Completion Thread 2022 Edition ~ Underture

[kingoffighters]

#13: Panzer Dragoon Remake (NSW)
This remake never felt right to me. I don't know if it is the way the reticle is done or something, but it took me abit to get used to it. Still, the game is fairly easy and only took me an hour or so to complete (on normal). The game runs okay on the Switch, but I probably should have played this on PS4/5 or Xbox. I doubt Sega will remake Zwei, but I hope they do since it was a much better game than the first. I think I will just play Orta on XBSX since it is upscaled and looks great in 4k.

#14: The Simpsons (Arcade)
I took my kids to Silverball pinball museum this year, it is a really cool pinball/arcade in Asbury Park, NJ. I highly recommend it if any of you visit the Jersey shore. I finished the Simpsons with my 2 kids, and if it wasn't for the unlimited credits, I would have quit on stage 2. This game doesn't hold up, lack of really any moves (other than those special partner attacks that doesn't do much) and overly long/hard stages just make this a pale comparison to the TMNT beatem ups. In fact, my little one just have more fun to keep pushing the free credits button to over 99p than actually playing the game, and she is 8. I will never play this garbage again.

#15: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (NSW)
I haven't played a Musou/Warriors game in a long time and this one is really really good. Maybe it is the Zelda/BotW skin, or that they mix it up with long/short stages along with the Divine Beast levels to keep things fresh. There are a ton of side missions and bonus things to unlock, but it gets pretty grinding in the later stages. I think I might have done 80% of the missions before I decided to focus on the main missions. The graphics/art style is so well done, and the music is fantastic. I highly recommend this if you are interested in a Warriors experience in the Legend of Zelda skin. I read that the original Hyrule Warriors is even better as it is not limited to just the Breath of the Wild world but to all the LoZs. This one's story is a prequel to BotW, so it is cool to see if you like BotW.

[Opaque]

9) Kirby and the Forgotten Land

I'm not a Kirby guy, I find every single 2D Kirby to be pretty boring, with the one exception I ever really played deep being Epic Yarn because the visual style and gimmicks tied to it were interesting. I didn't have Forgotten Land on my radar at all until reviews and youtubers started going on about how the shift to 3D and the progression system gave it some added depth and fun. Did a full co-op run with my 6 year old daughter, and it was a great time. Still not anywhere near Mario level, but a good time if you want an easy and relaxing game with just enough exploration and upgrading to not get stale like the 2D games.

10) Stray

Immediately right up there with Journey or Firewatch as a short but sweet experience, more than a "game". Yes you have some stealth or 3rd "shooter" segments, but really it's more about experiencing the world and wandering through it, than it is about mechanics. Incredible visuals, interesting and to the point story and world building. These slums are the most real locations I've ever experienced in a game and I mean it. No "but where do the people who work here sleep?" issues like 99% of games have when they introduce towns. There's entire areas that exist only to make the world feel like it could have been lived in by humans at some point, and now robots are just filling the spaces and living their lives.

[Opaque]

#14: The Simpsons (Arcade)
I took my kids to Silverball pinball museum this year, it is a really cool pinball/arcade in Asbury Park, NJ. I highly recommend it if any of you visit the Jersey shore. I finished the Simpsons with my 2 kids, and if it wasn't for the unlimited credits, I would have quit on stage 2. This game doesn't hold up, lack of really any moves (other than those special partner attacks that doesn't do much) and overly long/hard stages just make this a pale comparison to the TMNT beatem ups. In fact, my little one just have more fun to keep pushing the free credits button to over 99p than actually playing the game, and she is 8. I will never play this garbage again.

Coincidentally, I beat this game for the first time two weeks ago. Wife, Brother in Law and myself were in a pinball bar in Seattle on vacation and ended up dumping all the extra quarters we had into this at the end of the night to burn em. Went into it thinking we had way too many quarters, finally beat Burns with 1 to spare. The game is BAD. No way to avoid damage on most bosses and terrible move sets.

I'll certainly never finish it again, and we all wondered why we remembered it being fun. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

[kingoffighters]

Glad I am not the only one who finds the Simpsons terrible. The game feels disconnected, you never feel like you actually hit anything because the sound effects for a hit is very weak and the animation sucks too. Final Fight, OTOH, has the best punching sound and why the game just still feels so good.

I also want to try Stray, it looks like a very interesting game.

[kingoffighters]

#16: It Takes Two (XBSX)

My daughter was bugging me a couple of months to play this game, and I am glad she did. It is an amazingly imaginative and fun co-op game. I recommend playing it split screen instead of online, I think it is more fun to yell and scream next to each other. I can see why some voted it as GoTY, and it is very deserving. It is not super hard but do require good coordination for some of the puzzles/boss fights. The story is decent as well, and the music is amazing (especially the final stage). Oh, it is on GamePass too so just play it if you have it. Highly recommended.

[Opaque]

11) Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Finished the story at about 70 hours played and level 81. Gameplay wise this is clearly the best of the Xenoblade games so far, but those are still a very "your mileage may vary" kind of RPG. Story is less convoluted than others, but it also lacks a lot of soul and isn't very relatable. Battle system is improved, but after so much time it just feels like "throw my completed teams and spongier and spongier bosses and wait for it to end". I also feel like the scope and scale of the game is really hampered by the hardware the more you play. No, graphics don't make any game, but the entire point of this world is that it's grand and enormous and you're just lost in it, but anything 50 yards away or more goes half FPS like Kirby did and it's not very engrossing after a while.

I feel like I'm being really negative, and I did like the game, but after the honeymoon wore off I can safely say that unless you finished and enjoyed 2, don't bother.

[kingoffighters]

#17 Sifu (PS5)

This game is amazing. It is a modern day beat'em up that is just a blast to play. It is highly technical and requires precise timing to block/parry/dodge through 5 stages of wonderfully designed stages. Each stage feels unique, and all have short cuts so you can save time through subsequent replays as you try to finish each stage dying as few times as possible. The death/rebirth mechanic is refreshing as well. I beat it a couple of times now, the best is at mid-40s. I can definitely do better as I managed to get to the last stage at 20 (no deaths). The story is pretty cool too, even if very simple (on the surface). Without spoilers, I beat it with bad ending but a secret/good ending if you are really good. I tried to get the good ending but having a tough time as you have to beat the 5 bosses in a specific manner. It will definitely take some time to get even better (looking at the save file, I already played about 30 hours).

EDIT: I platinum SIFU. Spared all 5 bosses and got the secret/good ending, and also beat it under 25.

[Rumpy]

I got into Assassin's Creed Origins to an absurd degree. It's the only thing I played for about 6 weeks. I completed most of the game with just mundane things left to do (finishing every hostile base). I haven't played a main AC game in a long time so I guess this gameplay loop was just what I was looking for. I really liked running around Egypt so exploring felt rewarding. The map is gigantic (It looks like DLC adds another 30% or so) and they made all the areas very distinct. Architecture varies a lot and there are some truly gorgeous places to see. The northwest looks like the Mediterranean with all of the white stonework, green hills, aquamarine water, and white beaches. There are two gladiator arenas and one chariot race arena you can throw down in. These are the only things I'd consider minigames. The detail on the main character's clothing is really impressive as are the lighting effects and soundtrack.

I liked the RPGish elements of leveling up and once I got the hang of combat, I turned into a monster that could only be stopped if I was vastly out numbered. Going after the hitmen once I was at high enough level was a ton of fun. Before that, I avoided them because they're easily the hardest enemies outside of the special event "animus glitches". Having 4 different bow types is a good idea, as well as 5 or so melee weapon types, make changing gear to fit scenarios a welcome part of gameplay. I was surprised new armor is only cosmetic but crafting to upgrade that along with a bigger arrow quiver, increased stealth blade damage, arrow damage, and tool storage works well. It makes picking up stuff in the wild useful. Just about everything in the tech tree is of worth, I only skipped like 4 options.

This makes me want to get into one of the 3 in the series I haven't played yet. Oh, and the Animus part of the story is still desperately shoehorned in. They do the bare minimum to keep that plot point alive.

[Rumpy]

And to add to the TMNT: SR talk above, I found the game to be surprisingly boring. I don't like the level design at all and being able to use the power move with no downside makes zero sense. The meter builds so fast that any kind of challenge is mostly removed from the game. Streets of Rage 4 is easily the superior game.

[Opaque]

12) Elden Ring

I was not intending to play this any time soon. I have never finished a souls game before, the brutal punishment and repeating of bosses over and over because you have to get through them to continue on has always made me stop eventually. I tried All 3 souls games, Bloodborne and Sekiro at different time and always stopped after a few hours. So I thought I'd buy Elden Ring for $10 down the line and do the same. Then we get to the middle of August with no new games out and I'm bored and I figure fuck it, let's try.

I am so happy I did.

In 10 days I went from "I don't know if I'll really like this" to straight up beating Melenia. The change to open world and more specifically the way they crafted the experience of an open world souls game, made it totally work for me. The tools you can use to not have every boss fight be a reflex test are just phenomenal. I beat Melenia on my first try because I had crafted the best bleed inducing mimic tear tank I could and then used every opening it generated to wail on her with dual katanas, which was a fancy way of lowering the skill required by putting in the work in other ways. Love it.

Game of the Year. No contest.