Your 2016 Gaming Diary

You're really killing some of my great faves in this thread, lostmario! I can think of a few moments that did stand out for me - some of the boss battles are really great in it and the total mixup for the final battle with Bowser makes it feel fresh and impending too, imo.

I'll give you that, some of the boss battles were good, easy but good. I did like the final boss battle.

I've started Dark Cloud today. Played for an hour and it's kind of a weird experience

It has world building elements, a battle system that is very odd (you can lock on to an enemy and slash away at it, but you can't evade/roll/block - at least I haven't found a way to do so, yet...maybe there is a way) and randomly generated dungeons.

It's strangely addictive

There's still Person 4 Golden Have spent a total of 11 hours on my new playthrough and I like it. However, just as it was the case the last 3 times I've played it, it seems like it's too big of a game right now...I don't want to stop, though Maybe it's a game that'll take me the whole year to complete.

Nabbed the Platinum on Far Cry Primal (PS4) this morning. The last trophy was a real grind but it's done and dusted now.

Next up is Minecraft Story Mode (PS4). I've had this on the shelf for a month or so now but have been waiting until the final episode drops, which happens on Tuesday. Figured I would start it now and it would make for a nice change of pace after exploring the open world of FC.

Next up is Minecraft Story Mode (PS4). I've had this on the shelf for a month or so now but have been waiting until the final episode drops, which happens on Tuesday.

Aren't there more episodes on the way? Making the next episode not the final one?

I think I read somewhere that Episodes 6-8 are in development.

Aren't there more episodes on the way? Making the next episode not the final one?

 

I think I read somewhere that Episodes 6-8 are in development.

6-8 are DLC. Apparently the story reaches a conclusion with 5 and then the rest are extras.

From what I've heard, Episode 4 feels like the conclusion to the story. From the Destructoid review of Episode 4:

It feels like the first season is essentially complete at this point, and anything that could happen during the final episode will just be a lead-in to the next season. It might be better if this were just a four-episode series.

Finished and platted Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered. It was the only game I hadn't played yet and for the most part it was fun. There were a few annoying section where I had to run from no cover to bad cover all while being shot that were frustrating to do, but beside that I enjoyed the story, gameplay and the combat. Took me only 318 restarts for the main campaign. Interested to see how I do in the other two, but more than halfway during the sequel, I don't think I have even a third of that.

Done a lot more in Rune Factory 4. Been pretty much glued to the 3DS the past two days. Was a bit hard to get into the game, not because of the grinding, but how much there is to do and to learn and remember. There's everything from crop values like crop level,quality, growth even health and defense, all play a part in making better crops faster, to your own character's lv and skills, there's everything from shortwords to staff, to farming, logging and mining, taming and leadership, bartering and even walking, sleeping and bathing. There's a skill for everything, and when they level up you get various bonuses in stats like attack and intelligence. And then there's whole crafting thing too. This is for those who don't know a mix of Harvest Moon and rpg with dungeons, monsters and the classic save the world story.

It was a bit daunting at first, but after much time spent on Gamefaqs, I managed to grow lv 10 pineapples at super fast speed. Already have half a million in cash after a week or so cashing them in, but unfortunatly I have to grow them in the small seasonal field, as it's mid winter now and they grow in summer. But as soon as spring comes around, I'm ready with my lv 10 tomatos and leeks. As soon as spring returns, I will also be working on an apple farm to raise the soil quality in one of the farm fields to max, so I can in a year and half take max benefit of the pineapple field, if I don't get exhausted of the game by then. Also got 16 monsters for various purposes like milk, egg and animal drops(crafting stuff) but I grew so tired of brushing them every morning that I haven't seen them in while.

My choice of spouse is the soldier lady Forte. My choice from Rune Factory 3 is actually here as permanent guest character, but unfortunatly she isn't marriagable this time around. Makes sense I guess. All the villages are about 6-7 in Friend Points, of 10.

As for my character and story, currently lv 109 and got schooled by the final boss in the second arch.

Between breaks in RF 4 I have also reached a little bit more than halfway in Uncharted 2 Remastered

I'll give you that, some of the boss battles were good, easy but good. I did like the final boss battle.

Yeah I must admit I've only played a few times through since I was a kid (where everything was somehow infinitely harder/I was infinitely more stupid), and I can see the easy arguments. The challenge of the game really comes from the 100%ing(tho the unlock bonuses can also make it easier) - especially trying to tackle a boss without losing stars or then frantically trying to red shell recover if you do for the 100%. I think the killer thing for me was whenever I forgot to top my stars up before hitting the pre-boss middle ring!

Some boss battles that stick out in my mind were Raphael the Raven, the Naval Piranha(tho as a child I somehow didn't learn the egg water skim trick despite the dungeons obvious tutorialing, you'd laugh so hard at how I actually wasted time defeating him), and strangely that Tap-Tap the Red Nose. I think for some reason my real ultimate favourite boss as a kid was Hookbill the Koopa!

I digress anyhow. I still definitely appreciate the opinions of people playing these old games again today even if they're not favourable - and whilst I personally love Yoshi's Island I can see how it might not be everybody's cup of tea. It was a somewhat new and fresh mixup to the standard mario mechanic, the simple introduction of the egg throwing and various power-ups at stages did, for me, give it quite a Mario-but-not-Mario kinda feeling.

Recently played and finished up Super Mario 64 once more on the Virtual Console. It's still a classic, i can't fault it one bit. Finished on 94 stars, might go an mop up this evening.

Finished and platinumed Minecraft Story Mode (PS4) today. The writing is a lot more simplistic compared to other TT games but this was always going to be the case considering the target audience. The game also wasn't as funny as TFTB. Still, it was an enjoyable adventure and was just the type of game I needed while I'm all wrapped up in bed struggling with cold/man flu.

Regarding what @Magnus said about the ending, this is correct. The game essentially runs its course in the space of 4 episodes and the 5th is its own little self contained story that carries on a little while after the events of the first 4 parts. It does have a bit of a cliffhanger but I imagine the rest of the DLC will be the same, just Jesse and company entering different doors/worlds.

I've got the itch to play something classic now. I may fire up the Wii U VC and see what takes my fancy.

I completed Unravel this morning, having only been able to do bits at a time.

I loved it! Artistically it was like Yoshi's Wolly World meeting Pikmin 3, and it certainly felt like it had some Nintendo influence in there.

However the story was entirely original and I really connected with it, which considering it has no dialogue seems a bizarre thing to say, yet it intrigued me from the start all the way to the sad yet uplifting final levels.

I'd really recommend this game to anyone who likes platforming titles, and also story driven as well. It'll be over pretty quick, but there seems like enough achievements to keep me coming back for more for awhile yet!

The classic game I decided to go with was Mega Man X (Wii U VC). It's been a couple of years since I played through this and still love it as much as I always have. Timeless game.

GOTM - March

What have I played the last 31 days?

Crypt of the Necrodancer - I'll take this out of the equation because it has been a GOTM already

Call of Duty: Black Ops III Multiplayer - Reached Prestige 6. Still play this regularly with my mate. It's awesome. :awesome:

The Unfinished Swan - Finally played and finished this. A wonderful game with a story that leaves you thinking (if you're the kind of person to do that).

Assault Android Cactus - The game that didn't get the most votes on the PS+ poll. It's sad really, because from what I've gathered it's much better than Broforce...

Salt and Sancutary - A 2D-Souls-like with incredible level-design and gameplay. Add a beautiful art-style and sparse, but great music and there you have it:

 

I decided to take a break from Transformers: Devastation (after playing through it like 5 times in a row ) and found myself getting back into Super Mario Maker in a big way.

Got 4 new courses made and uploaded in March (which use the new features from the latest updates) so check 'em out if you can:

This is a game that I've been playing for some time, but I've finally got around to finishing (the story at least) this very early morning. Grand Theft Auto 5.

The only GTA I've ever played was the original. @Eenuh bought this for me for Christmas 2014...so, I've had it for a while. I started it, then for some reason stopped playing it, so decided to start completely over a few months back. I had the urge to really get into it this week, so I've been playing it looooooads in big play sessions.

This game is outstanding. I love the setting, I love the characters, I can't believe how utterly breathtaking it looks and how there's so much to do within this game. On a technical level, it's 10/10. But, it also delivers the goods, too. The heists and set pieces in this game are top drawer. The final few missions were excellent and it does a great job of using the three-character mechanic really, really well. It's a feature that I hope they use in future games because of how well it was done here.

The choices for the radio station are just amazing, too! Being able to drive around to West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys has given me a new appreciation for that song. For my first GTA game, it has completely blown me away and I'll be getting the next one on day one for absolute certainty. The storytelling in this was something that I hadn't been anticipating and it did feel like I was in some sort of American crime drama/soap opera and I particularly liked how there were lots of little stories going on in the game that you kept revisiting, such as that random old British pair who were on holiday looking for celebrities.

As breathtaking as the flying sections were, I found those controls a bit fiddly. It made a few of the last missions a bit less fun than they could have been, but that only takes it from a 10 to something like a 9.99999; a small blemish on what is a superb game.

Wow.

Games of 2016

Flower - Finished

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Finished

The Unfinished Swan - Finished

Grim Fandango Remastered - Finished

Race The Sun - Finished

The Wolf Among Us - Finished

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Story Finished

The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone

Ico - Finished

Tokyo Jungle - Finished

Grand Theft Auto 5 - Finished!

I've started Dark Cloud today. Played for an hour and it's kind of a weird experience

 

It has world building elements, a battle system that is very odd (you can lock on to an enemy and slash away at it, but you can't evade/roll/block - at least I haven't found a way to do so, yet...maybe there is a way) and randomly generated dungeons.

 

It's strangely addictive

I loved, loved Dark Cloud way back when on ps2. Don't remember the battle system being quite so shonky, bit it wouldn't surprise me, ha.

I seem to remember that the sequel had a fantastic fish training / fish racing minigame (alongside the golf in every level, the town building, photography, sword crafting... mental game. I also remember saving over my best mate's game, 70 hours of play in. He started crying. Our friendship never really recovered...

Just finished Super Metroid for the first time, boy was that something. It took me a while to get into it, it's the first Metroid game i've ever played, but after getting to grips with it's intricacies I started to absolutely adore it. The art style, the music, the absurd difficulty of some of the bosses. I'm glad that it took me a while to get into it, because the game really rewards hard work - every boss battle feels like a battle, I felt so elated and exhausted after beating Ridley.

And that final battle and tense as hell ending, wow.

I love that there are no words spoken throughout the main part of the game, really adds to the atmosphere and the sense that you're alone exploring Zebes. It almost feels like an insult to say it reminds me of 'Alien' because it clearly takes influence from it, but it becomes something so much more. A real hair raising experience all it's own.

People who've played all the Metroid games, which one should I play next? Should I start at the beginning with 1 & 2; move onto Fusion or head straight for the Prime series?

@killthenet

I've never played Super Metroid either but i've played the rest. Prime was my first. I'd get playing that - its immense. The graphics still look okay aswell seeing it was a GC game.

Managed to sneak in one last game to cap March off last night, by finished Uncharted 2 Remastered. Had hoped to finish it up last week but other things got in the way and I wasn't enjoying the game as much as I did when I played it when it was released on the PS3 so kind of kept putting playing it off.

It's still a good game and holds up reasonably well here in the remaster but I don't remember it being so clunky/inaccurate with regards to the movement and the cover system. These were two particular bug bears throughout my playthrough of this and I just found it unnecessarily fiddly making some jumps. The latter issue of the cover system on top of the movement was a right pain in some instances because I'd try to move out of cover at a ledge and Drake would slip over a ledge or I'd try to move round cover and it would simply move me out of it leaving me standing in the open. Maybe these were the same issues in the game first time round but I don't remember having so many issues with either of these when playing on the PS3.

In the end, it marred the game somewhat and stopped it being as enjoyable as it could've been. I loved the game first time around and played through it several times (and sunk a ridiculous amount of time into the multiplayer) and while the general gameplay as a whole is still reasonably strong, it has lost some of its lustre and some of the set pieces and story feel a bit ridiculous now. It still manages to look fantastic in places though, particularly going through the mountains in Nepal and seeing all the ice is still as jaw dropping as ever.

I'm not sure how I'd rate it now compared to Drake's Fortune, especially as I only played that one for the first time prior to Christmas, but I'd say I enjoyed this just a little bit more than that game but the gap is nowhere near as big as I thought it would be.

People who've played all the Metroid games, which one should I play next? Should I start at the beginning with 1 & 2; move onto Fusion or head straight for the Prime series?

I recommend Metroid Prime, but I think any one you choose is good (except for the original NES Metroid 1, which hasn't aged well at all).

Played through Lands End in VR which I thought was absolutely beautiful, quite the glimpse of things to come, hopefully.

Led me to Monument Valley, about 4 years late, but wow, what a perfect mobile game.

Suggestions for any apps of a similar ilk welcome.

Meanwhile, this year played Kotor for the first time which is a great adventure though the combat mechanics are pretty tedious by now, Firewatch which I loved for the voice acting and visuals, and Hearts of Stone W3 expansion which has just been a total joy thus far.

Finished and platinumed Lego Dimensions (PS4) over the weekend. I have mixed feelings on this one. The writing is hilarious and some of the settings are amazing ( Ghostbusters level had me in stitches a few times ) but some of the levels are stupidly long. There are also a few levels where there are multiple bosses in the same stage. This really makes the pacing of the game drag.

I wouldn't mind getting a few of the extra level packs, mainly the Ghostbusters and BTTF ones, but the cost of them is ridiculous. £25 for what is supposed to be an hours worth of gameplay is just crazy. Unless they dramatically drop in price then I won't be touching them.

I also started and finished Lylat Wars (Wii U VC).

Yeah, i'm not a fan of this game at all. I wonder if I even like the SNES one anymore. I haven't played it in YEARS, so it would be interesting to see if my feelings remain positive on it. I do have more nostalgia for Starwing, though.

I've also been playing Bully (PS4) but I will talk more about it once i've finished it. I'm currently on year 4 of 5 so i'm not that far off completing it. Some of the trophies look to be a bit of a grind, though....

What?! Lyle Wars is amazing, and the tank levels are awesome... You're a crazy man!

What?! Lyle Wars is amazing, and the tank levels are awesome... You're a crazy man!

I can't really comment as i've never played Lyle Wars. I can say that Lylat Wars doesn't do it for me.

I can't really comment as i've never played Lyle Wars. I can say that Lylat Wars doesn't do it for me.

Yeah Lylat Wars is shit. But you have to check out Lyle Wars!