The 2023 Backlog Challenge

[BlackVega | 583]

What is this? Can I just declare on what I want to beat here? Also I want to post completions in other challenge threads so can I just mirror them?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

6 hours ago, BlackVega said:

What is this? Can I just declare on what I want to beat here? Also I want to post completions in other challenge threads so can I just mirror them?

Yes and yes

[BlackVega | 583]

Aha ANY system comes into play here?? I would probably cover a few common systems everyone knows but I'm planning on beating some titles on Japanese PC-98. Does that count? However considering the reputation of that system I'd probably have to censor "some" of that incoming stuff.......

[Philosoraptor | 468]

6 hours ago, BlackVega said:

Aha ANY system comes into play here?? I would probably cover a few common systems everyone knows but I'm planning on beating some titles on Japanese PC-98. Does that count? However considering the reputation of that system I'd probably have to censor "some" of that incoming stuff.......

Yup! This thread is about beating games in your backlog regardless of console. It can be anything.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

9 hours ago, BlackVega said:

Aha ANY system comes into play here?? I would probably cover a few common systems everyone knows but I'm planning on beating some titles on Japanese PC-98. Does that count? However considering the reputation of that system I'd probably have to censor "some" of that incoming stuff.......

Make a list (or loose set of guidelines if that works best for you), for whatever games you want under whatever criteria you want.  See my list and @Brickman's list, both on page 1, for different approaches.

[Splain | 2,592]

It's for your own benefit, so do whatever you want. This thread is some of the best stuff on the site, because people are playing, reviewing, and discussing games they've always wanted to play, so there's a lot of well-known games and fresh takes. The very freshest of takes.

[Gloves | 11,845]

Been playing GTA San Andreas a lot. Pretty glad I picked this one to actually sit and play; I have 3 and Vice City, but I feel like SA has a whole lot going for it, especially the expansive map with really varied regions. 

I've got the whole map unlocked, and around 10-15 main missions to go. The game says my playing time is at 19 hours but it feels like a lot longer. Some of that will be time lost to reloading saves (it gets quite difficult eventually to not die), not sure about any other time lost to that counter. It also says I'm at 46% completion which I know is heavily influenced by random collectibles and the like, which I won't be bothering with. 

Enjoying it a lot. Definitely gonna see it through to the end here. 

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

Been playing GTA San Andreas a lot. Pretty glad I picked this one to actually sit and play; I have 3 and Vice City, but I feel like SA has a whole lot going for it, especially the expansive map with really varied regions. 

I've got the whole map unlocked, and around 10-15 main missions to go. The game says my playing time is at 19 hours but it feels like a lot longer. Some of that will be time lost to reloading saves (it gets quite difficult eventually to not die), not sure about any other time lost to that counter. It also says I'm at 46% completion which I know is heavily influenced by random collectibles and the like, which I want be bothering with. 

Enjoying it a lot. Definitely gonna see it through to the end here. 

It’s a fantastic game and I feel it’s aged pretty well. Top 5 of all time for me for sure. 

[Gloves | 11,845]

Well I did it. I've *played* every GTA game, but now I've finally *beaten* one. GTA San Andreas is done, and it was a really fun ride. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Nice.  I'm finally doing V for the backlog next year.

[Gloves | 11,845]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I wrote down some thoughts on Medal of Honor and GTA:SA on my site:

Gloves Off Games - GTA San Andreas Review

Gloves Off Games - Medal of Honor Review

In case anyone is interested.

[Gloves | 11,845]

On a minor rampage, I've played a ton of Soul Calibur 2 on PS2 but never touched it on GameCube before. Played through arcade mode as Link to see how he plays. He plays weird lol. 

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

I’m at 108/120 in Super Mario 64. I’ve got the first 13 worlds completed and half of Tick Tock Clock. 
 

It’s getting quite difficult now but I’m still enjoying it! Three more stars in TTC and four more in RR. Then 5 more Castle Secret Stars… so close! 

[Sumez | 2,995]

On 9/15/2023 at 9:53 PM, Brickman said:

This is the first New Super Mario Bros game I’ve played, so I don’t have any reference point to the series, but I do know this series seems to have mixed reviews. 

You played the one NSMB game that pretty much everyone dislikes. It's really too bad if you're basing your assumptions about NSMBW or NSMBU on this one.  

[Brickman | 4,022]

35 minutes ago, Sumez said:

You played the one NSMB game that pretty much everyone dislikes. It's really too bad if you're basing your assumptions about NSMBW or NSMBU on this one.  

Nah I wasn't, I'll play them eventually. I just picked this one up for cheap and had heard good and bad things of the series overall but thought I'd give it a go. I wasn't aware this was the bad one though.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Binged Nioh around the kids' flag football games all weekend, and man that game is long.  I can appreciate a lot of the things it does, but having you replay the same (rather uninteresting) levels over and over again isn't the most compelling setup imo.

And I'm not the biggest fan of Diablo-style loot pinatas where you're constantly drowning in new gear.  Makes everything feel super transitory.  But at least they convert to "souls." Really easy insurance for level gains.

Fun game though.  Probably gonna land at an 8.  Unsure if I'll do the 3 included DLCs right now because that'll add another 30 hours, and I don't know if I really want that right now.

[Sumez | 2,995]

Nioh really didn't needed Diablo loot or all the repetition to pad the game. What is there is super high quality, and it'd be just as great, or probably better, if it were a 30 hour game instead of a 100 hour one. Honestly I like a lot of its boss fights better than anything I fought in a Fromsoft game.

[Foochie776 | 1,062]

Im up to 113/120 through a very shocking turn of events. I completed Tick Tock Clock… that 100 coin was much much much easier than anticipated. I got one secret star and one from Rainbow Ride. 
 

Two more in Rainbow Ride, Star 1 and 6 and then the 100 coin. Four secret stars. Two bowser red coins and then the two wing caps.

[Gloves | 11,845]

Beat the last mission and got the credit roll on Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D tonight. Been playing a few missions before bed each night. Really enjoyable game, I always loved the mode on RE4 PS2, so having a whole game dedicated to it with unlocks and such is great. I'll keep playing, do the EX missions, and at least unlock Hunks alt costume (A Rank all missions). 

[Brickman | 4,022]

1 hour ago, Gloves said:

Beat the last mission and got the credit roll on Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D tonight. Been playing a few missions before bed each night. Really enjoyable game, I always loved the mode on RE4 PS2, so having a who're game dedicated to it with unlocks and such is great. I'll keep playing, do the EX missions, and at least unlock Hunks alt costume (A Rank all missions). 

I recently picked this up for cheap but wasn’t sure how good it was. I might have to move it up the list.

[Floating Platforms | 742]

The World Ends With You is done, sort of.

I beat the story and new game plus says you can collect extra stuff and there's a new side story available and if you collect all the new notes things then a special secret is available. So, I'm going to keep playing (since this is the last handheld game I had planned this year anyway), but I would be totally satisfied to leave it where it stands if need be.

The dual screen combat is such an interesting concept that doesn't fully need to be there and really gets lost in the hectic nature of the encounters.  The battles are sometimes frantic and they demand your attention on a single screen. There is no way to actually manage both.  So, most of the time, I was mashing left or right and hoping that the bonuses that come from letting your partner build their meter in a certain way would happen eventually. I certainly had no ability to guide the cursor to a specific icon the way it's expecting you to.  Also, it's not needed. The combat from the pins and their various abilities is enough to carry the combat on its own. Mix and match your preferred style, because there are so many choices.  However, I ended up sticking to basic actions like "touch empty space" or "slash across Neku" because the more complex things like "draw a circle" didn't register very often.

There are so many items in the game, so many pins but resources are still limited which made the progression interesting for someone that didn't want to stop and grind for the best gear. I did enough extra battles to get that last little bit to get by and that worked.  The game also won't penalize you for switching difficulty. In fact, the "noise report" encourages you to beat each enemy at all 4 levels - I stuck to normal most of the time.

Story wise, I found the premise very interesting and it kept me engaged most of the time. The actual ending felt like it was missing a chunk and rushed through without explaining enough (so maybe that's where NG+ comes in, but I hope not). It was solid enough that I'm now interested in Neo World Ends With You and might pick it up if it's not too expensive already.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Started up Ion Fury,and @Sumez was correct, save scumming is the name of the game.

It's been decades since I've played a build engine game, but my memory says this was always the case.

[Webhead123 | 687]

21 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Started up Ion Fury,and @Sumez was correct, save scumming is the name of the game.

It's been decades since I've played a build engine game, but my memory says this was always the case.

Pretty much. One of the most impressive things about Build Engine games back in the day was how (relatively) large and complex some of the stages were. This is great for making the player feel both challenged and rewarded but because those games could also be unapologetically brutal, it meant that unless you wanted to replay a whole 10-20 minute stage all over again every time you die, you're gonna want to save constantly.

I still haven't played Ion Fury but I intend to at some point. My favorite of the original Build Engine trilogy is Blood by far, with Shadow Warrior very close behind and Duke 3D last but they're all excellent. Blood is a solid contender for my favorite FPS ever, actually, neck-and-neck with Doom. Obviously, the two games are separated by 4 years of technological and design advancement in the industry, so in that way, I feel Blood has the benefit of using Doom's foundation to craft a deeper and more engaging package but a big part of Doom's strength is in its simplicity, so it's hard to truly compare them.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Webhead123

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Yeah I did the shareware of Shadow Warrior and Blood quite a bit BITD.

I can already tell Ion Fury is gonna land at a 5/10, at best.  Had a lot more fun with Dusk.  Will share full thoughts once I finish.

[Sumez | 2,995]

4 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

it meant that unless you wanted to replay a whole 10-20 minute stage all over again every time you die, you're gonna want to save constantly.

In the case of Ion Fury, the issue isn't so much the length of stages, but the fact that every single encounter can potentially begin with an enemy one-shotting you with hitscan weapons before you even see them.