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Post by UsualNoise on Apr 17, 2019 3:39:37 GMT -5
Finished Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (MP Trilogy Wii version) on Hypermode difficulty (100% completion, 15:55 time). Not an easy task by any means, but the hardest parts were the Boost Ball Guardian and the final boss (Emperor Ing [3 forms] and timed Dark Samus battle). I'm glad to check off the highest difficulty but will NOT be doing it again ... just took too much enjoyment out of a game that is otherwise fantastic.
One more task until Metroid Prime Trilogy is officially complete: Metroid Prime 3 on Hypermode difficulty, which will give me the final batch of tokens needed to finish unlocking everything.
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Post by UsualNoise on Apr 22, 2019 15:25:18 GMT -5
Beat Metroid Zero Mission on Hard difficulty. Much like the Prime games, the hardest difficulty is not all that fun.
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Post by UsualNoise on Apr 27, 2019 23:10:58 GMT -5
More than 10 years after I began it, I completed the Metroid Prime Trilogy today by beating MP3 on Hypermode. Finished collecting all tokens and unlocking all remaining extras (galleries, music tracks). Feels good to finally finish all three games on all three difficulty levels.
The final boss sequence on Metroid Prime 3 is super hard in Hypermode, not quite as hard as MP2 but close.
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Post by UsualNoise on May 1, 2019 5:27:16 GMT -5
My run of insanely hard challenges continues. Tonight I completed Super Smash Bros Ultimate (Switch). What does that entail? Somewhere between 130 and 140 hours according to my Switch, as well as the following: 1) Completed World of Light on Normal difficulty at 100% (all 615 spaces cleared) 2) Completed World of Light on Hard difficulty at 100% (all 615 spaces cleared) 3) Collected all 1320 spirits 4) Completed all 124 challenges on the challenge board without using any hammers #2 was the last one I finished, and it was incredibly difficult - primarily the last 3 battles (one boss, second boss, combined bosses). I can't tell you how many times I died attempting to clear those fights ... I was super pumped when I finally pulled it off, but the difficulty is extreme. In judging the difficulty compared to other games that have been extremely hard, I'd put it roughly at the same level as The Perfect Run from Super Mario Galaxy 2 ... but it's a very different kind of difficulty. Anyway, maybe I'll take it easy for a while and settle in with the latest Switch Picross release.
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Post by UsualNoise on May 11, 2019 22:08:53 GMT -5
Just finished my first Metroid Prime 2 randomizer today. It was much more complicated than MP1 due to the larger number of pickups in the game. Pretty enjoyable, though, may do another one some day. Total time was 10:17 with 100% collection.
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Post by UsualNoise on May 24, 2019 3:39:58 GMT -5
Finished another Metroid Prime randomizer run. It was my first sub-4 hour time at 3:57 (81% item collection).
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Post by dschroll on Jun 4, 2019 0:12:31 GMT -5
Finished Final Fight from the Capcom Beat'em Up Bundle. I love these old school arcade games even though they're mindless and require little skill. Just something fun about the simplicity.
Also finished Yoshi's Crafted World on Switch. Played this one through with my daughter and we both had a blast. I will say I enjoyed Yoshi's Wooly World more as I found it to be more challenging and charming, but Crafted World was still enjoyable. There is lots of padding in this game though with all sorts of optional missions you can do. Even at the end, when you finish the game, it throws a bunch more optional stuff for you to go back and do. I did most of the optional things, but didn't have it in me to go back and do everything as I read it's not worth all the effort. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this game, especially as something I can play with my kid. Some good bonding was done during our gaming together. Definitely recommend as a great family friendly game. 8/10.
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Post by dschroll on Jun 10, 2019 10:12:11 GMT -5
Finished Battle Circuit from the Capcom Beat'em Up Bundle. I'd never played this game before and it was pretty solid Very strange story and characters (You can fight as a girl riding a pink ostrich). Overall, it played as well as any arcade beat's up with the exception being you could purchase special moves if you racked up enough money during the game.
This game was online playable but the frame rate is SO BAD that it's unplayable. I had to do this one as local co op with a friend. Very solid game though if you like this style of game.
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Post by dschroll on Jun 19, 2019 20:08:03 GMT -5
Finished a beautiful game on Switch called Gris. To say this game is pure art is an understatement. It has a hand drawn animation style that is absolutely breathtaking. The music perfectly matches the game always growing louder or softer in key points.
The game follows this girl who seems to have suffered some sort of loss and her world has become gray (Gris is French for gray). Each level in Gris is all about solving puzzles and collecting these glowing dots, which sort of look like stars, and once completed you restore a particular color to the world while gaining a new ability to progress to the next level. I don't think this is a game where you can get hurt or die, and while there are bosses in the game, they mostly serve as another puzzle rather than something that's going to kill you.
The game probably takes 5-6 hours to finish, but what a great 5-6 hours it is. I cannot recommend this game enough. It has a sad and empowering story, gorgeous graphics and music, and some interesting puzzles while you explore this world. 10/10.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Jun 19, 2019 22:31:00 GMT -5
Finished a beautiful game on Switch called Gris. To say this game is pure art is an understatement. It has a hand drawn animation style that is absolutely breathtaking. The music perfectly matches the game always growing louder or softer in key points. The game follows this girl who seems to have suffered some sort of loss and her world has become gray (Gris is French for gray). Each level in Gris is all about solving puzzles and collecting these glowing dots, which sort of look like stars, and once completed you restore a particular color to the world while gaining a new ability to progress to the next level. I don't think this is a game where you can get hurt or die, and while there are bosses in the game, they mostly serve as another puzzle rather than something that's going to kill you. The game probably takes 5-6 hours to finish, but what a great 5-6 hours it is. I cannot recommend this game enough. It has a sad and empowering story, gorgeous graphics and music, and some interesting puzzles while you explore this world. 10/10. I also LOVED Gris. It is BEAUTIFUL. Definitely my kind of game.
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Post by UsualNoise on Jun 20, 2019 22:46:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the recommendation. As a cheapskate with a large backlog, I'll wait until it gets to the $10 range.
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Post by dschroll on Jun 24, 2019 23:36:53 GMT -5
Finished 3 more games:
1) Qube on PS4 - This is a first person puzzle based game very similar to Portal, although not as good. The puzzles are fun and creative, but the overall story, while kind of interesting at first, just doesn't have a strong finish. Short game. Maybe 5-6 hours. Overall, pretty good, but not great. Would give it a 7/10.
2) Abzu on PS4 - This game is very similar to Endless Ocean on Wii if anyone ever played that. You're basically on an alien type world exploring the oceans and interacting with the sea life. Nothing can hurt you in this game, it's purely exploratory. The graphics are beautiful and the music is serene, but the gameplay is fairly ho hum. If you're looking for a game for your little one to enjoy without fear of getting hurt, this is a solid bet. Would give it a 6/10.
3) A Way Out on PS4 - This is probably the best co op game I've ever played. It's a game about a prison break where you and another person bust out of prison to get revenge on the guy that put you there. Each character (Vincent and Leo) have their own story and the game has you playing both independently and cooperatively. It was an absolute blast to play, the story was engaging and the game was very well executed. You can play this one local co op or online co op. The best part with online co op, only one of you needs to own the game. The other person can join via an invite you send them. They probably did this as this game is ONLY co op, so no single player experience here. But a fantastic experience that I highly recommend. I would give it a 9/10.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Jun 25, 2019 23:26:00 GMT -5
Agreed on Way Out. Very cool co-op, granted my son and I wanted to strangle each other a few times.
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Post by dschroll on Jul 1, 2019 7:35:37 GMT -5
After my daughter and I completed Yoshi's Crafted World, she was anxious to play another co op, kid friendly game with me. So, I downloaded Unravel 2 on the Switch. This game is a digital only game as I far as I know and I got it on sale for $10. It's single player or co op, and basically stars a couple of characters made out of yarn navigating the real world, which is filled with obstacles and dangers. This game is basically a platforming game and it forces you to work together to solve certain puzzles and obstacles in order to proceed to the next area. There are things and creatures in the game that can kill you, but check points are frequent, so you won't have to replay much if you die. It's very kid friendly and my daughter absolutely loved playing this with me. This wasn't like Yoshi where she rode on my back and I did all the work and she just fired eggs. She loved doing the platforming elements and wanted to do many of these things herself without letting me do it and she would climb up to me via the rope that ties the two characters together. What is cool though is that one character can essentially wrap themselves around the other for parts where it's easier that one player do both than having two people do it. My daughter appreciated that for certain sequences where these fire creatures were chasing us.
Anyway, despite being an EA game, this is really good and highly recommended, especially if you're looking to play something with your kids. I would give it an 8/10.
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Post by UsualNoise on Jul 3, 2019 22:50:45 GMT -5
Finished five more Metroid Prime randomizer runs since the last time I posted:
MP1 85% 3:39 MP1 86% 4:20
MP2 93% 8:42 MP2 92% 7:06 MP2 91% 7:07
The last two Metroid Prime 2 randomizer seeds I've used random elevator connections and random translator gates. It has made things ... interesting! I've definitely gotten the final boss down, though, it's only taken me 11 minutes on each of the last two runs for all 3 Emperor Ing phases + Dark Samus.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Jul 5, 2019 13:00:22 GMT -5
Wandersong on Switch. Phew, that was a long game, if I were to guess about 15+ hours. Got my money's worth.
Interesting game mechanics, not necessarily a true rhythm game but some parts do require that. I liked the story and characters.
I'd give it a 7.5/10, if it's on sale, would be worth a try.
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Post by dschroll on Jul 9, 2019 8:00:46 GMT -5
Finished 2 more Switch games:
1) Doom. I think this is the first Doom game I've ever played all the way through. I know it came on PS4 and I read it looks and plays better on PS4 than on Switch, but I wanted to get the Switch version because a) I wanted to support Bethesda bringing games like this to the Switch and b) I get far more opportunity to play my Switch than PS4 since I can play the Switch in portable mode. I will say this, Doom on the Switch looked and played fantastic. It moves at such a fast pace that I'm not used to from the FPS I normally play. The frame rate never really stuttered from my play through, the graphics were fairly solid, the music fantastic. My biggest gripe with the Switch game is the text was so small that it was tough to read. Even when playing on the TV, I had to step up and move close to the TV to read things. But overall, this game was fun and very challenging. This may have been my first Doom game, but it won't be my last and I'm looking forward to Doom Eternal next. I would give it a 9 out of 10.
2) Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. I picked up a physical copy of this from Limited Run. I'd heard good things about it and wanted to give it a shot. The game is very much designed to look, sound, and play like 8 bit Castlevania. So much that my wife thought that's what I was playing, until I corrected her. The nice thing about this game is there are multiple characters in the game and you can ally with them and play as them to access certain parts of the castle. The game has multiple endings and is designed to be played through at least twice to get the "best" ending. Overall if you like 8 bit Castlevania, you will love this game. It is short though and sadly I paid a pretty penny to get the physical version from Limited Run for such a short game. But I still enjoyed it very much and can see my going back and playing through it a few more times to unlock everything. I would give it an 8 out of 10.
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Post by dschroll on Jul 22, 2019 23:46:59 GMT -5
A few more games to add to the completed list:
1) Burnout Paradise HD on PS4. I'm a HUGE Burnout fan and I was all over this game when it first came out. It comes with the DLC Big Surf Island, which I have not completed yet, but the main game I completed most of the challenges and races to the point that my License is a "Burnout license". Anyway, great arcade racer with excellent graphics, sound, and controls. I love the open world element that Criterion brought into this game as well. Very unique and fun. If you love arcade racing games and somehow missed this last gen, you owe it to yourself to get it now. It can be had for cheap. The biggest downside to all of this is that EA owns the game and seems to have completely forgotten about the franchise. Additionally, EA continues their trend of ignoring Nintendo despite the Switch having a comparable install base to the XB1 and a proven track record of 3rd party games being very successful on the platform. But EA continues their downward spiral with bad decision after decision. Still, this game is one of their few bright spots. Highly recommend. 9/10
2) Golf Story on Switch. If you enjoyed Mario Golf on the GBA, than this is the game for you. A fun Golf RPG style game. And I know what you're thinking, who in their right mind would want to play a golf rpg? Let me tell you, it's not as bad as it sounds, and is actually quite a lot of fun. In fact, the writing in this game is great and I found myself chuckling throughout the entire game as the dialog is quite entertaining. Your character is constantly told they'll never be good enough, so the game will have you face a variety of challenges and other players, helping level you up along the way so you become that much better of a golfer. The game took me about 20 hours and it was a blast the entire time. I highly recommend it. 9/10.
3) Crash Bandicoot on Switch. This is the first game in the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy. I was feeling nostalgic for this game as I remember enjoying it back in college when it first came out. Let me tell you, this game does not hold up to the test of time. Yes, the N Sane trilogy did get updated graphics and sound, so in those departments the game is fine. It's the game play where this game kinda falls flat. It starts out easy enough, but quickly ramps up to becoming an unforgiving platform where you will find yourself cursing like a sailor playing through later levels. And it's not that it's just hard. Its unfairly hard. The game has you killed in many cheap ways, that having your cursing more than anything. The camera is fixed in a certain spot in the game and it makes estimating your depth in this game a big pain. So many times I died by leaping forward too far or not enough because it was almost impossible for me to accurately guess how far I needed to jump given the camera angle. The game also likes to teach you how to play a level by killing you, which I detest. I think a good game should give you the chance to legitimately complete it on the first try. Crash doesn't do that though and will often kill you in some non obvious way that you would have never been able to avoid it, but of course now that you know about it you can for next time. Still, I just don't care for that kind of design. Anyway, long story short, I'm not sure if I ever finished this one back in the day, but I did this time. But in my opinion, this is a very needlessly difficult platforming game that just sin't much fun and doesn't hold up over the years. Nintendo platforms are MUCH better. 6.5 / 10.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Jul 24, 2019 0:38:50 GMT -5
I LOVE Golf Story. The actual story is VERY amusing to me. BUT, I still haven't finished it because I can't beat that damn last round. I keep going in the water and I'm not good w/ the 'English' on the ball. And you've convinced me to go back and just struggle through to beat that damn game.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Jul 30, 2019 0:39:53 GMT -5
What Remains of Edith Fitch was great. If you like Gone Home, which I did, this is better. Story went in directions that were a bit disturbing but made for a better story for sure. My only complaint is that it was a bit short.
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