What games did you complete in 2021?

[Lyre Mors]

Uh... that's it? I guess I spend too much time posting on Codex to have time for gaming.

New Years resolution: stop that!

 

[Rahdulan]

I have once again failed to play RPGs even though I did sneak in a Planescape: Torment replay in there after 20 years. There were some other free or really short games, but these were the ones I finished. Amusingly enough my year started and ended with bad vampire games.

Blood Knights

Dubious production values as well as stripped down storytelling really mar what could otherwise have been a decent vampire-centric action RPG. As you embark on a quest to recover the fabled Blood Seal this unlikely pair of protagonists never develops that required character chemistry to seal the deal in order for story to click. Not helped by the fact gameplay blatantly favors ranged combat, in a co-op game, and tacked on progression systems like equipment and skill unlocks add little beyond ticking imaginary check boxes to pursue some idea of increase dplay time longevity. Which is a problem because serviceable base gameplay doesn't get much time to shine due to game's short length clocking under four hours for yours truly.

Bound by Flame

Worthwhile action RPG offering continuing developer's efforts to do Bioware with mere fraction of their budget. Bound by Flame is definitely not perfect making this a middling recommendation because I still liked the overall package. As Ice Lords rampage across the world and last hope to resist goes bust our unlikely protagonist gets the power of an ancient demon to stem the tide. Real question is who controls whom and what does “saving the world” mean. Combat built upon the foundation of methodically wearing enemies down versus button mashing and extensive gear customization for that personal flair are diminished by game's rushed story that needed more time to breathe. Companions getting more than token mentions at the finale would have helped as well.

Tales of Zestiria

A flawed JRPG experience where some tweaks and shifted priorities could have resulted in tighter, but more meaningful package. Shepard Sorey will find it's not the dangerous Malevolence corrupting people that's the real threat, but rather poorly thought out gear-derived skill systems reliant on grinding to realize “builds” you want yet also being something you can safely ignore on lower difficulty as you power through with random drops. Merging with your Seraph companions into Armatized mode also turns action-based combat into a cinch robbing most of its difficulty in the process. Zany and genuinely likable characters who sadly never really go beyond that one-note personalities are also stupendously poor choices for the kind of dark story Tales of Zestiria has going on.

Call of Juarez

Awkward mix of adventure and FPS meets a rarely seen Wild West setting. As we follow runaway Billy and reverend Ray in a game of cat and mouse former's flimsy whip action and scaling cliffs gets him in more trouble than latter's shotgun and Bible thumping ever could. And yet, and yet. Despite this unevenness, as well as technical problems on the most basic level where loading and saving takes ages, I still liked the variety of gameplay styles included and story taking a turn away from revenge as cards are finally placed on the table. Call of Juarez is a game that could have definitely been better REALIZED, but what we got is fleshed out enough to break out of that dreaded “FPS in setting X” formula. It never managed to bore me even if some platforming bits almost had me giving up entirely. A near hit.

Feudal Alloy

A straightforward metroidvania with splashes of RPG in the form of equipment to go around along with leveling based on how much junk you've collected from felled enemies, Feudal Alloy manages to deliver what I believe it set out to when Attu embarked on his quest to recover that stolen oil supply. Game could have made better use of combat for more challenging scenarios or more bosses, which is a weird thing to say in a game that HAS challenge rooms specifically for that purpose. Inventory also suffers from snags like lack of any sorting or even ability to off-load your unwanted gear at the shop, but Feudal Alloy doesn't require more than remembering to choose your feat at level up and equip whatever you find along the way. Charming visual and limited soundtrack seal the deal.

The Council

This marriage of convenience between point & click adventure and RPG ended up more favorably in my books than it perhaps deserves or would to other people primarily because it was what I yearned for. Story centered on mystery about a young man looking for his mother as she goes missing during an island conference quickly turns into a plot to change the world as we know it in a long play for power. Character skills influencing what Louis can and cannot do are the biggest draw in this dialog-centric game where you end up trading repartee with historical figures the likes of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte. Uneven vision in both the narrative with last two episodes and gameplay hampers what could have been an outstanding game down into merely a decent one.

Evoland 2

Refinement over the original game in almost every way Evoland 2 continues the evolving RPG legacy. While its story may be on a somewhat trite side with a mute amnesiac protagonist it draws from all the best Chrono Trigger bits in structure and narrative more than gameplay itself. What starts out as Legend of Zelda homage rapidly evolves into everything from strategy and turn-based RPG, side-scrolling platformer and even a beat 'em brawler in one instance. Plenty of stuff between those as well as our protagonist is joined by trusty companions on a mission to defy time itself and figure out why they were thrown back 50 years into the past. Provided that Evoland 3 ever happens and continues down this path we may be looking at a serious genre contender.

DARK

Someone who's really, desperately hungry for a stealth game with modern concessions might form a more favorable impression, but in my opinion DARK's biggest problem is how questionable every element on display really is. Stealth games must by necessity be tight as they're ultimately as simple as they come and sum of their parts. Token story and characters airing on the side of merely existing, overpowered protagonist poorly counter by puzzling absence of some basic stealth features, and general shoddy production are all major strikes here. Ultimately a frustrating game where the two saves limit becomes a hindrance with overly long level where checkpoints are far apart. This newly made vampire's tale to discover his origin did not click with me. Not even Geralt of Rivia's voice changed that.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Pathfinder WOTR 8/10 It was very nice I never want to play another insanely high powered mythic rpg again but it was fun. Probably the best game around for buildfagging, but the combat has lots of room for tactics too. The main story was okay and the companions were really good. Owlcat stories tend to be very thematically empty but I found it's story enjoyable with all the twists and turns. Too bad Owlcat can't program for shit.

Pillars of Eternity: 5/10 Gameplay wise it was a massive slog, and it didn't have any particularly interesting quests or dungeons. I was excited about the story once I started latching onto it in the middle act. I enjoyed roleplaying as a nature obsessed god loving science hater like I am in real life. And I really liked the whole "crisis of faith," theme that was present with all the companions and eventually the MC. I also really love theology and religion in stories. Unfortunately the devs had to finish off an unfinished third act with a terrible plot twist that ruined the arc of every companion and killed everything I enjoyed about the games story up to that point.

POE Deadfire: 7/10 It was an improvement over the first game overall, but in the wrong ways. The solution to the trash mobs and poor resource management mechanics of the first game wasn't to remove them completely, it was to make good ones. The solution to the extremely dry writing and companions wasn't to make them all flamboyant, it was to make then more interesting characters that exist beyond making some thematic point. The game was better for the changes it made, but it took the easy way out on those changes. I really loved the interplay between the factions, and questing in Nekataka but the lategame was seriously terrible. All of a sudden Nekataka which acted as a hub for the entire game was empty, and you had to spend a lot of game time boating around and doing dlc, while the main plot was at it's most tense. Very annoying and I don't know why open world RPG devs still do that, lazily ignoring all pacing. Also the main story was pretty bad, and clearly felt like a build up to a sequel that will never exist. The real story was the faction conflict.

Dragon Age Origins: 5/10 There is nothing bad about this game. There is nothing good about this game. Everything about it is completely mediocre.

Dragon Age 2: 1/10 WHAT THE FUCK

Dragon Age Inquistions: 3/10 I actually quite enjoyed the main quest lines, overall a weak story and too cinematic but many of the main quests were interesting and high effort. I loved the mission where you travel forward in time to a timeline where the main villain won, made me wish there was an entire game like that. Unfortunately it had garbage mmo combat and locked every main quest behind hours of boring grinding of mmo-like zones.

Elder Scrolls Arena: 5/10 Brilliant atmosphere, really captured the mythic underworld, and I like the sword swinging combat. Unfortunately the game is really lacking in depth, and it has very few ways to challenge the player in any way. Eventually I just found myself blind speedrunning through dungeons, mindlessly hacking through every monster. I liked the variety of main quest dungeons a lot, and they had nice layouts, but none of them presented interesting gameplay challenges.

Elder Scrolls Daggerfall: 8/10 An incomplete masterpiece of systemic design. Many of the systems such as progress in certain guilds, enchanting, spellmaking, certain skills, character creation, etc were amazing. Many of the systems were useless or unfinished but I loved the good systems, it also has a lot of genuinely enjoyable and surprising quests, which is surprising since they're all procedurally generated! The main story was really interesting and I really enjoyed all the scheming. Unfortunately the dungeon design is a downgrade compared to Arena, and all the dungeons use the same tilesets.

Elder Scrolls Morrowind: 8/10 The best worldbuilding in any game I've played, and it works really well because all of the quests are dedicated to verisimilitude. Many of the quests are very simple but they all establish the world in a really strong way, and give insights into the people you're doing quests for. Vivec is probably my favourite "villain," in any game ever, and killing that smug fucking bastard felt amazing. Dagoth Ur was cool too Unfortunately the systems and combat were a pretty big downgrade from Daggerfall. ALSO TRIBUNAL IS FUCKING SHIT

Elder Scrolls Oblivion: 2/10 Possibly the most boring game ever made, saved only by the funny NPC faces.

Divinity Original Sin 2: 1/10 I have never hated a game more than I hated this game. It's not really the worst game I've ever played, Fort Joy was fun, the combat looks nice, there are some good areas and quests. But it was such an incredible slog with terrible system design and had the most annoying characters and writing in any RPG I've ever played. Only finished it because I was playing coop.

Planescape Torment: 8/10 Definitely the most well written RPG I've played, and I really loved slowly uncovering my past and realising the things that I've done. The dungeoneering was generally boring and a massive slog, and the last third of the game is clearly unfinished and felt like being forced to play a few hours of Throne of Bhaal.

Disco Elysium: 6/10 I've already said a lot about this game. TLDR it was really fucking boring. I actually quite enjoyed the game when the pacing was good and I was learning new things and figuring out the case, but I found it to be a mind breaking dull meandering slog when I had to waste time talking to boring npcs over and over.

NieR Replicant: 7/10 I like sisters and this game easily manipulated me into caring a lot. At least until I learned that in order to experience the entire game I have to grind and get every single weapon in the game, really fucking annoying.

Titanfall 2: 6/10 It was alright, I don't really like shooters but it was very exciting. Unfortunately the game was so intense that I could only play it for 20 minutes at a time, since I got myocarditis and have a poor weak heart XD

Diablo: 5/10 Extremely good atmosphere while generally lacking in depth and challenge. Just like TES Arena I guess.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Nioh 2
Assassin's Creed: Origins
Jedi Fallen Order
Cyberpunk 2077
South Park: Fractured But Whole

I started Nier: Replicant, but hated it and don't know if I'll finish. Also playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. I'll probably finish that, but might not 100% it.

 

[newtmonkey]

CRPGs
Lurking: Immortui (PC)

Fantastic game. I really got into this one and took detailed notes as I went along. I found the combat to be simple but fun (and quick) with some great loot to find. It's got a massive, interesting world to explore, and a great quest that mostly involves gathering and collating information to figure out what to do, and how to do it. It's basically Ultima IV/V with better combat but a less interesting world/story/characters.

Phantasie (Apple II)

I was very pleasantly surprised with this one! Absolutely amazing dungeons for the time (all with unique themes, puzzles, and fixed encounters) and a great approach to wilderness exploration where you reveal the map as you move through it. The combat system is great too, and always requires at least some thought. The major issue I had with this one is that the UI is a bit slow and clunky.

Ultima III: Exodus (PC)

I enjoyed this one a lot, and really got into it with drawing maps, taking notes, etc. I had to remove two stars for the awful combat and overly simple dungeons. It's a good quest though.

AD&D: Curse of the Azure Bonds (PC)

Good game, but quite a step down from Pool of Radiance. PoR felt much more like a complete RPG experience with a wilderness to explore, multiple solutions to some quests, and an overall nonlinear structure. CotAB, on the other hand, is generally linear and every quest has a single solution: kill the boss.

Shard of Spring (Apple II)

In most respects this is a bog standard CRPG, but I ended up growing fond of it. It's not a huge game, but this is a good thing in this case as you reach the end right as it starts becoming dull. The combat is alright and is basically a very simple predecessor to the Gold Box combat engine. The dungeons were fun to explore, with the final castle (and final battle) being a highlight. It's too simple, though, for more than 3 trolls.

JRPGs
Mother (FC)

I was very surprised with this one. Great difficultly level all throughout the game, some truly mazelike areas, great exploration toward the middle/end, and a satisfying story. This has a reputation of being a huge grind and very difficult, but you can get through pretty easily if you make use of consumables and PSI (magic) abilities frequently. I was able to complete it without grinding at all, at a level far below what was recommended in FAQs, etc.

Final Fantasy V (SFC)

I enjoyed the job system and especially the final 1/3rd of the game where you are given the freedom to fully explore the world to track down endgame weapons, spells, summons, and jobs. I found the characters and story to be very dull, and the music was a step down from FF4. I did like that most bosses seem to have multiple weaknesses, so you can generally beat them without having to completely refocus your party on certain jobs.

Breath of Fire II (SFC)

A huge improvement over BoF1, but still suffers from an overly linear structure and encounters that are both too frequent and too easy. I was able to get through this without grinding at all, and the final dungeon and last boss (actually next to last boss) were great challenges.

Non-RPGs
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
(REPLAY)
I replayed it this time with the MSU-1 patch, which adds a CD quality soundtrack and an FMV intro. I was glad to see that this has aged very well. A great quirky atmosphere (sometimes bright, sometimes dark), lots to explore, some great dungeons to solve, and satisfying boss encounters. I wouldn't change a thing about this game.

Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
(REPLAY)
I found that it had aged well, without many cheap deaths at all. It feels a bit too long for how simple it is, and it suffers from peaking in difficulty very early on. I thought the pre-rendered graphics would have aged poorly, but was pleasantly surprised with how good they look. The music is great, too.

Dark Souls: Remastered (PC)
(REPLAY)
I had just as much fun playing this as I did the first couple of times. It's nearly perfect, but I have to subtract one star for Bed of Chaos and the dull last few areas.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PC)
(REPLAY)
I enjoyed this much more my second time around. It's let down by an over-reliance on using big guys in armor as bosses, and one really annoying area (Black Gulch). However, the DLC is some of the finest DS has to offer, and it was very satisfying getting through it all.

Dark Souls III (PC)

I liked it, but not as much as I liked the first two game in the series. I didn't like how the world is a bunch of separate areas accessed through a central teleporter, and also found some entire areas to be pretty dull. I also didn't like some of the more annoying regular enemies. I did like some of the areas (the cathedral and surrounding area are great), and I enjoyed most of the boss fights—even when they were not difficult, they at least were cool or had some neat gimmick.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (PCE)

I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. It plays (and often looks) better than the SFC version, and it's just the right length as it ends just as you reach max level and are getting bored with it.

Ys I•II (PCE)

Although I really enjoyed Ys I, I found Ys II to be a massive slog. Once you find the fireball magic (and then the homing item), combat is completely mindless, and all you have left to do is "explore" enormous mazes. Without interesting combat, or anything to find other than required items to make progress, the mazes just become busywork. Great boss fights though!

Hokuto no Ken: Seizetsu 10-ban Shobu (GB)

Simply a horrible game. It's a fighting game based on the famous manga/anime series, and it is just total garbage. I only completed it because I randomly started it one night, and 15 minutes later I had finished it.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Oh I also finished Cyberpunk 2077. It felt like a Call of Duty campaign with a shit open world in between and more bugs than an Owlcat game 4/10

 

[MpuMngwana]

Completed for the first time:

• Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children (started in 2020, completed in 2021)
  
• Yakuza 3
• Code Vein
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Shin Megami Tensei IV
• Yakuza 4
• Demon's Souls (original version on an emulator)
  
• Ghostrunner
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• Yakuza 5
• Solasta: Crown of the Magister
• Call of Juarez
• Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure
• Dragon Quest (SNES port)
  
• Breath of Fire
• Psychonauts
• Yakuza 6
• Kingdom Hearts
• Dragon Quest 3 (SNES port; also played quite a bit of 2 but one particular area got really glitchy, and at one point the emulator crashed and my saves disappeared)
  
• Dungeon Encounters
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Chrono Trigger
• Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun

Replayed to completion:

• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
• Wizardry 8
• The Witcher
• The Witcher 2
• Fallout: New Vegas
• probably something else I'm forgetting about, I don't keep a detailed track of replays

 

[Hag]

Rayman & Rayman II : Replayed them after so many years I can't be arsed to count. They both hold their ground very well, the first one being near perfect if you're in for a challenge, the second easier but still a good fun. Great games.

Four Last Things : Enjoyed going through it thanks to its art and music but the more I think about it, the more I am disappointed. Maybe because of the stupid ending, or the lack of polish, or because the writing makes the developer sound like a pedant idiot with little respect overall.

Diablo : Not very enjoyable for me. Well done overall but extreme itemization and grinding is not much fun. "Oh, this random chest in this random place has a +75 solar plexus axe of diesel raspberries which makes me a solid 5% faster at slaughtering endless mobs" is not my shit. Can't help but think that the game was decline, since it favors tight and addictive mechanisms over variety, exploration, creativity or basically anything else. But yeah, it is well made. Also, whoever created the PNJ greetings should be slapped.

M&M III : Isles of Terra : Was really good for most of the play but did overstay its welcome. Read my full angry review in The Might and Magic Discussion Thread. Still worth it, and still in awe such a big, rich and well-thought game was made by a single guy in 1991. What it does wrong it fucks up royally, but the remaining is solid.

Age of Decadence : Love this shit. Looks bad, unfinished, clunky at times, lacks any kind of polish. But what a testimony to great design, good writing, imagination, player respect. Not the average "let's be a wizard-warrior and kill goblins and level up" simulator, no. None of that nonsense here. Life is hard and then you die. Or not if you're clever enough. A great game for mature adults.

 

[Syme]

Mostly replays for me this year, but I didn't complete a whole lot of them so they don't make the list.

Completed Replays:

Arcanum -
Needs no review on here.

Icewind Dale -
Also needs no review.

Diablo 2 (some of it with Median XL mod) -
Played in protest of D2 Resurrected and its 50 y/o Ma'amazon. D2 is as great as ever, but I don't think that I'm that big of a fan of median XL. I think I would have liked it better if they kept it a bit closer to the original in terms of classes (they're pretty much unrecognizable to me) and instead focused on adding more areas and bosses.

Pathfinder: Kangmaker -
Did a playthrough while waiting for the WotR release. While it has its flaws and certainly loses steam towards the end, it's still one of the best releases in recent years. The only reason I don't rate it 5/5 is because it just doesn't compare to the classics. I'd probably give it 9/10, but I like the 1-5 scale better.

Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries (/w Mektek) -
Still a better game than MW5, especially with the Mektek mod that adds a shitload of mechs and gear. However, I couldn't fix the terrible input delay/deadzone, so it felt pretty clunky compared to its modern cousins.

Recettear -
Item shop game with a JRPG artstyle where you have to pay off your father's debts by opening a shop for adventurers and townsfolk. It's a charming little game sprinkled with innocent humor, but if you aren't a bit of a weeb, then you likely won't get a whole lot out of it. Its weakest point by far is actually clearing dungeons yourself because the combat is nothing to write home about, but overall I'd still put it on top of all the item shop games, mostly because there aren't that many and they all lack the charm of Recettear.

Warhammer 40k Armageddon -
Strategy game in the veins of Panzer General/Panzer Corps (actually an exact clone from the same Studio). Vastly overpriced imo, but if you like Panzer Corps and 40k then there's really no alternative.



Completed New Games:

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic -
Had it sitting in my library for years and finally felt like giving it shot. I'm still on this playthrough right now but I'm having a good time and will most likely finish it. Feels pretty linear though and I would have liked a few more spells to play with.

Wasteland 3 -
Okay sequel to an okay game (wasn't a huge fan of W2). The combat was alright, but after a couple of months have passed I couldn't tell you a whole lot about the story or even name any of the characters, other than THE PATRIARCH. I think I ended up taking over the town in the end, but don't ask me how I got there.

The Last Hex -
Roguelike deckbuilder RPG where you fight across a randomized hex-based map until the final boss. I bought it to satisfy a craving for deckbuilding games, but it felt too much like a mobile game and yeah, I'd maybe play it while waiting at the doctor's office, but it didn't hold my attention for longer than a single run while sitting at home.



Dropped New Games:

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous -
As with Kangmaker, I've dropped it after a while to wait for some more patches and mods and I will probably pick it up again around the time the first dlc comes out. Overall I think it's a step back compared to Kangmaker, but not a particularly large one. It's still a good game and has some interesting characters with a few very talented voice actors (like Minagho, formerly known as Linzi), the combat is as in-depth as ever (if a bit grindy at times), but I feel like the overall quality of writing went down from Kangmaker (which was decent...ish imo). I wasn't that big of a fan of being put in charge of a crusade I couldn't give two fucks about, compared to say running my own kingdom. It would have been WAY better to be able to choose sides early on, but I guess that would have destroyed the game's budget and caused half the players to miss too much of the content. Also, the more I play both Pathfinder games, the more I miss the kind of old-timey writing style from games like Baldurs Gate. It wasn't Lord of the Rings by any stretch, but Jaheira and Vicky being bitchy still had more class than most the dialogue from the Pathfinder companions.

Winged Sakura: Demon Civil War -
Run of the mill JRPG blobber with waifus and scantly clad enemies. Bought it on a whim because I just couldn't be bothered with the headache that is Elminage Gothic. I played it for a couple of hours but eventually lost interest. Should be a 2/5, but an abundance of big tiddies are an automatic +1 to score.

Star Valor -
Top-down space combat/trader game with a randomly generated galaxy. It's still early access and really felt like it when I played it early in the year. There may be more content available now, but I wouldn't count on anything major since it's a one man dev team. It's not completely awful, but I'd recommend Starsector over this one any day of the week.

 

[Roguey]

Unfortunately the devs had to finish off an unfinished third act with a terrible plot twist that ruined the arc of every companion and killed everything I enjoyed about the games story up to that point.

Welcome to Josh "nothing matters" Sawyer.

The dungeoneering was generally boring and a massive slog, and the last third of the game is clearly unfinished and felt like being forced to play a few hours of Throne of Bhaal.

Welcome to Colin McComb.

 

[Catacombs]

I envy those who had the time to finish multiple long-as-hell games.

Completed
Divinity Original Sin:
Divinity Original Sin 2:
Horizon Zero Dawn:

Played
Arcanum
Baldur's Gate 2 (replay)
Betrayal at Krondor
Control
Crusader Kings 2
Crusader Kings 3
Dwarf Fortress
Grand Theft Auto V
Master of Orion
Pathfinder: Kingmaker (replay)
Rimworld
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
Stellaris
Underrail (replay)
Wasteland 2

Want to tackle in 2022
Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos
Gothic 1 (replay)
Icewind Dale (replay)
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (replay)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (revisiting with a friend, who, amazingly, has never played it)

Gothic
Rating:

Did you play this with mods?

 

[Devastator]

Finished:
Fallout 1 & 2 (spoiler)
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Bloodborne
Dark Souls 1–3
Diablo 2: Resurrected
Command & Conquer: Remastered
Until Dawn
Firewatch
Detroit: Become Human
Life is Strange: True Colors

In progress since Dec '21: Wasteland 3.

 

[0wca]

Damn, that's a tough one as I have the memory of a goldfish. I'll try to remember.

FINISHED (1st time):

- Desperados 3
Awesome sequel from Mimimi games. Great level design and pretty lengthy campaign with some replay value.
- Mad Max
One of the few open-world games that I actually finished (probably cause I'm a sucker for the post-apocalyptic genre). Cool progression system and great vehicle and ground combat.
- Populous: The Beginning
Never actually finished the campaign before, but this time I went all the way. It's great, though it gets slightly repetitive halfway through.
- Raiders: Forsaken Earth
Cool little post-apocalyptic indie game where you control a group of raiders. Turn-based combat and base management, was a lot of fun but fairly short.
- Road Redemption
Nice successor to Road Rash, but it's very short and anticlimactic when you suddenly reach the end.
- Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice
More good old ST, but very short and the levels weren't as sophisticated as the original ST.
- Stronghold HD
Played a ton of multiplayer from this classic, but never went through the campaign. Great progression and challenges (except for a couple of levels).
- Stronghold Crusader
Same as above although the campaign is much shorter and not as intricate or thought out as the original.
- Tavern Master
Cute little management game that's very simplistic but has great potential for the future. Was fun to play over the holidays.
- Tropico 4
Always played sandbox but this time I went and finished both the original and expansion campaigns. Really fun, but not as challenging as other great city builders.


REPLAYED:

- Dishonored
Awesome stealth game, did a new all-stealth, no death playthrough.
- Nox
A classic aRPG, I really love the atmosphere and the awesome combat.
- SWAT 4 (with SEF mod)
Finally finished all of the missions as well as the two extra ones from the mod. A must have mod for any playthrough.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Didn't finish as many games as I'd liked to have, thanks to some games having some obnoxious crap making winning it an uphill battle hardly worth one's time. I'm also leaving out a few since nobody's going to have heard of them and they're nothing much worth talking about. In rough chronological order.
Zombi (1990 version) 5/10
Dawn of the Dead rip-off, as a weird adventure/action game hybrid. Follows the movie too much, and also suffers from poor puzzle design when it doesn't. You have to put every dead body in the mall into the freezer, and you have an inventory limit. Something like 50 dead bodies.
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold 5/10
Sci-fi take on Wolfenstein 3D. Its worse than Wolfie, because despite better level design and much better secret design, you have to save friendly scientists. The thing is, the friendly scientists are indistinguishable from hostile scientists until they shoot you or you talk to them. Oh, and the friendly scientists like to get in the middle of heated battles.
Freaks (1993) 8/10
Weird sort of puzzle FPS where you play as God killing Satan and his servants. Less religious than I make it out to be. It seems really suspect at first glance, but thanks to a series of weird design decisions its much better than it seems. You gain health by killing enemies, except ranged ones, where attacking hurts you. You move in a DM-style grid, but enemies are not limited to the grid. Your shotgun fires at a set interval, hence why I call it a puzzle FPS. Because all of these elements make it sound bad, but it really makes up for it in the level design.
Escape From Monster Manor 0/10
Hey, let's have our music include the sound effects monsters make whenever they attack! Hey, let's have every level be a maze! (and yet, the project lead didn't want a map feature in the game) Hey, let's include an enemy that you can only hurt when they're attacking, and they attack without any warning whatsoever! Might legitimately be the worse game I've ever played, certainly the worst game I've ever finished.
Outrun (replay) 8/10
Very atmosphere SEGA racing game. Harder than I remember, but still good for some fun.
Terminator 2029 6/10
Bethesda's early Terminator games were weird. This one's got a Dungeon Master-style engine, and you spend a good chunk of the gameplay hiding in a corner and repairing. Its got some good ideas, but the game constantly spawns too many enemies you have no point in killing that it really drags the game down.
The Count 9/10
Legitimately one of the best adventure games anyone has ever made and its a shame it doesn't get the respect it deserves.
Dungeon Master 10/10
Took me a while to get to it. Its dungeon and spells are still unsurpassed. I do wish the later weapons were more obviously better than the earlier ones.
Alone in the Dark 3 6/10
I was expecting this to be better than AitD 2 and was sorely disappointed. Most of the puzzles were more annoying than clever and unlike 2, almost all the enemies were ones I had to solve a puzzle for, which is just great. I did like some sections of the game, and Carnby felt like a badass in this one.

 

[Zanzoken]

Gothic
Rating:

Did you play this with mods?

For G1, only the patches and gfx mods described in this guide so the game will look better and run properly on modern hardware. No mods to change the gameplay... it was my first playthrough so I wanted to get the vanilla experience.

In my current playthrough of G2 I am technically using a mod to remove the NOTR changes from the Gold edition, but the intent there is simply to restore the game to its pre-expansion state. I might eventually try it again with NOTR once I've completed vanilla, but I really didn't care for the Jharkendar section in my first attempted playthrough, so probably not.

The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos mod is getting rave reviews even on the Codex so I'll likely check that out after completing G2.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

I completed A Legionary's Life ( ), Pool of Radiance ( ) and Battle for Esturia ( and a half) around February and then completely stopped playing games until a couple of weeks ago, when I started playing Phantasie and Exile 2 (both kind of bland yet still worth playing games) only because I'm feeling bummed out.

I should find a better low-effort hobby.

 

[HansDampf]

* = replay

Hades
Desperados III + DLC - Worthy successor to Desperados. But the long levels near the end can turn into slogs, and I've burnt myself out with the DLC.
*Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive - Mechanically less strict than D3, but I don't like how you can often cheese levels with guns and camping corners. The game should have given you limited ammo like D3.
*CrossCode + DLC - When the DLC was released, I played through the entire thing again with the "Prepare to Hi" option (die in one hit). Had to come up with better strategies to beat this.
*La-Mulana - Metroidvania for masochists.
La-Mulana 2 - Maybe 4/5? If you want more La-Mulana, this is it. I just think the puzzles aren't quite as good as in the first game. And there is way too much dialogue for my taste.
*Mass Effect 1 - Too bad this game never got a proper sequel.
Filament - A puzzle game in which you have to connect blocks with a cable. There are plenty of challenging puzzles with different gimmicks to solve. But everything else about this game is garbage.
*Hollow Knight (112%) - Main game is 5/5. Additional content is hit and miss, but Godhome is at least a welcome boss rush mode. I just don't recommend going through the 5th pantheon which is 45 minutes of easy - and at this point mostly boring - bosses until you get to the interesting part. Only for die-hard fans who really want to complete the game for the sake of completing it.
*Pathologic 2 - Where Bachelor?
NieR:Automata (Ending E) - I forgot to post this in the other thread. It's hard to put a number on this. After Ending A, I would have given it a 3/5. Combat didn't have much to offer. And every time Adam or Eve opened their mouths, only dumb anime diarrhea came pouring out of them. But then the game went in a direction I didn't expect. It's the first time I've seen a game structured like this, that you have to play through it multiple times from different perspectives, which actually isn't an accurate description at all. It's more like playing two expansions that come with the game. I was intrigued and kept playing to see where the story was going to go next. Suddenly Pod 042 and Pod 153 are the OTP? But the weirdest part are all the machines mimicking human behavior. I'm still not sure if they're supposed to be funny or sad. One time you are helping an oversized tin can with make up and ribbon that behaves like 5yo girl and escort her home to "her family". And later they all get massacred anyway. It's definitely a unique game, and for that I rate it 4/5.
There is still something foul about the combat. In Route A, I was frequently underleveled and had to deal with bulletsponge bosses. From Route B on, the opposite happened and I was almost always overleveled, so combat was trivial even on Hard. The final boss died after 4 hits. Hacking is also cheap. It's a shame because the elements of a good combat system are all there. It's just so poorly balanced.
tl;dr: A2's butt > 2B's butt

And I'm still addicted to Doom WADs:
SI6IL
Stardate 20X7 - Someone recorded a D2ALL. That's impressive.
Heartlands
Antaresian Reliquary - That secret map, though...

Ar Luminae - Low score due to technical issues (and dumb boss fight). The creator of this recommends lowering the resolution to 720p and considers 30 fps an acceptable framerate for Doom.

Going Down

 

[mondblut]

How does one "complete" Kenshi or CK2?

Guess that leaves Phantasie 1 & 2 (codex darlings this year, I reckon). And half the Kingmaker.

 

[Catacombs]

How does one "complete" Kenshi or CK2?

You don't.

 

[Roguey]

There is still something foul about the combat. In Route A, I was frequently underleveled and had to deal with bulletsponge bosses. From Route B on, the opposite happened and I was almost always overleveled, so combat was trivial even on Hard.

This is Taro's trademark Troll Design - you're supposed to save those optional damage-sponges for 9S. Entirely intended.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There is still something foul about the combat. In Route A, I was frequently underleveled and had to deal with bulletsponge bosses. From Route B on, the opposite happened and I was almost always overleveled, so combat was trivial even on Hard.

This is Taro's trademark Troll Design - you're supposed to save those optional damage-sponges for 9S. Entirely intended.

Its shit design that would rightly be called out if he was anything other than japanese.

 

[Roguey]

Its shit design that would rightly be called out if he was anything other than japanese.

Yoko Taro hates the completionist mindset and thus trolls the fuck out of everyone who wants to complete everything in one of his games. You have to learn to move on.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Its shit design that would rightly be called out if he was anything other than japanese.

Yoko Taro hates the completionist mindset and thus trolls the fuck out of everyone who wants to complete everything in one of his games. You have to learn to move on.

Nah I just don't play his shit games, problem solved.

 

[mondblut]

Its shit design that would rightly be called out if he was anything other than japanese.

Yoko Taro hates the completionist mindset and thus trolls the fuck out of everyone who wants to complete everything in one of his games. You have to learn to move on.

Very deep, much art, wow.

Who?

 

[Roguey]

Very deep, much art, wow.

Who?

Weirdo who made a few cult hits and then made it into the big time with a sexy android game https://twitter.com/yashafluff/status/1221168359640793091