Your Games Completed of 2024

Yes I started early:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - I think the DS exclusive trial was pretty fun, the cast (especially Ema Skye!) are great and the case itself is fun to unravel and I like the villain but the case itself is also a bit of an overly long mess (case in point: Edgeworth's actions as prosecutor amongst other things) and the smoking gun you use to end it all is a bit lame. Still think this is a game/series that just feels so nice to play on a spiritual level man, well sometimes the cases don't vibe but still.

I don't want to say Phoenix Wright 2 is Mid but it having one of, if not the worst Case in the trilogy (hello circus) and much less hype music certainly doesn't help matters, still goingto play it. I forgot when the Apollo games are coming but I wanna' finish before they're out with time to spare…

EDIT - Are you fucking kidding me????

On what will certainly be one of about four posts I ever make in this thread:

• Horizon Forbidden West
  If this was about 10 hours shorter and didn't have so many crafting systems, it'd be a much better game, but I still had a fun time. I found the ending surprisingly affecting, even with the setup for the next game clumsily crowbarred into place right at the end.

Far Cry 6 - What absolute shite. Only by the grace of being ill after new years did this make it across the line. A dramatic and terrible waste of talent, time, money and effort. Excerable shit.

So worth a shot on Game Pass then?

Interested in FC6 because the last one I played was FC2 meaning I stopped before they found the formula they've been using since FC3 so I completely missed all of that. (unless FC3 is literally just FC2 with less wildfires and malaria)

So worth a shot on Game Pass then?

No.

Everything from FC4 has been terrible Al, exactly because it's just the FC3 formula again and again.

But it's not even that, though. If it was FC3 again, it'd be a fun game.

The only thing that it really can come up with is the Resolver situation; workbenches, ammo types, backpacks and guns made out of PVC pipe and chewing gum. Enemies have helmets that stop the soft target rounds that are great at body shot damage and armor piercing rounds are useless against bodyshots. Your 'panic mode' gun is an SMG with soft target rounds and your 'controlled mode' gun is a silence sniper rifle.

You get these two weapons within the first hour. You never need to switch off them. You can't not get them. You have to craft them to progress through the game. They fuck their only meaningful mechanical change within an hour of starting the game. It's a staggeringly easy game that's just a mass of gray paste. Enemies are blind, gaining detection slowly and losing it quickly. Detection propogation is gone. You have a silent weapon. You can kill five dudes standing in a circle before the last guy reacts to the first person going down. You get a perception grenade that lets you tag everything in an area.

They've even ditched the tower climbing stuff. They make a joke out of it. 'No, I'm not going to make you climb a fucking radio tower. What do you think this is?'

And that's just the core game loop. I'm not even gonna mention the waste of Esposito.

So I just get FC3 on cheap, nice!

I quite liked some of the DLC for 5. The Vietnam one in particular. It uses diluted the fun parts of the overally long main campaign, into an enjoyable 4 hours of so.

Two down so far then although both started 2023.

Shadowrun Returns
Advanced Wars

Not sure if I am going to go to Advance Wars 2 or to finally open one of Pikmin collection, Atari history thing, or the Xenoblade remaster.

I haven't played Far Cry 6 but I did play through a big chunk of 5 last year on Game Pass and I quite enjoyed it. It's the first one I'd played since 2 though so I suspect if you play loads of these then they get quite samey. It's standard Ubi fare really, a big map, loads of objectives and plenty of icons to tick off. You spend the whole game shooting Trump supporters and running them down in SUVs. What's not to like?

I played all of 3 and 4 and had a decent time (the first half of 3 is the high mark for the series imo), but that was the point every Ubi game started to use the same basic formula, and by the end of 4 I'd just had enough of it.

I've said before and I'll say again: I will never like Ubisoft's 'big map, icons everywhere, UI all over the place, lots of menus' approach to videogames. It's in everything, no matter what the series is. I hate it, because it's like they want to do everything they can to remind you you're playing a game, to pull you out of the world and the experience. I can't deny liking the idea of the upcoming Prince of Persia game - definitely looks like my bag - but I suspect it'll follow the same idea, even if it's a 2D Metroidvania. Demo is out next Thursday, so I guess we'll see.

Far Cry 6
Saints Row - What absolute shite. Only by the grace of it being free on the Epic Games Store did this make it across the line. A dramatic and terrible waste of talent, time, money and effort. Excerable shit.

I'm sensing a pattern here.

I dunno I think open world games might be shit.

That, and you've picked shit ones. Not that I can think of a really good one off the top of my head (some tolerable ones, sure, but not really good ones).

Assassins creed valhalla is coming to gamepass soon. I'm sure that'll be great.

I'd say that the problem is people think they can get away with making a shit game if it's open world because it looks like there is loads to do.

Elite, Crackdown and Breath of the Wild show it can be done.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Fate/Extra: CCC
The fact that this game was even translated was something of a miracle, the game is 11 years old and the translation took several years of TL woes/hell to finally drop. Which is why I feel a little guilty that I was kinda happy to finally finish it today, it's actually a pretty fun game when it's not going on with itself but my patience was wearing thin at the end. Thankfully I enjoyed the RPS combat and the characters so I had enough reason to carry on. I have more specific gripes but no one will understand if they haven't read Fate/ Stay Night or Tsukihime tbh.

And we're on the board…

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock - I wanted to like this, I really did. At the start, I thought it was great! But the story drags on massively, the twist is revealed way too early, and the ending is just awful. It doesn't help that the core gameplay tries to keep things interesting with endless repetitive minigames that just feel like they're in the way, and in the late stages when the clues get stupidly obtuse ('find the virtue of kindness in this picture!'), it takes away the safety net of tips and you're just floundering. I also found myself using the tips way more than I'd want in something that should be as simple as finding a small thing in a bigger picture, so that left a mark too. I'm glad I finished it rather than giving up (though I didn't bother with all of the bonus non-story related stuff, since I did one stage 100% and got nothing for it), but the experience wasn't everything I was hoping for.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC

Dragon Quest 4
Kicking off Year of the Dragon Quest with a bang, there's not really much bad I can say about this, I wish it wasn't so easy to get lost in Chapter 5 but this is just a very good RPG no matter how I slice it. I can't believe I played the android version all the way through on my phone, testament to how good this version is. In fact it's arguably better than the 3DS version because it's identical in all aspects besides the inclusion of the 'Party Talk' button which injects a little characterisation into a somewhat mute cast otherwise.

Stray

That was nice. I decided I needed a bit of a palette cleanse, after all the Monster Hunting I’d done lately, and before I got into another big game, after my abortive Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough, and this hit the spot. It’s a bit platformy, a bit puzzley, a bit stealthy, and a bit walking simulatory, with the walking being of the feline variety, seeing as you’re a cat exploring a futuristic world, with the help of your drone buddy. Who apparently speaks cat. It’s a bit odd.

Its also quite a tricky one to disseminate, because if you tried to do a purely objective review of all those semi-disparate mechanics it doesn’t really do anything too brilliantly, just as it doesn’t do anything badly. There’s a few bits where things can start to wear just a little, or things don’t quite hang together the way they should, but it’s nothing that takes away from the game too much. It’s almost charming that at one stage the game will let you, a cat with a Wall-E knockoff for a companion, steal something from a shop, even before you’ve met the character who will explain why you do need to do that.

It gives good cat, generally looks very nice, and creates an interesting world and narrative. It’s also clearly been made with love, care and attention, and feels almost akin to playing the four-legged lead in some kind of critically acclaimed animated movie. I liked it a lot.

On a semi-related note, I feel compelled to share (admit) that my Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough ended not because I’m still unsure that crpgs are for me (which is true, especially on console), or because I didn’t like it (which is not true; I actually think it’s a bit special). It’s actually because, after 45 hours, as I finally approached the end of Act 1, I managed to ACCIDENTALLY DELETE ALL OF MY SAVES, and then not notice I’d done so for a week, so that I had no chance of recovering them. FFS.

I definitely think I’ll go back to it, likely sooner rather than later, but I’m not sure I’m ready yet…

That is more time lost than I've spent on DQ4 thus far, so I don't blame you. If I was you I'd prob tread a different path and come back to that original plan on a different playthrough or I guess wait so long you forget everything.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: peerless fan service.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4

Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Well after a rocky few opening hours I really enjoyed that in the end, it's not going to top anyone's RPG list any time soon I don't think, but for me it's up there just on the fun that I had with it, just on flying around and the combat. The Star Ocean series started because during the making of one of the early 'Tale of' games, there was a creative dispute within Namco and so some of the company left and formed their own studio and made their game and that game was Star Ocean. so in a way, this is the cousin series to that one! The vibe and similarities is obviously there it's just this game was a little unpolished and undercooked compared to the higher end 'Tales of' games, but this is still better than some of the games in that series so it's not the be all and end all. I hear great things about the recently released remake of Star Ocean 2 though, which honestly looks fucking immaculate and is 100% the next game in the series I play.

Stray

Spider-Man 2
A fine example of how you take a good game and make it really good by polishing it to a fine sheen; sometimes when a little crack in the veneer appeared I found myself wondering if I would’ve liked it any more than a bunch of those old fun-but-flawed Spidey games of generations past (that I’ve forgotten the names of), if not for all the money that’s been thrown at it.

If it sounds like I’m being a bit harsh… well, I almost certainly am. It’s a technical marvel, extremely well presented, and a genuinely fun game, I’m just ever-so-slightly underwhelmed.

Arkham Asylum remains undefeated.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City - Calling this 'not a terrible game' isn't an insult. It's total brain-off FPS nonsense, with a character that simply has to suck up the damage and deal with it while you blow people's heads off. It's got issues, sure, and if you pick it up for full price then you're a bit mad. But at the £20 mark (which is what I paid on eneba), it's perfectly serviceable and even a bit… fun? Especially when you realise that yes, most of the enemies in the late game are armoured and yet, their crotches are totally unprotected. Crotch shots are encouraged. There's even an achievement for it. Just don't expect a sensible story, since the ending is total bobbins (and the boss fights are tedious bullet sponges). I liked it.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2 - I like this, but by god does it drag. I made it all the way to the end boss, which promptly kicked my arse incredibly hard, and at this point I was just tired. Thing is, the game has a setting called House Rules where you can change a load of things like enemy health, damage, traits and so on. I just wanted the game done so fuck it, everything down to 30% and it's time for the credits. Fine. Now though… do I NG+? Probably not. There's still loads to unlock but the true ending doesn't show itself until NG+7 (!), so sod that. Moving on!

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar - Very glad I pushed through on this, it ended up being a satisfying and challenging puzzle game once everything clicked. Doesn't outstay its welcome either, so I'm already done. Worth a look, I reckon, if puzzle solving and code… er, decoding is your bag. I've been told to look at Heaven's Vault (?) next which is similar but moreso - need something less brainy to cool down first though, so I'll dive into the backlog and find something to pootle on.

Far Cry 6
Saints Row
A little to the Left - A cute, fun game about tidying things up. You are nominally threatened when a cat shows up to push stuff around. It's potential is never realised, though, because the main menace (the cat) isn't really enough of a feature as I'd like it to be. I want them to be a fucking menace. I want them to walk over all my shit, push mugs around, generally be a little feline jerk.

A hand with many fingers - It came out in 2020 but this might be my game of the year. It's 2 hours long, $5 on Steam, and it's a conspiracy corkboard 'em up about a real life plot by the CIA to murder a journalist, cover up arms and drugs trafficing and so much more. The vibes start pretty fine but rapidly become entirely rancid. A sense of dread builds and it becomes like a very good psychological horror. It is less than your lunch cost and is better for you.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered - blockbuster gaming done right. This captures the essence of Spider-Man perfectly - he feels exactly right to control, combat is fast and varied (and not at all like Batman, thankfully), and the dialogue and wisecracks are spot on. The actual plot is fast and breezy and brings in a satisfying number of Spidey-villains, and while the map suffers a little from Ubisoft-style icon bloat, there is plenty to do here and some fun stuff to unlock. I'll definitely be playing the DLC that comes with this Remastered version and looking out for the Miles Morales follow-up in a Steam sale soon.

Miles Morales is excellent; The City That Never Sleeps… not so much.

It's not nearly as inventive (or breezy) as the main game, and the fact it needs to be launched separately from a menu makes it feel small. Each episode has its own side missions and activities, but the plot doesn't give you much free time to get to them, and coming to it all at once - instead of having a month or two to pick away at each episode - it just feels entirely inconsequential. Also, I hate Screwball.

Having said that, I'd still recommend it, if only because parts of the plot are pretty important - less so for Miles Morales, but there's one character in particular who'll take a very sudden turn if you were to go into Spider-Man 2 without it.

Miles Morales is under £20 on CD Keys.

Rolled credits on Cyberpunk 2077 last night. I have a lot of thoughts, most of which are positive but boil down to "this would have been better as a TTRPG", though I recognise that a videogame can't provide the level of interactivity, player choice and flexibility that you get from a good GM.

I've almost immediately jumped back in to wrap up sidequests (and might go for another route through the final mission), so it seems I'm not quite done with Night City yet.

Assassins Creed - Valhalla was abandoned, but this happened after fifty hours at which point it said 'surprise, there's another continent.' This game is too big to be completed and is too bad to spend any more time with. Please let this series die.

Assassins Creed - Valhalla was abandoned, but this happened after fifty hours at which point it said 'surprise, there's another continent.' This game is too big to be completed and is too bad to spend any more time with. Please let this series die.

To be fair, the other continent is simply one more region to complete, quite a small one at that, but yes the game is far too big for its own good. At the end there is a big moment where all your allies from the course of the game all come together to help you and I genuinely couldn't remember who most of them were. No surprise their next game was far smaller in scope, they really over-reached themselves with Valhalla.

Hopefully Mirage sold well enough to encourage them in that direction going forward. I lost interest partway through Origins, which from what I can tell was the smallest of the sprawling RPG "trilogy".

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

After 100 hours I finally toppled this behemoth of a game that is so long despite only covering one of the three discs the original PS1 game came in, I had a great time.

The impressive thing about the game is that not only does it not compromise it's own vision but it doesn't compromise the original's either. This was a lot easier(ish) to do in Remake when everything was contained within Midgar but not only does this have multiple areas from the open world section of Disc 1 it even turns optional areas like Gongaga into a full map with great story scenes that still fall in line with the original. Of course this isn't an actual remake, so it will diverge at some point and as hater of the ending for Remake I have to say…I don't hate where this goes, meta stuff is still whatever but story wise it's pretty interesting.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a great and we, as a people, failed it.

It's one of the PS+ Extra games this month. If say I'll check it out, but… gestures at pile of other games I haven't played

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a great and we, as a people, failed it.

I've been saying this was great since the day it released and no-one ever fucking listened to me. I think it will end up being one of the hidden gems of this gen, people will be discovering it years down the line.

The only tip I would give is that the DLC is also really good - four extra characters, with all the upgrades, cards and abilities that entails, plus a whole new story quest that runs alongside the game's main plot - but it's worth getting it as early as you can, as that means the new guys hang out in the abbey and fit in seamlessly with the rest of the game. Shame the DLC is usually way overpriced though.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus - Pretty Soulslike Metroidvania that took me a while to get into but ended up being lovely. Got all three endings and all the achievements, which shows how much I enjoyed it… not sure why I sat on it for so long. Will probably grab the sequel when it comes round, we'll see.
Mortal Kombat 1 - Kind of, since I finished the season (there's a new one every six weeks). I like Mortal Kombat, so this wasn't hard to enjoy but even so… that's a grind. One season is enough for me. I'll move onto playing the Story mode now and then I'm probably done.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever - Putting this on the list because I finished the campaign mode with a nearly flawless win streak, only to then lose the final match (4-way dance for the title, so the odds were massively against me) and be told 'That's it, you're done'. No option to retry, just the need to start over. Thanks but no. It's a broken but fun game, but I think that's enough for me.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth

Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

This is still the best way to experience 'FF7' imo, the remakes are way better when you've played this anyway so there's that. Also with the time it took me to beat this I could probably finish FF7 three times before I even finished Rebirth once.

Finished the story in Unicorn Overlord last night – thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is a bit nonsense (it could have been better explained throughout the game instead of infodumping revelations in the final mission), but it's gorgeous and tactical satisfying even on the lowest difficulty. I've still got a couple of side missions to finish off, plus at least one postgame mission and a whole bunch of towns to hire guards for, but I've got a six hour train journey today so that would fill it nicely.

Finished Shadowrun Dragonfall, really enjoyed this and would rate it above Shadowrun returns although that obviously makes sense.

The characters in your team all seem decent and I really like the little hub space/city district you return to between missions much more than I did the club in the first. Would like to have another run through on this eventually and do the opposite or play different to I did, but for the time being have now downloaded the 3rd and final of the Shadowrun Trilogy, so will hopefully get to start that tomorrow.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

Dragon Quest 5

A delightful little RPG in which you start the game as a kid and end it saving the world fighting alongside your wife and kids (and some monsters, of which the game has LOADS to recruit). There's a story here, but it's almost in the background compared to the one in 4, I think the generational spanning narrative in this more than makes up for it though. Pretty much my only issue here is that it's so easy to get lost again, I really hope DQ6 doesn't hide key items behind obscure NPC dialogue again or whatever. That said, I had started DQ5 waaaay before even Star Ocean on my list up there, the fact that I was able to return waaay after when I had finished FF7 and just slip right in shows just how familiar these games can be.

Despite mentioning DQ6 earlier, I can't fight it anymore, I NEED to see what Dragon Quest 8 is like on the 3DS. I've already beat it on the PS2 so this isn't technically moving forward in my 'Beat all DQ games' thing but the 3DS version sounds like such an improvement in every way that isn't graphics I think it'll definitely feel kind of fresh! (also my poor phone)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5

Crisis Core Reunion - I have to say I left this a bit more down than I was expecting to, though you have to remember…it's still a PSP game, it doesn't excuse everything but it is why there's a ton of 5 minute missions that mostly feel inconsequential (bar the odd one with a very important item), it's why the story feels short and abridged and doesn't have much room to breathe. Back in the day, playing this on the bus was probably amazing, playing it at home in long burst makes you feel like you're missing something.

The best thing about this game by far is Zack, he might be annopyingly genki to most people but it does show how different he is to Cloud as a character, and the best parts of the story are how he deals with the shit thrown his way and why the ending just hits you so hard. Again, this is a PSP game so I kinda' wish the character drama in this got to play out a bit more, but it is what it is I suppose!