The 2022 Backlog Challenge

[T-Pac | 7,560]

On 2/4/2022 at 9:55 PM, Renmauzo said:

In 2003, I bought Mega Man & Bass on the GBA not realizing it had come out on the SFC originally. I was able to make it to King stage 2 back then, and after some wrecked hands, I put it down in frustration. Wanting to mitigate the screen cropping issues plaguing the GBA release and thinking this was why I was struggling (lol), I picked up an original copy on SFC about 2 years ago but was summarily defeated again.

Well, the journey that began almost 19 years ago finally came to a close tonight. I sat down after work, put the game into the Super NT, and ground it out for the last 6 hours. King stage 2 is borderline ridiculous until the muscle memory sets in, so I was glad to see Wily was a joke to beat in this game for at least somewhat of a break.

Ha, take that you old bastard!

Whoa - you kept at it for 6 hours straight!?
That's insane - I'm usually gassed after playing a game for just an hour haha.

-CasualCart

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

1756% damage ratio = Fuck you Amalthus!

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

Xenoblade 2

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

Jackal

[spacepup | 2,405]

Congrats @Reed Rothchild !  I know XC2 is a long game, but I still LOVED it.  It's a really interesting world/story, and damn that game has a killer soundtrack.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

2 hours ago, spacepup said:

Congrats @Reed Rothchild !  I know XC2 is a long game, but I still LOVED it.  It's a really interesting world/story, and damn that game has a killer soundtrack.

Yeah, I could easily sink a lot of time in postgame right now, and be very happy. Maybe some day.

I think I'll do Torna later this year, and XB1 next year.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:46 AM, Reed Rothchild said:

Yeah, I could easily sink a lot of time in postgame right now, and be very happy. Maybe some day.

I think I'll do Torna later this year, and XB1 next year.

...or not.  Now I gotta prioritize so I can play XB3 before 2024 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

On 2/7/2022 at 10:13 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

Jackal

That A’s cup

A little bit of A’s trivia for you as a bay area sports fan because me and a guy were actually talking about it today. 
 

My dad was at the game in 89 during the loma prieta earthquake. Fitting for the bay bridge series. We thought he was dead, as the power was out and obviously no cell phones. Landlines too. Scary,  Crazy event!

 

/thread hijack

[Jeevan | 8,912]

Just put origami king into the switch, haven't started it yet, but that is a step in the right direction, need to knock out a few more before i start smt v so i can enjoy it without feeling pressure from @Reed Rothchild .  Also, need to beat some more 64 first as well so i can focus on this a bit!

[Splain | 2,571]

so, Hollow Knight. I've made a bunch of progress since my last post and I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more. Now I sort of oscillate between loving this game and swearing never to play it again. I agree with many of @DoctorEncores notes about the game.

It's enormous and it just keeps getting bigger. I don't know how far into it I am. I thought it was going to be a neat little indie title, ten hours tops. Nope!

For reasons, I very rarely have more than like 20 minutes at a time to sit and play a game lately. So when all of those minutes are flushed away trying to beat a mini boss, just like the 20 minutes before that, it gets to where I kinda want to play something else, because video game time needs to be fun, not frustrating. But then I feel like a baby who needs easy mode and a diaper, and I power through it. And yeah, finally beating a hard boss is a solid dopamine hit. I hate this game but I keep coming back to it. There's so much about it that's brilliant.

Yeah, it sucks to have to trudge all the way back to a boss just to get waxed again and again. That's my least favorite part. There is that one thingie that can help with that, but I'm worried about using it too much... it costs to use it and I don't know if that thing is infinite.

Still working at it. It helps to know that if I give up, I have to report that here.

[twiztor | 851]

7 hours ago, Splain said:

so, Hollow Knight. I've made a bunch of progress since my last post and I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more. Now I sort of oscillate between loving this game and swearing never to play it again.

i really enjoyed the size, exploration, and mythology of Hollow Knight. i got down to the last couple of bosses and stopped playing. i was getting my ass handed to me again and again, and finally had enough of it. i liked the game a lot, but the seemingly constant boss fights wore me down. (shout out to the levels vs. bosses thread!)

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:20 PM, Jeevan said:

Just put origami king into the switch, haven't started it yet, but that is a step in the right direction, need to knock out a few more before i start smt v so i can enjoy it without feeling pressure from @Reed Rothchild .  Also, need to beat some more 64 first as well so i can focus on this a bit!

I'll be praying for you. The combat is SO, SO bad. Everything else is great, though. Tons of fun dialogue and enjoyable interactions. That combat though...

On 2/10/2022 at 2:42 AM, Splain said:

so, Hollow Knight. I've made a bunch of progress since my last post and I'm definitely enjoying it a lot more. Now I sort of oscillate between loving this game and swearing never to play it again. I agree with many of @DoctorEncores notes about the game.

It's enormous and it just keeps getting bigger. I don't know how far into it I am. I thought it was going to be a neat little indie title, ten hours tops. Nope!

For reasons, I very rarely have more than like 20 minutes at a time to sit and play a game lately. So when all of those minutes are flushed away trying to beat a mini boss, just like the 20 minutes before that, it gets to where I kinda want to play something else, because video game time needs to be fun, not frustrating. But then I feel like a baby who needs easy mode and a diaper, and I power through it. And yeah, finally beating a hard boss is a solid dopamine hit. I hate this game but I keep coming back to it. There's so much about it that's brilliant.

Yeah, it sucks to have to trudge all the way back to a boss just to get waxed again and again. That's my least favorite part. There is that one thingie that can help with that, but I'm worried about using it too much... it costs to use it and I don't know if that thing is infinite.

Still working at it. It helps to know that if I give up, I have to report that here.

It really is a wild ride, isn't it? It's a huge, unforgiving game. I get why people love it and it definitely grows on you, but they could've made it so much more enjoyable with a few very minor tweaks.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Two more down! I actually finished these a couple weeks ago, but have been busy at work.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5, Co-op) - 1/28/22
Score: 7/10

 

This is one of those games that lives in a weird grey area between serious platformer and silly family game. Sackboy games tend to be pretty divisive with regards to the floaty movement and jumping and this one is no different. You will die absolutely die due to the controls. Some of the level design here is really fantastic with entire levels synchronized to some of the biggest bouncy pop music from the last 20 years. And then there are auto-scrollers that have you run towards the camera a la Crash Bandicoot circa 1996. Yeah... The boss fights are pretty weak, although the game does get challenging towards the end. Overall it's a solid 3D platformer that won't set anyone's world on fire.

 

Metroid Dread (Switch, Normal) - 1/30/22
Score: 7/10

 

I hope you're ready for a hot take on what will probably win the vote for VGS GOTY right here. Metroid Dread is good, but definitely not great. I have a lot of nitpicks, so it's going to seem like I didn't enjoy the game, but that's not true. I enjoyed it! Just with a lot of caveats. I'm gonna do this one in list format just to make it a bit easier to see why my score is on the lower side for this one.

Pros

1. Movement/Progression
   1. I love how fast you move and that the game is always introducing new items and powers
       
2. Final Boss
   1. What a wake up call after breezing through the rest of the game. This fight is about ten times harder than than anything else in the game, but it generally feels fair. Once I mastered the patterns, I barely took any damage and felt quite satisfied with my win.
       

Cons:

1. Repetitive
   1. EMMI zones change very little and are far too frequent. These zones slow the game down and discourage exploration. EMMI battles also barely change as you progress. This really seems like a purposeful attempt to extend the length.
   2. Mini boss fights are repeated way too often to be fun. Adding a second robo-Chozo doesn't do much to change the encounter and just extends the length.
       
2. Archaic Game Design
   1. Shooting and bombing random walls to advance should be left in 1986 where it originated. Nothing about this is fun. I really don't know how else to put it.
       
3. Length
   1. As a busy father with a high demand job, this is something I almost never complain about, but this game is ridiculously short. At $60, it feels like a bad value. For all intents and purposes, this is a 3DS game that should cost $40 at most.
   2. This is made even worse by how repetitive the game is and how little exploration is required to collect a large majority of the items. I finished the game in under 8 hours without trying to move quickly. I initially went out of my way to explore multiple times only to realize the map is heavily gated; more so than most Metroidvanias.
       
4. Linear
   1. For an open-world type game, it is incredibly linear.
   2. The linearity is hidden by large maps, but you will always proceed to the nearest elevator or warp point to proceed. If you ever wander in a different direction, you will hit a roadblock. Of course all areas will open to you eventually, but I felt actively DISCOURAGED to explore.
       
5. Graphics
   1. This game is downright ugly on the big screen. It looks okay in portable mode, but 900p stretched to 4k with low quality textures does not cut it in 2022. I primarily played in portable mode and would encourage others to do the same. The performance is also pretty weak with quite a few frame drops.
       
6. Loading
   1. What's with the loading times? This was another thing that actively discouraged exploration for me.
       
7. Controls
   1. This one is hard to describe, but the controls feel needlessly complex. There aren't many other games that require holding down three or four buttons at a time to do things that should be rather simple. Aiming and shooting and charging and shooting missiles all while moving just doesn't feel right.
   2. In fact, everything feels harder than it should be and I constantly found myself missing inputs. Whether it was trying to double jump, charging up my dash, or just attempting to kneel during the final boss fight, I often didn't feel like I was in total control.

 

Alright, throw those tomatoes!

I'm hoping to knock a couple more off my "Now Playing" this month and finally really dig into the backlog. Horizon: Zero Dawn is my current focus.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by DoctorEncore

[Brickman | 3,991]

13 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Two more down! I actually finished these a couple weeks ago, but have been busy at work.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5, Co-op) - 1/28/22
Score: 7/10

 

This is one of those games that lives in a weird grey area between serious platformer and silly family game. Sackboy games tend to be pretty divisive with regards to the floaty movement and jumping and this one is no different. You will die absolutely die due to the controls. Some of the level design here is really fantastic with entire levels synchronized to some of the biggest bouncy pop music from the last 20 years. And then there are auto-scrollers that have you run towards the camera a la Crash Bandicoot circa 1996. Yeah... The boss fights are pretty weak, although the game does get challenging towards the end. Overall it's a solid 3D platformer that won't set anyone's world on fire.

 

Metroid Dread (Switch, Normal) - 1/30/22
Score: 7/10

 

I hope you're ready for a hot take on what will probably win the vote for VGS GOTY right here. Metroid Dread is good, but definitely not great. I have a lot of nitpicks, so it's going to seem like I didn't enjoy the game, but that's not true. I enjoyed it! Just with a lot of caveats. I'm gonna do this one in list format just to make it a bit easier to see why my score is on the lower side for this one.

Pros

1. Movement/Progression
   1. I love how fast you move and that the game is always introducing new items and powers
       
2. Final Boss
   1. What a wake up call after breezing through the rest of the game. This fight is about ten times harder than than anything else in the game, but it generally feels fair. Once I mastered the patterns, I barely took any damage and felt quite satisfied with my win.
       

Cons:

1. Repetitive
   1. EMMI zones change very little and are far too frequent. These zones slow the game down and discourage exploration. EMMI battles also barely change as you progress. This really seems like a purposeful attempt to extend the length.
   2. Mini boss fights are repeated way too often to be fun. Adding a second robo-Chozo doesn't do much to change the encounter and just extends the length.
       
2. Archaic Game Design
   1. Shooting and bombing random walls to advance should be left in 1986 where it originated. Nothing about this is fun. I really don't know how else to put it.
       
3. Length
   1. As a busy father with a high demand job, this is something I almost never complain about, but this game is ridiculously short. At $60, it feels like a bad value. For all intents and purposes, this is a 3DS game that should cost $40 at most.
   2. This is made even worse by how repetitive the game is and how little exploration is required to collect a large majority of the items. I finished the game in under 8 hours without trying to move quickly. I initially went out of my way to explore multiple times only to realize the map is heavily gated; more so than most Metroidvanias.
       
4. Linear
   1. For an open-world type game, it is incredibly linear.
   2. The linearity is hidden by large maps, but you will always proceed to the nearest elevator or warp point to proceed. If you ever wander in a different direction, you will hit a roadblock. Of course all areas will open to you eventually, but I felt actively DISCOURAGED to explore.
       
5. Graphics
   1. This game is downright ugly on the big screen. It looks okay in portable mode, but 900p stretched to 4k with low quality textures does not cut it in 2022. I primarily played in portable mode and would encourage others to do the same. The performance is also pretty weak with quite a few frame drops.
       
6. Loading
   1. What's with the loading times? This was another thing that actively discouraged exploration for me.
       
7. Controls
   1. This one is hard to describe, but the controls feel needlessly complex. There aren't many other games that require holding down three or four buttons at a time to do things that should be rather simple. Aiming and shooting and charging and shooting missiles all while moving just doesn't feel right.
   2. In fact, everything feels harder than it should be and I constantly found myself missing inputs. Whether it was trying to double jump, charging up my dash, or just attempting to kneel during the final boss fight, I often didn't feel like I was in total control.

 

Alright, throw those tomatoes!

I'm hoping to knock a couple more off my "Now Playing" this month and finally really dig into the backlog. Horizon: Zero Dawn is my current focus.

 

You redeemed yourself by saying you're playing Horizon  

Some of your cons I don't disagree with, especially the EMMI zones, they really frustrated me and slowed down the game a lot. Loading also sucked between zones, but once you were in the zone it felt flawless to me.

I don't think the game is linear at all though, you revisit heaps of places once you have new moves.

Controls, personally I found them to be fine but others didn't.

Graphics, I never played it out of handheld mode but this is common for pretty much every Switch game now on a 4K TV, that's really a console issue and hard to fault a game for it. The graphics imo overall look stunning for what the console is.

Length, sort of agree with, but most Metroid games are around this length or even shorter. I got my copy for roughly $50US so it felt like a pretty good deal. They are also adding a boss rush mode and a harder difficulty.

The game was definitely aimed at people who enjoy Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, because it really took the inspiration from those two games the most. Personally those are my favourite Metroids so that's why I loved Dread.

There were pretty slim pickings last year for games, so that's probably why it will win GoY or SMTV (which is the better game imo). But overall I think people loved it because it was a return to old school Metroid and it had a nice challenge.

[Brickman | 3,991]

Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdomdobe. Sorry @spacepupbut this game was a real slog. I kept waiting for it to get better and it never really did.

Pros:

Good selection of Characters 

Fantastic artwork

Some great throw backs to the older games 

Cons:

music was so repetitive and uninspired.

Game overstayed its welcome. Could have been trimmed by a few hours if not more.

Annoying instant death sections like the volcano world & dark world. I almost quit during the volcano world. I love a challenge but those sections weren’t a challenge just frustrating.

Some puzzles are good but most were boring and really just too many.

bosses looked cool but were rather easy and predictable 

Didn’t collect all the golden pieces? Oops go back and find them. Felt like 80s game design.

Waaaaay too long spent as the pig form.

 

Overall I don’t recommend this game. It had some nice moments but just too much held it back. I’d give it a generous 6/10.

 

 

 

[fox | 1,667]

Mid Feb updates

Beat Ducktales Jan 1 as part of the NES challenge.  But things slowed down as I kept jumping from game to game.  I finally managed to clear both Super Hot and Guardians of the Galaxy.  I just started Toem, will be interesting to see if I can beat that before Horizon and Elden Ring come to eat my life away.

[T-Pac | 7,560]

Update: I cleared Bomberman '93 [TurboGrafx-16] today!

I had a great time with this one. The characters all look great, the cutscenes are adorable, and the ability to save after every stage made it a fun, low-stress playthrough. The themed-worlds and boss battles were a nice touch, too.

I've also got Bomberman II [FC] and Bomberman '94 [PCE] sitting in my backlog to tackle someday...

-CasualCart

[Jeevan | 8,912]

On 2/11/2022 at 4:36 PM, DoctorEncore said:

I'll be praying for you. The combat is SO, SO bad. Everything else is great, though. Tons of fun dialogue and enjoyable interactions. That combat though...

Sadly you are right   Im literally just to toad town and am actually kinda hating every minute of combat.......

[T-Pac | 7,560]

I also wanted to mention that I threw in the towel on Blazing Lazers [TurboGrafx-16] earlier this month. I managed to get to the last stage several times, but the difficulty spike was too much for me. On the bright side, I wouldn't have pushed myself to get that far without this backlog challenge to motivate me (thanks, @Reed Rothchild!).

And even though I didn't clear it, I had a ton of fun with Blazing Lazers. It's definitely a new addition to my "favorite space-shooters" list.

-CasualCart

[Floating Platforms | 720]

Had a couple days off of work and decided to boot up Thimbleweed Park. A couple years back I played it for about 30 minutes and decided I wasn't in the mood for another point & click at that time.  I'm glad I devoted a good chunk of time to this so I could get introduced to all the characters this time around.  I have no idea how much is left, but I'm in Chapter 3 and maybe 1/3 or 1/4th done with that?  No clue, but it's been a good time (although a bit intimidating to manage 5 different characters' interweaving objectives at the same time).

I've also been chipping away at Picross S1 here and there. I have maybe 60 puzzles left. Megapicross is still a bit foreign to me so those take a tad longer. I do think I'll get both of these games done by the end of the month at least.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

Just posted an update to my post on page 1 detailing what's been going on over the last month or so of playing 7 Days to Die as well as my experience(s) completing River City Ransom and Shadowgate one lazy afternoon last week.

Edit:  Added an entry at the end of my main post regarding starting and progress thus far in Swords and Serpents on the NES, with plans to continue that one today, and for as long as it takes to knock out completely.  Fingers crossed!

Edited February 17, 2022 by darkchylde28

[cj_robot | 542]

Finally knocked one off my list. Finished Shadow of the Colossus last night.

First time playing through this one, and man, what an awesome game! I can't believe it took me so long to finish this one, but I guess I have quite a long list of games I could say that about.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

Ugh, I've gotten to the final mission of Metal Warriors a number of times, but just can't quite seal the deal.  Shelving this one (again) for now.  Its looking to be the only top 50 SNES game that gets the best of me.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

I picked Breath of the Wild back up after a 3.5 year (!) absence.  Honestly,some part of me wanted to never pick it back up so that there was always an air of mystery to it.  Like, a permanent allure to its secrets, if that makes any sense 

But I figure I'm forced to wrap it up now so that I can get to Age of Calamity and BotW2.

Was sick this weekend so I dug in and knocked out my 3rd divine beast and got the Master Sword.

[Kguillemette | 1,545]

Made some great progress in Mega Man 2, though I'm using the mini instead of the GC collection since I have that now. I finally beat the damn dragon in Wily's castle 1 after the auto scroll and I absolutely blazed through Wily Castle 2 before I had to stop. Mega man has never felt more beatable to me!

Still plugging away at TTYD as well. Up to 3 crystal stars now.