Last Game You Finished and Your Thoughts MKII

I think Galaxy was a better overall experience. I know one doesn't go to a Mario game for story, but just that little touch of character and meaning, and the exlorable hub, made a huge difference.

Balla just likes Galaxy 2 because it had a Mario 64 level

Both of the hubs were fairly mince.  In fact I preferred SMG2's, SMG1's felt like it was pretending to be an interesting explorable place like SM64's and SMS'... but wasn't.  The end result was just that it took longer to get around.  SMG1 did have the better story, I'll admit - which, as you say, is like saying that a NSMB game had better multiplayer.

Throwback was a nice touch, but actually quite bad as a galaxy.  Too stretched out, without the seven stars to pick up. I won't deny I got a nostalgia kick out of it though.

Balladeer wrote:

Both of the hubs were fairly mince.  In fact I preferred SMG2's, SMG1's felt like it was pretending to be an interesting explorable place like SM64's and SMS'... but wasn't.  The end result was just that it took longer to get around.  SMG1 did have the better story, I'll admit - which, as you say, is like saying that a NSMB game had better multiplayer.

Yeah I prefer 2's hub from an efficiency standpoint, but 1's has an atmospheric vibe to it that I'm glad is there.

Matthew Castle mentions the hub in his Final Games Podcast episode - and opts for SMG2 because it lets you get in to the levels quicker.

Balladeer wrote:

SMG1 did have the better story, I'll admit - which, as you say, is like saying that a NSMB game had better multiplayer.

I didn't play SMG for the story, but I did play NSMB for the multiplayer...

Well there you go, there's always one! I tried playing NSMBWii multiplayer, it was alright: shame its single-player suffered for it.

Galaxy 1's hub was great, the room made for a nice breather between levels in a relaxing yet visually lovely area. Hated Galxy 2's hub in contrast, it was not a place I found nice to hang out in.

The Observatory beats the Faceship for me, solely on the basis of the music. I never noticed the way layers of instruments were being added to it until I was nearly finished with the game. Also, when said music started to play in SMG2 that one time, it was so unexpected and beautifully nostalgic that I nearly cried.

1 over 2, for me, just because the wow factor - even with Yoshi and much more to do - couldn't be replicated.

Balladeer wrote:

Well there you go, there's always one!  I tried playing NSMBWii multiplayer, it was alright: shame its single-player suffered for it.

It's clearly made with co-op in mind. Of course its playable as a singleplayer game (and the last world is a clusterfuck of constant deaths in multiplayer) but co-op is definitely a major part of the game design. And it is way more fun as a game when you are racing your friends and can throw each other around!

Forced myself over the finish line of this one last night, and credit where it's due the final two maps were fun, if incredibly simple and easy.  


Where to begin, where to begin with this sack of s*** of a game.  If you think just because I'm a bit of a "weeb" that fanboys over every animu game he plays then brace yourselves, because you're about to have that myth busted right here, right now!


Right, lets start with the most obvious thing.  This game sucked.  SUCKED.  On every level.  The maps were either pathetically bad, overly gimmicky, or straight up stolen from Birthright and Conquest.  

Oh, but they couldn't just nick the maps from those games, no, then the maps would have been fun to play!  No, what they did instead was nip some of the best (and worst) maps from Birthright and neuter them.  That epic chapter 10 in Conquest where you had to survive ten turns?  Turned in to a boring by the books route map where enemy formations won't test you in the slightest.  The love-to-hate Wind map from Conquest?  Back again, only the wind gimmick that allowed you to basically skip across the map in a matter of turns was nerfed so rather than a gimmick that can be used to your favour you have a gimmick that simply makes moving around the map tedious in the extreme.    


Oh but it gets worse!  Yes, I just said that, it gets worse!  Because Revelation has its own unique maps, and by the end you'll be begging for the return of those neutered stolen maps from the other two games!  Horrible gimmicks, horrible gimmicks everywhere.  Elevators, a stealth mission (the f***?), and the most boring teleporting map you'll ever play.  


I didn't take ten days on this game because it was tough, unlike Conquest which took me a month.  I took ten days because every map or two I was practically dying of boredom and needed a break.  



Best bit about all this?  That isn't the only bad thing about the game!  Remember the by-the-books and slightly bad story of Birthright, or the lol-worthy story of Conquest?  Well get ready for a story that makes the latter of those look like gamings very own Mistborn by comparison!  Words cannot describe how bad the story was on every.  Single.  Level.  The game's billed as being the route where you get answers to questions, but in reality none of the answers were remotely worth the trouble (or my money).  Anyone who's playing Birthright or Conquest right now, let me tell you something, when you find out why the two sides don't join forces to fight the overarcing threat both games make abundantly obvious is out there you will laugh yourself to tears over the absurdity and forced nature of those answers.  

And don't even get me started on how after chapter 17 the story literally doesn't progress until the last chapter.  I kid you f****** not, the story doesn't even move forwards for over half the game.  At least Birthright managed to make the hunt for Ryoma somewhat eventful, in an anime-filler kind of way.  Revelation doesn't even do that much, they reach a place and start heading towards a castle while being beset by minions of the big bad and. . . Yep, that's litereally the story for Every.  Single.  Damn.  Chapter from that point onwards.  Not even joking.  

Spiilers, but trust me you wont give a s*** about spoiling these stunning plot "twists":

Oh, they recycle the traitor angle for the fifth god damned time by the way.  In case you weren't bored by the three traitor storylines in Birthright and the one in Conquest!  Believe it or not the fifth one was also the worst, like, I don't know how you do it worse than the third one in Birthright, but they managed it.  At least the art for the reveal was kind of cool, but I was too busy laughing my backside off at the stupid contradiction for the motivations of it to care.  



AHEM.  As you can probably tell this game seriously angered me.  Believe it or not that isn't the only thing to hate about this game!  Yep, there's one more flaw with it, and for those that care about gameplay this one is off note.  

You know how Revelation is billed as "that path where you get to see the real ending and recruit every unit!"?  Well, you can technically recruit almost every unit (besides the two you can get on other routes that were offed in some of the most hilarious and dumb ways humanly possible), but get ready for every single non-royal family member to SUCK.  

See Intelligent Software decided in their infinite wisdom that the game needed balance, and to be fair some of the units did need some tweaking either in the buff or nerf department.  Want to know how they decided to balance them?  By making their base stats awful.  

Take Hana and Subaki, the first two offensive units you add to the roster.  Straight after you recruit them you're thrown in to a map where, even when you have weapon triangle advantage, they struggle to deal even 2 (TWO) damage!  

Doesn't get much better either, poor Arthur and Effie appear on Revelation's sixth or so stage at level ten (or was it nine?) with the stats they had in Conquest at level 5 on the first Conquest stage.  You need to shove these units with stat boosters just to make them viable.  

Oh, and all the royals, specifically Takumi and Ryoma, are still super broken by the way.  




Final Verdict: 4/10, absolute garbage on every level, do yourself a favour and pick up the Heirs of Fates DLC for a true ending to Birthright or Conquest at half the price like I wish I'd done and skip this absolute trash.  Or don't and tell me how right I was when you either quit halfway through from sheer boredom or rage at the plot.

After Muss beat Dark Souls, primarily to shut me up, he decided to lay down his own challenge and demand that I, too, git gud. He hit me with the infamous beast that is F-Zero GX's story mode.

Nine missions, separate from the main Grand Prix modes, with no mercy and incredible difficulty, all punctuated by one of the most ludicrously Japanese stories you'll ever see.

It was immensely tough, but at the end of the day pretty fair. I never felt like I was losing, or winning, based on luck. Every level felt impossible at first, then slowly became more manageable until I conquered it. Right up to the final mission, I started out unable to do one or two corners without falling off the map, then by the end I was pulling off the first two laps on every try and just fluffing the third.

It was good stuff, too. There's some nice variety; drag races, one-one-one races, full Grand Prix Finals, a level that rips off the film Speed. . .

If and when we get a new F-Zero, I'd like to see story beats like this all worked into an overall racing tournament structure- something like a Need for Speed or the Fast and Furious films. There are hints in the main game, with different racers becoming rivals and whatnot, but they could really expand this.

Anyway, yeah. I did it. I'm buzzing.

10/10

To Muss.

Ooooooft. Are we talking all levels, Very Hard here? I quit those, just didn't find them fun.

aaand, now I have to watch Guardians of the Galaxy again.

The challenge was just to beat story mode, even I didn't do every story mission on hard mode (although I did manage about half of them).

Incidentally, a recent steam release was Redout which I have not picked up, but will when I have the time to play it. It is meant to be a homage to F-zero type games but for modern systems. It lacks the wacky, but keeps the speed. An X-box 1 and PS4 release for it is on the cards if you ever fancy a modern take on the genre.

Drunkalilly wrote:

It was immensely tough, but at the end of the day pretty fair. I never felt like I was losing, or winning, based on luck.

Nut, not having that. F-Zero GX is a game that loves to batter you right up the arse, both with it's utterly shite difficulty and it's cheating wankshaft opponents who love to ram you off the track with a cheeky bastard boost when you're on the last lap. Fair enough if you've completed it, but if Muss asked me to do that I'd have powerbombed him off a roof.

Even I managed them all on normal, come on!

...he typed just before Cappa posted. It did have cheaty opponents though.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Nut, not having that. F-Zero GX is a game that loves to batter you right up the arse, both with it's utterly shite difficulty and it's cheating wankshaft opponents who love to ram you off the track with a cheeky bastard boost when you're on the last lap. Fair enough if you've completed it, but if Muss asked me to do that I'd have powerbombed him off a roof.

To be fair, I did want to power bomb him off a roof.

The story mode, Balla? Fair play. You can definitely handle Dark Souls then.

Cappa: git gud.

I regularly hit Muss with the AA, maybe I should move onto powerbombs...

3D Streets Of Rage 2



The scrolling beat 'em up isn't really my genre. My interest in this comes from a), the running gag in NGamer that meant it was in every VC Top 5 for a year, and b), people in the SEGA 3D Classics thread saying that it is the canine's cojones. It's a grand game but the repetitive nature of the piece only serves to remind why the genre has sort of disappeared.

DIGRESSION ALERT: I had a thought the other day: has the scrolling beat 'em up become the hack'n'slash game?

That said, it's bright, brash, and ruddy tough in places - those Blanka-like baddies are foul. The extras are really fun: beating the game unlocks a super fun mode that I can recommend to all. In the end, a great diversion.

15/20

The beat'em up (The genre of SoRII) genre has sort have become the hack 'n' slash action game when the move to 3D happened and evolution, you still get a odd few games try the old formula but most now indies.

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice



It is good. Play it now.

Full review to follow.

I'll get there, don't rush me!

You'll all be hearing more from me on this game, in a couple of formats, in the near future.

Fallout 4

I bloody done it. That's been game A since Christmas (ignoring a month out for Twilight Princess). 193.5 hours.
And you know what? The ending was a bit crap. It leads in to an idea for a Gintendo article I had, so I'll keep it brief and spoiler-free, but where it tries to throw a "point of no return" in your face of the coin seems to be so illogical that I can't understand why they bothered.
But enough about that - the previous 180 hours were amazing; because of the contemporary setting, each optional side-area had a unique feel and story (Skyrim caves, you have been judged unfavourably) with a lot more - unexpected - humour. In fact, I had to stop myself from just wandering into every building to pick up junk, because I wasn't getting any questing done. But I had to get all the junk I could, to build the settlements up. This was probably my favourite bit, playing post-apocalyptic Animal Crossing. There were frustrations (most small settlement areas came with too much permanent detritus, meaning you were really limited to a small selection of useful arrangements) but it was a lot of fun having more random people turn up to be part of the gang. I still prefer the Elder Scrolls games in terms of environment; I've had enough of the apocalypse for now, and happy towns full of people are what Nintendo fans grew up with; but this was definitely a good'n.
No I'm not buying the DLC - I've got Dark Souls 3 to do before Breath of the Wild comes out.

In terms of my slightly stupid made-up scoring system of marking things out of a variable total based on what they try and achieve, Fallout 4 gets a
20/23

Dishonoured: Definitive Edition



I got this a few months back after being much more interested in the upcoming sequel, let's get the bad stuff out the way - you can tell it was a game initially released in 2012 for ps3 with the small mission areas needing to load as you go between them which takes you out of the games world.

I did enjoy everything else about it, great selection of abilities to use meaning you can approach the missions in many different ways, very good visual & world design. So overall a very fun first person stealth game.

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