Last game you finished, tell us about it

Just polished off Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, here are some random thoughts:
- Occurs to me that after playing through Light and Dark, Male and Female, Consular and Sentinel variants back in 2005 … not sure I have completed it in the last 15 years - or even got more than half-way through!
- MUCH less buggy than I remembered! (played the default Steam install)
- Really interesting dynamics about Force, Jedi and Sith
- First times I had to solely play as sidekicks (Atton, Mira) I remembered how much I hated it because I rely heavily on main character. Fortunately when assaulting Dxun near end I had fixed all of that and had an awesome squad.
- Not sure why I failed to get proper influence on Atton to turn him to Jedi this time, but I know I didn't keep him with me as much, really focused Visas.
- Much prefer Handmaiden to Disciple.
- Yeah, Malachor is still pretty useless, but I DID love all of the battles in Traya's Academy!

Overall I was incredibly surprised at just how awesome this game was from start to finish. When I reviewed it after first play upon release I called it "a tale of three games" … but based on post-release patches it is a much better experience. Still not perfect, but so much better than I remembered for the mid and late game sections!

Final fantasy 15 DLC. Why isn't anybody talking more about this one? I had a lot of fun with it. Granted, side quests are boring, but it has an engrossing storyline and interesting characters with some great music. Combat feels modern and graphics are one step above other games imo. I see that people were mainly disappointed because it had a lot of content cut during development (and it was a long time in development, so too high expectations). Regarding the DLC, they are even more linear than the base game but provide a lot of interesting background information. I can't imagine paying more than a couple of euros for each one though. They only run about 1 hour each.

In any case, it makes me want to revisit some older entries in the series. Maybe FF9 with Vivi. I borrowed it from a friend a long time ago on the ps2 but never could get past the first hour. I must have replayed the beginning 5 times or so.

If I spent any time talking about FF15 it would be about how bad it is. The story and characters are terrible, imo. Graphics were fine, but nothing special. The only thing I didn't dislike was the combat.

Originally Posted by ilm
In any case, it makes me want to revisit some older entries in the series. Maybe FF9 with Vivi. I borrowed it from a friend a long time ago on the ps2 but never could get past the first hour. I must have replayed the beginning 5 times or so.

Give FF12 a try. That's the best modern FF game imo. Like FF15, there are no random battles.

If you're gonna go old-school, FF 4 thru 7 are all good.

It is hard to follow all FF versions but I played FF12. As you alluded to, it is from 2006. Not really modern anymore :-) Lets see, I dabbled in FF8, FF9, FF12 (finished), FF13-2, and FF15 (finished). I liked the concept of time travel in FF13-2, where you could visit the same region and each time it would be completely different.

I can't really cope with playing final fantasy games back-to-back, but if I could I'm sure everyone here would recommend Dragon Quest 11 instead. ;-)

Originally Posted by txa1265
Just polished off Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, here are some random thoughts:
- Occurs to me that after playing through Light and Dark, Male and Female, Consular and Sentinel variants back in 2005 … not sure I have completed it in the last 15 years - or even got more than half-way through!
- MUCH less buggy than I remembered! (played the default Steam install)

The GoG version is still buggy for me. I think the Steam version was updated by Aspire with some of the restored content and to run on higher screen resolutions. I think that it is also released on Android but I am suspecious about the files size there (37MB)!

Originally Posted by ilm
Final fantasy 15 DLC. Why isn't anybody talking more about this one? I had a lot of fun with it. Granted, side quests are boring, but it has an engrossing storyline and interesting characters with some great music. Combat feels modern and graphics are one step above other games imo. I see that people were mainly disappointed because it had a lot of content cut during development (and it was a long time in development, so too high expectations). Regarding the DLC, they are even more linear than the base game but provide a lot of interesting background information. I can't imagine paying more than a couple of euros for each one though. They only run about 1 hour each.

In any case, it makes me want to revisit some older entries in the series. Maybe FF9 with Vivi. I borrowed it from a friend a long time ago on the ps2 but never could get past the first hour. I must have replayed the beginning 5 times or so.

Before you move on did you try the Mercenaries dlc yet? It's supposed to be multiplayer but it is very solo-able. I spent as almost as much time with the Mercenary campaign as I did with the main story. Weapon crafting is the best I have ever seen!

Originally Posted by SpoonFULL
The GoG version is still buggy for me. I think the Steam version was updated by Aspire with some of the restored content and to run on higher screen resolutions. I think that it is also released on Android but I am suspecious about the files size there (37MB)!

That makes sense - Aspyr made their name porting PC games to Mac back in the late 90s/ early 2000s including many Star Wars and Bioware games … and even with doing their own publishing more recently they have kept up as a port house (things like Civ VI to Mac, Switch and iOS). Since they brought KotOR 2 to iOS and Android (yeah, after that 37MB you will have a massive data download of ~2GB), Steam must have contracted with them for the Mac version as well.

Originally Posted by Philistine
Before you move on did you try the Mercenaries dlc yet? It's supposed to be multiplayer but it is very solo-able. I spent as almost as much time with the Mercenary campaign as I did with the main story. Weapon crafting is the best I have ever seen!

You mean the comrades dlc? I heard it was good but I uninstalled the base game unfortunately before I read about it.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition (XB1X version).

I completed this back when it was first released on PC - and I remember thinking it was a decent enough shooter.

After playing it again, I still think it is - but only barely. It has but a tiny handful of memorable moments - and it's pretty simplistic in terms of gameplay.

But it was still a decent enough experience. There's a certain level in it that I think is quite something in terms of atmosphere, and that's really what makes it all worth it.

I played it because I wanted to see Gears 4 and 5 on PC - which I never did.

I tried playing Gears 2 - but I was quickly bored. I ended up watching it as a movie on YT - and concluded that not playing it was very much the right decision.

Then I played Gears 3 - and have already gotten bored. The basic gameplay really is quite limited and dull - and the levels aren't quite interesting enough.

Right now I'm considering whether or not I'll bother finishing it.

I still want to try the next two games - as I very much would like to experience them on PC.

Factorio! Tried to make it as challenging as possible, but well…the game is just not designed to be challenging.

Anyways, its a fun game for puzzling and optimizing and I recommend it if you like doing that. Even just one playthrough will likely take a few dozen hours and is worth the money.

Guess I dont need to explain the game to anyone.

I just beat Mega Man 4 for the 1,375,467.4th time. Why? I have no idea, just felt like playing a Mega Man game.

While it's not the best game in the series, it's still one of the better games for the NES. It's a fair bit easier than earlier Mega Man games, at least to me, though that may because it's one of my go to games to just shut down mentally and play. It may also be the charged shot making it's debut. It's music is still top notch, controls are tight, and level design is as good as it's going to get.

I've just completed Wasteland 3. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Great atmosphere, great tactical battles with lot of options. It makes you take some hard moral/political decisions. I like how the game is not repetitive. Each fights is important.

Of course, it got a few weaknesses. The scope of the game is quite small. It's always the night(!), and always winter. Leveling is too fast, the game is too short, and I'm not a big fan of the steampunk style of its art direction.

Still, for me, it's a strong contender for the title of RPG of the Year 2020. Imo, it has few worthy opponents.

Originally Posted by ilm
You mean the comrades dlc? I heard it was good but I uninstalled the base game unfortunately before I read about it.

Yes that's it. Sorry, I forgot how forgetful I am with names.

OK, finally finished Dishonored 2. I managed a no-kill and no-detection playthrough, clocked in at 42h. It was fantastic. Here's my steam review:

Dishonored 2 is an improvement on the first one, in most regards. Initially I was a bit disappointed by the loss in the hyper-stylized art style, but as soon as I saw the first vista in Karnaca I was convinced this was for the better. It just looks so much better. The id-tech they're using really paid off. The lighting especially is gorgeous.

This time Corvo speaks, he has a voice actor which I also found an improvement over the awkward interactions in the first one, where only NPCs would speak. Though people that really like to immerse themselves as the character and not have a voice actor ruin that, might disagree.

Gameplay-wise, it's very similar to the first one with the added bonus of two playable characters, though for this review I can only speak about Corvo. I tried to do a no-kill and no-detection playthrough in part 2, which was a lot harder in part 1 since it didn't have the immediate feedback that part 2 has with the Stats screen that you can consult mid-mission. And after abusing the save/reload hundreds of times, I managed to do it. And it was a blast. The AI of the enemy was also a significant improvement over Dishonored 1. Though, I did talk with other people who found it similar? So that might be just me. But in certain places it definetly isn't just me. There are places where the AI is just more paranoid, attentive and will notice you very easily. But of course, there still are places where you can cheese it. Which was to be expected, but I still rate it higher than Dishonored 1.

Of course, by focusing on stealth fully, I did not encounter most of the chaotic combat, but from the gameplay videos I saw, it looks fun. So my new-game+ session will likely focus on a high chaos combat oriented playthrough.

The story, characters and world building is again, a big improvement over Dishonored 1. I found the main story in Dishonored 1 a bit lacking, without any emotional punch. But did love the DLC expanded story. Dishonored 2 continues in that style, I found, and is a lot better. Even though it did not make up for the lack of an emotional core in part 1(though there are some sweet moments), it overall just tells a better story. Also, having Corvo having a voice actor means he can now give context to various things, which was nice. There are also some interesting plot twists which you only find out in a low-chaos state of the world. And there's one in mission in particular which actually has some very impactful choice and consequence. This sort of scenario, and the various other places where choices do impact the world brings the game closer to an rpg than a lot of other self-titled rpgs.

One area where the story does not improve much over the first game is the narrative context of the Outsider. So little was said in the first one, that I really hoped for more in part 2. And there is some, but so little. I hope the expansion Death of the Outsider makes up for this. And going by the title, it should. We'll see.

But the highlight of the game has to be the levels and the level design. Almost all of them I found great. Most take place on the southern continent, so there's this heat, desert and jungle motif to most locations. The game world also deals with the infestation of a certain insect that really elevates some nice horror themes, especially as you get to explore their various hives. Really enjoyed that. But coming back to the levels, very much like the first Dishonored, these are the main highlight of the game. They're real playgrounds which you can explore and play around in. This great level design also makes exploration very rewarding, with some great optional puzzles and hidden locations.

In the end, I'd very much recommend Dishonored 2. Fantastics stealth title, which I hear has not been very as profitable as the publisher would like? Which would explain why no other title/expansion except Death of the Outsider was released? Maybe with the new Microsoft ownership we'll see a revisit? I just hope Arkane will still handle this, as it's been fantastic. They've really proven to be a great developer, with great titles like Dishonored and Prey. Anyways, 9/10 from me.

Ok, I finally finished Trails in the Sky: Cold Steel three. I say finally because I began playing this a week or two prior to Thanksgiving, and it's kept me occupied from then until yesterday. I cannot even blame playing Everquest two for hogging my time, as all I've been doing there the past two months is raiding. As of now I spent a total of 188 hours in Cold Steel three, and 95% of it was pure bliss.

The story picks up not long after the conclusion of the prior game. Our protagonist is now a teacher himself, with a small class in tow. I found this to be excellent character progression, as the earlier iterations had always had him questioning his teachers and pondering how he might lead such classes himself. So not only do you have plenty of old friends to rely on and reacquaint yourself with, there is also a younger set that you must guide and lead along the way. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but if you enjoyed the other Trail in the Sky games, you'll like this one, I believe.

My really only nitpick would be some of the cut scenes, they can go on for quite some time. Often when I start playing sometimes I'll just want to quit after thirty minutes or so, and that can be an issue here. Again though, this is a very small complaint and literally the only one I can come up with. The story is fabulous, the fights are scary good, there is significant character development along the way, and the ending….well, I shan't spoil that. Now I just have to hope the fourth game comes to gog or steam soonish!

Excellent - I am about a dozen hours into the Switch version and really enjoying it … these are such huge games I haven't managed to replay one since the early PSP 'Tales of Vermillion' game. But you are right about the mix of new and old and growth right from the start. Looking forward to more!

It only gets better, man. Enjoy the ride and then join me in the bread lining waiting for the fourth game!

Ok, just finished Death of the Outsider.

Not much to say, aside from "more of the good stuff from Dishonored 2". It continues with some nice levels again, and one in particular that is fantastic. From what I hear it's a community favorite. And it's all that. Some of the rest are recycled and changed from the original Dishonored 2 campaign. But they're decent. It's nice exploring and seeing how the world changed.

Features a new contracts mission system, where you take jobs from the black market. Which is nice, in general, but the downside is some of them can't be finished non-lethally, if that is what your playthrough is like. Other than that they're fun to do.

The expansion also changes the main magic ability of the protagonist, and initially I was a bit disappointed as it made things harder to pull off. But you get used to it, and actually find something nice in the new abilities. One ability though I could not get with. It's the one that allows you to decorporalize and flow around the environment, placing teleportation markers and scanning for charms and the like. This was just awful. Aside from the fact that it has a heighy limit, which I found quite restrictive, it's just a pain to search for charms using it. You can hardly see anything clearly, as it puts a blueish filter. And I personally didn't use it for anything aside from searching for charms.

Storywise, it's decent, but very short considering the subject material. You would expect dealing with one of the main characters to be part of the main plot. But it's better than nothing. I liked the ending, especially since non-lethally you can avoid a boss fight. I hate boss fights.

All in all, I'd rate it 8/10. Pretty good.

Also, speak of the devil

https://twitter.com/Harvey1966/statu…31748282765313

(rofl)