Topic: Last Game You Beat

@Yousef- The campaign is very enjoyable and with more variety than I expected. It has time travel, but the storytelling is solid. I was interested in the story the whole time.

At first, I was terrified when I realised I needed to download a Call of Duty "app", but it's excellent. It has access to the modern games and multiplayer modes and you can install and uninstall content. It reminds me of Halo The Master Chief Collection.

You need an Activision account, but it's basically adding an email address and the console blends it with your Xbox account. No big deal.

Should have replied to this thread yesterday, but I decided to replay Conker’s Bad Fur Day in full and completed it again yesterday. It’s a game I’ve already played and loved a LOT, but I hadn’t played the thing in full since last year, and I’d only play the game in short sessions, and while I did make a second save file, I never got far into it. I was motivated to revisit it again since Pure Xbox’s game club had finally voted on the game for this month, and I do think a bit more differently of the game now that I re-experienced it again.

I did write more of my thoughts in the game club thread, but I’ll just try to keep some of my thoughts on it here a bit more simplified. I absolutely love the cartooniness and cute art style that juxtaposes the violent and crude humor and material of the game, which adds a lot of subversion to it and I freaking love colorful art styles. I still love the charming but sometimes a-holey characters, the humor and movie parodies are stupid, funny and smart, and the storyline is so bizarre but it leads to a lot of memorability, at least for me. The voice acting is very impressive, and the fact that all of it was done by just three people with so much vocal range was amazing.

The music is also great. I remember having the audio on super low when I first played the game for some reason, and I had already listened to a few of the songs online, but hearing some of the songs I did miss make me very impressed since it’s an N64 game. The composer, Robin Beanland, does a great job with doing different song genres for any level or situation, and so many moods are captured in the songs. Some of the tracks are pretty cinematic too!

The gameplay is more simplified compared to other Rare platformers like Banjo-Kazooie, mostly thanks to a cool concept called context sensitivity, which means that the actions and items the player uses change depending on the situation, and there is a huge emphasis on using the B button. For example, in one situation, you might use the B button for a standard attack with a frying pan, while in another situation the B button will use a gun or throwing knifes instead.

Despite the simplified button controls being very convenient and nice, I find a lot of the stuff relating to the gameplay to be a bit poor. I don’t find it entirely bad, I know there are games that have worse gameplay, but it is a mixed bag compared to the first time I played it. I remember not minding a lot of the gameplay, but now I am realizing how it’s very hit or miss, meaning it can be well-designed and good at one point, but can also be poorly done or annoying. A few levels suffer from being full of random, difficult, or annoying objectives or having a bit too much repetition, and there are at least two levels that come into my mind with those two points. The worst aspect is maybe the gun and projectile gameplay, which most of the time, was mediocre and went back and forth with having and not having aiming reticles, and even with reticles at some points the aiming is still off. I think the aiming and gunplay only gets good in the second to last final level, which isn’t until later on in the game.

The camera was sometimes poor and unmoveable at times, which does make it hard to see when doing some tasks and getting around the place. It wasn’t as bad as I remember it being, but it most certainly isn’t the greatest.

The game’s biggest strengths is with its characters, humor, and writing, but its biggest weakness is having gameplay and level design that flip flops between being good or bad. It’s still my favorite, but I think it’s the non-gameplay related aspects that are done best.

Octopath Traveller II

Good:

• Every good thing from the first game is back, with different content.
• Simple stories, some better than others.
• Epic villains.
• Excellent soundtrack, except for repetitively annoying Wellgrove/Timberain. I need both games' soundtracks, anyway.
• Really beautiful and crisp graphics at 60fps.
• Excellent art work.
• Big, lively and interesting world.
• World and dungeons are fun to explore.
• The environment sound effects and the graphical detail.
• Flexible, rich and improved combat.
• Two battle speed options (unlike the first title).
• The fixed camera angles are perfect.
• The huge amount of quality content.
• The quality of life features, some of them new.
• Lots of literary words.
• Partitio.

Bad:

• Like in the first game, grating and unnatural female voices when selecting the English voices, some of them amateurishly recorded, makes some characters too irritating to play.
• Items can be difficult to track and that can be slightly annoying for completionists, although there are journals for side quests, useful icons on characters and a final achievement for all side quests.
• A few shortcomings. No shortcut to defend is a weird choice and pressing A to open doors seems redundant.
• Some WTF moments, like the five Eir's Apothecaries acting like total idiots when confronting a single weak evil one and how Castti wanders and rambles unprotected under poisonous rain.
• Some stories and voice actors (Ochette).
• Overdone flashy graphic effects during combat.

Two final lines:

I liked it more than the first game because of the gameplay improvements and I loved the first one. I got all the achievements and it took me 131 hours.

Score: 9/10

Conker's Bad Fur Day/Conker: Live & Reloaded

The most technically advanced Nintendo 64 game returned even better, with improved graphics, sound and gameplay, as the most advanced Xbox game. There has never been a high-quality video game with this level of cheekiness and crudeness and there will probably never be. It's even more refreshing today, when the level of hypocrisy is at the sky's level. Most of all, it's funny, witty and politically incorrect.

As a 3D platformer (but not just that), it still has some rough edges typical of the era and performance is worse than the Rare Replay version (not than the Nintendo 64 version), but it's actually quite innovative in lots of ways and plays dynamically, while referring to tons of films as parodies. The graphics, the cinematics, the music and the voice acting are all excellent, but what makes the game really special is the story, the in-your-face moments, the characters and the lines at the end of the last two chapters. There's gore too, because nothing in this game is mild, except Conker, paradoxically. He's just having a bad fur day and learning from it.

Play time: 12:21

Score: 9/10

@Banjo- I absolutely agree with all of your points and thoughts. A lot of your opinions are the same as mine. The film parodies were one of the best aspects of the humor, The Matrix one was such a good blend of goofy and cool! In fact, the game convinced me to see the movie it was spoofing. So cool. I love the bizarre story, and the ending absolutely stuck with me, especially the message. Its humor, writing and characters are its biggest strength, and its why I can't stop thinking about it! It's so hard to find games similar to it honestly.

@Pastellioli The first Matrix film is the best. After beating this version and reading about cancelled projects, I think that this game is begging for a sequel.

@Banjo- Late response, sorry!

I read a lot on the cancelled Conker sequel (like, a LOT) and it just made me so disappointed it never got a follow-up. I watched a video that went over the gameplay ideas and what makes the sequel's cancellation so disappointing is that the full storyline, complete with an opening and an ending, was finished, and they were apparently going to start development after getting the story and gameplay ideas done, but they never did thanks to Microsoft. I'd still love a modern sequel, but only if it is by a good game studio that knows how to make solid platformer games and has the game do what made Bad Fur Day so likable and memorable. The sequel's story sounded like it was going to be a bit more serious (at least from what I heard in the video I saw) but the story still sounded insane and crazy. I can't tell you how much more disappointed I got after I finished watching the video, I am super passionate about the game.

I ‘finished’ - although the game has definite repeat potential and I only got a quarter of the achievements - ‘This Bed We Made’.

It’s a point-and-click style game where you play a nosy hotel maid in Montreal in 1958. Whilst cleaning the rooms your curiosity uncovers a mystery. It’s an interesting game - sort of Alfred Hitchcock meets Ann Bannon, looks good for what was clearly a small team (the same names keep appearing in the credits so clearly multitasking) and I thought it well worth a go at the current discounted price.

@Old_Man_Harper I had never heard about it, but I just read another player posting "If you are not allergic to woke brainwashing, it may be worth."

@Banjo- Crikey! 😄

@Old_Man_Harper I want to play Kunitsu-Gani next, a new Capcom game that is also on Game Pass.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

Path of the Goddess belongs to a combination of genres: beat 'em up, real-time strategy and tower defence. It's inspired by classics, like Little King's Story, Okami and Pikmin. At the same time, it's brand new, deep and poorly explained to the player, so much that you'll likely enjoy "new game plus" quite more, thanks to your experience, unlocked upgrades and additional challenges. Path of the Goddess is challenging and, once you learn the ropes, it's satisfying and addictive, ultimately pure old-school quality. Technically, it runs smoothly and looks beautiful on Series X. The sound is all good, but I recommend setting the scarce voice acting to Japanese, because everything else is so Japanese. If you have a bit of patience and appreciate the purer gameplay of previous generations, you'll probably love Capcom's newest game.

9/10

Just finished Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge today! I had started the game a year ago and played with my siblings, but we ultimately didn’t finish it, and I also didn’t have a Game Pass sub to play it as I would always keep canceling it. After I got my Game Pass Core sub for online play, I picked up the game again and played with @Banjo- alongside a few other random people online (had a really fun time playing with everyone and it was such fun after having not played online games in a while) though I finished the rest of the game by myself since I had to disconnect from the party for a while.

There was a lot of familiarity with Shredder’s Revenge, as I have played other similar and fun beat em’ up games like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and Battletoads (which funnily enough, was heavily inspired by TMNT) and I enjoyed this one as well!

This game bursts with so much charm, personality, and humor with its characters and awesome pixel animations, which is something I absolutely love seeing in any kind of game. In fact, all the characters, including the minor enemies you fight against, show a lot of personality with how they are animated. The fighting mechanics are great, and the pizza power ups were my absolute favorite things to use when I was surrounded by enemies. I really just love the feeling of the game, and I am a bit sad I finished it.

I don’t have any criticisms of the game really besides the fact that it’s a bit too short, but I would say it’s a short but sweet experience. I would recommend giving it a try if you really like best em’ ups a lot. But, I’d strongly suggest getting one or more to play or playing with others online, because the game is really hard to play alone, especially the levels near the end since that’s when the difficulty and number of enemies ramps up. I really think this is one of the best beat em’ ups I’ve ever played. I kinda wanna watch more TMNT-related media now…

Beat 'em up is not one of my favourite genres, but I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. I beat it when it joined Game Pass on my own, but I had much more fun playing with @Pastellioli 🙌 and other random players. I also can't find any flaws because everything in this game is so nicely done, from gameplay to graphics and sound, but also the design and animation of every character and enemy. I liked it way more than Streets of Rage 4 and even more than the hilarious Battletoads (2020). Tribute Games has made the finest modern beat 'em up. A new classic.

@Banjo- Oh cool that you managed beat Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 . I think if I remember correctly that I manged to beat it like a year ago myself. While I have not played the latest COD entries I do feel like they are in general a very underappreciated singel player gaming *experiences . I mean almost everyone I know like the multiplayer but are not that much into the singel player part. I have not least found it cool to explore the higher difficulty settings because I like found that it can be a like a good way to challenge yourself and like force your self out of your comfort zone so to speak. Becuse if do not play on the higher difficulty settings it like does not feel like you are forced to much interesting stuff. It feels like it almost play itself then hehe which makes it less fun imo.

*Which I btw feel is true for many FPS these days hehe. People like have almost forgot them in some sense it feels like.

@oliverp It was Call of Duty Modern Warfare III and I enjoyed the campaign in spite of not being well received by many people. I'll play more as they join Game Pass. I agree, I think that many times exploring the higher difficulty levels makes the most of the gaming experience. Playing in the easiest modes and rushing the story leaves players underwhelmed, not experiencing games as they should, not being immersed and not really appreciating anything as they could.

Bakeru (Steam - Also Available on Switch)

• A 3D Platformer where most levels have a "wide linear" approach, where there is generally a "beginning to end" flow, but generally with a greater emphasis on exploring for secrets & CAG-lite combat encounters rather than precise platforming challenges (though you'll get a bit more of that in the latter half of the game). The best comparison I could make would be Kirby & the Forgotten Land (Switch) if you've played that (though I'd say that Bakeru's levels can get wider than that).
  
  
  
  
• There a few other level types though, such as the occasional auto scroller (these all have isometric perspectives & focus a bit more on platforming than usual), or vehicle level (these tend to go by much quicker, and are easier, than most other levels & usually take the form of a race or Star Fox esque 3D shmup level).
  
  
  
• In terms of collectables, each level has 5 pieces of Trivia to find (most levels are based around one of Japan's many prefectures, and these factoids usually relate to their specific culture/history), and 3 Souvenirs which are a bit harder to collect (these again usually relate to the area the level is set in, although the first one is always just a region pennant). A few levels also have a hidden Tanuki (a Japanese type of Raccoon) to find and are generally the hardest to locate.
  
  
  
  
  You collect Trivia by talking to this little dude dressed like yellow poo, and Souvenirs are located in Gachapon capsules.
• Things start out pretty linear, as you go from one level to the next on a set path on the world map, however about 15 levels in you unlock a ship called the Bunbuku (which doubles as a little hub world where your Souvenirs are displayed... and triples as a transforming mecha that you pilot in certain boss fights) which lets you freely fly over Japan's landmass & levels unlock in regional groupings (usually 4-6 levels will become available at once, and you can complete them in any order before unlocking that region's boss level).
  
  
  Your Souvenirs are displayed on a wall that wraps around nearly the entirety of the Bunbuku's interior! (There are over 120 of them to collect!) The Tanuki you find also hang out there (as well as a few other story characters), and depending on the number you've found, you can get a few basic stat upgrades for it's mech form.
• It's not quite as snappy as something like a Mario or Astro Bot, but it generally controls well & is fun even if it's on the easier side (you do unlock a few transformations after beating the first few bosses that augment your combat style, but I honestly never felt the need to use them. Especially since you get an achievement for beating each boss without transforming, so I did without). The only transformation I used was one that makes you smaller at the expense of being able to fight, but only because it allows you to access areas you otherwise can't within levels (it's the only transformation required for exploration). It has about 60 levels (keep in mind at least 10 of those are probably boss fights) & I completed it in just over 20 hours with everything collected (I only had to replay levels 3 or so times throughout my entire run through in order to nab a missed collectable. I mostly got them all my first run through). It helps that, aside from a few later levels, not many levels have hard locks that prevent you from backtracking to collect anything you missed. There isn't any sort of post game content or new game +.
  
  
  
  
  In spite of having so many levels, each one is thematically distinct or combines things in such a way that it never became boring, and I was looking forward to what the next one would bring.

In conclusion, I'm actually surprised that Nintendo skipped out on localizing this one themselves (it's developed by Good Feel, the studio behind Yoshi's Crafted World & this year's Princess Peach: Showtime, and honestly this "feels" like a larger game than either. You can really tell it was a passion project they poured their all into). Granted, at least this means it was able to be published on Steam, where I didn't experience any of the performance issues that apparently plague the Switch version (which may play into the Big N's decision to pass on it), but it's a shame that it's probably going to be overlooked (on Switch because it released the same month as Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and generally because it released the same month as the biggest platformer of the year, Astro Bot), because it's honestly a great time.

World of Warcraft: The War Within. Finally beat the campaign with my Zandalarian Paladin and I will say I really enjoyed it. The zones were beautiful, my favorite being Hallowfall and the story had a good flow to it. There was one part in it where I felt the story did hit a slog but I think that was more due to the mechanics of that particular quest line it was a sneaky stealth part where you couldnt get caught and quite frankly I am not a big fan of that type of game play in any game.

I will mention now that I havent played WoW since Mist of Pandaria but the storyline kept me enthralled from start to finish. I have read that alot of people were upset that it didnt matter if you played Horde or Alliance due the factions working together, so it pretty much the storyline is the same.

The main villain I enjoyed alot too and is probably my favorite since the Lich King. Shes the kind that you love to hate.

Overall an enjoyable game which if you enjoy the world of Warcraft you will enjoy it. Its one of the best piece of fantasy storytelling I have seen in awhile. I was quite pleased with it and looking foreward to the next chapter in this trilogy.

Lol I just noticed that this is post 666 lol 😈

Like a Dragon The man who erased his name. Fishing the game and all achievements at the same time took a bit under 50 hours. I think the next game I will work on is either Persona 3 Reloaded or Flintlock, or both.

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - Special Edition (Series X)

This game, the first The Elder Scrolls game that I have played, reinforced my opinion about how weak Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom is a jack-of-all-trades "masterpiece" wannabe -I am a huge The Legend of Zelda fan and three of them are among my favourite games ever-. I beat the main campaign of Skyrim and most of the side quests I found, but I still want to play it. The game feels real, like a combination of simulation and RPG and I guess that's why people love The Elder Scrolls games so much, although I have read that Skyrim made tasks slightly easier, which is not necessarily bad. My favourite things are the freedom I feel playing it and the quality of the side quests. If Bethesda learns from their mistakes, their next The Elder Scrolls game will be a modern classic and another must-play game.

My next playthrough is Trials of Mana. I bought the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster bundle, but I want to play more Game Pass titles.