hit a few BUGthesda moments which brought down the enjoyment a bit, but it wasn't a major part of the experience.

 

I give Fallout New Vegas a 5 out of 5, but the bugs and crashes definitely detract, and I could imagine some players simply giving up at certain points.  If it's not your first Bethesda rodeo then you'll manage through that fine.  If it is then save often and be prepared to search a lot of furniture for semi-useless video game junk.

 

 

 

 

[cimerians]

Mass Effect 1 
Star Wars KOTOR (modded)
Life is Strange 
Kingdom Rush, Origins, Frontiers 
I made an attempt with Daggerfall Unity but it's just too outdated unfortunately. 😑

 

[Keir]

Finished Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2. First modern game I've finished in a long time (well, there was one mobile game that I forget the name of, but that took less than 10 minutes). Generally I find modern games (at least the ones that can be beat) to require to much time and involvement. Deltarune Chapter 2 is a very short game and it still took 5 weeks from start to finish (playing 1-2 hours per week with one week off). Anyway, I'm looking forward to Chapters 3/4!

[Metal Ghost]

In just under the wire for 2023….Paper Mario:TTYD!

 

Good time….that last boss sure as hell ramped up the difficulty level though, wow!  Wouldn’t have been so bad if you could’ve skipped the very long cut scene. Loved it the first time but it got old quick. 
 

That being said, definitely enjoyed the game!  Not sure it’s technically modern’ or not, but was happy so wanted to post 😀

[Razzie.P]

16 minutes ago, Metal Ghost said:

In just under the wire for 2023….Paper Mario:TTYD!

 

Good time….that last boss sure as hell ramped up the difficulty level though, wow!  Wouldn’t have been so bad if you could’ve skipped the very long cut scene. Loved it the first time but it got old quick. 
 

That being said, definitely enjoyed the game!  Not sure it’s technically modern’ or not, but was happy so wanted to post 😀

Yeah, that game was the best but that last boss + unskippable cut scene garbage was the worst.

 

[newtmonkey]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)

Finally completed!  I think mostly everyone knows what this game is about, but it's an RPG with a three-person party, and real-time (with pause) combat.  I've tried finishing this game many times over the years (starting with the XBOX version!) but never was able to make much progress.  However, this time around I became quite addicted, and was finally make it to the end.  All in all, the game took just under 30 hours from start to finish, and I did everything I could find other than the minigames (racing, cards).

 

This game was obviously designed for XBOX first and foremost, with the interface and controls poorly ported to mouse and keyboard for the PC version (there is no controller support in the PC version by the way).  It plays mostly fine during exploration, but during combat it is very awkward to control, with you having to press TAB to switch between characters and then target enemies from an uncomfortable behind-the-back perspective.  What's worse is the interface, which was clearly designed to be operated with a controller and viewed from halfway across the room on your sofa.  You have to navigate through multiple screens just to get basic information, and the item screen only shows a few items at once, requiring you to tediously scroll down to find stuff.  Thankfully, combat is mostly mindless and, with just a few exceptions, extremely easy... so you don't have to wrestle with the interface too much.

 

Overall, I liked it despite its many issues.  I have next to no interest in Star Wars, but I found myself addicted once I got through the somewhat dull starting area.  The game really opens up and allows you to explore several planets in any order.  There's a good variety of environments, and plenty of interesting quests including both combat- and dialogue-focused content.  You really do feel like you're exploring the Star Wars galaxy, even though you only have access to tiny portions of each planet.

[+wongojack]

42 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)

Finally completed!  I think mostly everyone knows what this game is about, but it's an RPG with a three-person party, and real-time (with pause) combat.  I've tried finishing this game many times over the years (starting with the XBOX version!) but never was able to make much progress.  However, this time around I became quite addicted, and was finally make it to the end.  All in all, the game took just under 30 hours from start to finish, and I did everything I could find other than the minigames (racing, cards).

 

This game was obviously designed for XBOX first and foremost, with the interface and controls poorly ported to mouse and keyboard for the PC version (there is no controller support in the PC version by the way).  It plays mostly fine during exploration, but during combat it is very awkward to control, with you having to press TAB to switch between characters and then target enemies from an uncomfortable behind-the-back perspective.  What's worse is the interface, which was clearly designed to be operated with a controller and viewed from halfway across the room on your sofa.  You have to navigate through multiple screens just to get basic information, and the item screen only shows a few items at once, requiring you to tediously scroll down to find stuff.  Thankfully, combat is mostly mindless and, with just a few exceptions, extremely easy... so you don't have to wrestle with the interface too much.

 

Overall, I liked it despite its many issues.  I have next to no interest in Star Wars, but I found myself addicted once I got through the somewhat dull starting area.  The game really opens up and allows you to explore several planets in any order.  There's a good variety of environments, and plenty of interesting quests including both combat- and dialogue-focused content.  You really do feel like you're exploring the Star Wars galaxy, even though you only have access to tiny portions of each planet.

 I went back and played this since I've been an adult (or a middle-aged dork as I was an adult when this came out).  It was probably 5 or 6 years ago now.  I think I finally played it out of a love for some of the great Bioware RPGs from the '00s and '10s.  I made the effort to actually hook up the old Xbox and play it on the console which avoided some of the things you are talking about and kept me away from the annoying temptation to install and efff with mods etc.  I was also struck by the very small areas that you actually have to explore, but ultimately the game won me over in a big way.  Before The Mandalorian came out, I would have said it was the best Star Wars story since ESB.  It is still very good and for Bioware fans, the traces of what was to come is all over it.  If you can put up with all that is involved in getting to the end, it is an absolute 5 out of 5. 

[cimerians]

Kotor was great the last area with the infinite enemy spawns was a pain though. This may be a sin but I could not get into Knights of the Old Republic 2....I tried. But I dont know, just got bored with it, maybe its the missions and bugs. 

[newtmonkey]

3 hours ago, cimerians said:

Kotor was great the last area with the infinite enemy spawns was a pain though.

Yeah, this part was awful.  None of the combat was difficult by this point, but my companions just kept running back to fight the constantly respawning enemies. It was unbelievably frustrating to just get them to follow me.

[Metal Ghost]

Ok, one final game in under the wire 😃

 

Planet of Lana: Great game!  It’s really all about the story and world building above all else. Puzzles are good,  but there are long stretches sometimes between puzzles. But I liked the characters a lot so didn’t mind as much as I might otherwise. Clocked in maybe around 5-6 hours, so a nice quick satisfying jaunt overall. 
 

It was kind of funny….I kept thinking back to ReCore as I was playing this. Games are nothing a like from a gameplay perspective mind you. But just the feel of the worlds and even a bit of the stories are a lot a like. I REALLY wish XBox would revisit the world of ReCore. I know that ReCore wasn’t the best received game ever with a 63 Metacritic, but in my world that’s not a bad game per se.  And with a little bit of time, if one of their studios wanted to build off of what I thought IMHO at least was a great world and story lore, I think they could have something special. Certainly a smaller scale game that would be perfect for Game Pass. 
 

Sorry, bit if a tangent 🤣

[Punisher5.0]

Last game of the year for me is Quake 2 remake

[+wongojack]

I've got some to write up, but I'm waiting a bit to comment. Let the anticipation build!