Topic: Games you've recently beat

Beat Super Mario RPG. It was... okay.

Writing was funny in spots. You can really see how it provided a model for future Mario RPGs to emulate and improve on.

That said, it feels like the skeleton of a Mario RPG. The game is constantly urging you on and never giving you time to really immerse yourself in your environments or developing its various scenarios. I suppose this also means you don't have time to get bored, and I know modern JRPGs can be a little long-winded, but damn, I was done with this in 11 hours! And that's after also replaying minigames to collect rare equipment, farm money, etc. I didn't rush through this game, there just wasn't a lot to it.

But even searching out more money, equipment, etc. feels pointless when the game is this easy. And I played on the highest difficulty available to me. This is practically easier than a Pokemon game, and there's an even easier difficulty!

The game pads out its lack of content with a bunch of pointless minigames dotted throughout the adventure. I suppose a few lead to rewards, but there's not a lot of call for them, and many of the minigames are just flatly pretty pointless.

Also, the OST, while beautifully re-done, is still pretty limited. I don't understand the acclaim for this soundtrack. Then again, I feel that way about a lot of games scored by Yoko Shimomura. Not a fan, even if she seems to enjoy significant acclaim.

That being said, it wasn't a bad game. The gameplay is fine, it's fun seeing the character dynamics between Mario, Peach, and Bowser as they fight alongside one-another to defend their world from extra-dimensional invaders (it's always refreshing how Peach is allowed to have a personality in the RPGs), and good lord, the presentation is phenomenal! Everything runs at a smooth 720p60 when undocked (didn't play this on the TV even once, so can't speak to that), and the cutscenes are probably the smoothest, prettiest CGI work I've seen in anything.

I'm glad I got the opportunity to play this, but now that I have, I see it as yet another acclaimed SNES game that I'll never get the love for.

@HallowMoonshadow Wow, you really ate that game alive lmao

Nice work. There's a platinum? Ugh, I might have to repurchase at some point.

Yeah, I feel like the nighttime parts would've benefitted from additional writing or mechanics or something.

That's pretty much how I felt. Despite its numerous flaws, it's just... such a unique, interesting, beautiful game. Zero Escape vibes, but also some significant cosmic horror tones, mixed with interesting transhumanist concepts... yeah, I'm all over it, and I hope this indie developer makes at least one more super interesting sci-fi game in their career.

lol I used to have a black cat that I was really close with, and I'd walk around the house with him wrapped around my neck, holding onto his front and back feet to keep him steady. It kind of brought back memories of that. Except, you know... not horrifying.

I also felt like the game could've done more with Gina. Although apparently there are male gender-exclusive events with her, so maybe that's why she felt underdeveloped in my playthrough.

Not surprised about your thoughts regarding Super Mario RPG @Ralizah.

I've tried to look at various videos of the SNES version over the years and there's just something about it that did not hold my interest or make it look even that fun to play honestly.

Never really listened to the soundtrack before so I can't comment on that but I've enjoyed Yoko Shimomura's work from Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve and the like.

The updated version of SMRPG does look really nice though. I'm surprised to hear it was that short though. You even beat the superboss or is that not in the new version?

As for Gnosia I was only going to give it an hour or so on Tuesday but ended up playing it for 4 hours straight that night and then every night after I went for at least two hours when I was only going to do 2 loops max

I haven't been this hooked on a game that badly for quite a while.

Though funnily enough the last game that really got me was the Satellaview Chrono Cross Visual novel. Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit. (I've yet to play Chrono Cross properly but it's one of the games I actually want to get to this year at some point).

But back to Gnosia I was actually gonna profess my love for Gina in the previous post cus I was a big fan of her too and was kinda bummed I couldn't get a special event for her

I did find the one where SQ ends up betraying everyone when you're a Gnosia to be weirdly wholesome?

Plus the true end with Setsu was fricking adorable too!

@HallowMoonshadow It's about as fun as any JRPG from that era, but lacking in the scope that made games like FFVI and Chrono Trigger stand out.

I actually had no idea there was a superboss, but apparently there is, and they've even made him tougher in this version? Guess I'll try it out. Maybe it'll rid my mouth of the taste of the final boss, who is a total pansy.

SQ was an interesting character. I loved how every character had their own often thoroughly bizarre circumstances. If I remember correctly, SQ was a cloned body that her mother would use to transfer her consciousness into?

Also hypersexual with even a non-binary character. Can't imagine what being a male must be like in this game lol

@WaveBoy You definitely can. It's not like there weren't better JRPGs from the same company out at that time, you know? You want to make allowances for the passage of time, of course, but amazing games are timeless. There are games from the 80s I think still kick today, even.

At the time, it was notable for being something unique: an RPG set in the Mario universe. But we have a dozen of those now, and most of them are better than Super Mario RPG.

Well, regardless, I'm not technically judging the SNES release, but the Nintendo Switch-exclusive remake, which, regardless of how faithful it is to the original release, IS a modern console JRPG.

I think the art-style is great here. The cutscenes are visually resplendent, and the game itself manages to be a fun mix of modern visuals while also retaining the look of the SNES original. And it's all so sharp and colorful on the Switch OLED screen. It's probably the one area where I don't have any complaints tbh.

@LtSarge I'm a huge fan of both Life is Strange and Before the Storm. Both games really drew me in with their characters and I remember feeling quite touched in both cases. I've been a fan of Telltale for quite a while and have played most of them. I remember enjoying both the Batman games and the Walking Dead games and it was such a joy revisiting the Expanse universe and Camina Drummer (once again played excellently by Cara Gee), so if you're fan of the show (and/or the books) it is definitely worth a go

Finished off The Sexy Brutale, with a platinum to go with it, tonight. A real gem of a puzzle game that felt a bit different from everything else. While I'm sure other games have used similar concepts (you need to figure out how to prevent several murders by being in the right place at the right time and you may restart the day, Groundhog Day style, at any time to revisit scenes with new information), this felt truly special. Excellent little game and I enjoyed it a lot

Seeing as I'm just finishing off the last book in the Witcher series, I believe my next game will be The Witcher III

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. Original campaign is extremely solid 2D Kirby, and the new Magolor side-game is pretty substantial as well. Have 95% on my file, because I collected all the trinkets from the levels, but didn't bother mastering the mini-games available at the base. 100%ed the side game, though, including the secret unlockable level.

Probably my third favorite Kirby game after Forgotten Land and Planet Robobot.

Beat the Mortal Kombat Deception konquest mode. Shujinko is the most laughably dumb character I’ve ever seen in a game. Like an absolute grade A doofus. The game just sort of ends as well. A bizarre mode that isn’t exactly good but the characters do stand on their own so seeing them in a cinematic style mode does work. Now to beat arcade with everyone before going onto Armageddon.

@nessisonett shaolin monks

@nomither6 I keep hearing that’s good but I always get it confused with the rubbish Special Ops and Sub-Zero games.

@nessisonett well, i'd say theres a high chance that it could be worth more of your time than armageddon. of course its up to you though, i just wanted to let you know that there was another mk game before armageddon.

Just finished Chorus on Series X after about 15 hours of playtime. Absolutely brilliant game! Not only was it fun to play a pure spaceship shooter, of which there aren't that many, it also told a fantastic story with an epic ending. The battles were awesome and the lore was engrossing. Great cast of characters as well, including the two protagonists.

It's always great to discover a new IP that's unique. It baffles me why there aren't more spaceship shooters as it's just so much fun flying around and shooting ships. I highly recommend playing this game if you want something different and it's also really cheap to find. I see physical copies going for around €10. For that price, it's an absolute steal.

Also finished Picross S Mega Drive & Master System Edition on Switch after 60 hours of playtime. I think I started this game two years ago and I've been playing it on and off since then. Probably won't buy a new Picross game soon as I still have Murder By Numbers left to play and if I'm in the mood for some Picross again, I can start that one up instead.

Anyway, this is my favourite Picross so far due to the Sega theme rather than the generic pictures in the regular games. Hopefully they put out more games like this one. I'd love one with a Nintendo theme.

Beat Ghost of Tsushima. Very very good ending. A lot is done right but there are a few sticking points for it to be a true classic for me. The horse is just a slight bit too slow to make traversing the game world ‘fun’, which I get as it’s a horse but the game frequently dips into being a little bit of a chore. The side quests I’d say are better than the majority of the main story too, each of the main sidequest lines are fantastic, dealing with different elements of the Mongol invasion.

I will say however, I just don’t think they handled the moral dilemmas of the game very well. I remember one bit in Yuna’s story which I assumed would delve into how the Japanese who don’t oppose the Mongols are essentially just survivors, which I thought would be an interesting juxtaposition to the Ghost’s stance. Nope, they’re a bunch of slavers who r**** Taka and Yuna repeatedly as children. Like talk about overkill for a very sensitive subject that is never mentioned again other than for Yuna at the end of the quest to be like nice job, I will never mention this horrible ordeal again as you’ve solved it by killing the dude.

Another issue is the central conflict. The one between Jin and Shimura. It’s that classic thing of the ends justifying the means and so forth, and war crimes being excusable because they’re baddies and it’s ok to completely disregard war crimes because they deserve it. Now, this game was developed a couple years back and they probably didn’t foresee a certain news story, but the very notion of having the guy saying ‘killing baddies using a horrific method of mass poison THAT IS THEN USED ON CIVILIANS IN TURN’ is the controversial one? It’s not like bushido is completely flawless but portraying dignity and respect as outdated nonsense is a bit much, they often just show Shimura to be an unbending old fool. It’s not like we couldn’t have seen his thoughts as more news of Jin’s deeds came to light, you see loads of cutscenes of him and the Khan in Act 1. It’s a blemish on an otherwise very good game, and I do probably think it’s just the fact Westerners made it. Like George W Bush making a game about Gilgamesh, it’s a strange mix of viewing a very different period of time rooted in a specific lifestyle through the lens of somebody whose favourite movie is American Sniper.

At least it’s very pretty. And the combat is good, if just lacking a little bit of oomph, whether that’s punchier haptics or a smidge more gore just to bump up the tension. I’ll definitely push on to play Iki Island, I’ve enjoyed the base game and I’m going for the platinum too.

@nessisonett Some really interesting thoughts there! I can see where you’re coming from regarding the central conflict, though I personally never felt that the game painted the way of the ghost as the morally high ground. Ultimately, I think the developers cleverly weaved and bobbed around a whole lot of heavy subject matter, effectively utilizing narrative cliche to successfully hone in on Jin’s personal plight in order to tell a simple yet compelling coming of age story. Glad you enjoyed your time with it. I’m curious to see how they approach the upcoming film adaptation.

@Jimmer-jammer I’m not convinced that a movie would be anything special, the central plot is built on cliche which is why the artstyle was talked about more than the story. The sidequests were the more interesting part narratively and they’d be the obvious sections to cut from a movie. Without seeing Jin’s journey around the island and helping people wherever he can, seeing the devastation that the Mongols inflict, there’s even less justification for him going off the deep end and being a bit genocidey, a 2 hour movie would inevitably make him look sociopathic. An 8 episode series would maybe work, a movie is suicidal.

@nessisonett I think anything can be successfully pulled off with the right approach. Will this work? I don’t know. Likely not on the same level as the game but at this stage I remain (possibly naively) hopeful.

@LtSarge I loved life is strange the time shifting mechanics and the quaint setting was endearing . before the storm more time with those characters was great. now life is strange 2 while it was ok the younger brother was beyond annoying. I really liked life is strange true colours. its just a shame its looks like theres no more life is strange games on the horizon. I liked tell me why which was a similar game by dontnod and im looking forward to playing Lost records: bloom and rage the up coming game from dontnod

Darkness 2 loved this game shame we never got a sequel

Armored Core: Master of Arena is down and with it, the whole of gen 1 Armored Core. Decent game but probably my least favourite of the three. It’s a shame to say goodbye to my AC though, it served me well across the three PS1 games!