The 2023 Backlog Challenge

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

Blah, shouldn't of done Jedi Fallen Order on the harder difficulty.  It's basically Sekiro with much less polished mechanics.  Pretty annoying at this point.

...well I could go find a life upgrade or something.  Oh wait, there's no fast travel.  In a Souls + Metroidvania game.  How is that possible

[Foochie776 | 1,058]

Kingdom Hearts II, is done. 
 

 

What a game. The excessively long intro I did not hold super high hopes. I was not at all a fan of the command reactions and just didn’t engage with the game. Boy did that change quick. The ability to skip cutscenes, the improved combat and camera were huge strides in the right direction. The story was super well done and the inclusion of Mickey was amazing. For such a complex story they did an excellent job of doing it. The boss battles provided and adequate challenge and the challenge ramped nicely this time. The Gummi Ship was still a low point for me but I was glad to see it had some incentives this time around, which I still didn’t bother with. I enjoyed the stats at the end and I’ll certainly go back to find the other treasures and try and fill Jiminy’s journal. I also never returned to the Tron level. My only real complaint is that I didn’t really understand the importance of the drive forms until very late in the game when I was moving too slow to fight a boss and then realized that one of the drives was my issue? I never used the others but they were a neat bonus. The ending was absolutely perfect and everything I’d hoped for. I’m certainly a Kingdom Hearts fan and am adding 3, Birth by Sleep as well as Dream Drop Distance to my future backlog. 

[Foochie776 | 1,058]

I’m super super close to beating Mario Land 2 so after we get back from our wedding trip I will likely knock that off. 
 

Also ordering a new N64 this week!

As to what comes after that, I’m on the fence. Thinking one of the Oracles, otherwise Earthbound or Aladdin.. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

Yeah, I dunno. It was maybe like a 6/10 or 6.5/10.  Propped up by the Star Wars license to maybe be a 7/10 or 7.5/10.

It's Sekiro, but with way looser mechanics and controls.

It's a Metroidvania, but most of the collectables are useless cosmetic items, and there's no fast travel.

It's Uncharted, but without the setpieces.  Or at least they're not as good.

Still, not a bad game.  If they figure some shit out with the sequel it could be very good.

[Sumez | 2,970]

I'm not dead, I've just been working on a programming project for the last couple of weeks (which is probably not gonna meet its deadline anyway ), but my backlog challenge has been suffering for it, and I was even ahead by quite a bit.

I finished AVGN 1+2 some time ago, but I have surprisingly little to say about it. Better than it needed to be, but falls completely short of anything really enjoyable.

[Webhead123 | 687]

12 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

Yeah, I dunno. It was maybe like a 6/10 or 6.5/10.  Propped up by the Star Wars license to maybe be a 7/10 or 7.5/10.

It's Sekiro, but with way looser mechanics and controls.

It's a Metroidvania, but most of the collectables are useless cosmetic items, and there's no fast travel.

It's Uncharted, but without the setpieces.  Or at least they're not as good.

Still, not a bad game.  If they figure some shit out with the sequel it could be very good.

I keep looking at the game icon on my desktop and I just can't talk myself into booting it up again. Maybe I'm just really picky when it comes to these kinds of games or Star Wars games in general. I think one big detractor that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was how "artificial" each of the planets felt. I never got the impression of an organic, flowing environment. Each area felt very much like a "video game level" in a way that really took me out of most of the immersion. That doesn't really bother me in games generally but perhaps because of this game's modern approach to "cinematic, immersive presentation" the contrast felt quite jarring.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

33 minutes ago, Webhead123 said:

I never got the impression of an organic, flowing environment. Each area felt very much like a "video game level" in a way that really took me out of most of the immersion. That doesn't really bother me in games generally but perhaps because of this game's modern approach to "cinematic, immersive presentation" the contrast felt quite jarring.

Yep, I had this exact same thought, and I think part of that is because I just wrapped up Elden Ring which has this big sprawling organic feeling world.  Fallen Order in comparison definitely felt like a bunch of connected corridors.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

7 hours ago, Sumez said:

I'm not dead, I've just been working on a programming project for the last couple of weeks (which is probably not gonna meet its deadline anyway ), but my backlog challenge has been suffering for it, and I was even ahead by quite a bit.

I finished AVGN 1+2 some time ago, but I have surprisingly little to say about it. Better than it needed to be, but falls completely short of anything really enjoyable.

I did notice!  I saw you started that awhile ago, and figured it had to be done by now since it's still short.  I played it recently too, and enjoyed it, but didn't find it especially memorable.

I saw on PSN you were playing Ion Fury as well, which is coming up for me.

[Sumez | 2,970]

I have no idea how far I am in Ion Fury. I thought I was at the final boss when it suddenly decided to add an entirely new chapter.

Its been put aside for a while since I have very little time for video games these days

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

37 minutes ago, Sumez said:

I have no idea how far I am in Ion Fury. I thought I was at the final boss when it suddenly decided to add an entirely new chapter.

Its been put aside for a while since I have very little time for video games these days

Can't imagine why

[FireHazard51 | 2,047]

17 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

Yeah, I dunno. It was maybe like a 6/10 or 6.5/10.  Propped up by the Star Wars license to maybe be a 7/10 or 7.5/10.

It's Sekiro, but with way looser mechanics and controls.

It's a Metroidvania, but most of the collectables are useless cosmetic items, and there's no fast travel.

It's Uncharted, but without the setpieces.  Or at least they're not as good.

Still, not a bad game.  If they figure some shit out with the sequel it could be very good.

How long did the game take to beat?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

3 hours ago, FireHazard51 said:

How long did the game take to beat?

Uh, I have no idea.  15 hours maybe?  I didn't do a lot of the late game exploration because it can be a pain and most of the items are useless.

[Floating Platforms | 733]

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is done.

I beat all three modes, but didn't do the Nest of Evil or whatever the boss rush area is called. Picture shows "Richiter" mode which unlocks after beating the main Jonathan mode. You also unlock Sisters mode, which is the third file (but also doesn't show "clear" for whatever reason).

3 Different ways to experience the same game with 2 of them not really adding much value. Honestly, it would have been best if the 2 unlockable duos were boss rush only since running through the castle and sub worlds was a total pushover from the start. The only part that gave me trouble in Richter mode was the final boss (since you can't heal like in Jonathan mode), so I grinded levels for a bit and then got it done. Sisters mode doesn't even have a final boss fight, you simply do all 8 sub world bosses and that's it.

As for the game itself, it's a 2D Castlevania made after Symphony of the Night and those tend to be pretty dang good. I haven't played a ton of them, but this felt a bit more straightforward than others. Having two characters to choose from was interesting, but it was easy to find a way to cheese most encounters or areas so I rarely had to switch. You can have your partner out to fight alongside you as well, which helps but is rarely necessary (and their damage drains your MP). I think I liked Dawn of Sorrow more but still haven't played Order of Ecclesia (maybe next year).

Pretty soon I'll have Lego City Undercover finished. I'm now at about 85% with just a handful of areas to clear out then I need to find a shorter game or two to knock out and stay on track.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

God of War - Pretty sweet.  I'm only a couple hours in but can tell it's gonna be a 9/10 game at worst.  The combat doesn't seem to be as deep as a Souls game, and the puzzles are pretty brainless, but this is an instance where you have a bunch of different pieces that all work well.  The steller graphics and production values don't hurt either: this probably looks better than the PS5 games I've played.  Next generation my ass 

Xenoblade - Been meaning to play this since the Wii days.  Will be real curious to see if I end up liking this or Xenoblade 2 more.

Super Mario 3D World Bowser's Fury - The boys and I are at 40 shines, and I think you beat this at 50.  Normally that would be an hour or two of work, but I let them play as Mario, so it can be slow going.

Paper Mario - on hiatus

Shenmue - on hiatus

[Brickman | 4,000]

Paper Mario 64 completed. I had always thought I had finished this game but turns out I only ever got about a third through it. 

TTYD always gets the most love but there’s just something I love about this Paper Mario game a bit more. It’s simple but so much fun and has diverse and interesting areas to explore. 10/10.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:53 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

God of War - Pretty sweet.  I'm only a couple hours in but can tell it's gonna be a 9/10 game at worst.  The combat doesn't seem to be as deep as a Souls game, and the puzzles are pretty brainless, but this is an instance where you have a bunch of different pieces that all work well.  The steller graphics and production values don't hurt either: this probably looks better than the PS5 games I've played.  Next generation my ass 

Xenoblade - Been meaning to play this since the Wii days.  Will be real curious to see if I end up liking this or Xenoblade 2 more.

Super Mario 3D World Bowser's Fury - The boys and I are at 40 shines, and I think you beat this at 50.  Normally that would be an hour or two of work, but I let them play as Mario, so it can be slow going.

Paper Mario - on hiatus

Shenmue - on hiatus

I'll be interested to see what you think of GoW as it progresses. It's kind of a "move forward to win" type of experience. Production values are insane and story has some cool moments, but I found the gameplay kind of lacking. Combat is so-so and collecting/crafting adds absolutely nothing to the game and is emphasized way too heavily. It was a solid 8/10 for me just like almost every first party Playstation game, but that score is really just a reflection of the overall quality rather than my enjoyment. I'd compare it to The Last of Us: a game tons of people consider one of the best of all-time, but that I found pretty uninteresting in the grand scheme of things. That being said, I'm definitely looking forward to playing Ragnarok when it hits PS Plus.

[Sumez | 2,970]

5 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I'll be interested to see what you think of GoW as it progresses. It's kind of a "move forward to win" type of experience.

What difficulty did you play on?? The combat in gow4 is pretty involving, and IMO quite challenging at least early on. The game is definitely at least ten times as fun as The Last of Us 

[Brickman | 4,000]

57 minutes ago, Sumez said:

What difficulty did you play on?? The combat in gow4 is pretty involving, and IMO quite challenging at least early on. The game is definitely at least ten times as fun as The Last of Us 

Yeah agree. I find that people who say that GoW combat is simple are probably playing on the easier levels. Play it on the most difficult and try fighting all the Valkyries. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

44 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Yeah agree. I find that people who say that GoW combat is simple are probably playing on the easier levels. Play it on the most difficult and try fighting all the Valkyries. 

Well my final thoughts are still TBD, but I'm certainly not doing the "most difficult" setting on any first playthrough.

[Brickman | 4,000]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Well my final thoughts are still TBD, but I'm certainly not doing the "most difficult" setting on any first playthrough.

Honestly, you’ll love it no matter the difficulty. Just wanted to say that the combat can be like dark souls or sekiro if you’re on the higher difficulty.

[Sumez | 2,970]

13 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Well my final thoughts are still TBD, but I'm certainly not doing the "most difficult" setting on any first playthrough.

The highest difficulty setting actually changes several core mechanics, such as positioning (on default, the game "glues" you to anything you seem to be attacking like most AAA games, on "Give me God of War", spacing and footsies suddenly becomes a core element).

Personally I'd recommend the second highest difficulty setting for a first playthrough, it seems to best reflect what the game was designed around, but it still gets rather easy in the second half or so of the game, because of all the abilities and stats you are able to build up.

[Floating Platforms | 733]

Lego City Undercover is done

I got to 99.9% last night and got the last objective during lunch today. I think I said last year after getting 100% on Lego Dimensions that I was done with those games for a while, but I wanted to make more progress on my Wii U backlog and this was an obvious place to start. I'll probably play the 3DS Lego City game next year.

The game is good, the same type of stuff you would expect from Lego. Clever writing that is kid friendly but doesn't talk down and has some legitimate good jokes and moments.  If you just want to beat the story, it's a fast experience. The meat of the game is going through the districts and searching for collectibles with all your unlocked abilities. After finishing the story, your percentage will likely be around 30-40%. The tasks can get repetitive and it wasn't great that you have several objectives on rooftops that take effort to climb, but each one takes you off the roof so you have to make the same trek 2, 3, 4 times.  Some of the stuff is pretty deviously hidden but red bricks give you better scanning and there was only one thing that didn't pop up in my scan that I can remember.  A good time waster, pretty good game to have on mute in the background while watching other stuff.

In other news, I was stuck on the first major boss in Yakuza Kiwami (the Shimano fight at the funeral) and stopped playing for a few months, but finally got past it this weekend and I'm looking forward to sinking many hours into the sidequests now that the city has opened up to me.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

I accidentally started Baba is You and Mischief Makers.

Wall is Stop is my arch enemy.

[Sumez | 2,970]

41 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I accidentally started Baba is You

Look forward to one hell of a trip!!

Don't look anything up, seriously. Play everything you can, and then experiment some more, return to stages later, and then much later again - a fresh perspective can really help a lot more than you think. Most importantly though, the game adds way more mechanics than you thought possible, and you want to keep that experience pure.

Ultimately I did use an online hint system for a couple of stages to avoid getting any straight up solutions. But I think even then you want to keep those as few as possible. The game is really really tough, but I think most puzzles can be solved by anyone given enough patience, a constructive approach, and an ability to think outside the box.  

[Reed Rothchild | 9,561]

I'm resolved to use zero help.  We'll see how that goes.