The 2021 Backlog Challenge

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

15 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I'm at Disney World for the week with my wife and kiddos and I'm hoping I'll get a chance to FINALLY play Hollow Knight in the evenings. So far it's not going so well. It turns out that walking several miles a day in 95F (35C @Gloves) degree heat while juggling a four year old and one year old is more physically and mentally taxing than I predicted. It also doesn't help that my son insists on waking the family at 5am.

On to Hollywood Studios (and maybe Hollow Knight) tomorrow!

We went there in 2019 with my two kids and 4 nieces/nephews (6 kids total under the age of 6).  I brought a 3DS with a bunch of games to play in the evenings after the kids went to bed, but before I went to sleep.  I never turned in on once the entire week.  

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

6 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

We went there in 2019 with my two kids and 4 nieces/nephews (6 kids total under the age of 6).  I brought a 3DS with a bunch of games to play in the evenings after the kids went to bed, but before I went to sleep.  I never turned in on once the entire week.  

I couldn't imagine doing this with more than two. My 15 month old daughter is just absolutely impossible. She refuses to sleep in the stroller, so by noon, she's in full meltdown mode. Thankfully I planned for this and knew we'd only be in the parks from 8-12, head back to the hotel for lunch & nap, then go to the pool in the afternoons. We're missing a lot of rides but we'll come back again some day.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,509]

7 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

We went there in 2019 with my two kids and 4 nieces/nephews (6 kids total under the age of 6).

My sympathies 

[Jicsan | 586]

The Goonies is off my list!

It was surprisingly short and easy.  The time limit cost me more lives than anything else since I spent so much time lost.  I found every kid in every stage, mostly because they always turned up before all the keys did.  I only found one hidden power up though.  Maybe one day I will play it again with a walk through and get all those too.

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

13 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I couldn't imagine doing this with more than two. My 15 month old daughter is just absolutely impossible. She refuses to sleep in the stroller, so by noon, she's in full meltdown mode. Thankfully I planned for this and knew we'd only be in the parks from 8-12, head back to the hotel for lunch & nap, then go to the pool in the afternoons. We're missing a lot of rides but we'll come back again some day.

 

13 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

My sympathies 

 

Full disclosure:  there were 8 adults there as well (including my wife and I).  So we weren't outnumbered.  But yes, it was still a lot of work.  On the way home we stopped at Fort Walton Beach for two days.  6 kids under 6 is also a lot of fun when sand is involved.    For anyone not familiar, sand is course, rough and irritating....... and it gets everywhere.  

Edited May 5, 2021 by TDIRunner

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

2/5.

I beat Contra Hard Corps. Wasn't a big fan of the controls which took away from the game. Also, not growing up with it I find it hard to get attached to these games like some of their counterparts. I had a similar feeling playing Bloodlines even though I love Castlevania. Both are good games but not ones I'll likely go back to. I liked Bloodlines more than Hard Corps.

I added Mega Man 11 (under an hour achievement) to my list. I thought I had already added it, but must have slipped my mind. It's somewhat of a backlog as I did everything in the game except that and then let it slide but I have to do it for completion - Plus I just love the game.

I guess I should add Fire 'n Ice too. Although I didn't plan on playing it at all, I was farting around on my Switch yesterday and booted it up on the NES app... well about 5 or 6 hours later and I was on World 8 lol. Addictive little game.... 'just one more level' Never played it before in my life.

[monkeybut625 | 39]

I finally beat Majora's Mask. I stand by my opinion that it is the worst of the mainline Zelda's, but at least I can check it off.

[Sumez | 2,931]

What defines a "mainline zelda"? I always thought of it as a spinoff. So if it's mainline, wouldn't Spirit Tracks also be so? That one is by far the worst Zelda game I've played, not counting the cd-i ones (even if I found those more enjoyable, too)

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

17 hours ago, Sumez said:

What defines a "mainline zelda"? I always thought of it as a spinoff. So if it's mainline, wouldn't Spirit Tracks also be so? That one is by far the worst Zelda game I've played, not counting the cd-i ones (even if I found those more enjoyable, too)

Agreed on Spirit Tracks. It's the only Zelda game that I had to force myself to finish. It's just so not fun.

As for me, I've been playing pretty much just Hollow Knight while on vacation and I've made some good progress. I have no idea how long the game is, but I feel like I've revealed most of the map. Hopefully I can finish that and The Last of Us in May.

Edited May 7, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[monkeybut625 | 39]

I will say spririt tracks is my second least favorite, I at least forced myself to play through it when it first came out.

[Californication | 1,477]

On 4/27/2021 at 11:10 PM, Californication said:

Forgot about this.

Valfaris - boss

Pocky and Rocky - second to last boss

Contra - Level 6 boss

Kickmaster - last level

Vulgar - last level

Vulgar and Valfaris down. That final boss on Valfaris is just beautiful game design.

Can now get to lvl 7 Conta on first life, but can't beat level 7 boss yet 

Replayed Kickmaster to increase my level and am at the boss.

Edit: Contra down

Edit 2: Kickmaster down.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Californication

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Man, Hollow Knight is just dragging for me. The game feels incredibly large and long, but also artificially inflated due to the limited fast travel, sparse save system, and archaic mapping decisions. The amount of backtracking is borderline ridiculous. The fact you can't even start mapping a new section until you find and buy the area map feels completely out of place in a 21st century game. Forcing you to equip an item just to see your location on the map adds further insult to injury. This is all exacerbated by the complete lack of direction. Characters basically tell you to just go explore, which would be fine if there was a reasonable mapping system.

Did you accidentally spend an hour exploring an area and then find out the map is behind a door you can't open yet? Too bad! Your map shows zero progress and you likely didn't obtain anything useful in the process.

Don't get me wrong, the game has a lot to like. It just also has a lot I don't like. It really doesn't respect your time and that doesn't work for me anymore. If I'm going to commit to 30 hours to a game, I don't want half of that to be backtracking.

Between this and The Last of Us, I feel like I'm playing two of the most overrated games in recent memory. Or I'm just turning into an old curmudgeon. Or both.

Edited May 9, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[Renmauzo | 1,196]

Reed's update post really got my ass in gear. I finally beat Chibi Robo last week, but what's really got me buzzing is that - after nearly 30 years of trying off and on - I finally beat Star Tropics moments ago!

I video called my Mom so she could watch the end credits. We pooled our money back in '91 to by the game for my Mom for her birthday, but try as she might, she could never beat it. We've talked about it from time to time in the years since, and she's always wanted to see how it ended but refused to see a video of the ending, wanting me to beat it so we could see the ending together.

My folks were excited on chat, I'm happy to have finally seen the ending and share that with them. I know there are tougher games, but this was still a challenge and special for me.

[Sumez | 2,931]

Congratulations! StarTropics really is a wonderful game

[Jeevan | 8,909]

31 minutes ago, Renmauzo said:

Reed's update post really got my ass in gear. I finally beat Chibi Robo last week, but what's really got me buzzing is that - after nearly 30 years of trying off and on - I finally beat Star Tropics moments ago!

I video called my Mom so she could watch the end credits. We pooled our money back in '91 to by the game for my Mom for her birthday, but try as she might, she could never beat it. We've talked about it from time to time in the years since, and she's always wanted to see how it ended but refused to see a video of the ending, wanting me to beat it so we could see the ending together.

My folks were excited on chat, I'm happy to have finally seen the ending and share that with them. I know there are tougher games, but this was still a challenge and special for me.

that is amazing!!  love it!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,509]

51 minutes ago, Renmauzo said:

Reed's update post really got my ass in gear. I finally beat Chibi Robo last week, but what's really got me buzzing is that - after nearly 30 years of trying off and on - I finally beat Star Tropics moments ago!

I video called my Mom so she could watch the end credits. We pooled our money back in '91 to by the game for my Mom for her birthday, but try as she might, she could never beat it. We've talked about it from time to time in the years since, and she's always wanted to see how it ended but refused to see a video of the ending, wanting me to beat it so we could see the ending together.

My folks were excited on chat, I'm happy to have finally seen the ending and share that with them. I know there are tougher games, but this was still a challenge and special for me.

That's what I'm here for 

...well that and the petty bickering 

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

Beat Pac-Man Arrangement, Galaga Arrangement, and Dig Dug Arrangement in Namco Museum for GameCube:

[Splain | 2,560]

I started Chrono Trigger and I'm a few hours in. For those who know the game, I'm at that part where I have no idea where I'm supposed to go next.

[Gloves | 11,759]

13 minutes ago, Splain said:

I started Chrono Trigger and I'm a few hours in. For those who know the game, I'm at that part where I have no idea where I'm supposed to go next.

Ah yes, the whole game.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,509]

46 minutes ago, Splain said:

I started Chrono Trigger and I'm a few hours in. For those who know the game, I'm at that part where I have no idea where I'm supposed to go next.

Probably have to talk to someone.  Hope that helped.

[Brickman | 3,978]

On 5/10/2021 at 12:08 AM, DoctorEncore said:

Man, Hollow Knight is just dragging for me. The game feels incredibly large and long, but also artificially inflated due to the limited fast travel, sparse save system, and archaic mapping decisions. The amount of backtracking is borderline ridiculous. The fact you can't even start mapping a new section until you find and buy the area map feels completely out of place in a 21st century game. Forcing you to equip an item just to see your location on the map adds further insult to injury. This is all exacerbated by the complete lack of direction. Characters basically tell you to just go explore, which would be fine if there was a reasonable mapping system.

Did you accidentally spend an hour exploring an area and then find out the map is behind a door you can't open yet? Too bad! Your map shows zero progress and you likely didn't obtain anything useful in the process.

Don't get me wrong, the game has a lot to like. It just also has a lot I don't like. It really doesn't respect your time and that doesn't work for me anymore. If I'm going to commit to 30 hours to a game, I don't want half of that to be backtracking.

Between this and The Last of Us, I feel like I'm playing two of the most overrated games in recent memory. Or I'm just turning into an old curmudgeon. Or both.

I hear what you’re saying but I have to respectfully say...you’re wrong! Haha.

Everything you hate about the game I love, the vagueness is great because it makes you really explore and back track to areas once you have more power. I’ll admit that the game isn’t for those who want to power through it or are time poor.

I wish Silksong would hurry up and come out. Need more hollow knight!

[Sumez | 2,931]

1 hour ago, Splain said:

I started Chrono Trigger and I'm a few hours in. For those who know the game, I'm at that part where I have no idea where I'm supposed to go next.

To be perfectly honest, I have no clue where that could be. The game in general tends to be pretty good at giving you directions. If no one told you directly where to go, there's probably something you can go do now that you want to try out, and it'll eventually advance the story.

[Californication | 1,477]

On TMNT I got through the damn area, and got the rockets to blow through the barrier's. So there are two rooms I can go in which require some platforming and fuck me if I can't figure out the stupid jump in either room.

Blazing Chrome - at boss rush.

Shadow of the Ninja - down.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Californication

[Splain | 2,560]

Figured it out! Turns out I wasn't supposed to go to 65,000,000 BC yet lol. Nothing made sense and it seemed like the monsters were all at the right amount of strength. Shrug, got some grinding in I guess. Now I'm at that part where I have to do a thing and fight a dude.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

3 hours ago, Shmup said:

I hear what you’re saying but I have to respectfully say...you’re wrong! Haha.

Everything you hate about the game I love, the vagueness is great because it makes you really explore and back track to areas once you have more power. I’ll admit that the game isn’t for those who want to power through it or are time poor.

I wish Silksong would hurry up and come out. Need more hollow knight!

I'm about 15 hours in and I am finally starting to see the appeal. There is a good game buried here, but it's buried way too deep. Once you have enough movement tech and a few more upgrades the game is immensely better. Still... I don't think a great second half excuses a poor first half with a painfully slow start. I know the game has many ardent defenders, but I think there are some real problems with the game and the pacing is just straight up bad.

The movement and combat just don't feel fun like they do in some of my favorite games of the genre (SotN, Ori). And I'm not trying to say it's too hard; if anything the combat is a bit on the easier side if you take your time (with the exception of some of the dream bosses).

Similar to my complaint about needing to equip a charm to see your location on the map, I don't think you should need to equip a charm to reduce knockback to a reasonable level. Those types of things are what I call Weasel Upgrades (i.e. upgrades that should be part of your base skillset; see "weasel apology" for origin). You don't have to equip those charms, but the game is inarguably better with them. If that is the case, why make them an upgrade at all? I'm not saying I need to start with the double jump and wall slide, but give me the basic quality of life things that make the game more fun.

I'm also not a huge fan of the animation and art style, but I have to admit that the sound design is incredible. The music is creepy and beautiful. There are so many little touches from enemy effects to the map maker's mumbling to the larvae squeaking to the crumbling floors that guide you organically through the areas. I adore that part of the game and wish that same level of attention had been given to the general map layout and traversal.

Anyways, I digress. It's a cool game with some great flourishes, but will probably rate about a 6-7/10 for me. I think it deserves a little more criticism than it gets. I could see Silksong being amazing if they iterate on the best parts and dump the chaff.

Edited May 12, 2021 by DoctorEncore