Topic: Last Game You Beat

@Yousef- I do also tend to swap back and forth with some games I play. I think the original Perfect Dark took me two weeks mostly because I would play Conker’s Bad Fur Day in short sessions on Rare Replay, and I would also play some games on my phone too, so I did somewhat swap a lot with the games I played at the time. I think there is a chance I’ll likely do the same with Nuts and Bolts now that I have the Switch back.

Also, regarding your question, I have never seen characters with stickers for faces lol. The person who was in charge of putting the sticker on the case knew what they were doing haha. I hope you’ve been having a good time with the games you are playing!

@Pastellioli You are a seriously good reviewer! Although Perfect Dark Zero was criticised a lot, its reception was generally positive. I completely agree with what you wrote. The uniqueness of the characters are deliberate, I would say. Jet Force Gemini, like Viva Piñata and Nuts and Bolts, take some time to become familiar with, but I had so much fun playing all those games.

@Banjo- Thank you haha! Sorry I am writing a few minutes late, had other stuff to do. Whenever I finish a game, I always look forward to sharing my thoughts on it.

I absolutely loved Zero despite the general disappointment that surrounded the game and I loved the gunplay a whole lot but the goofiness with some of the characters was just perfect. Mai Hem was so funny though moreso with how exaggerated and cheesy her acting was and how she tried to be serious all the time. I think it was a good idea that you recommended that I play Zero after completing the first Perfect Dark since it was something I was already familiar with, and I am now definitely looking forward to the reboot that should be released either next year or two years time. I wonder what other games I should play alongside Nuts and Bolts and Smash…maybe another Rare game I dropped and haven’t played in a while.

I really do love the improved gameplay with Zero and I am sad a lot of people don’t acknowledge it. The dodge and roll really did help with retaining health and stalling time, since in the first one I always had to run away and kept getting shot at whenever I needed to reload my gun, and the cover mechanic was so fun. The cameras, although somewhat annoying and a bit hard to spot, sort of brings out more of the spy elements in Perfect Dark, even though Zero had a different aesthetic than the previous game. Zero is probably the most cheesiest Rare game I’ve played and I loved it from start to finish!

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Series X version)

If you are one to always complain about linear games, this is for you! Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a complicated and very interesting story that involves time travelling and alternative timelines. The writing is once again excellent, this time focusing on two fantastic characters. I liked the story more, perhaps because I was aware of the previous events and terminology. The gameplay is a slightly remixed version of the first title and the lower difficulty -than can be furtherly lowered- grants the player precious extra seconds during the creative real-time strategies. What these developers do best is how they introduce the solid game mechanics. The sequel adds the only quick time events I have really enjoyed in a game, as they act as an easy conclusion for the important battles' finale and perfectly blend with the essential cutscenes. There is a difficulty spike near the end that will force you to level up if you have not, but the flexible and deep gameplay is as fun as before, from start to end. Comparing Final Fantasy X-2 and XIII-2, the former can be skipped with no regrets, while the latter is a full game that deserves as much attention as the primary game. The fact that the three games are enhanced on Xbox, makes them even more enjoyable and come highly recommended.

For completionists, the game is more entertaining than XIII, although some quests are difficult to follow and certain scenarios are hard to navigate. The ideas are not executed perfectly, but at least the NPCs act naturally and the collectables are shown in the main menu. The graphics and visual art are once again excellent, with Series X showing all their beauty in 4K and 60fps. The soundtrack is more modern this time, with the typical female Japanese vocals riding on cheesy pop tracks, that makes harder to concentrate on understanding the complicated story files. There are no sound options. All in all, an excellent game with a few rough edges and, just like Final Fantasy XIII, full of Far Eastern ethereal allegories and philosophies that I love so much.

9/10

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it and that my tips were helpful!

After Final Fantasy XIII-2, I beat Kao the Kangaroo. I had started it months ago but I fully completed it yesterday, 100%, excluding DLC.

As positives, the graphics and performance come first. The soundtrack, story, characters and voice acting are decent. The controls are smooth although not perfect because of the occasional rough interaction with the environment. However, in a world where even Mario's odysseys are no longer a real 3D platform ride but bland and sterile exploration, I enjoyed how old-school and how focused on platforming Kao the Kangaroo is.

As negatives, a variety of glitches, finicky physics and collision detection and the idle camera. With long levels and no clues at all, I resorted to a guide to find some collectibles. It took me over 13 hours to complete the game without DLC having a look at the guide. The production level of the game is impressive and they made the right choice to not make it bigger without a bigger budget, but there is a wrong combination of platformer staples, like long levels that are difficult to navigate and also have easily missable collectibles. Maybe they made the levels longer because they couldn't include more, but the other sliders were not adjusted accordingly. The continuous skip warning on every cutscene doesn't look good either. All in all, a dense and beautiful 3D platformer.

7/10

@Banjo- Wow, you are beating games really fast too! I had heard of Kao the Kangaroo but never played it. I do think before I did I heard it was decent to ok, though it seems like it has some issues similar to ones I have had with other Rare games I have played. Are there any other games you plan on playing aside from Octopath Traveler and Planet of Lana since you completed the Final Fantasy games and Kao? I do know you plan on playing the Conker remake at some point. Still can’t wait to hear what you have to say on that!

@Pastellioli Kao the Kangaroo can't be compared to the best 3D platformers, but I actually had more fun playing Super Lucky's Tale/New Super Lucky's Tale and Kao the Kangaroo than Super Mario Odyssey. Kao the Kangaroo is a bit trickier than Lucky's games, though. Super Mario Odyssey is just boring. I say this as a Mario fan. Super Mario Sunshine is one of my favourite games on any console.

I wanted to play more Game Pass since I'm a subscriber from the start, so I launched Planet of Lana, a short puzzle game that will take just a few afternoons. Today, I started Octopath Traveller II, because I loved the first one. This is what I'll be playing for now, but Lighting Returns is of course on my list, not to mention Conker Live & Reloaded and many more 😊.

@Banjo- Cool! Really can’t wait to see your opinions on those, especially Conker. You seem to be getting the most out of your Game Pass subscription compared to me, who doesn’t really play anything on there and only has it be used to get points for games I own 😂

I haven’t really played Mario Odyssey. I did a bit but never finished it. I also never played Super Lucky’s Tale either. Maybe I could if I do get Game Pass again at some point. I love platformers a lot.

@Pastellioli Well, when I play my old backlog, I don't! Ha ha. I think you'd enjoy Lucky's games. The "New" is some kind of definitive version. I loved Conker's Bad Fur Day and didn't have as many issues as others playing it, so I think I'll love the more polished, slightly censored version, too! Can't have enough of Rare.

@Banjo- Oh, I think you absolutely will. It fixed a lot of prominent issues I had with the controls, but given the original was an N64 game, it isn’t surprising that the controls were janky and off, though that could be because of its age. It did make some segments easier, but I still struggled with the one-hit blade segment and the lava race, which didn’t fail to upset me in the remake. I still love the graphics and think they do hold up fairly well, but I wish they kept the cartoony art style and more slapstick elements the original had. The slight art style change sort of degrades those elements a bit, but it’s only really minor. The censoring didn’t bother me a lot since it’s not super prominent like some make it out to be, but if you do understand the context that the game was supposed to be released uncut and with no censoring, it does make you somewhat wonder or wish how differently the game could have turned out, and I think that reason is why a lot of people don’t like the remake. I love Conker a ton and I’m sad it never got continued afterward. I’m just so obsessed with Rare a ton lol.

I did try the remake’s war multiplayer mode alone (also because the online for it has since then been discontinued) but it wasn’t really fun…I played on the easiest difficulty since I am a baby with the game, but every single time I was on the squirrels side, the Tediz would ALWAYS win. It wasn’t until I swapped to the Tediz side that me and my team would actually start to win matches for some reason. There was this three part campaign for the multiplayer called Chapter X I think, and it was so unfun when I played it, since, again, the Tediz would keep winning every single dang time. I think there is a system link you can still use for the game to play with others, but I don’t have anyone nearby who has the game or an Xbox console. However, I did play the multiplayer in the original with my brother a few weeks ago and we had an absolute blast with it. You get the most out of the multiplayer if you have someone else to play with. If not, it’s just a really boring and frustrating experience.

You're lucky to have a brother to play with. I don't. I beat Planet of Lana and I keep playing Octopath Traveller II.

Planet of Lana

Similar to Limbo and Inside in some ways, Planet of Lana is a short and somewhat repetitive puzzle game with very simplistic graphics, dramatic and repetitive voice clips, some really interesting puzzles and a beautiful music theme and vocals, but that also includes boring sections, try-and-error puzzles and button mashing final "boss".

5/10

@Banjo- Sorry for replying late. I'm sorry you don't have a sibling to play the game with, if only they added online functionality for the original, then it would be super fun and we could play. I am thinking of getting the $1.00 deal for Ultimate for 14 days which will come with an online sub, and if I recall, doesn't Perfect Dark Zero still have functioning online servers? I think Live and Reloaded can still be played online as long as you use the system link, which I hope can work if we do play at one point, but I think that'll wait for later since you are still playing other games and trying to finish them.

It's cool that you finished another game. Your July is full of a lot of gaming! What games are you going to finish next besides Octopath Traveller II? Or what games are you going to play after that?

@Pastellioli You're the quickest replying! Octopath Traveller II is taking me a long time because I'm taking it easy and enjoying it, so I can play something else on top of it. Yeah, we should play something together once you subscribe again. Is there any particular game you would choose? There is one called It Takes Two (on Game Pass) that is specifically a cooperative game.

@Banjo- I need to look back at the Game Pass list. My brother and sister did play It Takes Two on the PlayStation a few years back and it looked so wacky and something I liked. I remember there being this group of backyard army squirrels fighting against a group of bees and I remember I hadn't played Conker at the time but had a huge interest in it, and my brother just went "Conker's Bad Fur Day?" to me lol. I believe they both nearly finished it but weren't able to.

Sea of Thieves is pretty much the one Rare game I haven't played on the Xbox, mostly since it is online and I don't have a big interest in it, but my brother says it's good. Maybe we could do that at one point, but I have to choose a good date to get the Ultimate sub and find a good time to play it when I'm free and uninterrupted. I also don't think our time zones are the same since we live in different countries, but I am hopeful that I can find a good time to play. The best time I can play is late at night where I live, but I don't know if you'll be awake at that time since I think it's early morning in the UK. I hope that the internet I have isn't bad, since it performs badly when I play online matches of Smash Bros. on the Switch. I don't do mic and would like not to, so we could use the app's texting function instead. Maybe we can also try seeing if we can do a system link for Live and Reloaded when you get onto it. When the Ultimate sub expires, I might just get the separate online sub and try to see if I can play Perfect Dark Zero online.

@Pastellioli huh I too have a brother who lives in a different country. He’s in Atlanta.
SoT being the only Rare game you never played is actually impressive. I’ve definitely got a lot of catching up to do but Rare games are so good so I don’t mind. Heck, I’m even planning a Kazooie replay some time in the future. It’s so good.

You’re not alone in not playing Sea of Thieves. I too can’t get into online games. I just never really understood the craze. Why would I log into a game every single day and commit to an online session when I can play a well constructed offline experience that I can progress at my own pace? I’m currently playing Ape Escape 3 and it’s a ton of fun.

@Yousef- Have fun with your replay of Kazooie! Are there other Rare games that you are going to play in the future? Curious.

Sea of Thieves is popular and even outdid all of Rare's older legacy IPs with its large player base and popularity, but it never really interested me despite being into Rare and their characters a lot. I think it has to do with it being an online game, though I do know that there is a PvE mode that they added, but the game is apparently not fun that way.

It probably also has to do with the game not being a single-player experience with a story like what Rare used to do with their games decades ago, and I think it has maybe been almost twenty years since they last did that, I believe with Nuts and Bolts back in 2008, though my most favorite story 90s-00s Rare told was in Conker, both because it was weird but also because it has a good message despite how stupid the game is supposed to be, and you can see the message a lot if you look at how the main character acts throughout the game and what he says right at the end. It makes me miss the old Rare a ton since I think we won't see interesting and goofy narratives like that in their games ever again.

I still wouldn't mind playing Sea of Thieves, but I think the significant change in Rare's structure and their key employees leaving throughout the years plays a role in why I can't get into their newer games and find their older games more fun. Maybe it has to be the charm too. One of the things that made Rare games so special to me is that they always found ways to add charm and twists to the gameplay and sometimes stories to increase the memorability of their games. It is why I think of the Banjo and Conker games so much with their characters, settings, stories, and gameplay after finishing them despite how small the chances are of those games getting modern comebacks. I don't see much charm with Sea of Thieves, but I do hope I am wrong if I get a chance to play it with Ultimate.

The issue with online games, at least for me, is that you can't pause if you need to do important things and with schedules sometimes. I wouldn't say my schedule is super busy, but I sometimes have stuff to do and can only really play them uninterrupted at nighttime, and can't leave without getting possibly penalized or banned. Overwatch especially...if you are idle for only a few seconds or maybe a single minute, you get kicked out. That is what happened to me when I needed to quickly do something. I didn't get banned, but it still wasn't a good feeling.

@Pastellioli happy you asked! Tooie is a must, I’m a big collectathon nut, so after I’m done with Ape Escape which is my favorite collectathon franchise, I’m likely to move to something Rare-made, such as also DK64.

@Yousef- Since I have played almost all the necessary and well-known Rare games on the Xbox, I am deciding to play some of their Game Boy Color and Advance games on an emulator since those are not available to play and haven't gotten re-releases. Specifically, I am going to play Grunty's Revenge and Conker's Pocket Tales, as that last one is the only Conker game I have not played, and someone I talk to on Nintendo Life has recommended me to do so. It is interesting since that game was supposed to show what tone the Conker games and Bad Fur Day were initially going to go in before being reworked. However, I also have to play more of Diddy Kong Racing, and I still haven't touched Donkey Kong 64. I don't know if I'll finish DKR because of the controls on the emulator, so I'll be waiting for a possible NSO release with hopefully better controls. I have gotten to replay some of the Conker remake, but I'll do a second full playthrough when the game club gets onto it, but with the Game Pass price hikes, I don't know what'll happen to the game club. That game is what I am looking forward to seeing the club play, and was also one of my reasons for joining. I was planning on completing Nuts and Bolts this month, but I don't think I'll do it because I need to get more used to the gameplay shift.

@Pastellioli you know, I haven’t really looked into the remake now that I think about it. I know it exists, obviously, and had mild interest at the very least but I know so little that I forgot it’s available via backwards compatibility (and truth be told, the title made me think it was a spin-off). I have to satisfy my curiosity about it eventually.

@Yousef- It’s a pretty good remake even though it is a bit old. It’s separate from Rare Replay, and here where I am, I bought it from the Microsoft Store for the inexpensive price of $9.99. A lot of classic titles are pretty inexpensive to buy, so there might be a few I wanna get. The remake gets a lot of criticism for being more censored than the original, but it didn’t lessen my experience or enjoyment with it, plus the censoring is only heavy with the language. The controls are so much better, and I remember getting the remake a month after I finished Bad Fur Day.

Similarly, my brother thought the remake was a sequel! I wish it was, cuz after hearing a lot about the story and ideas they had for it, it makes me disappointed that it didn’t happen.