The 2023 Backlog Challenge

[Brickman | 4,020]

4 hours ago, Foochie776 said:

I’m stuck on a mini boss in KH II so I’ve been playing Pikmin and wow, I can’t believe I’ve skipped this game over for so long! It’s incredibly addictive and so fun. 
 

I’ve also started (and almost completed) Super Mario Land 2, much better than the first. 

I had the exact same reaction when I played Pikmin last year. It’s an incredible game, no idea why I passed over it for so long.

[spacepup | 2,412]

I beat another one tonight - a game that I started literally years ago, and for whatever reason, got distracted and never finished.  I knew I wanted to get back to it and finish someday, and that day was today! hehe

The game is Papo & Yo, and I'm really glad to have gotten back to it:

It is a relatively short puzzle/adventure game, that was first released in 2012 on PS3, but was ported to PC in 2013.

The game has some puzzle elements , but really is more about telling the story of Quico, the protagonist, who escapes from his alcoholic father into a dream world where he sort or...figures out how to navigate those struggles, so to speak.

The game's designer made the story based on his own past with his father.

I wouldn't say it's the most amazing puzzle/adventure game ever, or the most amazing story ever, but it was executed well and I definitely enjoyed the experience and story.  Perhaps the game resonates with me for certain personal reasons, but I'd still recommend it generally speaking.

Glad to finally complete this story and finish, after many many years!

[FireHazard51 | 2,053]

I beat Moss (Book I) on PC VR.  This was not on this year's backlog but on last years backlog.  I beat it so I could be familiar with the story again and ready to hit up Moss (Book II) on PSVR.  Playing it a second time just made me fall in love with the game again.  I absolute love the world that you play in and the way Quill, the mouse character, acts in the game.  If you've play Astro Bot on PlayStation and enjoyed it then I'm sure you'd love Moss.  Absolutely top ten VR game on many people's list for many good reasons.

Still haven't found all the hidden parts of the stain glass thing nor have I filled up the "dust" jar to the left of the book.  Maybe one day I'll go back in 100% in on PSVR.  

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

Well, I only have one more game that's a major carry-over from 2022.  I put a lot of hours into it in December, so I just need to pop back into it and-

credits roll

...what the fuck just happened?  It's a 15 hour long game?

researches

Oh, you are supposed to play through it over and over again to get the full story and full experience.  So... shit, now I don't know what to do.  If I'm going to play through games 4+ times, I like to space those playthroughs out a bit.

I guess I'm marking it off the list for now, and I'll do playthrough #2 later this year, and the other 2 in 2024 some time.  So, Nier Automata, done... kind of.  For now.

[Sumez | 2,995]

On 2/12/2023 at 4:08 AM, Gloves said:

Beat The Quarry. Really enjoyed it. I especially appreciate that failure is likely, and not just via QTE failure and the like. You can just straight up make the wrong call and be dead, with no recourse. LOVE that since it just means you've entered a parallel universe where that person/people is/are dead. Really makes me wanna see what happens with different decisions. I got a pretty epic fail of an ending, will have to go back sometime to try for a win. 

Did you play Until Dawn?

Played that through with my gf way back when, and our ending was equally f'ed. The annoying thing is that if you want to change any outcome you can't just go to that chapter, you have to replay the whole thing, and some decisions only afftect the back end of the game. So it doesn't really facilitate experimenting and figuring things out on your own, you pretty much have to follow a guide if you want to do well  

[Gloves | 11,843]

I've passed the 30 stars mark on Mario Galaxy. Happy to still be enjoying it, and no headaches thus far. Playing on a smaller CRT was the right move for sure.

[Gloves | 11,843]

7 hours ago, Sumez said:

Did you play Until Dawn?

Played that through with my gf way back when, and our ending was equally f'ed. The annoying thing is that if you want to change any outcome you can't just go to that chapter, you have to replay the whole thing, and some decisions only afftect the back end of the game. So it doesn't really facilitate experimenting and figuring things out on your own, you pretty much have to follow a guide if you want to do well  

I did play Until Dawn; I'd say I prefer The Quarry over Until Dawn. The characters were more memorable in Quarry and they actually got a few chuckles out of me. Both games get my thumbs up though!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

I started up Strife last night and played for maybe 90 minutes.

I had honestly never heard of it before LRG put it up for order, but I had to grab it as I'm a massive sucker for '90s FPS.

It's a very strange game.  Mixing early FPS play with very rudimentary RPG and adventure elements.  I'm not sure what I had in mind ahead of time (something like Hexen?), but it's not that.

Unfortunately the very first mission offers you a chance to break the game and ruin your playthrough.  A very curious decision.  I had to look at a guide.  But once over that jump it's smooth sailing.

[fox | 1,681]

Mid Feb update

Nothing new beaten this month so far due to lack of time and lots of game hopping.

Just kind of dipping my toes in a couple different games and seeing if I am ready to dive into deep end with them, and more than a few were just not doing it for me.  I was kind of digging Battle Chasers Nightwar, with a cool comic style and jrpg throwback design that made for a cozy time.  The trouble is, with it being an rpg, it will a greater commitment than a lot of other titles for the purpose of this exercise.

Next week Ishin and Atomic Heart come out, so I really hope one of those vibe with me and I can go all in on it.

[twiztor | 855]

Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka the Lost Levels)

i've long considered this my white whale of gaming. i've always had a ton of trouble with both the wind, and especially the super springboards. man, i hate those things. 

full disclosure, i beat this via the Switch Online service, so that i could use suspend points. i tried not the cheese them because i still wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment.  there's no way i have the patience to beat this the old fashioned way.

however, i did play this straight through, with no warps. which means i got to play the hidden World 9 (i didn't even know this was a thing, so it was a super cool bonus). the levels look and play like you entered something wrong on the Game Genie. i also played this as Luigi, which adds to the challenge. every world feels like you're playing on ice!

i liked crossing this off my list, but gods damn is it difficult. those last couple worlds, ARRGGHH!!  i sincerely doubt i'll ever play this again.

Edited February 16, 2023 by twiztor

[Sumez | 2,995]

A Hat in Time - Beaten (with all Time Pieces) 13/2

It's easy to get a little disillusioned by A Hat in Time as it starts out. For a small indie game getting its funding entirely via KickStarter, it's really upfront about wanting to show you how much they worked on its admittedly insane production qualities. And to be honest, it had me worried at first when the game felt more wrapped up throwing silly gags at me than throwing me into actual platforming gameplay. Even a few stages in, the first real boss battle still just feels like a tutorial on how to jump over things. Compare Banjo-Kazooie, arguably one of the game's many sources of inspiration, which spares no expense when it comes to gags, but also doesn't hold back the video game action.

But A Hat in Time does get good, and it gets really good. The game is spread out across four individual chapters which feel very disjointed from eachother, lacking any type of common theme. You might think time travel is major plot thread, given the title of the game, but then you'd be wrong. Although the mcguffins you're collecting (the equivalent to Mario 64 stars) are said to be able to rewind time, this never plays into the game themetically, mechanically, or plotwise - outside of the game's eventual "villain" presumably indending to use that power.
Feels like a weird missed opportunity, if not an initial concept idea that somehow got dropped on the floor early in development.

Instead you have the themes of "mafia town", "rival movie directors", "spooky forest", and "mountaintops". The limited number of locations feels quite meager for a supposedly planet-hopping platform adventure, but looking over each chapter it is honeslty completely unbelievable how much work was put into each of them, crammed full of extra locations and details that never really play into the main objectives and didn't need to be there.
The forest especially has a massive network of platforms spanning across the tree-tops, and multiple unlockable sub-areas which you never get any actual reason to visit outside of sightseeing and a couple of collectibles that don't get used for anything.
The movie themed chapter takes you through stealth stages solving a murder mystery, and an action stage through a rampant train as it is falling apart.
And the mountaintops branches off into four additional dedicated sub-sections themed around classic platforming challenges such as the lava lake, mechanical tower of moving platforms, and the shadow realm where platforms phase in and out of existence.

If this feeling of excess had expanded into just a couple more similarly structured chapters, A Hat in Time could have been a truly legendary game among 3D platformers, but it's really hard to fault it given what is already there. The earlier chapters do some cool things, but the game doesn't truly come together until the fourth chapter which ditches most of the talking and fooling around that dominated the earlier ones, and just gives you a free massive area to explore freely, as you take off into different directions and face new unique gauntlets each leading to their own Time Piece to collect. At that point I'm left hungry for more of this sort of stuff, but even the DLC that comes bundled with the physical copy offers only very little new content, with only a chapter much shorter than the others - though it does add probably the best new challenge stage of the game.

Another fun addition from the DLC is a challenge mode which lets you replay harder versions of older stages with a new set of challenges, which are generally well thought out, and really reward innate familiarity with the stages. I played a few of them and had fun, but I also wasn't too interested in the tougher ones which seemed to rely more on planned-out routing than basic skills, so I ended up leaving the majority of these challenges untouched. I do appreciate its existance as a way to keep grumpy old gamers like myself from whining about the game being "too easy" however.

 

All in all, A Hat in Time is a remarkable game for how well it nails both the 3D platformer gameplay, aesthetics and typical excess of goofy content, in spite of being an indie game. I'd definitely file it among the better ones in the genre, even if it never comes close to touching the 3D Mario games. But the more the merrier, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if Gears For Breakfast's next game ends up being of that high quality.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes

This is the first time I've played through MGS1 in at least 20 years, and the first time overall through this version, despite buying it near launch.  It still holds up brilliantly.

[Brickman | 4,020]

Bayonetta 3 is done and with that I achieved my Bronze award 

I’ll preface this by saying that besides the souls series, Bayonetta is my favourite modern game series.

I don’t know what happened during the production of this game (which took forever) but it’s a bit of a train wreck imo.

Bayonetta isn’t known for its in depth story but this one is awful and all over the place. Some things aren’t really explained properly and the plot feels like it was one of those B or C character Marvel movies. It’s boring and repetitive.

I don’t know what it is but witch time feels very different compared to 1 and 2. I never fully got a handle on it in this game but never had any issues in 1 and 2. 

Viola is a controversial character with the fan base for various reasons. I personally don’t mind the character but she’s so weak and her blocking is so hard to get right that I just found it easier to spam it non stop. 

Soooo many open spaces of nothingness. I don’t know why but a lot of the time you’re running and there’s nothing. It feels like this was going to be something but the idea was abandoned half way through development.

A lot of gimmick stuff. Sometimes the game is too busy trying to show off epic stuff through gimmicks instead of just playing the game.

It’s not all bad and I did enjoy the addition of demon summoning in battles. Bayonetta was still witty and sounded like Bayonetta despite the VA change.

I think with a bit more focus and not such a long development time this game could have been a lot better. I feel that if this wasn’t a Bayo game it wouldn’t have scored as high with reviewers. I’m going to go with 6.5/10.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

@Brickman Did you play Nier Automata or Astral Chain?

[Brickman | 4,020]

15 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@Brickman Did you play Nier Automata or Astral Chain?

Played Nier Automata on release and absolutely loved it. I’ll revisit it with the Switch port eventually. Haven’t played Astral Chain but have heard good things and people have said they feel the demon summoning is similar in Bayo 3 to Astral Chain.

I think if Bayo wasn’t a Bayo game I would have ranked it a bit higher (story aside). But just like dark souls, unfortunately when you have a legacy it is a hard balance between keeping things similar and trying new things. Dark Souls 3 dropped the ball a little but they came back strong with Elden Ring. Hopefully they come back stronger with Bayonetta 4.

Just my opinion though. Some think this is the best Bayonetta in the series.

[Lago | 222]

Managed to finish Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney tonight.  Breaking this game into chunks is absolutely what helped me get through it.  I really enjoyed the game but that last case was an absolute nightmare for me in some spots.

It’ll be a while before I start another one.  Still really glad I finally finished this one.

[Philosoraptor | 468]

Finished World of Final Fantasy yesterday. I by finished, I mean got the first set of credits. I wasn't sticking around for the true ending.

The battle system is the best thing this game has going for it. Getting new Mirages is very Pokemon, leveling up with skill trees is very Final Fantasy, and the battle system is somewhere in-between. You can stack either two monsters on top of you in regular human form or you can ride on one large and have a small one on your head in your shrunken size to create a stack. Each monster has the abilities you'd expect, but depending on the stack, you might get access to special ones.

When stacked, damage is split between the members in the stack. Stacks can also be knocked over, exposing the significantly weaker members of the stack to damage or KO. Nearly every Mirage must be caught in a unique way, whether it be inflicting damage, healing them, inflicting certain statuses on them, countering, and so on. They also cannot be in a stack to catch them, meaning you either have to find an individual enemy or knock the stack it's in over. Using the move "Libra" on an enemy will tell you exactly how to catch it.

However, the story, characters, character design, character interactions, dungeons...pretty much everything else about the game wasn't to my taste. This game does have good ratings, though, so I might be in the minority on that one. It ended up taking about 37 hours to beat it, and honestly I would have quit around 25 if I wasn't reasonably close to the first set of credits and didn't feel like if I didn't beat it, I would have wasted the first half of February on this game. But hey, yaaay! Another one down.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 2/12/2023 at 11:39 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Well, I only have one more game that's a major carry-over from 2022.  I put a lot of hours into it in December, so I just need to pop back into it and-

credits roll

...what the fuck just happened?  It's a 15 hour long game?

researches

Oh, you are supposed to play through it over and over again to get the full story and full experience.  So... shit, now I don't know what to do.  If I'm going to play through games 4+ times, I like to space those playthroughs out a bit.

I guess I'm marking it off the list for now, and I'll do playthrough #2 later this year, and the other 2 in 2024 some time.  So, Nier Automata, done... kind of.  For now.

Nier: Replicant is kind of like that too. The second playthrough is quite a bit different than the first, so I quickly ran through that, then just looked up the other three endings.  I have no desire to replay a game five times in this day and age. Thank God for YouTube.

[Floating Platforms | 741]

Got the platinum trophy in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

I started this about a decade ago and it stayed abandoned for about a decade. It's really not hard to get the platinum overall as most of the trophies and unlocks require you to perform specific tasks in the Genesis games rather than beat them. Some are as simple as talk to another dolphin in Ecco, which means starting the game, pressing a button, and exiting. For many you have to beat a level or two or get a relatively easy score goal. The only one that requires you to beat the game is Mean Bean Machine and that took most of my time since it is very luck based. I actually beat Robotnik on my first try, but lost many many times on levels 9-12.  It was a really fun sampler platter and it's neat that it unlocks other games like Congo Bongo and some other Sega arcade cabinets. It's also the only collection I have that includes the first Phantasy Star since the mini and mini 2 don't have it. Doubt I'll ever play the series, but it's good to know I have the option now.

I then started Syberia on PS3 right after and am an hour into that.  Hoping I'll be fast enough on a blind playthrough to get it done in under 6 hours for the timed trophy.  I'm making progress on other things and should have a couple more games down soon. I think I'm between 60-75% done with my first run of Miles Morales and for New Super Mario Bros 2, I only need one more star coin and to max out lives to get my 5-star profile.  I wish I would have put Fire Emblem Three Houses on the list, because my wife has had a renewed interest and is having me play the 3rd house that she didn't do herself. Tough to anticipate her whims. Last year, we went through Fortune Street non-stop.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

Resident Evil 3

The options were Easy or Hard, and since I dread the thought of doing a classic RE for the first time blind on something called "Hard", I did easy.  Which means unlimited saves and lots of ammo.  Whatever, good enough.

[Sumez | 2,995]

Oh man I was gonna do both RE3 and Code Veronica after getting caught up in four RE games last year, but I couldn't fit them on my backlog list
Hopefully next year.

I'm occupied playing Doom Eternal at the moment, but it's an exhausting game to play - super intense, lots of dying and retrying, and frankly a lot of the same sort of stuff going on over and over. I enjoy it a lot, but it's the kinda thing that demands frequent breaks.

Meanwhile Sonic Lost World is trudging along at a snail's pace in a different room. I'm telling myself to play at least four stages every time I turn it on, but it's a bit of a miserable experience. Not as awful a game as some people will tell you, but it's just awkward enough to play that you kinda can't wait for it to be over.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Sumez

[Gloves | 11,843]

@Reed Rothchild can I be a complete pain in the ass and ask since you're currently tracking progress with @ peoples' names, could you change it to be a link to each person's post with their progress? This would make it easier for us all to find our posts much faster. >_>

[Sumez | 2,995]

 or just both

[Brickman | 4,020]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

@Reed Rothchild can I be a complete pain in the ass and ask since you're currently tracking progress with @ peoples' names, could you change it to be a link to each person's post with their progress? This would make it easier for us all to find our posts much faster. >_>

This why you reserve a spot as soon as you see the post  

Reed don’t give these guys the VIP service, I camp all night waiting for the backlog post.

[Gloves | 11,843]

4 minutes ago, Brickman said:

This why you reserve a spot as soon as you see the post  

Reed don’t give these guys the VIP service, I camp all night waiting for the backlog post.

I mean, I could always edit the post to do this for myself...