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Posted on Sep 22nd 2011 at 10:09:03 AM by ( raptor94k) Posted under Games |
Finally, my last boring, already played games blog post. This list contains the last 9 games that I'm going to count as played for the purposes of this blog. These 27 games are by no means a comprehensive list of games I've beaten. They are just games that I have recently completed or that I know I've completed in the past that I have no current intentions of going back and playing again soon.
Ninety-Nine Nights
August 15, 2006 -- Xbox 360
  Ninety-Nine Nights is the result of Q Entertainment deciding they wanted to try their hand at making Dynasty Warriors, calling up Phantagram (the company responsible for the Kingdom Under Fire series) to help design it and getting Microsoft to pay them to do it. And it resulted in a decent first effort. The controls are a little unresponsive at times, the cutscenes are boring with bad voice-acting, the story doesn't make any sense and the gameplay is repetitive (See: Dynasty Warriors). But, I'm a sucker for repetitive hack-and-slash action games, so I liked it and one day I will go back and finish the rest of the character's storylines.
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
May 12, 2009 -- Xbox 360, PS3
Action RPGs also fall into the category of things that I am a sucker for, especially ones that try to be like Diablo II (2000). All the standard fare is here: character classes, skills, different weapon and armor types, lots of monters, random loot, etc. and it is all handled really well. I might be alone in this, but I even enjoyed playing it on a console instead of a computer. I also like Blind Guardian a lot and since the following cutscene is played after you complete a particular quest which involves helping the members of the band get their instruments back from some monsters, I feel like I don't need to say anything else about how much I like this game.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
February 23, 2009 -- Xbox 360, PS3
My only prior experience with Star Ocean was playing the first 30 minutes of Star Ocean: The Second Story (1999). I've heard many complaints over this game, and it does have its flaws, but it is currently my favorite JRPG of this generation. The pacing is awful (hours of dungeons with no breaks followed by 45 minute cutscenes) and half of the characters have some of the most annoying voice acting I've ever heard. But, the battle system is where this game shines. In the middle of my third playthrough I'm not tired of getting in fights, even with the high, but avoidable, encounter rate. Plus, if you enjoy time-consuming achievements that require one to be very meticulous (who doesn't?) then this game will take 300+ hours of your life.
T&C Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Surfari
March 1992 -- NES
The sequel to T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage (1988), this is definitely an underrated game on the NES. That might just be the nostalgia talking. My brother and I played this game a lot when we were younger. I wasn't very good at it, but my brother could make it pretty far thanks to the easier-to-find-than-to-complete-the-level warps to later stages. I remember watching him and getting excited every time he made it a little further than the last time we had played.
Fast forward to my junior year of college, second semester, final exam week. I decided I was going to beat Thrilla's Surfari, which surprisingly did not help me pass any exams. So I beat it and got C's.
Two Worlds
August 24, 2007 -- Xbox 360
 One can't help but compare 1st or 3rd person fantasy RPGs with fully-explorable worlds and (sort of) non-linear story progression to the Elder Scrolls series. Unfortunately for Two Worlds, its contemporary comparison was Oblivion (2006). Two Worlds is decidedly not as good as Oblivion. A lot.
This is not to say that there isn't an enjoyable game to play underneath the forgettable storyline and the horse control flaws. It just isn't an exceptional game. I had fun playing through the storyline and getting most of the achievements.
Viking: Battle for Asgard
March 25, 2008 -- Xbox 360, PS3
 This was the second game I bought for my 360. It's a fun, Norse mythology themed, part hack-and-slash, part action/adventure game. Limbs flying, blood spurting, heads getting ripped off, epic battle scenes with hundreds of demons fighting vikings, dragons flying around burning people alive. Everything that's needed for a good time is there, as long as you can ignore the repetitive nature of the story missions and the mostly uninteresting game world.
Warriors Orochi 2
September 23, 2008 -- Xbox 360, PS2
 If you have played any Dynasty or Samurai Warriors game then you have played them all. There hasn't been much changed from the formula since Dynasty Warriors 2 (2000), and Warriors Orochi 2 is no different. As a fan of the games, I can say that I enjoyed being able to play as characters from both series, and I also enjoyed the dynamic of switching between 3 characters during a level, but I don't truly have enough experience with the series as a whole to comment further than that.
Way of the Samurai 3
October 13, 2009 -- Xbox 360, PS3
 Honestly, I bought Way of the Samurai 3 on a whim based on the time-consuming and difficult achievement list. I wasn't disappointed, but it is definitely an odd game unlike any I've played before. And it is pretty difficult to explain why to any that haven't played it. Also, I'm terrible at the fighting system. I do look forward to going back and unlocking a few more weapons/endings at some point in the future, though.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
May 1, 2009 -- Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii
 X-Men Origins: Wolverine is one of the (very) rare movie cash-in games that is actually better than the movie. In fact, the game pretty much follows the storyline of the movie exactly, so just do that instead of watching the movie. Plus, you get to tear shit up with Wolverine's claws. Though I do hear that the "Uncaged Edition," which was only released for 360 and PS3, is way better than the other versions of the game.
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Posted on Sep 13th 2011 at 10:36:17 AM by ( raptor94k) Posted under Games |
This post is a continuation of the last post about games that I have previously finished prior to this endeavor. Currently, I've been bouncing around to a lot of games and seriously playing Odin's Sphere (PS2) and Chrono Trigger (DS). I hope to finish up one of those soon so I can truly start this thing, but for now I have 18 more games to go through before I can get to the present. Here's 10-18:
Final Fantasy
July 12, 1990 -- NES
 Finally, a non-current generation game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the current gaming systems. I just feel like I've neglected some of the older systems, which is exactly what this blog is about.
Final Fantasy is a game that I wish I would've played when I was younger. I was introduced to the Final Fantasy series with the seventh installation, like many people. I was actually later than most; I got Final Fantasy VII for the PC in 1999. As can be seen by this very endeavor, I've always had a penchant for long quests, complicated systems and small rewards. Younger me would've loved the original. Not that Final Fantasy is an exceptionally complicated or long game. In fact, it hardly has any of the things that Final Fantasy has become. But, in comparison to the games that I played as a child, it fits into the category nicely.
I bought Final Fantasy for $20 in 2000 from a Babbage's, before it was gobbled up by Electronics Boutique and then GameStop. I wouldn't get around to playing it all the way through (though I started it many times) until freshman year of college, the winter of 2005. And though that may have been a long time ago, I distinctly remember beating Chaos and accomplishing what I had been trying to do for five years.
Grand Theft Auto IV
April 29, 2008 -- Xbox 360, PS3
 Grand Theft Auto IV was the reason I purchased my Xbox 360. It was a disappointment. But, it introduced me to the Xbox 360 and achievements. And now I have an addiction.
I was a big Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas fan. GTA IV just seemed like it updated the graphics of San Andreas and changed the ethnicity of the main character. It wasn't a terrible game, but it was a game I had already played the hell out of a few years prior.
Halo 3
September 25, 2007 -- Xbox 360
 Speaking of hyped up games that I never bought into (except I bought into both of them because I own a copy of each). I'm not a huge console FPS fan. I'm not a huge online multiplayer fan. And I'm definitely not a huge Halo fan. I never got it, even when I played the original on the Xbox. That said, I enjoyed playing through the single player of Halo 3.
Left 4 Dead
November 18, 2008 -- Xbox 360
 Occasionally a game will come along that makes one rethink their opinions about console FPSes and online multiplayer. For me, Left 4 Dead was that game. I had a blast shooting zombies in the face with three of my IRL friends. Eventually, the gameplay became repetitive, which I'm assuming was the reasoning behind releasing Left 4 Dead 2 so quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the content but the concept that was repetitive. Still, it's a lot of fun after a few months of not playing it.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
November 6, 2007 -- Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
 Why did I 1000 this game? It was a welcome diversion from the abundance of story-driven epics that the current generation of gaming is filled with. Which is a little odd to say about a game that is a LEGO-inspired retelling of all six Star Wars movies. But, it is simple action/adventure gameplay with mindless collection achievements.
Lost Odyssey
February 12, 2008 -- Xbox 360
 A good, current-gen RPG from Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series, complete with achievements that involve doing ridiculous tasks like maxing out your characters and collecting every item in the game. When I first heard that, I had high hopes for Mistwalker's second outing, Lost Odyssey. I borrowed the game from a friend and played all the way to the 2nd disc, lost interest and gave up.
Deciding to give the game another shot, I bought it on a whim a couple of years later. It still didn't quite live up to the high expectations I had, but it is probably the most elegant and well-made JRPG on the 360.
Lost Planet 2
May 11, 2010 -- Xbox 360, PS3
 Lost Planet 2 is another game I bought on a whim, specifically because it was ranked 2010's hardest/most time consuming achievement list on Xbox 360 Achievements. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a fun, eastern take on 3rd person shooters developed and published by Capcom. I will definitely be going back to this game at some point in the future.
I've yet to finish the achievement list, mostly due to giving up after I realized I probably won't be able to be ranked #1 in the world. This in turn makes it so you can't get a particular title (in-game, "mini" achievements of which the game has 300ish) which causes you to not be able to unlock three achievements. I did give it my best shot, ranking 12th in the world on one of the training courses.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
October 24, 2006 -- Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, PS3, Wii
 Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a fun action/RPG hybrid. Some of the levels and boss fights drift more towards button-mashing and away from tactical combat, but who doesn't enjoy some mindless fighting occasionally? Plus, comic book characters are badass.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
September 15, 2009 -- Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2
 I got this game at the local GameStop midnight release. Being much more polished than the original, it was definitely a worthy sequel. I only played through it one time and am definitely looking forward to going back and playing through it with the pro-registration side.
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Posted on Sep 8th 2011 at 02:47:54 AM by ( raptor94k) Posted under Games |
If you look at my Backloggery, you will notice 27 games that I have played through recently. Recently in this case might mean within the last couple of years, but they are games that I have strong memories of playing through and that I do not wish to play through again for this little adventure. In the interest of giving me a head start, I'm going to count them as played for the purposes of this blog.
Army of Two
March 4, 2008 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 When we heard EA was going to shut down the servers for this game (which they did on Aug. 11, 2011), a few friends of mine decided to unlock all the online achievements before they did. That entailed three nights of 3-5 hours of shooting the same hovercraft on the same map over and over again because you could score a large amount of money towards the Retirement Savings Plan achievement for doing so. We had fun. Just not the entire time.
In preparation for the long haul of multiplayer hovercraft shooting, my friend Doug (who I'm sure will end up being mentioned more than once in this blog) and I played through the single player mode a couple of times. It was an average third person shooter; my biggest gripe being that there were a few sequences that were ridiculously frustrating, especially on the hardest mode, caused by the tacked on/forced partner events. Hoisting your partner up a wall, back-to-back shooting scenes, driving hovercrafts, these situations seem like they could be replaced, or taken out entirely and the game would be just as fun.
Assassin's Creed
November 13, 2007 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 I remember going to Gamestop several years ago to look for Dynasty Warriors 6, but I came home with Assassin's Creed. I was a late comer to the 360 scene and I had no idea what to expect. What I got, for the then current price of $19.99, was one of my favorite games of this generation. From the parkour-derived movement system to the stealthy kills with the hidden blade, Ubisoft Montreal did everything right, yes even the monotonous quests and tower climbing in each location.
Currently, I've yet to get all the flag fetching and templar killing achievements. One day I will go back and get them, but I have a lot more games to play first.
Assassin's Creed II
November 17, 2009 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 Assassin's Creed II is just as good as the first one, adding quite a few new features to the fold without touching the core gameplay enough to change all the good things about the original. Gone are the aforementioned monotonous quests and tower climbing, replaced with story-relevant quests and action sequences. Generic, gameplay time increasing flag collection remains, only the flags have been replaced by feathers. I suspect most people who haven't played the series at all would enjoy the polish of Assassin's Creed II more so than the first.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
August 25, 2009 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 I found the PS3 Collector's Edition of this game at a Walmart on clearance for $7.99 (a tip from Doug) about a year after it came out. It took me a while to get used to the slowed down "Freeflow" combat system, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Getting all the single player trophies was fun too, since it had a semi-open world environment and you could backtrack for all the collectibles.
Brutal Legend
October 13, 2009 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 I will start by saying I love classic metal. When I saw the premise for this game, I was pretty excited. Luckily, I was not let down; Tim Schafer delivered what he promised.
I'm not saying it is an amazing game, but it is a good one. The stage battles could be a little annoying at times, and though I've never touched the multiplayer, I can't imagine that I would enjoy it. The story is pretty generic and the non-stage battle combat system is average. But, it's the things that are added on top of the proven action/adventure formula that make this game great. The voice acting (an exceptional cast including Jack Black, Lemmy Kilmister, Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford and Rob Halford), the subtle and not-so-subtle nods to metal cliches, and the incredible artwork help build an unforgettable and very explorable world. Not to mention the (mostly) awesome soundtrack. This is a definite play through for any self-professed metalhead.
I will also take a moment to say that if you are a fan of the Lucas Arts and Sierra point-and-click adventure games and have not played Tim Schafer's other works Full Throttle (1995) and Grim Fandango (1998), you are doing yourself a great disservice.
Burnout Paradise
January 22, 2008 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 My most recent gaming completion. I don't usually readily enjoy racing games, but this one being an arcade-style racer was a little easier for me to get into. One day I will try and get all of the online achievements, but I don't see much of a point currently since I don't own an Xbox Vision Camera Thing. This is a pretty good pick up and play game for those gamers who do not always have more than thirty minutes to devote to play time. And since there is 50+ hours or content, that could add up to quite a few play sessions.
Dragon Age: Origins
November 3, 2009 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 Dragon Age: Origins is one of my favorite RPGs ever. I really enjoy CRPGs, but being mainly a console gamer I hardly ever play them. And though I'm sure the controls would've been more enjoyable on a PC, nothing could detract from the excellence that is this title. Except for maybe the persistent gore. I hated that.
Fable II
October 21, 2008 -- Xbox 360
 I never got into the hype around the original Fable when it first came out, and I had only played it for a couple of hours when Fable II came out and wasn't very impressed. So I went into Fable II not expecting that much, which was good since it didn't really deliver. The game is good enough that it was worth one play through, but not much more than that.
And since we are on the subject of Fable II, I will rant about its unobtainable achievements for a second. There is an achievement for this game that requires the purchase of, or knowing someone who already owns, a copy of Fable II: Pub Games for XBLA. That is ridiculous. Then there is another achievement that I can no longer get because I picked a particular ending. So in order to obtain it, I must start another game. Remember that part where I said this game is good enough that it was only worth one play through? Me too. I guess it's my fault for being such an achievement whore.
Fallout 3
October 28, 2008 -- PS3, Xbox 360
 Another one of my favorite RPGs. I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic/dystopian worlds, so I'm probably already biased towards the entire Fallout series. Like most hardcore gamers, I also thoroughly enjoy Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series (though I've always had trouble with Arena and Daggerfall since I only have a laptop and it is a little hard to attack creatures by swiping on my trackpad). So its not surprising that I enjoy Fallout 3. A great game with tons of content in which it is easy to lose 3-4 days of your life.
As you can see, my recent gaming completions has mostly been current generation titles. That will change as this journey unfolds. I also apologize for the brief analyses, but I tried not to discuss too much about the games that everyone already has already played. Next time, I will post previously finished games 10-18.
I have two passions in life.
The first is to take on huge, time-consuming projects with unattainable long term goals like my social networking website which I have been working on for four years. Or my dream of becoming a rock star.
The second: video games.
Now, my second passion has a surprising knack for not helping me work on any of the projects started due to my first passion. So I decided that I would put the two together and create a new huge, time-consuming project with the unattainable long term goal of playing every video game ever created. Mostly. Even the shitty ones.
I understand this goal is impossible to attain in a lifetime not dedicated solely to playing video games, which sadly I cannot do, but thanks to chronogamer, chrontendo, Stallion83, this article and social ineptness, I am willing to try.
Before I begin, there must be some guidelines:
1. No games before the NES. I have no problem with pong machines, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey, etc. but, I don't feel like tracking down and purchasing all the pre-NES games and systems. Also, they aren't as fun.
2. Video game consoles only. Adding PCs into the mix would add tens of thousands of games and require tracking down hardware to run all of them. No thank you. Although, I might have to take a break to play some of the CRPGs I will be missing.
3. US released, licensed games only.
4. Games that have multiple releases only have to be completed once. I will try and play the game on each system for which it has been released. If there is a significant amount of new content or it is a game I especially enjoy, I might play it over again completely. Obviously, unless there is new content, Greatest Hits and re-releases on the same system will be ignored.
5. Games should be played on original hardware. In extreme cases of rarity and expense, I might have to bend this rule and resort to emulation.
As a secondary goal, I am going to try and play each game until its ending game over screen, final cutscene, credits, etc. Obviously, this won't happen on games that don't have an ending (i.e. sports titles, retro-arcade titles). If a game is unbearably terrible or ridiculously hard (to the point of not being fun or requiring way too much practice) it will probably not be played until it's end.
I will use my Raptr account and my Backloggery account to track game play time, completion, and other statistics as I do this.
At this point, I feel the need to truthfully address the amount of time that this would take someone. There are probably 10,000+ (and counting) games with millions of hours of gameplay that meet the above criteria. This doesn't even begin to address the issue of paying for all of the systems and games that I don't own. And finally, there is the issue of my "real life" which, unfortunately, I care about enough to let get in the way of this monumental goal.
The likelihood of me finishing might be pretty slim, but its more about the chase anyway.
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