Completed Games Tracker - 2015 Edition

Mario Kart 8
With the release of the "Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8" DLC pack, I decided to replay the existing courses on 150cc to get a feel for the game with a GCN controller as I didn't have one when I first played through the game. Following that I did the time trials for the new courses. And then, I tackled the new 200cc. First impressions were wild. Very fast. Kept overshooting turns, missing short cuts, ugh. Had to unlearn things. Changed my character and tires so that I'd be a little slower and manageable. For a long while I didn't bother with braking still. But by the end of it, I had to. Ultimately, I ended up gold trophying and three starring all of 200cc As for the DLC itself, I don't think the new tracks are as strong as the last batch they released. From the retro tracks, Baby Park is mighty hectic fun, and I like how Cheese Land transitioned from the GBA game. For the new tracks, Wild Woods is great and Animal Crossing is enjoyable. So, basically Crossing Cup is my jam and I don't care much for Bell Cup.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations 3D
Second time that I've played this game. Really glad to have played it properly with a stylus and lag-free this time around. Playing it so soon after "Justice for All" with the 3D release, I kinda wish this game introduced a new gameplay mechanic as the previous game did with the psyche-locks. That aside, still a fun game. I've made clear before my dislike of the "Mask☆DeMasque" case, but the other four are great. Worth highlighting are the two short cases where you get to play as Mia Fey. It was nice exploring more of her character, especially because (being a rookie in these cases) she's a lot more self-doubting than Phoenix would normally build her up to be. It was also nice to see her inner monologue making similar observations on the character of the witnesses or prosecutors to Wright (or the player, likely) and not be as serious as she was in her previous brief appearances or channelings. The very last case is among the best in the trilogy. The way it ties together everything through the Kurain genealogy is wonderful. In the end you really feel badly for Maya and Pearls. Oh and it was fun having Franziska along too

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Second time playing this too. First time I played it, I left.... underwhelmed? Promised a lot, changed a few things up, but also didn't execute a lot of things properly too. And more or less that's how I feel leaving it this time too. But I did enjoy it more. Enough that I think I'd place it above The Wind Waker, at least in terms of game play (idk, TWW felt like a real slog when I played the HD release recently). I enjoyed the swordplay less this time around though. I was having more difficulty with it than before. Dungeons were solid, not the best though. I welcome the upgrade system, stamina and shield damage. The dungeon-esque overworld areas are the best part of the game. Exploring Faron Woods, both times I played this game, feels... magical. Like the first time I played through Bob-omb Battlefield in Super Mario 64. There's something special and promising there. The Timeshift Stone puzzles are also terrific. Really enjoyed the painterly impressionistic graphics. Some of the music is nice (although not always memorable). However, the NPCs, Skyloft, characters, and worse the plot brings the game way down. Everything's just... boring. And needlessly explained. This game is a prequel to the entire series - the beginning of everything, and it suffers from the same issues that the Star Wars prequels do. I don't need to know that Link's and Ganondorf's swords actually house spirits waged in an eternal war, anymore than I do Midi-chlorians being behind the Force. Or that Zelda shares the blood of a goddess (some new goddess we never heard of before at that). Or that's Ganon's being is some kind of divine curse, the hatred of giant monster with big wobbly toes. It's just... needless and taints the rest of the series.

Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
Some NES game where you play as the most radical of ninjas (idk, he's punk rock'n) to save your girlfriend from a Stone Wizard. Your weapon is some sword that you juggle about, twirling it at enemies like a baton. It's also a bit weird and Japanese. There was a boss that's an old man who shouts "Fool!" at you and then the letters attack you. The first boss is a constipated kid with swollen cheeks who farts on you (with some impressive NES audio sample of him shouting "poo" repeatedly). Cats are bats and hang from the ceiling and fly about. Nothing special, just a curious game.

 

Done with Hyrule Warriors. The only thing I didn't do was attain "A" rank on the Boss Rush battle of the Rewards Map in Adventure Mode. I always get close but the best I can do is attain "B" rank. Overall, good game but I won't be getting the DLC. There's already enough content.

Onwards to Mario Kart 8!

 

I wrapped up a 100% complete replay of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

I will never tire of that game in any form

Still think the 3D version is too saturated though

 

Jeez okay I haven't posted here in months but I've been playing a lot so uh. Here's my beaten list since last time:

Danganronpa 2
Loved the first game and I was waiting for school to end so I could hole myself up and play this game with no interruptions too. Was not disappointed! I ended up Platinuming this in a few days just like the first.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
I pretty much sat down to play this just to finish off the trilogy since I didn't want to leave it untouched but omg it was actually really good??? I mean the plot was still a total ass-pull but it worked surprisingly well. I ended up really liking the battle system (although not as much as the one from the first two games) and I just had so much fun playing once I got into it. I Platinumed this too.

Unfinished Swan
It was free on PS+ last month and I'd been meaning to try it, so I sat down and beat it one night. It was interesting but it was really halfway between tech demo and game. Worth playing I guess, but nothing amazing.

Broken Age
I had no access to my computer for a month after Act 2 came out so it felt like such a long wait. But I replayed the first act and then the second and it was such a fun game. It's so, so, so gorgeous.

Higurashi: When They Cry (Chapter 1)
idk if this counts because it's a visual novel but hell it was great. :') I kinda prefer the anime because 12 hours was a long time to sit there but... I guess it is a novel.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
This took me like a month to beat, lmao. I couldn't really get into it until the last case and even then I kept putting it down, oops. :( Apparently the second one is better so I'll give it a shot before I return to replaying the series proper.

...phew, all updated.

 

I completed Mario Kart 8 (and archived my complete play-through, see YouTube link below). Some of the cups on 200cc were crazy! Nonetheless, Mario Kart 8 truly is the best entry in the series.

 

I just wrapped up Majora's Mask 3D.

Terrific remaster of a truly wonderful and magical game. A lot more work went into this than OoT 3D. It looks great. New lighting effects, new modelling everywhere, new side quests, gameplay alterations and streamlining.

It is a game always worth a revisit. Nintendo and Grezzo put up a great effort here. There are some flaws in the remastering treatment (Odolwa battle), but overall I think it is an essential entry in any 3DS library.

 

Double posting, hurray! \o/

I finally wrapped up The (Not-so) Wonderful 101. I'm glad it is finally over and that I can move on. I did not enjoy that game.

The learning curve is attrocious. You start the game without the ability to dodge or defend, so you die a lot. A heck of a lot. You eventually get these skills by buying them from a store that's burried in a menu only accessibly between levels. And you're never prompted to go there or revisit it and you don't realize there are required attacks to purchase there until you check it out with enough coinage.

The graphics are also less than stellar. I was going to compare it a high res early GCN game, but a lot of the GCN's launch window output does actually look better than this game does.

The music is... acceptable. Not terrible, not great either. Just lacking in variation. You hear the same handful of songs over and over and over again.

Voice work is mixed. The protagonists sound fine (except Luca) and I enjoyed their banter and foreign stereotypes. But the voices and dialogue for the enemy Geth-Jerks was horrendous.

Game is just one battle after another for 20 hours and they all play about the same. Like an action-oriented Pikmin game with Ōkami controls.

Come on Platinum, you can do better than this.

 

I didn't beat anything at ALL during the month of June. I'm so ashamed. :( But I guess to make up for it I've beaten a few things since then. Sort of.

Final Fantasy XIV
Beat the 2.0 plot, so the base game. :V I'm working my way up to the Heavensward expansion content now. Will hopefully get that done before school starts again.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Quick game, but fun. I love this genre, whatever it is.

Rhythm Tengoku: The Best+
I really love Rhythm Heaven but this game was a little underwhelming. It was tedious to switch between stylus/button control and some games I really felt like I had to play a certain way. (ie, pretty much any of the games from the DS game, even though they didn't implement the flick in this game). I was happy to replay games I loved from previous games and I enjoyed the new games, but this release was just kinda... a little too long, almost? The format was just kinda weird and clunky and playing through it was a slog rather than an absolute joy that I couldn't put down. So that was a little disappointing. :(

Actually, it occurs to me I guess I beat some replays in June, but nothing new, so they don't really count. ;_;