The 2024 Backlog Challenge

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Bravely Default - working through it.  I have a couple dragons left, and then I'm probably done with side content (I think, who knows), since I'm not going to clear the optional bosses yet again.  Could be smooth sailing, until I find out I need a particular skill and have to grind job levels.  We'll see.

Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen - The last game of that console generation that I was playing before going on hiatus with our first pregnancy.  I can kinda see why I ditched it the first time: it's not as amazing as I'd hoped, both back then,and now.  But it is fun in a mindless, hack and slash sorta way.

A Plague Tale - The Last of Us: Hellblade Edition.  I put this back on my radar after @DoctorEncore's ravings.  It's fine, even if the gameplay is very limited.  I'll grab the sequel when I see it hit $20.

The Walking Dead - 2 out of 4.5 seasons completed.  I'll do season 3 after Plague Tale.  Clementine is an all-time video game character.

Tunic - spoiler thing and spoiler thing and spoiler thing and other spoiler thing

[G-type | 2,540]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:30 AM, Sumez said:

Legacy of the Wizard - Beaten 4/3

Had I known how little text is actually in this game, I would have played it decades ago when I first ended up with a Famicom cartridge of the game. Legacy of the Wizard really is an "it's all in the manual" type of game, and to be honest, I love that.
Going right into the game, it immediately boots into the house of a family descended from a legendary wizard (hence the title I guess), and lets you pick a family member to go adventuring into the massive maze-like dungeon below the house, transforming them into a cool RPG-like character.

The actual RPG elements in this game are fairly light however, at its heart it's a metroidvania style platformer, even if the platforming is sort of unique in how it tries to combine 8-way movement with gravity and jumping. Each character has a set of stats, but they cannot be increased, and enemies drop gold which can be used to purchase items, though many items can be found in the dungeon as well.
The items you find are equipped in a very limited Resident Evil style 3-item inventory system, which can only be switched out whenever you sleep in an inn, an establishment that is surprisingly ubiquitous within the hostile caves you'll be exploring.
Even within these three items, only one can actually be equipped at a time, which does create a cool priotization balance between some of them, but it has the bothersome side effect that you'll likely end up just ignoring some otherwise cool items like the magic armor or staff that extends you attack range, in favor of actually essential items.

Each character has unique skills which really sets them apart, and in some cases entirely changes how you play, as well as giving you access to different parts of the dungeon. This is a really cool idea, and probably the biggest appeal of the game. One character, your family dog, transforms into a cute monster who is able to touch enemies without taking any damage, but has otherwise very limited abilities, and serves best to scout out the terrain early on, and securing a few of the first items you will be needing, and which only certain other family members are able to make use of.

All of this sounds extremely cool on paper. Dungeon diving in a massive underground maze with a ton of secrets and monsters, gradually improving your abilities to cover more ground - the deeper you explore the harder getting out safely can be, with the risk of any single death losing any progress made since the last time you left your house.
This is the game I really want to play, but unfortunately the majority of Legacy of the Wizard is split into four completely segregated sections, each designed with one specific character in mind, essentially just resulting in four linear stages, which detracts a bit from that sense of exploration and adventure.

As I mentioned, you absolutely need the manual in hand to even have a vague idea of what each item does. But honestly that will only take you so far. The most complex item is the glove, allowing the father to move blocks out of the way. The way it works is extremely obscure, making most of the operations you can do feel like odd exploits based on the game's controls. However, his part of the dungeon absolutely requires you to understand every one of those nuances in order to make it through the incredibly long-winded sequence of block pushing puzzles that make up his journey.
I have no clue how people were expected to figure this out back in 1987. One other place where I ended up using a guide, was finding the shield - definitely intended as a secret to be shared between friends or in magazines. But without it I'd have no hope of defeating some of the later bosses.

And man, let me tell you about those bosses. Each of them are capable of completely decimating you in seconds if you aren't prepared - and there is no way you are going to be prepared.
You can struggle your way through a section of the dungeon upwards of an hour, only to come across any other inconspicious looking chest, which will immediately transport you to a boss fight. No way to escape, and if you lose, all progress is reset. I think I was pretty lucky to be able to survive the first two of these with some old fashioned Mashing & Praying, but for the next two, I ended up repeating the same journey more times than what is realistically enjoyable. It doesn't help either, that some rooms in the game seem to be designed mostly just to waste your time, rather than challenge you.

Legacy of a Wizard feels like a game that should have been something else than what it was, and it's really too bad because I think had it been so, it would easily have been considered a classic today. All the components are there, they just aren't arranged quite right.

Awesome! One of my favorites that I've beaten several times. inspired me to make a guide: https://bit.ly/legacyofthewizard

[Tantalus | 459]

Well, I made it through Easy mode on ActRaiser 2. I'm counting it for myself and for this challenge, even though the final level, boss, and ending are only available in Normal and Hard.

I had a pretty good time this one. The graphics and music are both top notch. The controls take same getting used to, but I did find I had a fairly good handle on them by the end.

This game definitely earns its reputation about its difficulty. Every level took several tries, even just on Easy. Maybe some day I'll put the time into getting good enough to play through Normal, but for now, I'm scratching it off the backlog and moving on to something else. 

Oh, and I missed taking a photo of the "ending" screen - "Congratulations! Challenge Normal game!" But, I did manage one of my score afterwards:

[T-Pac | 7,590]

13/40 - Mountain King [Atari 2600 - 1983]

Finished: 2024/03/13

Caveats: Game 1/b ; High Score: 115,140

[T-Pac]

[Sumez | 2,995]

Crash Bandicoot 4 is one of those games that you think you're done with and then it goes on for another 180 hours. What the hell was going through the heads of the people who made this. I'm lagging behind on my backlog now 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

Crash Bandicoot 4 is one of those games that you think you're done with and then it goes on for another 180 hours. What the hell was going through the heads of the people who made this. I'm lagging behind on my backlog now 

You gonna do a completionist run?  

[Sumez | 2,995]

This game apparently has several levels of "completion", some of them seemingly just to waste your time.

I honestly wish it didn't, because gong for the optional challenges is generally what makes this series fun,and that's true for crash 4 as well. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Tunic

Spoiler

On the one hand, it's yet another Dark Souls-y thing with combat that is.... good, but not amazing.  As if we needed another one of those.

On the other hand, it has some of my favorite puzzles in gaming history.  The last major one took about 5 hours of

Spoiler

staring at every page of the manual

, and wandering around the world before I had the crucial epiphany.  And then I had to have another ephinany to figure out one of the puzzles within that puzzle.  Ingenious stuff.  And there's still more stuff to find, for people who are smart enough (not me) to figure it all out.

Last year I played through the acclaimed action RPGs Death's Door and Hyper Light Drifter.  Both are fine games.  6/10 kind of stuff.  But I won't be thinking about them in 10 years.  I will be thinking about this game.  That's a hallmark of an all-time title.

1. Bloodborne (9.5/10)
2. Tunic (9/10)
3. Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
4. Firewatch (8.5/10)
5. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
6. Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
7. The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
8. The Talos Principle (7.5/10)
9. The Quarry (7/10)
10. Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
11. Beyond Oasis (5/10)

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

*wipes to the Bravely Default Water Crystal Boss Fight #4 (!!!) for the third straight time*

This game is really, really, really testing me.

[T-Pac | 7,590]

14/40 - Gradius [Nintendo Entertainment System - 1986]

Finished: 2024/03/15

Caveats: Used turbo-fire, and save-states at the start and end of each stage.

[T-Pac]

[Floating Platforms | 742]

I really appreciate all the spoiler tags being applied to the Tunic and Obra Dinn talk. I'm planning to dive into those next after I can knock out at least one of the three behemoths I'm currently tackling.  Sadly it will still be quite a while.

Current progress
AC: Valhalla - Power level 200, maybe about 30% done with the map objectives & 60% done with the story. No DLC done
Yakuza 0 - Ch. 7. Trying to focus more on side stories and alt modes. Finished all the RC car racing, 1/5th done with the real estate and just started the Cabaret mission. So much to do.
Danganronpa 3 - haven't worked on it lately. Still have the post-game grind to go through
Mario Kart 7 - I'll hopefully be done by end of month. One more gold cup in 150cc to acquire in order to unlock mirror mode.

Edited March 17 by Floating Platforms

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

Bravely Default

Lots of thoughts on this one...

We'll start with the good.

First, this game has an amazing battle system that represents the peak (at the time) implementation of the classic Final Fantasy job system.  You have tons of jobs, they have tons of skills to unlock, they all bring something unique and powerful to the table, and you can combine your individual and party setups in an infinite number of ways.  I rocked a large number of different setups because I had to constantly adapt to the different challenges that different bosses brought.  And the "brave" and "default" abilities?  Going back to the classic Final Fantasy battle system is going to feeling awfully limiting after that.

Second, this is about as ambitious as a classic Final Fantasy "crystal" story can get.  It aims high with

Spoiler

parallel worlds and time loops and betrayals

and all that jazz.  Kudos to the game for really going for it.

Third, it is fun to play.  You have to fight nine thousand battles, and trek through nine thousand dungeons, and fight nine thousand boss battles, and because the gameplay has so much depth, and there's so much tinkering you can do, it never really gets old.  Kind of.

Now the bad.  There's so much bad.

The second half of the game is 

Spoiler

repeating the first half of the game FIVE times.  FIVE.  FUCKING.  TIMES.

I get what they were going for, but they didn't pull it off.  And you want to get the full lore and storyline?  Fight boss battles that provide no benefit to you.  Frickin' blah!

Second, the story.  The thing I just praised.  There is a crucial piece of it that makes absolutely no goddamn sense.  If 

Spoiler

Ringabel figures out that Airy is the bad guy who is leading them astray, and he brings the others into the fold, WHY DO THEY CONTINUE  FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH HER EVIL PLAN?

1.  "Hey guys, we cannot trust her."
2.  "Okay, so she says to do this..."
3.  "Oh shit, she betrayed us.  If only we had known not to trust her!

Did they fuck up the translation or cut content to explain this?  It makes no sense.

Third, the number of jobs and the amount of grinding can be a double edged sword, because the further you get into the game, and the tougher the boss battles get, the more you need to find a setup that has the synergy to get you over the hump.  Until the next boss battle requires a different kind of synergy.

So how do you find what works?  Spend a million years grinding away job levels so you can acquire abilities and figure out what works.  Or cheat and use the internet.  Good luck at the endgame if you're going on your own though.

I'm not exactly sure how long the entire game took me, including reloads, but I bet it was close to 80 hours.  I started this damn thing back in November, and by the end here I just wanted it to end.  After my second wipe on the final boss(es) to some bullshit instant kill that you can't see coming, I threw in the towel and toggled the game to Easy.  The first time I did that across the entire playthrough.  I just couldn't grind away or experiment with the party any more.  It had worn me down.

So how does all of that translates to a score rating?  I have no idea.  It's like half of a 9/10 game and half of a 4/10 game.   So I'm splitting the difference.

1. Bloodborne (9.5/10)
2. Tunic (9/10)
3. Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
4. Firewatch (8.5/10)
5. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
6. Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
7. The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
8. The Talos Principle (7.5/10)
9. The Quarry (7/10)
10. Bravely Default (6.5/10)
11. Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
12. Beyond Oasis (5/10)

[greenthunder | 115]

A webcomic related to Reed's thoughts:

Spoiler

 

Ended up binging through Ace Attorney 2, Ace Attorney 3 and my replay of Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Much emotional dumpstering was had. Outside of figuring about what I want to do for AA5's and AA6's DLC, I'll probably take a break from AA for a bit and then pick up with Investigations eventually.

I still want to pick up and start Baten Kaitos, but my copy of Persona 3 Portable came in today, so I should probably start that. At the same time, I've had enough visual novelly cutscenes/lots of text for a bit. I also still can't decide whether to play the male or female protag, since I know their plot/social links are different. I like the design of the male protag more, but I know it's very unlikely the female protag will be added to Persona 3 Reload, but I don't even know if I'll like P3 enough to want to play it again. Decisions, decisions.

Or I'll just continue playing off list games; not like there's anything wrong with that.

[Tantalus | 459]

Final Fantasy V. Third time was the charm for this one, I guess. I made it through about 20% of the game via the fan-translated SNES rom back in the day, then about 80% of the way through the GBA version a few years ago, before dropping it both times.

This time around, I actually started playing this before I started on Phantasy Star II and it's interesting comparing my experiences between the two games. I can point out all of the flaws of PSII, but at the same time, it was a game that I kept wanting to go back to and play. FFV, on the other hand, is a fine game all around. The story is nothing amazing, but it's passable, especially for its age. I can see why people like the customization that the job system allows. The soundtrack ranges from just fine to absolutely fantastic. But throughout the entire game, I felt like I was forcing myself to play it and had it not been for this backlog challenge, I may have dropped it again. It's a fine game, but it just doesn't seem to do much for me. I'm more likely to replay most other Final Fantasies over this one, and most other SNES RPGs that I've played over it as well.

As for this Backlog Challenge, I'm making good progress so far. I typically get through more games through the first few months of the year, and then it slows down as spring and summer hits, before picking back up again through the fall. So far, my progress is:

• 6 out of 10 groups of games with at least 1 game beat
• 8 out of 15 games beat overall

[RH | 4,984]

Well it looks like I never posted in this topic, fearing I'd have a repeat of 2023 but I think this is the year of me finishing Final Fantasy VI.

I think I'm officially half-way through the game, which is much further than I've ever gotten.  So, that's my backlog intent for this year.  Finish Final Fantasy VI.

[RH | 4,984]

8 hours ago, Tantalus said:

Final Fantasy V. Third time was the charm for this one, I guess. I made it through about 20% of the game via the fan-translated SNES rom back in the day, then about 80% of the way through the GBA version a few years ago, before dropping it both times.

This time around, I actually started playing this before I started on Phantasy Star II and it's interesting comparing my experiences between the two games. I can point out all of the flaws of PSII, but at the same time, it was a game that I kept wanting to go back to and play. FFV, on the other hand, is a fine game all around. The story is nothing amazing, but it's passable, especially for its age. I can see why people like the customization that the job system allows. The soundtrack ranges from just fine to absolutely fantastic. But throughout the entire game, I felt like I was forcing myself to play it and had it not been for this backlog challenge, I may have dropped it again. It's a fine game, but it just doesn't seem to do much for me. I'm more likely to replay most other Final Fantasies over this one, and most other SNES RPGs that I've played over it as well.

As for this Backlog Challenge, I'm making good progress so far. I typically get through more games through the first few months of the year, and then it slows down as spring and summer hits, before picking back up again through the fall. So far, my progress is:

• 6 out of 10 groups of games with at least 1 game beat
• 8 out of 15 games beat overall

Ha, I made my last post before even reading any others in this thread.

FF V is my favorite 2D Final Fantasy.  Your observations are reasonably valid but I like the simpler story and after getting into FF VI, it's good but it's just a bit too ambitious for me in some ways.  I mean, I'm really enjoying FF VI and it probably would have been my favorite RPG if I played it as a kid, but FF V is a good balance of what I enjoy form Square but also doesn't feel like you have to be so super-involved into it to get out of the game what all it has to offer.

When  I initially started FF VI for this year, there was a VERY strong pull to go back to V, but I had to resist the urge.  I'm refusing to be distracted by other games, even if at times I'd rather play them.  

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,079]

I beat Little Nemo: The Dream Master the other day. It's a really fun and well-playing platformer where you don't just make it to the end of the level, but you have to search for keys to unlock the exit door. To find the keys you can take on different forms by feeding creatures candys. With this you can for example turn into some kind of frog guy and jump really high. Or the bee allows you to fly for a short while etc. This lets you overcome certain obstacles and reach certain keys. So it's a pretty fun mechanic that combined with the excellent controls make this game a very enjoyable experience.

There's only a few minor nitpicks. Like how some levels are a bit long and have no checkpoint in the middle. So when you die you have to do everything all over again including getting the different transformations etc. Some of the later levels also get really difficult with some annoying enemies that respawn all the time (why does it always have to be bats?).

Overall it's a delightful game with a decent challenge that I can wholeheartedly recommend to fans of the NES and platformers. I give it an 8/10, i.e. Great game. You like to recommend it.

1. Little Nemo: The Dream Master (8/10)
2. Destiny of an Emperor (6.5/10)
3. Wurm - Journey to the Center of the Earth (5.5/10)

[Sumez | 2,995]

21 hours ago, RH said:

FF V is a good balance of what I enjoy form Square but also doesn't feel like you have to be so super-involved into it to get out of the game what all it has to offer.

Yeah, I love FF6 and 5 but for very different reason. 5 is lighthearted and fun. Just go on an adventure and don't think too hard about the plot and characters. The world is cool regardless.

FF6 has a surprisingly gripping storyline with some really engaging events underway. It was the first game I ever played that managed to pull that off on such a scale, and to this date I don't think many other games really come close.

[Jicsan | 592]

I'm only on chapter 4 in FF7 Rebirth, but Dragon's Dogma 2 comes out tomorrow.  I was optimistic that I could finish it before DD2 released, that was so naive.  Probably try to play them both some without shelfing one of them for a while.   

[T-Pac | 7,590]

15/40 - Twinbee [Nintendo Famicom - 1986]

Finished: 2024/03/19

Caveats: Used turbo-fire and save-states.

[T-Pac]

[T-Pac | 7,590]

Backlog edit:

I finally got a capture setup that lets me record VRC-chip famicom games (I won't bore anyone with the technical details), so I'm swapping two of my backlog games for Gradius II and Twinbee 3. (Sorry Godzilla and TaleSpin - maybe next year haha).

Excited to finally play these!

[T-Pac]

[Reed Rothchild | 9,598]

A Plague Tale: Innocence

I enjoyed it.  Nothing essential, with gameplay that is relatively basic:  mostly stealth-based with some light puzzle solving and simple combat.  Combat which has some flaws that don't really hold up at the end of the game where anything remotely tough happens.  But it's a minor grievance.

Instead, you'd mostly want to play this for the characters and the storyline.  And I think it succeeds on that front.  I heard some complaints about the voice acting, but it seemed fine to me. 

I'll play the sequel (which is supposed to be superior) in the next year or two.

1. Bloodborne (9.5/10)
2. Tunic (9/10)
3. Yakuza 2 Kiwami (8.5/10)
4. Firewatch (8.5/10)
5. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (8/10)
6. Bayonetta 3 (8/10)
7. The Stanley Parable (7.5/10)
8. The Talos Principle (7.5/10)
9. The Quarry (7/10)
10. A Plague Tale: Innocence (7/10)
11. Bravely Default (6.5/10)
12. Pikmin 1 (6.5/10)
13. Beyond Oasis (5/10)

[Floating Platforms | 742]

Mario Kart 7 is done

I got gold cups on all levels, but I have no interest in trying to get 3 stars on everything. I've become less and less interested in this series as time went on. Loved playing multiplayer on the SNES, 100%'d the N64 one, then did the same with the DS version a decade+ ago. This one is fine, but it's bland and boring. I've played a tiny bit of 8 on Wii U (I'm one of the dozen switch owners that doesn't have it for that system) and finished a couple races and was ready to be done. It doesn't hook me. Picking this up for 2 races at a time during breaks was the best way to slog through it. 

[G-type | 2,540]

I've replaced Solstice with Solaris... I figure they both start with the same first 3 letters so its fair game. Solstice I spent enough time with it to know that I'm NEVER going to beat it. I'm glad I took the time to give it a fair shake and its a pretty neat game.

Solaris on the other hand has really hooked me. It's also really hard, but I feel the urge to see the ending.

[T-Pac | 7,590]

16/40 - Gradius II [Nintendo Famicom - 1988]

Finished: 2024/03/23

Caveats: Used turbo-fire and save-states.

[T-Pac]