Topic: Games you've recently beat

@nessisonett Tetris Effect is a masterpiece. One of the few true 10/10 games I've played over the years. One of the few games I happily purchased at full price twice over (on PS4 at first, and on Switch for portable play).

A bit of a nightmare trying to achieve SS ranks in all of the levels, though.

@Ralizah I’d probably say it was a 10/10 experience as well. I’m not a Tetris expert by any stretch of the matter, I basically had to git gud, but the simplicity mixed with the subtle intricacies really made me appreciate how genius it really is. I did only realise that the Zone mechanic existed during the final level though! I think I’ll go back and play it on Expert too, I did Normal and I reckon I could definitely get quite far on the harder difficulty now. Sometimes games just do exactly what they set out to do, and extremely well at that.

@nessisonett I can only imagine what Tetris Effect is like in VR. While I have next to no interest in almost anything else, I've almost pulled the trigger a few times on the PSVR just to experience this in an even more immersive manner.

But really, its suite of modes and gameplay mechanics are very tight and well-considered. Come for the audiovisual extravaganza, stay for the super-satisfying puzzle game underneath.

Between this and Tetris 99, I don't think I need any other versions of this game.

I really need to get off my butt and play Rez Infinite at some point.

@RogerRoger It's funny, because I remember a lot of groaning when it was first revealed in a stream, because it was 'just' Tetris, but I think almost everyone willing to give it a chance has realized it's far more special than that. I mean... it is, but it isn't. It's Tetris if Tetris was a psychedelic/spiritual experience.

Before it was ported everywhere, it was the best PS4 exclusive. Now it's merely the best version of Tetris out there!

@HallowMoonshadow It's interesting how hard you bounced off Cold Steel 2. Do you think you just played it too soon after the first game, or was it actually a decently worse game (in your opinion) than the first one? Because I recall you digging the first one.

I totally sympathize with people who have to stand alone in criticizing games that are widely beloved. After all, I disliked or was underwhelmed by... breathes deeply

Super Mario World
Kirby Super Star
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Chrono Trigger
Super Mario 64
Banjo-Kazooie
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Journey
The Last of Us
Bloodborne
Hyper Light Drifter
Fez
Stardew Valley

...among others.

So just finished the main story on Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, it was just such a pleasant surprise. The last part of the final mission was a crazy difficulty spike… or maybe I was just using totally wrong tactics, either way I found it a bit of a roadblock.

@RogerRoger it all seemed to be fully functioning tbh mate… I mean I never played any co-op or pvp personally but there were always plenty of other players in the Erewhon (the games main hub area), like surprisingly busy for a game that received that much hate and is that old.

Also, I got my first one of the online trophies done this evening (entering a 4 player raid) and found a game after around 90 seconds… and not many players (that I ever saw anyway) ever get to the required gear score to enter a raid, so the fact I found a game with three other players that did, that quickly was impressive.

Got a bit of pvp and co-op left to mop up but it all seems surprisingly active in all honesty… just need to hope that I run into enough noobs to get the required number of pvp kills now 😅.

Edit. also, I could be wrong but I seem to remember you and I both loved Just Cause 3… well although they’re clearly quite different games JC3 - OTT action vs GR:B - tactical insurgence… I couldn’t help but feel a similar kinda way about them.

I finished my first Final Fantasy game today by completing FF VII Remake. I generally enjoyed it. I found the combat much better than the only other FF game I tried (XV), even if aspects of the ATB system could be annoying at times. I'm not fully engrossed in understanding the story but enough to see me through. I'll be interested in the next parts but probably not day 1.
I will probably use chapter select to get a few more trophies but I'm currently dubious about the Hard playthrough for the Plat. Some of the battles bordered on the tedious level on Normal so not sure I want to give a harder version a go. If maxing out the characters/weapons/materia can mitigate the extra difficulty I may attempt it.

But anyway it was a good enough experience that I'm curious about FF XVI also and will keep an eye on that too.

@BearsEatBeets The cat with the crown (Cait Sith) is a playable character in the original and so will most likely be playable in the next game.

Somehow beat Tetris Effect on Expert and now feel like a Tetris god.

@nessisonett I thought there must be some relevance. I just found it a very jarring moment as it's quite a cartoony looking character and being a newbie to the game had no idea who/what it was.

@BearsEatBeets I’ve played the game a million times and still don’t exactly know what Cait Sigh’s all about. Apparently it’s a ‘toysaurus’.

@BearsEatBeets Cat Sith was one of main stays in my party when I played the original, and I had no idea what on earth it was. I did do a bit of interwebing after I played the remake and it still didn't make much sense! 😂

@JohnnyShoulder I don’t think I’ve ever used Cait Sith except when absolutely forced to 😂

@BearsEatBeets I think the game really comes alive in Hard mode to be honest.

On the normal play through, you can kind of get through without worrying about your load out too much, and I never bothered to really make the most of using other characters other than Cloud.

But in Hard mode, you really have to make the most of every character and their abilities seeing as MP is such a precious resource. Strategic equipping of materia is also essential to get through.

That said, I think you need to spend a fair bit of time in the Coliseum first to grind a load of materia to top level first as you’ll need everything as powerful as possibly beforehand (including at least a couple of fully levelled HP+ materia per character!)

@Thrillho And there he is, the resident Mr Play FFVIIR on Hard Mode is Best of the forum. It's kinda like the forum version of Candyman!

@nessisonett I seem to remember it's special being quite powerful? Unless I'm getting mixed up with another character!

@JohnnyShoulder @nessisonett Toysarus 🤨 I'll be having strange flashbacks to Persona 5 if I have to have a cartoon cat in my party in the next parts.

@Thrillho I didn't mind when I read you can't use items on Hard as I was barely using them near the end anyway but MP not refreshing on benches doesn't sound good. Yeah I've read maxing everything in the Colosseum before trying it is good idea. I'll probably mop up a couple of bits I missed (one music disc and two weapons, plus 'Biker Boy') then do that. I'll see how I get on with the first Chapter or 2 to see if it's do-able.

@JudgeDredd Oh man it just gets whackier and whackier. I suppose 'fantasy' is in the title.

@JohnnyShoulder I was going to say I should just have that post saved so I can copy and paste it every time someone mentions they've beaten the game

@BearsEatBeets Not using MP and items means you really have to manage HP with other materia (I forget the name of the yellow materia that gives health), character abilities, and HP absorption attacks. Similarly, for MP you need to use it strategically and have more dedicated "mages".

Some of the boss fights are brutal though; Hell House was bad enough on normal and the solo fight against Rufus also requires some serious planning and then a certain amount of luck too!

@Thrillho Yeah I was using Chakra ability and Aerith's Prey to heal quite a lot near the very end of my Normal playthrough. In fact those final two battles I think I was just blocking about 95% of the time then squeezing in abilities in the tiny windows between their attacks. The idea of that being harder isn't too appealing. Oh yeah the Hell House was probably the one where I was beginning to find the battle tedious it went on so long.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course. I defeated every boss on regular difficulty, got the divine relic, and did the King's challenges.

The expansion was a lot of fun. It's more of the same, so those that enjoyed the base game should totally check it out. The main change in the expansion is being able to play as Ms. Chalice. Her controls are a bit different to Cuphead's, and I found myself doing better with her style.

Just finished Kirby's Dreamland 3 on Wii U. Got the "bad" ending since I didn't collect all the secret items in every level, which you need in order to unlock the true ending. But I genuinely couldn't be bothered going for them since this game isn't that compelling to play. It struggled to grab my attention for long, not to mention that I kept picking it up and putting down every couple of months until I finally finished it today. So yeah, I'm happy that I at least managed to beat it at all. The older 2D Kirby games sadly don't hold a candle to the modern ones like the 3DS titles and Kirby's Adventure Wii. Kirby 64 is very good though. Anyway, I'm glad that I finally got to experience Dreamland 3.