Your Games Completed of 2022

The real tragedy I'm sure.

Colors is good. Other than that… meh.

Completed Lego Ninjago today (the main story) - Which I mention as has been done entirely co-op with my 5 year old, and begrudgingly so as she doesn't enjoy the missions as much as the open explore bits you get for clearing each area. Still historic though as our first completed game together.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga

NEO: The World Ends With You
It took a while, a bit too long for me but the great game I knew/hoped was in here finally came out and when it gets going, this is a good time. I think I stand by the statement that this is probably a better TWEWY sequel then we deserve overall. Shame about the slog at the start but I will take a backloaded game over a front loaded one…I think.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Well that was absolutely superb. Best game on the Switch for me and an easy top ten all-timer. Just a wonderful mix of strategy, character customisation and story-telling, that actually managed to get better and better as it went on as I got more invested in the story and the characters.

The multiple paths thing really works, too. I picked the Blue Lions as my house and I got completely drawn into the story of Dimitri and his band. Every single character in that house is brilliantly depicted, and it tells a satisfying tale with a solid conclusion. (The little text screens at the end telling me what happened to each of the characters after the game finished were absolutely perfect, and boy did I feel guilty for letting one of them die). Yet that's only a third of the story of the game, akin to finishing a single path in something like Virtue's Last Reward. I still have only a broad grasp of the "main" plot, and I have very little clue what Claude was up to at all.

So I'm not remotely done. 60+ hours in and I want more. I've just bought the DLC and I'll be playing through the Cindered Shadows side-story next in order to find out more about the hidden fourth house and unlock some new characters for a second playthrough. That should lead me up to the release of Three Hopes… but I'm definitely going to go for an NG+ run-through of Three Houses with one of the other two characters as well.

What a game.

What a game.

I've bounced off this a couple of times now, but I think you've persuaded me to give it another go - it really does seem like it ticks a lot of boxes for me, I think I just need to get through the first few hours so I get the rhythm of it.

It definitely took me a while to get into it. It does a bad job of explaining itself, and initially it seems very weighted towards story and monastery sections, with battles being sporadic at best. All that stuff is really important because it's the story and the characters that will keep you invested in the game, but it makes for an odd first impression when you think you've bought a strategy game.

I think once you understand the rhythm, it begins to fall into place. The game's played out on a calendar and each month ends with a story battle. You spend each of the four weeks leading up to that training your characters, and at the end of each week you can either explore the monastery, do side battles, rest or study. You only really need to explore the monastery once per month, and when you do, it's far quicker to hit RB and fast travel around to points of interest than it is to run from place to place. After a while you'll be getting through those sections quite quickly, and with purpose. It's worth doing all the side quests you can (some of them unlock new characters) and then you can use the various activities like cooking and choir-singing to top up your team's motivation.

Also it's worth training your characters manually each week, the auto training does a reasonable job but there's no substitute for moulding them all to your own specific design.

I think the main trick is not to rush it. Enjoy the monastery for what it is - there's a lot in there. Take the time to really think about your upgrade choices. Accept that some evenings you might not do much apart from a bunch of support conversations and some side quests. It's a big game and if you rush through it to get to the big battles you won't really appreciate it.

Sounds like Persona 3.

You're spot on with that, I hadn't really thought about it but it's very much like Persona.

Splinter Cell Blacklist 8/10

Always been more of a MGS guy and never really played splinter cell games. So it surprised me just how much I enjoyed this game. The stealth gameplay has to be up there with some of the best stealth in any games. It as simple as staying in the shadows to hide, but it works so well. I finally understand why people love this series so much. Really liked the progression to unlock more gear and gadgets by doing well on missions too. Only thing that let's it down is a few missions take the stealth option away from you. It turns the game into a lackluster action shooter. Also, Sam Fisher is a legend. Definitely willing to play the other older titles as I've heard they're even better.

Disc Room 7/10

Very easy to pickup and play. Not as easy to complete though. You run from room to room avoiding spinning blades to complete tasks. It reminded me of Super Meat Boy whenever you die, you're right back at it again within seconds. Took me around 4 hours to complete, but I found it to be really difficult, so I did die a lot. So maybe others can beat it faster.

Sonic Rush Adventure 7/10

The Sonic Rush series is basically Sonic advance 4 and 5. Which isn't a bad thing at all. Takes everything from them games and adds a decent story, 3D models and cinematic boss fights. Most importantly it's the first 2D sonic game to add speed boost meter to use. Awesome for someone like me who loves to speed run stages. What's disappointing is the amount of filler you have to play to get to the main stages. I honestly forgot how much I disliked the touch screen stuff back in the DS days.

@Garwoofoo

Spoiler - click to show Thoughts on Edelgard as a person who just did a Blue Lions run? My friend who did the same said she's evil, there's a lot of people who think she's some flavour of facist/tyrant yet people like me who did a Black Eagle route will tell people she wasn't, although in my case I've not actually seen a lot of the Blue Lion route.

@Alastor

Spoiler - click to showShe's definitely painted as the "bad guy" throughout, but I think that's because you never really find out what's going on. Dimitri gets caught up in his own troubles and spends most of the second half of the game trying to unite his kingdom. By the time he loops back round to Edelgard, she's basically just the end-game villain. I thought there might be an epilogue explaining some more stuff but I guess that's what the Black Eagle route is for.

I really enjoyed the Blue Lions route and it told a satisfying story in its own right but it didn't really feel like the "main" story of the game, if that makes sense. I'm very interested to see how different Black Eagles is.

Sounds like Persona 3.

That's a great spot, thanks both. I will go in with a completely different view of it next time.

Don’t forget to disable the voice acting 😀

If you do wanna do Black Eagles, this is slightly spoilery but its important since you sound like you don't know

Spoiler - click to showYou need to make absolutely sure to get Edelgard to like you pre timeskip, otherwise you will do the Church route instead because you can't choose to protect her in the Tomb and get Rhea absolutely MEGA pissed at you. Yes, there's a Church route and I don't want you to do XX hours of Part 1 to get locked out of Edelgard's route.

Speaking of Persona and voice acting, I am pretty sure Edelgard is Mitsuru in english, I did play with the japanese VA though and liked it.

@Alastor Oh blimey

Spoiler - click to showSo there are four routes in total? Dimitri/Claude/Edelgard and Church? Or do each of the others have a split as well?

Also

Spoiler - click to showWhat do you mean by get Edelgard to like you? Get her support rank up by a certain point? I didn't pay any attention to this with Dimitri at all, just kind of blundered through - I wonder if I've inadvertently made choices I didn't realise I was making.

Started Cindered Shadows tonight, it's good so far, though going back to early-game units takes some adjustment after my hand-crafted OP team from the end of the game.

Spoiler - click to show I forget if there's anything special besides this but if you get her to like you past a certain point, I wanna' say capped but might not be that much, she will invite you to her coronation or whatever it is that she gets at that point in the story, if you witness that you can protect her from Rhea in the tomb. AFAIK you have to see that to get Edelgard, I don't even wanna' think about doing all of Act 1 and being forced to fight for Miss Smitey against the character you spent all that time rooting for lol. As far as I know, there are no more splits at least, still pretty insane though.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You

SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
I realy like Saga games, and I do really like this, but it's a tad too long, and a clever system doing most of the heavy lifting can only carry so hard before giving way. I suspect you can't really appreciate the game fully on a first run though, I started as Urpina which is the recommended 'simpler' and more linear route but there's a character who starts out with the entire map open to him from the get go, much like in Saga Frontier where Lute's scenario let you stumble into the last boss in like 30 minutes of starting it. So maybe in a year or two I will revisit this because I want to move on to Romancing Saga 3 now and honestly wanted to play it well before I beat Scarlet Graces.

JANUARY
Inmost
The Pedestrian
Gorogoa
Botanicula

FEBRUARY
Kirby and the Forgotten Land

MARCH
Nobody Saves The World
Tunic

APRIL
Nothing

MAY
Still nothing (?!)

JUNE
Weird West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Yeah, that was fun. That said, I'm pretty much done with it already… don't care about the missing achievements which requires time, effort and/or skill I don't care to invest, and I've seen everything it has to offer. So, deleted.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge- 8/10

Yup, just completed it now. Played through it again with multiplayer too. Great game. It's not as solid as River City girls or Street of Rage 4, but it really didn't have to be. It fits perfectly in a unique position when we need more games like this. Easily the best ninja turtle game ever made. What it lacks in it's simple gameplay it more than makes up for in other areas. The levels, iconic characters, the pixel art style and 90's throwback theme is done so well it kinda comes across as a passion project. Like Mart said, I don't really feel like playing anymore for achievements and stuff. I'm happy with what I got.

Deleted Turtles. Now my friend wants to play it online. Checked, and I deleted my save too… it didn't sync online. No playing as Casey Jones for me.

Raphael is the best Turtle.

Disc Room - great little Game Pass palate-cleanser that starts off as a simple avoid-em-up in the style of Hyperdot or Geometry Wars but then evolves into something a little more interesting, with a map to navigate and various challenges to complete. It's fast and slick and doesn't outstay its welcome - I enjoyed this a lot.

Raphael is the best Turtle.

er what no donatello

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Cindered Shadows

This is the side-story campaign that forms the most significant part of the game's DLC expansion pass. I thought this was really good. It's much more focused than the main game, stripping out all the school stuff and skill points in favour of a simplified story and a sequence of battles. The battles themselves are unique and memorable, more involved and less cookie-cutter than the main game equivalents, and I thought they were a fair bit harder too. The new characters are distinctive and as full of personality as any of the main cast; having completed the DLC I can now recruit them in future playthroughs, which will be very interesting. Just generally a good expansion all round.

I went back to Three Houses after this thread (I was maybe 20 hours in). It's a great game, I just wish you could change the difficulty midway through. It's even an option right there on the menu, greyed out with the words 'you cannot change the difficulty'. Why?!

It's very, very easy on Normal, to the point where it stops being a strategy game and starts being a 'click on the thing you want to die' game. I kill every troop in one hit, even the bosses. And my normal attacks are stronger than the Weapon Skills, to the point where I've never bothered selecting a weapon skill. The battles basically play themselves.

It's not like I started on Easy, it was called Normal mode.

I hope you're at least playing on Classic (permadeath) mode. The game is absolutely based around that fear of losing even one character - to the extent that Casual mode, where no-one can truly die, is essentially pointless. There's not a single battle in the game you can't steamroller with ease if you're willing to risk a couple of characters along the way.

Even on Classic it is quite easy (and the Divine Pulse rewind feature means you'll realistically never see the Game Over screen unless you really screw things up) but I think that's deliberate in a way. It means you can play around with respeccing your characters mid-game, you're not locked into any kind of default or left stuck with early choices like you are with harder games like Tactics Ogre. It also means you can recruit a few folk from other Houses if you like and have a wider pool of units to choose from, you're not just stuck with your basic 10 or 11 guys.

It's notable that the DLC, where you're essentially given a pre-built party, is a fair bit harder than the main game. A couple of the battles there gave me real pause.

Nope, casual. Again, the game does a rubbish job of telling you this stuff. Permadeath is something I’ve always steered away from in games because it’s stressful, and usually difficult. If they had mentioned at the beginning that it was fundamental to the way the game plays, I’d have chosen it.

I’ve restarted on Hard Classic and the combat already makes more sense.

The older Fire Emblem games only had permadeath mode, I think they just expect you to know that that's the "real" way to play the game. I think it was the 3DS games that introduced the casual mode.

With Three Houses' generous rewinds, it's not like the permadeath mode is even that punishing any more. It was annoying as hell in Awakening when you'd play a map for an hour then the enemy would get one lucky shot on your healer in the final round and you'd have the restart the whole thing. In this, bang, rewind.

Totally agree that the game does a very poor job of explaining itself. There are things in there that even after 70 hours I still don't really know how they work.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions

Dino Crisis 2
This is a whole new level of 'games being shorter than you remember, I completed this pretty much entirely on four days of commutes and lunchbreaks. Game itself is so nostalgic and I used to play this all the time when I was younger, I still really love it but can't quite help the feeling that there was more to the game in my head than in reality because I feel like I just blasted through that and skipped an entire section I remembered that doesn't actually exist. :s

It's not a survival horror game, unlike the first, it's actually a pretty well made action/arcadey orientated game that swaps tension and scares for guns without reload times and chaining kills of Dinosaurs to buy more stuff, this sounds like a bastardisation but it's done really well because they weave it into the framework of a survival horror game pretty seamlessly. The world design is classic Capcom PS1 pre-rendered nostalgia and this is is closest to Resident Evil 3 in terms of feel.

TL;DR - To Dino Crisis 1 what Lost World is to Jurassic Park but Dino Crisis 2 isn't shit, yeah I said it.

That cliffhanger ending though, it's been over 20 years Capcom did fiery redhead Regina go back for Dylan or not?????

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World

Well…I can't say Tales of Beseria and Zestiria are the worst Tales games anymore, mechanically it's relatively fine, basically a more smoother edition of the original games combat with free running…which means it's still on the lower end for Tales combat, at least bosses are staggered when you hit them though, fuck you for not doing that, Tales of Arise.

I can't really see me playing this again, or reccomending it to anyone, least of all people who enjoyed the world and characters of the first game because man are both done pretty dirty in this. Not content with ruining the old it also manages to have the worst two main characters in the series, Asbel's (Tales of Graces) blandness, Kor's (Tales of Hearts R) dumb optismism and Ludger's (Tales of Xillia 2) pathetic attempt at a silent protag don't even come close to this unbearablely mopey boy and lovey dovey girl. Worst thing is that despite the non presence of the old Symphonia cast showing up, these are literally the only party members you will ever get, ouch.

Still though, I do not regret playing it because…this is the last physical copy of a Tales game I have to beat, I finished my Tales stack everyone! I think next I am going to have to emulate Tales of Destiny, I have no idea how many english Tales games I have left to beat rn but it's more beaten than not beaten at least.

Haaaang on. (Back to Three Houses.)

I’m on permadeath hard now, and lost a character fairly quickly (Lorenz I think he was called, the weird perv hitting on all the women - no big loss).

But he’s not dead at all, he’s just disappeared from my party. He still shows up in story moments, and still has dialogue, and there was no hefty story moment where anyone mourned him. He’s just not available to pick any more. It feels more like a hacked-together mod than an integral part of the game.

They missed a trick here, surely.

This is just how Fire Emblem works. If a character dies they are no longer available for fights, but they are still around for story.

It's always been that way. The story continues regardless of who you've "lost", the characters are just considered to have suffered grievous injuries and can no longer fight. Otherwise the game would have to have an infinite number of permutations of the story cutscenes, to account for who was and was not in your party.

You'll probably find their loss is more keenly felt than you realise because you miss out on all their support conversations and so on. Also you may now need to consider recruiting someone else to replace him so you have enough characters for the bigger battles.

Lorenz is one of the few male-male pairing options iirc so if there's no support conversations when they are dead then RIP that!!!!!!!! (Unsurprisingly, the female pairing options are more plentiful, a shame)

Mad Max 8/10

Great game that could've been better with less. You get to a point where you crash into that open world Ubisoft formula and the burnout begins. I'd recommend sticking to the main campaign and do side quest along the way so it not too overwhelming. Other than that, really liked it. Would love a sequel!

Kentucky Route Zero - ethereal, dream-like adventure game that starts off as a road-trip through rural America and ends as… well, I'm not quite sure. Along the way it has a lot to say about addiction, debt, dedication, the power of corporations over people's lives, hope, and the human spirit. It's essentially an arthouse movie in videogame form and a lot of people will bounce HARD off this but I thought it was absolutely outstanding, and completely unique.

Citizen Sleeper - I posted about this in the Game Pass thread so I won't repeat myself, but it's a good story cleverly told. Recommended.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World[/b]

AI: The Somnium Files
A game that made up for any flaws it had with the really likable cast and a story that that even managed to drag me away from Monster Hunter to see what happened next. Also the true final credits is amazing

Sonic Origins

Sonic the Hedgehog- 8.5/10

Still holds up to this day. Started a whole new style to the 2D platformers back in the day. The speed momentum was an incredible idea. From the slopes and hills the sages enhanced this mechanic perfectly. Even the slower acts have a nice stop and go paste to them to keep the game from being too repetitive. While we're at it, the character design was amazing too. I remember as a kid loving the character Sonic way more than anyone else at the time. He wasn't just a good guy doing the right thing because that's what good guys do. Sonic was edgy, cheeky and carefree. The only thing I can't stand are the bonus stages. Easily the worst bonus stages from the series. If this was the only Sonic game made I would rate it higher, because I didn't think you could improve on so much on what's already a great game…..until…

Sonic the Hedgehog 2- 10/10

Talk about a great sequel. Everything good about the first one improved greatly. Graphics, stages, gameplay, soundtrack and for me the bonus levels. Not just because it's fun now, but adding a reason to collect all 7 chaos emeralds with Super Sonic. Add Tails to that list and this is a master piece in my eyes.

Sonic CD- 6.5/10

This game doesn't hit the same as the others. I love the design of Metal Sonic and the introduction of Amy. Apart from that the stages are disappointing. Everything seems flat with no room to gain speed naturally. They put a lot of effort into a new gimmick that allows you to travel to a past and future. Unfortunately, this adds nothing exciting to the game. It's cool to see the stage in a different light but gameplay wise? I don't know, it's a bit meh.

Sonic 3 & knuckles- 9/10

Although I wouldn't say this is as good as Sonic 2, it still adds a lot to the series like the new shields power ups. Again, a new character with Knuckles who I actually enjoyed seeing him popping in and out the story just to troll your day. With a great ending too, teaming up together to beat Egg Man. A personal highlight for me is when you collect 14
chaos emeralds and unlock Hyper Sonic. Lovely stuff.

The collection itself, Sonic Origins. Is good enough for the price tag I guess with widescreen being a massive improvement for this type of game. Also loved the cartoon cutscenes to link all the games together playing it out like one big game. I just wish they added more fun extras. Put Knuckles as a playable character in CD, even Amy and Metal Sonic would be cool. Got all the achievements and I would definitely recommend it. Had a blast.

/whispers

I don't get Sonic the Hedgehog and don't think there's ever been a truly good Sonic game.

/runs away

/whispers

I don't get Sonic the Hedgehog and don't think there's ever been a truly good Sonic game.

/runs away

me too, shhh

Y'all better run! 😡

Y'all better run! 😡

Gotta go fast

Widescreen sounds interesting, especially with how the 3D games had you able to see where you were going for the first time in the series but now it seems they've lost that big advantage in a speed based platformer?

Random thoughts:

• Marble Zone is my favourite song in Sonic 1, I hear the Origin collection butchered the soundtrack?
• Amy is my favourite character tbh, I used to have her theme song on my old-old old iPod!
• Can you enable Spin Dash in Sonic 1?
• I can't believe people think any of these was as good as Super Mario World tbh

You can't stop now btw, Sonic 3D next?

I can't believe people think any of these was as good as Super Mario World tbh

Gotta go fast

My brain went to "like" that comment. Haha.

• Marble Zone is my favourite song in Sonic 1, I hear the Origin collection butchered the soundtrack?

Yeah, it's to do with the license. It's not as many as you think though.

• Amy is my favourite character tbh, I used to have her theme song on my old-old old iPod!

Bah bah bayah bayah. Yeah, I love Amy too. One of my favorite characters.

• Can you enable Spin Dash in Sonic 1?

Yes. I forgot to mention this, but they added the drop dash from Sonic Mania too. You can also play classic mode that doesn't have these thing as well.

• I can't believe people think any of these was as good as Super Mario World tbh

I wouldn't say any of these are as good, because they are better. Super Mario World wished it was on the same level!

/Runs away

You can't stop now btw, Sonic 3D next?

I actually remember enjoying that game. For sure I'll get round to it for a fair review. For now I'm looking forward to Sonic Colors Ultimate. It's on sale on the Xbox store. So hopefully I'll have enough Microsoft points to get it next month or so. Would like to get all achievements for it too if it still holds up. It's one of the good 3D Sonic games, but was locked on the the Wii console. Not too many to cross of the list now. Worried about the two on Wii U though, Sonic Worlds and Sonic Boom. 😅 I'll see if I get round to them this year because I'm still waiting for the brand new Sonic Frontiers at the end of the year.

Bah bah bayah bayah.

Doesn't she get Shadow and Sonic mixed up despite them being completely different coulours?

I wouldn't say any of these are as good, because they are better. Super Mario World wished it was on the same level!

Me reading this reply

There are way more Sonic games than I remember, what the fuck.

I can't believe people think any of these was as good as Super Mario World tbh

I wouldn't say any of these are as good, because they are better. Super Mario World wished it was on the same level!

/Runs away

Can we get a moderator in here please? I'm being abused.

Sonic games are more technically impressive than Mario games, but as great as they look in screenshots I never found them all that much fun to play.

For one thing, all the fancy parallax scrolling and detailed sprites makes them less readable at speed. The level layouts are overly complex, with multiple paths that would reward exploration, except that the point is to get through them fast and into the next one.

Even the music is just so busy, all the time.