Dead Island Riptide

The follow-up of Dead Island (thank you Captain Obvious!). Basically more of the same, with a few refinements. Possibility of importing the savegame from the first game is a nice touch, helps a lot continue to relate to the same characters. New skills, new crafting possibilities and of course new infected, like the aquatic infected, the screamer, the mutated scientist, the alpha male, etc...

Scenaristically speaking, it's minimum service time, since you really think you're playing the base game again, especially with the - again! - jungle and city locations. But oh well, doesn't matter too much, we're to eradicate infected, right? ^_^ So, don't expect too much from the scenario.

Good point - the "distance feeling" was much better than in the first game, much less times I was caught not hitting my target when I thought I was on reach distance, so it really helped the game feeling. A much smoother game experience.

Bad point - again, some very stupid monster placement decisions, like putting some very large/HP sponges/one-shot killers infected in very narrow locations. That's bad because I think it's just artificially cranking up the difficulty...

All in all, the Dead Island games are good, but I really felt they were a kind of a "first draft" for tha brilliant game that is Dying Light. So, if you played Dying Light already, maybe the Dead Island games are not very necessary. But if you want to dig in the roots of Dying Light, or if you just want a fun zombie-smasher game, well, give it a try!

So far in 2016: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2016/post46

INK

I like the idea of the game. The levels start in complete darkness, but the surfaces are revealed as you touch them. They stay visible if you die (thus have to restart the level), making subsequent tries that much easier, as you've already pinpointed a portion of the map. However, there are a couple of issues I had with the game. First, it's pretty short: only took me a little over an hour to finish. Second, you can't remap key bindings. Jump is spacebar, which (at least on my keyboard) is incredibly taxing for my left thumb, thus I could only play the game in very short intervals. It physically hurts to play this game. Thirdly, the homing enemies were incredibly annoying, because the controls are so slippery. For a dollar the game is alright, but I don't think it's any more valuable than that.

Beaten Life is Strange and broke my heart.
Good grief!

It's just so good (though it has flaws still).

Just beat Dragon Warrior/Quest. I'd played it a few times over the years but never had the patience to grind my way through it, but for this run I had the idea of playing it on a more casual basis, generally just playing it in short bursts when I needed a "palate cleanser" between more demanding games. Usually I would try to grind experience for another level or gold for better equipment before saving and playing something else, and when I had all the items needed I just kept running at the Dragon Lord's castle until I was good enough to beat him (you get probably between 1000 and 1500 XP every time you make an excursion there, so grinding even at those high levels is relatively quick). Level 22 did the trick.

It's still a diverting game. It looks and plays like a simplified take on Ultima, and it has excellent music and colorful graphics. Even under the NES's limitations, Akira Toriyama's character designs are very memorable and charming. I love that a lot of the low level monsters actually smile at you - no wonder the slimes have become icons in Japan.

Timte to show off my last week success, this time with only short comments. :-)

Heroes Chronicles: All Chapters

I came to it from playing Heroes 3 and it was very disappointing experience. It is too easy for someone who already played Heroes game to the point it becomes boring. The mission before last I finished in something like 2 weeks (very short time in game) and in the ultimate one I killed the main foe on Day 2 and then recruited him to help me clean-up the map.
I often had to save the game before destroying the enemy and click End Turn button over and over again to get story bits as it is told in scenarios and is tied to certain days, with no regard how the map proceeds.
Also even though there is fairly decent number of maps (60 I think) most of them are very small and take short time to beat.


Day after it The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Very good RPG. I enjoyed the story, the characters and the world. On the other hand I was not fan of combat at all. I first tried the normal way and then Full Combat Rebalance Mod but was not really content either way. I still had fun with the game and perhaps moreso towards the end of game when I was powerful enough to not have trouble with most of fights. :-)
I did Iorveth path and some time in the future I plan to do Roche's one, but not now.


Finally last night I beat the Ultimate Doom.
It's pure awesomeness.
Even after all those years the game is still great fun. I loved almost every bit of it. Certainly in my TOP 5 FPS.
I played it in the past but I was too much of a wimp so only now I beat it. On Ultra-Violence difficulty.
I played it with gzdoom mod, so it looked and controlled much better than it should but the game would be good even without it. :-)
I plan to try Brutal Doom in the future but not right away. There is a lot of FPS that need to be played.

Full list.

Firewatch
In Firewatch, you play as Henry employed to keep an eye on the beautiful Wyoming wilderness near Two Forks Lookout. Your supervisor, friend and truly amazing supporting character is Delilah. Throughout the summer at the forest you discover mysterious and strange happenings. It is your job to discover what is going on in the forest, as a happy stroll though the meadows quickly turns into a thrilling scare throughout the duration of the game.

Firewatch is one of the best walking simulators I've had the pleasure of enjoying on the Steam market. The art and sound are very top-notch exhibiting a very Pixar-like feel and quality. The voice acting is also beyond reproach, providing dialogue choices to truly immerse yourself in the Henry-Delilah lifestyle. The only regrettable thing about this game is that the length is relatively short, at around 3-4 hours. It is very difficult justifying the price of a short walking simulator, no matter how well it was developed. I believe it is a must own if you enjoy walking sims or at least a definite must try once the price lowers a bit.

Great
- 9/10

Finished Pillars of Eternity with all of the expansions (only needed to play through the last expansion for that...).

And I ABSOLUTELY WILL finish The Witcher. Soon. Veeeery soon.

Include Me

Persona Q, 3DS
Albino Hunter, Steam
Hotel Dusk: Room 215, 3DS
Alchemy Mysteries: Prague Legends, Steam
9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek, Steam
Cafe 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~, Steam
Final Fantasy IV: Interlude, PSP
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Case of the Mystified Murderess, Steam
The Chosen RPG, Steam
Mega Man Legends, PSX/PSN
Contrast, PS3
Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Vita, 2/29
Zen, Intergalactic Ninja, Gameboy, 3/5
Escape Goat, GOG, 3/09
Bastion, Vita, 3/10
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Vita, 3/21
Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, 3DS , 3/30
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, Vita, 4/7
Suikoden, Vita, PSN 4/12
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Vita, 4/14
Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, DS, 4/18
Dark Souls, PS3, 5/9
Danganronpa 2: Goodbuy Despair, Vita, 5/29
Stardew Valley, GOG.com, 6/13
Escape Goat 2, GOG.com, 6/26
Mind Zero, Vita, 7/7
Sometimes: Success Requires Sacrifice, Steam, 7/7
Super Mario Land, Gameboy, 7/7
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Gameboy, 7/8
Crystal Mines 2, Lynx, 7/21
Defenders of Oasis, Gamegear, 7/26
Space Quest 1 (EGA), GOG, 8/3
Demon's Souls, PS3, 8/12
Wizardry 1: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, SNES, 8/26
Inescapable, Steam, 8/27
Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn, SNES, 9/7
Never Alone, PS3, 9/17
Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds, SNES, 9/28
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, GBC (on 3DS), 10/9
Firewatch, GOG, 10/15
Gunman Clive, 3DS, 10/10
Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors, Vita, 10/25
The Beginner's Guide, Steam 10/28
Home Is Where One Starts..., Steam, 11/8
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald, Steam, 11/8
Inexistence, Steam, 11/8
Adventures of Mana, Vita, 11/10
Mother 3, GBA (rom), 11/12
The Witcher, GOG, 11/12
SteamWorld Dig, GOG, 11/13
The Last Door: Season Two, GOG, 11/14
Disaster Report, PS2, 11/19
The Fall, GOG, 11/19
Megami Tensei I ( Kyūyaku Megami Tensei remake), SNES, 11/27
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Trials and Tribulations, NDS, 11/28
the static speaks my name, Steam, 11/29
Layers of Fear, GOG, 12/12
Final Fantasy XIII, Steam, 12/20
Cave Story+, Steam, 12/21
Hexcells, Steam, 12/26
Pony Island, Steam, 12/26
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Steam, 12/28
The Old City: Leviathan, Steam, 12/28
Hexcells Plus, Steam, 12/30

Duck Tales (GameBoy on 3DS-XL via Lameboy)

I've never really played one of the old Duck Tales games and have to say, that despite some flaws it was quite fun.
My main gripes were
- Botched clipping: Jumping on enemies is sometimes recognized and sometimes not depending on the enemies current sprite in movement, same for spikes and some holes in the ground.
- Often finding the boss via accident and not being able to go back and collect more treasure
Apart from that, it was a nice jump'n'run with quasi open world which shuts some doors behind you now and then though.

I'll definitely play the NES one and the second part on GameBoy.

-------------------------------------------------

Time Mysteries 3 (Android Tablet)

Same old ideas and the bonus chapter is just reusing assets.


List

Probably meant to say 3ds. :P

Plague Inc: Evolved

Eradicated the planet with every disease type on Normal.

I'm under the assumption that most people think the game has enormous replay value, but I'm not entirely sure why they would think so. I found the game to be extremely repetitive. The disease types all play very similarly; only the Simian Flu, Necroa Virus and Fungi have minor additional "gameplay features" (you can manually order which countries to infect / attack). Other than that, all you're doing each time is selecting the starting country, slowly developing the plague while trying to stay unnoticed, and once the plague is spotted and a cure is getting researched, quickly trying to make the plague lethal enough that the world is wiped out before they can complete the cure. Most of the plague types even have similar tech trees - again, with the exception of a few plagues, like the Simian Flu and Necroa Virus. But no matter which plague you're controlling: at least on Normal, every scenario could be won by improving resistances, air and water transmission (animal, insect, blood etc. transmission can always be ignored), and having only minor symptoms such as coughing. Once the majority of the world is infected, you can go all-in with the genes and just make it the most lethal you can afford. And you are guaranteed to win.

You can unlock new genes (starting bonuses) with each victory, but why would I need them, if I already won the scenario even without the extra bonuses? I don't think the game rewards players enough. Since the game was on Early Access for so long (I bought the game in 2014), I would have expected more grand gameplay and with a lot more variation. As it is, it's not different enough from the free-to-play Flash game, Pandemic. In terms of value, you're much better off playing the free version, rather than investing 10-20 dollars on the game which in most part, works the exact same way. Sure, there are more disease types here, but like I said, they don't differ from each other that much. I played the game for a total of seven hours, but I feel like I saw all it has to offer during the first hour, already.

Good catch; I'm so used to playing that series on my Vita (1 and Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment and 3 and 4 and Dancing All Night) that "Vita" just naturally slipped out.

Just Cause 2 (PS3)

Blowing shit up. That's basically what JC2 is all about. It's a huge sandbox playground, and chaos through destruction is the ultimate goal. Don't expect a good story, but prepare for some serious open-world gameplay. You're free to roam around and explore the island, whether by land, by air or by sea - it's totally up to you. If that sounds appealing to you, JC2 might just be your game.

-my 2016 list-

Tomb Raider Underworld (360)

The last of the trilogy and I'd say the last TR game that fits the traditional puzzle platform action adventure formula- the new reboot games are actually quite good, but they're a totally different genre IMO and have a totally different character that just happens to share the same name.

But back to Underworld, it is almost the best TR game ever. It has decent and varied traditional style TR room puzzles that do the series history proud. I really enjoyed the levels quite a lot.

Unfortunately a few issues crept into this game since Anniversary and Legend. The camera for Underworld went backwards from the earlier two games. It had a tendency at times to swing wildly in certain areas and then stubbornly fix itself and lock the view in others. Also Lara had an annoying habit of sticking to walls and objects sometimes, for no real reason and I'd have to mash the buttons to get her moving again. The controls themselves were usually okay, but sometimes had bouts of Assassins Creed style "sticky controls" where I'd have to hit a button a few times to make something happen.
Funniest of all, I always play with inverted Y-axis controls. But the 360 version i played had this annoying habit of resetting the axis at any opportunity. It seemed like any time i booted up, the game had reset the axis. Sometimes it would do it after cut scenes and reloads after a death plummet. But funniest of all was that the game reset the control axis every time an Xbox achievement popped- which was a interesting when it happened in the middle of a firefight and the 10 headshot achievement popped and reversed the controls in the middle of the fight.
But the issues weren't major and i got used to them and the quality of the levels and game play made up for it. I still rate it as one of the best TR games, but it could have been the very best.

So i've now played every Tomb Raider game over the last two years in chrono order so here's my recap on the series overall:

Best games: 1. Original TR1- still the best overall. 2. Anniversary (people that didn't play older games would prefer this) 3. Underworld (despite the issues)

Hardest game: The Last Revelation- long, really long, convoluted and just plain tough.

Easiest game: Legend- also the shortest

Worst game: Chronicles- how to flog a dead horse, not only was the game engine long past it's used by date and being made to do things it wasn't suited to, they also added in shit loads of bugs...some serious game threatening bugs too. Worse than Angel of Darkness (which wasn't all that bad really.

Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus

No, just... no! My first bad game of 2016! Yay!

Jokes aside, this game is abysmal. A Golden Axe-wannabe parody, it fails in about every segment and aspect. If the idea of a Golden Axe parody is in itself good, DTED is funny for about 5 minutes tops. Except if you like poop humor, stupid dialogs and blatant stereotypes exploitation. I mean, while playing a beat'em-all, I know I'm not in for the best scenario ever, but still... The game seems to just try to make you cringe.

But if the story was the only bad part, well, DTED could still be a good game. But no. Your character feels heavy and slow, the art is really bad (but here i know opinion can differ), the special attacks are unimpressive. And most of all, it lags!!! A 2D side-scrolling beat'em-all with never more than 10 sprites on screen at the same time and it laaaags! Incredible.

On top of that, put one of the dirtiest hitbox detection system I've ever encountered in a game and you have a kind of a "reverse gem" here.

The good point is that the whole game is like 2 hours long, so if you manage to get to the end, at least it won't take too long.

Bad game, don't play it.

So far in 2016: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2016/post46