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What games did you complete in 2019?

Ovplain

Arcane
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Jul 23, 2009
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RPG Wokedex
How the fuck did you manage that? Skipped all of the side content?

Yes. And it was an older save to begin with, a couple are continuations of older savegames. Like Far Cry 4, IIRC I was only 2,3 hours away from the end.
 

DJOGamer PT

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Apr 8, 2015
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Lusitânia
-Accepted that novelty is crucial to me. This is somewhat related to all the above. A lot of people can play every new game in a genre they like, or every sequel to a game the loved, but I cant. I crave new/different, whether that's via innovation or something that already exists but I never tried. But people who still get excited over another Gears of War or anticipate the next Halo baffle me.

If the sequel improves on what's important for the game in question then there's nothing wrong with anticipating it.
And the reason why alot of people still the same types of (good) games - like Doom clones, wizardry clones, fighting games, platformers, etc... - over and over again is very simple. It's because those games are very tightly directed and achieve what they set out to do almost perfectly.
Novelty is cool and all, but 99% of time it's just gimmicks and the few times it ain't the concept's potential, generally, isn't well explored.
So although that fresh idea migth seem nice in the first playtroughs, with time and proper scrutiny it becomes more and more apparent how inconsequential it really is.
While those "unoriginal" games suffer from none of that, due to how focused their design is that leaves no room for superfluity.
 
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Machocruz

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Jul 7, 2011
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Hyperborea
If the sequel improves on what's important for the game in question then there's nothing wrong with anticipating it.
And the reason why alot of people still the same types of (good) games - like Doom clones, wizardry clones, fighting games, platformers, etc... - over and over again is very simple. It's because those games are very tightly directed and achieve what they set out to do almost perfectly.
Novelty is cool and all, but 99% of time it's just gimmicks and the few times it ain't the concept's potential, generally, isn't well explored.
So although that fresh idea migth seem nice in the first playtroughs, with time and proper scrutiny it becomes more and more apparent how inconsequential it really is.
While those "unoriginal" games suffer from none of that, due to how focused their design is that leaves no room for superfluity.
Nothing wrong with it but I still can't relate. I can do a sequel or two at the most before I lose interest. There are exceptions from time to time, like Castlevania series. I have a handful of personal GOAT games that I'll replay once a year. I wonder if years and years of mostly renting games shaped me. I was a dabbler with most games, and the comparatively few times I bought and completed a game, it was always a different kind from the last.

Novelty means it could also just be novel to me. Roguelikes weren't new by the time I got to them, but they were fresh to me. I got hooked big time. I do want to see new ideas come to the fore, but I wouldn't just play any shit someone comes up with, it has to pass muster and not be built on gimmicks and half-baked concepts.

Eventually new becomes old and old becomes new again. I'll tire of whatever I'm into now and go to something else. Maybe down the road playing a character action or "traditional" RPG will feel new again. In fact, I'm kind of interested in the Utima-like Skald:AtBP

P.S. I should specify with this whole thing I'm talking about completing a game or spending a considerable amount of time on it. I still dabble with sequels and familiar genres when I have time, if just to sate my curiosity about a particular game.
 
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RoSoDude

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Oct 1, 2016
Messages
727
Thanks to last year's thread I actually started logging this stuff and compiling my backlog in a more organized fashion. This year I managed to complete around the same number of games, while also picking up Tribes 2 again after Midair was dead on arrival (RIP) and doing altogether too much bhop practice in QuakeWorld.

* = replay

Quake: Scourge of Armagon - A fun expansion with a lot of new content. I only made much use of the laser rifle out of the new weapons, and the mecha scorpion things were a lot tougher than the gremlin dudes (fuck the homing spike balls too), but it was still cool to see some fresh ideas. Some of the levels were great, but there were also a number gimmicky levels which tested my patience and in a few places encouraged savescumming, which was never true of the base game. :4/5:
Half-Life: Blue Shift - An acceptable expansion with decent level design, though very disappointing in its lack of new weapons or enemies (in fact it has less variety than the base game). The core gameplay is still fun and I enjoyed going back to Xen, but I was also relieved when it was over after a short 3 hours. :3/5:
Unreal Gold - I played the game once vanilla to gain a proper perspective for Ash 's upcoming mod. I'll be honest, I wasn't aware that there even was a singleplayer Unreal game until last year, and I was very surprised by how good it actually was. It doesn't come close to the tight challenge design and replayability of Quake for me, but it makes some interesting strides in the genre and serves as an interesting counterpoint to Half-Life, which largely overshadowed it in popular memory. The atmosphere is a major highlight of the experience, with the player moving between logically connected spaces in a coherent setting spanning lush forests, temple ruins, exotic cave networks, ancient castles, and alien motherships as you battle the Skaarj factions enslaving the planet's native race. While still incorporating Doom-style exploration, resource management, and a diverse arsenal of multi-functional weaponry, much of the level design is focused on establishing the setting and atmosphere and combat favors sparse duels against intelligent and aggressive opponents over densely packed encounters with large numbers of enemies. I quite like this overall, though the game's pacing can drag at times and hunting for secrets leaves a lot to be desired. :4/5:
*Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Hard mode) - Still an excellent Igavania game on replay. Hard mode didn't make much of a difference to difficulty (enemies receive 20% less damage), but it makes soul acquisition a little faster and also offers a number of unique gear items exclusive to the mode, which makes it worth a replay by itself (don't bother with NG+). I used a different soul and weapon setup than my first playthrough, favoring fist weapons before eventually settling to the powerful swords you get in the endgame. The game is perhaps not quite as replayable as the DS Castlevania games, particularly since the early parts of the game are rather linear and most players will be routed to the same playstyle by the end, but the sheer quality of the game makes it enjoyable regardless. I'll have to run through it again in Julius mode sometime. :4/5:
*Unreal Gold (Unreal Evolution mod beta) - I played the second beta version of the UE mod, and am very much looking forward to the final release. The weapon modding system was super fun and made exploring for secrets a lot more rewarding. The weapons themselves feel a lot more satisfying to use, particularly the Stinger and Minigun, though all weapons have received notable gameplay and effects improvements. There's also a rather large expansion to one of the levels which I won't spoil, but was a major highlight of the experience. However, I played before what I view as the biggest improvements, namely a dedicated dodge key, rebalanced difficulties with less obscene damage scaling, and a hardcore mode with restricted saving. My playthrough of the mod on Unreal difficulty (227 patch scaling) was pretty rough, and revealed cracks in the game's lack of checkpointing given its large levels compared to other old-school shooters. With those changes and others, I'm confident UE will deserve :5/5:
*Prey (CORE BALANCE mod) - I spent a few months working on a rebalance mod for Prey, and I gave it a test run before final release. I played with my new difficulty modules, which removed all operator restoration and food healing over time, cut all recycling yield in half, and reduced ammo counts in the world. As I had previously run an engineer/combat build and a caster build, I decided to go for a character focused on indirect methods of engagement -- stealth, hacking, turrets, mind control, and telekinesis to be precise. Resource limitations made character building and moment-to-moment gameplay decisions more impactful, and I discovered a number of new creative solutions to both combat and some game objectives as a result. I found myself in one dire situation where I received a hemorrhage trauma from a Technopath's turret army during a spacewalk and had to fight my way into the Cargo Bay without jumping or sprinting. All in all I'm pretty happy with what I created, though the game still has some fundamental flaws that I was unable to address. Hurry up get to modding Mooncrash, RSD! :deadhorse:
Deus Ex (Project 2027 TC) - An excellent fan campaign. I've not properly played any others, but I was deeply impressed by the level design and mission structure of the game, as it closely matched the original Deus Ex's design principles while also tackling some new ideas. The atmosphere and music were top notch, and the dialogue and story were pretty engaging despite the lack of any voice acting (this is probably a plus considering the VA quality in most mods that feature it). You have to make some exclusive choices in the game about which factions to support and how you treat certain characters, which are tracked impressively and have some interesting consequences down the line. A major flaw of the mod is its skill and equipment balance -- automatic weapons are terribly overpowered, particularly rifles which make up 90% of the ammo drops in the middle third of the game. Stealth routes are often neglected, and nonlethal options are expanded little from the original game compared to the vast array of ballistic weaponry (heavy weapons are also shafted). Likely owing to the shorter length of the campaign, multiple skills have been rolled together and augs and weapon mod slots can be upgraded only once each. These issues are somewhat offset by the new perk system, but the choices here are also questionably balanced. I'd still recommend it to any DX fan, just make sure you stick with a combat build on Medium/Hard difficulty for a smooth experience. :4/5:
Dark Souls 2: SotFS - I don't care what people say, DS2 is a damn good game. It has some problems with player communication, and I won't defend the sloppiness that made its way into some of the mechanics (wonky directional movement, limp mo-capped animations lacking in hitstop, hyper-armor on dodging makes it feel bad with low ADP, bad player tracking on some attacks), but there is some excellent content and an expansive set of build options in the game that make up for it, plus 3 rock-solid DLC packs. My particular favorite aspect of the game is how it revised the mechanics and level design principles to thwart cheesy dominant tactics from the previous game. Encounters with multiple enemies reward aggressive and tactical play, circlestrafing and backstab fishing are punished by the enemy design, and parrying and riposting has some actual depth and nuance to it. I miss the interconnected world of the first game, and there are some parts that needed more time and attention, but I had a blast with the sequel. :5/5:
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Though I didn't support the Kickstarter campaign as a rule, I had been keeping a close eye on Bloodstained since its announcement. When it released I was initially very pleased with it, seeing a polished set of mechanics and systems to play with, with a lot of classic Igavania charm in the enemy and castle design. But then it just kinda... gives up. Each zone features the same set of recolored enemies with slight modifiers, and the signposting becomes nonexistent as the player is lead to aimlessly wander around looking for the path forward. While you can have a lot of fun with the combat (I enjoyed mastering the weapon techniques in particular) and there are some great bosses, a lot of the game's content fails to deliver. It's made worse by the fact that shard spells are horribly unbalanced and it is incredibly easy to find yourself with a gear and shard setup that can melt through anything with effectively limitless mana from crafted food bonuses. I look forward to the upcoming Zangetsu mode, but I wish the game had measured up to Igarashi's previous output given all of the time it spent in development. Definitely not as good as the classics. :3/5:
Half-Life: Opposing Force - This expansion was a blast. It's chock full of new content, with fun additions to the arsenal, new enemies to contend with, a solid if short chunk of levels, and the squad mechanic fleshed out from the base game with marine archetypes fulfilling unique roles that make them worth keeping alive. I really don't have much of anything to complain about here, except to say that I wish it could have gone on for a bit longer. Well, and the final boss sucks, but that's no surprise. I had enough fun with the laser-sighted magnum, the barnacle grappling hook, and fighting alongside my stranded HECU buddies against new aliens in fresh arenas. It's almost hard to believe it came out before Blue Shift, considering how lacking that was in new content. :5/5:
Thief Gold - Yeah yeah, sue me, I never played Thief before. Of course I thought it was great, though perhaps it'll surprise some that I greatly preferred the horror-themed levels to the standard stealth infiltrations. Down in the Bonehoard and The Haunted Cathedral were particular highlights, and I don't have to convince anyone of the brilliance of The Sword. The Gold additions are a bit of a drag (especially The Mage Towers) and I cannot personally forgive the removal of Craymen from the Lost City, but it's still a tossup because I think it was better pacing to have one mission for each elemental talisman, and probably the original intention. One thing I might actually get flak for is that I played the first few levels on Hard but finished the rest on Normal with almost no mid-level saves. Savescumming removes half of the gameplay and all of the tension with it. It seems pretty clear to me that the additional objectives and tougher guard placement on higher difficulties were meant to add replayability, but with savescumming you have to play on at least Hard to feel any degree of challenge. In the end I still prefer the kitchen-sink Looking Glass style games, but Thief still manages to capture something unique with its minimalistic focus. :5/5:
Resident Evil 4 - Very fun action shooter. Not scary in the slightest, but the camp definitely added to the charm. Combat is well constructed with a lot of deep options and interactivity with the AI. Inventory management is top notch, and there's a lot of player expression available in the form of weapon and upgrade choices. Level design was sometimes a tad basic but the game was paced very well with a great deal of locational and gameplay variety. It's a shame that the game ultimately ushered in the wave of braindead third person shooters and obtrusive QTEs in action games, but it's still quite good on its own merits. My main complaint is that I would have liked a stronger horror element (there were just a few spots where the atmosphere worked for me), and I might have liked to see more variety in non-human enemy types. :4/5:
Duke Nukem 3D - Great stuff. Started the game on Come Get Some but found secrets to be mandatory to have enough resources when playing blind, so I dropped down to Let's Rock and played without saves. I actually liked the second episode best (another in a long line of contrarian level opinions), as I enjoyed the more abstract alien environments. I like the game's focus on quick reactions and getting the drop on enemies in creative ways with the game's more unique weapons, and the level progression and secrets were of a high quality while also presenting more believable and interactive environments. The enemy designs are maybe on the bland side compared to Doom or Quake, but they're used effectively. I also played The Birth expansion, which features a number of themed levels which are fun but not paced quite as well as the base episodes. :4/5:
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - I have minimal experience playing Classicvania-style games, so this was a pleasant surprise. The game's primary success is its character system, which offers a lot of strategic depth and variety in how you tackle the levels in addition to a lot of replayability with an approachable difficulty curve as you climb up the modes. It's pretty faithful to the NES Castlevania games in mechanics and design, though there are some new twists to the formula and subtle improvements that make it more palatable. Solidly recommend this one (more thoughts here). :4/5:
Dead Space 2 - I definitely preferred the first game, though I still liked the sequel and had a good time with it. The second game has more more fun combat and arguably more mechanical depth, but I found the level and encounter design frequently lackluster and the pacing was really off for me. There were a few moments where I could see great potential in the game's shift of focus, but overall I think the first game was just more cohesively designed. Some people prefer the first game because it's more horror-focused, but I think it was better at the action too, and it had better variety in puzzles and exploration. Still, new weapons like the Javelin Gun and and enemies like the Stalkers kept things fresh enough, and I'll likely be returning to the game at some point. :4/5:
Human: Fall Flat - Interesting little indie game I played in co-op with my friends. It's like if Gangbeasts was a puzzle adventure game. You use simulated physics to bypass obstacles in a series of themed levels, like a castle where you use grappling hooks and a ballista, or a set of islands you traverse with various boats with simulated propulsion systems. Probably the more interesting thing about the game is that it offers you a lot of freedom to accomplish your goals, and you can frequently find alternate solutions to the puzzles, including using the movement mechanics to climb to hidden areas. There are mod tools for user generated content too, which is pretty cool. The game can feel a little janky at times and it's pretty short, but it's worth playing if you have a friend or two. :3/5:
*Quake (Nightmare difficulty) - I have a really hard time stopping myself from replaying Quake. Nightmare is kinda dumb, though -- turret enemies just make some parts ridiculous, particularly Shamblers which more or less require you to cheese them by ducking in and out of cover for a few nails at a time. I actually enjoyed the harsher tracking on the Vore spikeballs, as it gave me a legitimate challenge despite my acquired skill at bhopping. I'll be returning to Hard on replay (with shotgun start), but at least now I can say I completed Nightmare. For now I'll be moving onto some fan maps. :4/5:
Hollow Knight - Easily the best Metroidvania in years. I largely completed the game last year, though I'm still working on some of the endgame bonus content. The game starts a tad slow for my tastes, but it got really fun after my set of options started to expand. The world design and progression are the most impressive aspect, as I found myself fairly effortlessly finding places to explore where I always found something rewarding and worth my time. Bosses are my personal favorite part of the game, and I've refused to use any charms that boost spells or make it easier to heal to get the most out of them. My favorite level was the Cystal Peak for its obstacles and atmosphere and my favorite boss was the Watcher Knights, which took me upwards of 30 tries after I attempted them after acquiring double jump with minimal upgrades. The entire economy and Souls-inspired death system felt pointless to me as I always had way more geo than I could ever use, but oh well. I think some other games in the genre have been more memorable to me, but I'd definitely recommend the game to anyone. :5/5:
 
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Rev

Arcane
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
1,180
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition :4/5:
The classic RTS returns with a few quality of life improvements and some new campaigns and it's still a very good game. I would've like if they had added a few more feature (mostly the chance to keep producing units like in Age of Mythology), but anyway it's still a classic and I've spent more than 30 hours in it, enjoying my time with the classic campaigns or some random map against the AI.

Amid Evil :4/5:
Not the best retro-FPS I've played, but still it's one of the best and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Its best assets are the level design, which is great with well thought out maps that vary a lot from chapters to chapters and also are quite complex, and the weapons you can use to kill the very many enemies you'll face while playing the game, they're all quite original and cool, both in how they look and how they play. Overall, a very good shooter.

Ape Out :4/5:
I liked how it combined gameplay and music in a quite unique way and also the flow of the gameplay is really well though and fun.

A Plague Tale: Innocence :3/5:
A quite linear and very narrative-driven experience, but that's not necessarily a problem for me. The medieval setting is intriguing, the bond between the two brothers is well portrayed, the soundtrack is good and the game is visually stunning, but sadly the story didn't turned out to be as good as I hoped and the second half of the game is not as intriguing as the first one (narratively, I mean), also beside the two main protagonist the rest of the cast could've been more fleshed out, especially the villains that are the just as stereotipically evil as they get, with no depth, no charisma, no reedeming qualities, nothing.

Bayonetta :4/5:
I have no experience whatsover with action stylish, in fact Bayo is my first attempt with the genre and it's a very good game. I didn't love it, but it's difficult not to recognize its many strenghts, many of them revolving around the combat system of course. It's also very over the top in pretty much everything, but it's done with style, and soundtrack is also great. One flaw, tho: boss fights are not really that good imo, especially the gigantic ones, while the (sadly not so common) human-sized ones are way better.

Bloodborne :5/5:
I'm not really a From Software fan (also, I've just played two of their games) but this one is really great. The setting is intriguing and oozing with atmosphere, combat system is probably the best you'll find in any action RPGs, art direction is great, there are also a lot of good and intense boss fights and other memorable moments.

Call of Duty :3/5:
I played the game in 2003 or 2004 and I remembered it as a great shooter, alas when I replayed it some months ago it couldn't really live up to the memories I had of the game. Overall, I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's too scripted and sometimes that gets in the way of fun, especially when you die because you're 20 cm left then where the designers want you to be or other such bullshit.

Call of Duty 2 :2/5:
This one I didn't play back in the day and I've found it worse than its predecessor, it felt even more scripted and the change from classic health system to autoregen is decline in my book. It's also more frustrating (played on the second hardest mode btw) than the previous CoD because now, since you regenerate your health, enemies strike you even more accurately and harder when you pop out of cover, this combined with a not so good checkpoint system (another decline) made some sections of the game feel cheap and a bit unfair. Overall, I still wouldn't call it a bad game, but it's worse than CoD1 and it's been a huge disappointment.

Chrono Trigger :4/5:
I don't really love JRPGs, but this has always been described as one of the very best so I gave it a try. Well, it's a not an excellent game in my view, but it's good, although maybe not as much as its fame would led to believe. Combat system is quite limited as often is the case with JRPGs but at least the fact that every enemy has weakness and strenghts elevate the cs a bit above the genre's average, since you have to vary your tactics at least a bit compare to other games where you can just spam "attack" each turn and be done with it. Story is simple but also well done, characters are not as the most flashed out I've seen but they work and the time travel gimmick is fun. Also, it's nice to see that Toriyama always makes the same drawings.

Dark Souls :4/5:
People love this game really a lot and I can understand why, but it's not one of my favourite games because combat, while good, also suffers from a few problems, like weird hitboxes, a flawed camera that sometimes gets in the way and other technical issues that can get you dead even when you make no mistake, also I think most boss fights aren't good and the last part of the game is definitely not as inspired as the previous parts. Still, it's a great game because of its amazing level and world design, the richly crafted setting, the environmental narration, and even the combat system is good, even if it's not as polished as Bloodborne's one.

Dead Space :4/5:
I always ignored this game for some reason, but now that I've played it I have to say that it's a very good game. It's not really that scary, but it has a well crafted setting inspired by both Alien and System Shock: navigating the space station is always nice, the atmosphere is great and also it feels like a proper space station in which actual people could live and work. Also, the action is satisfying, the weapons you can use (and upgrade) are varied and each can add something to your playstyle, the idea of having to chop limbs instead of shooting the aliens' head is cool and well used by the developers. Plot is... well, I'd say ok and some plot twists were quite obvious long before they were finally revealed, but that's not really that important in this kind of game.

Disco Elysium :5/5:
My RPG of the year and also my GOTY, definetely. I loved every minute spent in Martinaise, mostly because of the rich narrative and the great dialogues but also because of the very intriguing (and unique) setting and also for some gameplay reasons, like how you interact with parts of your psyche during your playthrough, how your choices shape (at least a bit) your thoughts, the thought cabinet... it's mostly a game for storyfags, and I have no problem with those.

Doom (1993) :5/5:
Played this year for the first time and well, I didn't expect it to be so fun to play even 26 years after its original realease. But it is, the action is fast-paced and engaging from the get-go, the enemies are varied and fun, level design is great with big maps full of secrets but at the same time, they're not too huge and confusionary, always maintaining the player focusing on killing hordes of demons. A true masterpiece.

Doom II: Hell on Earth :4/5:
I liked it but not as much as the first one, mainly because levels got a bit too big and complex to the point of getting in the way of the killings at times and because there are more hitscan enemies that are well, not so fun to play with honestly. It's still a very nice shooter, though, gunplay is still great, movement fast and intense, enemies varied and fun ('cept the hitscan enemies) and the levels, while overall inferior to the previous Doom imo, are still good and occasionally even great (with some mediocre or bad ones in the mix, tho).

Duke Nukem 3D :3/5:
One of my buggest disappointments, sadly. Level design is great and definetely the game's greatest asset, but combat encounters are really nowhere near being as fun as Doom, and most of the enemies are also hitscan. Also, enemy placement is sometimes very cheap and unfair, especially some of the midbosses. It's not, by all means, a bad game, levels are huge and full of stuff to find out and multiple ways to proceed, but when you're playing a shooter and you're not enjoying killing enemies that much... it's a problem.

Dusk :5/5:
The best retro-FPS I've played and by far. It plays like Quake, which is great, but is also inspired by Blood, Doom and a few other 90s FPS. Dusk features a great level design, with a lot of variation in enemies and situations you can find yourself in, from usual arenas filled with enemies to more slow-paced and atmospheric horror levels, a few weird ones too, but its main strenght lies in the shooting and the action, satisfying, fast and always intense. The only flaw I can think of is that the weapons themselves are not really original, but they're still very fun to use so it's no big deal.

Final Fantasy IX :4/5:
If the last chapter was as inspired as the previous ones it could've even had a higher score maybe, but still it's a very charming and fun JRPG. Characters are a bit stereotyped at first but are more fleshed as time passes and while none is really excellent they're still good, the setting is a throwback to classic fantasy after the more cyberpunk/sci-fi previous instalments of the series and it's very charming, story is well told (although it gets a bit weird in the last part... not really the best spin they could go for, imo) and the soundtrack is amazing.

GreedFall :3/5:
A bit above average but not much more than that.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice :4/5:
It's a unique game, mainly because of its protagonist's psychosis which is featured in the game in an interesting way, the narration is really the focus of the experience here and luckily it is well done and also accompanied by a stunning art direction. I've liked it a lot, although the core gameplay is quite mediocre and repetitive.

Horizon: Zero Dawn :2/5:
When I found out that it was written by Gonzalez, New Vegas's lead writer, I had some expectations for this game, but it's about as mediocre as they come, instead. It's a Ubisoft style open world, filled with meaningless icons and repetitive activities to engage in (almost all of which are quite boring), the world is more static an bland than a lot of older titles, NPCs almost have no routine at all and even merchants shop are open at every hour of the day (or night), secondary quests are subpar and even the main ones are not that good either and writing is just bad. Combat against machines (only against machines, because fights vs humans are terrible) is the only good thing the game has to offer and obviously it's not enough.

Inside :3/5:
From the creators of Limbo, a game that is quite similar in a lot of ways, mostly how it plays and how it (silently) narrates its story and world. Art direction is gourgeous, imo better than Limbo's, gameplay is okay, puzzles are not really hard but after all this is not a hard game, even if you can die more than a few times (sometimes in brutal ways, too). I didn't really liked the ending part, tho.

Mafia :5/5:
I had played it more than 15 years ago so I wanted to replay and see how it fared against the tides of time and... it's still a masterpiece, no doubt about that. Aside from the story and the characters, this time I could also appreciate the gameplay sessions more than I did when I first played it as a teenager, and especially how they're well thought out and coherent with the experience the devs want you to make. Some missions could have used a bit more polish, but most of them are really great and memorable. It's still one of my favourite games of all time and anyone who hasn't yet played should definitely do so.

Mafia II :3/5:
Another replay, this one I remember was a huge let down back in 2010, not because I found it a bad game overall but because it didn't really live up to its predecessor's name, but playing through the first one made me want to come back to this too. It's how I remembered it, mostly, it has a lot of nice features, a good script (for 2/3 of the game at least), a good core gameplay, but also sadly you can see that it was released unfinished, and the last third of the game is nowhere near the quality of the previous sections. With a bit more polish and time for the devs to finish their vision, it could've been another classic, sadly it's not but it's still good, aside from the lackluster ending chapters.

Max Payne :5/5:
Aside from Mafia, I also replayed the Max Payne series this year and they were as good as I remembered them to be. It's still a great TPS, possibly even the best, thanks to its rich storytelling, dark but charming atmosphere, Max's charisma and monologues and of course the tight controls and intense, over the top action that is still very fun to play today. Enemy placement isn't always the best and some sections are a bit cheap, but still overall it's a great classic and it deserves its fame.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne :4/5:
Almost as good as the first one, it keeps all the charms of the predecessors while improving the gameplay, with more polished and precise controls. Levels are still fun (with one exception) and there are less cheap enemy encounters now, but it comes at the cost of the difficulty, that has been lowered quite a bit, more than it needed it to be. Story is still very good, although the tone is quite different and production values are even higher than before, although the game is a bit shorter than MP1. To me it's near MP1's quality, even if it's less original and well basically a more of the same.

Max Payne 3 :4/5:
Rockstar's attempt with the series features a very different Max (not just aesthetically) and a story that is not as good as the previous ones, even if the writing has its charms, but surprisingly it offers one of the best TPS gameplay ever made. The shooting is very refined, enemies react coherently with every hit and with differences depending on where you land the hit. Levels are more linear and cutscenes a bit too intrusive, and there's also a new multiplayer mode that, surprisingly, is very funny. Again, it's different from Remedy's MP but it's still a great TPS.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault :4/5:
The predecessor to Call of Duty that I liked quite a lot more than CoD, even if the gunplay is less refined than in the Activision series. Levels, tho, are bigger, more open and most of all, less scripted, resulting in a much more interesting gameplay action, and also the levels are quite varied, sometimes featuring even stealth and infiltration, and even if the stealth system could definitely use some improving, they add to the experience and made me like the game more the more tight and linear CoD 1 and 2 games.

Metal Gear Solid :2/5:
One of the biggest disappointments of the year, definitely. A lot of people love this game but honestly I hated almost every moment in which I was actively playing the game. I play a lot of games from the 90s so I'm not the kind of guy that only plays new stuff, but MGS really aged poorly: controls are really clumsy, the camera show you so little of the screen that you can't even rely on it to see enemies and avoid them (and it's a stealth-focused game) forcing you to watch the little radar all the time, which is already bad but also you don't have the radar available all the time and when you don't you might as well be blind since camera is useless if you want to play stealthly. Story is full anime, not a style that I like that much but it has its moments, the cutscene direction is great (especially for the time) and some ideas are interesting and intriguing but it's not enough to save it for me.

Nier :3/5:
Combat is action-oriented but very mediocre, prone to button mashing and also quite repetitive, technically it's more a PS2 game than a PS3-360 game but of course it's a vg that you play for the story, which is good actually, even if too Japanese for my taste, especially the characters. Writing is generally good but with some highs and lows (like this guy you meet at a certain point and then 10 minutes later he's saying things like "no don't do that, you're my best friend ever, how can I live without you" that lol), there are also some interesting twists but not everyone lands perfectly imo. Still, it has its charms.

Portal 2 coop campaign :4/5:
Portal 2 is a terrific single player game, but it's only this year that I played and finished the coop campaign and it's very good as well, with more complex and challenging puzzles and a new storyline that expands on GlaDOS and Aperture Science. And of course it's fun to play with a friend, helping each other, sometimes even pranking each other and listening to the IA's monologues as we clear puzzle chambers.

Red Dead Redemption (replay) :5/5:
I love westerns but sadly it's an underused setting in videogames. Luckily for people like me that love to see (and play as) cowboys, horses, assault at trains, Indians and all that stuff, there's Rockstar that decided to make a great addition to the genre, applying their usual open world formula with a few twists and featuring a great narrative and some very interesting and well fleshed out characters. I'm playing RDR2 right now that seems to be even better in some regards but I have yet to finish that, so until that John Marston will remain my favourite videogame cowboy.

Shenmue :4/5:
I also played this classic for the first time this year and, while some of its features are not as impressive as they were back when it was originally released, it's still a very good game experience, in a kind of an open world that is somewhat limited in scope but very well crafted, with a level of detail that is not usually seen even in far more recent productions. Every NPC is unique and has its own routine, the world feels alive and change day to day in a coherent way and the atmosphere is great. The job system is not as bad as some people would led to believe and actually I think the biggest flaw is how every quest reiterates and reuse the same pattern (go from A to B to find out this thing, B tells you to go to C, C tells you to go to D, etc). It's also a slow-paced game with very few action sequences (most concentrated in the last part of the game), but that I like. It's not perfect and it's not for everyone, but it's a very charming game experience and one I'm happy to having finally discovered.

Shenmue II :4/5:
Well, there's not much to say after what I already wrote about the first one. The sequel is of course very similar but a bit more action-oriented. Overall, I have to say that I've preferred the first one's setting than the sequel's but it's still a very good game, with a few quality of life improvements. And the last section of the game is very charming as well, it's slow again after a few intense fights and QTE sections (this is the game that made them a thing, after all) but I really liked it precisely for that. Sadly Shenmue III seems to be of lesser quality than its two predecessor, but I will still play it in the future and see for myself.

Spyro: The Dragon :2/5:
I never had a PlayStation when I was a child so I was always curious about this game, but I have to say it doesn't offer much now that I'm 28. It's very easy, colourful and a relaxing experience but it's not really that good as a game.

The Banner Saga :4/5:
I've replayed it and it's still a somewhat simple but very effective RPG, where every choice seems to matter a lot and leaves you thinking if you made the right call or if you'll pay the consequences for your mistakes in the future. Not all the choices matter that much, actually, but the illusion of choice works perfectly and some choices actually have big repercussions later on. Combat is simple and would also be repetitive if the game was longer but it finishes before it become boring, art direction is outstanding, the setting very intriguing and the soundtrack is great. All in all a great experience and one of my favourite games to come out of Kickstarter.

The Banner Saga 2 :4/5:
The sequel improves on pretty much everything the first game did, especially in the gameplay department. Enemies are more varied, you have more heroes with different abilities as well, more tactics to use. The focus remains on the narrative and the choices to make and it's still a very nice and emotional journey.

The Beginner's Guide :4/5:
I don't love walking simulators and this one is probably not as brilliant as Stanley Parable, although it's maybe even weirder. Still, it's a unique game and one I would advise to give it a try, unless you really hate this kind of experiences.

The Outer Worlds :4/5:
I know I'm in the minority here in the Codex but I liked TOW, it's not as good as New Vegas, the game that inspired it, but it's still a nice open RPG that allows you to choose what kind of character you can make and how you can complete quests in the game world. Writing is not on par with past Obsidian games, which is the most disappointing thing about it, but still I'd say that overall the game's writing is okay, not great but not even terrible, and beyond that quest design is quite good, setting is a bit weird but intriguing and everything else is fine.

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales :3/5:
It's a simpler game compared to The Witchers of course and I'm not that much of a Gwent fan to really like the idea of a game that revolves entirely around it, but still aside from that CDP writers are still among the best in the industry and the narrative is quite rich and engaging, expanding on previous events of the Witcher world and presenting the player with interesting choices that can lead to many different outcomes and ending. As a game it's limited but if you like the world created by Sapkowski you'll find another interesting tale to immerse yourself in.

Titanfall 2 :4/5:
Didn't even try the multiplayer, just the single-player campaign which is really good honestly. One level in particular is just great, the others are still well made with a lot of intense and fast action but also a bit of platforming and exploration. I really liked how they designed player's movements and I was skeptical of the mech fights, but those work wonders as well. Story is quite generic and the plot twists are predictable, but robot companion is well characterised.

Tomb Raider 2 :3/5:
I've liked it less than the predecessor because it features too many combat encounters, which are not really where the series (especially the old ones) shine, but still it's a good action adventure and some levels are even great. I'd give it a 7/10 or maybe even a 7,5 if I had to rate it, but still I think it lost some of the charm the original had and the focus on inserting more action sequences is not really the direction that fit the series, because it gets a bit in the way of the exploration and the puzzles, that were just better in the first one.

Uncharted: Lost Legacy :3/5:
I don't love Uncharted but the fourth one I really liked, this one is basically a big DLC for 4 and in fact gameplay is pretty much the same, save for a more open ended level. Still, the characters and the narrative are not as compelling as 4's ones, even if it does feature a few more complex puzzles (at least compare to the series' standards). It's not bad by any means, but you can see that it's not ND's main production but just a seconday project thrown around while the major team works on the next big thing.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York :3/5:
Basically a visual novel set in the World of Darkness. It's not that good but it has a few interesting tidbits for fans of the lore and getting back to the IP after 15 years is still nice, although of course it's just a little appetizer before Bloodlines 2... which I hope will be even half as good as the predecessor, but I guess we'll see about that.

Vampyr :3/5:
Speaking of vampires, the new RPG from Dontnod has quite a few interesting concepts and ideas but they're not really as properly fleshed out as they could've been. The idea that you only gets stronger by feeding on humans is nice but it's not really in the game, since you can level up by doing other normal RPG stuff as well (you'll still be a bit underleveled but you can still finish the game even at max difficulty), the setting is really intriguing, story starts out strong as well but I think it doesn't really fulfill its initial promises and some parts of it felt a bit forced. Gameplay is okay, quite standard action RPG stuff but I expected it to be worse honestly, instead it does the job. Again, I wouldn't really call it a bad game, but they could've tried a bolder approach with it and it would've probably been better for it.

Yakuza Kiwami :4/5:
Not as good as Yakuza 0, but still lots of fun to be had. Story is a bit convoluted but I guess that's a thing with Japanese devs (or with the Yakuza team, at least), Kiryu is still very charismatic, the setting is great and the side activities are fun and crazy.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 :4/5:
My third Yakuza game and I would rate it at about the same level as first Kiwami, so it's good but not as much as Yakuza 0 (from what I've heard it will probably remain the best Yakuza even if I try the rest of the series when they land on PC). The new engine is great tho, Kamurocho feels much more alive than before and you can finally explore it a bit even vertically, even if the new combat system is deprived of the three/four different styles and that is not great. The setting is still the biggest strenght of the series and basically a character in and of itself, changing with each chapter but still oozing with personality and full of stuff to do it, even beside the melodramatic and intense main quest.
 
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Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
683
I completed only one game in 2019: Grimoire. Kept me busy for over half a year. So incredibly stuffed with content, unique ideas, delicately written prose, countless stories, clever puzzles. A glorious piece of software.
 

Rincewind

Magister
Patron
Joined
Feb 8, 2020
Messages
2,427
Location
down under
Codex+ Now Streaming!
Late to the party, but fuck, some people's lists are INSANE... more titles than what I could complete in ten years' time...
 

Mexi

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Messages
6,811
Those are some gigantic ass lists! I would give my right leg right now to spend a week just playing video games. I'm balls deep in work, though. That spring break when the quarantine happened gave me two weeks, and I was playing the hell out of Pathfinder Kingmaker. Too bad I couldn't finish it within that timeframe. Also, I'd love to finish ReMAKE: 2, or however people are spelling that. I only got to meeting Mr. X for the first time.
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
Patron
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
11,539
Location
Black Goat Woods !@#*%&^
Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
According to my list:

The Council 2019-01-03
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Girl and Goblin 2019-01-06
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Layers of Fear 2019-02-19
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Zombie Army Trilogy 2019-02-19
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This Is the Police 2 2019-03-03
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The Stanley Parable 2019-03-04
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Resident Evil 7 2019-03-11
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Kingdom Rush Origins (all bonus levels) 2019-03-17
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Kingdom Rush (iron challenge all stages) 2019-04-28
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Far Cry 5 2019-05-07
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Void Bastards 2019-06-07
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Strange Brigade 2019-07-23
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The Sinking City 2019-07-28
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Road Redemption 2019-09-02
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Resident Evil 2 (Remake) [Leon's Story]: 2019-10-01
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Resident Evil 2 (Remake) [Claire's Story]: 2019-12-21
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Resident Evil 2 (Remake) [True Ending]: 2019-12-21
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HITMAN™ (basic campaign) 2019-12-22
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Wyatt_Derp

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2019
Messages
3,062
Location
Okie Land
Not much

Rimworld. Finally got serious enough to get the rocket ship built and escape the planet once.

Birth of America 2. Buckled down and did a VERY long game as the British in the French and Indian War scenario. Having the patience to finish a main campaign in any AGEOD game deserves a pat on the back.

Witcher 3. I've beat it before, but I did a main quest speed-run so I could focus on side quests and getting all the treasure hunts.
 

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