The Gaming Diary: Chapter 3

[Addicted]

Mad Max X1: I've upgraded just about everything to max level right now. If you see it for cheap $20 or less pick it up.

NHL 16 X1: I didn't like last years but I'll give this years game another shot.

[techwizard]

finished the main story in Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door! great game, a must-play for any RPG fans with a gamecube. the gameplay can get a bit repetitive but it's still a lot of fun. i'm going to go back and attempt The Pit of 100 Trials again, and i may try to finish off all the "troubles" side-quests.

[Disposed Hero]

I finished Resident Evil 4 the other day.  Most games, no matter how good they are, I'm usually just playing them to complete them.  RE4 is one of the few games that I actually don't want to end because of how good it is, which is high praise considering that it's a 15-20 hour game.  I felt the same way when I first played it 10 years ago.  I seriously think it's one of the best games ever made.

So now I felt like changing it up and playing something different, so I started Koudelka on the PSX.  It's an odd mix of survival horror style exploration and turn-based RPG battles with random encounters.  In theory, it seems like taking a gameplay style that forces you to explore the environment with a fine-tooth comb and mixing it with random encounters would be a bad idea, and it probably is.  However, I'm about an hour into the game and am enjoying it so far.

[Link41]

Dash of Destruction (XBLA) - My daughter chasing me as the T-Rex, lots of fun when catches me.

[GrayGhost81]

holy crap, 80 hours? i had no idea metal gear games ever got that long.

They typically didn't until Peace Walker came out.

Anyway I finished the main story a few days ago. Didn't much care for the ending, honestly. Still can't put it down though. I'm well over 100 hours now. That's rarefied air right there, the only other game I can think of off-hand where I hit triple digit hours is Persona 3.

I finished Resident Evil 4 the other day.  Most games, no matter how good they are, I'm usually just playing them to complete them.  RE4 is one of the few games that I actually don't want to end because of how good it is, which is high praise considering that it's a 15-20 hour game.  I felt the same way when I first played it 10 years ago.  I seriously think it's one of the best games ever made.

So now I felt like changing it up and playing something different, so I started Koudelka on the PSX.  It's an odd mix of survival horror style exploration and turn-based RPG battles with random encounters.  In theory, it seems like taking a gameplay style that forces you to explore the environment with a fine-tooth comb and mixing it with random encounters would be a bad idea, and it probably is.  However, I'm about an hour into the game and am enjoying it so far.

Dude, to be honest I kind of wish we'd done RE4 for the playthrough. That game seriously is a GOAT.

Also, always wanted to play Koudelka, have yet to get my hands on a copy, though I believe it is on PSN.

I understand the Shadow Hearts series is kind of a spiritual successor to Koudelka, and the first Shadow Hearts game was phenomenal.

[techwizard]

holy crap, 80 hours? i had no idea metal gear games ever got that long.

They typically didn't until Peace Walker came out.

Anyway I finished the main story a few days ago. Didn't much care for the ending, honestly. Still can't put it down though. I'm well over 100 hours now. That's rarefied air right there, the only other game I can think of off-hand where I hit triple digit hours is Persona 3.

I was wondering what you would think about the ending, I heard bad things about it. Haven't seen it myself and don't want spoilers though, just wondering if it soured your experience very much but it must not have if you kept playing beyond it.

As for myself, I finally got around to play-testing at least 10 - 20 minutes of all the new games I picked up in the last small scores thread post I made. Really happy with all of them, except I'm a little unsure of Zack & Wiki. It seems like a good game but it feels targeted to a very young audience which can get a little annoying. I would have to play longer to decide how I really feel about it.

[Disposed Hero]

I finished Resident Evil 4 the other day.  Most games, no matter how good they are, I'm usually just playing them to complete them.  RE4 is one of the few games that I actually don't want to end because of how good it is, which is high praise considering that it's a 15-20 hour game.  I felt the same way when I first played it 10 years ago.  I seriously think it's one of the best games ever made.

So now I felt like changing it up and playing something different, so I started Koudelka on the PSX.  It's an odd mix of survival horror style exploration and turn-based RPG battles with random encounters.  In theory, it seems like taking a gameplay style that forces you to explore the environment with a fine-tooth comb and mixing it with random encounters would be a bad idea, and it probably is.  However, I'm about an hour into the game and am enjoying it so far.

Dude, to be honest I kind of wish we'd done RE4 for the playthrough. That game seriously is a GOAT.

Also, always wanted to play Koudelka, have yet to get my hands on a copy, though I believe it is on PSN.

I understand the Shadow Hearts series is kind of a spiritual successor to Koudelka, and the first Shadow Hearts game was phenomenal.

Haha, too late now I guess.  We'll have to bust out RE4 one month for a playthrough.

Yeah, I've heard that there's some relationship between Koudelka and the Shadow Hearts series.  I've wanted to play Shadow Hearts for a long time since it's supposed to be amazing, but have always put it off so I could play Koudelka first.

[Fokakis79]

Got through the first play through of Dragons Crown attempting the second play through now.

[GrayGhost81]

I'm now pushing MGSV to it's limits. It's a completely different game now.

Having beaten the main story, the stakes are much lower. I'm basically just grinding for good soldiers to level up my base to develop whacky crap like the infinity bandana to play with so I can really break the game. As it stands I'm running around with the speakers on terrorizing the guards every damn where taking down camps so fast I actually sometimes have trouble finding the poor fools that Quiet has tranq'ed so quick (hence I make a lot of noise to draw them to me first). Just fun, fun, fun.

I do realize it's going to be time to move on with my life soon, so I started playing Mimana on PSP. Nice little JRPG. The battle system is a poor man's Tales hack and slash, everything else is by the numbers, but I'm enjoying it a lot. As Mark from CGR put it, the game is quite relaxing.

I was playing Total Overdose on the PS2 before I started MGSV, and I played a little bit of that tonight. I would like to finish it, as I'm more than halfway through it, but it's not that great of a game and there are a bunch of other things I want to play. I dunno.

[Addicted]

Dark Souls 2 X1: After talking with a certain someone I decided to give this game a try again.

Mad Max X1:  I think this game will show up in a Metal Jesus hidden gems video in a couple years. Buy it if you find it for $25 or less.

NHL 16 X1: I still suck at hockey games but it is a lot better than last years.

[techwizard]

finished the Pit of 100 Trials in Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door! took nearly 3 hours but somehow i managed it without skipping any floors. i think i'll go through the glitzville fights one last time, finish off the Troubles, then call it quits.

also started and made great progress in Conker's Bad Fur Day. it's my first time playing, but i've watched a friend play though it twice already so i know it fairly well. at least it's been long enough since watching it that i don't remember how to do everything and it's still challenging at times. i left off last night at the start of the zombie level.

lastly i've been putting a little time into Animal Crossing New Leaf now and then. working towards getting a golden axe so i can go nuts with a giant Perfect Cherry orchard to fund more house expansions and public works. catching beetles on the tropical island worked well for money but it took so much time i would rather have a steady cherry income, even if there's a 3 day gap between crops.

[GrayGhost81]

Just finished Total Overdose. I kind of rushed through it because quite frankly there are much better open world GTA clones nowadays. It was silly and fun though. Happy I finished it.

Probably will focus on Mimana for a little while before I start another console game...maybe.

[Zagnorch]

Betcha can't guess what I'm playin'.

[MetalFRO]

I just bought Super Mario Maker this last weekend, and am really enjoying the zaniness so far.  If any of you have levels you've designed, I'd love to try them out!

[Disposed Hero]

I decided Koudelka wasn't really working out, so I put it back on the shelf.  The game isn't very good, but I thought I could stick it out to the end since it started out pretty easy.  Then the difficulty spiked, and I decided that it just wasn't worth it.

So then I just bit the bullet and bought Resident Evil on my PS4 to prepare for the upcoming playthrough.  I've played this game so many times, but it's always a joy for me to play through it again.  I've actually been playing it on my Vita using the PS4's streaming features, and it works surprisingly well.  I've been hesitant to play PS4 games on my Vita in the past because the Vita has fewer buttons than the Dual Shock 4, so I'd imagine most games wouldn't translate very well, but Resident Evil works fine.

I also started up Rule of Rose on PS2.  I've owned this game for about 5 years, and seeing how much it goes for on ebay now, I figured I might as well dust it off and see if it's worth the price tag.  I haven't put much time into it yet, so nothing has really happened in the game, but it does have a nice atmosphere so far.