Games I Played Last Week 9/8 - 9/14

I'm gearing up for Wasteland 2, which will at the beginning of my Fall playlist. I didn't get very far into my Summer List, unfortunately, but that's to be expected at this point in my life with one kid and another on the way. :)

I knew I wouldn't complete all 50 games I put on the Summer List, but I did think I'd at least get halfway through it. Oh well... With Grand Theft Auto V not coming out until late January on PC, there's not a lot of new games coming out this fall that I'm interested in, so the Fall List will likely include most, if not all, of those remaining games. Of course, with Wasteland 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition this fall, who knows how many other games I'll actually get to. :)

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

I still haven't finished this game, but I probably only have 2-3 hours left. The pirate chapters frustrated me supremely, but I made it through. Hopefully, the rest of the levels aren't as punishing with the seemingly endless enemies and infrequent save points.

It's really amazing how great these games look, considering the limited power of the Playstation 3. I thought about waiting for a "remastered" Uncharted collection on the Playstation 4, but I decided I'd rather just finish this game and put the trilogy behind me.

Wasteland

I played about 11.5 hours of Wasteland before deciding to move on. I'm watching a YouTube playthrough by mynameisnotlilly. I am pretty stubborn about finishing all games I start...even if they take a couple years to get through... However, Wasteland is a very special case.

For one thing, I really only wanted to play it to get the story, so that I understood any references Wasteland 2 made to the original game. I can obviously get the story from the YouTube playthrough... Second, I wanted to experience the original game for myself, in an almost "academic" sense, as I never played the game when I was younger. Almost 12 hours of the game definitely demonstrated enough for me to say I experienced the game.

Ultimately, while I don't shy away from older games or games with simpler graphic styles or older design sensibilities, the original Wasteland really tests all of that. The graphics have nothing to hold my interest after seeing a couple dozen of the enemy "portraits," the menu system for combat and skills is so cumbersome that I honestly believe at least a couple hours of my total play time was spent just going through menus, and the design of the game asks players to spend time trying multiple skills continuously and almost randomly to find key items, which I relate to old point-and-click adventure games that were intentionally adding frustratingly unintuitive puzzles just to make games take longer so consumers felt they were "getting their money's worth."

So, ultimately, I would complete the game, if it was made in an engine similar to the Fallout or Baldur's Gate CRPG's of the late 90's, but the Wasteland of 1988 is just asking too much of me when I have hundreds of other games I'd like to get to and not enough time to play games...

I would love to see someone remake the original Wasteland with the Wasteland 2 engine. I'm not sure if I'd play through it anytime soon, since I'm basically watching the entire story on YouTube right now, but I could see myself going back to it sometime in the future.

I get why people don't like the pirate parts in Uncharted 3. Bland environment, surrounded by enemies, not much story.

But I loved the gameplay there. You're constantly on the move, you're firing while hanging all over the environment, the encounters are varied, and it was one of the most gameplay-focused sections of the entire series.

Only beat that one once, might be worth a replay.

I really enjoyed the ship graveyard chapters for the spectacle. Those are some cool environments. even if they're not tied into the main plot all that well. Although there are a few annoying parts in the boat section. The one that sticks out in my mind is an area where Drake specifically mentions doing everything all quiet, but there's dudes positioned around the room so you have to get into a gunfight no matter what.

@csl316 said:

I can totally see why some people would love that section for just the reason you said - "one of the most gameplay-focused sections." However, I think that also shows the difference between those people and me. :)

I am just a person that mostly plays games for story and to experience the different worlds, locations, and characters. While I don't like games to be so easy I'm bored, I'll admit that the perfect difficulty for me is a game where I can complete everything the first time with only a small amount of difficulty. I do enjoy intuitive puzzles, because they make me think, but when it comes to difficult gameplay, whether it's platforming or shooting, I can get frustrated pretty easy. I just don't like those things slowing me down for the real reason I'm playing the game.

I do like stealth games quite a lot, and I will play any game stealthy, if it gives me the option. One thing that has frustrated me in every Uncharted game is exactly what you pointed out... The game will act like a section can be completed in a stealthy manner, but it actually makes it impossible...or so close to impossible and so easy to not play stealth that I just feel there is bad design.

Yeah, it really shuts down whatever story momentum there was. It'd usually bum me out, to be honest, so I must've had nothing else going on that day or something.

I play a lot of Retro stuff as well as modern games. Last week I went through the classic E-SWAT on the Mega Drive. For those who don't know it's a side scrolling platformer action title where you play the roll of an officer of the law out to take down the city scum. This officer is special though as he has a robotic suit he can change in to. I wonder where Sega got that idea from :)

On the modern front just 100% completed Lego the Movie on the Xbox One and finished Metal Gear Ground Zero. Yeah, I know I'm late to the party on that.