Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Werehog Fair enough! Can’t say I blame you. Beyond the voice actor, Jubei is just a great character. But then so is Oyuki. Ahh, see, this is the inner turmoil that could have been tapped into 😆

Just rolled the credits for Assassin's Creed Unity. I went into this with the critics words in mind but the game is definitely good!

And out of ALL Assassin's Creed games I think this is the one that has the MOST accurate game setting - the city of Paris. The placement and the buildings themselves are so damn accurate to someone who was there to see in real life!

I wonder if Assassin's Creed Syndicate has the same level of accuracy?

This is my 3rd Assassin's Creed game beaten after Origins and Odyssey.

I would give it 8/10.

@Zuljaras Yea, the game was treated rather harshly, but I think it's actually pretty ok. There were definitely some reasonable criticism back in the day with regards to performance, etc. However, I think many gamers were just tired of the series releasing a new game every year, without that much innovation.

The city of Paris in this game is amazing. I myself liked London even more, and I liked that Syndicate's characters and story more too, making it my favorite game in the series.

Oh my, that sounds, er... actually, that makes perfect sense. Okay. Poor Gumshoe, though! All that adorable loyalty and dedication, and for what...?!

And that makes sense, that you wouldn't really need the new collections. I know you've got a truckload of games currently on the go, but do you plan on picking up the Investigations duology anytime soon? Regardless, I'll try and be extra-careful when sharing my thoughts about the second game, so as not to give anything away. Hope it's worth the wait for you, as and when!

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@Metonymy ...and that's likely why they decided to dodge that whole minefield!

@Werehog Touché !

Today I beat Quake 1 for the first time. The 4th act/land was really frustrating and difficult.

I am glad that I finished this legendary game and I can see myself playing it again!

2026 is starting strong!

@sorteddan I can't imagine getting through the first part of the labyrinth within 4 hours! Like, I have no doubt it's possible with the ways you've described as you've clearly done it and there's an achievement for it... but to be able to condense what was a 15 hour experience to me to around a third of that time sounds crazy. I am rather slow in games as I'm a ''look in every single corner even if I don't think there's anything there'' type of guy, but even if I cut that down I doubt I'd get close to 6 hours. Props to you for having the memory, notes and orientation to move through it so quickly! Happy to hear everything ended up going swimmingly and you knocked off all those endings and achievements! What did you think of the In Water ending? Do you now prefer it to the Leave one narratively?

And yeah, if tower defence is not your cup of tea, then I wouldn't recommend looking into Kunitsu-Gami any further. I think it's really the art style that draws all of us noobs in! No regrets playing it though. That's the ups and downs of actively trying to expand my gaming taste. Sometimes it hits (like with Hades or Cuphead) and sometimes it doesn't. Both are equally valuable to know in the future!

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@Werehog I've never played any of the Phoenix Wright games, and I could probably just Google this, but I've always wondered: is it even possible to ''fail'' an investigation/case in the game? Is this one of those investigation games where you will just follow the evidence as laid out and eventually come to the conclusion the game wants you to, or do you actually have to use your deduction skills and are at risk of getting the wrong verdict? I'm always on the lookout for investigation systems since I feel like most games don't really pull them off and this seems to be a major contender, but I've always assumed it was more the former where it was very linear and therefore not truly your own investigative expertise at play. Is there any particular game/collection you'd recommend a newcomer to jump in?

Beat NIOH 2 this past Sunday, just in time for the 3rd one incoming in February! It was awesome and I highly recommend.

@Tjuz
In all honesty I probably wasn't paying all that much attention to the details of the endings by the time I got to that one as I think it was the fifth one I had seen in the space of around 2-3 hours after waking up on Saturday. I should probably rewatch a couple on YouTube as well as the true Alan Wake 2 ending that I keep forgetting to look up.

As for the speedrun time I firmly believe that someone more organised with a better step by step guide of exactly how to do each section and the inclination to reload and replay parts if necessary could easily take another 30-60 minutes off the time I managed. By the time I was around two thirds through I realised I could just play normally by then and still be well under the 10 hour limit (I didn't though). Thinking back on it the main tension early on in that play through was the thought that I could be wasting precious minutes rather than the horror stuff. Today I made a start on my final collectable run and similarly the main worry now is missing something and having to replay a part of it.

Hopefully be mostly done by the weekend so I can knock off some smaller games before landing on my next 'main' game.

YLAD. Played it and finished it the year it was released. Thought I'd fire it back up before Kiwami 3 (yes I've played most of the other Yakuza titles, including Kiwami 2) got instantly hooked and couldn't stop until finished.

@Werehog Haha, Gumshoe's adoration and dedication are ends-in-themselves. There's something very pure in the way he looks up to Edgeworth so completely. But yeah, the AA writers are aware of how popular the Edgeworth x Wright pairing/slash is, and while it's obviously left extremely ambiguous, there's lots of little nuggets dotted throughout the series for Wrightworth fans.

I actually picked up the Investigations collection last year. Will I get to it soon? Who knows. As you allude to, I've got a metric butt-ton of games going at once. I hope to this year, though, since I've heard great things about Investigations 2, with many fans considering it one of the best games in the entire franchise.

No worries about spoiling me. You can obviously put any extremely sensitive information in spoiler tags, but I've never been particularly concerned about hearing about games I haven't played yet!

How would you rank the games you've played in the series to date?

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. Imagine if Tales of Phantasia was sh*t. Ok, maybe not that harsh but it’s a very strange mix of the old Tales side scroller combat, Atelier’s material gathering and the writing of an early 00s harem anime that nobody remembers. Not the worst game I’ve ever played but aggressively middle of the road.

Also beat Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003. Genuinely if Sammy ever launches a niche site entirely dedicated to sports games, I could write a storm up. Had a hankering for a good golf game and played a bit of the classic Links games for Windows and enjoyed my time despite never really liking the 3 click shot system, so thought I’d play every PS2 Tiger game. 2001 has the 3 click system and 2002 has basically zero content so 2003 was a good starting point. Now, 2004 is the golf game, so it’s a bit weird playing what feels like a tech demo for that, way less content and no create a player. But gameplay wise, it’s almost identical which means it’s utterly brilliant.

The TIGER challenge is like those crappy ‘poems’ they made you write at school with each letter being a different row that upgrades your tour card at the end. There’s 3 types of challenge, your classic match play against a real or fictional golfer (seen in World Tour in ‘04), a 1 round tournament, or a skins game against players you’ve already beaten. The golfers are a decent mix, fictional ones are hysterically stereotypical in an endearing way and the real ones were all relevant golfers at the time with some obvious omissions due to licensing. It’s a fun game to be honest. I love the new PGA Tour’s gameplay but the career progression is dreadful, same as PGA2K. These older games just have the X factor that’s missing from modern releases. I’ll probably have to sing 04’s praises even more when I play it again.

@Herculean @DefShepherd Hmm, I may have given up too early, then. I read that the game is very slow to get going, especially the first two or three chapters/episodes (or what they were called) so I actually braced for that, but I still couldn't get the game to "click" for me. I eventually called it quits after I had reached the first outpost to the west of Central Knot City - I found myself really not feeling like going out into that world to carry on the trek further west.

Went on to start Shadow of the Tomb Raider instead, but got sidetracked by The Forest when I found some available gaming time the other day and have been itching to go back into that ever since (fingers crossed for tonight!)

I'm with you on that! I've thoroughly loved all three of Insomniac's Spider-Games, so not many change notes from me either I would hold up "Miles Morales" as having the perfect length for me, though, as that one actually left me wanting more, whereas I was thoroughly relieved when the other two were done. MM still suffered slightly from "let's make this boss fight last" syndrome, but as I said earlier, the Spider-Games are hardly the worst offenders in this category

@Mikeg1965 Nicely done! Pretty much counting down the days for the 3rd myself. Did you play the demo?

@Metonymy I did look for the Demo for 3' but couldn't find it. Assumed maybe it was timed or something?

@Mikeg1965 Yeah, it was timed. I think they’ve got another coming out a few days before release. They’ve made some very interesting changes from II, especially with stances. It still didn’t feel fully fleshed out in the demo but I liked where it was going. Not too long now!

@sorteddan Ah, fair enough. I'd say it's definitely worth looking up the In Water ending again for when you're in the right headspace, but honestly, it probably won't hit so hard for you. I feel like the first ending you get when playing will always remain the canon one to you anyway, and while the In Water is beautifully tragic, it doesn't show anything visually interesting or offer new audio that it'd reshape your experience in any way. Be happy you got the better ending for James, even if I feel like In Water is more narratively fitting!

I hope you'll manage to pop the collectible achievement on this playthrough. Is there any way you're able to keep tracking of if you missed something or not? Sounds like it'd be terrifying to miss out at this point. Hopefully you'll be able to move onto the smaller games soon. What have you got planned?

@FuriousMachine I kinda understand that feeling. I think it's an amazing game that about 80% of the time that I want to play a game I would not be up for playing. I can recognize it's amazing, but it's also not the kind of game that easily sets its hooks into me.

I got into gaming (way back) for the kick to be honest. And that has remained important for me throughout the years. So I can replay Hades II stages a million times, I get excited about the risk of losing all my souls in Bloodborne, and I love playing a game while thinking 'there's no way I will ever make it', putting everything on the line and then maybe making it.

For that thrill seeking brain of mine, Death Stranding poses an enormous challenge. I can easily acknowledge it's a good game, but where's the excitement and fun that I long for after a long day in the office. Eventually I found ways to appreciate the game immensely. It's a slow burn, but there are risks involved if you seek them out.

Eventually I got into a groove ths summer; 4 or 5 years after I bought the game. It took over my life, and I knew I had to lose myself in this game if I wanted a chance of beating it. It was an unforgettable experience and might have even dethroned Bloodborne as my favorite PS4 game. But yea... at the same time I totally get how a game like this might not click for you, no matter how hard you try.

Don't feel bad about it, though. Enough great games to play still!

So yes, while it's totally possible to fail in the Ace Attorney series, it's not quite as elaborate as you might be imagining. Ultimately, they are linear visual novels with fixed progression. If you make a mistake, you can take "damage" on a health bar (which usually results in some optional or hidden dialogue, most of it hilarious) and if you make too many mistakes, it's game over. Outside of a few notable exceptions, however, all this does is force you to reload your most recent save and try again, now armed with the knowledge of what not to do. If you get really stuck, it just becomes trial and error. Pun not intended.

There are incredibly frustrating moments where, if you're not on the same wavelength as the writer, you'll try and make a connection which is totally valid and obvious, only to get slapped back because it's not where the game wants you to go. But that isn't a criticism! They're incredibly clever and intricate, not to mention endearing as heck. You just have to lock in to a particular mindset, if that makes sense?

If you're still tempted, best place to start would be the beginning. There's way too much continuity and too many running gags to jump in anywhere else.

To that end, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is the release you'll wanna look for.

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@Ralizah Come to think of it, I've definitely seen a couple of those Wrightworth nuggets you mention! Of course, it doesn't help that the series prides itself on awkward exchanges and dialogue that can be easily taken out of context, but still... just shows how intentional they must be!

Oh, yay! At least you've got it ready to go, and that positive fan reception only helps. Fingers crossed you can get to it this year as planned. You might even beat me to it, then!

Hmm, that's a tough question. I genuinely do think my favourite might be the first Investigations, but since that's the one I literally just finished, I'm wary of recency bias (on top of my aforementioned bias towards Gumshoe). I do know that, as much as I enjoyed it, Apollo Justice didn't quite hit for me, so that'd probably be at the bottom of the list, at least for now. I'm really looking forward to returning to the Chronicles games, since I thought they got off to a great start, and hated having to abandon them so early on. In other words, it's all subject to change! I remember they were your favourites, or at least used to be...?