Completion Thread 2011: Challenge of the Gods

Dragon Quest VI - There's a weird timeline of changes in these games that lends itself well to playing each one. The job system is pretty good, though it exemplifies why you shouldn't tie job or skill ups into the # of battles, it's irritating to fight tough enemies and have something go up at the same pace as if you fought weak ones (Though the game won't let you fight really weak enemies for the jobs). The game is, like the other Dragon Quests, really charming and really is good based not on the dated battle system, than how good they are at giving you a strong feeling for the places and characters. The whole chatting with your party members whenever you talk to other people is really cool, something I wish more RPGs would take up.

It took me 37 hours, and I had forgotten to turn up the battle speed, so it could actually be closer to a 30 hour game if you skipped a lot of side stuff. There's still the bonus dungeon, which I may get to one day, but for now I need a new handheld game to play. Definitely recommend it though if you like Dragon Quest at all. I don't know if I like it more than 5 though just because the idea of travelling around the world with your family to beat the bad guy holds a significant amount of charm to me. It feels like the games just get better though, like I'd rate it 5 -> 6 -> (7 looks amazing, it's just so clunky. There is a game that desperately needs a remake) -> 8 -> 9. Hopefully 10 continues the trend. I'll beat 8 by then.

25. Deadstorm Pirates (PS3)

This is my favorite light gun game in a while. I tend to like the themed ones a la The Lost World or Vampire Night more than the more generic Time Crisis games, so this is right up my alley. The game works fantastically well with the Move and Sharpshooter, including the wheel parts from the deluxe arcade cabinet. I keep improving in the number of continues it takes, but since health regeneration in level is luck (picking one chest out of two or three), it's going to be tough to 1cc it. There is a trophy for that however. I think I'm ready to give ranking mode a shot, as my last play through netted 10M points, which seems decent. Sequel please.

8/10

2011 Totals
by Platform: 12 PC, 8 PS3, 3 iOS, 1 360, 1 Wii
by Rating: 1-5, 5-6s, 6-7s, 7-8s, 6-9s

17) Elevator Action Deluxe (PS3)

OK, it does backtrack from Elevator Action 2/Returns in some ways- but the direction Taito took it in this time isn't bad either. While EA2 is more an arcade game, EADX has some puzzle elements. It's not all "Get from point A to point B". The right stick lets you zoom out and see the entire stage you're in- which comes in handy sometimes if you want to avoid being detected.

You get unlimited lives on each stage as long as it's done within the time limit, but it may be better to "Retry" if you've died too many times thanks to the $5000 killed penalty. If you shoot lights out, the area stays dimmed. At least the stealth element is not mandatory, but on some missions it's better to take down a group of enemies using RPGs/laser guns/bombs for multipliers. The EA2 trick of laying a bomb in the elevator so it goes down to another floor with several enemies can still work, but timing it right is even more important in EADX- your own bomb can kill you, so GTFO before it moves on.

Things get interesting when there are guards who pull switches if they see you coming. Gates come down to block off certain areas, and retractable floors disappear/reappear in some places.

EADX is worth the $10. The only catch would be the longass load time on startup. A nice touch is the dossier which is full of classic Taito game posters. When you satisfy special goals (don't be injured, don't get detected, finish this mission under a certain time, etc) you get a gold medal which unlocks one of the documents. I've gotten Rainbow Islands, Ninja Warriors, and a few others.

Beat Disgaea 4...well the main story at least. I'd probably need another 200+ hours to actually complete the game.

40-42, 44. Mega Man Zero 1-4

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A and B ranks for all games. Had a blast going through each title and believe it is still an amazing series. I used to hate Nakayama's designs for MMZ, though eventually they grew on me (I even bought the Udon artbook with all of his notes and designs). There's a ton of detail in each game (trippy UI on computer consoles, wiring, bolts and gears shown when you splice open each boss or foe with the Z-Saber, etc) and I never really appreciated how much content they pushed into these games on the Advance. 1 remains the hardest of the lot, with 2 having each of the eight stages go through two different weather conditions. It's a nice convention to keep the games replayable, with some nooks and crannies that aren't accessible unless met under certain conditions (rain or shine). 3 is my favourite due to Zero being told he's nothing more than a copy and fighting the original version of yourself with evil intentions, named The Messiah. The Eight Bosses being all clad in white until they have to battle and morphing into their real versions is great, too. 4 is the only title of the series I hadn't played at all before and I had my doubts of the syndrome most games fall under where the quality dips at the fourth or even third iteration. I was wrong. Quite good and even Craft is an admirable character. Great games and some fantastic presentation. I'll always show some support for Inti Creates.

43. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

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Beaten on Normal. Pretty disappointing, even on an artistic point of view. I loved the idea of this when it was first announced, questioned its PR a little when they had no media to display at a convention, except for haute couture jeans (!?!), saw a trailer, was still convinced it was worth a try and then it all crumbled when I played its demo. Something just felt missing, even if it isn't intended to be a combat-driven game, the moments where you are fighting are but links to the platforming. Sadly, you only grasp three weapons in the entire game and each have their pros/cons. Unfortunately, they don't react to each other in the rock/paper/scissors design you'd come to expect. Worse is that there's no real guidance on which weapons are mandatory for certain areas (some allow air dashing or hovering, crucial for some precise platforming). If you don't have the proper weapon, you're just kind of screwed there. Story was all over the place and ended up getting tedious by the end of it. Don't think I could recommend this to anyone.


45. Bastion

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Beaten once, somewhere in the middle of the story on a New Game Plus. A marvelously told and beautiful game, the narration is fantastic, not only because of its charm, but because its often the gap we never realize in gaming. There are a lot of games I can think back to where it was fun, but narrating the tale as the player is experiencing the title is a pretty warm experience that feels extremely unique. You feel like you have a companion during the playthrough, even if its just a single player experience. Nice 3D art textured to have a more animated look and a lot more depth and weaponry/skills/distillery potions and challenges then I saw coming. Word up, Kasavin.


46. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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Platinum.


47. Catherine

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True Lover Ending. Loved it. It's essentially the template or beta for Persona 5's HD engine and funding money for the project itself. The Reverse Q*Bert gameplay was nice and really made me think during some puzzles (I completely caved in and YouTubed one of the last towers out of impatience and heavy fatigue). Answered some things untruthfully because girlfriend was watching aaaaand enjoyed the little breaks at Stray Sheep. It's a shame that Catherine is just a succubus, because I think I would have failed that test, too, hah, ahum. I don't think I'll really go for all the other endings. At best, I'd play a Full Chaotic playthrough to see the outcomes and look up the rest of the endings online. Still a fantastic title and a definite keeper. Johnny is my favourite character.


48. Pink Sweets

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Beaten 15 to 20 times in total for both modes, with all ships. Big fan of Ibara and always looked forward to playing this. Was a little disappointed. I get that it's a lighter shoot em up than Ibara, but eh. The charge shot/shield mechanic got pretty annoying considering how you have to know the courses by heart to know when to utilize the shield for near-impossible barrages of shots and then nothing. Still fun for a little while, but I ended up enjoying...


49. Muchi Muchi Pork

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A whole lot more. Beat it with all ships and modes. Has a lot more charm than Pink Sweets does and even though its fairly easy, the Lard meter is more interesting than PS' charge shot nonsense (can't believe I just called Lard interesting). Got very close to a 1CC after playing all day but ended up dying a few shots before the boss did. I'll call that a beat considering I played it for 15 hours in one day.


50. Star Fox 64 3D

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Beaten on 3DS and 64 modes, all medals save for MacBeth. My favourite 64 game. All the voicework was re-done, which is admirable on a budget point of view, but I kind of feel like the actors who returned either came back begrudgingly or forgot the essence of the first, because a lot of the iconic lines of the game feel like they lack enthusiasm. It sounds like a whiny thing to complain about, but it's just a bit weird.

Turned gyro controls off because I didn't want to look insane in the subway this week.

51. Deus Ex

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72 hours and finished three times. Enjoyed it a fair lot and still think it's great. I remember playing this on a friends PC in 2001 and got all the way up to Paris, then we stopped talking and I lost my chance to get my saves back. On the bright side, his computer died, so I giggled and stopped feeling so bad I lost all my progress. Enjoyed it again on Steam and after beating it, played it two more times, one being more stealthy and the other seeing other, improbable choices I never had the courage to try out (killing key characters before pivotal plot points to see the change of dialogue for the supporting characters). Anywho, still enjoyed it. Maybe if I have time this month, I'd like to go through it again with the HD Textures that just came out.

7. Limbo (XBLA) - Worth playing once I suppose. The charm wore off for me after the first hour or so. To be fair this is not really my type of game.

36. Akumajou Densetsu

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Castlevania 3. Gotta play the FC version for the filthy drums. This is really, really good, but I think it's second to Rondo because of a bunch of pushover bosses and some nasty-ass backgrounds. The later stages are probably the best in the series, though, with really tough stretches and great layouts built around the subweapons.

Has anyone played the MSX2 Akumajou Dracula? I'm thinking about skipping it, youtube made me think I don't want to play it right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tain

Has anyone played the MSX2 Akumajou Dracula? I'm thinking about skipping it, youtube made me think I don't want to play it right now.

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It's not a must play. You've clearly got the series figured out now from what I've seen you post. You can now appreciate how badly Igarashi has tanked it.

Beat Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days.

It was cheap, I was curious, I uh...wasn't disappointed.